APS Diplomat Recorder articles from July 2003

APS Diplomat Recorder archives from July 2003

ARABS-ISRAEL - July 1 - Sharon & Abbas Reiterate Commitment To Peace.(Brief Article)
July 5, 2003... Speaking in Jerusalem ahead of a meeting to discuss further progress on the "road map" to peace, Israeli PM Ariel Sharon and Palestinian PM Mahmoud Abbas make strong commitments to a peaceful resolution to the violence that has killed more than...

ARABS-ISRAEL - July 2 - Army Withdraws From Bethlehem.(Brief Article)
July 5, 2003... The Army withdraws from Bethlehem, and PA police officers re-assert their authority over the city. (Following Israel's pullback from parts of the Gaza Strip on June 29-30, this is the first return of policing control to the PA in the West Bank,...

ARABS-ISRAEL - July 2 - Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades Leader Killed.(Brief Article)
July 5, 2003... The Army kills Mahmoud Shawa, a leader of Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, in the West Bank city of Qalqiliya during an arrest raid late at night. Israeli officials said Shawa had been targeted because the PA security forces did not yet have...

ARABS-ISRAEL - July 3 - Peace Talks In Disarray After Gaza Missile.(Brief Article)
July 5, 2003... The truce is thrown into doubt after militants fired anti-tank missiles into the settlement of Kfar Darom in the centre of the Gaza Strip, wounding three Israelis. The attack is carried out by the Popular Resistance Committees, a coalition of...

ARABS-ISRAEL - July 3 - PA Security Forces Arrest 4 Militants.(Brief Article)
July 5, 2003... PA security forces arrest at least four militants accused of firing anti-tank missiles into the settlement of Kfar Darom. The arrests prompted a small demonstration for the militants' release in Gaza City. Several dozen militants marched and...

ARABS-ISRAEL - July 4 - Abbas Urges Militants To Keep Peace.(PM Mahmoud Abbas)(Brief Article)
July 5, 2003... PM Mahmoud Abbas meets Islamic Jihad leaders after holding similar talks with Hamas on July 3. The series of meetings are aimed at cementing a ceasefire. PA cabinet minister Saeb Erekat said it was "far-fetched" to describe the talks as...

IRAN - July 1 - El Baradei To Visit Tehran.
July 5, 2003... The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) spokesman Mark Gwozdecky says in Vienna that the agency head Mohammad El Baradei is to arrive in Tehran on July 9 on an Iranian invitation "to discuss the implementation of nuclear safeguards". (The...

IRAN - July 1 - Japan Responds To US Pressure Over Oil Deal With Tehran.
July 5, 2003... Japanese chief cabinet secretary Yasuo Fukuda says Tokyo will take into consideration international concern about Tehran's nuclear activities when it signs an oil deal with Tehran. Fukuda urges Tehran "to address the allegations" surrounding...

IRAQ - July 1 - Mosque Blast Kills 4.(Brief Article)
July 5, 2003... An overnight blast at Al Hassan mosque in Falluja, about 30 miles west of Baghdad, kills at least 4 Iraqis and wounds several others. Townspeople blamed the US for the destruction of the mosque, and insisted they heard US aircraft flying over...

IRAQ - July 1 - US Troops Face More Attacks.(Brief Article)
July 5, 2003... At least seven US soldiers are wounded in three separate attacks as coalition forces continue their efforts to ferret out militias loyal to Saddam Hussein. A US military vehicle blew up near Al Mustansiriyah University in central Baghdad and...

IRAQ - July 1 - Seven More Countries To Send Troops.(Brief Article)
July 5, 2003... A report in The FT says: "Seven countries have offered to send up to 5,000 troops to Iraq following an appeal by [British PM] Tony Blair to some 20 governments last week. The forces from Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Lithuania,...

IRAQ - July 3 - US Offers $25M For Saddam.(Brief Article)
July 5, 2003... In a weekly broadcast address to the Iraqi people, chief US administrator Paul Bremer says the US State Department is offering a reward of up to $25m for either the capture of Saddam Hussein or information confirming his death. The reward for...

IRAQ - July 4 - Saddam Urges Resistance.(Saddam Hussein)(Brief Article)
July 5, 2003... Al Jazeera broadcasts an audiotape of a voice purported to be that of Saddam Hussein, urging Iraqis to continue resisting the US and British "infidels". The voice exhorts Iraqis to protect "heroic resistance fighters" who have staged a series...

