For months, the Waheed brothers steadfastly endured the killings raging around them in their mainly Sunni district, staying put as fellow Shiites packed up and left. Finally, a death threat persuaded Majed and Mondhir Hatem Waheed to leave the neighborhood of Dora where they grew up and, together with their wives and children, join 24 relatives in an uncle's house in Baghdad's Shiite Sadr city district. "At least, we are safe," 25-year-old Mondhir Hatem Waheed said. In the 43 months since Saddam Hussein's ouster, entire Iraqi provinces have become virtually off-limits to one or another sect, mixed Sunni-Shiite neighborhoods are slowly disappearing, and a Kurdish region in the north appears to have all but seceded. In many ways, Iraq is breaking up, though not in a way in which a well-defined boundary could be established to ensure peace. It is happening amid a debate on whether partitioning this ethnically and religiously diverse nation could provide a way out ...
http://www.washingtonpost.com
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Editor - 21:50:00 12-03-06
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 Clashes break out on third day of protests in Beirut |
Tens of thousands of protesters led by the militant Shiite group Hezbollah poured into Beirut for the third day Sunday in a show of force aimed at toppling the elected government of Prime Minister Fuad Saniora. "Saniora out, Saniora out!" Abbass Kaiss, 19, of Beirut chanted with fellow Hezbollah supporters. The protests, which Saniora described as an attempted coup, had been peaceful until Sunday, when clashes broke out between Shiite and Sunni Muslims. Police officials told the Associated Press that a 20-year-old Shiite Muslim was shot and killed in a neighborhood of West Beirut. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to speak to the press....
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2006-12-03-beirut-protests_x.htm?csp=34
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Editor - 21:36:00 12-03-06
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| Blair heads for US to press for peace in the Middle East |
Tony Blair flies to Washington this week hoping to capitalise on signs that President Bush and Congress are at last focusing attention on the long-stalled Middle East peace process as part of a solution for the trouble-torn region in general — and Iraq in particular. The Prime Minister, who is said to be “deeply frustrated” that Mr Bush has failed to fulfil his promise of spending “political capital” on brokering a settlement between the Arabs and Israelis, will arrive on Wednesday evening. The timing of his visit, just hours after the eagerly awaited report of the Iraq Study Group is published, was described by a senior British Government source yesterday as “a coincidence, but a happy one”. Mr Blair will hold meetings on Thursday with Mr Bush and Congressional leaders — including Democrats who are about to take control of Capitol Hill — at a time when Washington will be buzzing with talk of a new direction for Iraq and the Middle East. ...
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2485761,00.html
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Editor - 20:34:00 12-03-06
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| Israel's wall has forced Palestinians to move home - right into Jerusalem |
East to West, the flight has begun. Israel’s controversial “separation barrier”, expanding inexorably over wadis and high streets, is near completion along large stretches of its route. Slab by 30ft slab, it seals off Jewish-majority West Jerusalem to protect it from West Bank suicide bombers. Except that the wall designed to keep out Palestinians has driven thousands of them into inner Jerusalem. Most East Jerusalem Arabs lucky enough to hold the much-prized Israeli Jerusalem identity cards granting them residency rights have already slipped inside the concrete curtain before its gates slam shut. The result is drastic social and demographic changes to the outskirts of a Biblical city that is now twice-walled — from some vistas Ariel Sharon’s concrete legacy is clearly visible outside Suleiman the Magnificent’s Old City ramparts. The “outer” neighbourhoods now lie half-deserted, abandoned by those able and wealthy enough to move. ...
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2485846,00.html
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Editor - 20:32:00 12-03-06
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| 4 Ex-Employees of Japanese Company Admit Illegally Exporting Nuclear-Related Devices |
Four ex-employees of a Japanese company admitted illegally exporting measuring devices that can be converted for use in producing nuclear weapons, a company spokesman said Monday. Former Mitutoyo Corp. President Kazusaku Tezuka and three other men admitted the prosecutors' charges against them on the opening day of their trial, Mitutoyo spokesman Kazutoshi Sato said. Mitutoyo issued a statement last month admitting the company broke export and foreign exchange laws in the case, which involves the alleged export of three-dimensional measuring devices without proper government authorization. The company, which is also a defendant in the trial, said it would not contest the charges and pledged to cooperate fully with the investigation. ...
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=2697901
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Editor - 20:27:00 12-03-06
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| Wildfires destroy 5 homes in California |
A fire driven by strong Santa Ana winds Sunday destroyed five homes and a storage building and endangered hundreds of others in canyons and hillsides, authorities said. The blaze burned about 4,100 acres, or six square miles, destroying five homes and damaging five others, Ventura County Fire Capt. Barry Parker said. Fire officials called for voluntary evacuations as hundreds of residents packed up valuables while dozens of trailers used to transport livestock were lined up on a road. "The sheriff's said if you see flames, leave," said Dave Hare, who was at a home on the site of a recycling business he owns. Some residents, however, stayed put and said they saw flames as high as 35 feet. In one neighborhood, the fire came within 100 yards of homes. "I'm kinda nervous," said Arturo Huerta, 88, who got on top of the family's home with hose in hand and watched for burning embers....
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-12-03-calif-wildfires_x.htm?csp=34
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Editor - 19:11:00 12-03-06
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