Women, naturallised citizens increasingly
used to spy on US

WASHINGTON, Nov 27: Foreign Governments are increasingly using women and naturalized American citizens to spy on the United States with globalisation and information technology making it difficult to stop employees from seeling state secrets, according to a report today here.

"It does point to a kind of confluence of factors — the increase in the number of naturalized citizens, people who have foreign attachments and people who cite divided loyalty as a motive. These are all signs that the globalization we see going on is also happening in espionage," said Katherine Herbig, author of the report issued by Defence Personnel Security Research Center.

About 20 Americans have committed espionage against their country to tried to spy since 1990. The globalization of economics and the information technology revolution have made it difficult to stop Government employees from giving away or selling secrets, the report by Monterey, California based Government think tank said.

Herbig, in an interview to the Washington Times said: "Recent American spies have been older, more likely to be women, and more likely to be civilian" than in the past.

"They are also more likely to be from an ethnic minority," she added.

The report states that naturalized American spies with "foreign attachments" — relatives abroad, emotional ties to foreign nations or overseas business ties — are more easily recruited by foreign intelligence services than those with no foreign ties. (PTI)

Tamil rebel leader says he will accept regional autonomy

COLOMBO, Nov 27: The leader of Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tiger rebel group said today that he was prepared to accept regional autonomy for his people, dropping a decades-old demand for independence.

But Velupillai Prabhakaran warned that the separatist struggle would resume if negotiations for regional self-rule broke down.

In a speech broadcast on rebel radio, Prabhakaran said he would "favourably consider a political framework that offers substantial regional autonomy and self-Government to the Tamil people on the basis of their right to internal self-determination."

But he added: "If our demand for regional self-rule based on the right to internal self-determination is rejected, we have no alternative other than to secede and form an independent state."

The Sri Lankan Government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) entered into a ceasefire in February and in the first round of peace talks in September the tigers dropped their demand for independence and instead agreed to regional autonomy and self-Government.

But this is the first time that the elusive Prabhakaran, who has not attended the peace talks himself, has commented on the issue.

In his speech broadcast on the voice of the tigers radio, marking "heroes day" — which commemorates thousands of LTTE fighters killed during the separatist struggle — Prabhakaran said he wanted the negotiations to succeed. (AFP)

COLOMBO, Nov 27: President Chandrika Kumaratunga today welcomed the outcome of the ‘aid pledging and peace support meeting’ at Oslo as it urged Tamil Tiger rebels to publicly renounce terrorism and violence.

"The President welcomes the outcome of the Oslo conference, held on November 25, since both the ‘US statement’ and the ‘Oslo declaration’ have urged the LTTE to publicly renounce terrorism and armed violence. Raising of all the issues by the international community was the reiteration of the President’s position," presidential spokesman Harim Peiris said here at a media briefing.

The declaration also urged both — the Government and the LTTE —to make more systematic efforts, without resorting to violence, to resolve political issues to achieve lasting political settlement of the protracted conflict.

Mr Peiris said the President while welcoming the confirmation by both of upholding the ceasefire agreement on the ground, was very much concerned about preserving human rights and democratic rights of the people of these regions.

"No-war situation is appreciable, but the LTTE’s continuing activities of fresh recruitment, training, rearming and fund raising are seriously violating the true spirit of the truce agreement," he said.

Condemning the LTTE for expanding its ‘Kangaroo courts’ and ‘Eelam Police’ in the recent past, he said it was a ‘significant erosion of judicial system’ in the country. (UNI)

FBI organises spy network in Pak

WASHINGTON, Nov 27: The United States has organised its own espionage network in Pakistan due to lack of cooperation from the ISI in locating the Al-Qaeda and Taliban fugitives, a report said here today. The move marks an attempt by the FBI to develop a "free flow of information" to US agents who previously had worked under some restrictions with ISI, a federal law enforcement official was quoted by the paper as saying.

ISI has had "deep and long-standing ties" to the Taliban (and Al Qaeda) and is "believed by many to be beyond the control of the Central Government in Islamabad", the official was quoted as saying.

The former Pakistani officers the US has roped in, had reached the rank of brigadier and colonel, say authoritpas and sources in Pakistan familiar with the operation, it said.

Many of those in the US-organised espionage service in Pakistan have had long experience dealing with Afghanistan, going back to the US-backed war againt the Soviets in the 1980s and as recently as the period of Taliban rule from the mid-1990s till last year.