PALESTINE - July 1 - US May Increase Aid.(Brief Article)
July 5, 2003... US officials say Washington, seeking ways to encourage compromise in the Middle East, is considering increasing aid to the Palestinians, which would go towards improving the authority's intelligence and security apparatus and easing living...

RUSSIA - July 4 - Yukos Chief Summoned In State Theft Inquiry.(Mikhail Khodorkovsky)(Brief Article)
July 5, 2003... Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the country's richest businessman and Yukos CEO, is summoned for questioning by federal prosecutors in connection with an investigation into the alleged theft of state assets. The summons follows the July 3 detention of...

SAUDI ARABIA - July 3 - Top Suspect In Riyadh Bombings Killed.(Brief Article)
July 5, 2003... An Al Qaida member who was the top suspect wanted in the May 12 Riyadh suicide bombings is killed along with three other militants in a shootout with the police in the town of Suweir, 900 km north-west of Riyadh. The police swooped down early...

TURKEY - July 1 - Sezer Blocks Human Rights Reform.(Ahmet Necdet Sezer)
July 5, 2003... A report in The FT says: "[Pres.] Ahmet Necdet Sezer yesterday [June 30] vetoed a central element of a human rights reform package designed to meet the European Union's criteria for starting accession talks with Turkey. Sezer opposed the...

ARABS-ISRAEL - July 6 - Israel Agrees To Release 300 Jailed Palestinians.
July 12, 2003... Israeli government votes 10 to 10 with two abstentions to release more than 300 Palestinian prisoners in the coming days. The government places numerous conditions for the releases. Most of those to be freed are being held under "administrative...

ARABS-ISRAEL - July 8 - Abbas Cancels Talks With Sharon.(Brief Article)
July 12, 2003... PA PM Mahmoud Abbas cancels talks set for July 9 with Israeli PM Sharon, and PA officials say he has threatened to resign in response to a storm of Palestinian criticism that he has gained little from Israel in exchange for renouncing violence....

ARABS-ISRAEL - July 9 - Hamas Wants All Prisoners Freed.(Brief Article)
July 12, 2003... Speaking in his Gaza home, Hamas spiritual leader Ahmad Yassin pledges his commitment to the ceasefire in place since the end of June, but demands that Israel release all Palestinian prisoners. Yassin, speaking ahead of a meeting with an...

IRAN - July 7 - Foreign Ministry Confirms Final Missile Test.
July 12, 2003... Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Assefi confirms that the Islamic Republic has successfully conducted the final test of a midrange missile and says that it will now begin delivering an operational model to the army. Assefi says in...

IRAN - July 9 - El Baradei Visits.
July 12, 2003... The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Mohammad El Baradei, who is invited by the government for a 1-day visit, arrives in Tehran and meets senior government officials. He told a press conference that he had "very...

IRAN - July 10 - Russia & China Bid For Azadegan Oil Deal.
July 12, 2003... A report in The FT says: "Russia and China are offering to develop Iran's largest oil field after a Japanese consortium bowed to US pressure last week and suspended negotiations on a deal worth more than $2 bn. The readiness of Russia and China...

IRAQ - July 6 - Myers Plays Down Resistance.(Brief Article)
July 12, 2003... The Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Richard Myers says that despite the string of deadly attacks on coalition forces, the resistance is far from "monolithic" or nationwide, instead appearing fragmented and limited to a small...

IRAQ - July 7 - US Admits African Uranium Link 'Bogus'.
July 12, 2003... White House spokesman Ari Fleischer tells a press conference that an assertion by US Pres. Bush earlier this year that Baghdad was seeking to buy uranium from Niger was based on "bogus" information. Fleischer says Bush did not know the reports...

IRAQ - July 8 - Five US Soldiers Wounded In 2 Separate Attacks.(Brief Article)
July 12, 2003... Five US soldiers are wounded in two separate attacks. In Kirkuk, 175 miles to the north of Baghdad, attackers fire a rocket-propelled grenade at a US military convoy, injuring three servicemen. Two servicemen were wounded when their Humvee was...

