APS Diplomat Recorder articles from January 2004

APS Diplomat Recorder archives from January 2004

ARAB AFFAIRS - Jan. 2 - Oil Exporters Head For Another Growth Year.
January 3, 2004... Arab oil exporting countries' economies are heading for a new expansion despite an expected decline in oil prices. But the price fall will be limited; more damaging to the Gulf oil states is the fall of the US dollars. According to an EIU...

ARAB-EUROPEAN RELATIONS - Jan. 1 - UK Spy Chiefs Feared US Invasion Of Saudi In 1973.(Brief Article)
January 3, 2004... Files released to the British National Archives under the 30-year rule for classified documents show the UK intelligence agencies believed the US was ready to invade Saudi Arabia and Kuwait to prevent further disruption to oil supplies as Arab...

ARAB-EUROPEAN RELATIONS - Jan. 1 - ICI Bought Israeli War Bonds In Secret.
January 3, 2004... Imperial Chemical Industries secretly bought Israeli war loans and kept the purchases off its books to avoid jeopardising its efforts to break into Arab markets. The secret purchase of war bonds by ICI, at that time an industrial giant that was...

ARABS-ISRAEL - Jan. 1 - Egyptian Envoy Urged Sharon To Do More For Peace Plan.
January 3, 2004... After meeting with Palestinian Authority (PA) President Yasser Arafat in Ramallah, special Egyptian envoy and Pres. Hosni Bubarak's advisor Dr. Osama Al Baz urges Israeli PM Ariel Sharon's government to do more to further the peace process....

ARABS-ISRAEL - Jan. 2 - Army Lifts Blockade Of Jenin.
January 3, 2004... Palestinians in Jenin, now separated from Israel by a controversial barrier, wake up to a rare sight: streets empty of Israeli forces that pulled out at night on Jan. 1 after a long encirclement. The army says removal of the "closure" it...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Jan. 2- Snipers In Iraq.
January 3, 2004... "I shot one guy in the head, and his head exploded", says Sergeant Randy Davis, one of about 40 snipers in the US Army's new 3,600-soldier Stryker Brigade, from Fort Lewis, Washington. "Usually, though, you just see a dust cloud pop up off...

ARABS-ISRAEL - Jan. 2 - Israeli Plan For More Golan Settlers Criticised.
January 3, 2004... Commenting on Israel's announcement that it plans a major expansion of Jewish settlements in the Golan Heights, State Department spokesman Adam Ereli says: "It has been our long-standing policy that there should not be settlement activity in...

IRAN - Jan. 1 - Tehran Hints Ties To US May Thaw.
January 3, 2004... Iranian officials appear to warm to the possibility that an easing of US restrictions on aid to Iran, granted after the devastating earthquake in the city of Bam, could improve the relationship between the two countries. US Treasury Secretary...

IRAN - Jan.2 - Tehran Worshipers Cry 'Death to France' Over Head Scarves.(Brief Article)
January 3, 2004... Thousands of worshipers shout "Death to France!" in Tehran during Friday prayers in response to a sermon by hardline traditionalist Ayatullah Ahmad Jannati denouncing a proposal to prohibit Muslim schoolgirls in France from wearing head...

IRAN - Jan. 3 - Bush's Relative In Aid Mission Snubbed.(Brief Article)
January 3, 2004... US media say Tehran turned down a US offer to send a humanitarian delegation led by former president of the US Red Cross and Republican Senator for North Carolina, Elizabeth Dole. Mrs Dole was to be accompanied by an unnamed member of Pres....

IRAQ - Jan. 1 - Deadly Baghdad Bomb Halts New Year Celebrations.(Brief Article)
January 3, 2004... A car bomb tears through the popular Baghdad restaurant, Nabil, filled with dozens of New Year's Eve revellers, killing at least 5 people and wounding more than 30, including 3 Americans. The blast was the worst of a rash of bombings on Jan. 1,...

