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After the threat of arms dealers and smugglers being on the run, the Special Security Bureau had been pressed along the Indo - Nepal border. Now in a startling disclosure, the Chairman of the Central Board of Excise and Custom in Patna K L Verma has confirmed that two Afghans earlier picked up by them on the border are Al Qaida activist. "Now it has been revealed that the suspects belong to Al Qaida. We are taking a lot of extra precaution and have alerted the border check post. All the foreign nationals found to be involved in dubious activities ...

The man arrested for allegedly trying to blow up a transatlantic flight from France was turned away from a Paris airport the day before, police officials said. A US senator said the passenger, caught Saturday carrying suspected explosives in the heels of his shoes on an American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami, was on a suicide mission. A French police source said airline staff at Charles de Gaulle airport had turned the man away at the check-in because he was "behaving bizarrely, was agitated and had a worrying look." His passport also appeared brand new, although police had verified ...

<p>Monique Danison, 20, a Trabuco Hills High School graduate, was aboard the flight on which Saturday's incident took place.</p> <p>The University of California, Santa Barbara senior was returning home to Mission Viejo after a five-month study program in France. Danison, whose father Paul is a Register editor, was seated about five rows ahead of the man who was arrested.</p>

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The man suspected of trying to blow up a Boeing 767 as it flew over the Atlantic put up a fierce struggle before several big passengers could subdue him with the help of a sedative injection, a basketball player who was on the flight said on Sunday. Kwame James, a 6 foot 8 inch professional basketball player, said on ABC's ``This Week'' talk show that a flight attendant had called out ``we need some big guys back there real quick.'' ``I proceeded to help out, hold him down. And he was just, he was unbelievably strong. You ...

Egypt destroys new Coptic church Police help demolish building hours after 1st prayer meeting -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- © 2001 WorldNetDaily.com The U.S. Copts Association says Egyptian officials outside of Cairo destroyed a newly built Coptic church just hours after it opened its doors and held its first prayer meeting. The church had reportedly obtained all the proper permissions from President Hosni Mubarak's administration to build the facility in Al-Ubor city. Police forces reportedly participated in the destruction. The first building opened Saturday. The first prayer meeting was held Sunday. According to a statement by the association, Galal Sayed Al-Ahl, the mayor of ...

The Iron Veil Facing the new global reality. By Victor Davis Hanson, author most recently of Carnage and Culture: Landmark Battles in the Rise of Western Power. December 21, 2001 8:00 a.m. &nbsp; he Muslim Middle East is baffling. It damns America for not supporting elections; yet its home-grown ayatollahs in Iran, the Taliban in Afghanistan, and the fanatics in Algeria are furious not about the absence a Bill of Rights, but over the difficulty in establishing Allah's absolute &#151; and quite undemocratic &#151; reign on earth. Reformers scream that they want the United States to support consensual government. ...

Islam is not the issue, Muslims are By Hasan Suroor For far too long Islam has been allowed to become a licence for any Muslim to do whatever he pleases in its name. SO MUCH has been written and talked about Muslims and Islam after the September 11 outrage that anything more might sound like flogging a dead horse. But much of the debate has been marked by so much self-righteous indignation on the part of Muslims, and aggressive Muslim/Islam-bashing on the other side that it has been pretty much a dialogue of the deaf. The emotional pitch, despite liberalist ...

ZURICH - Nearly 15,000 slaves were released in the past six months in Sudan. This was reported by the Swiss humanrightsorganisation Christian Solidarity International (CSI) last thursday. Although according tho CSI there are still some 200,000 slaves in Sudan, the organisation called the release a breakthrough in their already six year lasting campaign to abolish slavery. Thousands of people were kidnapped the last years in the south of Sudan to be sold as slaves in the moslty muslim and Arabic north. CSI claims it has bought 78,000 slaves free in the last six years from Arabic slavetraders. In the country ...

While a planned attack has been thwarted, fears remain that an Islamic militant group will carry out its vow to give Christians in central Indonesia a "bloody Christmas." Two weeks ago, tens of thousands of Christians in Central Sulawesi province were reported to be in imminent danger of attack by a paramilitary force called Laskar Jihad. The fighters intend to eliminate Christians from the region, according to local church leaders, but have been held off by a sudden dispatch of government troops. Yesterday, in government-sponsored negotiations, Muslim and Christians leaders agreed to settle a three-year conflict in Central Sulawesi ...

<p>There's a huge thread running, which has developed into a discussion on the Koran, Moslems, with lots of interesting [mis &]information One reply to me: " The whole Book of Koran teaches it's followers to do evil againts Christian and Jews! It is a threat to the whole human race." How's that for catastrophic? Well, I'm not a Biblical scholar, much less a Koran scholar, so I went looking for calm facts, and I found this article, which (I think), adds to the conversation.</p>

SIMPLY STATED, the Muslim world has failed to confront the challenges of modern life. And as a result, many Muslims have lashed out, with the strong in Muslim societies abusing the weak. In Afghanistan under the Taliban, vulnerable subgroups like women and ethnic minorities have faced oppressive intolerance. In Iraq, government abuse of the general populace is overt and brutal. In Pakistan, repeated attempts to implement democracy have been foiled by widespread corruption: Political leaders loot the national coffers and democracy fails. The result is that Islamic civilization is in ruins. And for devoted Muslims, this is an excruciating reality.

