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Pakistan has offered China naval facilities and listening posts on its Makrana Coast to keep an eye on Indian and American activities in the Arabian Sea and the Gulf, a Russian weekly reported. During their visits to Beijing in 2000, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf and Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz promised to provide Chinese Navy port facilities in Gwadar and Ormara naval bases, 'Nezavisimoye Voyennoye Obozreniye' (Independent Military Review) weekly reported in its latest issue. They also offered to allow China to build a monitoring station on Makrana Coast to intercept US communications in the Gulf. China has already allocated 240...

MILITARY search and rescue operations for the Indonesian crewmen abducted by pirates have been called off temporarily while negotiations for their release are underway, a defense department spokesman said Saturday. "We are holding back the troops while the local government officials are trying to work out terms that would be acceptable to both sides," defense spokesman retired Major General Mel Rosales told INQ7.net. Rosales said the troops deployed around Luuk, Sulu were recalled on Thursday. But other military operations in Sulu against the Abu Sayyaf bandits will "continue without let-up," Rosales maintained. Reports said the abductors have demanded a 100,000...

ZAMBOANGA - A fisherman who was held hostage by the Abu Sayyaf Muslim kidnapping group without public knowledge, was freed by his abductors in the face of a military assault, news reports and military officials said Saturday. Fisherman Lydio Castro, who was seized from the southern island group of Tawi-tawi in November, was released in Jolo island by Abu Sayyaf members under their commander, Radullan Sahiron. His abduction was never reported and only came to light when he was freed. A television report said Castro was freed by the Abu Sayyaf into the custody of Muslim separatist rebel leader Sharif...

June 28, 2002 New York, June 27, 2002 - Yugoslav Ambassador to UN Dejan Sahovic addressed a UN Security Council session, saying that despite some progress made in Kosovo-Metohija, much remains to be done to normalise the situation in the province. Sahovic pointed out that a large number of the murders and abductions of Serbs and other non-Albanians have occurred since the KFOR deployment in June 1999, adding that few, if any, perpetrators have been brought to justice. Bearing in mind that freedom of movement is still non-existent, the property of minorities has been confiscated and their cultural heritage destroyed,...

BAGUIO - One soldier and 15 New People's Army rebels were injured in a clash in the northern Philippines, the regional military commander said on Saturday. Brigadier General Rodolfo Alvarado said a platoon encountered about 20 guerrillas of the communist NPA near the town of Nueva Era in Ilocos Norte province on Thursday. The rebels fled after a 90-minute gunbattle, Alvarado said. It was the first clash with communist rebels in the area in recent years, the military said. The 11,000-member NPA has been waging a Maoist rebellion for 33 years. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo suspended talks with the rebels last...

KHANKALA. June 29 (Interfax) - Russian troops on Wednesday killed an influential Chechen rebel commander, the Russian military said on Saturday.    The Russians killed Rizvan Akhmadov, nicknamed Dadu, in an operation near the Chechen capital Grozny, a source in the headquarters of Russian forces in the North Caucasus told Interfax.    In January last year, he led the kidnapping in the village of Stariye Atagi of Kenneth Gluck, a U.S. citizen who was working for the international humanitarian organization Medecins Sans Frontieres, the headquarters source said. [RU EUROPE EEU EMRG VIO PRO POL NEWS] as rm <>

"Is it organic?" Please do not ask me or any other Black farmer that question. Number one, you probably do not know the meaning of the word. Number two, the reason that most of you left the farm was because of the work involved with "organics." And number three, you really don’t care. I was a part of that "you" myself until just a few years ago. Let me start with number three. I just finished reading a book called "Fast Food Nation" by Eric Schlosser. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad taught 30 years ago in "How to Eat to Live"...

Friday, 28 June, 2002, 06:57 GMT 07:57 UK Africa demands swift G8 action African leaders accepted the G8 responseAfrican leaders have welcomed an action plan promising aid, debt relief, medical help and military intervention from the world's richest nations to the poorest. They're offering peanuts to Africa - and repackaged peanuts at that Phil Twyford of Oxfam South African President Thabo Mbeki, who is attending the summit, described the plan as a "very, very good beginning", but said speed was needed to implement the decisions taken. In sharp contrast, aid agencies denounced the summit as long on advice and short...

(New York-AP) -- Senator Charles Schumer has proposed a new park that would wind along the coastline of lower Manhattan. Schumer said yesterday that the park would be a downtown version of Central Park that would attract new businesses and residents to the area, which has struggled since September 11th.The proposed $110 million park would ring the southern part of the island. It would stretch south from Canal Street on the east side to Battery Park -- then north along the water to Canal Street on the west side.Schumer's plan would involve turning a Coast Guard building into parkland, renovating...

Strel trains by drinking a bottle of red wine every day A Slovenian man hopes to set a new long distance world record by swimming the whole length of the Mississippi River in 66 days. " We are taking Cvicek [Slovenian red wine] with us. We have to take at least what is necessary for me - and I have to have a bottle a day " Martin Strel will plunge into America's second largest river on 4 July hoping to swim an average of 58 kilometres a day to cover 3,797 kilometres (2,360 miles) "I think my biggest problem...

