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TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran suspended the nationwide operations of Arab TV broadcaster Al-Jazeera on April 18, accusing it of inflaming violent protests by the Arab minority in its southwest, state-run TV reported. Al-Jazeera, which is popular among Iran's Arab-speaking minority, is believed to have been the first news outlet to broadcast news of the unrest in Khuzistan province along the border with Iraq. Several people were reported to have been killed. The station's commentators discussed the clashes on talk shows as well. Tehran ordered the station to cease operations until the network explained the motives behind its coverage. "If...

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - The U.S. military said Monday that an investigation into an explosion that destroyed five fuel tankers parked outside its main base in southern Afghanistan was an accident, not the result of a Taliban attack. At least three drivers were injured in the blast early Sunday, and Afghan officials were quick to blame Taliban rebels. But U.S. military spokeswoman Lt. Cindy Moore said the blast, which sent plumes of black smoke billowing over Kandahar, was caused by "faulty fuel tanks." She said military investigators determined that the blast originated inside one of the trucks, not outside. "More...

JERUSALEM (AP) - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is considering delaying the planned Gaza pullout until mid-August, after the completion of a three-week Jewish mourning period that marks the destruction of the two biblical temples, an Israeli official said Monday. The withdrawal from all Gaza Strip and four northern West Bank settlements is scheduled to begin at the end of July and last four weeks. Yonatan Bassi, the government official responsible for compensating and relocating Jewish settlers slated for evacuation, suggested to Sharon during Sunday's Cabinet meeting that the withdrawal be delayed by three weeks, Bassi's spokesman, Haim Altman, said....

JERUSALEM - Israel will not attack Iran to destroy its nuclear program, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Wednesday, a day after meeting President Bush in Texas. Sharon told CNN he did not see "unilateral action" as an option. He said Israel did not need to take a leading role in attempts to deny nuclear weapons to Iran and called again for an international coalition to deal with the issue. Sharon said Iran was years away from possessing a nuclear weapon but only months away from overcoming "technical problems" in building one. "Once they will solve it, that will be the...

NEW YORK (AP) - A study of news coverage of the war in Iraq fails to support a conclusion that events were portrayed either negatively or positively most of the time. The Project for Excellence in Journalism looked at nearly 2,200 stories on television, newspapers and Web sites and found that most of them couldn't be categorized either way. Twenty-five percent of the stories were negative and 20 percent were positive, according to the study, released Sunday by the Washington-based think tank. Despite the exhaustive look, the study likely won't change the minds of war supporters who considered the media...

By Craig Whitlock Washington Post Foreign Service Sunday, March 13, 2005; Page A01 MILAN -- A radical Egyptian cleric known as Abu Omar was walking to a Milan mosque for noon prayers in February 2003 when he was grabbed on the sidewalk by two men, sprayed in the face with chemicals and stuffed into a van. He hasn't been seen since. Milan investigators, however, now appear to be close to identifying his kidnappers. Last month, officials showed up at Aviano Air Base in northern Italy and demanded records of any American planes that had flown into or out of the...

BEIRUT, Lebanon, March 9 - Nine days after Lebanon's pro-Syrian prime minister, Omar Karami, was forced to quit under pressure by opponents of Syria's occupation, he was voted back into the post on Wednesday by the Lebanese Parliament. Mr. Karami was chosen by 71 deputies out of a current total of 126, according to the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation television. The president, Émile Lahoud, is bound by the choice of Parliament - which is dominated by pro-Syrian deputies - and will appoint him on Thursday. The nomination of a Syria supporter angered those who have sought an end to the influence...

JERUSALEM (AP) - Israel's Minister for Internal Security said Monday he would recommend the arrest of a Jewish right-wing activist, invoking a rarely used legal provision to deal with a wave of threats to government supporters of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Gaza disengagement program. Gideon Ezra said he would recommend that Itamar Ben Gvir of the outlawed Kach Party be arrested under administrative detention provisions, which give the government the right to hold suspects for an unlimited period of time without charging them or bringing them to trial. Ben Gvir, a prominent right-wing activist, tussled briefly last week with the...

Abbas Declares War With Israel Effectively Over By STEVEN ERLANGER Published: February 14, 2005 GAZA, Feb. 13 - The new Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas, said in an interview this weekend that the war with the Israelis is effectively over and that the Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, is speaking "a different language" to the Palestinians. Mr. Sharon's commitment to withdraw from Gaza and dismantle all Israeli settlements there and four in the West Bank, despite "how much pressure is on him from the Israeli Likud rightists," Mr. Abbas said, "is a good sign to start with" on the road to...

The small, pilotless planes, penetrating Iranian airspace from U.S. military facilities in Iraq, use radar, video, still photography and air filters designed to pick up traces of nuclear activity to gather information not accessible to satellites... Developing...

Support The DrudgeReport; Visit Our Advertisers THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary (Great Falls, Montana) ____________________________________________________________________________________ For Immediate Release February 3, 2005 SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT Participants get 100% of Their Personal Retirement Accounts, Both Principal and Interest Myth: Jonathan Weisman's Washington Post Story today (p A13), includes the headline that "Participants would Forfeit Part of Accounts' Profits," which is flat wrong. The article says workers who opt for personal accounts "would ultimately get to keep only the investment returns that exceed the rate of return that the money would have accrued in the traditional system." This statement,...

BAGHDAD — Iraq's interim government has met U.S. officials and Iraqi politicians regarding a postponement of the Jan. 30 elections. Iraqi officials said Prime Minister Iyad Alawi and Defense Minister Hazem Shalaan have determined that insurgents would torpedo Sunni participation in the elections, a move that could split the country. "Alawi sees no point in the elections, but doesn't want to do anything without a consensus that would include the United States," an Iraqi official said. "He has been talking to everybody to ensure that any delay would be limited and agreed by all." Sunni insurgents have stepped up attacks...

THE world may be better off if Osama Bin Laden remains at large, according to the Central Intelligence Agency’s recently departed executive director. If the world’s most wanted terrorist is captured or killed, a power struggle among his Al-Qaeda subordinates may trigger a wave of terror attacks, said AB “Buzzy” Krongard, who stepped down six weeks ago as the CIA’s third most senior executive. “You can make the argument that we’re better off with him (at large),” Krongard said. “Because if something happens to Bin Laden, you might find a lot of people vying for his position and demonstrating how...

The City Council on Wednesday overwhelmingly passed legislation that would allow crime victims to sue gun manufacturers and dealers who do not follow a set of selling and distribution guidelines. The sponsors of the gun safety package say that by restricting and punishing members of the gun industry, New York's streets will see significantly less gun violence. "Starting today, if they don't clean up their act, they're going to face stiff penalties in courts of law and have to pay compensation to the victims," said Councilman David Yassky, the legislation's main sponsor. Guns used in New York crimes are usually...