APS Diplomat Recorder articles from October 2003

APS Diplomat Recorder archives from October 2003

ARAB AFFAIRS - Oct. 1 - UAE Urges GCC To Help Rebuild Iraq.
October 4, 2003... The Financial Times (FT) quotes a federal government official as urging UAE's Gulf "neighbours" (GCC) to give generously to Iraqi re-construction at the Oct. 23-24 donors' conference in Madrid, arguing it will accelerate the departure of US...

ARAB-EUROPEAN RELATIONS - Sept. 28 - Blair & Bush Defiant Over Iraq.
October 4, 2003... UK PM Blair tells BBC at the start of his Labour Party's annual conference: "I don't apologise for Iraq. I am proud of what we have done". Blair (like Bush in a radio address on Sept. 27), says he has no doubt Saddam was "a serious threat to...

ARAB-EUROPEAN RELATIONS - Sept. 29 - EU Steps Up Warning On Iran Nuclear Plans.(Brief Article)
October 4, 2003... EU FMs issue their toughest warning yet to Iran, that economic and political ties with Tehran could be put at risk if it does not comply fully with its obligations to the IAEA by the Oct. 31 deadline. They say they hope Iran would "sign,...

ARAB-EUROPEAN RELATIONS - Sept. 30 - Donors Won't Give Much For Iraq.(Brief Article)
October 4, 2003... Spanish FM Ana Palacio plays down expectations that the Madrid donors' Oct. 23-24 conference would raise pledges near the $20 bn the US has earmarked for Iraqi reconstruction in 2004. She tells a news conference: "If we take into account the...

ARAB-ISLAMIC AFFAIRS - Sept. 27 - Zawahiri Tape Urges Musharraf Ouster.(Brief Article)
October 4, 2003... Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya air an audio tape purporting to come from Al-Qaeda leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri, in which he urges Pakistanis to overthrow President Musharraf for "betraying" Islam and Muslims around the world to fight the...

ARABS-ISRAEL - Oct. 1 - Sharon Govt. Approves WB Wall.
October 4, 2003... Sharon's cabinet approves a separation wall deep inside the West Bank that would include Ariel, one of the largest Jewish settlements. (The move could put Sharon at odds with the Bush administration, which opposes the wall's construction on...

ARABS-ISRAEL - Oct. 1 - Top Islamic Jihad Militant Seized.(Brief Article)
October 4, 2003... Israeli soldiers have captured and beaten key Islamic Jihad militant Shaikh Bassam Saadi, 42, in a raid at a refugee camp near Jenin where he was hiding under a car. Islamic Jihad leader in the Gaza Strip Abdullah Al-Shami vowed retaliation,...

ARABS-ISRAEL - Oct. 2 - Sharon Expanding Settlements.(Brief Article)
October 4, 2003... Israel announces plans to build about 600 homes in three large West Bank settlements. Palestinians express anger at this and the Oct. 1 decision to build the barrier. Arafat calls the barrier a "wall of racism" and says: "What does the wall...

ARABS-ISRAEL - Oct. 4 - Islamic Jihad Bomber Kills 19.(Brief Article)
October 4, 2003... An Islamic Jihad suicide bomber blows herself up inside a crowded restaurant in Haifa, killing 19 people, both Jews and Arabs. The bomber, a 27-year-old lawyer whose brother was killed by Israel previously, came from the West Bank town of...

ARABS-RUSSIAN RELATIONS - Oct. 4 - Putin On Iraq, Iran & US Ties.
October 4, 2003... In a 3-hour interview with the NYT, Pres. Putin says the US faced the possibility of a prolonged, bloody and ultimately futile war in Iraq like the one that mired the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. He says Iraq could "become a new centre, a new...

ARABS-UN - Sept. 30 - Condemnation Of Israeli Wall Urged.(Brief Article)
October 4, 2003... John Dugard, appointed by the UN Human Rights Commission as special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories calls for international condemnation of the security wall Israel is building between it and the West Bank, saying it amounts...

