W O R L D

Protests over US war designs

Islamabad, January 3 Pakistani security agencies were on high alert and extra troops deployed near the US Embassy and other sensitive sites today when nationwide protests were called against a possible US-led war on Iraq. Rallies and street marches were planned in major cities by hardline Islamic leaders who won unprecedented support in recent elections.
A supporter of Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, an alliance of six hardline Islamic parties, brandishes an automatic gun as he shout anti-US slogans during a protest at Landi Kotal in the tribal area, near the northwestern city of Peshawar, on Friday. — Reuters photo

Pak questions US cross-border raid rights
Islamabad, January 3
Pakistan’s Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat today challenged a US military statement that it is allowed to pursue attackers of its forces in Afghanistan into neighbouring Pakistan. “There is no room or legal sanctions for any cross-border operation by US forces to pursue fugitives into Pakistani territory.

An emergency worker rescues two girls from the Arthur Seat chairlift on the Mornington Peninsula, 75 km southeast of Melbourne, on Friday. — Reuters

Riots at Palestinian detention base
Jerusalem, January 3
Israeli soldiers reestablished order at an army base north of Jerusalem used to detain suspected Palestinian militants early today, after several hours of rioting by the detainees.

UN experts visit 6 sites
Baghdad, January 3
UN arms experts inspected six sites on the 34th day of their search for Iraq’s alleged weapons of mass destruction, their spokesman said in a statement.

Antarctic ice melting
Washington, January 3
A large Antarctic ice sheet is melting and could be gone in 7,000 years, possibly raising worldwide sea levels by 4.8 metres, according to a new study.

Protests over US war designs

Islamabad, January 3
Pakistani security agencies were on high alert and extra troops deployed near the US Embassy and other sensitive sites today when nationwide protests were called against a possible US-led war on Iraq.

Rallies and street marches were planned in major cities by hardline Islamic leaders who won unprecedented support in recent elections.

They demanded shops and business closed as part of the protests, which they said would be peaceful.

Supporters say the protests would be just a taste of the anger that an attack on Saddam Hussein’s regime would trigger in Pakistan, a deeply conservative Muslim country which is also a crucial ally in the US-led war on terror.

“The American attack on Iraq will be an attack on the Islamic world,” said Fazl-ur Rahman, a one-time candidate for Prime Minister and a leader of the Islamist coalition, Mutahida Majlis-e-Amal. “If today we cannot stop America from attacking Iraq, then tomorrow they will attack Iran, and then it could be Pakistan.”

There have been terrorist attacks on westerners and Pakistani Christians since President General Pervez Musharraf’s decision to side with the USA to topple the Taliban regime in neighbouring Afghanistan. Some fear the anger will intensify if America wages war on another Muslim country.

Most western embassies in Pakistan have been operating at emergency levels, and diplomats’ families evacuated, after a grenade attack on a church in March that killed a US Embassy employee and her 17-year-old daughter. AP

Pak questions US cross-border raid rights

Islamabad, January 3
Pakistan’s Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat today challenged a US military statement that it is allowed to pursue attackers of its forces in Afghanistan into neighbouring Pakistan. “There is no room or legal sanctions for any cross-border operation by US forces to pursue fugitives into Pakistani territory. We have no such policy,” Hayat told AFP. “There is no question of allowing any hot pursuit into our territory.”

Pakistani military officials were unavailable for immediate clarification of hot pursuit rights by the US-led coalition forces hunting Al-Qaida and Taliban fugitives in the sensitive border region. A Harrier jet dropped a 500-pound bomb on the school after a Pakistani border scout fired on a US patrol and retreated to the school, from where firing continued, a US military spokeswoman said.

US forces have been working with Pakistani troops along the border to hunt Al-Qaida and Taliban extremists for more than a year.

Pakistan’s Hayat described the cooperation as “excellent”.

“Pakistani agencies and forces have been carrying out the task successfully and there is close liaison with coalition forces operating in Afghanistan,” the minister said.

“In view of the close cooperation there is no question of allowing any hot pursuit into our territory.”