An international human rights organisation has said the Nigerian authorities could have prevented mass killings during religious clashes in September in central Nigeria but failed to react to warning signals. The New York-based group, Human Rights Watch, quoting eyewitness accounts in its 25 page report, said that up to 1,000 people were killed in a week of fighting between Muslims and Christians in the town of Jos. Government authorities and security forces failed to take action that could have saved hundreds of lives Human Rights Watch The official figure put the number of dead below 100. Human Rights Watch said ...

Egypt destroys new Coptic church Police help demolish building hours after 1st prayer meeting -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- © 2001 WorldNetDaily.com The U.S. Copts Association says Egyptian officials outside of Cairo destroyed a newly built Coptic church just hours after it opened its doors and held its first prayer meeting. The church had reportedly obtained all the proper permissions from President Hosni Mubarak's administration to build the facility in Al-Ubor city. Police forces reportedly participated in the destruction. The first building opened Saturday. The first prayer meeting was held Sunday. According to a statement by the association, Galal Sayed Al-Ahl, the mayor of ...

Suspected Islamic militants have thrown a grenade into a crowded market in Jammu-Kashmir, killing one person and injuring at least 60 The grenade was thrown at police and paramilitary troops on patrol near the market in Pulwama, 20 miles south of Srinagar. The grenade missed the target and exploded in the market, crowded with shoppers, killing a civilian instantly. Flying shrapnel wounded 60 others, some critically, said police. Five soldiers of the paramilitary Border Security Force and two Kashmir police constables are among the injured. Elsewhere in Jammu-Kashmir, 11 militants were killed in three shootouts with security forces, police said. ...

Iran's Rafsanjani suggests nuclear attack on Israel SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM Tuesday, December 18, 2001 One of Iran’s most influential ruling clerics called on the Muslim states to use nuclear weapon against Israel, assuring them that while such an attack would annihilate Israel, it would cost them "damages only". The speech by former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani failed to catch the attention of the western press but made waves in the Middle East. "If a day comes when the world of Islam is duly equipped with the arms Israel has in its possession, the strategy of colonialism would face ...

Wednesday December 19, 1:24 PM Gunmen kill nine Christians in Indonesian city AMBON, Indonesia, Dec 19 (AFP) - Gunmen shot dead nine Christians travelling in a boat in the riot-torn eastern Indonesian city of Ambon, residents and hospital sources said Wednesday Six women and three men were killed Tuesday, a nurse at the Halong navy hospital told AFP. "The bodies of the victims have been claimed by their relatives, we're still treating one woman for gunshot wounds," said the nurse, who declined to be named. All nine victims were Christians, a local journalist said, adding that speedboat services between two ...

The Ugly Face of Militant Islam By John Perazzo The leaders of militant Islam preach the glories of suicide and martyrdom – but not for themselves, of course. continue…

The Comoros: foreign troops unload on the island of Mohéli MORONI, 19 déc (AFP) - foreign troops unloaded Wednesday morning on the island comorienne of Mohéli, and took control of the army, the gendarmerie and the police force, according to testimonys' on the spot, of which that of a former minister, contacted on the telephone. The attackers launched leaflets affirming that they were "the army of the United States" and that their intervention was related to the fight against terrorism, according to inhabitants' of the capital, Fomboni, of which the former minister Mohamed Hassanari. Military formation, of almost a ...

"How Dare You Defame Islam" Daniel Pipes, Commentary, November 1999 The problem began in January 1989. That was when Muslims living in Bradford, England, decided to do something to show their anger about The Satanic Verses, a new novel by the famed writer Salman Rushdie that included passages making fun of the Prophet Muhammad. The Muslims, mostly Pakistani immigrants, purchased a copy of the novel, took it to a public square, attached it to as take, and set it on fire. Television news showed this auto da fé in scandalized detail, and pictures of the scene were splashed across the ...

December 24, 2001 Vol. 158 No. 27Only in Their DreamsWhy is the "Arab street" silent? Because a radical Muslim fantasy has met realityBY CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER The West has not fought a serious religious war in 350 years. America is too young to have fought any. Our first reaction, therefore, to the declaration of holy war made upon us on Sept. 11 was to be appalled, impressed and intimidated. Appalled by the primitivism, impressed by the implacability, intimidated by the fanaticism. INTERACTIVE GRAPHICSMap: Hunting OsamaMap: Nukes PipelineInteractive: Taliban P.O.W. Revolt More GraphicsTora BoraNukes PipelineTaliban RevoltLast BastionsWomen &amp; IslamNo RefugeTaliban on the ...