Aljazeera
News
8-17-2005
US,
Israel
end
China
arms
sales
crisis
Israel
and
the
US
have
signed
an
accord
ending
a
long-running
dispute
over
Israeli
arms
exports
to
China
that
had
soured
relations
with
Washington,
the
Israeli
Defence
Ministry
says.
Full
Story
|
Iraqi
Kurds
deny
plans
to
secede
Iraqi
Kurdish
leaders
say
they have
no
plans
to
secede,
even
if
they
want
the
new
constitution
to
give
them
the
right
to
do
so
-
one
of
the
issues
that
forced
a
delay
in
finishing
the
draft
charter.
Meetings
were
to
resume
on
Wednesday
among
Iraqi
leaders
seeking
to
finish
the
draft
by
the
new
22
August
deadline.
Full
Story
|
Gaza
deadline
passes,
eviction
to
start
Israel
has
set
in
motion
its
plan
to
forcibly
remove
thousands
of
Jewish
settlers
who
defied
a
midnight
deadline
for
leaving
the
Gaza
Strip
voluntarily
and
end
38
years
of
occupation.
The
Gaza
pullout,
hailed
by
Palestinian
resistance as
a
victory
and
assailed
by
its
Israeli
opponents
as
surrender
to
violence,
will
mark
the
first
removal
of
Jewish
settlements
from
land
that
Palestinians
want
for
a
state.
Military
convoys
brought
troops
to
the
biggest
settlement
of
Neve
Dekalim
and
several
expected
strongholds
of
resistance
at
the
start
of
the
evacuation
of
the
21
Gaza
settlements,
an
operation
which
the
army
hopes
to
complete
by 4
September.
By
the
time
the
deadline
passed
at
midnight
(2100
GMT)
on
Tuesday,
the
mood
in
Neve
Dekalim
had
shifted
from
anger
and
despair
towards
resignation.
Full
Story
|
Bush
ranch
protest
attracts
hostility
Hostility
has
grown
against
opponents
of
the
Iraq
war
encamped
outside
US
President
George
Bush's
ranch
after
a
driver
mowed
down
white
crosses
planted
along
a
road
bearing
the
names
of
dead
US
soldiers.
In
the
latest
act
against
the
activists,
a
group
of
Crawford
residents
petitioned
a
court
on
Tuesday
to
restrict
parking
in
the
area
around
the
encampment
outside
Bush's
ranch,
police
said.
Full
Story
|
First-ever
Sino-Russo
war
games
begin
Russian
navy
ships
and
long-range
bombers
are
heading
to
a
Chinese
peninsula
jutting
into
the
Yellow
Sea
for
the
first-ever
joint
military
exercise
between
the
two
countries.
While
the
exercise
involves
a
mock
intervention
to
stabilise
an
imaginary
country
riven
by
ethnic
strife,
Moscow
and
Beijing
say
the
exercise
starting
on
Thursday
-
set
to
include
some
10,000
troops
from
land,
sea
and
air
forces
-
are
not
aimed
at
any
third
country.
Full
Story
|
Qatar
asylum
'offer'
to
Taya
Qatar
has
offered
asylum
to
Mauritania's
ousted
president
Maaouya
Ould
Sid'Ahmed
Taya
almost
two
weeks
after
he
was
overthrown
in
a
bloodless
coup,
a
Gambian
official
says.
"Qatar
has
invited
Taya
to
seek
asylum
there,"
said
a
senior
Gambian
official
in
the
capital
Banjulon
Tuesday,
where
Taya
is
currently
in
temporary
refuge.
Full
Story
|
Afghan
copter
crash
kills
Nato
troops
A
helicopter
has
crashed
in
western
Afghanistan,
killing
a
number
of
Nato-led
peacekeepers,
an
official
of
the
Nato-led
force
said.
Rescue
teams
had
been
sent
to
the
crash
site
on
Tuesday
near
the
airport
in
Herat
city,
said
Andrea
Tolan,
a
press
official
for
the
International
Security
Assistance
Force,
Afghanistan's
Nato-led
peacekeeping
force.
