Israel to test launch arrow missiles today

JERUSALEM, Jan 5: Israel is to test-launch four arrow interceptor missiles today, reports Ha’Aretz.

The Israeli Air Force will attempt for the first time to launch four arrow interceptor missiles simultaneously from a base in the centre of the country.

The attempt, as per the report, is supposed to test the ability of the missile launcher to send four missiles, one of which will be armed with a warhead, to different targets. The approximately 10 million-dollar test launching will be the first attempt of Israel to fire more than one arrow missile.

Israel had performed nine tests on the system earlier, out of which eight were reported to be successful.

Security sources were reported to have said they were convinced that the arrow, which can fly at nine times the speed of sound to intercept hostile warheads as far as 30 miles away from the target, can intercept any Iraqi missile, including scuds.

Representatives of the arrow developers, Air Force officers and anti-aircraft missile operators are supposed to take part in the test. The Navy is also reported to be present on the occasion, since the missiles will be launched toward the west over the sea. As in previous test launchings, american defence officials will also be present.

The Arrow missile system is a joint Israeli-US venture. After the failure of the patriot system to intercept Iraqi scuds during Gulf war, Israel is taking no chances and arrow is going to be Israel’s frontline defence system this time, this was earlier confirmed by the Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz.

Besides, dozens of American soldiers have arrived in Israel over the last few days for a joint exercise between Israeli and American anti-aircraft forces about to begin this week which is meant to test the cooperation between the two countries.

Defence officials have reportedly set the date for finishing defence preparations at January 15 and estimate that the attack on Iraq will take place sometime between January 27 and the beginning of March.

The threat of a direct Iraqi attack on Israel this time has been estimated to be much lower, but Israel is worried about major bio-terror attacks, possibly by Iraq or by one of its aided groups in the region. (UNI)

Israeli PM’s son to be investigated in vote-buying scandal

JERUSALEM, Jan 5: Israeli Police are scheduled to question Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s son Omri and a senior Cabinet Minister in the coming days as part of their investigation on the vote-buying scandal, Israel radio reported today.

The police have already collected testimony that implicates Omri Sharon which could provide an embarrassment to Prime Minister whose Likud Party is embroiled in an election corruption scandal which has already tarnished the commanding postion of the party.

According to reports, evidence and testimonies in the likud corruption probe indicated that Omri Sharon was in contact with criminal elements. Omri Sharon did not deny his personal contacts with convicted Felon Shlomi Oz.

According to Haaretz newspaper, police officers suspect that Omri Sharon let criminal elements be involved in his decisions in all stages of the elections for likud institution, starting from joining up Likud members to the central committee’s elections for the party’s knesset candidate list.

According to testimonies, Omri Sharon had great influence on the party apparatus and on the field workers that took over many Likud branches across the country.

Sharon’s party is heavily favoured to win the election, giving Gharon another term as Prime Minister, but polls show that the election corruption allegations could cost the party several seats in in January 28 polls for 120-member knesset.

Sharon has already fired a Deputy Minister, Naomi Blumenthal, in his first step to contain damage from the party corruption scandal, for refusing to answer police questions about fraud in the selection of Likud candidates for Parliament. (PTI)

Iran will not send representatives for next Iraqi opposition meeting

TEHERAN, Jan 5: Iran will not send any representatives to a second Iraqi opposition meeting scheduled to take place mid-January in Northern Iraq, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said today.

"Iran will neither send any representatives to this months meeting nor cooperate with any country in attacking Iraq", Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hamid-Reza Assefi was quoted by the Iranian Students’ News Agency ISNA as saying.

The meeting is scheduled to be held on January 15 in Erbil, in the north of the country, which is situated in the no-fly-zone patrolled by US and British Jets. Turkey has been mentioned as an alternative venue due to security concerns.

A member of the Teheran-based Iraqi Shiite opposition group Sairi told the press today that the meeting will be held as scheduled in northern Iraq but Turkey is still an option.

The only way into northern Iraq is via two border crossings in Western Iran, but Syria and Turkey have announced they will open their borders - which are closed to all except United Nations representatives and some Non-Governmental Organizations - for the Iraqi participants.

The opposition groups are preparing for a post-Saddam administration. The meeting in January is to provide a forum for the follow-up on decisions taken last month at their first meeting in London. (DPA)

North Korea ready for dialogue with US

SEOUL, Jan 5: North Korea has stressed its readiness for dialogue with the United States, following the disputes surrounding its nuclear programme, the official North Korean Government’s news agency KCNA reported today.

