APS Diplomat Recorder articles from August 2003

APS Diplomat Recorder archives from August 2003

ARABS-ISRAEL - July 27 - More Militants To Be Freed.
August 2, 2003... Israeli cabinet votes 14 to 9 to free about 100 jailed members of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the two Palestinian factions that have accounted for most of the suicide bombings against Israel. (The move comes just hours before Sharon flew to the...

ARABS-ISRAEL - July 29 - Sharon Meets Bush, But Says Security Fence Will Still Go Up.
August 2, 2003... Visiting Washington, PM Sharon meets US Pres. Bush and says afterwards that Israel will continue to build a security fence separating it from PA-ruled areas, despite Palestinian protests and US objections. Sharon says: "[The fence], which we...

ARABS-ISRAEL - July 31 - Knesset Blocks Palestinians Who Marry Israelis From Becoming Citizens.
August 2, 2003... The Knesset votes to block Palestinians who marry Israelis from becoming Israeli citizens or residents, with supporters of the legislation calling it a necessary bulwark against infiltration by terrorists. Gideon Sa'ar, of the dominant Likud...

ARABS-OPEC - July 31 - Cartel Keeps Output Limits Unchanged.(Brief Article)
August 2, 2003... Oil ministers of OPEC confirm the cartel will keep its output quota unchanged until their next meeting in September when they will re-examine the impact of the Iraqi oil sector on world supply and demand. The ministers agree there is no need to...

AFGHANISTAN - July 27 - Washington Weighing $1 Bn In New Aid.(Brief Article)
August 2, 2003... US administration officials say Washington is weighing a proposal to seek up to $1 bn in new aid to help rebuild the country. (Congress authorised $3.3 bn in financial and military assistance over four years in the fall of 2001, but only about...

AFGHANISTAN - July 29 - Watchdog Highlights Abuses.(Brief Article)
August 2, 2003... Human Rights Watch releases a report saying prominent members of the Kabul government and warlords supported by the US are implicated in "violent criminal offences" including robbery, extortion, rape and kidnapping. The report says abuses have...

IRAQ - July 27 - Search For Saddam Targets Tikrit.(Brief Article)
August 2, 2003... US forces focus the hunt for Saddam Hussein on the region around his Tigris River hometown and report a near miss in a raid to capture his new chief of security and perhaps the ousted dictator himself. Troops of the 4th Infantry Division,...

IRAQ - July 28 - Japan Strikes Commercial Oil Deal.
August 2, 2003... Mitsubishi agrees with State Oil Marketing Organisation to import 40,000 b/d of Basrah Light crude, equivalent to 7% of the Japanese company's global crude oil trades a day. (This is Japan's first commercial oil deal with Baghdad in 13 years)....

IRAQ - July 28 - Baghdad Targets 2.8M B/D Oil Production Level By April 2004.(Brief Article)
August 2, 2003... Middle East Economic Review says the Oil Ministry has finalised a plan to gradually reach a production level of 2.8m b/d by April 2004, provided there is the necessary security, electric power and finance. (Iraq had a pre-war capacity of around...

IRAQ - July 29 - Saddam Tape Mourns Sons.(Brief Article)
August 2, 2003... An audio tape purportedly from former Pres. Saddam Hussein, which is aired by Dubai-based Al Arabiya television, vows to defeat the US to avenge the deaths of his two sons by US forces. The voice says: "I mourn to you the deaths of Uday and...

IRAQ - July 31 - Two US Soldiers Killed.(Brief Article)
August 2, 2003... Two US soldiers are killed and five are wounded in two separate attacks, one beneath an overpass on a Baghdad highway and one at an outpost 80 km north-east of the capital. (The attacks follow a rare day of quiet in which no soldiers died, and...

IRAQ - July 31 - Key Oil Pipeline Blown Up.(Brief Article)
August 2, 2003... Saboteurs blow up a key oil pipeline in the northern refinery hub of Baiji. Fire-fighters try to extinguish the blaze while US authorities say they will have to shut down the line briefly. US-led administration spokesman Todd Pruden says the...