Full
Story
|
Emotions
mixed
on
Aceh
peace
deal
Although
many
in
Aceh
are
hopeful
that
lasting
peace
is
at
hand
after
the
truce agreement
between
Indonesian
and
rebel
leaders,
others
warn
that
fear
and
distrust
run
deep.
Thousands
of
people
huddling
around
TV
sets
in
a
mosque
courtyard
in the
provincial
capital
Banda
Aceh
clapped
and
cheered
while
watching
leaders
halfway
around
the
globe
sign the
accord
on
Monday
to
end
three
decades
of
war.
Full
Story
|
Yemen
trial
delayed
after
protests
The
trial
in
Yemen
of
34
followers
of
a
slain
Shia
rebel
leader has
been
postponed after
defendants
loudly
denounced
the
judge,
accusing
him
of
being
unfair.
Followers
of
Hussein
Badr
Eddin
al-Houthi,
killed
in
September,
also
chanted
anti-American
and
anti-Israeli
slogans
inside
the
court
on
Monday.
Full
Story
|
Israeli
police
enter
Gaza
settlement
Israeli
police
have
cut
through the
main
gate
of
Gaza
Strip's
largest
settlement,
gaining
control
of
a
major
flashpoint
with
Jewish
settlers
resisting
orders
to
evacuate under
Israel's
Gaza
withdrawal
plan.
Early
on
Tuesday,
police
burst
through
the
main
gate
and
other
entrances
of
Neve
Dekalim
and
cut
off
the
metal
gate
with
an
electric
saw.
Full
Story
|
Iraq
cautious
after
missed
deadline
Iraq
is
weighing
the
fallout
from
its
failure
to
meet
a
deadline
to
draft
a
new
constitution,
facing
warnings
of
fresh
political
turmoil
if
it
does
not
complete
the
charter
next
week.
Iraqi
legislators
granted
a
one-week
extension
to
draft
the
country's
post-Saddam
Hussein
constitution
after
leaders
missed
a
midnight
Monday
deadline
to
submit
it
to
parliament
despite
intense
US
pressure
to
wrap
up
the
charter
on
time. "This
is
a
one-time
extension
...
if
Iraq
misses
the
next
deadline,
we
have
to
dissolve
the
national
assembly,
the
government
will
collapse
and
fresh
elections
will
have
to
be
held,"
Kurdish
panelist
Munther
al-Fadhal
said.
Full
Story
|
Arabs
welcome
pullout
as
first
step
Arab
governments
have
expressed
the
hope
that
Israel's
pullout
from
the
Gaza
Strip
will
be
followed
by
the
evacuation
of
other
occupied
Palestinian
lands
and
the
establishment
of
a
Palestinian
state.
Palestinian
President
Mahmoud
Abbas
acknowledged
the
"historic
and
important"
nature
of
the
Israeli
pullout
from
Gaza
after
38
years
but
denounced
an
Israeli
insistence
it
would
keep
hold
of
its
West
Bank
settlement
blocs.
Full
Story
|
Infants
grounded
by
US
no-fly
list
Infants
have
been
stopped
from
boarding
planes
at
airports
throughout
the
United
Sates because
their
names
are
the
same
as
or
similar
to
those
of
possible
terrorists
on
the
government's
no-fly
list.
It
sounds
like
a
joke,
but
it
is not
funny
to
parents
who
miss
flights
while
scrambling
to
have
babies'
passports
and
other
documents
faxed.Ingrid
Sanden's
one-year-old
daughter
was
stopped
in
Phoenix
before
boarding
a
flight
home
to
Washington
at
Thanksgiving."I
completely
understand
the
war
on
terrorism,
and
I
completely
understand
people
wanting
to
be
safe
when
they
fly,"
Sanden
said.
"But
focusing
the
target
a
little
bit
is
probably
a
better
use
of
resources."The
government's
lists
of
people
who
are
barred
from
flying
or
require
extra
scrutiny
before
being
allowed
to
board
airplanes
grew
markedly
since
11
September
2001.Caught
in
sweepsCritics
including
the
American
Civil
Liberties
Union
say
the
government
does
not provide
enough
information
about
the
people
on
the
lists,
so
innocent
passengers
can
be
caught
up
in
the
security
sweep
if
they
happen
to
have
the
same
name
as
someone
on
the
lists.That
can
happen
even
if
the
person is
an
infant,
such
as
Sanden's
daughter.