ARABS-UN - Oct. 1 - New US text On Iraq Gets Tepid Response; Hit By Annan.
October 4, 2003... After conversations between US Secretary of State Powell and his counterparts in Spain, Germany and the UK, US diplomats presented new wording for a Security Counecil resolution on Iraq to the permanent five members, and later Germany, at their...

ARABS-UN - Oct. 2 - IAEA Officials In Iran.(Brief Article)
October 4, 2003... Two top IAEA officials begin talks in Tehran, trying to clear up questions before an Oct. 31 deadline for Iran to prove its nuclear programme is peaceful. Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation spokesman Saber Zaimian says: "The talks are very...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Sept. 28 - No Proof Of WMD In Iraq.
October 4, 2003... The House Intelligence Committee leaders have concluded the US launched its war with Iraq despite having no new intelligence proof that Saddam's regime was developing WMD or forging ties with terrorists. (The findings again force the Bush...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Sept. 28 - Iraq Arms Caches Found.(Brief Article)
October 4, 2003... US troops have found large weapons stores in several raids in Iraq. The biggest was was found in a Sept. 27 raid in Owja, a town just south of Tikrit and Saddam's birthplace. Soldiers found 23 surface-to-air missiles (SAMs), more than 400...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Sept. 29 - Bush Seeks $600M To Hunt Iraq WMD.(Brief Article)
October 4, 2003... The Bush administration is seeking more than $600m from Congress David Kay's 1,200-strong Iraq Survey Group (ISG) to continue the hunt for conclusive evidence that Saddam's regime had a WMD programme. (The money, part of the White House's...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Oct. 3 - Bush Says Report Justifies Iraq War.
October 4, 2003... Bush makes a pointed defense of his decision to make a pre-emptive strike against Iraq, a day after Kay reported that his team failed to find WMD in its 3-month search in Iraq. Bush singles out parts of Kay's report that say the group found...

AFGHANISTAN - Sept. 29 - US Soldier Killed.(Brief Article)
October 4, 2003... A US soldier is killed and two are wounded in a clash with suspected Taliban rebels near a coalition base at Shkin, in Paktika Province, just a few km from the border with Pakistan. Two rebel fighters also die. Five US soldiers have died in...

AZERBAIJAN - Oct. 2 - Socar Scam.(Brief Article)
October 4, 2003... US Prosecutor Robert Morgenthau announces indictment of Viktor Kozeny on charges of stealing $182m from 15 investment funds managed by Omega Advisors, a hedge fund giant, caused by a planned privatisation of the state-owned oil company Socar...

IRAN - Sept. 27 - Tehran On Nuclear Plan, Al-Qaeda & Iraq.
October 4, 2003... Speaking to the FT in New York, FM Kharrazi says he wants "assurances that the problem is going to be solved" before signing an additional protocol with the IAEA. He complains that, at the moment, "we hear different voices. Washington says the...

IRAQ - Oct. 1 - US Grants Urged.
October 4, 2003... Visiting the US, IGC members weigh into the Washington debate on Bush's $87 bn emergency budget request for Iraq and Afghanistan, saying any funds allocated to reconstruction should be in the form of grants, not loans. (Calls have been growing...

IRAQ - Oct. 3 - Red Tape & Security Fears Hinder WMD Hunt.
October 4, 2003... A CPA official says rigid bureaucracy and conflicting security concerns within the coalition force ruling Iraq are seriously hampering the hunt for evidence of Saddam's WMD programmes. He says the widespread arrest lower-ranking former...

IRAQ - Oct. 4 - US Pays Ex-Troops One-Time $40.
October 4, 2003... The CPA completes paying a $40 stipend to over 320,000 ex-soldiers and blames Saddam loyalists for inciting ex-soldiers in a second day of violent protests. Hundreds of ex-soldiers gathered in Baghdad and Basra over the past 2 days, angrily...