IRAQ - July 8 - Bremer Announces $6 Bn Budget For Ministries.
July 12, 2003... Chief US civil administrator Paul Bremer announces the creation of an ambitious budget for the second half of 2003, totalling $6.1 bn in expenditure by ministries and designed to spur reconstruction in the country. The creation of a budget will...

IRAQ - July 10 - British Govt Says Finding Arms Is Unlikely.(Brief Article)
July 12, 2003... Correspondents from the BBC and Reuters report that PM Tony Blair's government officials no longer believe weapons of mass destruction will be uncovered in Iraq. Senior British government officials are putting forward the argument that the...

IRAQ - July 10 - Bush Acknowledges 'Security Issue'.(Brief Article)
July 12, 2003... Visiting Gabarone, Botswana, on his tour of African countries, US Pres. Bush acknowledges that US-led forces face a persistent security threat in Iraq. He says: "There is no question we have a security issue in Iraq. We just have to deal with...

IRAQ - July 11 - CIA Accepts Blame For Bogus Allegation.(Brief Article)
July 12, 2003... CIA Director George Tenet takes responsibility for faulty pre-war intelligence, saying the CIA should never have allowed US Pres. Bush to claim Saddam Hussein had attempted to buy uranium from Niger. (The admission comes late at night after...

JORDAN - July 10 - Intelligence Chief Jailed.(Brief Article)
July 12, 2003... Former intelligence chief Samih Al Buttikhi begins a 4-year prison sentence for embezzling $24m from banks, following his conviction in a special military court. Buttikhi's successor, Saad Kheir, ordered Buttikhi to return the stolen bank loans...

RUSSIA - July 5 - Double Suicide Bombing Kills 14 In Moscow.
July 12, 2003... Two female suicide bombers, allegedly from Chechnya and one believed to be only 20, blow themselves up at the gates to an open-air rock festival at Tushino airfield in Moscow, killing at least 14 people and injured 60. The death toll could have...

SAUDI ARABIA - July 6 - Two Criminals Beheaded.(Brief Article)
July 12, 2003... The Interior Ministry says in a statement that a Saudi citizen has been beheaded for murder and a Pakistani for drug trafficking earlier in the day. The executions bring the number of beheadings in 2003 to 20. In 2002, at least 49 people,...

SUDAN - July 8 - Crash Kills All Aboard Sudan Airways Flight Except Child.
July 12, 2003... A Sudan Airways airliner heading from Port Sudan to Khartoum crashes before dawn just after takeoff, killing 116 people and leaving one survivor - a 3-year-old boy found injured but alive amidst the charred corpses. The Boeing 737 wreckage was...

ARABS-ISRAEL - July 14 - Sharon Resists Pressure To Free More Prisoners.(Brief Article)
July 19, 2003... Visiting London, PM Sharon meets British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw. Sharon continues to resist pressure for a bigger release of Palestinian prisoners, making clear that Israel's security needs must take precedence. He says there are some...

ARABS-ISRAEL - July 16 - Israel Frees Kidnapped Cabdriver.(Brief Article)
July 19, 2003... Israeli elite security forces free unharmed Eliahu Gurel, a 61-year-old Israeli taxi driver, who has been held for 5 days by Palestinians in a kidnapping. Gurel was rescued from an abandoned building near Ramallah where he was found in a deep...

ARABS-ISRAEL - July 16 - Abbas To Meet Bush To Discuss Peace Plan.(Brief Article)
July 19, 2003... PA officials say PM Mahmoud Abbas plans to make his first visit to Washington on July 25 to meet US Pres. Bush to press for Israeli concessions to advance the new Middle East peace plan. (Abbas will be the highest-ranking PA official ever to...

AFGHANISTAN - July 15 - US To Quell Border Clashes With Pakistani Troops.
July 19, 2003... Senior US diplomats hold an emergency meeting in Kabul in an attempt to quell clashes between Afghan and Pakistani troops along their 1,600km border. But few doubt that it will take more than one meeting to improve the poisonous relations...

AFGHANISTAN - July 18 - Eight Soldiers Killed In Mine Ambush.(Brief Article)
July 19, 2003... Eight soldiers are killed as their vehicle is blown up by a remote-controlled mine planted by suspected Taliban guerrillas. The soldiers were on patrol in Khost Province, where suspected Taliban fugitives have carried out attacks against Afghan...