IRAQ - Aug. 1 - Saddam Tape Offers To Reward Loyalists.(Brief Article)
August 2, 2003... Al Jazeera satellite channel broadcasts a message thought to be from former Pres. Saddam Hussein, which appeals to Iraqis to stay united and be patient. The voice says: "The balance has shifted and the Americans will not be able to change this...

RUSSIA - July 31 - Arms Sales Booming.(Brief Article)
August 2, 2003... Newspaper Vedomosti reports that state-owned arms agency Rosoboronexport beats its own first-half forecast by 30%, delivering $2.7 bn worth of arms abroad in the first six months of 2003. In 2002, the agency, which accounts for more than 80% of...

RUSSIA - Aug. 1 - Suicide Bombing In Mozdok Kills Al Least 35.(Brief Article)
August 2, 2003... A vehicle packed with explosives blows up a military hospital in the town of Mozdok in North Ossetia, a region neighbouring Chechnya, killing at least 35 people, wounding 76 and reducing the 4-storey building to ruins. A suicide attacker...

SAUDI ARABIA - July 29 - US Turns Down Secret Pages Request.
August 2, 2003... A report in The FT says: "The White House has rejected a Saudi Arabian request to see 28 pages from the congressional inquiry into the September 11 terrorist attacks that are said to focus on possible Saudi support for some of the 19 hijackers....

SAUDI ARABIA - Aug. 1 - Cabinet Reshuffles.
August 2, 2003... A long-awaited cabinet reshuffle brings into the government only five new faces, keeping in place Oil Minister Al Naimi and the princes from the ruling Al Saud family who hold the strategic portfolios of defence, foreign affairs and the...

TURKEY - July 26 - Bank Watchdog Wants Uzans Charged.(Brief Article)
August 2, 2003... A report in The FT says: "Turkey's banking watchdog is pressing for criminal charges against the controversial Uzan family after claiming to have discovered a system of double-accounting at their failed Imarbank. 'This is a major case of...

ARABS-ISRAEL - Aug. 4 - Israel Freezes Handover Of Towns.(Brief Article)
August 9, 2003... Israel freezes the return of West Bank towns to PA rule, with Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz saying Israel is waiting to see what action the PA takes before handing back more territory to PA control. (This comes after militants opened fire on a...

ARABS-ISRAEL - Aug. 6 - Israel Frees 340 Prisoners, PA Calls The Move 'Deception'.(Brief Article)
August 9, 2003... Israel releases nearly 340 Palestinian prisoners who are hugged, kissed and hoisted onto the shoulders of friends and relatives who greet them at checkpoints in the West Bank and the entrance to the Gaza Strip. But the unilateral Israeli...

ARABS-ISRAEL - Aug. 8 - Israel Says Syria Behind Latest Border Attack.
August 9, 2003... Israeli officials accuse Syria of being behind a surprise attack by Hizbollah guerrillas on Israeli positions in the Shebaa Farms, a disputed area near the Lebanese border, earlier in the day. (The attack was the first since Jan. 2003. Israeli...

AFGHANISTAN - Aug. 9 - Ex-King Back In Kabul.(Brief Article)
August 9, 2003... The 88-year-old ex-king Zahir Shah - twice-rumoured to have died in July - arrives in Kabul from France, where he has been recovering from a broken leg. Zahir Shah was greeted with an embrace by US-backed Pres. Hamid Karzai then walked slowly...

AZERBAIJAN - Aug. 6 - Ailing Aliyev Flies To US.(Brief Article)
August 9, 2003... A Russian Emergency Situations Ministry jet takes off at the Ankara airport conveying Pres. Heidar Aliyev to the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, the US. (Aliyev, 80, has been hospitalised in Ankara for nearly a month after he suffered a heart attack...

IRAN - Aug. 4 - Al Qaida Captives Will Not Be Turn Over To US.(Brief Article)
August 9, 2003... Government spokesman Abollah Ramezanzadeh says Tehran will not hand over senior Al Qaida captives to the US, adding: "We hand over Al Qaida operatives who belong to friendly countries. We don't have an extradition treaty with the United...