OMAN - Sept. 4 - Elections.(Brief Article)
October 4, 2003... The country's first free elections are held for the 85-member Shura (advisory) Council. (The results on Oct. 5 left women hoping for a bigger role in politics disappointed as voters chose yet another male-dominated Shura. Voters only re-elected...

PALESTINE - Sept. 29 - Barghouti Says Freedom Price of peace.
October 4, 2003... Speaking in near-perfect Hebrew, Fatah's Tanzim leader Marwan Barghouthi, 43, closes his trial in Israel on murder charges with a demand for independence for his people as the price of peace. )In keeping with his insistence Israel has no right...

PALESTINE - Sept. 30 - Pessimism As Arafat Keeps Control.(Brief Article)
October 4, 2003... PM-designate Qurei announces a cabinet with all 9 members from Fatah and (like its predecessor Abbas) says he will refuse to crack down on militants in the absence of reciprocal steps by Israel. Salam Fayad, the widely-respected finance...

RUSSIA - Sept. 29 - Energy Groups May Pay More Tax.
October 4, 2003... Minister for Trade and Economic Development German Gref says the government is set to impose additional taxes worth about $1.5 bn a year on energy companies on a sliding scale based on the quality of their assets. He says there would be a shift...

RUSSIA - Oct. 3 - Investigators Search Yukos Papers.
October 4, 2003... Criminal investigators conduct a new round of searches focusing on Yukos (a sign the investigation that has shadowed the company since July is far from over. The searches, at an orphanage the company finances and at a business club in Moscow's...

TURKEY - Sept. 29 - Ankara Links Iraq Force To US Action Over Kurds.
October 4, 2003... A government official says plans to send peacekeeping troops to Iraq will depend on US action against Kurdish rebels now seeking refuge in northern Iraq. (PM Erdogan is wavering in his commitment to send troops to Iraq because he has not...

ARAB AFFAIRS - Oct. 6 - Leaders Fear Escalation; League Calls For Emergency Talks.
October 11, 2003... Arab leaders condemning Israel's Oct. 5 air strike on a suspected terrorist training camp near Damascus warn that the attack could lead to an escalation of violence in the region now that US-led occupation force in Iraq face increasing attacks....

ARAB-ISLAMIC AFFAIRS - Oct. 10 - Iranian Woman Gets Nobel Prize.(Brief Article)
October 11, 2003... Iranian lawyer and civil rights activist Shirin Ebadi becomes the first Muslim woman to be awarded a Nobel Peace Prize. In awarding the prize, the Nobel committee says it wishes to prod the Muslim world into recognising that Islam and human...

ARABS-ISRAEL - Oct. 6 - Sharon-Assad Charges.
October 11, 2003... After Israel's Oct.5 air raid near Damascus (in response to Islamic Jihad's Oct.4 suicide bombing - see above & Recorder 14), PM Sharon warns Syria that Israel would "strike in every place and with any means" to defend its citizens. (Sharon's...

ARABS-ISRAEL - Oct. 8 - Israel Sends More Troops Into West Bank/Gaza.(Brief Article)
October 11, 2003... Defence Minister Mofaz orders additional troops to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and maintains tough restrictions on Palestinian movements in those areas. (Israeli troops withdrew from some Palestinian areas and began lifting a limited...

ARAB-MEDITERRANEAN AFFAIRS - Oct. 10 - Iraq Occupation Must End.
October 11, 2003... The 11-state Mediterranean Forum (held by FMs & top officials of Algeria, Egypt, France, Greece, Italy, Malta, Morocco, Portugal, Spain, Tunisia & Turkey) ends a 2-day meeting in Antalia with a statement saying: "The ministers shared the view...

ARABS-UN - Oct. 7 - Sudan Mission Considered.(Brief Article)
October 11, 2003... Britain asks the Security Council to authorise a peacekeeping mission in Sudan (amid hopes that peace talks starting in Kenya could end Africa's longest civil war. The conflict has pitted the Khartoum-based government against SPLA secessionists...