ISRAEL - Jan. 1 - More Submarines For 'Strategic Depth'.
January 3, 2004... Navy chief Admiral Yedidiya Ya'ari says submarines are a crucial deterrent against new threats in the Middle East and the Jewish state should acquire more of them. He explains: "The ultimate role of the submarine is to linger for extended...

LIBYA - Jan. 1 - US Pressed To End Sanctions.
January 3, 2004... GPC Secretary-General (PM) Shukri Ghanem is quoted in the IHT as saying the US should act quickly to reward his country for abandoning its secret WMS programmes. He warns that unless the US lifted sanctions by May 12, Tripoli would not be bound...

RUSSIA - Jan. 1 - Putin Puts People In Election Shade.
January 3, 2004... The omnipresence of Pres. Putin is vividly illustrated as his traditional midnight speech from the Kremlin is for the first time broadcast simultaneously on all of the country's TV channels. His dominance of Russian politics has created an...

SYRIA - Jan. 1 - Olive Branch Slapped Down.(Brief Article)
January 3, 2004... Damascus has offered to resume peace talks with Israel, hoping to continue a process that ended in March 2000. At that time, the two states were close to clinching a deal, but it all fell apart when a new Israeli government tried to renegotiate...

SYRIA - Jan. 3 - Israeli Threats.(Brief Article)
January 3, 2004... Israeli leaders are becoming increasingly vocal against the Damascus Baathist regime, warning that any Israeli retaliation to provocations by Hizbollah and Palestinian rejectionist groups may involve direct attacks within Syrian territory.

ARAB AFFAIRS - Jan.4 - No Free Trade Zone Seen.
January 10, 2004... The General Secretary of the World Customs Organisation (WCO), Mechel Daniat, tells a regional conference of heads of customs in Abu Dhabi the goal of creating an Arab Free Trade Zone faces stumbling blocks which have hampered progress towards...

ARAB-EUROPEAN RELATIONS - Jan. 4 - British Troops Will Stay In Iraq.
January 10, 2004... UK PM Blair tells British troops in Basra Britain will stay in Iraq for at least the next 2 years. They will remain in the country for as long as it takes to complete its post-war reconstruction. (Blair made the unannounced visit to Basra, the...

ARABS-ISRAEL - Jan. 4 - Work Permits To Palestinians.(Brief Article)
January 10, 2004... Israel grants work permits to 29,000 Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza Strip in an attempt to ease stifling restrictions. (Under international pressure to make life easier for Palestinians, Israel recently granted permits to several...

ARABS-ISRAEL - Jan. 9 - Sharon Won't Grasp Syrian Offer.
January 10, 2004... Israeli officials respond coolly to peace overtures from Syria, saying no progress is possible while Damascus continues to arm Israel's enemies. Syrian Pres. Bashar Assad floated the prospect of renewed negotiations in early December, telling...

ARABS-UN - Jan. 7 - Annan Says Afghan Process In Peril.
January 10, 2004... In a report to the Security Council, Sec-Gen Kofi Annan says a lack of international commitment to security in Afghanistan threatens to undermine the country's transition to democratic rule. He says the national army, police and international...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Jan. 6 - Freeing 500 Iraqi Prisoners.(Brief Article)
January 10, 2004... CPA chief Paul Bremer tells Iraqi Governing Council (IGC) members in Baghdad 506 Sunni Iraqi prisoners held by US forces will be released, beginning on Jan. 7, in an effort at "reconciliation" aimed at ending Sunni guerrilla attacks on...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Jan. 6 - Bechtel Gets $1.8 Bn Iraq Rebuilding Deal.(Brief Article)
January 10, 2004... Bechtel is awarded a contract valued at up to $1.8 bn to repair Iraq's electricity grids, roads, ports and other infrastructure damaged by the US-led invasion and years of neglect. This is announced as the US administration reveals plans to...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Jan. 6 - 400 Weapon Hunters Leave Iraq.(Brief Article)
January 10, 2004... The Bush administration has quietly withdrawn from Iraq a 400-member military team whose job was to scour the country for military equipment. The step is described by some military officials as a sign that the administration might have lowered...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Jan. 8 - White House 'Distorted' Iraq Threat.(Brief Article)
January 10, 2004... A report by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace says Bush administration officials "systematically misrepresented" the threat from Iraq's WMD in the run-up to war. It says these distortions, combined with intelligence failures,...

