Bush Won't Accept Iraq War Timetable

AP
President Bush's stance on a Democratic agreement to set a timetable on the Iraq war has not changed: he will not accept it.

The president planned to repeat that message Tuesday morning before leaving the White House for New York.

"If they insist on sending the bill to him in its current form, that has an arbitrary surrender date and handcuffs the generals, the president will veto it," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said.

As part of the president's push, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was expected to meet Tuesday with key senators, including members of the Senate Finance Committee, to discuss the funding bill.

A leading Republican, meanwhile, warned that Democratic leaders are making an all-too-familiar mistake with the impending showdown: not listening to seasoned commanders.

Rep. C.W. Bill Young, R-Fla., said catastrophe always follows when civilians turn a deaf ear to their military officers.

In the 2003 run-up to the war, Young said in an interview, administration officials dismissed a top Army officer's estimate that securing Iraq would probably require several hundred thousand troops.

"I just don't think that it's a good idea for us here in the Congress to try to manage the conduct of the war," Young, a military appropriations expert, told his colleagues during a meeting Monday.

Gen. David Petraeus, the new Iraq commander, will try to persuade lawmakers in a private briefing this week to pursue a difference course.

However, House and Senate Democratic appropriators agreed Monday on a $124 billion bill that would fund the Iraq war but order troops to begin leaving by Oct. 1 with the goal of completing the pullout six months later.

Bush has promised to veto the measure, which would force lawmakers back to the drawing table. Democrats would need a two-thirds majority to override a presidential veto.

"I will strongly reject an artificial timetable (for) withdrawal and/or Washington politicians trying to tell those who wear the uniform how to do their job," Bush told reporters in the Oval Office as he met with Petraeus on Monday.

Democrats said they won't back down and pointed to Petraeus' past remarks that security in Iraq requires a political solution.

"Here is the bottom line," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said in a speech in which he quoted a retired Army general who opposes Bush's policy. "Americans must come to grips with the fact that our military alone cannot establish a democracy."

Reid likened Bush to President Lyndon Johnson, saying Johnson ordered troop escalations in Vietnam in an attempt "to save his political legacy" only to watch U.S. casualties climb steadily.

"The time for patience is long past," said Reid, who last week said the war in Iraq was "lost."

Radio ads expected to air Tuesday will attack Reid as treating troops like a "political football," GOP officials said.

According to a transcript, an Iraq veteran identified as Capt. Trip Bellard says, "Senator Reid's remarks undercut the morale of our soldiers and undermine our troops on the ground."

As outlined by Democratic officials, the emerging legislation would require the withdrawal of U.S. forces to begin by Oct. 1, even earlier if Bush cannot certify that the Iraqi government is making progress in disarming militias, reducing sectarian violence and forging political compromises.

Another provision in the measure would withhold about $850 million in foreign aid from the Iraqis if the government does not meet those standards.

The Pentagon would be required to adhere to certain standards for the training and equipping of units sent to Iraq, and for their rest at home between deployments. Bush could waive the guidelines if necessary. Democrats assume he would, but they want him on record as doing so.

Under the nonbinding timeline, all combat troops would be withdrawn by April 1, 2008.

After that date, U.S. forces would have a redefined and restricted mission of protecting U.S. personnel and facilities, engaging in counterterrorism activities against al-Qaida and other similar organizations, and training and equipping Iraqi forces.

Democrats jettisoned some of the domestic spending that Bush has held up to ridicule, including funds for spinach growers and peanut farmers. Reid, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and others decided to include money to help farmers hit by natural disasters as well as the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Texas Senate waves through cell phone wiretapping bill

the register
A bill extending wiretapping provisions to cell phones and covering a wider range of crimes - including kidnaping, human trafficking and money laundering - has been approved by the Texas Senate.

Only murder, drug-related crimes and child pornography investigations are covered by existing lawful interception laws in Texas, AP reports. Wiretaps authorised by the proposed laws could be used to authorise the tracking of suspect's mobile, land line and online activities in multiple locations; unlike current laws which are location specific.

The draft Homeland Security legislation also places tighter controls on the sale of prepaid phones. Retailers will be asked to keep records of customers in a move that means prepaid phones can no longer be bought over the counter without ID. Customers will have to supply their name and address, date of birth or Social Security number, while sales would be limited to five prepaid cell phones at a time.

Police in Texas were also given the legislative go-ahead to use CCTV footage at toll booths to prosecute crime.

Sen. John Carona, the architect of the bill, argued that the legislation would help police to fight organised crime and terrorism in the state. Critics said the measures extended crimes labeled as homeland security issues too far.

One Democrat senator voiced concerns over whether the bill infringed Texans' civil liberties, particular the friends and relatives of suspects, but the proposals ultimately received the unanimous approval of the state's upper house. The bill was passed down to the House of Representatives in Texas for further consideration.

Sweeping Forced Abortions Used in Regime's Birth Control Enforcement

radio free asia
CHINA—Recently, governments in Shandong and Guangxi Provinces are forcing pregnant women to abort their babies. Among these pregnant women, some of them are in the late stages of their pregnancy.

After being injected with drugs, a Christian who was seven months pregnant gave birth to a dead child on April 18. The nine month old fetus of another woman did not move for 48 hours after she was forcibly injected with drugs. Birth Control Departments and hospitals in Guangxi Province refuse to respond to the reporter's questions about the forced abortions.

Illegal Late Term Abortions

According to information from the China Aid Association released on April 17, in Texas in the United States, a large scale mandatory abortion program is being carried out in Baise City, Shanxi Province in China. In the People's Hospital in Youjiang District, Baise City alone, there were 41 pregnant women being forcibly injected with abortion drugs on that day. Wei Linrong, a Christian who was seven months pregnant was one of them. On the morning of April 17, ten officials from the Baise City Birth Control Commission broke into Wei's home. They kidnapped Wei to the Youjiang People's Hospital and forcibly injected her with an abortion drug. Our reporter called Wei's husband, Pastor James Liang on April 18 and learned that Wei gave birth to a dead boy. Liang told the reporter that Wei was given the injection at 11 a.m. on the April 17 and had a miscarriage at 6 a.m. on the April 18. Liang didn't know what kind of injection Wei was given. After giving her the injection, the fetus was left to die slowly in the uterus. Liang and Wei already have a child. Liang told the reporter the pregnancy was an accident. They didn't mean to violate the government's birth control policy.

He Caigan was another victim in the same hospital. She was nine-months pregnant with her first baby. The Baise City birth control department claimed that because she had not turned 18 and did not have a marriage certificate, they forced her to give up her baby. According to He, the hospital didn't tell her what drug was used. The hospital staff put two injections into the fetus's head. The fetus did not move for 48 hours after the injections. She said: "I was scared. I closed my eyes when they injected the drugs. After the injections, the baby kicked and moved continuously for 20 minutes and then stopped moving. It hadn't moved since then." She wanted the baby but said she couldn't do anything since it was the government's decision. She also saw another woman in the same hospital who was nine months into her pregnancy being injected with an abortion drug as well.


