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Moscow Tracked Bin Laden By Tom Heneghan Reuters ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden had at least 55 bases or offices in Afghanistan earlier this year with over 13,000 men, ranging from Arabs and Pakistanis to Chechens and Filipinos, according to Russian information. A Russian memo to the United Nations, obtained by Reuters on Wednesday, reported that in addition to bin Laden's own men, about 3,500 fundamentalist Pakistanis were in the country, as well as Pakistani soldiers and diplomats it said were working as advisers to the Taliban movement. The memo to the UN Security Council, dated March ...

Osama missing but still in Afghanistan, Zaeef Updated on 2001-09-25 12:56:51 ISLAMABAD, September 25 (PNS): Taliban envoy in Pakistan Mullah Abdul Zaeef said Monday that Osama Bin Laden was missing but was very much in Afghanistan. "He is not out of the country but we certainly don't know about his whereabouts. Some say he has left the country, I don't think it is true", he said addressing a news conference here. Zaeef said, "we are trying to locate him (Osama) and will soon come to know about him". The Afghan ambassador said, "Taliban have no contacts with former Afghan Monarch ...

U.S. Wants Tighter Border With Canada WebPosted Tue Sep 25 18:09:51 2001 WASHINGTON - Politicians in Washington are again raising concerns about the Canada-U.S. border as they struggle to prevent more terrorist attacks. Attorney General John Ashcroft appeared before a Senate committee on Tuesday to urge swift passage of new anti-terrorism laws. Ashcroft talked of the possibility of more attacks by enemies living within the country's borders. It's one reason why he wants greater power to detain suspected terrorists or deport them. But Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont urged Ashcroft to look beyond U.S. borders. "We're concerned. Canada is ...

SAS Ready For Deployment By Robert Garran September 25, 2001 MEMBERS of the Perth-based Special Air Service Regiment are being readied for deployment to the Middle East if their help is sought by the US. It is believed the SAS would most probably not be used in an attack role, but in search and rescue and reconnaissance operations that still pose significant dangers. Australia has received no formal request from the US, but intensive consultations are believed to have focused on a contribution similar to that provided in February 1998, when Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein backed down at the last ...

Anti-Pakistan Propaganda by India - Strong Protest Lodged With CNN Updated on 2001-09-24 13:55:48 ISLAMABAD September 24 (PNS): The government of Pakistan has taken a serious note of the sheer propaganda campaign over CNN on the basis of unfounded and baseless video tapes provided by India. This was stated by the Federal Secretary Information, Syed Anwar Mehmood and Press Secretary to the president, General Pervez Musharraf and DG ISPR, Major Rashid Qureshi at a press briefing here on Sunday. Anwar said the government of Pakistan has taken up the matter with the higher authorities of the CNN in writing and ...

An article appeared in the 13 August edition of the Lebanon-based Palestinian weekly, Al-Manar, stating that there is “serious thinking” among the Palestinians about obtaining biological weapons, according to a special dispatch by The Middle East Media Research Institute. The Al-Manar article was signed by Taufiq Abu-Khosa, Deputy Chairman of The Palestinian Center for Information Sources-Gaza. MEMRI notes that The Palestinian Center for Information Sources in Gaza was directed by Jihad Al-Wazir, the son of Abu Jihad [former second in command for Yasser Arafat and head of PLO’s military forces]. In the past, the Center received American aid, but once ...

Bin Laden and family flee to the hills and family go into hiding Terror suspect denies role in attack on US Special report:Afghanistan Special report: terrorism in the US Luke Harding and Rory McCarthy in Islamabad, Brian Whitaker and Richard Norton-Taylor Monday September 17, 2001 The Guardian Osama bin Laden has abandoned his main base near Kandahar in fear of attack by the US and has moved to an undisclosed location in the mountains, sources in the Afghan city said last night. The Saudi-born dissident's large family, together with his Arab followers, has also left the city, the sources added. ...

Masoud Alive and Recovering OFFICE OF THE ISLAMIC STATE OF AFGHANISTAN IN WASHINGTON D.C. Press Release September 10, 2001 Ahmad Shah Masood, the military chief of Afghanistan's anti-Taliban alliance, escaped serious injury yesterday when assassins posing as journalists set off a suicide bomb during an interview. Besides killing the assassins, the explosion took the life of Masood public relations official Assim Sohail, and injured Masood Khalili, Afghanistan's ambassador to India and a longtime aide to Commander Masood. Both Masood and Khalili were flown to a hospital in Tajikistan, where their injuries were treated. Masood sustained cuts to his forehead, hand ...

American security services overnight stopped a car bomb on the George Washington Bridge connecting New York and New Jersey. The van, packed with explosives, was stopped on an approach ramp to the bridge. Authorities suspect the terrorists intended to blow up the main crossing between New Jersey and New York, Army Radio reported.

A Time For Choosing I am going to talk of controversial things. I make no apology for this. It's time we asked ourselves if we still know the freedoms intended for us by the Founding Fathers. James Madison said, "We base all our experiments on the capacity of mankind for self government." This idea that government was beholden to the people, that it had no other source of power is still the newest, most unique idea in all the long history of man's relation to man. This is the issue of this election: Whether we believe in our capacity for ...

