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Disputes wreck Kosovo monuments By Matt Prodger BBC News, Kosovo Churches were vandalised during last year's rioting Potential donors attending a conference in Paris on Friday are being asked for money to help restore the cultural heritage of Kosovo. At the top of the list are Serbian Orthodox churches targeted by ethnic Albanian mobs during three days of bloody rioting in the province in 2004. But reconstruction has been held up by the Church's refusal to participate. Except for raindrops falling from its ceiling, the Church of the Holy Virgin of Ljeviska in Prizren is silent. The bell has not...

Beslan: the real international connection by Brendan O'Neill Commentators are desperately trying to make sense of what seem like senseless events in Beslan. But they are attempting to force it into political categories where it simply doesn't fit. Some have located the school siege in the broader bloody clash between Chechen nationalists and the Russian state. 'There can be no denying the direct link between the Beslan tragedy and the war in Chechnya', wrote Ahmed Zakaev, former deputy prime minister of Chechnya, in the UK Guardian. Others have rushed to blame Beslan on Russian President Vladimir Putin, arguing that the...

The Chechens' American friends The Washington neocons' commitment to the war on terror evaporates in Chechnya, whose cause they have made their own John Laughland Wednesday September 8, 2004 The Guardian An enormous head of steam has built up behind the view that President Putin is somehow the main culprit in the grisly events in North Ossetia. Soundbites and headlines such as "Grief turns to anger", "Harsh words for government", and "Criticism mounting against Putin" have abounded, while TV and radio correspondents in Beslan have been pressed on air to say that the people there blame Moscow as much as...

Iraqi footballers' fury at Bush Sadir said he wanted the US to withdraw its troops from Iraq Iraq's successful Olympic football team has launched an outspoken attack on US President George W Bush. Midfielder Salih Sadir said the team - which won its group stage in Greece - was angry it had been used in Mr Bush's re-election campaign ads. One accused the US leader of committing "many crimes", and another said he would be fighting US troops if not for Athens. Their comments were made in a US Sports Illustrated magazine interview. Salih Sadir said he was angry at...

Four U.S. Soldiers Killed in Attack West of Baghdad RAMADI, Iraq (Reuters) - Four U.S. soldiers were killed in an attack by Iraqi insurgents west of Baghdad, witnesses said on Monday. It was unclear when the soldiers, found in a building site in the town of Ramadi, had been killed. Their bloodied bodies were sprawled on the ground, surrounded by scattered equipment. The U.S. military had no immediate comment

Kosovo UN troops 'fuel sex trade' The presence of peacekeepers in Kosovo is fuelling the sexual exploitation of women and encouraging trafficking, according to Amnesty International. It claims UN and Nato troops in the region are using the trafficked women and girls for sex and some have been involved in trafficking itself. Amnesty says girls as young as 11 from eastern European countries are being sold into the sex slavery. The UN and Nato forces said they had not yet seen the report to comment. Trading houses Amnesty's report, entitled "So does that mean I have rights? Protecting the human...

Key U.S. Senator Says More Troops Needed in Iraq Falluja Truce Extended to Monday - Iraq Official Bush Prays with Troops After 'Tough Week' in Iraq FBI Must Explain 70 Probes Before 9/11-Panelists MORE WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States must increase the number of its troops in Iraq as well as the size of the U.S. Army and Marine Corps overall to face up to the challenges in Iraq, Sen. John McCain said on Sunday. "It's obvious that we're paying a heavy price, I think, for not having had enough troops there from the beginning," the Arizona Republican said...

General: U.S. forces still fighting to retake Kut U.S. forces are engaging in heavy fighting to retake the southern Iraqi city of Kut and are still in the process of securing the town, a U.S. general returning from the city told CNN today. Brig. Gen. Mark Hertling said units from the 1st Armored Division in Baghdad have been deployed south to battle the Mehdi Army -- the banned militia loyal to cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

Several killed in Iraq ambush Friday 09 April 2004, 14:48 Makka Time, 11:48 GMT Scene in Abu Ghuraib after the ambush Iraqi fighters have ambushed a US patrol in Abu Ghuraib area, west of Baghdad killing at least nine people, reported our correspondent. Fighters also seized control of the highway linking the predominantly Sunni Muslim town with the besieged city of Falluja, west of Baghdad. Hundreds of fighters armed with rocket-propelled grenades and Kalashnikov assault rifles were running along the highway, an AFP correspondent said. An AFP photographer reported earlier that fierce clashes pitted US occupation troops against fighters in...

At Least Nine Dead in Attack on U.S. Convoy in Iraq Iraq in Turmoil on Anniversary of Saddam's Fall At Least Nine Dead in Attack on U.S. Convoy in Iraq Rice: There Was No Silver Bullet to Avert Attacks MORE BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Insurgents attacked a U.S. convoy carrying fuel west of Baghdad Friday, killing at least nine people, witnesses said. A Reuters photographer on the scene said he saw bodies burning inside the vehicles, which were still on fire near Abu Ghraib. He said the convoy included U.S. military vehicles and fuel tankers. Huge clouds of black smoke hung...

