The United States on Monday placed on its terrorism blacklist an Islamist group in Lebanon blamed for major fighting at a Palestinian refugee camp there.
The State Department announced that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has designated the al-Qaida-inspired Fatah al-Islam, which is suspected of having links with Syria, as a specially designated global terrorist group under an executive order aimed at cutting off finances to extremist organizations. The step, which had been expected, cuts off Fatah al-Islam from the U.S. fi nancial system and freezes any assets it or its members may have in the United States or under U.S. jurisdiction, the department said in a statement.
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http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/893033.html
Doctors Give In To Muslims (U.K.)
Monday August 13,2007
Doctors and health workers have been banned from eating lunch at their desks - in case it offends their Muslim colleagues.
Health chiefs believe the sight of food will upset Muslim workers when they are celebrating the religious festival Ramadan. The lunch trolley is also to be wheeled out of bounds as the 30-day fast begins next month.
But staff and politicians branded the move political correctness gone mad and warned that it was a step too far. Bill Aitken, the Scottish Conservative justice spokesman, said: “This advice, well-meaning as it may be, is total nonsense. “It is the sort of thing that can stir up resentment rather than result in good relations.”
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http://www.dailyexpress.co.uk/posts/view/16309
BEIRUT: Lebanon's army commander said last night that the militant group battling troops in a northern Palestinian refugee camp was affiliated with Al Qaeda, the first high-ranking official to make such a statement.
Some Lebanese government officials had alleged the Fatah Al Islam group, holed up in the Nahr El Bared camp was created by Syria, a claim denied by General Michel Suleiman.
"This organisation is not the creation of Syrian intelligence, nor its it supported by pro-government Lebanese groups," Suleiman said on the state-run National News Agency. "It is a branch of the Al Qaeda that was planning to make Lebanon and Palestinian camps a safe haven from which it would launch its operations in Lebanon and outside."
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http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/Story.asp?Article=190590&Sn=WORL&IssueID=30147
Syria buys advanced anti-aircraft missiles
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
JERUSALEM: Israeli media reported on Monday that Syria has acquired an array of advanced Russian-made anti-aircraft missiles as part of a military build-up ahead of a possible war with the Jewish state.
Syria currently has “the densest anti-aircraft deployment in the world,” Israel’s mass-selling Yediot Aharonot daily quoted a military source as saying. “Syria has purchased from the Russians the world’s most advanced surface-to-air missiles. This is the last word in plane interception technology.
“According to one estimate, the Syrians hold about 200 anti-aircraft batteries of different models in an attempt to provide a response to the absolute superiority of the Israeli air force,” it said.
Army radio also reported that Syria has acquired advanced weapons, including chemical warheads for surface-to-surface missiles. Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak has nevertheless refused to order the distribution of gas masks to civilians, fearing such a step would further escalate the heightened tensions between Israel and its northern neighbour, the report said, quoting sources in the military intelligence.
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http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\08\14\story_14-8-2007_pg4_3