ARABS-UN - Oct. 9 - IAEA Warns Iran Time Is Running Out.
October 11, 2003... IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei, in an interview with the FT, calls on Iran to accelerate its co-operation with his agency. He warns that time is running out for Tehran to comply with an Oct.31 deadline and provide full transparency to allay...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Oct. 5 - Bush On Israeli Attack In Syria.
October 11, 2003... Pres. Bush calls Israeli PM Sharon after an Oct.5 Israeli raid inside Syria. Both agree "on the need to continue fighting terrorism in the region". (But publicly the Bush administration avoids any criticism of the raid, which was the first deep...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Oct. 5 - Toxins Found In Iraq.(Brief Article)
October 11, 2003... Kay says his inspectors found a vial of botulinum toxin, are searching for a possible cache of lethal anthrax spores, and are pursuing hints that Iraq concealed banned Scud missiles. He concedes, however, that his 1,200-member team has come...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Oct. 5 - Support In Small Places.(Brief Article)
October 11, 2003... The president of the semi-autonomous Serbian province of Kosovo, Ibrahim Rugova, says he is eager to send several hundred police officers to help anywhere they are needed by the US. "I don't have soldiers," Rugova tells Richard Holbrooke, the...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Oct. 6 - Bush Shifts Chain Of Command On Iraq Reconstruction.(Brief Article)
October 11, 2003... Bush announces the "Iraq Stabilization Group" (ISG), to be chaired by his national security adviser Rice. He says it is "aimed at the co-ordination of inter-agency efforts, as well as providing a support group" to the Defence Department and the...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Oct. 9 - Bush Defends Iraq Spending Plans.(Brief Article)
October 11, 2003... The Bush administration's $20.3 bn funding request for rebuilding Iraq is to cover 18 months, beyond the 2004 presidential election, the White House says. (The admission follows criticism in Congress of the size of the package and a new...

AFGHANISTAN - Oct. 6 - Action Sought Over Attacks On Women.
October 11, 2003... A new Amnesty International report says domestic violence, rape and murder of women to settle family feuds remain widespread in Afghanistan, while internationally-sponsored programmes to bolster protection are inadequate. It says programmes...

AFGHANISTAN - Oct. 6 - NATO-Led Force To Get Bigger Role.(Brief Article)
October 11, 2003... NATO agrees in principle to give the International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) in Kabul a greater mandate to extend its peacekeeping mission beyond the capital. The decision, to be passed to the UN to amend Isaf's mandate, comes in time...

AFGHANISTAN - Oct. 8 - 1st Bank Opens.(Brief Article)
October 11, 2003... The National Bank of Pakistan opens in a private house in an upmarket neighbourhood of Kabul. It offers basic commercial banking services, says Central Bank Governor Anwar ul-Haq Ahady. Several banks and investors are preparing to enter the...

AFGHANISTAN - Oct. 10 - Pakistan Yields On Border Control.(Brief Article)
October 11, 2003... A government official attending the 4th meeting of a tripartite military commission to resolve border and counter-terrorism issues says: "We have seen a visible and quantifiable change in the way Pakistan has been handling the cross-border...

ALGERIA - Oct. 5 - Vessels Join Exercises With NATO.(Brief Article)
October 11, 2003... A 6-warship NATO anti-terrorism task force anchors in Algiers on a 3-day mission including joint naval exercises with Algerian vessels. (The visit by the Operation Active Endeavor underscores the growing ties between NATO and Algiers, which has...

IRAN - Oct. 4 - Female MPs Urge New Inquiry Over Killing.(Brief Article)
October 11, 2003... Azam Naseripour and 2 fellow female MPs petitions Chief Justice Ayat. Shahroudi to order a new investigation into the case against Afsaneh Nowrouzi, a female. Nowrouzi, 32, was sentenced to death in 2001 for killing an intelligence officer she...

