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<p>LONDON -- The diary of a former personal secretary to Osama bin Laden reveals that al Qaeda may have been using a popular blue gemstone to help finance its operations as early as 1995.</p> <p>The day planner of Wadih el Hage, who was convicted last year of conspiracy in connection with the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, provides the strongest documentary evidence to date of al Qaeda's involvement in the tanzanite trade.</p>

BEIJING (Reuters) - China will cut import tariffs on textile products and metals, including steel products, to 8.4 percent from 11.5 percent, effective Nov. 1, the finance ministry said on Sunday.

Taliban fighters aren't just making gains on the battlefield: They're also bleeding away a revenue source that is crucial for Afghanistan to pay for its military without US help. The Afghan government will earn about $30 million in 2015 from its mineral sector for the third straight year, far short of a previous projection of $1.5 billion, according to Mines and Petroleum Minister Daud Shah Saba. That's also a quarter of what smugglers -mostly linked to the Taliban and local warlords -earn annually selling rubies and emeralds, he said.

Islamic SocialismFrom the CIA factbook: Following a 1969 military coup, Col. Muammar Abu Minyar al-QADHAFI began to espouse his own political system, the Third Universal Theory. The system was a combination of socialism and Islam derived in part from tribal practices and was supposed to be implemented by the Libyan people themselves in a unique form of "direct democracy.[1] The "Green Book" - Arabism, Islam & socialism, with Islam the main line Author John L. Esposito: Under Qaddafi three interrelated ideas were woven into Libya's ideological identity: Pan-Arabism, socialism, and Islam. Qaddafi's appeals to Islam were influenced by his...

Prosecutors trying former Liberian president Charles Taylor for war crimes are asking judges to subpoena supermodel Naomi Campbell as a witness in the U.N. case against the exiled leader. Prosecutors filed a motion asking for Campbell’s testimony about uncut “blood diamonds” given to Campbell by Taylor while the two attended a dinner at the home of South African president Nelson Mandela in 1997.

PORTLAND — A former Washington state Transportation Department engineer yesterday has found himself, his imam and his mosque swept into an unfolding investigation by Portland's joint terrorism force led by the FBI. Farid Adlouni, a civil engineer and U.S. citizen who once worked out of the Vancouver office, was profiled in The Oregonian newspaper yesterday as a man with business ties to a top Osama bin Laden aide and who has attracted FBI scrutiny. Adlouni, 38, yesterday said he had "done nothing wrong." The imam, Mohammad Abdirahman Kariye, also a U.S. citizen, was recently charged with two felony counts of...

Botswana: Senator Jefferson Graces Nchindo Charge SheetMmegi/The Reporter (Gaborone) 10 January 2008 Posted to the web 10 January 2008 Tshireletso Motlogelwa The embattled United States Senator, William Jefferson has turned up in the charge sheet brought by the prosecution against former Debswana chief executive, Louis Nchindo and other senior members of the company. Jefferson, who late last year was served with a 95 page long indictment by the US department of justice on a wide range of criminal charges relating to his various trips to Africa, visited Botswana a few years ago on two occasions. Late last year, the media...

Ok, I want to propose. I dont know how to go about a ring. I want something cheap but nice. She is the nicest, most understanding woman on the planet, but I dont want to look like a cheapskate. I am not that rich. going into my life savings for this. any freepers have any advice. I would like to propose on Canadian thankgiving in Oct. She lives in Toronto. plan to be moved in with her by Christmas *smile*

Confusion surrounded the recent whereabouts of the right-hand man of Saddam Hussein's oldest son Uday after Iraqi exile groups claimed he had defected last week after disappearing from a hotel in Beirut. The reports circulated for several days before Adeeb Shabaan emerged in Damascus last night and insisted that he was in Syria on an unspecified work trip and had not defected. Mr Shaaban, 47, is officially head of the Iraqi Photographic Association and a Baghdad newspaper editor, but in practice he has for the past five years run Uday's private office and acted as his press officer. He is...

SADDAM HUSSEIN has sent his personal jeweller to Thailand on a secret mission to buy millions of dollars worth of diamonds, prompting speculation that he is preparing to flee or send his family into hiding, writes Jon Swain. Sources with knowledge of the trip revealed that the jeweller travelled from Baghdad to Bangkok via Jordan. They said he bought the gems in the Thai capital in a prearranged deal. “He purchased millions of dollars worth,” said one. This was the jeweller’s second recent visit to Bangkok. Three months ago the sources said that Saddam’s son Uday had sent him to...