No subject

"Today, in Afghanistan, a girl will be born. Her mother will hold her and
feed her, comfort her and care for her - just as any mother would anywhere
in the world. In these most basic acts of human nature, humanity knows no
divisions. But to be born a girl in today's Afghanistan is to begin life
centuries away from the prosperity that one small part of humanity has
achieved. It is to live under conditions that many of us in this hall
would consider inhuman. Truly, it is as if it were a tale of two
planets... "Today's real borders are not between nations, but between
powerful and powerless, free and fettered, privileged and humiliated.
Today, no walls can separate humanitarian or human rights crises in one
part of the world from national security crises in another... "You will
recall that I began my address with a reference to the girl born in
Afghanistan today. Even though her mother will do all in her power to
protect and sustain her, there is a one-in-four risk that she will not
live to see her fifth birthday. Whether she does is just one test of our
common humanity - of our belief in our individual responsibility for our
fellow men and women. But it is the only test that matters." [NY TIMES]

A federal grand jury indicted a French Moroccan for conspiracy in the
Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the first indictment directly related to the
suicide hijackings, Attorney General John Ashcroft announced Tuesday ...
The suspect, Zacarias Moussaoui, had raised investigators' suspicions by
seeking flight lessons in Minnesota a month before the hijackings ...
Ashcroft said the 30-page indictment lists six counts against Moussaoui,
four of them punishable by death if he is convicted. He also announced a
list of unindicted coconspirators, including Osama bin Laden. The
indictment was issued by a grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia,
charging Moussaoui "with conspiring with Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida to
murder thousands of innocent people in New York, Virginia and Pennsylvania
on Sept. 11" ... The counts were conspiracy to commit acts of terrorism,
to commit aircraft piracy, to destroy aircraft, to use weapons of mass
destruction, murder and conspiracy to destroy property. It says he trained
at an al-Qaida camp in Afghanistan, received flight training in the United
States, received money from sources in Germany and the Middle East and
pledged to kill Americans. [AP]

President Bush has decided to give Russia notice that the United States
will withdraw from the 1972 nuclear treaty that bans testing of missile
defense systems, US government officials said Tuesday. He will announce
the decision in the next several days, effectively invoking a clause in
the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty that requires the United States and
Russia to give six months' notice before abandoning the pact ... They said
Bush's decision reflects a desire by the Pentagon to conduct tests in the
next six months or so that would violate the ABM treaty. Bush defended his
position anew during a national security speech Tuesday at the Citadel in
North Carolina. [It was full of the usual lies and evasions.] [AP]

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 12

BEIJING yesterday demanded that Chinese citizens found fighting for the
Taliban in Afghanistan should be handed over to China to face justice ...
a foreign ministry spokesman, said China had been informed that ethnic
Uighurs from the far western province of Xinjiang had been caught in
Afghanistan ... She repeated claims that "hundreds" of Uighur separatists
had been trained in Afghan terrorist camps, and said the detainees had
"close association with international terrorist forces" ... Uighur
militants have carried out bombings and assassinations in Xinjiang, which
was overrun by Communist forces in 1949, ending a brief period of
independence as East Turkestan. [TELEGRAPH UK]

China formally joined the World Trade Organisation yesterday, a move seen
by many as the biggest revolution since the communist victory half a
century ago ... there would have to be radical changes to commerce,
agriculture and the legal system. China's entry follows 15 years of
negotiations. Its leaders hope that more investment and more exports will
flow from WTO membership, as foreign manufacturers are lured by cheap
labour and the country's vast internal market. In return, China is meant
to open up its financial, retail and telecommunications markets during the
next five years and to cut tariffs. But for the ordinary person, many
details have remained obscure. The foreign trade ministry finally released
the English version of the WTO agreement on its website yesterday, but is
still working on a Chinese translation. The site crashed as hundreds of
thousands logged on for details. [GUARDIAN UK]