IRAN - Oct. 10 - Woman Activist Get Nobel Prize.
October 11, 2003... Female lawyer and civil rights activist Shirin Ebadi becomes the first Muslim woman to be awarded a Nobel Peace Prize. In awarding the prize, the Nobel committee says it wishes to prod the Muslim world into recognising that Islam and human...

IRAQ - Oct. 6 - Mobile Phone Licences Given.
October 11, 2003... The Ministry of Telecommunications announces the winners of 3 licences to bring commercial mobile phone service, in the first big international investment tender in the country following the war. The tender featured a large role for new Iraqi...

IRAQ - Oct. 7 - Anger As Turkey Agree To Send In Troops.(Brief Article)
October 11, 2003... Turkey's parliament votes to send troops to Iraq, as requested by the US. It authorises the Ankara government to send an unspecified number of troops for one year, making Turkey (with the second-largest standing army in NATO after the US) the...

IRAQ - Oct. 7 - Shiites Protest Imam's Arrest.(Brief Article)
October 11, 2003... Thousands of Shiite demonstrators pack the entrance to the CPA headquarters in Baghdad to protest at the Oct.6 arrest of the imam of the Baya mosque in southern Baghdad, Shaikh Muiyid Al Khazraji, held for "criminal and anti-coalition...

MOROCCO - Oct. 10 - Family Law Reform Gives Women Equal Rights.(Brief Article)
October 11, 2003... Opening parliament, King Mohamed announces reforms ending women's subservient status in marriage law, giving them equal rights over the custody and welfare of children and placing tight curbs on the practice of polygamy. He cites extracts from...

MOROCCO - Oct. 11 - Chirac Visit.(Brief Article)
October 11, 2003... French Pres. Chirac ends a 3-day visit after having toured Fez, Tangier and Rabat to champion Morocco's desire for an "advanced status" deal with the EU and back the country's claim on the disputed former Spanish colony of Western Sahara....

PALESTINE - Oct. 7 - Qurei Sworn In; But Later Says He May Quit".(Brief Article)
October 11, 2003... PM Qurei is sworn in as PM in a ceremony boycotted by Interior Minister Gen. Nasser Yousef. But later he told reporters: "The same (Fatah) government will continue for 20 to 25 days, then after that there will be a new government, with a new...

PALESTINE - Oct. 8 - Doctors Says Arafat Health OK.(Brief Article)
October 11, 2003... Arafat advisers deny a Guardian report that the Palestinian leader recently suffered a mild heart attack. Arafat has appeared frail during brief public appearances in recent days, but aides and doctors insist he is suffering from an intestinal...

RUSSIA - Oct. 4 - Putin Says US Faces Big Risks In Iraqi Mission.(Brief Article)
October 11, 2003... Pres. Putin says in an expansive interview published by the IHT the US faces in Iraq the possibility of a prolonged, violent and ultimately futile war like the one that mired the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. He warns that Iraq could "become a...

RUSSIA - Oct. 7 - Moscow To Change Privatisation Rules.
October 11, 2003... Trade and Economic Development Minister German Gref tells the FT the government intends to change the rules for the sale of the country's electricity generation assets, to prevent them falling into the hands of a small group of powerful...

RUSSIA - Oct.8 - Debt Upgrade.
October 11, 2003... Moody's Investors Service places 4 Russian banks on review for an upgrade in the first signal of how companies can benefit from the historic upgrade of Russia's sovereign credit rating to investment grade. Russia's largest mobile phone...

RUSSIA - Oct. 10 - Putin's Idea To Price Oil In Euros May Hurt Dollar.
October 11, 2003... After a summit with German chancellor Schroder, Putin says Moscow could switch to the euro in pricing its oil. He adds: "We do not rule out that it (the switch from the dollar to the euro for oil) is possible. That would be interesting for our...

SYRIA - Oct.9 - Assad Denounces Israeli Raid.
October 11, 2003... Pres. Assad, speaking for the first time about Israel's Oct.5 air raid near Damascus, tells Al Hayat the attack was "an attempt by the Israeli government to extract itself from its big crisis by trying to terrorise Syria and drag it and the...

