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Breaking on KDKA radio Pittsburgh...Afghanistan President Karzai's VP pick survives assasination attempt...convoy attacked...in Kabul(?)...no other details..searching Google now...

WASHINGTON - It was a spring-like Monday morning here as Afghan leader Hamid Karzai watched a hastily sewn flag rise over the long-abandoned Afghan embassy. Much like Mr. Karzai's desperate nation, the dilapidated embassy is a testimony to neglect, with peeling paint, leaky roofs, sagging walls, and termites. Still, no one seemed to notice. Speaking of shared US-Afghan pain, partnership, and hope, Karzai dignified the moment. He seemed sincere, yet polished - even, some would say, chic. "Tie it well, Haron," said Karzai, looking on in a silver lamb's-wool cap, flowing tunic, and emerald cape as his chargé d'affairs ...

With the turquoise dome of the shrine to the 18th-century father of the Afghan nation rising in the background, Muhammad Akbar paused, leaned on his pick and said that he had never before been asked to dig a grave in the sacred soil of this compound. The grave was for Azimullah Muhammad, an 18-year-old who a week ago was an unknown seller of plastic water jugs from a dimly lit stall deep inside Kandahar's main bazaar. Now he is Afghanistan's newest hero, to be buried alongside mujahideen heroes of the guerilla war against the Soviet Union. On Friday, television viewers...

VENEZUELA'S President Hugo Chavez, adding to his growing barrage of charges against the United States, accused the George W. Bush administration of plotting his assassination and thanked his Cuban ally Fidel Castro for warning him of about it. "Thank you, Fidel. Really, there are rumors, (but) they are not going to pull it off, my dear friend. I am going to make it to old age like you," Chavez said late Saturday on a visit to Miranda state. Castro had said earlier Saturday that Bush's government likely would be behind a plan to kill the leftist-populist Chavez, whose country is...

America's spy network in Iran was exposed more than 10 years ago and about 50 of its local agents were executed or jailed in a devastating setback for United States intelligence operations in the Islamic state, former CIA officials have disclosed.The Iranian agents, who included senior military officers, had been relaying information to their handlers at the CIA's office in Frankfurt, using messages written in invisible ink on the back of letters posted from Iran. So-called "secret writing" was also used to relay requests and instructions to them from CIA officials in Frankfurt. The spies' letters were posted to a...

The Iraqi Survey Group also found that supposed "humanitarian" imports under Oil-for-Food gave Saddam the ability to restart his biological and chemical warfare programs at a moment's notice. Spertzel said what scared him the most in Iraq was the discovery of secret labs to make deadly weapons like the nerve agent, sarin, and the biological poison, ricin, in spray form. "If that were released in a closed [area], such as Madison Square Garden or, even some, some of your smaller closed malls, shopping malls, it would have a devastating effect … killing hundreds or thousands," Spertzel said. But Spertzel believes...

Car bomb targets moderate Kosovo Serb leader By Branislav KrsticMITROVICA, Serbia and Montenegro, Feb 8 (Reuters) - A bomb exploded on Tuesday under a car used by a moderate Kosovo Serb politician who has recently fallen out with Serb hardliners in the U.N.-run province.No one was hurt in the blast which damaged Oliver Ivanovic's car parked outside his home in the northern Kosovo city of Mitrovica, a United Nations police source told Reuters.The attack in the Serb-dominated north of the city came before mid-year talks planned by the United Nations on whether Kosovo becomes independent -- as demanded by the...

AL-QAEDA MILITANTS' PLANS Al-Qaeda-linked militants who fought four bloody gun battles with Kuwaiti forces over the last month plotted to kidnap and execute US soldiers and westerners, according to a report. Nasser Khlaif al-Enezi, who was killed on January 30, planned to kidnap US soldiers and western civilians. They would then be executed on film, his brother Amer, the alleged leader of the group, told interrogators. The newspaper Al-Qabas said his brother, who was a senior member of the group, received training in such operations while in Iraq fighting against US-led coalition troops. Nasser also received instructions from armed...

Baghdad - Insurgents have killed at least a dozen people in the rebel campaign to frighten Iraqis away from participating in the weekend election. In attacks on designated polling stations and troops around the country yesterday, a score of Iraqis were killed or hurt. One US soldier was killed and five were injured. And as part of an intensifying campaign of intimidation, an al-Qaeda affiliate led by Jordanian terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi posted a videotape on the Internet showing the murder of a candidate from the party of interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi. The tape included a warning to...

The Hague - A plot to murder Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the Dutch lawmaker of Somali origin who is a leading critic of radical Islam, has been uncovered in the course of the investigation into the assassination of film-maker Theo van Gogh, the daily De Telegraaf said on Wednesday. Hirsi Ali co-wrote the script for van Gogh's movie Submission, dealing with the oppression and abuse of women under Islam, that led to his murder on November 2 by a suspected Islamic radical. Under tight police protection, she was reported to be planning a sequel to the movie and writing a book...

