Free Republic

NICOSIA [MENL] -- Lebanon has improved its military cooperation with the United States. Lebanese and U.S. officials have reported increased military cooperation between Beirut and Washington. The officials said the two countries have increased training of the Lebanese military and held high-level meetings to bolster the level of military and security cooperation. The U.S. effort was meant to increase Lebanese cooperation in the war against Al Qaida. Lebanese officials said that despite Washington's criticism over Beirut's support for Hizbullah and Palestinian insurgency groups, the Bush administration has sought to exploit the recent arrests and prosecution of Al Qaida operatives in...

LONDON - The brother of a British man killed in a May attack on an oil industry compound in Saudi Arabia accused Saudi authorities Wednesday of having allowed the gunmen to flee the scene. Douglas Hamilton, whose brother Michael, 61, died in the shootouts at two oil industry compounds in Khobar in May, told British Broadcasting Corp. radio that he could not see another explanation for the terrorists' escape. "The thought that 40 of the special security people went in through various doors and in through the roof and they could not contain four men appears to be totally beyond...

Iranian groups says has signed up thousands as human shields in case of military strike on nuclear reactor (Reuters)

BEIRUT, Lebanon - In a veiled swipe at the United States and its United States allies, Russia's foreign minister said Sunday his country opposed a Security Council resolution demanding free presidential elections here and a Syrian troop withdrawal out of Moscow's respect for Lebanese sovereignty. Sergey Lavrov made his comments after meeting Lebanese President Emile Lahoud in Beirut, marking his latest high level meeting during a Middle East tour that has included talks with the leaders of Egypt and Syria. He is expected to arrive in Israel later Sunday. A deeply divided UN Security Council narrowly approved a resolution Thursday...

Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz issued a warning to Syria in comments he made to the cabinet Sunday, in which he referred to intelligence information about the growing involvement of the Damascus "terror headquarters" in terror attacks against Israel. Mofaz added that Damascus is providing terror organizations with guidance and financial support. Mofaz said, however, that there is not enough evidence to prove that Syria was involved in planning the double bombing in Be'er Sheva last week, in which 16 people were killed. Mofaz said that on the night before the Be'er Sheva attack, the Israel Defense Forces arrested about 30...

Translation from Hebrew to English by me Arab diplomatic sources in Amman claim that the leadership of Hamas in Damascus have left the city, because of the harshing of the Israeli words coming after the terror attack in Beer-Sheva. Among the terrorist leaders who live in Damascus is Haled Mashal, the head of the political office of the terrorist organization. The newspaper "A-Sherek Al-Oset" reports that a group of Hamas officials have moved to living in Beirut, under the sponsorship of Hizbullah officials, and another group has moved to Qatar. Syrian sources said in response that "there has not been...

NORTH Korea said today it won't attend working meetings ahead of the next round of six-party talks on dismantling its nuclear program and said it has no intention of immediately shutting down its nuclear facilities. "It is clear that there would be nothing to expect even if the DPRK sits at the negotiating table with the US under the present situation," an unnamed Foreign Ministry spokesman said in a statement carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency. DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the North's official name. The US has said it would like to convene...

World judo champion Arash Miresmaeili of Iran dropped out of the Olympics before his first match Sunday, which was to have been against an opponent from Israel, Ehud Vaks. Officially, Miraesmaeili was listed as a non-starter because he weighed in above the 66 kilogram-limit for his class. But Iran's official news agency quotes Miresmaeili as saying he withdrew from the match out of sympathy for the Palestinian people. The world judo champion says he has trained for months and is in shape to compete. Iranian President Mohammad Khatami praised Miraesmaeili, saying his refusal to compete will go down in Iranian...

Iranian President Mohammed Khatami praises judo champ`s decision not to compete against Israeli in Olympics IRNA: Khatami says withdrawal of judoka from Olympic match will be recorded in history of Iranian glories

CANBERRA (Reuters) - North Korea is capable of targeting Australia with a long-range missile, Australia's Foreign Minister Alexander Downer has said, ahead of a rare visit to the communist state for talks on its nuclear programmes. Australia was ill-equipped to cope with such an attack, Downer said on Friday ahead of his talks in North Korea on August 17-18. "We believe they have developed a long-range missile that could go all the way from North Korea to the United States or, for that matter, here," Downer told Australian radio. "They could fire a missile from North Korea to Sydney." In...