Communist Party Fights To Win Russian Election WebPosted Thu Mar 23 21:38:00 2000 MOSCOW - Polls say Vladimir Putin has already got the job. But the leader of Russia's Communist Party says the acting president should consider him a threat. Gennady Zyuganov has rebuilt the Communist Party since the collapse of the Soviet Union, but he hasn't been able to broaden its support beyond its core of true believers. The polls say Zyuganov has no chance of becoming president. As with any democratic candidate, poverty, employment and taxes are his main issues. Zyuganov says he respects democracy, but would weaken ...

Clinton Effigy Burned in India Sunday March 19, 2000 11:00 am NEW DELHI, India (AP) - Protesters in India burned an effigy of President Clinton Sunday, hours before he was scheduled to arrive for a five-day visit to the country. ``Death to Bill Clinton. Death to the imperialism of multinationals,'' chanted the crowd of about 50 people as one man doused the straw and cloth effigy with kerosine and set it ablaze. Although most Indians welcome Clinton's visit, the first by an American president in 22 years, several nationalist and communist groups oppose it, saying Clinton will push American economic ...

Poll: No Coattails For Bush By John Bresnahan New polling done by a political organization tied to House GOP Conference Chairman J.C. Watts (Okla.) shows that House Republicans can expect little or nothing in the way of coattails from the party's presumptive presidential nominee, Texas Gov. George W. Bush, in November. The poll, which was privately unveiled to GOPMembers last week, shows that the bruising Republican primary fight between Bush and Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) has left the Texan with only a slight lead over Vice President Al Gore. According to the poll, the primary battle also undermined Bush's ability ...

Blast Injures 8, Explosives Seized in India Ahead of Clinton Trip NEW DELHI (AP) - A blast in a crowded market injured eight people Thursday and police seized 70 pounds of explosives, days before the arrival of U.S. President Bill Clinton, domestic news agencies reported. Police officials said the blast and the explosives seizure were not linked to each other or to Clinton's visit. Security was tightened in the capital, where 55,000 police are already on alert ahead of the visit. The police seized the 32 kilograms of the powerful explosive RDX from three suspected militants, who were arrested. The ...

Iraq accuses Kuwait of violating its territorial waters Iraq, Politics, 3/16/2000 The Iraqi News Agency has stated that a Kuwaiti patrol intercepted several Iraqi fishermen last month (February) near al-Amiq port inside the Iraqi territorial waters. The agency added, "At least two incidents were reported on February near al-Amiq port under the pretext that the Iraqi fishermen are fishing inside the Kuwaiti territorial waters." The agency asserted that the first incident took place on February 11 "when one Kuwaiti manned patrol intercepted an Iraqi fishing boat in the Iraqi territorial waters in an area near al-Amiq under the claim that ...

Monday March 13 11:42 AM ET Giant Cigar Marks Festival MIAMI (Reuters) - Miami on Sunday celebrated its Hispanic heritage by lighting the world's largest hand-rolled cigar during the annual Calle Ocho festival in the city's Little Havana neighborhood. Some 8.5 feet (2.58 meters) long and 24 inches (61 cm) around, the super stogie exceeded the current world record by 1.5 feet (45.7 cm), organizers said. ``Now we need the largest mouth in the world,'' Obdulio Piedra, president of the sponsoring Kiwanis Club of Little Havana, told the Miami Herald. Sponsors estimated that more than 1 million revelers ate, drank ...

Serbs Decry Attempted Media Shutdown BELGRADE, Yugoslavia (AP) — Several hundred opposition supporters gathered Saturday outside an opposition-run radio and television station in western Serbia to prevent police from shutting it down. A riot nearly broke out after federal government officials and local police entered Radio Television Pozega and demanded employees switch off their programming, the station's chief editor, Branko Nikolic, said in a telephone interview. The station — located in the Pozega district, 60 miles southwest of Belgrade — is owned and run by municipal authorities. The municipality is controlled by political parties opposed to Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic. ...

MARCH 11, 17:08 EST Zhirinovsky Launches Presidency Bid MOSCOW (AP) — Outspoken nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky launched his bid for the presidency Saturday, but his first campaign trip was marred when his plane had to make an emergency landing because of a malfunction. The Yak-42 jet carrying Zhirinovsky landed safely on the airstrip at Novosibirsk, the first in a string of cities in his campaign tour through spots in Siberia, Russia's NTV television reported. A malfunction occurred in the hydraulic system just before landing, the report said, showing footage of a grim-looking Zhirinovsky on the dark tarmac. An investigation was under ...

WTO Ruling Could Push Up Drug Prices In Canada WebPosted Sat Mar 4 23:14:56 2000 OTTAWA - Canadians may be forced to pay more for some drugs because of a ruling by the World Trade Organization over how long companies have before competitors can copy their ideas. In an interim decision, the WTO says thousands of patents issued by Canada before 1989 don't last long enough. If upheld, the ruling could mean consumers will have to wait several more years before generic brands of some drugs that were about to be released are made available. The dispute over Ottawa's patents ...

Pat Buchanan defends Bush and Bob Jones University By Jo Mannies Post-Dispatch Political Correspondent Reform Party presidential hopeful Pat Buchanan, a devout Catholic, came to the defense Tuesday of Bob Jones University and those politicians who have spoken there - including himself. Buchanan also asserted that "the religious war" over the university's views is part of a political effort to "drive a wedge between Catholics and evangelical Christians" who agree on many issues and can wield considerable combined clout at the polls. Buchanan made his comments at a campaign stop here, speaking at the Embassy Suites Downtown hotel. His comments ...