Hospital Denies Accusations
Our reported called the Youjiang People's Hospital on the April 18 to inquire about Wei and He's situation.

Reporter: The Hospital forced 41 pregnant women to abort. How come a nine month pregnancy was still forcibly aborted?

Staff: Who told you that? We don't abort those who are due soon.

Reporter: What about Wei Linrong? She was seven months into her pregnancy. She was injected with an abortion drug and gave birth to a dead baby boy this morning.

Staff: Why don't you come to the hospital and see for yourself. I am not obligated to answer your question.

Reporter: Did the Birth Control Commission send anyone to the hospital?

Staff: Yes, there was a group of them.

Reporter: Are they stationed there?

Staff: Yes. You have to come over here if you have any more questions.


Another Twelve Women Injected in One Hour
A close friend of Wei Linrong told the reporter: "This [forced abortion] was arranged by the Birth Control office. They often send people to force civilians to go to the hospital for abortions." In the one hour while the reporter was trying to gather information from various government officials, the Youjiang People's Hospital forcibly injected another dozen pregnant women with abortion drugs. In Laizhou City, Shandong province, a 39-year-old Christian, Xu Hui, who was accidentally pregnant with her second child was also forced by the government to abort her baby. She was six months pregnant.

Wolfowitz Hires Prominent Lawyer in Fight to Stay at World Bank

nytimes
WASHINGTON, April 23 — Paul D. Wolfowitz, signaling anew that he will fight for his job as World Bank president, has enlisted a prominent lawyer who defended President Bill Clinton against accusations of sexual misconduct to help convince the bank’s board that Mr. Wolfowitz has done nothing to justify being ousted.

Robert S. Bennett, the lawyer selected by Mr. Wolfowitz, said in an interview that before the bank’s board acted on charges of ethical lapses, he and Mr. Wolfowitz wanted more time to prepare a case showing that the bank president had acted properly on all matters that the board is investigating.

“I am very worried about the rush to judgment,” Mr. Bennett said. “We just had a wonderful example of that in the Duke lacrosse case. I have reviewed the essential documents, and I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that Mr. Wolfowitz exercised good faith and that everything he did was in the best interests of the bank.”

It was unclear whether Mr. Wolfowitz intended to pay his legal fees himself or whether he would seek reimbursement from the bank. His latest sign of apparent determination to keep his job came as the furor over his record continued to spread.

Bank officials said that after several days of canvassing hundreds of employees, about 25 vice presidents of the bank were preparing to document that the overwhelming majority of the employees favor Mr. Wolfowitz’s departure.

The vice presidents met with Mr. Wolfowitz in the afternoon and some bank officials said that they would present their conclusions about bank sentiment to the board of directors, the 24 representatives of various countries and groups of countries that run the bank’s day-to-day affairs in tandem with the president.

The Financial Times reported on Monday that the independent agency within the bank that assesses the effectiveness of bank programs concluded last week that “swift changes in management” were needed to restore its credibility.

In addition, a group of more than 40 former top officials at the bank, many of whom departed after clashing with Mr. Wolfowitz, issued a public call for him to resign.

Mr. Wolfowitz has tangled with the board and staff members on various issues, especially his anticorruption agenda, since he arrived in 2005 after serving as deputy secretary of defense and a chief architect of the Iraq war. But anger erupted this month over Mr. Wolfowitz’s acknowledgment that he had played a much larger role than previously understood in the pay-and-promotion package given to Shaha Ali Riza, his companion, two years ago. Ms. Riza, who had worked at the bank for seven years, was detailed to the State Department at that time.

In the last week or so, concern over two other issues — family planning and the environment — was spreading new rancor in the bank, contributing to the criticism.

Documents have surfaced indicating that one of Mr. Wolfowitz’s two top deputies, Juan J. Daboub, a managing director and former finance official in El Salvador, had deleted language referring to “family planning” and “climate change” in separate bank documents.

Some bank officials charge that these changes were made at the behest of the Bush administration. But they say that Mr. Wolfowitz and Mr. Daboub have denied during internal meetings that they intended to carry out any kind of policy change.

“None of the editorial changes that were made at my direction changed, or intended to change, the bank group’s program in the area of family planning,” Mr. Daboub wrote in an e-mail message to the bank’s vice presidents last week.

On Monday, the bank’s chief scientist, Robert T. Watson, said in an interview that Mr. Daboub “literally tried to eliminate the words ‘climate change’ everywhere in a policy paper” but that the words were put back. He said he was “absolutely convinced” that Mr. Wolfowitz had no role in the efforts.

Nevertheless, bank officials said that these issues were roiling the bank and that many officials wanted the board to make them part of its widening investigation of Mr. Wolfowitz into matters beyond Ms. Riza.

Mr. Bennett, a longtime player in Washington’s legal and political scene, said in the interview that he had not completed his own review of the Wolfowitz documents but was convinced that, on the matter of Ms. Riza, he had acted in good faith and that whatever his shortcomings — such as becoming involved directly in the matter of her salary — were being seized upon by people with other agendas.

“I don’t see any hanging offenses here, certainly no violations of law,” Mr. Bennett said. “People with their own private or personal agendas are using this incident to accomplish broader goals inconsistent with the mission of the bank.”

Mr. Bennett would not give details, but Mr. Wolfowitz’s supporters maintain that European directors of the bank are using the episode to wrest control of the bank away from Mr. Wolfowitz and the Bush administration.

Mr. Bennett was the lawyer last year for Judith Miller, the former reporter for The New York Times who was jailed for refusing to testify to a grand jury in the investigation of the leak of the identity of Valerie Plame as a Central Intelligence Agency operative.

He represented Mr. Clinton in the case brought by Paula Jones and helped settle the lawsuit.

Democrats Back Date for Start of Iraq Pullout

nytimes
WASHINGTON, April 23 — Congressional Democrats agreed Monday to ignore President Bush’s veto threat and send him a $124 billion war spending bill that orders the administration to begin pulling troops out of Iraq by Oct. 1.

“On Iraq, the American people want a new direction, and we are providing it,” said Senator Patty Murray, Democrat of Washington, a leader of the Congressional negotiators who came to terms on the legislation that has become a test of wills between Mr. Bush and the Democratic majority on Capitol Hill.

The House and Senate are to vote on the agreement and send it to the White House by the end of the week, and Democrats expressed confidence that they could secure narrow approval. But even as they ironed out differences between House and Senate approaches to Iraq policy and cut some spending that has drawn Republican scorn, Democrats acknowledged that the bill would be rejected by the president.

Mr. Bush made it clear again on Monday that he would use the second veto of his tenure to kill the legislation, which would set a goal of having most American combat forces out of Iraq within six months of Oct. 1.

“An artificial timetable of withdrawal would say to an enemy, ‘Just wait them out,’ ” he said. “It would say to the Iraqis, ‘Don’t do hard things necessary to achieve our objectives,’ and it would be discouraging for our troops.”

Despite their opposition, Congressional Republicans chose not to challenge the timeline in the legislation, saying they preferred to get the veto showdown over with so Congress could quickly focus on drafting an acceptable measure that would deliver the money sought for the Pentagon.

