03 September 2004 Friday 17 Rajab 1425 Kerry is indecisive, weak: Cheney NEW YORK, Sept 2: Vice President Dick Cheney led the Republican convention's most stinging assault on Democrat John Kerry on Wednesday, depicting him as a weak and indecisive leader who was unfit to be commander in chief. ... US-backed armies firing blanks UNITED NATIONS: Fear of being linked to US-backed regimes that lack authority has inhibited potential recruits in violence- prone Iraq and Afghanistan from heeding calls to join nascent or rebuilding national armies ... Don't blame the gap in the wall LONDON: I always know there has been a terrorist incident in southern Israel when the helicopters start arriving at the regional hospital opposite my place of work. ... Israel threatens to attack Syria JERUSALEM, Sept 2: Israel threatened on Thursday to launch a military attack on Syria, accusing Damascus of being directly involved in a double Hamas suicide attack that killed 16 people. ... 1,200 protesters arrested in NY : Republican Party's convention NEW YORK, Sept 2: Almost 1,200 people were arrested in Manhattan on Wednesday during protests outside the venue of the Republican Party's convention. ... Singh to lobby for permanent SC seat WASHINGTON, Sept. 2: Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will lobby for making India a permanent member of the Security Council during his maiden visit to the UN General Assembly later this month, South Asian diplomatic sources told Dawn on Thursday. ... Muslim world facing internal conflict: scholar WASHINGTON, Sept 2: The reaction to the US invasion of Iraq in the Islamic world is almost entirely negative, said Shibley Telhami, a senior fellow at Washington's Brookings Institution. ... UN should act against Iran, says Powell WASHINGTON, Sept 2: US Secretary of State Colin Powell said on Wednesday the time had come for the United Nations to take punitive action against Iran for its alleged nuclear weapons program. ... Seoul being probed, says IAEA VIENNA, Sept 2: The UN nuclear watchdog has sent inspectors to South Korea as the government there has admitted its scientists carried out secret experiments in enriching uranium, the agency said in a press release on Thursday. ... Anwar's conviction set aside; walks free PUTRAJAYA, Sept 2: Malaysia's highest court freed rebel politician Anwar Ibrahim from almost six years in jail on Thursday, overturning his conviction for sodomy in a shock ruling expected to win support for the new prime minister. ... Mahathir 'mildly surprised' by release KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 2: Mahathir Mohamad, the veteran Asian leader who sacked Anwar Ibrahim and was accused of holding him as a political prisoner, said on Thursday he was "mildly surprised" by his former protege's release. ... Democracy restored, says Soomro TORONTO, Sept 2: As delegates from Commonwealth member countries initiated discussions in Canada on global political issues, Pakistan Senate Chairman Mohammadmian Soomro declared that democratic order had been revived in his country. ... BD for Indian action against 'criminals' DHAKA, Sept 2: Dhaka has decided to request New Delhi to take measures to stop "anti-Bangladesh elements" from operating on Indian soil and hunt down Bangladeshi criminals who have taken shelter there ... Plight of world's urban poor LONDON: Poor rural migrants have become like characters in the folk-tales and fables they no longer tell their children: fleeing the countryside to escape the evil spirits of want and poverty ...

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