Over a dozen Palestinians rounded up in W Bank

By: Ahmad Hammadi

JERUSALEM: More than a dozen Palestinians have been arrested by the Israeli forces in the West Bank town in overnight operations, an army spokesman said Tuesday.

Four were captured in Ramallah, three in the nearby village of Naama, four others were seized in Nablus in the north, while the two were in the small town of Dura, near Hebron.

The army has arrested up to 6,000 Palestinian in the months of reoccupation of the West Bank, Groups representing Palestinian rights say expressing concern that the prisoners are being held in harsh conditions.

But the army says it has around 2,500 in its main detention centers.

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Egyptian president says Arabs reject US attack on Iraq

By: Sultan Ahmad

CAIRO, Egypt: Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak said Tuesday that all Arab states throw out a possible US military strike on Iraq.

“I don't think there is one Arab state that wants a strike on Iraq, not Kuwait, not Saudi Arabia, not any other state,” said Mubarak while talking to students at a meeting in the northern city of Alexandria, adding, “Saudi Arabia ... clearly said it will not allow the use of its bases to strike Iraq.”

Mubarak said he has warned American President Bush that a military intervention in Iraq could lead to chaos across the region.

“If you strike Iraq, and kill the people of Iraq while Palestinians are being killed (by Israel), this would lead to a dangerous situation; not one Arab leader will be able to control the angry outburst of the masses,” he said.

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Al-Qaeda still operating in US: Official

By: Nabil Raza

WASHINGTON: The Director of US Homeland Security Tom Ridge said Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network is still operating in the United States and preparing new strikes.

In an interview, Ridge said: “Given the fact that at least 19 (suicide terrorists) had made their way months, if not years, before into this country to plan for and prepare for the attacks of (Sept 11), it would be very foolhardy to conclude that there were only 19.”

The Director added that American law enforcement agencies had already foiled a number of planned attacks.

“There are still glaring weaknesses in security which terrorists could easily exploit,” Ridge said. “Although airline safety has improved, the threat of chemical and biological weapons remains a particular concern.”

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US adds Chinese Muslim group to terrorist list

By: Special Reporter

WASHINGTON: The Bush administration has decided to add a Muslim Uighur group in China to a list of foreign entities that face US economic curbs for terrorist activities, saying the decision should not be seen as a “green light” from US for a general Chinese crackdown on its Muslim minority.

Any assets the group has in the United States would be frozen, and transactions it might make involving US banks are to be blocked.

Monday, Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said in Beijing during talks with Chinese officials the move came after a careful study of the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) - a Uighur group that wants to carve out a separate Muslim state in China's western Xinjiang province - and its tactics.

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UN urges world to do more to fight poverty

By: Nabil Raza

UNITED NATIONS: UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has urged the world community to do more to achieve the goals set at the 2000 United Nations Millennium summit in New York aimed at battling poverty, hunger and other global problems.

“Some millennium goals have benefited from the hard decisions and courageous reforms that are needed. Others have not,” Annan said in his first annual report to the UN General Assembly.

The report was made on the progress achieved by the UN and its Member States towards implementing the Millennium Declaration adopted in 2000.

Annan said East Asia has made progress in reducing the proportion of its population that is malnourished or extremely poor; the number of hungry people in Africa actually rose by 27 million during the 1990s.

“Much of the progress has been made by relying on strategies that combine the energies of Member States, international institutions and agencies with those of others, such as the private sector and other parts of civil society,” the secretary noted.

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