“We all know this bill is going nowhere fast,” said Representative Jerry Lewis of California, the senior Republican on the House Appropriations Committee.

Under the compromise approved Monday, the Iraqi government would be subjected to benchmarks that would gauge its progress in developing its own security forces, disarming sectarian militias, allowing pursuit of extremists, reconciling Sunni and Shiite factions, and deciding on distribution of oil revenues.

Under the legislation, if Mr. Bush determined that progress was being made, he would be directed to begin withdrawing troops by Oct. 1, with a goal of most forces being removed within 180 days, except for those protecting American facilities, those engaged in counterterrorism and those training and equipping Iraqi forces.

The legislative proposal would also block spending on American forces unless they were judged “fully mission capable” by military standards, and would prohibit military tours in Iraq of more than one year. The president could waive those requirements.

While the legislation incorporates the troop readiness standards of the House, it sets the full withdrawal of forces as a goal more in line with the Senate bill, considering that the House had earlier required that most forces be out by fall 2008. But the Oct. 1 deadline for beginning a withdrawal is quicker than any envisioned by the House and could help sell the plan to ardent war critics.

In a tough attack on Mr. Bush in which he accused the president of being in denial on conditions in Iraq, Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, said the legislation would provide “a way forward,” combining the withdrawal timetable with benchmarks to measure the progress of the Iraqi government.

“No more will Congress turn a blind eye to the Bush administration’s incompetence and dishonesty,” Mr. Reid said in a speech at the Woodrow Wilson Center here.

Republicans accused Democrats of overstepping their constitutional authority and micromanaging the war. And they noted that the legislation would require a pullout whether or not the Iraqis were making progress in stabilizing their country.

“This latest proposal mandates that, no matter how well the Iraqi government meets its benchmarks and no matter how well our troops succeed in Iraq, the surrender must begin no later than Oct. 1,” said Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader.

But Democrats urged the president to sign the legislation, saying the pullout was a reasonable goal and that the president’s strategy was not working. “This war has dragged on too long, and I think we should remind ourselves that we’ve been in this war longer than we were in World War II, and we thought that was an eternity,” said Senator Daniel K. Inouye, Democrat of Hawaii.

He and others noted that the legislation would pump needed money into military health care in the wake of disclosures of poor conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. In all, the measure includes $1.8 billion for veterans’ health care that was not in the White House request.

The bill provides $95.5 billion for operations, mainly in Iraq and Afghanistan — $4 billion more than sought by the president. The legislation also includes $6.9 billion for recovery along the Gulf Coast, compared to $3.4 billion sought by the White House. It allocates $650 million on children’s health programs, $400 million on home heating aid and $500 million on wildfire control.

The measure would also provide $3.5 billion to the nation’s farmers, but the Democratic negotiators dropped other farm aid in the wake of accusations from Mr. Bush and Republicans that the bill had been larded with special interest provisions to attract enough votes for passage. Among the spending eliminated was money for spinach growers, Christmas tree farmers, shrimp fisherman and sugar cane growers.

Representative Jack Kingston, Republican of Georgia, said the extra spending was still excessive, causing Representative David R. Obey, Democrat of Wisconsin and chairman of the Appropriations Committee, to bristle. “I’m willing to stand by every single item in this bill,” he said.

Aware that the votes do not exist to override the veto, lawmakers said they expect that Congress and Mr. Bush would eventually agree on a spending measure without the specific timetable, but with benchmarks for the Iraqi government.

Mr. Reid, the majority leader, said the measure was just one aspect of the Democratic push to force Mr. Bush to reconsider his Iraq policy. He acknowledged that the approach might not satisfy war opponents who supported Democrats in the past election in order to end the conflict, but said it was nearly impossible to do more without Republican support, given the tight margins in Congress.

“I understand the restlessness that some feel,” said Mr. Reid, who last week drew criticism for suggesting the war was already lost. “Many who voted for change in November anticipated dramatic and immediate results in January. But like it or not, George W. Bush is still the commander in chief, and this is his war.”

Six Arrested In Anti-Terror Raids In London

article
Scotland Yard arrested six people in anti-terror raids in and around London on Tuesday. Scotland Yard representatives announced that it was a ‘complex inquiry’ involving so-called incitement offences and fund-raising activities, DPA news agency quoted.

‘The arrests form part of a long-term pro-active and complex investigation into alleged incitement and radicalization for the purposes of terrorism, as well as alleged provision of financial support for international terrorism’, a Scotland Yard spokesman said.

Abu Izadeen, is one of the men arrester in London. He is a Muslim radical who got into public attention by heckling British Home Secretary John Reid during a speech at a Muslim centre in east London in 2006.

Sources quoted by DPA news agency, said the arrests were supposed to be connected with an incident at a London mosque in 2004.

Ethiopian tanks pound Mogadishu

Ethiopian tanks are pounding parts of the Somali capital, stepping up a week-long campaign against insurgents and fighters of the Hawiye clan.
bbc
Heavy shelling is also taking place near the presidential palace - guarded by Ethiopian and African Union troops.

Prime Minister Ali Mohammed Ghedi said the government forces were winning the war against insurgents.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon has called for an end to clashes in which more than 250 people have died in the past week.

Ethiopian forces and insurgents are exchanging heavy fire. Mortar and other artillery shells are also landing,? Khalid Haji, a resident at Fagah in the north of the capital told AFP news agency.

Rotting bodies have been left on the streets for days according to witnesses.

'Genocide'

Prime Minister Ghedi dismissed claims that Ethiopian backed government forces have committed genocide in Mogadishu during their campaign against insurgents.

Deputy Prime Minister Hussein Aideed, who launched an alliance opposed to Ethiopians in Somalia, in neighbouring Eritrea, has called for an international probe into the killings in the capital.

?Aideed should feel ashamed for attacking policies of the government he serves, his conduct will soon be discussed by the cabinet,? Mr Ghedi told a news conference in Mogadishu.

Ethiopian forces have been in Mogadishu since December last year after helping Somalia's transitional government oust the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC).

Mr Ghedi also blamed the insurgents for the take over of the southern port town of Kismayo on Monday following two days of fighting between rival clans.

Fighters from the Marehan clan have taken control of the town in what correspondents say is a big blow to the government.

The UN refugee agency says more than 300,000 people have fled the capital and a living in terrible conditions outside the city.

UNHCR spokesperson Catherine Weibel told the BBC the agency is now providing relief supplies to about 20,000 displaced persons in Afgooye about 30km from Mogadishu.

Somalia has not had a functional government since 1991. A transitional government was formed in 2004, but has so far failed to take full control of the country.

Ethiopian troops have started to withdraw, to be replaced by an African Union peacekeeping force, but only 1,200 of the 8,000 troops the AU says it needs have been deployed.

ID Theft Task Force Wants Stronger Laws

The U.S. government plans to establish a national identity theft law enforcement center and create a multiyear public education campaign.
IDG News Service
The U.S. government plans to establish a national identity theft law enforcement center and create a multiyear public education campaign about the dangers of ID theft, as part of a series of recommendations released by a task force Monday.

