World News joined 6

[OMEN]

Male tailors in an Afghan province have been barred from measuring female clients for fittings following a new local ruling that resembles the restrictions the ultra-conservative Taliban imposed on the country when in power.

The decision was made by a council of Islamic clergymen in north-eastern Takhar province recently, governor Abdul Latif Ibrahimi said.

"The male tailors have been told to stop measuring women," Ibrahimi said by phone on Saturday. "They need to be measured by female tailors."

While many Afghan women have excellent needlework and dressmaking skills, the overwhelming majority of commercial tailors are men.

Ousted in 2001, the Taliban's radical Islamic government banned male tailors from outfitting women. They also barred women from most employment and education and also forced them to wear an all-enveloping burqa while venturing outdoors.

The curbs drew stern criticism from many countries. Violators would have been punished publicly.

Ibrahimi did not say what would happen to anyone failing to comply with the new ruling.

The clergy plays a crucial role in Afghanistan and in the past has been behind a series of uprisings in the deeply Islamic conservative country.

During a meeting last week with President Hamid Karzai, who has been leading Afghanistan since the Taliban's ouster, a national Islamic body urged him to ban the TV airing of hugely popular soap operas, mostly Indian, which it deemed un-Islamic.

The council also demanded the re-introduction of public executions, another policy during Taliban rule.

Reuters

[OMEN]

A survey of public records by The New York Times found at least 121 US veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan committed a killing or were charged with one after returning home from duty, the newspaper reported.

The Times said the numbers indicated a nearly 90 per cent increase in homicides involving active-duty military personnel and new veterans for the six-year period since the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan. Neither the Pentagon nor the Justice Department tracks such killings, which are handled by civilian courts.

An Army spokesman said the report did not offer a complete picture.

Saying its research likely uncovered only the minimum number of such cases, the Times found three-quarters of the veterans charged were still in the military at the time of the killings, more than half of which involved guns.

Some 25 of the offenders faced murder, manslaughter or homicide charges for fatal car crashes resulting from drunken, reckless or suicidal driving.

The overwhelming majority had no prior criminal records, the Times said, but it added that in some of the cases, "the fact that the suspect went to war bears no apparent relationship to the crime committed."

The Times said about one-third of the victims were spouses, girlfriends, children or other relatives, while some 25 per cent were fellow service members.

Army spokesman Paul Boyce said in an e-mail that Army statistics "show little or no increases in positive drug use, driving under the influence crimes or domestic abuse in the past years among the more than 300,000 soldiers who have deployed in this war."

The findings stemmed from searches of local news reports, examination of police, court and military records and interviews with defendants, their lawyers and families as well as victims' families and military and law enforcement officials.

Interviews with relatives of the veterans brought a common refrain of "He came back (from war) different," the Times said, with references to substance abuse and mental instability such as paranoia.

Few of the 121 veterans received more than cursory mental health screening at the end of their deployments, the veterans, their lawyers, relatives and prosecutors said. While many showed signs of combat trauma, they were not evaluated for or diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder until after the homicides, according to the interviews.

Boyce said the newspaper's statistics "appear to be based on a basic review of American newspaper crime stories from 2004 to 2006, rather than statistics provided by the US Army or the Department of Defence, or even any interviews with military medical or judicial professionals."

Such methodology would make it "nearly impossible for reporters to determine the extent of highly personal mental-health assistance provided to individual members of the Armed Forces," Boyce wrote.

NZPA

[JohnCenaFan28]

Thanks for the info.

[OMEN]

ARMS IN ARMS: US President George W Bush and Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah walk in the Nasiriya Guest Palace in Riyadh. Bush has made clear his commitment to go ahead with a major arms sale to Saudi Arabia as he began his first visit to the Islamic kingdom.
US President George W Bush, trying to counter Iran's growing military clout, has made clear his commitment to go ahead with a major arms sale to Saudi Arabia as he began his first visit to the Islamic kingdom.

Hours after his arrival in Riyadh, the US administration said it had formally notified Congress of its intention to sell the Saudis a controversial package of advanced weaponry.

The deal appeared to be part of Bush's effort to persuade Saudi Arabia, the Arab world's richest and most influential state, to help contain Iran and counter what he has branded a growing threat to the world's security.

Nearing the final stages of his most extensive Middle East tour, Bush flew from Dubai to Riyadh on Monday for talks with King Abdullah, a staunch US ally and ruler of the world's biggest oil producer.

Abdullah embraced Bush at the foot of his Air Force One presidential jet and they walked together down a red carpet flanked by a military honour guard as music played.

Hours later, as the two leaders met at the monarch's palace in Riyadh, the US State Department announced the arms deal notification to Congress, which gives lawmakers 30 days to try to block the proposed sale if they opt to do so.

Bush was trying not only to keep the Saudis aligned against Iran but also to persuade them to support its drive to help Israel and the Palestinians make peace.