Friday, 28 June, 2002, 23:24 GMT 00:24 UK Thirteen killed in Algeria bus attackOver 100 people have been killed this month Reports from Algeria say that 13 people have been killed in an attack on a bus in a suburb of the capital, Algiers. The state news agency APS quoted security sources as saying nine other passengers were injured when five suspected Islamic militants opened fire with machine guns in the suburb of Eucalyptus. Eucalyptus is located near the airport in the Mitidja agricultural region, several kilometres from the capital. Correspondents say militants of the Armed Islamic Group frequently operate...

<p>IN HIS long-awaited speech on the Middle East, George W. Bush accomplished one thing: He validated the wisdom of his original impulse to have nothing to do with the Middle East. His speech demonstrated he has nothing to contribute.</p> <p>He sent Palestine to its room for three years; it can come downstairs to the grown-ups' table when it has behaved in a democratic manner. That is, it is to hold an election mandated by George Bush that produces an outcome mandated by George Bush, namely, the exit of Yasser Arafat. At the same time, the leader of the free world patted Ariel Sharon on the head and told him to go on doing whatever works for him.</p>

THE FASTIDIOUS Martha Stewart seems to have created an unsightly mess for Moore College of Art & Design. Moore is scheduled to honor Stewart this fall with an honorary doctorate and Moore's first annual "Visionary Woman Award." Now that Martha's reputation is as soiled as an unwashed napkin, that's something of a potential embarrassment for the college - which is keeping a watchful eye on developments. "It's a fast-moving story. I'm trying to get the facts," college president Happy Fernandez said yesterday. Fast-moving, indeed. According to an article in yesterday's Wall Street Journal, the federal investigation of Stewart for insider...

PEACE PROJECT MAY 2002 SURVEY [IMRA note: The Peace Index Project is an important resource for following trends in Israeli public opinion. In particular, the monthly repetition of a core set of questions over the years provides a unique data base for researchers. A recent commentary by Aaron Lerner of IMRA that appeared in The Jerusalem Post noted that the survey finds most support the "peace process" but only a minority support Oslo. The Steinmetz center consistently provides both results. Unfortunately, many supporters of Oslo who cite the support for the "peace process" decline to mention the lacks of support...

Family Day at the Range The Colorado Chapter of the Second Amendment Sisters held their first Family Day at the range on June 15, 2002. From all aspects it appears to have been quite successful. A total of 82 shooters participated and seventy five percent were first time shooters. Most importantly, not one accident. Ballistic Resources LLC (BRLLC) of Ft. Collins did an excellent job of explaining firearm safety and providing shooting tips on an individual basis. The day was quite blustery, sunny and warm. The shooters came from Greeley, Ft. Collins, Loveland, Longmont, Ft Morgan, Aurora, Westminster, Boulder and...

Prayers requested during week of 6/23/02 Prayers for Freeper father_elijah on mission work where Sudanese churches were bombedContinued Prayers for mini_teacup and family for safe return of BillyUpdate on foster child--Continued PrayersPrayers for ImAMightyRighty's father-in-lawUpdate on Ann, home from the hospital, continued prayersPrayer request for rwfromkansas' motherPrayer request for those affected by fires in ArizonaContinued prayers for foster childPraise report on friend and prayers for foreverfree's mother and pastorPrayers for gwmoore and familyPrayer request for those affected by bus accident in TexasPrayer request from LeeMcCoy for resolution to two issuesUrgent prayer request for Teacup, mini teacup, and sonPrayer request for...

Man shot during robbery, police say By JAMAAL ABDUL-ALIMof the Journal Sentinel staff Last Updated: June 27, 2002 Greenfield - A man who tried to rob a Greenfield gun shop at knifepoint Thursday afternoon was shot in the chest by the shop owner, police said.The victim, identified only as a 57-year-old Greenfield man, was taken to Froedtert Memorial Lutheran Hospital in Wauwatosa, according to police. Police have yet to interview the victim because the shooting left him unconscious, Detective Sgt. Paul Schlecht said. Schlecht said later Thursday that the man's wound was not life threatening. The man's condition was not...

June 29, 2002, 12:07AM 28 Nabbed by Feds at Fort Worth site Some may have ties to extremist group By DEANNA BOYD Copyright 2002 Fort Worth Star-Telegram FORT WORTH -- Federal agents raided an aviation repair facility at Fort Worth Meacham Airport on Friday morning, arresting 28 workers on immigration violations. Some of them, sources said, may be affiliated with a Muslim extremist group responsible for a string of kidnappings in the southern Philippines. Kathy Colvin, a spokeswoman with the U.S. attorney's office for Northern Texas, said federal felony charges will be filed Monday against some of the detained mechanics,...

I have often said that if you were to spin me around a few times, like we did when we were kids, and drop me into the middle of Toronto, without telling me where, I don't think I'd know what country I was in. I am told by Paul Kwasi Kafele, who thrives under the title of Director, Corporate Diversity at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (the old Queen Street Mental Health Centre) that more than 170 languages are spoken in this city. Believe it or not, good old Toronto has been recognized by the United Nations as...

Soon you could be swapping your mobile phone for a molar phone. Royal College of Art students in London have developed a phone that fits inside a tooth. The concept device picks up signals with a radio receiver and uses a tiny vibrating plate to convey them as sound along the jawbone to a person's ear. The designers said the mini-molar phone could be implanted in a tooth during routine dental surgery. The prototype phone is the work of graduates James Auger and Jimmy Loizeau and forms part of the Royal College of Art's annual summer exhibition. Known as The...