The new group is based in Peshawar. It is charged with tracking the activities and movement of Taliban and Al Qaeda outfits that operate in the tribal areas. (AGENCIES)

Star Jackson says he doesn’t like pop music

BERLIN, Nov 27: Pop star Michael Jackson, who has sold more than 210 million records in his career, made an astonishing revelation in a rare interview published in a German magazine today - "I don’t like pop music".

Jackson was explaining to bunte magazine why he bought two classical music compact discs, but no pop, during a shopping excursion in Berlin last week while in the city to accept a German television pop artist lifetime achievement award.

The ‘King of pop’ dropped into a CD store unannounced, without bodyguards, and no one at first noticed he was there.

"I’d like to go shopping again for CDs in Berlin," Jackson said, adding: "It’s just unbelieveable. No matter where I am I’m always being followed...I need the experience that I can walk into a store as a completely normal person going shopping."

jackson had a busy week in Berlin visiting tourist sites, meeting poor families, attending charity auctions — and getting caught up in controversy for dangling his baby son out of a hotel window.

German Police had started a probe into whether Jackson had committed a crime by dangling his son from the fourth-floor window of his five-star hotel before hundreds of fans last week, a frightening moment captured on film and widely broadcast.

Jackson apologised, saying he was caught up in the emotion of the cheering fans. He had held his baby, whose head was covered by a towel, over a balcony with one arm. Fans screaming his name on the street below gasped in horror.

Berlin Police opted against starting a formal investigation.

Jackson also dismissed criticism about covering the faces of his children with veils — believed to be an attempt to thwart potential kidnappers — as they toured Berlin’s zoo.

"They love the spiderman scarves," Jackson said. "They’ve seen the film a dozen times. It’s terrible. I know the whole film by heart myself. I try to vary the film programme by showing them disney films. But they only want to see spiderman."

Jackson complained about journalists who pursued him and his children in Berlin. "It was terrible. With their big cameras they almost crushed us," he said.

Jackson has three children, two by ex-wife Debbie Rowe, five-year-old son Prince Michael and daughter Paris, 4. He has not revealed the mother of his baby son, less than a year old.

Jackson, who bunte, a weekly celebrity magazine, said was wearing a touch of makeup and lipstick for the interview in the Adlon Hotel, said his children were only allowed to take home two presents from Berlin.

"But playstations or computers are not allowed in the house," he said, adding that he reads his children fairy tales during breakfast. "And they’re only allowed to watch television when I’m around." (AGENCIES)

Lawmakers in key Pak province condemn US

PESHAWAR, Nov 27: A hardline Islamic candidate was elected today to a key post in the legislature of a strategic province in the US-led hunt for Al-Qaida and Taliban fugitives.

Before the vote, members of a religious coalition that is almost certain to form the province’s new Government led prayers condemning the United States for the war in neighbouring Afghanistan and asking that America be "ruined and destroyed."

The election of Bakht Jehan as speaker is the first step toward the religious bloc taking power in the North West Frontier Province, which borders Afghanistan and is where Al-Qaida and Taliban remnants are believed to be hiding.

The coalition, called the United Action Front, came in third in national polls on Oct. 10 but won a clear majority in the frontier province and had a strong showing in Baluchistan, another province that borders Afghanistan.

The success of the religious parties has caused concern in Washington, which counts Pakistan as a vital ally in the fight against terrorism.

Akram Durrani, the alliance’s candidate for the province’s top executive post, Chief Minister, has supported the Taliban and has vowed to implement Islamic laws in the province as his top priority.

Durrani, 48, said today he would not allow US troops to operate in areas under the control of the provincial Government.

He said the semiautonomous tribal areas, which are closest to the Afghan border, are outside the provincial Government’s jurisdiction. (AP)

"Iraq has nothing against exiles who are
not ‘mercenaries’"

BAGHDAD, Nov 27: Iraq is open to all exiles except those who have collaborated with foreign powers, notably the United States, Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz said in remarks published today.

Aziz, who was speaking at a seminar attended by the Iraqi opposition group National Iraqi Coalition (NIC), said "we have nothing against any Iraqi citizen outside of Iraq who does not collaborate with foreigners.

"Some of the elements who are linked with US plots and who are financed by the US intelligence services are harming their country by claiming that it has weapons of mass destruction.

"They are liars and mercenaries, and we have no common language with them," Aziz said.

Aziz said Baghdad’s ruling Arab socialist Baath Party believed "in multiparty systems within the framework of a national and patriotic position upholding (Iraq’s) principles and values and for the defense of Iraq.

"The Baath Party believes in a multiparty system to build the nation and confront the challenges that loom over the great country of Iraq and the Arab nation, and to foil evil intentions," he said.