AFGHANISTAN - Jan. 4 - Constitution Ratified.
January 10, 2004... The Kabul ratifies a new constitution after three weeks of gruelling, and often emotional, debate exposing deep divisions etched by decades of conflict. This represents a victory for Pres. Hamid Karzai, who sought - and won - a presidential...

AFGHANISTAN - Jan. 6 - Blast Rocks Former Taliban Stronghold.(Brief Article)
January 10, 2004... A powerful explosion close to a military base in the southern city of Kandahar kills 13 people, most of them children, and injures many others in a residential area. Pres. Karzai says". "Terrorists must know...that their acts will only further...

IRAQ - Jan. 7 - Violence Continues.(Brief Article)
January 10, 2004... A mortar attack kills a US soldier and wounds 32 others at their Logistical Base Seitz near Baghdad. The soldiers belong to the 541st Maintenance Battalion of the US 3rd Corps Support Command. Washington has blamed Saddam supporters and foreign...

IRAQ - Jan. 6 - Sunni Tribal Leaders Welcome Softer US Approach.(Brief Article)
January 10, 2004... The release this week of 506 Sunni Iraqi low-security prisoners by US forces (see Arab-US Relations) is welcomed by Sunni tribal leaders as a sign of thawing relations with the occupation forces and a welcome turn towards political, rather than...

IRAQ - Jan. 6 - PepsiCo Returns.(Brief Article)
January 10, 2004... PepsiCo, the No. 2 soft drink company, says it has signed a deal with Baghdad Soft Drinks Co. to bottle and distribute Pepsi products in Iraq. The move, which the US company says is expected to create about 2,000 jobs at Baghdad Soft Drinks,...

IRAQ - Jan. 8 - 9 Die As US Helicopter Crashes.(Brief Article)
January 10, 2004... A Blackhawk helicopter crashes south of the troubled Sunni city of Falluja, killing all 9 people aboard. US authorities investigate whether it was shot down. If so, it would be the fourth to be shot down in the Falluja vicinity since Nov. 2,...

IRAQ - Jan. 9 - Bomb Kills 6 At Shiite Mosque.(Brief Article)
January 10, 2004... A gas cylinder packed with explosives and strapped to a bicycle and left outside a small Shiite mosque in the Sunni town of Baquba kills 6 people and wounds 39 others as they end Friday prayers. There is tension between the Sunni and Shiite...

IRAQ - Jan. 9 - Threat To Overturn US Broadcasting Contract.
January 10, 2004... Communications Minister Haider Abadi threatens to overturn a contract awarded to a US manufacturer, The Harris Corp., to run a newspaper and a group of TV and radio stations used by Saddam's regime. Harris was selected in partnership with the...

IRAQ - Jan. 9 - Saddam Is A POW.(Brief Article)
January 10, 2004... The Pentagon declares Saddam a prisoner of war, ending a period of undetermined status for the ousted dictator. Under the "prisoner of war" classification, Saddam must be treated in accordance with the Geneva Convention and will be eligible...

ISRAEL - Jan. 4 - Conscripts Jailed For Refusing To Serve In Palestine.
January 10, 2004... Five conscripts are sentenced to one year in prison for refusing to serve in what they call an "army of occupation" in the Palestinian territories. They have already served about 14 months in prison. The sentence illustrates the government's...

LIBYA - Jan. 5 - N-Arms Traced To Pakistan.(Brief Article)
January 10, 2004... Bush administration officials and Western experts say Pakistan was the source of the centrifuge design technology that made it possible for Libya to make major strides in the last two years in enriching uranium for use in nuclear weapons. But...