"Anti-North Korean politics (by the US) have caused the nuclear situation we now have in the Korean Peninsula," the report said.

"We are leaving the possibility for dialogue open to reach a peaceful solution on the problem, even though we’ve issued warnings against the violation of the basic agreement by the United States".

The US has so far ruled out negotiations with the communist state and has asked that North Korea to first abandon its nuclear weapons programme.

North Korea, for its part, has persisted that this would only come about pending the set-up of a bilateral non-aggression treaty.

Under a 1994 agreement, North Korea promised to freeze its nuclear weapons programme for eight years, in return for oil, paid for by Washington.

The Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization, a US-led international consortium, has been building modern reactors to replace Soviet-designed reactors that could supply weapons-grade plutonium.

The US fears that remaining plants could serve to bolster North Korea’s nuclear weapon programme. (DPA)

Saddam to deliver a televised speech today

BAGHDAD, Jan 5: Iraqi President Saddam Hussein will deliver a televised speech on Army Day tomorrow, the Iraqi News Agency (INA) reported.

"The President will deliver a pan-Arab and historic speech tomorrow at 11:00 local time (1330 hrs Ist) to the people of Iraq and members of our brave armed forces on the 82nd anniversary of the Iraqi Army," the agency said today.

It gave no details on the contents of the speech.

It said the speech would be carried by state-run media and the internet. (AGENCIES)

Pakistan urged to clarify border rules for US

ISLAMABAD, Jan 5: Islamabad must clarify rules of US military engagement on Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan to avoid a repeat of a recent incident on disputed land that fanned anti-US sentiment in Pakistan, commentators said today.

A US warplane dropped a bomb on a religious seminary last Sunday following a clash between US forces in Afghanistan and a man dressed as a Pakistani border guard. Pakistani officials have disputed US assertions that the bomb fell on Afghan soil.

What angered Pakistanis most was a US statement this week saying it had the right to pursue suspected Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters into Pakistan if they fled from Afghanistan.

The US military has not withdrawn or clarified its statement despite a string of Pakistani officials categorically denying the claim, although it did say it had not exercised its "right" to date.

Hardline Islamic parties who made huge gains in an October election by tapping anti-American sentiment in Pakistan seized on the disagreement as another example of Washington’s high-handed treatment of a key ally in its war on terror. The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) coalition also complains about the activity of US intelligence agents in Pakistan.

"This matter of hot pursuit shuld be sorted out quickly," wrote the daily times in its Sunday edition.

"It could derail the US-Pak axis upon which (President) general Pervez Musharraf has so painstakingly built hopes of Pakistan’s economic recovery and political stability."

The Dawn Braodsheet predicted that the episode would "blow over", but added that Washington and Islamabad should "jointly agree to guidelines that prevent future trouble and the guidelines should be made public."

US soldiers in Afghanistan suspect hundreds of Al Qaeda and Taliban fugitives fled to Pakistan to hide in remote tribal areas just inside the border.

But presidential spokesman Major-General Rashid Qureshi denied there was a major presence inside Pakistan.

"Had they crossed into Pakistan they would have been caught," he told Reuters. "They have been caught." The United States says Pakistan has arrested over 400 Al Qaeda members in the past year.

Musharraf threw his weight behind US military action in Afghanistan, infuriating religious groups and sparking a series of violent attacks by Islamic militants on Western and Christian targets that claimed dozens of lives last year. But the economy grew strongly in 2002, and the Pakistan stock exchange topped the world tables by more than doubling in value.

Yet Musharraf’s support for the ongoing hunt for terror suspects in Afghanistan and Pakistan could come under pressure if resentment against Washington continued to grow, newspapers said.

This week’s fallout from the border incident coincided with nationwide demonstrations on Friday led by religious conservatives in which thousands of people took to the streets to protest against the possibility of a US-led war with Iraq.

Liaquat Baluch, Deputy head of the Jamaat-e-Islami Party, which is in the MMA, said today that further demonstrations could be called when the coalition meets in Islamabad next week.

While the turnout on Friday was not particularly high, it has been seen as a warning to Pakistan’s military and Government.

"People are rightly questioning the extent of support their Government had agreed to or was forced to give to the US, and demand a stop to the constant bending backwards," said The News.

"There is also a feeling that the military Government promised (the) moon to the Americans for peanuts." (AGENCIES)

UAE Amnesty imposes one-year-ban for illegal visitors

DUBAI, Jan 5: A ban on entering the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for one year is the price beneficiaries of the four-month amnesty have to pay as punishment for entering the country illegally.