NIC leader Abdul Jabbar Al-Qobeissi said last week that President Saddam Hussein had appointed him head of a commission tasked with drawing up a new constitution for Iraq that would create a multiparty system.

Qobeissi arrived in Baghdad November 8 at the head of delegation from his group after Iraqi Government representatives approached them in Europe. (AFP)

Pakistani doctor admits treating Osama bin Laden

LAHORE, Nov 27: A Pakistani doctor who was recently released after being held for one month and questioned by US security officials today said he saw Osama bin Laden last November and that the Al-Qaida leader was in excellent health.

"When I saw him last he was in excellent health," Dr Amer Aziz told the associated press. "He was walking. He was healthy."

Aziz, a British-trained orthopedic surgeon, said he was summoned to a meeting in November, 2001 in Kabul, the Afghan capital. He was asked to treat top Al-Qaida leader Mohammed Atef. Bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman Al-Zawahiri, were present.

Aziz said Bin Laden showed no signs of the kidney failure that he is widely reported to suffer from.

"I didn’t see any evidence of kidney disease. I didn’t see any evidence of dialysis," he said.

Aziz said it was the second time he met Bin Laden. The first time was in 1999 when Aziz said he treated the Al-Qaida leader after he hurt his back falling off a horse in Southern Afghanistan. Bin Laden was in good health at both meetings, he said.

Aziz was recently released without official explanation after being held incommunicado and interrogated for a month by FBI and CIA agents. He spoke to the AP at his clinic in the Eastern Pakistani city of Lahore.

He admitted that he had treated Al-Qaida and Taliban members but said he knew nothing of the terrorist group’s plans and rejected allegations he helped the organization in its efforts to obtain weapons of mass destruction. (AP)

Armed man hijacks plane from Italy

LYON, FRANCE, Nov 27: An armed man hijacked a plane en route to France from the Italian city of Bologna today and was arrested when the plane landed in the French city of Lyon, local officials said.

The Air France plane, bound for Paris with around 65 people on board, was hijacked shortly after it took off from Bologna airport at 2.10 PM (1840 Ist) and diverted to Lyon in Southeast France, airport sources in Rome said.

Police in Lyon said the man brandished an object at the pilot, claiming it was the remote control for a bomb concealed on board, and used the words Al-Qaeda network and Osama bin Laden.

After the aircraft landed in a secure zone of Lyon airport at 3:20 PM (1950 Ist), the passengers were evacuated and police "neutralised" the man, the sources said.

The plane was carrying 57 passengers, according to Enzo Bianco, head of the Italian Parliament’s Committee on the Intelligence Services. Alitalia, which shared the flight with Air France, said there were seven crew.

"It appears the hijacker was acting alone," said Bianco, and we know that he threatened the pilot with a remote control. However, reports are sketchy at the moment. We’ll know more in a little while."

Alitalia, which was operating the flight with Air France, said that all passengers were safe and well.

"All 57 people aboard have been taken off, assisted by Alitalia and Air France personnel. No-one has been injured," the Italian carrier said. (AFP)

Arafat’s deputy says armed uprising was a mistake

JERUSALEM, Nov 27: The Palestinians’ armed uprising against Israel was a mistake and must stop, Yasser Arafat’s deputy said in his harshest criticism of militias - and indirectly of his boss - since the outbreak of fighting 26 months ago.

The Deputy, Mahmoud Abbas, made the comments in a closed-door meeting with dozens of activists of Arafat’s Fatah movement in the Gaza Strip last month. A 20-page transcript of the session was obtained from Abbas’ office today by the Associated Press.

Abbas, who is Arafat’s deputy in the PLO, was en route to Doha, Qatar, today and was not available for comment. Several Fatah officials participating in the meeting confirmed the general content of the transcript.

There has been very little public debate in Palestinian society regarding the armed conflict with Israel, even though the fighting has postponed independence, left the economy in a shambles and led to the reoccupation of most west bank towns by Israeli troops chasing wanted militants.

Members of Arafat’s inner circle, including Abbas, widely known as Abu Mazen, have privately criticised the armed militias, including the Al Aqsa martyrs’ brigade linked to Arafat’s Fatah movement, but have not come out publicly against bombing and shooting attacks on Israelis.

In his meeting with Fatah officials last month, Abbas said the outbreak of the uprising was understandable. He said Palestinians were upset over the continued expansion of Jewish settlements, perceived Israeli foot-dragging in negotiations and Ariel Sharon’s demonstrative Sept 2000 visit to a disputed Jerusalem shrine. (AP)

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