LIBYA - Jan. 9 - Tripoli & Paris Agree $170m Payout.(Brief Article)
January 10, 2004... A long diplomatic stand-off between France and Libya ends as Tripoli agrees to pay $170m in compensation to the families of the 170 who died in the Libyan sabotage of a French airliner over Niger in 1989. But Paris remains embarrassed by the...

PALESTINE - Jan. 8 - Two-State Solution At Risk.(Brief Article)
January 10, 2004... PM Qurei says Palestinians would seek to forge a single binational state with Israel if the Sharon government carries out its threat to absorb major parts of the West Bank. (Qurei's comments underscores a sense of desperation in the face of PM...

PALESTINE - Jan. 10 - PLO Declares Right To Establish State.(Brief Article)
January 10, 2004... The PLO Executive Committee says it will insist on its right to declare a state unilaterally in the West Bank and Gaza Strip if Israel goes ahead with a threat to strengthen its hold on parts of the territories.

RUSSIA - Jan. 7 - Putin Rival Plans To Raise Resource Taxes.(Brief Article)
January 10, 2004... Sergei Glaziev, leader of the Rodina (Motherland) party, tells the FT he plans to stand against Putin in the March presidential elections with demands for a more "social democratic" government policy and changes in the tax regime to stimulate...

SAUDI ARABIA - Jan. 4 - Abdullah On Reforms.(Brief Article)
January 10, 2004... Addressing participants to the second round of the "National Dialogue" which ends in the holy city of Makkah, Crown Prince Abdullah says intellectuals and theologians will meet every three months to discuss ways to reform the kingdom's...

SYRIA - Jan. 8 - Assad In Turkey.(Brief Article)
January 10, 2004... Ending a 3-day visit to Turkey - the first ever by a Syrian head of state - Pres. Bashar Assad and his large delegation have signed a set of agreement with Ankara which should triple two-way trade to $3 bn/year and create a free trade zone...

ARAB-EUROPEAN RELATIONS - Jan. 13 - Solana In Tehran.
January 17, 2004... EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana ends a 2-day visit to Tehran designed to keep up European momentum for dialogue with Iran, which last month agreed to greater international access to its nuclear facilities. The Iranian leadership has...

ARAB-EUROPEAN RELATIONS - Jan. 15 - Prodi In Turkey.
January 17, 2004... Visiting Ankara, European Commission Pres. Romano Prodi urges Turkey to understand the "anxieties" that its attempt to join the EU had stirred. Addressing parliament during a 2-day trip, he says both sides had to work to overcome these...

ARAB-EUROPEAN RELATIONS - Jan. 16 - French Role In post-US Iraq.
January 17, 2004... Responding to a question during his New Year's reception for the press about whether France could envision sending troops to Iraq when the US-led occupation ends and sovereignty has returned to the Iraqi people, De Villepin says: "In this...

ARABS-UN - Jan. 13 - Return To Iraq Under Study.
January 17, 2004... In a letter, Undersecretary-General for Political Affairs Kieran Prendergast tells US ambassador the UN has decided to send 4 military and security experts to Baghdad within 2 weeks to study safety provisions in preparation for a possible early...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Jan. 11 - Sistani Insists On Iraq Elections.(Brief Article)
January 17, 2004... Shiite Grant Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani tells visiting IGC members in Najaf there must be direct elections for a new Iraqi government. He says the US plan for caucuses, instead of direct elections, would give birth to an illegitimate government....

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Jan. 12 - Bush Revising Plans For Iraqi Rule.
January 17, 2004... Bush officials holds urgent meetings in Washington and Baghdad in the wake of Sistani's demands. They are discussing a new plan that will open the caucuses to more people and make their inner workings more transparent. They want the US to...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Jan. 14 - Douri Nephews Seized.(Brief Article)
January 17, 2004... US troops raid 2 homes in Samarra and arrest 4 nephews of Izzat Ibrahim Al Douri, Saddam's former vice president suspected of organising attacks against US forces in the Sunni triangle. Two of the nephews were suspected of keeping Duri in...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Jan. 14 - Alarm At High US Army Suicide Rate.(Brief Article)
January 17, 2004... The US army's suicide rate in Iraq is a third higher than rates for troops during peacetime. The Pentagon's most senior doctor, Assistant Defence Secretary for Health Affairs William Winkenwerder, says: "Fighting this kind of war is clearly...