IRAN - July 15 - US Rebuffs Tehran Offer Of Nuclear Talks.(Brief Article)
July 19, 2003... A report in The FT says: "Iran has indicated to the US it is ready to open direct talks about its nuclear programme, but US officials say the Bush administration is keeping the door closed. The Iranian offer was presented as a first step...

IRAN - July 16 - Beating Killed Journalist.(Brief Article)
July 19, 2003... Vice President Mohammad Ali Abtahi tells reporters that Zahra Kazemi, a 54-year-old Montreal-based journalist of Iranian descent who died on July 11, was beaten to death during or after her arrest outside a Tehran prison on June 23. (He...

IRAQ - July 13 - Interim Administration Divided At Birth.
July 19, 2003... A 25-member interim administration, known as the Governing Council, meets for the first time and immediately exposes divisions over the council's powers and relations with the US-led coalition. The Governing Council ends months of negotiations...

IRAQ - July 14 - Explosion Hits Coalition Building In Baghdad.(Brief Article)
July 19, 2003... An explosive device, probably a hand grenade, detonates in front of a coalition headquarters building in downtown Baghdad. Soldiers said no one was hurt in the blast, which is thought to be intended to send a message to coalition forces that...

IRAQ - July 14 - UN To Prepare Ground For Elections.(Brief Article)
July 19, 2003... The UN announces it is sending a team of experts next month to pave the way for eventual elections, as western diplomats claim the US has accepted the need for greater UN involvement in the post-war transition. One diplomat said: "The Americans...

IRAQ - July 15 - Bremer Plans Referendum On Constitution.(Brief Article)
July 19, 2003... Chief US administrator Paul Bremer says a new constitution will be passed by a nation-wide referendum, as he outlines the steps to form a democratically elected government. His comments are made as an Iraqi National Congress spokesman Entifadh...

IRAQ - July 15 - Paris Will Not Send Troops.(Brief Article)
July 19, 2003... French Pres. Jacques Chirac says that under current circumstances, France will not send troops to Iraq to help the US peace-making effort. (Chirac explains the French position in a private meeting with Czech Pres. Vaclav Klaus). Chirac says:...

IRAQ - July 16 - Top Officer Says US Facing Guerrillas.(Brief Article)
July 19, 2003... The new commander of allied forces Gen. John Abizaid says the US troops are under attack from "a classical guerrilla-style campaign" whose fighters, drawn from Saddam Hussein's most unyielding loyalists and foreign terrorist groups, are...

IRAQ - July 16 - Powell Discusses New UN Resolution.
July 19, 2003... Speaking after talks with German FM Joschka Fischer, US State Secretary Colin Powell says he has started discussions on a possible new UN resolution on Iraq, which might encourage otherwise reluctant allies to help restore stability to the...

IRAQ - July 16 - Britain Takes Over In South-East.(Brief Article)
July 19, 2003... British Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon says the UK formally takes over command of the multinational force for the south-east of the country. The headquarters, based in Basra, and responsible for three additional provinces in the surrounding area,...

IRAQ - July 17 - Wolfowitz In Baghdad.(Brief Article)
July 19, 2003... US Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz arrives in Baghdad for a 5-day tour to assess the US administration's successes and shortcomings in the post-war reconstruction effort. Wolfowitz tells reporters at the airport: "I'm here to understand...

IRAQ - July 17 - Blair Says History Will Justify War.(Brief Article)
July 19, 2003... Visiting the US, British PM Tony Blair tells Congress in a passionately delivered speech that he believes "with every fibre of instinct and conviction" that the US and the UK are justified in leading a war on Iraq. Blair suggests that history...

IRAQ - July 17 - Saddam Tape Urges Jihad Against US.(Brief Article)
July 19, 2003... Al Arabiya and Al Jazeera broadcast an audio-tape said to be by Saddam Hussein, which calls for Iraqis to mount a "jihad" to oust occupying US troops. The speaker on the tape says: "The enemy wants to weaken Iraq and the only genuine solution...

IRAQ - July 18 - British Govt Adviser On Iraq Dead.(Brief Article)
July 19, 2003... The body of Dr. David Kelly - a 59-year-old adviser to the British Ministry of Defence on chemical and biological weapons - is found close to his home in Oxfordshire, the UK. The British police are treating the case as an unexplained death...