“Pakistan is unwaveringly committed to eliminating terrorism...and the entire nation is against any terrorism activities from Pakistani soil.” AFP

Riots at Palestinian detention base

Jerusalem, January 3
Israeli soldiers reestablished order at an army base north of Jerusalem used to detain suspected Palestinian militants early today, after several hours of rioting by the detainees.

The rioting erupted last night, when a group of Palestinians began to throw objects at their guards, climbed fences and attempted to set fire to the place, an army spokesman said.

They also tried to tear down the fences surrounding the base, while shouting words of abuse at the soldiers, the spokesman said.

The soldiers used tear gas to restore calm, he added.

Around 40 Palestinians suffered from smoke and tear gas inhalation and received treatment. An Israeli soldier was also slightly injured, apparently from an object thrown at him.

“The rioting was relatively serious,’’ the spokesman said. “The Israel Defence Forces did not lose control even for a moment,’’ he told DPA.

The uproar came a day after Israeli human rights organisation B’Tselem reported that the Israeli army was currently keeping more than 1,000 Palestinians in administrative detention.

It is the largest number held by Israel since the Palestinian Intifada (uprising) erupted more than two years ago amid a deadlock in peace negotiations, the organisation said. DPA

UN experts visit 6 sites

Baghdad, January 3
UN arms experts inspected six sites on the 34th day of their search for Iraq’s alleged weapons of mass destruction, their spokesman said in a statement.

A team of missile specialists returned to the Al-Fatah State Co in Baghdad, a site already inspected on December 14, for technical talks with key site personnel of the Iraqi Solid Propellant Missile Programme, Hiro Ueki said yesterday.

A mixed team went to the vast Al-Taji military complex north of the capital to inspect the Ibn Firnas State Co, an engineering and procurement entity supporting the air force.

The team then visited the Al-Fatah State Co to verify information on aviation-related matters.

A UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) chemical team travelled 280 km northwest from Baghdad to inspect the Al-Hadar State Co, formerly known as the Ash Sharqat Uranium Enrichment Facility, a chemical plant that produces nitric acid and ammonium nitrate.

An UNMOVIC team inspected the Technical Military Depot for the air force at Al-Taji. AFP

Antarctic ice melting

Washington, January 3
A large Antarctic ice sheet is melting and could be gone in 7,000 years, possibly raising worldwide sea levels by 4.8 metres, according to a new study.

Based on geologic measurements that dated when rocks first became free of ice, researchers have found that the west Antarctic ice sheet started retreating about 10,000 years ago and is still melting, said John O. Stone, first author of a study appearing today in the journal “Science”.

“There was a gradual and continuous melting,” said Stone. AP

GLOBAL MONITOR

The world's tallest man-made structure could soon be towering over the Australian outback as part of a plan to capitalise on the global push for greater use of renewable energy, as seen in this undated artist's rendering. Australian power company EnviroMission Ltd plans to build a 1,000 meter (3,300 feet) solar tower in the New South Wales state, a structure that would be more than twice the height of Malaysia's Petronas Towers, the world's tallest buildings. — Reuters photo

INDIANS ATTACKED BY PAKISTANIS
HONG KONG: About 20 Pakistanis armed with beer bottles and iron bars attacked a group of Indians in the wee hours of New Year’s Day, fatally wounding one man and injuring another, the police said on Friday. Authorities opened a murder investigation after 21-year-old M.S. Gurry died of his head wounds yesterday, said police spokesman Ricky Chong. AP

SCIENTISTS DEVELOP HEART TISSUE
JERUSALEM: Israeli scientists have developed heart tissue that beats with electronic pulses, Israel Radio said. Scientists at Haifa’s Technion and Rambam Hospital said the breakthrough would aid future tissue transplants for heart patients and testing of possible side-effects of various medications. UNI

A WOMAN WHO WOULDN’T WEAR PANTS
CHICAGO: A woman who was fired for refusing to wear pants as part of her work uniform will be paid $ 30,000 by her employer, the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has said. Ms Carol Grotts was hired by Brink’s in Peoria as a uniformed messenger. AP