India tested an improved version of its nuclear-capable,
surface-to-surface Prithvi missile from a remote testing center off the
east coast, the defense ministry said Wednesday ... The five-ton missile,
whose name means "earth'' in Hindi, has a range of up to 155 miles; it can
be fitted with a nuclear warhead ... India conducted five nuclear tests in
1998, prompting Pakistan to set off its own test bomb. [AP]

Israeli helicopters killed four Palestinians in a raid in the Gaza Strip,
just hours after US peace envoy Anthony Zinni asked Israel to refrain from
attacks for 48 hours to give the Palestinians a chance to crack down on
hardliners. Residents in the southern Gaza Strip town of Khan Yunis said
the four men were militants from the Palestinian Popular Resistance, a
broad-based militia movement drawn mainly from Yasser Arafat's Fatah
faction. Around 17 other people were wounded when the US-made Apache
helicopters blasted the Palestinian Authority's national security building
early Wednesday, then returned half an hour later and fired two more
rockets at the building in a residential part of Khan Yunis. Witnesses
said the second raid hit an adjacent refugee camp. An Israeli army source
said the military had detected "terrorists" in the area ... Israeli
helicopters killed two Palestinian children, aged three and 13, on Monday
in a failed assassination bid on a militant leader from the hardline group
Islamic Jihad, who survived the West Bank attack with serious injuries.
[AFP]

Palestinian gunmen have killed eight people and wounded 30 in a
grenade-and-shooting ambush an Israeli bus in the West Bank, just minutes
before two suicide bombers struck in the Gaza Strip ... The al-Aqsa
Martyrs Brigade, an armed group linked to Arafat's Fatah group, claimed
responsibility for the attack and said it was to avenge recent killings by
Israeli forces. Witnesses said a roadside bomb was detonated as the bus,
apparently packed with Israeli settlers returning from Tel Aviv, turned a
corner near the Jewish settlement of Immanuel in the northern West Bank
... Minutes after the bus attack, two suicide bombers blew themselves up
at the Gush Katif Jewish settlement bloc in the Gaza Strip. Israeli
security sources and Israeli television said at least three people were
wounded. The Palestinian assaults took place in rapid succession soon
after an Israeli tank raid in the West Bank city of Jenin earlier on
Wednesday. Palestinian witnesses said three tanks took up position near
the centre of Jenin, drew fire from gunmen and then responded with
machineguns and shellfire before withdrawing. Ten people were wounded, two
of them critically, hospital sources said ... fierce fighting erupted
almost as soon as the US-brokered talks ended on Tuesday. Helicopters
firing missiles killed two militants on Tuesday near Khan Younis refugee
camp, overlooking the Jewish settlement of Neve Dekalim in the Gaza Strip,
Palestinian officials said. The Israeli army said it had responded to
gunfire from a "terrorist squad". But Palestinian officials accused Israel
of assassinating members of the Abu Rish Brigades, an armed, breakaway
faction of Arafat's Fatah group. More than 30,000 Palestinians marched in
the men's funeral procession. Some militants fired guns in the air as the
crowd chanted "Revenge, revenge". When some of the marchers threw stones
at soldiers guarding the nearby Neve Dekelim settlement, troops responded
with rubber bullets and live ammunition, Palestinian witnesses said.
Several people were injured, including a seven-year-old child hit in the
hand with a live bullet and a man who was critically wounded in the
stomach, Palestinian hospital officials said. The latest bloodshed cast
further doubt on the effectiveness of Zinni's mission, already dented by a
wave of Palestinian suicide bombings [and] Israeli air strikes ... At
least 764 Palestinians and 223 Israelis have been killed since a
Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation erupted in September 2000.
[REUTERS]

