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LONDON - Senior members of the Saudi royal family paid "protection money" totaling at least $300 million to Osama bin-Laden and the Taliban to prevent them from attacking targets in Saudi Arabia, the London Sunday Times reported yesterday. The revelation, based on extensive investigations, was contained in papers filed in a $3,000 billion US lawsuit by lawyers representing the families of Sept. 11 victims. According to the documents, the deal was struck after two secret meetings involving members of the Saudi royal family and al-Qaida leaders, including bin-Laden. The cash enabled al-Qaida to fund training camps in Afghanistan that are...

JERUSALEM (AP) - Israeli security forces have arrested several Palestinian suspects in the July 31 bombing at Jerusalem's Hebrew University in which nine people, including five Americans, were killed, Israel Radio said Wednesday.

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Security officials announced this afternoon the capture of six Palestinians from east Jerusalem who were responsible for some of the most deadly terror attacks in recent months. The Hamas terrorists perpetrated the suicide bombing at Jerusalem's Moment Café, the suicide attack at a Rishon Letzion billiards hall, and the bombing at Hebrew University on July 31. The cell was responsible for the deaths of 35 people, officials said. Most of the Palestinians are from the village of Silwan. The head of the cell is Waal Kassam, 31, a resident of Ras al-Amud. The arrests of the cell members took place...

Dear Colleague: As we begin the new academic year, I would like to take this opportunity to provide an update regarding Dr. Sami Al-Arian. Through events of the past year with which we all are familiar, this situation has been the source of intense disruption for the university. We as an institution, and I as a president, have had to think daily about the fundamental values of universities in a way that few institutions ever do. We care deeply about freedom in the United States. At USF, we understand that academic freedom is the core value of the academy. It...

<p>August 22, 2002 -- Vivendi-Universal is bankrolling a new documentary defending anti-American terrorism - and a second media conglomerate, Viacom, is sponsoring the flick's red-carpet premiere in Toronto on Sept. 11.</p> <p>The film, "11'09"01," consists of 11 Sept. 11-themed shorts, several of which are being described as "stridently anti-American," that a Vivendi-Universal subsidiary commissioned from a team of international directors.</p>

An hostage decapitated in the south of the Philippines Wednesday August 21, 2002 - 23h40 GMT ZAMBOANGA (the Philippines), August 22 (AFP) - One of the six Christian hostages Filipinos removed by supposed islamists of the group Abu Sayaf in the south of the Philippines Wednesday was decapitated by its kidnappers, one learned military Thursday of source. The head of the hostage was found Wednesday evening near the headquarters of the army, in the capital of the island of Jolo, one specified of the same source. A second hostage decapitated in the south of the Philippines Thursday August 22,...

<p>August 22, 2002 -- A trusted Palestinian painter at Hebrew University planted the bomb in the cafeteria that killed nine people, including five Americans, Israeli authorities said yesterday.</p> <p>Mohammed Oudeh, of East Jerusalem, even returned the next day to the campus to clean up the damage - with no one the wiser until authorities yesterday smashed a 15-member Hamas terror cell.</p>

Terrorism as a form of entertainment This week we're featuring images and movies from www.qassam.net, in honor of the ISP's attempt to block us from accessing the site. Today's 'episode' is The Road Bomb. It goes like this: first they bury a bomb in a road. Then they retreat to a nearby hillside with a video camera. When an Israel truck drives over the bomb, they blow it to pieces, killing the occupants, and capturing the whole thing on tape. The tape is broadcase on Arab television, and then is uploaded to their webside, so they can share it...

The first time Brent Scowcroft impinged on my consciousness was in December 1989, six months after the massacre of young Chinese patriots in Tiananmen Square. The particular way he impinged was by being photographed in Beijing's Great Hall of the People, smiling and raising a toast with Li Peng, one of the main organizers of the massacre. Like many others, I was shocked and baffled by this spectacle, and read with great interest the justifications for it offered by the Bush-41 administration. The principal justification was that it was "important to keep the lines open," and to "keep China...

(IsraelNN.com) Heavy exchanges of gunfire continue in Gaza at this hour. Early reports from the scene of the battle, mainly in the vicinity of N’vei Dekalim, indicated that an Israeli has been seriously injured. More details will be published as they become available.