IRAN - Aug. 5 - Khomeini's Grandson Says US Is Welcomed.(Brief Article)
August 9, 2003... Sayyid Hussein Khomeini - a 45-year-old grandson of the late Ayat. Ruhollah Khomeini (the strident theologian who built his Islamic revolution on a platform of attacking all things American) - suggests that the overthrow of Saddam Hussein will...

IRAN - Aug. 8 - Journalists Sit In To Protest.(Brief Article)
August 9, 2003... More than 200 pro-reform journalists hold a vigil in Tehran, saying they are protesting a continuing media crackdown and a lack press freedoms. The journalists lit candles to mourn the anniversary of the death of Mahmoud Saremi, a reporter of...

IRAQ - Aug. 6 - Kurds Block Turkish Mission.(Brief Article)
August 9, 2003... Adel Murad, head of the political office of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), says Kurdish leaders have refused a US request to allow 12,000 Turkish troops through northern Iraq for a possible peacekeeping assignment in the city of...

IRAQ - Aug. 6 - US Arrests 19 Attack Suspects, But Saddam Still Elusive.(Brief Article)
August 9, 2003... US forces have arrested 19 suspected members of the anti-US resistance and killed one more, as well as found a huge stockpile of weapons in a series of raids in the north of the country. But Saddam Hussein remained elusive. Meanwhile, the...

IRAQ - Aug. 7 - Car Bomb Kills 19 In Baghdad.(Brief Article)
August 9, 2003... A powerful car bomb explodes outside the Jordanian embassy in Baghdad, killing 19 and wounding about 65. (The explosion comes a week after Jordan's decision to give asylum to former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's two daughters - a decision...

IRAQ - Aug. 8 - Bush Touts Accomplishments.(Brief Article)
August 9, 2003... Speaking at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, US Pres. Bush asserts that there has been significant progress in pacifying Iraq and dismisses as "pure politics" charges that he took the US to war under false pretenses. He says: "This is our 100th...

KAZAKHSTAN - Aug. 4 - Restart Of Iraqi Oil Exports Will Not Affect Economy.(Brief Article)
August 9, 2003... Speaking at a press conference in Aksai, Pres. Nursultan Nazarbayev says the renewal of Iraqi oil supplies to the world market will not influence hydrocarbon exports from Kazakhstan. He says: "I think that in the near future Middle East oil,...

KAZAKHSTAN - Aug. 7 - GDP Grows Fast.(Brief Article)
August 9, 2003... PM Danial Akhmetov says the GDP has grown by 10.4% over the first six months of 2003, compared to that of the corresponding period of 2002, when the economic growth rate was 9.2%. Akhmetov says: "The results of the first six months are...

RUSSIA - Aug. 5 - Putin In Malaysia.(Brief Article)
August 9, 2003... Pres. Putin visits Malaysia and meets Malaysian top officials, including PM Mahathir Mohammad, to discuss international problems and bilateral co-operation. The leaders signed a joint government agreement on information and telecommunications...

SAUDI ARABIA - Aug. 8 - King Fahd Frees 6 Britons & A Belgian.(Brief Article)
August 9, 2003... Six Britons and a Belgian jailed for a wave of bombings in the kingdom win their freedom after Riyadh yielded to diplomatic pressure and granted them a royal pardon. Within hours of their release, the 6 British men flew back to Heathrow...

SYRIA - Aug. 6 - Damascus Resumes Trade With Iraq Unhindered By US.(Brief Article)
August 9, 2003... A report in The FT says: "The US has quietly allowed a resumption of Syrian trade with Iraq, despite tensions between Damascus and Washington, in a move that diplomats say could give Syria a greater stake in Iraqi stability. The volume of...

UZBEKISTAN - Aug. 6 - Karimov & Putin Discuss Gas & Terror.(Brief Article)
August 9, 2003... Visiting Samarkand, Russian Pres. Putin meets Pres. Islam Karimov. They agree to boost co-operation on gas pipelines. The two leaders talked for about three hours, covering a wide range of issues including economic relations, the situation in...