Activists in the Green Party of the United States are asking the U.S. to
hold the government of Israel accountable for the latest wave of
bloodshed, and insist that Israel seek negotiation instead of the "War on
Terrorism" against the Palestinian people that Israel's own policy of
assassination recently ignited. Greens condemn the current escalation of
violence committed by both sides and call for an international peace force
to enforce a ceasefire, and support the demand by United Nations Human
Rights Commissioner Mary Robinson that Israel stop bombing the West Bank
and Gaza Strip, assaults which Ms. Robinson said are "terrorising and
terrifying the civilian population". [GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES]

At Tora Bora, the eight days of bombing finally shattered the morale of
the al-Qaeda fighters and yesterday forced them to turn and run. Wave
after wave of B52s delivered the explosive force equivalent to the bombing
of Dresden. [See Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five.] The bombing was
continuing last night with AC130 gunships being deployed again above
al-Qaeda positions. [TIMES UK]

Afghan commanders huddled this morning with US military advisers, debating
the terms of surrender for Osama bin Laden's last remaining fighters
cornered here in the mountains. One Afghan commander said, "The Arabs want
to surrender. The Americans wouldn't let them." The commander, Yunas,
added that instead of a deal, "an intense and severe fight" was now likely
... US Special Forces were on the mountain during the battle, according to
witnesses, and late Tuesday afternoon a convoy of five trucks carried US
troops wearing Afghan dress, with black-and-white scarves over their
faces, down the steep road away from the front. [WASH POST]

The chairman of the militant Jewish Defense League and a follower have
been arrested on suspicion of plotting to blow up a Los Angeles mosque and
the office of an Arab-American congressman, federal authorities said
Wednesday. [A correspondent writes, "Does this mean Ashcroft will question
or lock up all Zionists in the US? As an Irishman from Michigan, I'm still
waiting for my turn at questioning regarding Tim McVeigh..."] [WASH POST]

Immigration authorities arrested 10 people in the San Diego area Wednesday
in a first-of-its-kind crackdown on Middle Eastern students suspected of
violating the terms of their visas by not being in school. None of those
arrested is suspected of involvement in the Sept. 11 attacks, authorities
said. Lauren Mack, a spokeswoman for the Immigration and Naturalization
Service, said about 50 people were being sought in San Diego area. The
crackdown is believed to be the first of its kind in the nation, Mack
said. It is part of the agency's attempt to better track foreign students
after it was revealed that one of the Sept. 11 terrorists, Saudi native
Hani Hanjour, had entered the country as a student. Authorities began
compiling a database of the nearly 600,000 foreign students at US colleges
and universities after the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. But that
effort languished amid opposition from school officials who believed it
would hurt recruitment and be seen as intrusive. In recent weeks, INS
officials in San Diego discussed the issue with representatives of about
35 schools, including the University of California at San Diego. They
checked the records of students from certain nations under government
scrutiny. Agents sought Wednesday to interview San Diego-area students
born in Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Pakistan, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan and
Yemen. About 90 percent of the students listed in INS records as being at
local education institutions were enrolled. About 50 were not. Agents
began the crackdown at 5 a.m., visiting more than a dozen homes in San
Diego County. Mack said they arrested 10 men and women, including the
brother of one student. Muslim leaders condemned the roundup as
discriminatory. ``This type of activity, people defaulting on their visas,
is not particular to the Arab community,'' said Mohammed Nasser, the
director of the San Diego chapter of the Muslim-American Society. ``Many,
many people come here from across the world looking for opportunity.''
[AP]

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 13

Israel's security cabinet decided on Thursday to sever ties with
Palestinian President Yasser Arafat (news - web sites) and launch military
operations to arrest militants and confiscate weapons in the West Bank and
Gaza Strip (news - web sites). The decision was reached at Israeli Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites)'s Tel Aviv office after
Palestinian gunmen killed 10 Israelis in an ambush of a bus near a Jewish
settlement. The attack followed a recent wave of deadly suicide bombings.
The cabinet said Arafat was ``directly responsible for the series of
terror attacks and has therefore decided...(that) Yasser Arafat is no
longer relevant as far as the State of Israel is concerned and there will
be no more contact with him.'' It also decided to ``rapidly deploy Israeli
forces for military operations in cities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip
to carry out arrests and confiscate weapons.'' [REUTERS]