Saudi Arabia is considered a linchpin for any broader Israeli-Arab reconciliation as Bush presses Israelis and the Palestinians to secure a peace deal before he leaves office in January 2009. The effort has drawn heavy scepticism.

Iran loomed large in Bush's talks with Abdullah later on Monday. While Gulf Arabs share US concerns about curbing their powerful Shi'ite neighbour, they want to avoid another war on their doorstep.

"All agreed it's a difficult problem that needs to be addressed, and at this point pursued in a diplomatic fashion," Stephen Hadley, Bush's national security adviser, told reporters when asked how Gulf Arab leaders had reacted to the president's entreaties on Iran.

Analysts say there are growing signs that America's Arab allies prefer to engage Iran, as Saudi Arabia did by inviting Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the haj. He was the first Iranian president to receive an official invitation to the annual Muslim pilgrimage.

Bush has spoken of Iran as a threat in the region throughout his weeklong trip to the Middle East. In a speech in Abu Dhabi on Sunday, he declared Iran a threat to world security and "the world's leading state sponsor of terror".

Iran on Monday denounced Bush's comments as "words without value".

Bush's trip is aimed partly at clearing up confusion among Arab allies about a US intelligence report that Iran stopped its nuclear weapons programme in 2003, contradicting Bush's earlier assertions that Tehran was actively pursuing a bomb.

Bush, visiting the Gulf region after talks in Israel and the West Bank, was asking Arab allies to give diplomatic and financial support to Palestinian leaders involved in peace talks, and to "reach out" to Israel, their longtime foe.

Bush scored a diplomatic coup by persuading Saudi Arabia to attend a US-sponsored Middle East peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland last November.

But Saudi Arabia, which has no ties with Israel, says "normalisation" will come only with a final peace deal that returns all Arab land occupied by the Jewish state in the 1967 war.

The Saudi arms deal stems from the US adminisration's proposal last year to supply Gulf Arab states with some $US20 ($NZ25.90) billion in new weapons, including Joint Direct Attack Munition bomb kits for the Saudis.

The plan angered Israel's backers in Washington but Israeli security sources said the United States would provide the Jewish state with better "smart bombs" than those it plans to sell Saudi Arabia under the regional defence plan.

Bush spends two nights in Saudi Arabia before going to Egypt on Wednesday for a final stop before returning to Washington.

Reuters

[OMEN]

Victorian firefighters have contained a bushfire in the state's far south-east but a neighbouring blaze continues to burn out of control.

The 150-hectare fire at Wingan River, between Cann River and Mallacoota, was contained overnight, Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) duty officer John Lloyd said.

A second fire in a national park at nearby Gale Hill was expected to be contained late yesterday but was still listed as going this morning.

"They're confident that they'll have it contained by mid-afternoon today, they've just got some unburned area inside that they're deciding whether they burn it or let it burn out naturally," Mr Lloyd told AAP.

The Gale Hill fire has grown to 17 hectares.

Mr Lloyd said today's warmer weather and mild winds were not cause for concern in the Gippsland region but warned the bushfire danger was far from over.

Temperatures are expected to soar again next weekend and fire warnings were yesterday issued for Victoria's western Mallee and Wimmera districts.

The DSE warned that with temperatures forecast to reach 37 in the north-west of the state today, fire danger in those regions will be extreme.

Residents are warned to remain vigilant and have fire plans in place.

AAP

[5be92]

Guess his dad didnt say that his son did this

Under the alias Muhammed Dawood (the latter being the Arabic form of "David"), Hicks undertook military training in al Qaeda-linked camps and served with the ruling Taliban in Afghanistan in 2001. He was later captured in December 2001 by the Afghan Northern Alliance, handed over to the U.S. military, designated an unlawful combatant and then held at Guantanamo Bay

[OMEN]

Diana and Dodi Al fayed died after a car crash in Paris in 1997
Princess Diana claimed the Queen would abdicate in April 1996, her former lawyer has told an inquest.

Maggie Rae said Diana stated to her lawyers in October 1995 that the Queen would stand aside for Prince Charles.

The princess also said there were plans to sideline her through an accident where she would be seriously injured, Ms Rae told the hearing.

Diana's former butler Paul Burrell will give more evidence at the inquest into the deaths of Diana and Dodi Al Fayed.

The princess and Mr Al Fayed died after a car crash in a Paris road tunnel in 1997.

Royal succession

Princess Diana's claims came at a meeting with her legal team at Kensington Palace, said Ms Rae.

Diana told the lawyers that she felt the succession should skip a generation and that her son, Prince William, should be made king.

Her leading lawyer, Lord Mishcon, was so surprised by what she said that he made a note of it and kept it securely until after her death.

In the note, Lord Mishcon said he was alarmed at what Diana said at the meeting and asked the princess's private secretary Patrick Jephson whether any of it could be true.

Mr Jackson said he did half-belief some of it.