ARABS-ISRAEL - Aug. 10 - Israeli Teenager Killed By Hizbollah Fire.
August 16, 2003... Shells fired from southern Lebanon by Hizbollah guerrillas kill a 16-year-old boy and lightly wound four people in the northern Israeli town of Shlomi. Israeli warplanes responded by attacking the outskirts of a border village in southern...

ARABS-ISRAEL - Aug. 12 - Two Israelis Killed In Suicide Bomb Blasts.(Brief Article)
August 16, 2003... Two Israelis are killed and at least 13 people are injured in two separate suicide bombing attacks on a shopping mall in the Israeli town of Rosh Ha'ayin and near the settlement of Ariel in the West Bank. (The attacks are the first suicide...

ARABS-ISRAEL - Aug. 15 - Israel Frees 73 Palestinians.(Brief Article)
August 16, 2003... Israel frees 73 Palestinian prisoners in what it calls a gesture to a US-backed peace plan under threat with a ceasefire fraying and Israel continuing to hunt down militants. Israeli buses deliver the prisoners to checkpoints in the West Bank...

AFGHANISTAN - Aug. 10 - UN Forced To Halt Aid Work.(Brief Article)
August 16, 2003... The UN says in a statement that it has suspended field work in the south of the country after a week of violent attacks, including a dawn raid on a remote government office in the southern province of Helmand that killed six policemen and an...

AFGHANISTAN - Aug. 13 - Sixty One Killed In Violence.(Brief Article)
August 16, 2003... Sixty-one people are killed and dozens wounded in outbreaks of violence across the country. At least 25 people, most of them factional fighters, are killed after fighting erupted early in the morning between forces of a sacked provincial...

EGYPT - Aug. 11 - Maher Says Arabs Cannot Recognise Iraqi Council.(Brief Article)
August 16, 2003... The official Middle East News Agency (MENA) reports that FM Ahmad Maher says after a meeting with the Saudi and Syrian FMs that Arab states cannot recognise the legitimacy of the US-appointed Governing Council in Iraq. He also says Arab states...

IRAN - Aug. 14 - UN Atomic Inspectors Allowed.(Brief Article)
August 16, 2003... Atomic Energy Organisation spokesman Saber Zaeimian says Tehran has allowed UN atomic energy inspectors this week to take samples from a controversial and previously banned site. The move comes after samples from the Natanz plant removed in...

IRAQ - Aug. 10 - Bush Warns Of Foreign Terror Threat.(Brief Article)
August 16, 2003... Marking the first 100 days of US-led government with a radio address, US Pres. Bush underscores the growing US concern about a new kind of security threat in Iraq, referring to "foreign terrorists" as a threat to order and stability. Bush notes...

IRAQ - Aug. 11 - Washington Pushes UN To Back Governing Council.
August 16, 2003... A report in The IHT says: "Washington is pushing for a [UN] Security Council vote this week on a draft resolution authorizing the UN assistance mission in Iraq and endorsing Baghdad's new Governing Council... Both US Secretary of State Colin...

IRAQ - Aug. 11 - US Force Target Saddam Loyalists.(Brief Article)
August 16, 2003... The US army launch a new operation to hunt guerrillas loyal to Saddam Hussein in remote villages north of Baghdad. Lt.-Col. William Macdonald of the 4th Infantry Division said Operation Ivy Lightning would use Apache helicopters, Abrams tanks...

IRAQ - Aug. 12 - Pipeline Blown Up.(Brief Article)
August 16, 2003... Flames shoot 60 metres in the air from a burst oil pipeline in a chemical production region north of Baghdad, and US forces at the scene fire warning shots to keep journalists from approaching. It could not immediately be determined if the...

IRAQ - Aug. 13 - Pumping Oil Through Turkey Resumed.(Brief Article)
August 16, 2003... Baghdad begins pumping crude oil from its oilfields near the northern city of Kirkuk, re-opening the pipeline from Kirkuk to the Turkish city of Ceyhan. (Analysts say it is unclear how reliable the flow of oil from the northern oilfields might...