SYRIA - Oct. 11 - US Ties At A New Low.(Brief Article)
October 11, 2003... FM spokeswoman Bushra Kanafani tells a news conference: "Syrian-American relations have deteriorated markedly to a point that they have not reached in recent years". She says the US threat to veto a UN Security Council resolution condemning the...

TURKEY - Oct.7 - Parliament OK's Troops To Iraq.(Brief Article)
October 11, 2003... Parliament passes the government request to send troops to Iraq to assist the US in peacekeeping. But as Iraq's Governing Council (IGC) was opposed to a Turkish military presence in the country, government officials on Oct.10 said Ankara...

ARABS-EUROPEAN - Oct. 11 - Paris Tells Libya To Act On Claims In Bombing.
October 18, 2003... A French negotiator, Guillaume Denoix de Saint Marc, says Libya has responded following a stern warning from France and resumed efforts to reach a compensation deal with families of victims of a 1989 airliner bombing. Libyan negotiators resumed...

ARABS-EUROPEAN - Oct. 13 - EU Attacks Iran's Human Rights Record.
October 18, 2003... The EU attacks Iran's human rights record but does not agree to table or co-sponsor a UN General Assembly resolution that would single out Iran for its human rights violations. In a session devoted to human rights in Iran, EU foreign ministers...

ARABS-EUROPEAN - Oct. 17 - European Ministers Step Up Pressure On Iran.
October 18, 2003... British, French and German FMs are to travel to Iran on Oct. 20 in a bid to persuade Iranian authorities to unconditionally sign an additional protocol to the NPT. Diplomats say the planned visit follows intense negotiations between senior...

ARAB-ISLAMIC - Oct. 16 - Mahathir Comment On Jews Attracts Storm Of Criticism.
October 18, 2003... A defiant Malaysian PM Mahathir Mohamad rejects an international storm of criticism that he had made anti-Semitic statements at the OIC. The US, the EU, Israel and other countries had condemned his assertion that "the Jews rule this world by...

ARABS-ISRAEL - Oct. 13 - Unofficial Peace Move Angers Sharon.(Brief Article)
October 18, 2003... Israel's rightwing government reacts with anger to an unofficial peace agreement drafted by members of the opposition and former military personnel with Palestinian negotiators, known as the Geneva Initiative. The accord, which is to be signed...

ARABS-ISRAEL - Oct. 15 - Four Dead As Gaza Blast Hits US Convoy.(Brief Article)
October 18, 2003... An apparent roadside bomb explodes next to a convoy of US diplomatic and CIA vehicles in the Gaza Strip, and Israel Radio says at least four people have been killed. Witnesses at the scene say a silver Cherokee jeep used by American diplomats...

ARABS-ISRAEL - Oct. 17 - Sharon Seen Ruling Out Expulsion Of Arafat.(Brief Article)
October 18, 2003... PM Ariel Sharon rules out expelling Arafat, playing down an Israeli threat against the Palestinian leader that had drawn an international outcry and US misgivings. But in remarks to an Israeli newspaper, Sharon stands firm on erecting a vast...

