Free Republic

By Alan Philps in Jerusalem (Filed: 04/03/2003) Eight Palestinians, including a pregnant woman and a boy of 14, were killed when Israeli forces launched an overnight incursion in the Gaza Strip. Commandos stormed the house of Mohammed Taha, 67, one of the founders and political leaders of the militant group Hamas, and arrested him and three of his sons. Soldiers also blew up a dozen houses belonging to suicide bombers. During one of the operations, the blast blew a wall down in a neighbouring house on top of Nuha Maqadmeh, 35, who was expecting a baby in 10 days. She...

March 04, 2003 US intelligence services may have already started the war in cyberspace – many of the world's jihad sites are off line. The expertise of jihadists and Osama bin Laden's supporters took the US by surprise, and their websites were influential in radicalising Muslims around the world. Australia's support for the US has led to an increasing number of mentions. Now out of service are such major sites as Taliban Online, which was at www.muslimthai.com on a Bangkok server, and islammemo.com, regarded as a reliable source of al-Qa'ida information. Anti-US, anti-Christian and extremist websites such as jehad-online.com, eljihad.com,...

<p>WASHINGTON (CNN) --The Bush administration plans to formally protest North Korea's actions during a weekend incident in which four North Korean jet fighters intercepted a U.S. surveillance plane over the Sea of Japan, officials said Monday.</p> <p>The administration also said the incident could persuade China and Russia to be more open to U.S. requests to apply pressure on Pyongyang.</p>

Wade Boese The United States has reportedly increased pressure on Israel about its arms sales to China, and Israel has given assurances that it will not export any item that could harm U.S. security, according to U.S. and Israeli officials in January. U.S. concerns about Israeli arms sales to China have existed for more than a decade and came to a head in July 2000 when the United States persuaded Israel to cancel the sale of the Phalcon, an advanced, airborne early-warning system, to China. Afterward, U.S.-Israeli differences over arms sales to China publicly receded but resurfaced in early January...

The United States has again expressed concern over Israel's use of house demolitions in operations against Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher says demolishing civilian structures deprives Palestinians of shelter and worsens the humanitarian situation in Palestinian areas. He spoke Monday, hours after an Israeli raid in Gaza left eight Palestinians dead, including a pregnant women killed by falling debris when Israeli forces destroyed a house said to be used by suicide bombers. But Mr. Boucher says he understands Israel's right to defend itself and he called on Palestinians to stop terror attacks on Israelis....

Agence France-Presse Moscow, March 3 Russia has dispatched representatives to the UN Security Council in New York to discuss a role for the Russian military in UN weapons inspections in Iraq, a top official was quoted as saying on Monday. "A team of experts from the foreign and defence ministries flew to New York on Saturday to hold consultations on the practical involvement of Russian military in international inspectors' continued monitoring in Iraq," deputy chief of the general staff, General Yury Baluyevsky, told news agencies. The Russian announcement came after Chinese state media said on Monday that Beijing is willing...

Pyongyang, March 2 (KCNA) -- Of late huge U.S. air force is deployed in South Korea, Japan and around the Korean Peninsula according to the orders issued by the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. air forces command in South Korea put its units at semi-war footing and the U.S. military revoked the return home of the officers and men whose service has already expired and let them join in combat units. In another development, the U.S. is going to stage large-scale war exercises throughout South Korea. Rodong Sinmun today in a signed article describes all this as forward...

BORZOU DARAGAHI, Associated Press WriterMonday, March 3, 2003 ©2003 Associated Press URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2003/03/03/international1553EST0640.DTL (03-03) 12:53 PST KANICHNARA, Iraq (AP) -- The fighters say they are Iraqi patriots who came to Kurdish northern Iraq to fight off foreign invaders -- but the green telephone at their camp has a sticker identifying it as the property of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards. They drive the beige Nissan Patrols favored by the Iranian military and speak Farsi, the language of Iran. They are Shiite warriors of the Badr Brigades -- the military wing of an Iraqi opposition group based in Iran and supported by...

ISLAMABAD, March 03 (Online): Pakistan Sunday ruled out the possibility of initiation of diplomatic and trade relations with Israel because of Tel Aviv's growing nuclear and defense ties with India. Trade Minister Hamayun Akhtar Khan to a question raised by Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal leader Maulvi Noor Muhammad, told the National Assembly in writing that Pakistan keeping in view the stand of Muslim countries will not start diplomatic relations with Israel. Due to the sensitivity of the issue, Pakistan does not consider appropriate to initiate trade ties with Israel, the minister further wrote. The minister further said entering into diplomatic and trade...

<p>KUWAIT (Reuters) — Kuwait said Monday that it will stop as much as a third of its oil output if war erupts in Iraq, underlining concerns that more than just Iraqi supplies will be stopped during a conflict.</p> <p>The state Kuwait Oil Co. said it would close its northern oilfields near the border with Iraq as a safety precaution, eliminating 400,000 barrels per day of Kuwait's 2.1 million bpd. It also said the 300,000 bpd western Manakish oilfield might be closed.</p>

Jerusalem, Feb.3. (UNI): An Israeli businessman and four Americans were arrested in the US on charges of smuggling replacement parts for Sidewinder air-to-air missiles, ground-to-air Hawk missiles and Phantom fighter jets and selling them to China. David Menashe, the managing director of Kam-Tech Systems in Tel Aviv, was arrested at Los Angeles airport on four counts of making false statements to customs officials, including violating U S customs laws and making false import declarations, according to a report in the Ha'aretz. He could face up to five years in jail if convicted. Menashe was later released on bail of $750,000....