IRAN - Jan. 11 - Reformists Barred From Elections.
January 17, 2004... The conservative Guardians Council bans at least 80 of the current 290 MPs from standing for re-election on Feb. 20 along with thousands of other candidates. Pres. Khatami later condemned the decision, suggesting it was contrary to the wishes...

IRAN - Jan. 12 - Khamenei Won't Intervene.(Brief Article)
January 17, 2004... In a meeting with governor generals around the country, who have threatened to resign if the ban is not reversed in a week, Khamenei urges them to avoid tension and says: "Once all legal steps have been exhausted, if we arrive at a sensitive...

IRAQ - Jan. 11 - Sistani Wants Elections.
January 17, 2004... Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the highest religious authority for Iraqi Shiites, tells visiting IGC members in Najaf only a directly elected chamber would ensure the legitimacy needed to implement a US-sponsored political blueprint for Iraq. He...

IRAQ - Jan. 11 - Protestors Killed.(Brief Article)
January 17, 2004... Scores of angry protesters gather in Amara in the south, demanding compensation for at least 5 Iraqis killed when police and British troops opened fire to quell a violent demonstration. In the nearby city of Basra, an Iraqi-born American...

IRAQ - Jan. 13 - Shiite Riots.(Brief Article)
January 17, 2004... A wave of riots has spread throughout cities in the predominantly Shiite provinces with protesters demanding direct elections. About 400 rioters in the town of Kut attack Iraqi police and Ukrainian soldiers with rocks and explosives, injuring...

IRAQ - Jan. 14 - Women Against Sharia Family Law.(Brief Article)
January 17, 2004... The IGC defends its approval of a controversial family law that would make it possible to apply Islamic law - Sharia - instead of civil statute in domestic matters such as inheritance and divorce. Opponents, mainly women's groups, say the...

IRAQ - Jan. 14 - Saddam Wary Of Jihadists.(Brief Article)
January 17, 2004... Saddam Hussein warned his Iraqi supporters to be wary of joining forces with foreign Arab suicide fighters entering Iraq to battle US troops, according to a document found with the former dictator when he was captured on Dec. 13. The document...

ISRAEL - Jan. 16 - Hamas Leader 'Marked For Death'.(Brief Article)
January 17, 2004... Deputy Defence Minister Zeev Boim says Hamas spiritual leader Shaikh Ahmad Yassin is "marked for death", as a Hamas suicide bombing on Jan. 14 killed 4 Israeli security personnel in Gaza. The wheelchair-bound Yassin attends Friday prayers as...

JORDAN - Jan. 11 - Conference On Iraq Rebuilding.(Brief Article)
January 17, 2004... Addressing a conference in Amman on Iraq's reconstruction, the CPA promises logistical and media support for a trade fair in Baghdad in March, called Destination Baghdad Export. The CPA hails the March event as "Iraq's grand opening". The Amman...

PALESTINE - Jan. 11 - Qurei Says Wall Cripples Peace Efforts.(Brief Article)
January 17, 2004... PM Ahmad Qurei says Israel's West Bank barrier is a "racist separation wall" destroying peace efforts and calls for international pressure to halt its construction. He toured a section of the barrier in Qalqiliya, a Palestinian town near the...

QATAR - Jan. 11 - Arabs Urged To Back Geneva Accord.(Brief Article)
January 17, 2004... FM Shaikh Hamad Bin Jasem Al Thani urges Arab states to support the Geneva Accord, after meeting with the Israeli and Palestinian architects of the peace initiative, Amnon Lipkin-Shahak and Yasser Abed Rabbo. He says: "This is an agreement that...