IRAQ - July 18 - White House Releases Top Secret WMD Papers.(Brief Article)
July 19, 2003... The White House releases portions of a top secret intelligence assessment prepared before the war in Iraq, arguing it presented "a clear, compelling case" that Baghdad was trying to reconstitute its nuclear weapons programme. The unorthodox...

IRAQ - July 18 - Annan Urges Coalition Exit Timetable.(Brief Article)
July 19, 2003... In a report to the UN Security Council, UN Sec-Gen. Kofi Annan warns the governing coalition it must urgently establish a timetable "leading to the end of military occupation" if it wants to stem "growing impatience" amidst a "precarious, some...

ISRAEL - July 19 - Netanyahu Revolutionises Economy.
July 19, 2003... A report in The IHT says: "Benjamin Netanyahu is racing to revolutionize Israel's economy, and he considers it a sprint, not a marathon. In just over four months as finance minister, Netanyahu has cut the top income tax rate from 60% to 49%,...

RUSSIA - July 14 - Yukos Fears New Round Of Arrests Among Managers.(Brief Article)
July 19, 2003... Yukos, the flagship oil company, accuses the state prosecutors of intimidation and illegal pressure on the company and warns of a possibility of a new round of searches and arrests among its top managers. The warning by Yukos' lawyers comes...

RUSSIA - July 17 - Kasyanov Says Privatisation Results Will Not Be Reviewed.(Brief Article)
July 19, 2003... Opening a weekly government meeting, PM Mikhail Kasyanov says: "The results of the previous years' privatisations are unshakable". (Kasyanov is the first senior official to publicly address the issue of whether the Kremlin would seek to wrest...

RUSSIA - July 17 - Fighting In Chechnya Kills 8.(Brief Article)
July 19, 2003... Rebels clash with federal troops and detonate land mines across Chechnya, killing 8 soldiers and wounding 9. Meanwhile, a powerful shrapnel-filled bomb exploded near a police station in the Dagestan region, which borders Chechnya. The blast...

ARABS-ISRAEL - July 20 - Sharon Tells Abbas To Disband Militants.
July 26, 2003... Israeli PM Ariel Sharon and PA PM Mahmoud Abbas hold a 2-hour meeting in Jerusalem. Sharon rebuffs Palestinian demands for immediate troop withdrawals and release of prisoners, saying that Abbas must first break apart militant groups. (This is...

ARABS-ISRAEL - July 25 - Palestinian Boy Killed.
July 26, 2003... Mahmoud Kabaha, a 4-year-old Palestinian boy, is killed and two young girls wounded when Israeli soldiers open fire with a machine gun on a family truck at a military checkpoint on the edge of the Palestinian village of Bartaa in the northern...

ARABS-OPEC - July 24 - Fears Over Iraq Crude Dismissed.(Brief Article)
July 26, 2003... Saudi Oil Minister Ali Naimi tells the Saudi-owned London-based Al Hayat newspaper that Iraq's return to the oil market will pose no problem to the OPEC. He says: "Iraq is a founding member of OPEC. We welcome its return and there will be no...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - July 25 - Mahmoud Abbas Visits Washington.
July 26, 2003... Pres. Bush welcomes PA PM Mahmoud Abbas to the White House and announces steps aimed at easing poverty among the Palestinian people. With Abbas standing by his side, Bush announces the creation of a Joint Palestine Economic Development Group,...

IRAN - July 24 - Tehran Accuses Canada Of Killing Islamic Republic's Citizen.(Brief Article)
July 26, 2003... Tehran accuses Canada of involvement in the killing of an Iranian in Vancouver, with Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamidreza Assefi saying that an Iranian, Kayvan Tabesh, has been killed by the Canadian police in Vancouver and that two others have...

IRAQ - July 20 - Protest Calls For US Troops To Leave.
July 26, 2003... Thousands of demonstrators pour into the streets of Najaf, demanding the US pull its forces from the southern town, as spokesmen for a prominent cleric accuse US troops of surrounding his home. The US commander in Najaf denied to Reuters that...

IRAQ - July 20 - US To Create Security Force Of 7,000 Iraqis In 45 Days.
July 26, 2003... Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the ground commander of all US forces in Iraq, tells reporters the US is creating a new civil defence force within the next 45 days that will free up thousands of US troops for anti-guerrilla missions and put an Iraqi...

