It's a bit of a jolt to realise that the Arab League has been discussing the Palestinian problem for more than 60 years. The first time it did so was in 1946, just a year after the league's creation, when the British-ruled mandated territory was about to be partitioned between Jews and Arabs - and it has been unable to come up with a workable solution since.The league's 19th summit conference, which starts in Riyadh tomorrow, has generated much excitement that all could finally be about to change. Saudi Arabia is tabling a peace plan that will have the support of every single Arab country - the League has 22 members, including the Palestinians - and sets out their terms for ending 58 years of conflict with the Jewish state. There are certainly some positive signs. Ehud Olmert, Israel's prime minister, has given the initiative a cautious though conditional welcome. Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary general, made headlines in Jerusalem when he talked of convening ...
http://www.guardian.co.uk
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Editor - 07:41:00 03-27-07
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 Australian Detainee's Dad Says Guilty Plea to Terror Charges at Guantanamo Was Likely Part of Deal |
The unexpected guilty plea of an Australian who was the first Guantanamo detainee to stand trial before a military tribunal was likely linked to a deal with prosecutors, the man's father said Tuesday. David Hicks, a 31-year-old former kangaroo skinner, entered the surprise plea Monday at the first session of the tribunals set up after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Pentagon's previous efforts to try Guantanamo prisoners. The military said he could be sentenced this week and will likely be returned to Australia this year to serve his time there. Hicks appeared focused as his Pentagon-appointed attorney told the judge that his client was pleading guilty to one of two counts of providing material support for terrorism. Asked by the judge if this was correct, Hicks said solemnly, "Yes, sir." Hicks' father, Terry Hicks, told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio on Tuesday he believed his son had pleaded guilty as part of a bargain with prosecutors that would get him out of ...
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,261542,00.html
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Editor - 07:39:00 03-27-07
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| British backtrack on Iraq death toll |
British government officials have backed the methods used by scientists who concluded that more than 600,000 Iraqis have been killed since the invasion, the BBC reported yesterday. The Government publicly rejected the findings, published in The Lancet in October. But the BBC said documents obtained under freedom of information legislation showed advisers concluded that the much-criticised study had used sound methods. The study, conducted by researchers from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and the Al Mustansiriya University in Baghdad, estimated that 655,000 more Iraqis had died since March 2003 than one would expect without the war. The study estimated that 601,027 of those deaths were from violence. The researchers, reflecting the inherent uncertainties in such extrapolations, said they were 95 per cent certain that the real number of deaths lay somewhere between 392,979 and 942,636. ...
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article2396031.ece
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Editor - 23:53:00 03-26-07
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| Iran hard-liners want Brits tried |
Hard-liners in Iran called on the government Monday to charge 15 British marines and sailors in Iranian custody with espionage and put them on trial. No official word has emerged on whether Iran's government will do so.But, according to The Associated Press, Iran has begun questioning the sailors and marines."It should become clear whether their entry was intentional or unintentional. After that is clarified, the necessary decision will be made," AP quoted Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Mehzi Mostafavi as saying.Iran's Revolutionary Guards captured the group Friday, while it was conducting what Britain called an inspection of a merchant vessel near the mouth of the Shatt al-Arab, at the northern end of the Persian Gulf....
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/03/26/iran.uk.sailors/index.html?eref=rss_world
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Editor - 23:28:00 03-26-07
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| Burma's new capital city unveiled |
Burma's military rulers have been showing off their new capital for the first time to the outside world. The new city, called Naypyidaw, or Abode of Kings, is being built about 460km (300 miles) north of the old capital, Rangoon. Until now few outsiders were allowed to go there, but the foreign media has been invited to the capital to watch the huge Armed Forces Day parade. However, it is still not clear why the generals have moved here. The rutted and overcrowded roads of Burma suddenly give way to smooth eight-lane motorways as you approach the new capital. Naypyidaw is being built on a vast and extravagant scale in hundreds of square kilometres of tropical scrubland. All government employees were forced to uproot from Rangoon and move here a year-and-a-half ago. ...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6498029.stm
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Editor - 23:22:00 03-26-07
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| US army faulted in Tillman case |
Army investigators have criticised nine US officers over the mis-reported death of former American football star Pat Tillman in Afghanistan. Corporal Tillman was killed in April 2004 in a friendly fire incident, but his family was told he died while fighting the enemy. A Pentagon watchdog recommended action be taken against nine officers, including a number of generals. But it found no evidence of criminal wrongdoing and no deliberate cover-up. The US Army is in the process of reviewing several hundred deaths of its soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. The move follows complaints from families of those who died that they have not always been given accurate information. He was initially reported as having met his death heroically at the hands of the enemy, not because of fatal mistakes by the US military. ...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6497803.stm
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Editor - 23:12:00 03-26-07
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