(Children
under two
do
not need
tickets
but
Sanden
purchased
one
for
her
daughter
to
ensure
she
had
a
seat.)
Full
Story
|
Libya,
Egypt,
Algeria
in
talks
on
summit
The
leaders
of
Egypt,
Libya
and
Algeria
have
met
to
discuss
the
Israeli
withdrawal
from
Gaza,
developments
in
Iraq
and
a
possible
Arab
summit.
On
the
sidelines
of
the
meeting
on
Monday,
Egypt
dismissed
reports
that
its
calls
for
an
emergency
summit
had
sparked
tensions
with Algeria.
Full
Story
|
Passenger
plane
crashes
in
Venezuela
A
passenger
plane
has
crashed
in
remote
western
Venezuela
with
152
passengers
aboard,
an
aviation
official
said.
It
was
unclear
whether
anyone
has
survived.
The
West
Caribbean
Airways
plane
was
headed
from
Panama
to
Martinique
before
dawn
on
Tuesday
when
its
pilot
reported
engine
trouble
to
the
Caracas
airport,
said
Francisco
Paz,
president
of
the
National
Aviation
Institute.
Full
Story
|
Syrian
police
arrest
Kurds
after
riot
Syrian
police
have arrested
about
35
Syrian
Kurds
in
a
northern
town
near
Aleppo
after
they
assaulted
policemen
dispersing
members
of
a
banned
separatist
faction.
Ammar
Qurabi
of
the
Arab
Organisation
of
Human
Rights
in
Syria
(AOHRS)
said
a
crowd
rioted
on
Monday
after
police
prevented
them
from
holding
a
celebration
to
mark
the
25th
anniversary
of
the
Kurdistan
Workers
Party
(PKK).
"About
35
people
were
arrested
after
hurling
stones
at
the
police
and
damaging
property
and
vehicles
in
Ain
al-Arab,"
Qurabi
told
reporters
on
Tuesday.
"The
police
did
not
use
firearms,
but
they
used
tear
gas
after
the
violence
started."
Qurabi
said
the
violence
subsided
after
the
arrests.
"AOHRS
condemns
the
use
of
violence
by
any
entity
...
emphasises
the
importance
of
national
unity
and
urges
self
restraint,"
his
rights
group
said
in
a
statement.
In
June,
Syria
sentenced
three
members
of
the
PKK
to
jail
after
convicting
them
of
seeking
secession.
PKK
banDamascus
banned
the
PKK
after
a
stand-off
with
Turkey
over
the
group's
activities
in
1998.
Syria
and
Turkey
came
to
the
brink
of
military
confrontation
before
Damascus
met
a
Turkish
request
to
expel
PKK
leader
Abdullah
Ocalan.
Ankara
had
repeatedly
complained
that
Syria
was
backing
PKK
rebels
fighting
in
southeast
Turkey.
The
two
neighbours
have
improved
ties
in
recent
years.
Both
worry
that
Kurdish
autonomy
in
northern
Iraq
could
strengthen
separatist
aspirations
among
their
own
Kurdish
minorities.
Several
banned
Kurdish
political
groups
in
Syria,
which
has
an
estimated
two
million
Kurds,
demand
the
right
to
teach
their
language,
and
citizenship
for
about
200,000
stateless
Kurds.
Full
Story
|
US
downplays
Iraq
charter
delay
US
President
George
Bush
has
downplayed
a
delay
in
drafting
the
Iraqi
constitution
despite
US
pressure
for the
document
it
hopes
will
help
weaken
the
anti-US
uprising.
Full
Story
|
Curfew
lifted
in
Khartoum
Sudanese
authorities
have
lifted
a
curfew
imposed
two
weeks
ago
to
stop
the
capital's
worst
violence
in
decades,
which
killed
at
least
111
people.
"We
have
lifted
the
curfew," an
Interior Ministry
official
said.
"There
will
be
no
checkpoints,
but
the
forces
will
still
be
out
on
the
streets."