ARAB AFFAIRS - Jan. 21 - GCC Positions On Iraqi Debt >TI On a GCC tour, President Bush's special envoy seeking to reduce Iraq's debt, former US secretary of state James Baker, meets with Kuwait's PM Shaikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah. Shaikh Sabah tells him.(Brief Article)
January 24, 2004... Kuwait "will seek with other countries to achieve an effective reduction in the Iraqi debts this year, on condition it would be approved by Iraq's constitutional institutions". He does not say how much debt Kuwait would forgive. (Iraq owed $9...

ARABS-ISRAEL - Jan. 19 - Sharon Says Refugee Fears Drive Jordan.
January 24, 2004... Israeli PM Sharon tells the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee Jordan, which signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1994, could suffer if ties between the two states were harmed because of the security barrier which Israel is building...

ARABS-ISREAL - Jan. 20 -_Israeli Jets Hit S. Lebanon.
January 24, 2004... Israeli jets hit two Hizbollah targets in south Lebanon a day after a Hizbollah anti-tank missile hit an Israeli military bulldozer, kill-ing one soldier and seriously wounding another. Israel said the bulldozer was clearing roadside explosives...

ARABS-UN - Jan. 19 - Annan Gets US-IGC Appeal For Iraq Role.
January 24, 2004... Sec-Gen. Annan, meeting visiting teams under CPA chief Paul Bremer and IGC's January President Adnan Pachachi, says he would consider sending UN experts to Iraq to examine if direct elections are a feasible way of choosing a provisional...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Jan. 19 - Experts To Dismantle Libya WMD.(Brief Article)
January 24, 2004... A senior Bush official says a US and UK team of weapons experts has returned to Libya and within weeks could be dismantling, destroying and removing technology and materials related to its once secret programmes to develop nuclear weapons....

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Jan. 23 - Kay Quits; Says Iraq Had No WMD.(Brief Article)
January 24, 2004... David Kay, the top US weapons inspector in Iraq, resign saying he does not believe there were any large stockpiles of WMD there (His remarks are a challenge to Pres. Bush, who insisted in his State of the Union speech on Jan. 20 that Saddam...

AFGHANISTAN - Jan. 18 - Karzai Frees Ex-Taliban.(Brief Article)
January 24, 2004... Pres. Hamid Karzai issues a decree ordering that all Afghans held in the northern Sheberghan prison, including ex-Taliban fighters, be freed immediately, except those who are still considered to be dangerous. Presidential spokesman Jawid Luddin...

IRAN - Jan. 18 - Khatami Party Threatens Election Boycott.(Brief Article)
January 24, 2004... At the close of a meeting attended by Pres. Khatami and Speaker Mehdi Karoubi, the Association of Combatant Theologians says in a statement it would boycott the Feb. 20 elections if the Guardians Council fails to reverse its ban on reformist...

IRAN - Jan. 20 - Some Disqualified Candidates Reinstated.(Brief Article)
January 24, 2004... The Guardians Council (GC), which recently disqualified 3,600 candidates from the Feb. 20 elections, reverses its ruling for 200 candidates, and announces that more reinstatements would follow. But reformers, who have accused conservatives of...

IRAN - Jan. 22 - Ballot Could Include Banned Names.
January 24, 2004... Reformist MP and former deputy minister of interior Mostafa Tajzadeh says the reformist-controlled interior ministry might list on ballot papers any candidates excluded from the election. He adds: "If we put them on the list, and people vote...

IRAQ - Jan. 18 - Car Blast Kills Many CPA Workers.(Brief Article)
January 24, 2004... A massive car bomb detonated in front of the gate to CPA headquarters (the deadliest and most brazen attack since the Dec. 13 capture of Saddam Hussein) kills 25 CPA employees and injures 60 others. At least 2 Americans - contractors working...