IRAQ - Aug. 13 - US Rejects Expanding UN Role.(Brief Article)
August 16, 2003... US administration officials say Washington abandons the idea of giving the UN more of a role in the occupation as sought by France, India and other countries as a condition for their participation in peacekeeping. Instead, the US officials...

IRAQ - Aug. 14 - Al Jazeera Broadcasts Saddam Message.(Brief Article)
August 16, 2003... A handwritten message purported to be from ousted president Saddam Hussein is broadcast by Qatar-based Al Jazeera television. The letter is apparently Saddam's answer to a journalist's questions about statements made by Governing Council Pres....

IRAQ - Aug. 14 - UN Welcomes Governing Council.(Brief Article)
August 16, 2003... The UN Security Council votes 14 to 0 to adopt a resolution welcoming the creation of the new Iraqi Governing Council, with Syria, the Council's sole Arab state, abstaining. The resolution welcomes the Governing Council "as an important step...

IRAQ - Aug. 15 - Two US Soldiers Wounded.(Brief Article)
August 16, 2003... Guerrillas firing grenades wound two US soldiers and three Iraqi civilians near the restive town of Balad, north of Baghdad, early in the morning. US officers said two rocket-propelled grenades were fired at a small military convoy. Lt.-Col....

KUWAIT - Aug. 10 - Govt Aims To Hike Oil Production To 3.5M B/D.(Brief Article)
August 16, 2003... Energy Ministry Undersecretary Issa Al Aoun tells Al Qabas daily that the government plans to raise its oil production to 3.5m b/d by 2010. The increase from the current production of around 2.04m b/d will be gradual, and the state-owned and...

LIBYA - Aug. 15 - Tripoli Hands Lockerbie Settlement Letter To UN.(Brief Article)
August 16, 2003... US officials say Tripoli has handed a letter to the UN Security Council accepting responsibility for the actions of its officials in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 and pledging co-operation in criminal investigations. Tripoli also...

RUSSIA - Aug. 14 - Govt Approves Merger Of Yukos & Sibneft.(Brief Article)
August 16, 2003... The Anti-Monopoly Ministry says it has approved the merger of oil companies Yukos and Sibneft, clearing the way for embattled tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky to head what will be the world's fourth-largest oil producer. Under the deal, valued at...

SAUDI ARABIA - Aug. 10 - Ten Militant Suspects Arrested.(Brief Article)
August 16, 2003... Police arrest about 10 suspected Islamic militants after a shootout in Riyadh. Police officers found hand grenades with the men after the clash, in which no one was injured. The suspects are fugitives but it is not clear if they are linked to...

ARABS-ISRAEL - Aug. 18 - Handover Of West Bank Cities To PA Failed.
August 23, 2003... PA security chief Mohammad Dahlan spokesman Elias Zananiri said: "The meeting [of Israeli and PA security officials] failed to reach a timetable of Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian cities". Israel was poised to transfer West Bank cities of...

ARABS-ISRAEL - Aug. 19 - Suicide Bomber Kills At Least 20 In Jerusalem.(Brief Article)
August 23, 2003... At least 20 people are killed and about 100 injured when a bomber blows himself up on a bus in a Jewish ultra-Orthodox neighbourhood of Jerusalem near the main road dividing W. Jerusalem from the predominantly Arab eastern sector. (This is one...

ARABS-ISRAEL - Aug. 20 - Abbas Orders Arrests.(Brief Article)
August 23, 2003... PA PM Mahmoud Abbas cuts off contacts with Islamic militant groups and orders his security forces to arrest those behind the Aug. 19 suicide bombing in Jerusalem. Abbas and his cabinet later met Yasser Arafat and his Fatah group in Ramallah....

ARABS-ISRAEL - Aug. 21 - Israel Raids West Bank Cities.(Brief Article)
August 23, 2003... Israel raids the West Bank cities of Jenin and Nablus. (The raid comes after PM Sharon and his security chiefs, meeting to discuss the Aug. 19 suicide bombing that killed 20 people in Jerusalem, agreed on wide-ranging steps to be taken against...