An enraged Israel cut all ties with "irrelevant" Palestinian leader Yasser
Arafat as tanks and troops stormed Palestinian towns after sweeping air
strikes launched in revenge for a deadly ambush on an Israeli bus. Israel
said it was moving into Palestinian land with whatever forces were
necessary to kill or arrest extremists behind persistent attacks on its
citizens, but the army also destroyed the main Palestinian radio
transmitter, a symbolic blow against Arafat's increasingly precarious
rule. Rockets again slammed into Palestinian Authority security buildings
overnight and tanks moved into Ramallah and parts of Gaza City. One
helicopter missile hit just outside the Ramallah offices where Arafat was
working overnight, Palestinian officials said, while tanks took up
positions only 200 metres (yards) away. Israel has banned Arafat from
leaving Ramallah, increasing his diplomatic isolation with physical
confinement. Washington, which has turned a blind eye to recent Israeli
strikes -- including a botched assassination Monday which killed two
Palestinian children -- said it was still working with Arafat, despite
Israel's move to marginalise the veteran leader. "We consider president
Arafat to be the leader of the Palestinian people," Assistant Secretary of
State William Burns said on a trip to Damascus. The United States has
become increasingly frustrated with Arafat, as another peace envoy,
Anthony Zinni, saw his peace mission hurtling toward the failure that met
all his predecessors trying to end the 14-month Palestinian uprising
against Israeli occupation. The Palestinian Authority accused Israeli
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of launching an "official war" on the
Palestinian people. Sharon launched the large-scale operation after
militants from the Islamic movement Hamas and a secular offshoot of
Arafat's own Fatah movement attacked a bus full of Jewish settlers near
Nablus in the West Bank, bombing the vehicle and then shooting fleeing
survivors and rescue teams. Ten Israelis were killed, while one of the
attackers was shot dead by Israeli security forces. Israeli F-16
fighter-bombers swiftly levelled security buildings in Gaza City, also
hitting targets in Nablus and the control tower at Gaza international
airport, whose runway was churned up by tanks last week. Helicopter
missiles also struck the Palestinian broadcasting authority in Ramallah
overnight. Israeli army bulldozers ploughed what remained into the ground
Thursday, while sappers blew up the radio mast. One Palestinian policeman
was killed and another wounded in the Ramallah foray, taking the death
toll from the 14 months of violence to 1,085. Israeli troops also stormed
the Ramallah house of Marwan Barghuti, the West Bank head of Fatah, but
failed to find the man seen as one of the most vocal spokesmen of the
uprising. Sharon and his right-leaning cabinet declared at an emergency
late-night meeting that Arafat was "irrelevant" and had failed to prevent
attacks which have reached horrific levels since double Hamas suicide
bombings at the start of the month killed 26. The Palestinian Authority
condemned the anti-Israeli attacks and hastily ordered the closure of all
Hamas and Islamic Jihad offices after bombing runs started, but Israel did
not even pause to comment on the move. [AFP]

Doctors, lawyers and pharmacists joined yesterday in calling for an end to
the state's war on drugs, saying people should no longer be jailed for
simple possession of drugs. Releasing a one-year study on illegal drug
use, the leaders of five major professional organizations said imprisoning
drug users is the most costly and least effective approach to ending drug
abuse. "We need to shift from a punitive legal model to a public health
model," said Fred Noland, the Seattle attorney who was the driving force
behind the policy review. Noland is a past president of the King County
Bar Association, which conducted the study and won support for it from the
Washington State Bar Association, the Washington State Medical
Association, the King County Medical Society and the Washington State
Pharmacy Association. [SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER]

[continued in part 2]