The President's Identity Theft Task Force, created by George Bush in May 2006, also called for national data protection standards for private companies that collect and sell personal information, as well as a national law requiring companies to tell customers when their personal data has been compromised.

Federal agencies should stop the unnecessary use of Social Security numbers, and the federal government should step up its efforts to educate agencies about data security best practices and regulations in place, the task force recommended.

ID theft is a "personal invasion, done in secret, that can rob innocent men and women of their good names," U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said at a press conference. Gonzales, co-chairman of the task force, called ID theft a national security issue.

The task force recommendations target both private companies and federal agencies. Recent news reports of data breaches at federal agencies are "problematic," Gonzales said.

Congress debated several data breach notification bills but failed to pass them during its last session. Five data breach notification bills have been introduced this year.

The task force report, available at the new Web site IDtheft.gov, includes 31 recommendations.

A comprehensive approach is needed to combat ID theft, said Deborah Platt Majoras, chairwoman of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and co-chairwoman of the ID theft task force.

"It is a blight on America's privacy and security landscape," she said. "It erodes a critical element of our economy -- trust in a person's good name and credit."

In addition to recommendations targeting federal agencies and private companies, the task force report targets criminals. The report focuses on the "entire life cycle" of ID theft, Majoras said.

The report calls on U.S. attorney's offices to designate a prosecutor who will focus on ID theft, and it recommends tougher laws for ID theft, including those targeting spyware makers and keystroke loggers. The U.S. should also create new sentencing guidelines that make it easier for judges to increase sentences for ID thieves who steal multiple identities, the report said.

Some of the task force recommendations have already been implemented, and others should be implemented within the next year, Gonzales said. The task force in September made several interim recommendations, including the creation of nationally accepted police reports that victims could fill out online, and a change in U.S. law that would require those convicted of such crimes to pay victims for the time used to clear up identity problems.

It`s raining jobs; foreign banks to hire over 50,000 in India

zeenews
New delhi, April 23: British banking giant Barclays' plan to shift thousands of jobs to low-cost India is the latest in a series of such decisions by European and American banks that are expected to hire more than 50,000 professionals in the country over the next three years.

The combined headcount of ABN Amro and UK's Barclays PLC is set to expand by up to 10,000 employees in India following the 91 billion dollar takeover of the Dutch banking major.

Together with Barclays-ABN Amro, about a half a dozen foreign banks such as Citigroup, HSBC and Standard Chartered could hire over 50,0000 employees in India in the next three years. These would be across various operations, including back-end jobs, to be moved from high-cost developed countries.

Seeking to expand their presence in the world's second-fastest growing major economy and benefit from low-cost opportunities in IT enabled back-end operations, foreign banks are increasingly going bullish with their headcount expansion plans in India, an industry observer said.

While announcing their 91-billion dollar cash and stock merger deal, Barclays and ABN Amro today said they would move 10,800 jobs to low-cost locations like India. The deal would also result in net reduction of 12,800 jobs from their combined workforce of 2,17,000 employees.

As a result, sources close to the two firms said, the combined entity could create 8,000-10,000 jobs in India. This would include jobs offshored from other locations and previous hiring plans announced separately by Barclays and ABN Amro.

ABN has about 2,000 people on its payrolls in India. It had said last month it planned to double this number in one year. Barclays, which has close to 1,000 employees in India, also said last month it would move over 200 jobs to India after closing a call centre in the UK.

Besides, the world's largest financial services firm Citigroup, which recently announced a massive reduction of over 17,000 jobs worldwide, is planning to move thousands of jobs to low-cost locations like India.

The Indian payrolls of the US firm, which already employs over 22,000 people in the country, is likely to increase by 5,000-8,000 employees following this restructuring.

Another British banking giant HSBC is also planning to increase India headcount by about 8,000 employees to take its employee strength to 30,000 by next year.

UK-based Standard Chartered Bank also plans to double its over 5,000-strong India headcount in the next three years.

Besides, a number of European banks, such as Dresdner Bank of Allianz Group and Royal Bank of Scotland, which was one of the suitors for ABN Amro, are seeking to expand their presence into India. Their entry would also result in thousands of new jobs being created here.

Besides the usual B-school graduates, banking jobs are being pursued by engineers from institutions like IITs as well in the country.

According to a recent survey conducted by Acnielsen and Org-Marg, investment banking was named in the top five industries preferred by the students of premier engineering colleges of the country, while investment banking giants like Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers were named to the top 10 list of most coveted employers.

Religion News in Brief

ap
WASHINGTON - Efforts to remove religion's influence from the public square will fail, in large part because faith plays such a major role in most Americans' lives, the recently appointed Roman Catholic archbishop of Washington said.

Archbishop Donald Wuerl's comments came at the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast on April 13. President Bush was the headline speaker.

Wuerl said the church's moral theology has helped frame debates over the Iraq war, abortion, embryonic stem cell research, physician-assisted suicide and immigration. Religious faith, Wuerl said, continues to play a significant role in both promoting social justice issues as well as "defending all innocent human life."

In his address, Wuerl echoed Pope Benedict XVI's frequent warnings about the threat of secularism.

"The dramatic shift that would substitute a secular vision of life for the traditional, faith-inclusive one disconnects us from our history," Wuerl said. "The assertion that the secular model of society is the only acceptable way of addressing public policy issues causes us to look again at the place of religion and Gospel values in our efforts to build the common good."

Wuerl's predecessor in Washington, Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, led a committee of U.S. bishops that crafted guidelines on the role of Catholics in public life. The guidelines left it to individual bishops to decide whether to withhold Holy Communion from Catholic politicians who take positions in conflict with the church.

The prayer breakfast has not been without controversy. A liberal Catholic group, Catholics United for the Common Good, called it a partisan event organized by a board of directors supportive of Republicans.

http://www.adw.org/

'Stagnant' church giving threatens programs

NEW YORK (AP) _ Donations to 65 Christian denominations rose slightly in 2005, but not enough to outpace inflation, while giving to church relief efforts was flat, according to a report by the National Council of Churches USA.

More than $34 billion in total church giving was reported to the denominations, a 2.7 percent increase from the previous year, according to findings published last month in the Yearbook of American & Canadian Churches.

Individual congregants gave an average of $713 to their churches in 2005. Some donors, meanwhile, are contributing to parishes with declining memberships, causing even greater financial challenges, the yearbook said.

Benevolence giving _ or contributions to church programs such as relief efforts and feeding or housing the homeless _ remained flat at 15 percent.

"This level of giving for benevolence will be the source of sober reflection," the report concludes. The giving trends could lead to "less support for church-sponsored day care, fewer soup-kitchen meals, less emergency help to persons with medical problems, or reduced transportation to the elderly."

http://www.ncccusa.org/

Growing Pentecostal denomination elects new leader

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) _ Bishop Charles E. Blake, an influential Southern California pastor, has been named presiding bishop of the Church of God in Christ Inc., the world's largest predominantly black Pentecostal denomination.