Full
Story
|
Coroners
seek
clues
in
Athens
crash
Coroners
are
to
carry
out
tests
on
the
remains
of
the
passengers
and
crew
of
a
Cypriot
airliner
that
has
crashed
outside
Athens
to
determine
exactly
when
the
121
people
died.
Officials
said
on
Monday
the
coroners
were
attempting
to
determine
whether
the
people
on
board
the
Helios
Airways
flight
were
already
dead
when
the
plane
slammed
into
a
mountain
just
north
of
Athens
early
on
Sunday
afternoon.
Full
Story
|
Car
bomb
rocks
Grozny
restaurant
A
powerful
car
bomb
has exploded
outside
a
restaurant
in
Chechnya's
capital,
killing
two
people
and
wounding
at
least
11
others,
a
police
spokesman
says.
The
blast
on
Monday was
the
latest
violence
in
Grozny,
which
remains
a
shattered
city
some
six
years
after
Russian
soldiers
invaded
the
province
seeking
to
end
a
separatist
insurgency.
Full
Story
|
Scores
killed
in
Iraq
attacks
At
least
17
people
have
been
killed
and
more
than
30
wounded
in
several
attacks
in
Iraq,
including
an
explosion
targeting
the
family
of
Iraqi
Vice-President
Adel
Abd
al-Mahdi.
Two
of
al-Mahdi's
guards
were
killed
in
a
roadside
bomb
on
Monday
120km
north
of
Baghdad
as
they
escorted
the
family
of
the
Shia
vice-president,
an
official
source
said.
None
of
his
family
members
were
hurt
in
the
attack,
the
source
added.
Three
Iraqi
soldiers
were
killed
and
two
were
wounded
in
another
attack
on
Monday
at
a
checkpoint
near
Baquba,
also
north
of
Baghdad,
an
Iraqi
military
source
said.
The
source
said
armed
men
attacked the
position
south
of
Baquba
with
grenades
and
small
arms
fire,
killing
three
soldiers
and
seriously
wounding
two
others.
Full
Story
|
Indonesia,
Aceh
rebels
sign
truce
Indonesia
and
rebels
from
Aceh
have
signed
a
truce
aimed
at
ending
one
of
Asia's
longest-running
conflicts,
which
has
cost
more
than
12,000
lives
in
nearly
three
decades
of
fighting.
The
deal,
signed
in
Helsinki
by
Indonesian
Justice
Minister
Hamid
Awaluddin
and
Malik
Mahmood
of
the
Free
Aceh
Movement
(GAM),
provides
for
an
amnesty
and
disarming
of
the
rebels
and
restricts
government
troop
movements
in
Aceh.
Full
Story
|
Sri
Lanka
cremates
slain
minister
Sri
Lanka
wants
the
international
community
to
take
anti-terrorism
measures
against
the
Tamil
Tiger
rebels,
the
Foreign
Secretary
says.
Full
Story
|
HRW:
UK-Jordan
deportations
illegal
Britain
will
break
international
law
if
it
deports
security
suspects
to
Jordan
or
countries
such
as
Egypt
and
Algeria,
due
to
a
high
risk
of
torture,
Human
Rights
Watch
(HRW)
has
said.
The
comments
on
Tuesday
come
after
London
arrested
and
pledged
to
deport
10
foreigners
in
a
crackdown
on
hardline
Muslims
after
the
deadly
7
July
bombings
in
the
city.
Full
Story
|
Italy
carries
out
mass
arrests
Italy
has
arrested
141
people
in
a
security
swoop
following
the
bombings
in
London
and
Egypt
last
month
and
remains
at
high
risk
from
an
attack
,
the
Interior
Ministry
says.
Italy,
the
subject
of
several
internet
threats
from
purported
Islamic
militant
groups,
said
it
had
begun
expulsion
procedures
against
701
people.
Full
Story
|
Iraqis
miss
constitution
deadline
Iraq's
parliament
has
missed
a
crucial
deadline to
finalise
the
first
post-Saddam
Hussein
constitution,
agreeing
instead
to
a
seven-day
extension
for
leaders
to
complete the
draft.