As Viktor Yushchenko prepares for his inauguration as Ukraine's third president, he knows that Ukraine-Russia relations will be one of the most difficult issues he faces. The Economist (December 29) advised Yushchenko, "to kiss and make up with Russia and Vladimir Putin, who backed Mr. Yanukovych and has thus been humiliated by his defeat." Such reconciliation will be far easier said than done. Russia is reportedly behind two attempts on Yushchenko's life, one through poisoning and a second with a bomb. Yushchenko alluded to the latter plot when he said, "Those who wanted to blow myself up did not undertake...

KABUL, Afghanistan, Feb. 6 (UPI) -- Al Qaida may have tried to kill former President Clinton, apparently while he was in office, and perhaps planned further attempts on world leaders, United Press International has learned. Specific references to Clinton were found among handwritten notes and sketches of U.S. Secret Service protective methods recovered from the Shomali compound near Kabul where al Qaida members received specialized training in assassination and hostage taking. "We have attempted to kill Clinton, but failed," documents in Arabic released exclusively to United Press International Monday state. Although the text indicates the attack was planned around some...

Arab astrologer predicts Bush assassination Oracle famed for prophesying deaths of Diana, Yassin, Arafat © 2004 WorldNetDaily.com A Tunisian astrologer who reportedly predicted the deaths of Princess Diana, Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and Yasser Arafat says President Bush will be killed by an assassin's bullet in 2005. So seriously are Hassan al-Sharibi's predictions taken in the Arab world that a similar prophecy about Palestinian Liberation Organization leader Mahmoud Abbas has resulted in increased security around the candidate to replace Arafat as president of the Palestinian Authority. Abbas' aides put a "great deal of credence" in the prediction, according to...

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -- Saudi Arabia announced yesterday it was withdrawing its ambassador to Libya and ordered out Libya's envoy in response to reports that Tripoli plotted to assassinate the Saudi crown prince. The alleged plot against Crown Prince Abdullah was first outlined by U.S. investigators in their case against a prominent American Muslim activist sentenced earlier this year to the maximum 23 years in prison for illegal business dealings with Libya. Libya expressed "astonishment" at the Saudi decision and asked the Arab League to investigate the matter. "Nothing has happened between the two countries that warranted the withdrawal of...

/begin my translationN. Korea: Assassination of Kim Jong-il's First Son Averted It has been revealed that Kim Jong-nam(age:33), the first son of N. Korean leader Kim Jong-il was visiting Austria recently where he was in danger of being assassinated. However, thanks to the security provided by Austrian intelligence, he was saved. A source on N. Korea said on (Dec.) 19th, "While Kim Jong-nam was touring Europe in the middle of last month, he was in danger of being assassinated. Austrian intelligence got wind of this plot and guarded him closely. We believe that this assassination attempt had been made by...

SEOUL (Reuters) - Austrian security forces foiled an attempt to assassinate a son of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il during a European trip in November, Yonhap News reported on Sunday, but Austrian authorities denied any incident. The report of the plot against Kim Jong-nam came amid persistent rumors of internal political strife in the reclusive communist state and within the nation's first family itself. Citing a source familiar with North Korean affairs, the South Korean news agency said the failed plot had been planned by North Koreans favoring other of Kim Jong-il's sons as his eventual successor. "Kim ran into...

UKRAINIAN prosecutors will today begin an investigation into allegations that state officials tried to assassinate opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko, following weekend confirmation that he was poisoned in the run-up to presidential elections. It is an inquiry that is expected to be hugely divisive because the prime suspect is the head of the Ukraine secret service, the SBU. The official dined with Mr Yushchenko the night he was poisoned, and medical experts say the dioxin is likely to have been administered through the food and drink. Mr Yushchenko, expected to be elected president in re-run elections on 26 December, yesterday promised...

Chirac's would-be assassin jailed The defence said Brunerie needed treatment, not a criminal trial A student who tried to assassinate French President Jacques Chirac at a Bastille Day parade two years ago has been sentenced to 10 years in prison. Maxime Brunerie, 27, was convicted of attempted murder by the court in Paris. He was arrested after firing a hunting rifle as Mr Chirac rode in an open-top car along the Champs-Elysees in Paris on 14 July 2002. During the trial he told the court he wanted to go down in history as someone who committed a "shocking" act. At...

© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com Viktor Yushchenko, before and after illness (courtesy CTV) Suspicions that Ukrainian political leader Viktor Yushchenko was the victim of an assassination plot have now been confirmed, as doctors in Austria say he was deliberately poisoned during the recent election campaign. The London Times reports physicians at Vienna's Rudolfinerhaus clinic are within days of identifying the substance that left Yushchenko's face disfigured with cysts and lesions, believing it was either a biological or chemical agent, or possibly a rare poison. Dr. Nikolai Korpan at the clinic says it's clear the candidate was targeted for assassination in the days before last...

PARIS - A man who said he "had failed in life" admitted Monday he tried to assassinate President Jacques Chirac, and told a court he wanted to go down in history with a "shocking" act. Maxime Brunerie, 27, is accused of pulling a rifle from a guitar case and firing a shot as Chirac passed in a motorcade along the Champs-Elysees during the Bastille Day parade on July 14, 2002. Bystanders pushed the rifle's barrel into the air as the gun went off, and police wrestled the shooter to the ground. The French leader was not hurt. "My name is...