However, according to the Amnesty which came into force yesterday, those who overstayed their residence, visit, transit and tourist visas would be given an option to either benefit from the Amnesty and leave the country without paying any fines, in which case they will get a one-year no-entry ban stamped on their passports, or pay all the accumulated fines and leave the uae without ban, the Khaleej Times said.

The company sponsoring offenders would be blacklisted and denied visas until it rectifies all the violations, according to Colonel Saeed Mattar Bin Bleilah, Director of the Dubai Naturalisation and Residency Department (DNRD). Visitors who overstayed their visas for one week to 10 days, and obtained employment visas during their stay, can get their status regularised by paying fine, but have to leave the country without a ban stamp and then come back on their employment visas.

Those who have failed to get their expired residence visa renewed and have stayed in the country ever since would be taken to court which will decide the amount of fine. "The fine for overstaying a visit, transit or tourist visa is 100 dirhams a day and that for overstaying a residence visa is 25 dirhams a day," Col. Bin Bleilah said.

The DNRD is also dealing with cases of absconding housemaids, including 1,000 from India, who have been included in the Amnesty. The Department has passports of around 7,000 absconding maids of different nationalities.

Colonel Bin Bleilah said if any absconding housemaid approaches the Immigration Department, its system would show that on the computer. "We will then direct her to collect her passport from her consulate to get the exit pass," he said. (UNI)

Algerian rebels attack convoy, 43 killed

ALGIERS, Jan 5: Islamic rebels ambushed a convoy of Government forces, killing 43, in what is believed to be the worst single rebel assault in Algeria in the past six years, Le Matin daily reported today.

The attack, which also left 19 people seriously injured, came yesterday near the village of Theniet El Abed in Biskra province, 320 km South of Algiers, the daily said.

It said the rebels detonated devices made from acetylene gas canisters, killing Government soldiers and pro-Government militiamen.

Algeria has been racked by violence since early 1992 when the authorities cancelled a parliamentary election that radical Islamists were poised to win.

The Government says more than 100,000 people have been killed since then. Independent sources put the death toll at up to 150,000.

Rebels stepped up attacks on Government forces last year, killing at least 136, including 78 soldiers and 30 policemen, according to official and newspaper reports.

In a separate attack, Islamic rebels killed 13 civilians from two families overnight in a raid on a village in the Zabana area, 50 km South of Algiers, the official Algerian news agency APS said, quoting a Government security source.

Six Government soldiers were injured on Friday by home-made bombs placed by rebels in the guerrilla stronghold of Sidi-Ali Bounab, 90 km east of Algiers, Le Matin reported. (AGENCIES)

Palestinian official denies development of long-range missiles

GAZA, Jan 5: Chief of Gaza Strip Preventive Security Rashid Abu Shbak denied today claims that both the Fatah Movement and Hamas are developing new long-range missiles in Gaza to attack Israel.

"We don’t have long-range missiles and we are not developing any of them," Abu Shbak said. "This is ridiculous."

Abu Shbak said he believed this was part of Israeli attempts "to find an excuse to implement its plans to invade all the gaza strip".

The Israeli website of Yedioth Ahronoth quoted Israeli security officials as saying that the Israeli Army had information that both the Fatah Movement and Hamas were developing such missiles in the Gaza Strip.

Abu Shbak said he was concerned that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon would use a possible United States war against Iraq to widen his attacks on the Gaza Strip.

"This is the main aim for spreading such rumours," he added. (DPA)

Pak deploys more troops in town bordering Afghanistan

ISLAMABAD, Jan 5: Pakistan has deployed heavy contingents of military and para-military troops in a town bordering Afghanistan following incidents of cross-firing between Pakistani and US forces in the area.

Besides deploying heavy contingents of troops in Angoor Adda town in Southern Wazirisitan tribal agency, Pakistani authorities also ordered closure of shops and banned visits to the town’s bazar, The Nation daily reported.

Pakistan and US troops reportedly exchanged heavy fire on Friday in the second incident of cross-firing within a week. On Sunday last, a US soldier was injured in firing by Pakistani scouts on an American patrol chasing Al-Qaeda militants. Subsequently a US plane bombed a religious school raising tensions in the area.

The newspaper, however, said the religious school which came under aerial attack from a US plane was located 300 metres inside Afghanistan.

The incidents of cross-firing have casued tension between US and Pakistani forces with American military officials asserting that they have a right to "hot pursuit".

Pakistan rejected US officials’ claims and said any military operation within Pakistan would be conducted exclusively by Pakistani troops. (PTI)

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