IRAQ - Jan. 19 - Shiite Demos.
January 24, 2004... About 100,000 Shiites march in Baghdad demanding an elected government. They march about 5 km to the University of Al-Mustansariyah, where a representative of Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani delivers a speech he says is directed at Annan, the...

IRAQ - Jan. 21 - Attacks Kill 9.(Brief Article)
January 24, 2004... Insurgents shoot at a bus carrying Iraqi women home from work at a military base west of Baghdad, killing 4 and wounding 6. South of Baghdad near Diwaniya, a Spanish police chief was shot in the head and seriously wounded during a joint...

IRAQ - Jan. 23 - Chalabi For Elections.(Brief Article)
January 24, 2004... IGC member Ahmad Chalabi in Washington says: "I believe direct elections are possible. Seek to make them possible and they will be possible. The date of June 30 is firm. We intend to abide by it and President Bush is committed to it". He says...

ISRAEL - Jan. 21 - Sharon & Olmert Face Bribe Scandal.
January 24, 2004... PM Sharon might be forced out of office by a corruption scandal after David Appel, a property dealer and friend of the Sharon family was charged with bribing him. A series of corruption allegations have been hanging over Sharon since before his...

RUSSIA - Jan. 20 - Putin Talks Big.
January 24, 2004... Pres. Putin tells visiting World Bank Pres. Wolfensohn Moscow is to begin another round of reforms and would forgive more debts owed by poorer nations. He indicates he wants to use the country's higher profile as a World Bank member to...

SAUDI ARABIA - Jan. 18 - Haradh Plant Inaugurated.(Brief Article)
January 24, 2004... Crown Prince Abdullah inaugurates Saudi Aramco's gas and oil project in Haradh. This consists of a gas plant delivering 1,500 MCF/d (42.4 MCM/d) of sales gas to the Master Gas System (MGS), and a gas-oil separation plant (GOSP) to stabilise...

SAUDI ARABIA - Jan. 21 - Grand Mufti Condemns Woman's Action.
January 24, 2004... Grand Mufti Shaikh Abdel Aziz Ibn Abdullah Aal Al-Shaikh (the highest authority in Wahhabism) condemns Mrs. Lubna Olayan for having addressed and participated in a recent economic conference attended by key members of the royal family. VIPs...

SAUDI ARABIA - Jan. 21 - Prince Kidnapped.(Brief Article)
January 24, 2004... Prince Sultan Ibn Turki Ibn Abdel Aziz, a nephew of King Fahd, was on Jan. 19 quoted by Reuters and AP as saying he was kidnapped from Geneva in June 2003, after being drugged, and flown to Saudi Arabia on government order to stop him from...

TURKEY - Jan. 21 - Towards Stronger Lira.(Brief Article)
January 24, 2004... Parliament's Budget Commission is debating a plan proposed by State Minister for the Economy Ali Babacan to redenominate the lira by taking six zeros out of it, in a move to restore its credibility with the public after years of high inflation...

TURKEY - Jan. 23 - Babacan Vows To Meet EU Terms.(Brief Article)
January 24, 2004... Babacan tells the FT on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos that, despite fallout from the war in Iraq, devastating suicide bombs and internal political tensions, Turkey's economy is on track to meet economic requirements for EU...

ARAB AFFAIRS - Jan. 30 - Tunis Won't House Summit If Rulers Disagree.(Brief Article)
January 31, 2004... The Gulf Daily News reports an Arab official as saying Tunisian FM Habib Ben Yahia, in Cairo discussing with Arab League Sec-Gen. Amr Mousa preparations for the Arab summit to be held in Tunis in March, warned it will drop plans to host the...

ARAB-EUROPEAN RELATIONS - Jan. 25 - EU Backs Iran, Iraq, Syria For WTO Status.(Brief Article)
January 31, 2004... Meet-ing in Brussels, the EU trade ministers and Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy agree to back a US-supported Iraqi Governing Council (IGC) request for observer status at the World Trade Organisation (WTO). But it stresses it also wants to...