By Bradley FloryStaff Writer Parents began calling Frost Elementary School and the Jackson County Health Department as word spread of the death of 9-year-old Natalie H. Emmons. They wanted to know one thing: Should we worry about our children? Emmons, a fourth-grader at Frost, died Thursday after being sick with flu-like symptoms. She had a seizure and then cardiac arrest. She is at least the eighth child in Michigan to die in the last month after a flu-like illness. Her death comes as Jackson County is at the peak of flu season. "We don't want parents to panic, but we...

Mon March 3, 2003 10:19 AM ET WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. spending on new construction surged unexpectedly by 1.7 percent in January to a record level, the government said on Monday, as home builders rushed to keep up with demand for new homes and improvements. Construction outlays rose to an $877.9 billion annual rate in the month, the Commerce Department said. Analysts polled by Reuters were expecting a 0.5 percent increase. The pace of residential construction soared to $452.6 billion, a record high, spurred by the lowest mortgage interest rates since the mid-1960s. Outlays for private construction rose to a...

Mon March 3, 2003 09:28 AM ET WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. consumer spending, long a mainstay of the economy, slid unexpectedly in January as shoppers took home fewer long-lasting durable goods, the government said on Monday. The Commerce Department said consumer spending dipped 0.1 percent, its first drop since September of last year, after a gain of 1.0 percent in December. Personal incomes in January rose by 0.3 percent. Wall Street analysts polled by Reuters had expected spending to post a 0.1 percent gain in January while incomes had been expected to post a 0.4 percent increase in the month....

New Poll: Americans OpposePalestinian Arab State, 71%-13%   ZOA To Bush: "Peaceful, Democratic Palestine" Not BasedOn Reality; A Palestinian Arab State Will Be A Terrorist State       NEW YORK- The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) disagrees with President Bush's statement that a Palestinian Arab state can be a "peaceful and democratic" state that will coexist with Israel. The Palestinian Arabs' ongoing terrorist war against Israel and their culture of anti-Jewish hatred and violence demonstrates that a Palestinian Arab state will inevitably be a terrorist state.     The Palestinian Arabs have consistently violated the conditions that President Bush spelled...

The Associated Press JERUSALEM March 2 — Israeli tanks firing shells and machine guns moved into two neighboring refugee camps in central Gaza on Monday, witnesses said. No casualties were reported in the incursion, the second into Gaza in as many days. Witnesses said the focus of the incursion was the Bureij camp, where tanks surrounded two houses and soldiers demanded residents leave. One of the houses belongs to Mohammed Taha, the local Hamas leader. Gunfights were reported. The violence came after Israel's new Cabinet ministers officially took office on Sunday, bringing to power a hawkish government that appears set...

Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, has told Bulgarian leaders the Iraq crisis must be resolved by peaceful means. Mr. Putin met with Bulgarian President Georgi Purvanov in Sofia. Vladimir Putin Mr. Putin told reporters that Bulgaria and Russia disagree on how to deal with the Iraq crisis. But the Russian leader stressed that every country determines what he called "its foreign political course, guided by its interests." He made it clear he did not want to interfere in Bulgaria's internal affairs. Bulgaria, one of the non-permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, has spoken out strongly in favor of the United...

The North appears ready to start up a reprocessing plant.By Robert Marquand | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor TOKYO - Satellite photos indicating that North Korea is cranking up its nuclear program - turning on its Yongbyon reactor and testing equipment that reprocesses spent-fuel rods - are deepening worries in Japan that Kim Jong Il is approaching a point of no return in his self-styled standoff with the US.Asian diplomats acknowledge the US wants North Korea to make the next diplomatic move. But Mr. Kim, they say, is using US preoccupation with Iraq to engage in activity that...

VICTIM: A boy, injured in Israeli raids on Gaza Strip, being treated in hospital yesterday. — AFP GAZA CITY — Three Palestinians, including a nine-year-old boy, were killed by the Israeli Army yesterday in the Gaza Strip, as Shaul Mofaz began his second term as defence minister with a vow to crack down harder on Palestinian fighters. Israeli tanks thrust into the southern Gaza Strip refugee camp of Khan Yunis overnight after a large bomb flipped an Israeli personnel carrier against a wall, injuring two soldiers, an army spokesman said. The incursion met fierce resistance, sparking gunbattles which killed...

Iraq's foreign minister has called a United Arab Emirates Cabinet minister a "Zionist agent" and accused the Gulf state of speaking for Israel by making the first public call by an Arab country for Saddam Hussein to step down. "This is a paper that comes from (Israeli Prime Minister) Ariel Sharon," Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri told reporters Saturday in reaction to a letter United Arab Emirates President Sheik Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan had submitted to an Arab League summit proposing that Saddam step down to avert war. Sheik Zayed's proposal was not publicly embraced by other Arab leaders....