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Six More U.S. Soldiers Killed in Action in Iraq - Army Thu Apr 8, 2004 05:52 PM ET Six More U.S. Soldiers Killed in Action in Iraq - Army Fierce Fighting Rages in Iraq, Foreigners Kidnapped MORE BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The U.S. military said it had suffered six more combat deaths in Iraq on Wednesday and Thursday, bringing to 449 the number of U.S. soldiers killed in action since the start of the war to oust Saddam Hussein. In a statement, the military said five more soldiers had been killed in action on Wednesday and Thursday, and added that another...

U.S. May Be Ousted From Arabian Peninsula Thursday April 8, 2004 11:01 PM By MAGGIE MICHAEL Associated Press Writer DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) - A video purportedly from al-Qaida's chief of operations in Saudi Arabia vowed to avenge the death of Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan by expelling Americans from the Arabian Peninsula. The video, posted on an Islamic Web site viewed in Dubai on Thursday, shows a masked man identified in a subtitle as Abdulaziz al-Moqrin leaning on a semiautomatic rifle and with a rocket-propelled grenade launcher on his shoulder. In the background, superimposed text reads: ``Get the...

US: Fierce Falluja fighting recalls Vietnam Thursday 08 April 2004, 22:57 Makka Time, 19:57 GMT Occupation forces are only advancing slowly in Falluja Ten Iraqi resistance fighters and two occupation soldiers were reported killed on Thursday as US marines met ferocious resistance in the besieged western Iraqi town of Falluja several days into their offensive. The tough fight put up by insurgents in Falluja, west of Baghdad, prompted the marine commander to make comparisons with the Vietnam War. As the day drew to a close, sniper fire and mortars were being fired around the main marine compound in the industrial...

U.S. Faces Tough Urban Battle in Fallujah Tuesday April 6, 2004 10:01 PM By LOURDES NAVARRO and BASSEM MROUE Associated Press Writers FALLUJAH, Iraq (AP) - In a narrow alley, Marines pinned down by a hail of guerrilla fire sent up red smoke in a cry for help. Tanks pounded shell after shell into houses, while troops on the city's edge crawled forward on their bellies, firing on insurgents. U.S. forces faced a tough urban battle Tuesday in their drive to pacify one of Iraq's most dangerous cities. Block by block, they fought their way into Fallujah, where Iraqi guerrillas...

Suspected war criminal eludes NATO again Thursday 01 April 2004, 11:47 Makka Time, 8:47 GMT The operation involved no less than 40 SFOR troops Related: Search widened for Karadzic UN says Karadzic in Belgrade Troops fail to find Karadjic Tools: Email Article Print Article Send Your Feedback NATO troops have tried and failed for a third time to arrest ex-Bosnian Serb political leader Radovan Karadzic. The operation early on Thursday in his former stronghold of Pale in Bosnia-Herzegovina left a priest and his son seriously injured. "We conducted a focused international operation in Pale to detain Radovan Karadzic. We did...

Washington cuts off aid to Serbia The US wants Ratko Mladic handed to The Hague The US has suspended its aid to Serbia, saying Belgrade is not fully co-operating with the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague. The decision means Washington will not disburse the last $25m of a $100m assistance package set up three years ago to help Serbia reform its economy. The package was tied to Belgrade's relations with the Hague tribunal. The US has expressed concern at the new Serbian government's reluctance to hand over people accused of war crimes. A State Department spokesman on Wednesday...

Spain arrests three suspected Al Qaeda members Agence France-Presse - July 17, 2002 MADRID, SPAIN – Spanish police have arrested three suspected Al Qaeda members and seized videotapes of several US landmarks including the World Trade Center filmed "from every angle," Interior Minister Angel Acebes said Tuesday. Acebes said the three suspects were of Syrian origin and that one of them was "clearly implicated in the financial infrastructure of Al Qaeda." Ghalyoun and Abu-Aljer had Spanish nationality, police said. During the arrests, which took place on Tuesday in Madrid and the eastern city of Castellon, five videocassettes were found containing...

ERP KIM Info-Service Gracanica, March 21, 2004 (15:27) International forces arrested HALID BERANI (Kosovo Albanian), the president of the so called "Council for protection of human rights and freedoms in Kosovo", confirmed KFOR sources to B92 Radio reporter Tanja Matic, it is said on the Web site of B92 Radio (14:02 CET). Berani supplied Kosovo Albanian media at the beginning of this week the news that three Albanian boys were drowned in the Ibar river "because they were chased by Serb youths". This misinformation triggered public unrest and was used as an excuse by so far unidentified Albanian extremist groups...

Defense & Foreign Affairs Daily Volume XXII, No. 50 Friday, March 19, 2004 Founded in 1972 Produced at least 200 times a year © 2004, Global Information System, ISSA Exclusive Special Report New Kosovo Violence is Start of Predicted 2004 Wave of Islamist Operations: the Strategic Ramifications Analysis. By Gregory R. Copley, Editor, GIS, with input from GIS Stations in Priština, Belgrade and elsewhere. The major wave of violence instigated in the Kosovo region of Serbia on beginning on about March 14, 2004, and escalating dramatically through March 18, 2004, is the start of the forecast series of unrest, guerilla...