IRAQ - July 23 - US Unveils Proof Of Death Of Saddam's Sons.
July 26, 2003... In a briefing in Baghdad, the ground commander of US forces in Iraq Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez says Uday and Qusay Hussein died on July 22 in a fierce firefight at a house in the northern city of Mosul after an interpreter warned them to come out...

IRAQ - July 23 - Bush Says Problems Aren't Over.(Brief Article)
July 26, 2003... US Pres. Bush says the deaths of Saddam Hussein's sons Qusay and Uday should reassure Iraqis "that the former regime is gone and will not be coming back". But he acknowledges continuing problems with armed holdouts - "the enemies of Iraq's...

IRAQ - July 24 - Long-Term Oil Contracts Acquired.(Brief Article)
July 26, 2003... BP PLC and Royal Dutch/Shell announce they have each agreed to buy 10m barrels of Iraqi oil under the first long-term contracts to be offered by Baghdad since the end of the war. The companies each expects to ship 2m barrels of Basra Light...

IRAQ - July 24 - US Soldiers Killed Near Mosul.(Brief Article)
July 26, 2003... Three soldiers with the US Army's 101st Airborne Division are killed in an ambush near Mosul early in the morning. The insurgents were armed with grenades and Kalashnikov assault rifles. Military officials offered no information about who was...

IRAQ - July 24 - Villepin Presses Case For UN Oversight.
July 26, 2003... In an interview with France Inter radio, French FM Dominique de Villepin predicts that the killing of Saddam Hussein's two sons could spark attacks of revenge against the US and its coalition partners and reiterates the need for the UN to take...

IRAQ - July 25 - Saddam's Personal Guards Snatched In Tikrit.(Brief Article)
July 26, 2003... US troops capture about 10 Iraqis who are believed to have been members of Saddam Hussein's personal security detachment during a raid on a house in the former dictator's hometown of Tikrit. Maj. Gen. Ray Ordierno, commander of the US Army's...

RUSSIA - July 22 - Diplomat Warns US Against Attacking Iran.(Brief Article)
July 26, 2003... Deputy FM Alexander Losyukov warns the US against attacking Iran, saying in an interview with the newspaper Vremya Novostei that the use of force against Tehran "would have more serious consequences than in the case of Iraq". He says Moscow...

RUSSIA - July 23 - Deputy FM Calls For Stronger UN Role In Iraq.(Brief Article)
July 26, 2003... Deputy FM Yuri Fedotov says Moscow supports a stronger UN role in Iraq to help the country quickly restore its sovereignty. He says the UN Security Council may need to pass a new resolution outlining a road map for rebuilding Iraq's...

RUSSIA - July 24 - Igor Ivanov Talks With Powell.(Brief Article)
July 26, 2003... FM Igor Ivanov and US State Secretary Colin Powell discuss over the phone the preparations for the upcoming visit of Pres. Putin to the US. Ivanov and Powell also discuss some topical international issues including the rebuilding of Iraq and...

RUSSIA - July 24 - Explosive Devices Discovered Near Moscow.(Brief Article)
July 26, 2003... A special team of the Federal Security Service (FSB) discover explosive devices late at night in the village of Tolstopaltsevo, 30 km south-west of Moscow. The explosive devices were neutralised in two stages. A source in law enforcement told...

RUSSIA - July 25 - Col. Jailed For Chechnya Killing.(Brief Article)
July 26, 2003... A military court in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don sentences Col. Yuri Budanov to 10 years in prison for the murder of a Chechen woman. (Budanov is the highest-ranking Russian officer to face charges for abuses in Chechnya). He admitted...

SAUDI ARABIA - July 22 - Nayef Confirms Arresting Militants Linked To Al Qaida.(Brief Article)
July 26, 2003... Interior Minister Prince Nayef says 16 suspected militants arrested in a series of raids across the kingdom on July 21 are linked to Osama Bin Laden's Al Qaida network. Those detained are accused of planning attacks on key installations. When...

SAUDI ARABIA - July 23 - Energy Sector To Be Opened.(Brief Article)
July 26, 2003... On the second day of a road show in London, Riyadh officials say international energy companies could begin work in the kingdom by early 2004 after having been shut out of the vast energy sector since the 1970s. Officials outlined details of a...