December 9, 2005	Friday	Ziqa’ad 6, 1426

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)

‘Terror war’ encouraging torture, says UN official UNITED NATIONS, Dec 8: The absolute ban on torture, a cornerstone of international human rights, is becoming a casualty of the US led ‘war on terror’ through loosened legal definition, secret...		UK court outlaws ‘torture evidence’ LONDON, Dec 8: Britain’s highest court ruled on Thursday that information gleaned from torture anywhere in the world was unacceptable as evidence in British courts. Rights groups immediately said the ruling...
Britain accuses Iran of undermining diplomacy TEHRAN, Dec 8: Britain warned on Thursday that efforts to resume difficult nuclear negotiations with Iran on its disputed nuclear programme were being endangered by a series of tough warnings from Tehran....		8 militants killed in Syria clash DAMASCUS: Eight members of an extremist group were killed on Thursday in clashes with security forces in northern Syria, including three militants who blew themselves up....
Rice ‘clears air’ over CIA row with Europe BRUSSELS, Dec 8: European ministers voiced satisfaction on Thursday with Condoleezza Rice’s reassurances about alleged secret CIA prisons, in a relief for the embattled US secretary of state after a Europe tour clouded by the row....		US cancels Afghan, Iraq deployments WASHINGTON, Dec 8: The US military has drawn up plans to cancel the deployment of two army brigades to Iraq and one to Afghanistan next month in what could be the...
Croat war crimes fugitive caught BELGRADE, Dec 8: Fugitive Croatian General Ante Gotovina, one of the three most wanted war crimes suspects from the former Yugoslavia, has been arrested in Spain, UN chief war crimes prosecutor Carla del Ponte said on Thursday....		Way paved for Israel’s Red Cross entry GENEVA, Dec 8: Ninety-eight governments on Thursday approved a new red crystal emblem for the international Red Cross movement, after sweeping aside Syrian opposition to end a decades-long row and formally allow Israel into the relief agency network....
Two suspended over plane shooting MIAMI, Dec 8: Air marshals on Wednesday shot and killed an American Airlines passenger who claimed to be carrying a bomb in his backpack and ran off a plane at Miami International Airport after being confronted (partly reported in Thursday’s Dawn)....		Rumsfeld denies he plans to quit WASHINGTON, Dec 8: US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Thursday he has no plans to retire, denying a newspaper report that he is expected to quit early next year....
Syria’s reforms dent Socialist model DAMASCUS: On a main square in the Syrian capital’s commercial centre, a labourer pastes up a poster showing a blue-and-red can and the words “Pepsi now in Syria.”...		Saddam’s trial captivates, divides Iraqis BAGHDAD: It’s 8 o’clock on Wednesday night and an Iraqi woman named Um Ahmad is on the line, calling into a television talk show to give the nation a piece of her mind about Saddam Hussein’s appearance in court....
Text of OIC’s Makkah Declaration MAKKAH: The following is the text of the Makkah Declaration adopted on Thursday at the Extraordinary Summit of the Organization of the Islamic Conference held here from Dec 7 to 8....		Putin’s tactics spur more Muslims to take up arms NALCHIK (Russia): Timur Mamayev was repeatedly beaten by police, who insulted his religion and harassed his children, his wife says. He appealed for help to the authorities but got no answer....
UK grapples with ‘honour’ crimes LONDON: Rukhsana Naz was 19 when her mother pinned her to the floor of their family house and her brother strangled her with a length of plastic cable....		In Europe, and so far from it! BELGRADE: The International Crisis Group has proposed liberalisation of the restrictive visa regime by the EU for some Balkans countries. “The present visa regime with the countries of Western Balkans (Albania,...
China, US hold strategic talks WASHINGTON: The United States and China held a new round of strategic talks on Wednesday, part of a high-level effort to manage friction in increasingly complex relations....		Saddam’s lawyer ‘threatened’ AMMAN: The Iraqi lawyer defending Saddam Hussein said on Thursday he was threatened by three people who tried to board his plane as he left Baghdad following the adjournment of the ousted dictator’s trial....
Norway confirms CIA flight OSLO: A plane suspected of carrying out covert prisoner transports for the US Central Intelligence Agency flew from Oslo to Paris in July, the Norwegian aviation authority Avinor confirmed on Thursday....		Dead man’s pension BERLIN: A German woman collected her father-in-law’s pension for 20 years after he died and will now have to return the full amount to the government, a court ruling said....