ARABS-RUSSIAN RELATIONS - Oct. 13 - Iran's Nuclear Reactor Start-Up Delayed.(Brief Article)
October 18, 2003... Moscow announces a year's delay until 2006 for the start-up of Iran's Bushehr nuclear reactor - a move that wins it time to push for greater compliance by Tehran with IAEA supervision demands. The country's atomic energy ministry says the new...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Oct. 11 - Iraq Team Has Found No Illegal Weapons.(Brief Article)
October 18, 2003... After briefing members of Congress on his three-month investigation, David Kay, the man leading the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, says: "We have not found at this point actual weapons. We have found substantial evidence of an...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Oct. 15 - US Vetoes Plea At UN To Block Israeli Fence.
October 18, 2003... The US vetoes a Palestinian-drafted UN Security Council resolution seeking to bar Israel from extending a security fence deep into the West Bank. The measure, which also would have denounced plans to build 600 new homes in Israeli settlements...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Oct. 16 - Bush's $87bn Bill Faces Testing Time In Congress.
October 18, 2003... Pres. Bush's $87 bn request for Iraq and Afghanistan faces further challenges when moderate senators from both parties seek a compromise amendment that would turn some of the Iraq reconstruction money into a loan. The $20.3bn Iraq...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Oct. 16 - US Senate Defies Bush Over Aid To Iraq.
October 18, 2003... In a setback to Pres. Bush, the Senate votes to convert half of a $20 bn ([pounds sterling]11.9 bn) aid package he sought for Iraq into a loan as Congress considers his $87 bn request for Iraq and Afghanistan. The Senate votes 51-47 to make $10...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Oct. 16 - US Diplomacy Overcomes Resistance To Iraq Accord.(Brief Article)
October 18, 2003... In an apparent triumph for US diplomacy, the UN Security Council unanimously approves a resolution which blesses the presence of American and allied forces in Iraq, endorses Washington's vision for the country's political transition, and calls...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Oct. 17 - US Companies To Be Big Gainers From Iraq Outlay.
October 18, 2003... Much of the US financial contribution to Iraqi reconstruction will be earmarked for American companies, according to the top international official at the US Treasury, John Taylor. Congress prepares to approve around $20bn of spending on Iraqi...

AFGHANISTAN - Oct. 12 - Rebels Kill 7 In Attacks In Afghanistan.(Brief Article)
October 18, 2003... Local security officials say suspected Taliban fighters killed seven people and wound two in a bold attack in the early hours on a government district office in the southern Afghan province of Zabul. An American soldier is wounded in a separate...

AFGHANISTAN - Oct. 13 - UN Backs Wider Nato Deployment In Afghanistan.(Brief Article)
October 18, 2003... The 15-nation Security Council unanimously approves a resolution which expands the scope of the International Security Assistance Force, or ISAF, mission so it can provide security across the country, a change long sought by President Hamid...

AZERBAIJAN - Oct. 16 - Son Of Azerbaijan Leader Wins Poll.
October 18, 2003... Haydar Aliyev, the son of Azerbaijan's ailing leader, scores a resounding victory in a presidential election, sealing the first dynastic succession in an ex-Soviet state. The outcome should reassure investors keen to ensure calm in the oil- and...

IRAN - Oct. 18 - Deports Al Qaeda Suspects.(Brief Article)
October 18, 2003... Pres. Mohammad Khatami says Iran has deported many Al Qaeda suspects but will not extradite any to the US despite requests to do so. Khatami did not say how many Al Qaeda suspects it expelled, where they were sent or whether they included any...

IRAQ - Oct. 13 -Minister Warns On Fast Economic Shift.
October 18, 2003... Iraq's interim Trade Minister Ali Abdul Amir Allawi warns against forcing the war-torn economy to move rapidly to a free-market system, saying that a swift drive will fuel unemployment and heighten political instability. "We suffered through...

IRAQ - Oct. 16 - Insecurity In Iraq 'May Help Al Qaeda To Re-arm'.
October 18, 2003... The London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies says in its newly published Military Balance survey that while the invasion of Iraq might have isolated Al Qaeda from potential state sponsors, it was also likely to have had the...

IRAQ - Oct. 16 - Three US Soldiers Killed In Iraq.(Brief Article)
October 18, 2003... Three US military police and two Iraqi policemen were killed when rooftop attackers fired on their patrol in the Shiite Muslim holy city of Kerbala, a US military spokesman says. Major Ralph Manos says four US military police and five Iraqi...

IRAQ - Oct. 17 - Iraqi Council Blocks Motion On US Troops.(Brief Article)
October 18, 2003... The US-backed IGC succeeds in blocking a resolution at a summit of Islamic nations that called for the early departure of US troops, saying the motion would represent unwanted interference in the country's internal affairs. The resolution on...