AMMAN, Aug. 17, 2002 (QNA via COMTEX) -- Dr. Oasma Al Baz, political advisor to the Egyptian president, said Egypt will not allow passage through the Suez Canal of US ships headed to strike Iraq. In statements published here Saturday he added Egypt rejects any military operation against Iraq, its territorial unity, independence and safety of Iraqi people, adding any military attack on Iraq represents a vary dangerous step endangering the security of the region. Dr. Al Baz said the question of UN weapons inspectors is an issue which concerns the UN and the Security Council and not Washington and...

Iraq Mission Aborted President Bush Calls Off Operation to Take Out Al Qaeda Poison Gas Laboratory By John McWethy W A S H I N G T O N, Aug. 19 — The CIA and the Pentagon began planning a covert operation into Northern Iraq to destroy what appeared to be a budding chemical weapons laboratory several years ago, but late last week, the president called it off, sources told ABCNEWS. U.S. forces had been monitoring a small group of al Qaeda operatives for weeks as they experimented with poison gas and deadly toxins — killing barnyard animals and...

IF THE TRUTH BE TOLD... IT IS TIME FOR ISLAM TO REPENT! By: Glenn R. Jackson Shortly after the September 11th attack Franklin Graham, son and successor to evangelist Billy Graham, came under intense criticism for calling Islam “a very evil and wicked religion.” Last week the Associated Press reported remarks by Franklin Graham that show he still holds some very un-Politically Correct views. The AP quotes Mr. Graham as saying “The silence of the (Islamic) clerics around the world is frightening to me.'' “How come they haven't come to this country, how come they haven't apologized to the American...

Saddam's Rap Sheet by Daniel Pipes and Jonathan Schanzer New York Post August 20, 2002 http://www.danielpipes.org/article/444 http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/55073.htm Consider the paradox: Almost every government agrees that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein is an appalling monster and shudders at the prospect of his acquiring nuclear weapons. Yet those same governments are also furiously signaling their disapproval of an American-led military effort to depose him. That would be "risky adventurism," declares Germany's Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder; Saddam poses no immediate threat, and Washington lacks a justification to attack him. Most U.S. allies worldwide agree. But they are plain wrong. Saddam is an immediate menace, and...

Military says missile shot down helicopter in Chechnya KHANKALA. Aug 20 (Interfax) - Evidence has been found to confirm the theory that Monday's crash of a military helicopter in Chechnya, which killed more than 100 troops, was the result of a missile attack from the ground, a military source said on Tuesday. "An investigating group found the weapon of the crime, a Strela anti-aircraft missile launcher, which had been used," a source in the headquarters of the Combined Federal Forces in the North Caucasus told Interfax. Over 150 were aboard crashed helicopter in Chechnya - official source MOSCOW. Aug...

Iraq Lab Said Linked to al-Qaida CRAWFORD, Texas (AP) ? Arab terrorists linked to al-Qaida may have tested biological weapons at a small facility in northern Iraq known to American intelligence, a U.S. official said Monday. U.S. intelligence agencies had reason to suspect that the facility, in a part of northern Iraq not controlled by President Saddam Hussein's government, was a kind of laboratory for chemical and biological weapons activity that included testing on barnyard animals and at least one man, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. ..

<p>WASHINGTON -- The U.S. has evidence that a Kurdish militant group with possible ties to al Qaeda has conducted crude chemical-weapons experiments in northern Iraq, a U.S. official said.</p> <p>The group, Ansar al Islam, allegedly has been producing ricin, a toxin that can easily be made from castor beans, at a camp in northeastern Iraq. Intelligence reports indicate that at least one man and some farm animals died after exposure to the poison, the official said.</p>

- To judge by the press, the world’s sagest and most influential foreign policy expert is a 77-year-old named Brent Scowcroft. Mr. Scowcroft’s argument against an American attack on Saddam Hussein was the lead opinion piece in Thursday’s Wall Street Journal. The New York Times made it its lead, front-page news article on Friday and Saturday and its lead editorial on Friday. The Times editorial called Mr. Scowcroft’s words “an extraordinary challenge to the Bush administration” and “the equivalent of a cannon shot across the White House lawn.” All of which makes it appropriate to ask just who is Brent...

RIYADH (Reuters) - Several Saudi banks and Islamic charities named in a lawsuit by families of Sept. 11 victims vehemently denied Sunday any role in funding terrorism and blasted the case as an attempt to extort Saudi wealth abroad. The suit has sparked rare calls by commentators and newspapers in the kingdom to review traditionally strong Saudi-U.S. ties. Saudi Arabia has yet to comment officially. Offended that the lawsuit named members of the royal family, including Defense Minister Prince Sultan -- the third highest official in the kingdom -- many Saudis accused Washington of putting pressure on the Gulf Arab...