ARABS-OPEC - Aug. 19 - Cartel Warns Of Price Drop.(Brief Article)
August 23, 2003... The OPEC says oil prices may suffer a "sharp fall" in 2004 as Iraq and nonmembers increase supplies, overwhelming growth in demand. The cartel says: "Without effective co-operation among all major exporters, there is a real risk of a sharp fall...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Aug. 18 - Al Qaida Audiotape Calls On Muslims To Fight.(Brief Article)
August 23, 2003... An audiotape, which is attributed to Al Qaida spokesman Abdel Rahman Al Najdi and broadcast on Dubai-based Al Arabiya television, says Al Qaida leader Osama Bin Laden and Taliban head Mullah Mohammad Omar are alive and well and calling on...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Aug. 21 - Islamic Charities Accused Of Supporting Terror.
August 23, 2003... The US government alleges that a group of Saudi-backed Islamic charities operating in the US gave material support to terrorists linked with Al Qaida and Hamas. The allegations concerning the Muslim World League and an affiliate, the...

AFGHANISTAN - Aug. 16 - Seven Soldiers Killed.(Brief Article)
August 23, 2003... At least seven soldiers from one of the eastern provincial forces are killed by suspected Taliban fighters near the Pakistani border late at night. (The attack follows last week's attacks in southern Afghanistan which left at least 65 people...

AFGHANISTAN - Aug. 19 - Independence Day Celebrated.(Brief Article)
August 23, 2003... During a speech to mark the 84th anniversary of independence from Britain, Pres. Hamid Karzai urges his countrymen to take responsibility for rebuilding a nation wasted by nearly a quarter of century of fighting and dependent on foreign aid....

IRAN - Aug. 19 - Japan Vows To Pursue Oil Deal.(Brief Article)
August 23, 2003... An unidentified Japanese official says Tokyo will press ahead with a $2 bn deal to develop the Azadegan oilfield so long as it is commercially viable, in spite of US pressure to withdraw from the investment. (Japanese companies, which won...

IRAN - Aug. 20 - Tehran Seeks Additions To Nuclear Protocol.
August 23, 2003... A report in The FT says: "Iran is seeking to win some concessions before signing the additional protocol to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which would allow for enhanced inspections of nuclear facilities as demanded by the international...

IRAQ - Aug. 18 - Saudis Preparing For Jihad.(Brief Article)
August 23, 2003... A senior western counter-terrorism official says increasing numbers of Saudi Arabian Islamists are crossing the border into Iraq in preparation for a jihad against US and UK forces. He says the presence of foreign fighters in Iraq is "extremely...

IRAQ - Aug. 19 - UN Envoy Killed In Baghdad Bomb Blast.
August 23, 2003... A yellow cement truck crashes into the Canal Hotel, which houses the UN headquarters, around 4.30pm local time, detonating a bomb that devastates an entire wing of the hotel and kills at least 17 people, including top UN representative Sergio...

IRAQ - Aug. 19 - Taha Yassin Ramadan Captured.(Brief Article)
August 23, 2003... Taha Yassin Ramadan, Saddam Hussein's former vice-president, is captured by US Kurdish allies in Mosul. Adel Murad of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) told Reuters in Baghdad: "He [Ramadan] was detained in Mosul as a result of...

IRAQ - Aug. 20 - World Bank To Withdraw Presence.
August 23, 2003... The World Bank decides to pull its staff out of the country after the Aug. 19 bomb attack on the UN headquarters in Baghdad. The World Bank says in a statement that staff at the institution, a key part of the US-led coalition's efforts to...

LIBYA - Aug. 18 - France Wants More Compensation.(Brief Article)
August 23, 2003... French Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Cecile Pozzo di Borgo insisted that Tripoli must pay more compensation to victims of a 1989 French jetliner bombing. Embarrassed by the size - $2.7 bn - of the compensation deal Tripoli recently struck with...