Blake, pastor of West Angeles Church of God in Christ in Los Angeles, replaces Presiding Bishop G.E. Patterson, who died in March at 67 of heart failure. The Memphis-based church body claims 6.5 million members worldwide, mostly in the United States.

Blake's church has a history of involvement in the local community and in global outreach programs, and he said he planned to continue that tradition.

"In addition to pursuing the basic principles of service to God and our ministry to the community in spiritual areas, my focus has always been on community development and global involvement," Blake said after his appointment, which came at the church's general assembly this month. "I certainly intend both to preserve those things and to do them on a higher level now, if we can."

The church Blake has led since 1969 is the denomination's largest congregation, with a membership of about 24,000. It has long been a key stop for California's Democratic politicians.

Blake also is founder and chief executive of Save Africa's Children, an organization that supports programs for orphans in countries throughout Africa. Actor Denzel Washington and singer Kanye West have been among its more prominent supporters.

http://www.cogic.com/

St. Paul schools sued over religious flier ban

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) _ An evangelical Christian group is suing the city's public school district in a bid to overturn its ban on religious fliers, contending that the First Amendment gives it the same right as Boy Scout troops and Little League teams that distribute recruitment material at schools.

While administrators acknowledge the district's ban on materials of a sectarian nature, a school lawyer said the district's opposition to the St. Paul Area Evangelicals' flier is that it asks parents to take their children out of class each week.

The evangelical group runs Crossroads Ministries, which for 50 years has offered Bible classes to students. It relies on a Minnesota law that allows parents to release their children from school up to three hours a week for religious education. Some schools in the district had allowed distribution in past years, according to the lawsuit, but the district now restricts access completely.

Jordan Lorence, an attorney for the Alliance Defense Fund, an Arizona-based Christian civil rights group representing the churches, said if the district has a problem allowing students to use in-school time for religious education, it should take up the issue with the state Legislature.

Jeff Lalla, attorney for the school district, said groups like the Boy Scouts or sports leagues are allowed to advertise on school grounds because their programs aren't held during school hours. Just because state law allows students to miss school for religious instruction programs, "that doesn't mean we have to advertise that they're available," Lalla said.

Jesuits closing Boston church that serves many gays

BOSTON (AP) _ A Roman Catholic religious order is closing a Boston church with a largely gay congregation, citing cost pressures.

The Jesuit Urban Center in the city's South End will close at the end of July, said the Rev. Thomas Regan, the superior of the New England Jesuits.

The sexual orientation of many in the congregation did not play a role in the decision, and there was no pressure from the Vatican or the Boston Archdiocese to shutter the church, Regan said.

The order has become financially reliant on salaries paid to members who teach at Boston College, College of the Holy Cross, and Fairfield University _ all Jesuit schools _ but as they retire or die, the order is being forced to cut back on its activities, he said.

About one-third of the order's 342 priests in New England are retired.

"A lot of people are still in the church because of the Jesuits," Regan said. "We do not want to abandon these people. ... There's a spirit among this group, and I think that's going to be lost, and that's very sad."

The Jesuit Urban Center costs the order about $350,000 a year to support, and its only significant remaining activity is a weekly Mass attended by 150 to 200 people who generate weekly collections of about $2,400, Regan said. The building, the Church of the Immaculate Conception, was dedicated in 1861 and needs $4 million to $8 million in renovations, he said.

Jesuits will continue to welcome gays and lesbians to worship at St. Ignatius of Loyola, a parish they oversee adjacent to Boston College, Regan said.

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BofA Agrees to Acquire LaSalle Bank

forbes

Bank of America Corp. confirmed Monday it will purchase LaSalle Bank Corp. from ABN Amro North America Holding Co. for $21 billion.

The deal initially was announced by ABN Amro (nyse: ABN - news - people ) when the Dutch bank agreed to sell itself to Barclays (nyse: BCS - news - people ) for nearly $91.2 billion. The net cost to Charlotte-based Bank of America (nyse: BAC - news - people ) will be $16 billion after a return of $5 billion in excess capital.

Bank of America said it expects the deal to immediately enhance its earnings per share and added that it expects around $800 million in after-tax cost savings. Restructuring costs also are expected to be around $800 million, the bank said.

LaSalle is a top-20 U.S. bank holding company, with $113 billion total assets.

The combination of LaSalle and Bank of America creates a leading banking franchise in metropolitan Chicago, the No. 3 banking market in the United States, and in Michigan.

In the last four years, Bank of America has grown its retail presence in Chicago from a single financial center to 56 locations. Once combined with LaSalle's 141 Chicago area offices, Bank of America will have more than 14 percent of the deposit market share in metropolitan Chicago.

The purchase will significantly deepen Bank of America's Chicago presence and add LaSalle's 17,000 commercial banking clients, 1.4 million retail customers, 411 banking centers and 1,500 ATMs in the Chicago area, Michigan and Indiana.

It also will mark Bank of America's retail branch entry in Michigan, where it will have 264 offices and be the largest bank with a 23 percent deposit market share.

Bank of America also will acquire LaSalle's six offices in Indiana.

Iraqi premier orders work halted on wall around Sunni area

He says barrier in Baghdad's Sunni area is a reminder of 'other walls'
AP

BAGHDAD — The U.S. ambassador to Iraq said today that the American military will "respect the wishes" of the Iraqi government regarding a barrier being built around a Sunni enclave in Baghdad, but he stopped short of saying construction would stop.

Meanwhile, bombings around Iraq killed at least 27 people and wounded nearly 60, authorities said.

Ambassador Ryan Crocker spoke at a news conference a day after Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said he had ordered the building of the barrier in Azamiyah to stop after the project drew strong criticism from residents and Sunni leaders.

"Obviously we will respect the wishes of the government and the prime minister," Crocker said at a news conference. "I'm not sure where we are right now concerning our discussions on how to move forward on this particular issue."

But he defended the principle behind the Azamiyah barrier, saying it was aimed at protecting the community, not segregating it.

Crocker, who replaced Zalmay Khalilzad as ambassador, said "these months ahead are going to be critical" and he urged Iraqi legislators to pass key legislation that it is hoped will help bring minority Sunnis into the political process.

He said the security plan was important but its main purpose was to "buy time for what ultimately has to be a set of political understandings among Iraqis.

"Clearly the road is going to be a tough one," he said. "It's going to be very, very difficult, but I certainly believe success is possible otherwise I wouldn't be standing here."

As he spoke, some 2,000 of Iraqis took to the streets in the area in northern Baghdad to protest the wall's construction, which residents have complained would isolate them from the rest of the city.

"The people of Azamiyah reject turning Baghdad into a new Green Zone," the protesters shouted, referring to the area in Baghdad that houses the Iraqi government and the U.S. and British embassies, and is fortified by tall concrete walls and checkpoints to protect it from the capital's frequent suicide car bombings, and other attacks.

Crocker said the intention of the barrier in Azamiyah as well as those constructed around markets in the capital is "to try and identify where the fault lines are and where avenues of attack lie and set up the barriers literally to prevent those attacks."

"It is in no one's intention or thinking that this is going to be a permanent state of affairs," he added.