'Intimate relationship'

Mr Burrell is to spend a second day giving evidence at the inquest into her death.

His testimony has already revealed details of the intimate relationship the princess shared with heart specialist Hasnat Khan.

And he has told how the relationship sparked friction with her mother Frances Shand Kydd.

Mr Burrell's testimony was due to last one day, but he failed to hand over relevant documents to the inquest.

He told the court he had kept a journal or diary during his time with the princess, but was reluctant to disclose them.

Mr Burrell, 49, said that he was happy for the coroner to look at letters written to him by the princess.

And, on the idea that any member of the royal family was behind a plot to kill Diana - not true, according to Mr Burrell
The BBC's Daniela Relph

But he said his journal and diary were "very private and very personal", and he did not think they had any connection to the circumstances surrounding Diana's death.

But the coroner, Lord Justice Scott Baker, told him to "hot-foot" it overnight from London to his home in Cheshire to retrieve the material.

In the early hours Mr Burrell arrived at his home and spent 50 minutes gathering documents.

Outside he told reporters that he could not comment about the nature of the documents or anything to do with the inquest because he was still under oath.

BBC

[OMEN]

Up to 40 Palestinians were wounded in a morning of fierce clashes
At least 14 Palestinians, including at least 10 armed militants, have died in an Israeli raid in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, reports say.

Medical sources and witnesses said the deaths came after Israeli tanks pushed into eastern suburbs of Gaza City.

A South American farm worker was also killed by sniper fire from Gaza.

It is one of the deadliest days of violence in Gaza in months. Israel launches frequent raids which it says are aimed at preventing rocket fire.

The dead militants included a son of Mahmoud Zahhar, senior leader of the militant Islamist Hamas group in Gaza, the group said.

The violence comes a day after Israeli and Palestinian Authority negotiators began talks on core issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict - borders, Jewish settlements, Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees.

Hamas, which is excluded from - and rejects - the talks, ousted Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement from Gaza by force six months ago.

Hamas response


The raid began when an Israeli undercover army unit targeted a house in the Zeitoun area used to launch rockets at Israel, but the Israelis were spotted by Palestinian gunmen who opened fire.

An Israeli army spokeswoman said the troops shot at a car carrying armed Palestinians during the operation and opened fire at another group of armed men.

More than 100 Palestinians, most of them militants, are reported to have been killed by Israeli fire in Gaza since Israel and the Palestinian Authority formally relaunched peace talks in late November.

The US-sponsored process was bolstered last week by the first presidential visit to Israel and the occupied West Bank by George W Bush, who predicted a peace treaty within a year.

"This is one of the results of the Bush visit. He encouraged the Israelis to kill our people," said Mr Zahhar as he viewed in a Gaza hospital the body of his son Hussam.

He was accompanied by his one remaining son. Their elder brother was killed in a botched Israeli assassination attempt against Mr Zahhar in 2004.

He vowed Hamas would respond "in the appropriate way".

"We will defend ourselves by all means," he said.

The 20-year-old Ecuadorian was working in a field near the Gaza border when he was killed by a sniper, the Israeli army said.

"The shooting... demonstrates the necessity of the defensive measures the military is carrying out with pinpoint operations," said Israeli military spokeswoman Avital Leibovich.

Mr Abbas condemned Israel's actions as "a massacre, a slaughter" and warned that they would not bring peace.

BBC

[JohnCenaFan28]

Thanks for the read.

[Black Widow]

A paedophile named on a list of the UK's "most wanted" was arrested but later released after police failed to recognise him.

An inquiry is under way after South Yorkshire Police officers only realised who Joshua Karney was after he was fined for being drunk and released.

Karney, 30, is one of five of the UK's most wanted sex offenders after going missing from Lancashire in 2005.

South Yorkshire Police said they greatly regretted releasing Karney.

He went missing three years ago after serving a prison sentence for indecently assaulting a child in Barnoldswick, Lancashire.

Karney was on licence but failed to report to a probation hostel in Blackburn.

Fingerprints

The hunt for Karney has appeared on BBC One's Crimewatch and he is on the Child Exploitation and Online Protection "most wanted" list.

When he was arrested for being drunk and disorderly in Barnsley on 24 November he gave false details and was given a fixed penalty notice.

Karney was released and it was only later that officers checked his fingerprints and realised he was wanted.

A spokesman for South Yorkshire Police said: "We regret greatly that Joshua Karney was released from custody after he gave false details.

New picture

"South Yorkshire Police are working together with Lancashire police to trace Karney.

"An investigation is now under way into the full circumstances to establish how this happened."

Lancashire police have released a picture of Karney taken when he was arrested in Barnsley in November last year in a fresh appeal to find him.

Det Insp Jim Elston, of Lancashire police, said: "We are working closely with South Yorkshire Police to establish the background circumstances behind his arrest and his movements within South Yorkshire area at the time."

BBC