LIBYA - Aug. 19 - Tripoli Begins Transferring Lockerbie Cash.(Brief Article)
August 23, 2003... Tripoli begins transferring $2.7 bn in Lockerbie compensation to a Swiss escrow account. The money being deposited at the Swiss-based Bank for International Settlements will be used to compensate the families of those killed in the 1988...

RUSSIA - Aug. 17 - Putin Sings Decree On Implementing UN Resolution On Iraq.(Brief Article)
August 23, 2003... Pres. Putin signs a decree on measures aimed at implementing the May 22 UN Security Council's Resolution No. 1483 that envisages the lifting of economic sanctions against Iraq. According to the decree, all state, industrial, trade,...

RUSSIA - Aug. 19 - Ivanov Urges To Ensure Security Of UN Personnel In Iraq.(Brief Article)
August 23, 2003... In a telephone conversation with UN Sec-Gen. Kofi Annan, FM Igor Ivanov says Moscow is set to support any measures to be proposed by the UN Security Council seeking to ensure security of the UN personnel in Iraq. Ivanov presents his condolences...

RUSSIA - Aug. 20 - Sakhalin Governor Missing.(Brief Article)
August 23, 2003... A Mi-8 helicopter carrying the governor of oil-rich Sakhalin Island, Igor Farkhutdinov, and 13 other regional officials and 3 crew members, disappears during a flight from the Kamchatka peninsula to the Kurile Islands. The helicopter lost...

ARABS-ISRAEL - Aug. 24 - Israeli Strike Kills 4 In Gaza Strip.(Brief Article)
August 30, 2003... Four Hamas members are killed by an Israeli rocket attack in Gaza City in the evening. (The attack comes after militants in Gaza fired a Qassam-2 rocket that landed on a beach five miles inside Israel. There were no casualties. The Gaza City...

ARABS-ISRAEL - Aug. 27 - Arafat Calls For Return To Ceasefire.
August 30, 2003... Arafat calls on militant groups to reinstate a broken ceasefire, with his office saying in a statement: "President Arafat calls upon all the Palestinian factions to reiterate their commitment to the truce to give a chance to international peace...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Aug. 25 - Bush Team Resists Call To Boost Forces.(Brief Article)
August 30, 2003... Seeking to quell growing political pressure for more US forces in Iraq, Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says he sees no need for increasing troop levels, arguing that his senior military commanders think the 140,000 soldiers are sufficient....

AFGHANISTAN - Aug. 24 - Taliban Kill 5 Soldiers.
August 30, 2003... The governor of Zabul Province Hafizullahn Khan says a military truck has been ambushed by Taliban fighters and five local soldiers are killed. Three Taliban fighters were also killed on Aug. 23, and two were captured. The fighting seemed to be...

IRAN - Aug. 24 - Khatami Demands UK Apology Over Envoy's Arrest.(Brief Article)
August 30, 2003... Pres. Mohammad Khatami demands an apology from the UK over the arrest of Hadi Soleimanpour, the Islamic Republic's former ambassador to Argentina, who is accused of being involved in the bombing of a Jewish centre in Buenos Aires in 1994....

IRAN - Aug. 27 - Enriched Uranium Traces Found.
August 30, 2003... A report in The FT says: "The International Atomic Energy Agency has confirmed that its inspectors have found traces of weapons-grade enriched uranium at an Iranian nuclear facility, increasing the pressure on Tehran over its nuclear programme....

IRAN - Aug. 28 - Tokyo Presses Tehran To Sign Nuclear Protocol.
August 30, 2003... Visiting Tokyo, FM Kamal Kharrazi meets Japanese PM Junichiro Koizumi, who presses Tehran to sign an additional protocol to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty hoping to remove the main obstacle to a $2 bn deal to develop the Azadegan...

IRAQ - Aug. 25 - Sr Hakim Ayat Targeted.(Brief Article)
August 30, 2003... Ayat. Mohammad Said Al Hakim, the uncle of Sciri leader Ayat. Mohammed Baqer Al Hahim and one of the most senior Shiite theologians, is the target of a bombing in Najaf which kills 3 guards and wounds 10 people. He escapes with cuts to the...