Al-Maliki said he has ordered a halt to the U.S. military construction of the barrier Sunday in Cairo, Egypt, as he began a regional tour to shore up support from mostly Sunni Arab nations for his Shiite-dominated government.

The U.S. military announced last week that it was building a three-mile long and 12-foot tall concrete wall in Azamiyah, a Sunni stronghold whose residents have often been the victims of retaliatory mortar attacks by Shiite militants following bombings usually blamed on Sunni insurgents.

U.S. and Iraqi officials defended plans for the barrier as an effort to protect the neighborhood, but residents and Sunni leaders complained it was a form of discrimination that would isolate the community.

U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Christopher Garver declined to comment on whether construction of the wall would stop, saying only that all security measures were constantly under discussion.

"We will coordinate with the Iraqi government and Iraqi commanders in order to establish effective, appropriate security measures," he said.

The Sunni Iraqi Islamic Party had denounced the wall's construction earlier Sunday.

"Isolating parts of Baghdad with barbed wire and concrete barriers will inflict social and economic damage and it will lead to more sectarian tension," it said. "This measure will harm the residents and it will have a negative impact on the areas instead of solving the problems."

Aides to al-Sadr, who had been a key al-Maliki backer but has since withdrawn his support, also criticized the barrier as an "unacceptable" move by the United States, saying they feared Shiite areas in Baghdad like Sadr City would be next.

On Monday, three suicide bombers in different parts of Iraq killed at least 22 people and wounded more than 50, police and politicians said.

Separately, a parked car bomb also exploded outside the Iranian Embassy in Baghdad, killing one civilian, and a drive-by shooting wounded two guards at Tunisia's Embassy in the capital, police said.

One of the attacks occurred near the northern city of Mosul when a suicide attacker detonated his car in front of an office of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Massoud Barzani, leader of the autonomous Kurdish region in Iraq, an official with the group said.

At least 10 people were killed and 20 wounded in the attack in Tal Uskuf, nine miles north of Mosul, said Abdul-Ghani Ali, a KDP official.

A suicide car bomber also struck a police station in Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, killing at least 10 people and wounding 23, police said.

In central Baghdad, a bomber wearing an explosives belt blew himself up in an Iraqi restaurant in the neighborhood of Karradah Mariam, killing at least seven people and wounding 16, police said.

The attack occurred at about 11 a.m. less than 100 yards outside the heavily fortified Green Zone, home to the U.S. and British embassies and the Iraqi government's headquarters. At the time, Crocker was giving a news conference in the Green Zone.

Gunmen kill 23 Iraqi religious sect members

ny daily

BAGHDAD - Gunmen shot and killed 23 members of an ancient Christian religious sect yesterday after stopping their bus and separating them from followers of other faiths, police said.

The gunman checked identifications and removed Christians from the bus before driving with the Yazidis to eastern Mosul, where they were executed, Police Brig. Mohammed al-Wagga said.

Yazidi is a primarily Kurdish sect that worships an angel figure considered to be the Devil by some Muslims and Christians.

Abdul-Karim Khalaf, a police spokesman for Ninevah Province, said the killings were in response to the stoning two weeks ago of a Yazidi woman. She ran off with a Muslim but was dragged home to Bashika by her family and stoned to death, Khalaf said.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, meanwhile, refuted widespread reports of "a civil or sectarian war" yesterday.

He also said he would halt construction of a U.S. military-proposed barrier that would have separated a Sunni enclave from surrounding Shiites in Baghdad.

In all, at least 72 people were killed or found dead in Iraq yesterday, including 24 bullet-riddled bodies.

The U.S. military also reported the deaths of three soldiers - two in attacks in Baghdad on Saturday and a third from an unidentified noncombat cause.

BBC NEWS | Health | Millions in Iraq to get MMR jab

BBC NEWS | Health | Millions in Iraq to get MMR jab

Millions in Iraq to get MMR jab
A major immunisation campaign is to take place in Iraq in a bid to prevent an outbreak of measles.
The World Health Organization and Unicef are overseeing the work of 8,000 volunteers who aim to give up to 3.9 million children the MMR vaccine.

The children, aged one to five, have missed out on their routine jabs because of the instability in Iraq.

Health experts warn measles could kill up to 10% of infected children if an epidemic took hold.


This vaccine will certainly save many young lives
Roger Wright, Unicef

While measles in countries like the UK is often perceived as a relatively harmless childhood illness, it kills more worldwide each year than any other disease which can be prevented by vaccination.

Iraq's Ministry of Health is organising the two-week MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) immunisation campaign, which is also being funded by the European Commission.

'Window of opportunity'

Dr Naeema Al-Ghasser, the World Health Organization (WHO) representative for Iraq, said: "All children between 12-59 months everywhere in Iraq need to be immunised, even if they have had the vaccine before.

"The vaccine is safe and effective, and gives lifelong immunity against measles."

Roger Wright, Unicef special representative for Iraq added: "The timing of this MMR campaign is critical.

"This vaccine will certainly save many young lives and we are calling on everyone in Iraq to ensure vaccinators reach children safely over the next two weeks."

The campaign is part of Iraq's Measles Elimination Plan, which has so far reduced the incidence of measles cases nearly 20-fold - from 9,181 in 2004 to under 500 last year.

However, the country's growing humanitarian crisis has added to the challenges, increasing the risks for vaccinators and making it harder to calculate numbers of children to immunise.

There is particular concern about reaching children in the most violent parts of Baghdad, Diyala and Anbar.

Dr Al-Ghasser said: "We have a short window of opportunity to give children lifelong protection against a dangerous disease. This MMR campaign must proceed unhindered and unite everyone for children's sake."

Unicef recently called for increased funding for its work in Iraq. It says it urgently needs an initial $20m - of which only 11% has been received to date.

Story from BBC NEWS:
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Published: 2007/04/20 23:00:32 GMT

© BBC MMVII

BBC NEWS | Programmes | From Our Own Correspondent | Refugees create new 'Baghdad'

BBC NEWS | Programmes | From Our Own Correspondent | Refugees create new 'Baghdad'

Refugees create new 'Baghdad'
By Lyse Doucet
BBC News, Damascus


Millions of Iraqis have been forced to leave their homes because of the continuing violence in the country. Many of them have fled to Damascus where the Syrian government is asking why the Americans and the British are not doing more to ease the refugee problem.


WHERE IRAQIS HAVE FLED TO
Syria: 1,200,000
Jordan: 750,000
Gulf states: 200,000
Egypt: 100,000
Iran: 54,000
Lebanon: 40,000
Turkey: 10,000
Internally displaced: 1,900,000
Source: UNHCR



"This is Baghdad," asserts Hussain.

We are sitting on brightly coloured plastic chairs on the sidewalk of Sharea al Iraqi (Iraqi street) in the Syrian capital.

The street used to be called something else but no-one remembers that now.

And it does not look like that anymore.


The shop signs tell this story.

There is Baghdad bakery doing a brisk trade, Soulemaniyeh sweets, the Falluja restaurant.

Billboard after billboard announces transport to and from Iraqi cities.