Parliament
adjourned
after
voting
to
extend
the
deadline to
22
August,
acting
on
a
request
from
Kurdish
leaders
for
more
time
after
politicians
failed
to
meet
a
Monday
midnight
deadline
for
agreement
on
the
charter.
Full
Story
|
Japan
quake
triggers
tsunami
alert
About
80
people have
been
injured after
a
powerful
earthquake
struck
off
the
coast
of
northern
Japan,
causing
a
roof
of
a
gymnasium
to
collapse
and
triggering
a
tsunami
warning.
The
roof
collapsed
on
Tuesday
at
SpoPark
Matsumori,
a
sports
facility
which
has
a
gymnasium
and
an
indoor
pool,
said
a
spokeswoman
for
the
city
of
Sendai.
Full
Story
|
Egypt:
Terrorists
behind
MFO
attack
Two
Canadian
women
peacekeepers
from
the
Multinational
Force
and
Observers
(MFO) were
wounded
in
a
bomb
blast in
Egypt's
Sinai
peninsula
that
officials
described
as
a
terrorist
attack.
"Terrorists
planted
two
gas
canisters
on
the
road
and
linked
them
to
an
electrical
wire.
They
hid
in
nearby
apricot
groves
and
blew
them
up,"
North
Sinai
governor
Ahmed
Abdel
Hamid
told
reporters.
Full
Story
|
US
firm
sued
for
Falluja
deaths
A
lawsuit
accusing
a
North
Carolina-based
security
contractor
of
wrongful
death
and
fraud
in
the
deaths
of
four
guards
killed
and
mutilated
in
Iraq
should
be
heard
in
state
court,
a
federal
judge
has
ruled.
Full
Story
|
Sharon:
Gaza
pullout
painful
but
vital
Israeli
Prime
Minister
Ariel
Sharon has
called
the
Gaza
withdrawal
painful
but
vital
and
warned
Palestinians
that
any
attack
after
the
pullout
would
be
met
with
the
"harshest
response
ever".
Full
Story
|
Texas
vigil
keeps
Iraq
war
in
spotlight
The
determined
protest
by
the
mother
of
an
American
soldier
killed
in
Iraq
has
given
US
President
George
Bush
little
escape
from
politics
during
an
August
vacation
at
his
beloved
Texas
ranch.
Barely
two
weeks
into
Bush's
holiday,
the
vigil
by
Cindy
Sheehan
against
the
Iraq
war
has
captured
the
attention
of
a
nation
increasingly
uneasy
with
the
course
of
the
war.
Full
Story
|
Settlers
defiant
as
Israeli
army
moves
in
Defiant
Gaza
settlers
blocking
the
gates
of
their
communities
have
vowed
to
prevent
Israeli
troops
from
delivering
eviction
notices.
In
the
largest
settlement,
Neve
Dekalim,
dozens
of
men
wrapped
in
white
prayer
shawls
held
roadside
morning
prayers,
while
teens
-
many
sporting
orange
ribbons,
the
colour
of
defiance
-
danced
in
circles.
Full
Story
|
Deadline
looms
for
Iraq
constitution
Iraqi
lawmakers
are
struggling
to
avert
a
political
crisis
and
meet
a
midnight
deadline
for
presenting
the
draft
of
a
new
constitution
to
parliament.
Political
leaders
and
the
71
members
of
the
constitutional
drafting
committee
on
Monday
went
into
11th
hour
talks
over
the
charter,
with
still
no
agreement
on
at
least
two
fundamental
issues,
federal
autonomy
and
the
role
of
Islam
in
the
state.
Full
Story
|
Blasts
hit
Kashmir
ahead
of
celebrations
Bombs
have
exploded
outside
the
main
venue
for
Independence
Day
celebrations
in
the
India-controlled
portion
of
Kashmir,
despite
tight
security
in
the
region.
No
serious
injuries
were
reported.Three
paramilitary
soldiers
suffered
splinter
injuries
as
two
bombs
exploded
on
Monday
in
quick
succession
100
metres
from
the
main
entrance
of
the
Bakshi
soccer
stadium
in
| |