The Iranians' last test of the Shihab-3 medium-range surface-to-surface ballistic missile was apparently intended to improve the missile's guidance system. The Shihab-3's range is estimated at 1,300 kilometers. From certain places in Iran the Shihab-3 can reach large parts of Israel. After almost achieving the missile's maximum range, the Iranian experts are focusing on improving the missile's accuracy and its warhead. This is not the first time the Iranians have tested the Shihab-3; in the past they had a few failures in launching the missile. Their progress may be slow but they are gradually succeeding in improving the missile. The...

The hardliners ruling Iran have decided to risk a showdown with the US, rather can make any concessions over their nuclear weapons development program. This has been confirmed to Maariv International by western intelligence sources. At a recent meeting of the Iranian leadership, currently totally dominated by the conservative hard liners, it was decided that Teheran could risk taking an uncompromising position. This position was supported by most of the participants, including former president Rafsanjani, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s most trusted and respected counselor regarding foreign affairs. Iran believes it can get away with stonewalling until it has amassed a...

TOKYO - A senior Libyan official has said his country is prepared to provide oil to Japan, which is under US pressure to invest in Libya instead of an Iranian oil project that has irked Washington, Kyodo news agency said. The United States, which has sanctions against US companies doing business in Iran, has persistently expressed its disappointment that its close ally, resource-poor Japan, would invest in a $2 billion project to tap the Azadegan oilfield. Last December, Libya decided to abandon weapons of mass destruction and in return won US economic and diplomatic rewards that could help its oil...

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's Defense Ministry on Wednesday carried out a field test of the newest version of its Shahab-3 medium-range ballistic missile, state television reported. Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani said earlier this month Iran was working on improvements to the range and accuracy of Shahab-3, which defense experts say Tehran could use to strike arch-foe Israel or U.S. military bases in the Gulf.

Breaking an agreement with Europe’s big powers, Iran has resumed building and installing equipment that can be used to make nuclear weaponry, diplomats said today. The US and its allies accuse Iran of working on a weapons programme, something Tehran denies. Under international pressure last year, Iran agreed to stop enriching uranium and stop making assembling centrifuges, the equipment used for the enrichment process. In turn, France, Britain and Germany dangled the prospect of providing it with peaceful nuclear technology. The diplomats said that several weeks ago, Iranian officials broke seals placed on the equipment by the International Atomic Energy...

Iran on Monday repeated its threat to "wipe Israel off the map" if Israel attacked the Islamic Republic's nuclear sites. "The United States is showing off by threatening to use its wild dog, Israel," Revolutionary Guards Commander Seyed Masood Jazayeri was quoted as saying by the Iranian student news agency ISNA. "They will not hesitate to strike Iran if they are capable of it. However, their threats to attack Iran's nuclear facilities cannot be realized. They are aware Tehran's reaction will be so harsh that Israel will be wiped off the face of the earth and US interests will be...

Riyadh Kingdom of Saudi Arabia TV1 in Arabic, official television station of the Saudi Government, carries at 0928 GMT on 14 May 2004 a live sermon from the holy mosque in Mecca. Shaykh Abd-al-Rahman al-Sudays delivers the sermon, which he begins by saying that the nation has faced much sedition in history, but the worst is the current one of charging others with non-belief. "It is an unmatched wanton crime," he says, and wonders how a Muslim can repudiate his fellow Muslim. The imam cites Koranic verses and prophet's traditions that forbid repudiation of fellow Muslims, and asserts that repudiation...

The United States is ready to be a partner in helping Palestinians build their own state and will keep to plans to hand over power to an interim Iraqi government on June 30, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice said Sunday. In a German television interview, Rice also said she felt "great shame" about the abuse of inmates at Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad but insisted it had not undermined US moral authority in the world. Rice's comments came before talks in Berlin on Monday with Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei, part of a renewed Bush administration effort to bring about...

WASHINGTON [MENL] -- The United States continues to doubt whether Saudi Arabia can sustain a major military aircraft procurement project. Saudi Arabia, despite increased revenues from oil in 2003, might not have enough funds or political will to sustain a multi-billion deal for new fighter-jets, government sources said. They said a review by the Defense Department has warned that Riyad could cancel any major aircraft deal and refuse to pay U.S. suppliers. "The Saudis would like new aircraft but there is clearly a problem of funding and political will," a Pentagon source said. "The Saudis have been known to stop...

TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — Libya denounced the United States on Friday for its criticism of death sentences in a Libyan AIDS trial, saying the behavior of U.S. soldiers in Iraqi prisons has taken away the Americans' moral authority to lecture about rights abuses. "America has no right to talk about human rights — or even animal rights," foreign ministry spokesman Hassouna al-Shawish said at a news conference Friday night. The comments concerned a trial in eastern Libya on Thursday in which five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor were sentenced to death on charges of intentionally infecting more than 400...