The signs are all Iraqi, so are the accents, so is the way the women arrange their headscarves.


Western countries, including the US and Britain, have so far kept their doors shut for the vast majority of asylum seekers


I ask Hussain why he left the real Baghdad.

He raises one leg of his black and red tracksuit to reveal a round dark circle, a scar.

Then he pulls up one sleeve and shows me another - the marks of bullets meant to kill him when he was working at the Ministry of the Interior, a place reputed to be dominated by Shia hit squads.

He is Shia himself.

Here he sits with Basel, a Sunni Muslim.

So why did Basel leave?

Basel makes a slitting motion across his throat.

Sitting tight

I realise this line of men sipping glasses of hot sweet tea along the side of a shop is not just a grim sign of joblessness but a sad reminder of what has been lost.

"You're all sitting together here," I say, "Shia, Sunnis, Christians..."


Arab neighbours do not dare speak out publicly against a sacred notion of Arab unity but Jordan is quietly tightening its borders and sending some people back


It coaxes the faintest of smiles and then a grimace.

They shake their heads at the horrific sectarian violence threatening to tear Iraq apart.

"This is the new Iraq," declares Basel, with a kick in his voice meant to convince himself and everyone else.

He fled to Damascus last year but then went back to Baghdad a few months ago, hoping the new US-led security plan for his capital would work.

But now he is back in Syria and does not want to return again to what he calls "my death".

That seems to be the view, however reluctant, of many of the more than one million Iraqis now in Syria. And, there are some 750,000 more in neighbouring Jordan.

But where will they go?


Refugee crisis

Western countries, including the US and Britain, have so far kept their doors shut for the vast majority of asylum seekers.

Syria and Jordan euphemistically speak of "visitors" or "guests."

They do not want a new Iraq created on their land.

Sixty years ago, Palestinian refugees flooded across their borders in the 1948 Arab Israeli war and still have not left.

This movement of Iraqis is being called the biggest displacement of people since then, a massive exodus which will change the face of this region.


For now, there are no tented camps. Wealthy Iraqis are buying or renting their own homes - poorer ones slip into poorer neighbourhoods


Just how is still not clear but the scale of this human wave is staggering.

Iraqis now make up about 10-15% of Jordan's tiny population of less than six million.

Arab neighbours do not dare speak out publicly against a sacred notion of Arab unity but Jordan is quietly tightening its borders and sending some people back.

Jordanians and Syrians grumble discreetly about the rising price of everything from houses to tomatoes.

Many ask why should they shoulder a crisis they charge the US and Britain with starting by invading Iraq.

And the UN has been accusing everyone of "abject denial."

Little choice

After this week's conference in Geneva, there are more promises of aid.

But this tide shows no sign of stopping. Tens of thousands pour from Iraq every month.

For now, there are no tented camps. Wealthy Iraqis are buying or renting their own homes while poorer ones slip into poorer neighbourhoods.

But they are becoming increasingly destitute.

It is hard to find work. "I have two choices", says Iman who fled to Damascus with her teenage twins after her husband was assassinated.

She is Shia. Her husband was a Sunni.

"I can go back to Iraq but my brother-in-law will rip my children away from me. Or I can stay here and beg. But my children say it is better for all of us to die than for their mother to be a beggar."

I ask if she would like to go back to Iraq, if she could.

"Don't mention Iraq," she pleads, "it made me love my husband, my job, my life but now I despise it."

I ask her if she has a photograph of her children.

She draws a breath, and pulls a yellowed snapshot from her purse, its corners creased with time.

In the blurred image I see her, a younger woman laughing with ease, hair falling to her shoulders, her arms around her husband, their children in his arms, and a Christmas tree.

"You, a Muslim, celebrated Christmas?" I ask. She nods and looks away.

The past is another country. This was Baghdad of old, an ancient land of cherished traditions, the capital of capitals in the Middle East.

For now, that Baghdad is gone.


From Our Own Correspondent was broadcast on Saturday, 21 April, 2007 at 1130 GMT on BBC Radio 4. Please check the programme schedules for World Service transmission times.

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Published: 2007/04/21 11:02:19 GMT

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BBC NEWS | Middle East | US marines 'devalued Iraqi lives'

BBC NEWS | Middle East | US marines 'devalued Iraqi lives'

US marines 'devalued Iraqi lives'
The US Marine Corps fostered a climate that devalued Iraqi lives, a US general investigating the 2005 killing of Iraqi civilians in Haditha has said.
The report, submitted in 2006 but now declassified, said the US military had ignored signs of "serious misconduct", according to the Washington Post.

A total of 24 men, women and children were killed at Haditha by marines who said they were attacked by insurgents.

A criminal investigation into the incident is continuing.

The Haditha inquiry is just one of a number the US military has been conducting into incidents of alleged unlawful killings by US forces in Iraq.

Video footage

Maj Gen Eldon Bargewell's report is an indictment of actions throughout the whole chain of command, from the general in charge to the men who carried out the killings on 19 November, 2005.

"All levels of command tended to view civilian casualties, even in significant numbers, as routine and as the natural and intended result of insurgent tactics," the US newspaper quotes him as saying.

Gen Bargewell said statements taken from those involved suggested the marines thought "Iraqi civilian lives are not as important as US lives, their deaths are just the cost of doing business, and that the marines need to get 'the job done' no matter what it takes".





The US military's initial statement on Haditha said that a marine and 15 civilians had been killed in a roadside bomb. A subsequent firefight had left eight insurgents dead, it said.

However, a local journalist took video footage showing men, women and children shot in their homes. Locals said the marines had gone on a rampage.

The US military instigated investigations and confirmed that 24 Iraqi civilians had died, none of them killed by a roadside bomb.

Three marines have since been charged with unpremeditated murder and four with attempting to cover up the incident.

Gen Bargewell is quoted as saying officers had tried to protect themselves and their troops by wilfully ignoring reports of civilian deaths.

There was no interest in investigating reports of a massacre, although there was also no specific cover-up, he is reported to have said.

The general's report, filed in June last year, does not address the specifics of the killings, which are the subject of the criminal case, rather it tackles the command structure and investigation procedure.

Gen Bargewell found that the marines had not identified targets properly, the Washington Post says.

The report also says the marines' story was passed up the chain of command and at all levels signs that the incident was significant were ignored.

A military judge has yet to decide if there is enough evidence against the seven accused marines to convene a court martial.

Story from BBC NEWS:
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Published: 2007/04/21 14:57:36 GMT

© BBC MMVII

BBC NEWS | South Asia | US concern over Iran Afghan role

BBC NEWS | South Asia | US concern over Iran Afghan role

US concern over Iran Afghan role
A senior official in the US State Department has expressed growing concern at Iran's role in Afghanistan.
Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher said Iran might be becoming involved in an "unhealthy" way.

The remarks follow reports from Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen Peter Pace that US troops had intercepted Iranian-made arms intended for use by the Taleban.

It was not clear if the Iranian government was directly to blame, Gen Pace said.

Iran has rejected the allegations, the Associated Press news agency said.

Washington has repeatedly accused Iran of arming and training militants in Iraq and of seeking to develop nuclear weapons, charges which it denies.

But Gen Pace's remarks are the first suggestion that Tehran could be helping Afghan insurgents.

Mortars and explosives

Mr Boucher said Iran had played a positive role in Afghanistan's reconstruction and fighting the drugs trade since the fall of the Taleban in 2001.

But in the past year reports had appeared of political and military involvement, he said.

"We have been seeing a series of indicators that Iran is maybe getting more involved in an unhealthy way in Afghanistan," he said.

On Tuesday Gen Pace said coalition forces had intercepted Iranian-made mortars and plastic explosives destined for the Taleban.

But he said that unlike in Iraq it was not clear which "entity" in Iran was responsible for sending the weapons.

Iran, a Shia Islamic state, supported the Northern Alliance against the Sunni Taleban in a decade of conflict which ended with the Taleban's overthrow in December 2001.

Tehran initially cooperated with US forces fighting insurgents in Afghanistan, and as late as February this year the US military said there was no evidence Iran had sent any weapons to the Taleban.

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Published: 2007/04/18 12:47:09 GMT

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Sunni leader attacks Baghdad wall

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Sunni leader attacks Baghdad wall

Sunni leader attacks Baghdad wall
A senior Sunni politician has condemned a US military project to build a concrete wall around a Sunni enclave in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.
US forces say the wall, which will separate Adhamiya from nearby Shia districts, aims to prevent sectarian violence between the two communities.

But Adnan al-Dulaimi, who heads the biggest Sunni bloc in parliament, says it will breed yet more strife.

Some Adhamiya residents have said the wall will make their district a prison.

Adhamiya lies on the mainly Shia Muslim east bank of the Tigris river and violence regularly flares between the enclave and nearby Shia areas.

Construction of the 5km (three-mile) concrete wall began on 10 April and the US military says it hopes to complete the project by the end of the month.


I resent the barrier. It will make Adhamiya a big prison
Mustafa
Adhamiya resident

Once the 3.6m (12 ft) wall is finished, people will enter and leave Adhamiya through a small number of checkpoints guarded by US and Iraqi forces.

The US military says the barrier is the centrepiece of its strategy to end sectarian violence in the area but insists there are no plans to divide up the whole city into gated communities.

Senior Sunni cleric Adnan al-Dulaimi, who leads the General Council for the People of Iraq which is part of the Iraqi Accord Front, said the wall was a disaster.

Speaking to an Iraqi news agency, he said it would separate Adhamiya from the rest of Baghdad and help breed further violence.

'Maze of walls'

Some Adhamiya residents said the wall would harden the capital's already bitter sectarian divide.


"Erecting concrete walls between neighbourhoods is not a solution to the collapse in security and the rampant violence," housewife Um Haider told the AFP news agency.

"If so, Baghdadis would find themselves in a maze of high walls overnight, " she said.

"I resent the barrier. It will make Adhamiya a big prison," another resident, Mustafa, said.

Other residents also expressed alarm and said they had not been consulted before construction began.

"This will make the whole district a prison. This is collective punishment on the residents of Adhamiya," Ahmed al-Dulaimi told the Associated Press news agency.

"We are in our fourth year of occupation and we are seeing the number of blast walls increasing day after day," he said.

US and Iraqi troops have long built cement barriers around key locations in Baghdad and other cities to prevent attacks, especially suicide car bombings.

But no-one claims that such barriers and walls are protection in themselves, correspondents say.

Iraq has been in the grip of raging sectarian violence since the bombing of an important Shia shrine in Samarra in February 2006.


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Published: 2007/04/21 13:45:22 GMT

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BBC NEWS | South Asia | Taleban uses boy to behead 'spy'

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Taleban uses boy to behead 'spy'


Taleban uses boy to behead 'spy'
The Taleban in Afghanistan have used a boy of around 12 to behead a man they accused of spying for the US.
Parts of a video of the beheading were broadcast on the Dubai-based al-Arabiya TV network.

The Taleban said the dead man, Ghulam Nabi, had given the US information which led to an air strike in which a senior Taleban commander died.

The video footage shows Mr Nabi being blindfolded with a chequered scarf and making what is said to be a confession.

The boy, wearing a camouflage jacket and wielding a large knife, denounces him as a spy and then cuts off his head.

The father of Mr Nabi, who lives in Pakistan and who confirmed that his son was the man killed in the video, said his son had been a loyal member of the Taleban.

Senior Taleban commander Akhtar Mohammad Osmani was killed during a December air strike on his car in southern Afghanistan.


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http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/south_asia/6579487.stm

Published: 2007/04/21 14:13:15 GMT

Germany OKs unsealing Nazi archive - Europe - MSNBC.com

Germany OKs unsealing Nazi archive - Europe - MSNBC.com

Germany OKs unsealing Nazi archive
Agreement for unsealing Holocaust records must be ratified by 11 countries
The Associated Press
Updated: 9:26 p.m. ET April 19, 2007
THE HAGUE, Netherlands - An international agreement to unseal a long-closed archive of Nazi concentration camp documents for scholarship has won crucial endorsement from Germany, officials said Thursday, giving the accord a majority among the 11-nations overseeing the treasure of historical documents.

The German Embassy in Washington announced that President Horst Koehler signed the ratification papers April 13, adopting amendments to the 1955 treaties governing the archive.

The storehouse of 30 million to 50 million pages is administered by the International Tracing Service, an arm of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

The announcement came as the oversight committee prepared to meet next month in The Hague to finalize arrangements for the transfer of digital copies to other Holocaust research centers, where survivors will be able to see their own files and historical researchers will be allowed to cull them for new insights into the Nazi machinery of persecution.

Key endorsement
All 11 nations must ratify the amendments before they take effect. But Germany's endorsement was crucial because of its place in history as the successor to the Nazi regime and because the archives are on German soil, in the central town of Bad Arolsen, and subject to German law.

Germany is the sixth nation to ratify after the United States, Israel, Poland, the Netherlands and Britain.

The remaining countries are Belgium, France, Italy, Greece and Luxembourg. Most have said they intend to complete ratification before the end of the year.

The collection of captured Nazi documents — death books, transportation lists, camp registrations, forced labor registers — was handed to the Red Cross to help find missing persons and reunite families in the postwar chaos. It later was used to validate compensation claims by survivors or victims' relatives.

Access to files rarely granted
Since 1955, it has handled more than 11 million requests for information, but it rarely has allowed anyone but Red Cross staff to see the material.

The files contain references to 17.5 million names. Their historical importance became clearer in recent months after The Associated Press obtained extensive access to the material on condition that victims not be identified fully.

The amendments were adopted last May after Germany lifted long-held objections that victims' privacy would be violated.

But the ratification process, requiring parliamentary approval in most countries, proved more arduous than anticipated, disappointing aging survivors.

Last week, the U.S. Senate adopted a resolution urging the remaining countries to quickly complete the legal steps.

The measure, introduced by Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, also urged the commission at its May meeting to approve the immediate distribution of copies that already have been digitized.

© 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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