U.S. to renew diplomatic relations with Libya: Having renounced nuclear weapons, nation to be dropped from terror listWASHINGTON - The Bush administration said Monday it will restore normal diplomatic relations with Libya for the first time in over a quarter century after deciding to remove Moammar Gadhafi’s country from a list of state sponsors of terrorism.
“We are taking these actions in recognition of Libya's continued commitment to its renunciation of terrorism and the excellent cooperation Libya has provided to the United States and other members of the international community i... (more)
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Chavez offers oil to Europe's poor: Venezuelan President promises fuel to the needy and proclaims 'final days of the North American empire' before visit to Britain todayVenezuela's president Hugo Chavez arrives in London today with an extraordinary promise to offer cut-rate heating oil for needy families in Europe, modelled on a similar campaign in the US which has been seen partly as a bid to embarrass President George Bush.
Last night Chavez also issued a taunting obituary for the 'American empire' on the eve of a visit where he will be shunned by Downing Street but welcomed by London Mayor Ken Livingststone.
Chavez said in Vienn... (more)
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Venezuela Leader To Snub BlairVenezuelan President Hugo Chavez will snub Tony Blair on a visit to London today, when he attends a rally with Mayor Ken Livingstone. Mr Chavez has hit out at Mr Blair over his support for the Iraq War and has compared President Bush to Hitler. The controversial leader will, however, meet union officials and Labour MPs during his two-day visit.
Mr Livingstone has described Mr Chavez as "the best news out of Latin America in many years".
The mayor hailed his reforms ... (more)
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Mogadishu toll risesThe death toll in Somalia's worst fighting for a decade has risen to more than 120.
Hundreds of people were wounded as shells crashed into their homes in Mogadishu's overcrowded northern shanty town of Siisii and militias battled for control of the capital with mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and anti-aircraft guns.
Many people fled to escape the fighting, which spread to neighbouring heavily populated areas on Thursday.
Hospitals said at least 27 ... (more)
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The long arm of the drug warTHE RISE AND FALL of Mexican drug-law reform over the last two weeks has been, for drug legalizers, a dizzying high followed by a painfully abrupt crash. U.S. drug authorities laid down their usual bummer: No user is going to get off easy on their watch. And thanks to the United States' overwhelming power and influence, their watch extends everywhere.
Mexico isn't the first nation to suffer side effects from America's estimated $30-billion-a-year drug war. A 2003 attempt by former... (more)
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My lover, the great dictatorTHERE are many reasons why Herma Marksman still looks back fondly on the 10 years she spent as the mistress of Hugo Chavez, who at the time was an ambitious lieutenant-colonel on his way to becoming the president of Venezuela.
“I keep the best memories of him close to me,” Marksman said last week. “He’s the kind of man that showers you with flowers and chocolates, serenades you with romantic songs and never forgets your birthday. People say he is a violent ... (more)
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Clashes erupt between two Iraqi army unitsBAGHDAD, Iraq - Clashes erupted Friday between two Iraqi army units following a roadside bombing north of the capital, and Iraqi police said a Shiite solder was killed in an exchange of fire with a Kurdish unit.
The U.S. military and Iraqi police provided differing accounts of the incident, which began with a roadside bombing near Duluiyah, about 45 miles north of Baghdad.
The Americans said one soldier from the Iraqi army's 1st Battalion, 3rd Brigade, 4th Division ... (more)
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Zarqawi steps up civilian attacksBAGHDAD -- Attacks on civilians in Baghdad have increased 80 percent in the past 2 1/2 months and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is to blame, a U.S. military spokesman says.
U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch told CNN Zarqawi was achieving his goal by inciting violence between Sunnis and Shiites.
The general said terrorists were targeting Shiites, who make up 60 percent of the Iraqi population but gained power only after Saddam Hussein's ouster, CNN reported. Before that, S... (more)
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US military, intelligence officials raise concern about possible preparations for Iran strikeConcern is building among the military and the intelligence community that the US may be preparing for a military strike on Iran, as military assets in key positions are approaching readiness, RAW STORY has learned.
According to military and intelligence sources, an air strike on Iran could be doable in June of this year, with military assets in key positions ready to go and a possible plan already on the table.
Speculation has been growing on a possible air strike ... (more)
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Displaced Iraqis 'living like animals'The spiralling violence in Iraq has led to sustained "sectarian cleansing" with many families forced to take refuge in squalid camps.
The Red Crescent says more than 100,000 people - equally Sunni and Shia Muslim - living in mixed areas have fled their homes since the February bombing of the Golden mosque in Samarra, a revered Shia shrine, which led to a frenzy of tit-for-tat killings.
Those with nowhere to stay find themselves reduced to tent cities like Shu'lah in... (more)
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Groups to Bush: Drop Iran-Israel LinkageWASHINGTON — Jewish community leaders have urged the White House to refrain from publicly pledging to defend Israel against possible Iranian hostilities, senior Jewish activists told the Forward.
Messages were passed to the White House through several channels, Jewish activists said. And it seems to have worked: Speaking before the annual conference of the American Jewish Committee in Washington last week — his most recent address before a Jewish audience — Presi... (more)
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122 die in battle for Somali capital MOGADISHU (Somalia): Secular fighters and Islamist extremists traded artillery and mortar fire in Somalia's capital on Wednesday night, despite mediators' efforts to broker a cease-fire in fighting that has left at least 122 persons dead.
Most of the victims were civilians caught in the crossfire. Mogadishu residents were fleeing on Thursday amid fears the fighting will get much worse in a country that has known little but violence and chaos for more than a decade.
... (more)
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Nuclear programme peaceful: IranJAKARTA: Iran’s nuclear programme is peaceful and has no military purpose, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Thursday, adding he is ready to engage in dialogue with anybody.
In comments later to a university audience, which enthusiastically cheered him, he called Israel a creature of Europe that had no place in the Middle East. In an interview broadcast earlier on local Metro television, Ahmadinejad said of Iran’s nuclear programme: “It has nothing to... (more)
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US Army Troop Build up on Iraq-Iran Borders After the Tehran administration conducted operations against the terror network Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK) by crossing the Iraqi border, the US Army in Iraq is claimed to have increased the military build up of US troops on the Iranian border.
Tehran local radio announced the US stationed army units on the Iraqi border, increased reconnaissance flights in the region, and trained anti-Iran militias in Iraq. Iranian Interior Ministry confirmed the information.
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Olmert to ask US act against IranPM set to visit Washington in two weeks for summit with President Bush; Olmert to point to link between Tehran nuclear threat, Hamas terror, demand Americans move against Iran.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is due to leave for Washington in two weeks-time and hold a summit with American President George W. Bush. The two leaders are set to meet in a bid to formulate a uniform stance on the Iranian nuclear threat and Hamas' rule in the Palestinian Authority. The PM will also attempt to... (more)
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Brazil Officially Starts First Uranium Enrichment FacilityRIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil - Brazil has inaugurated its first uranium enrichment facility to produce the type of fuel for nuclear power plants that Iran is running into trouble for attempting to produce. There are strong suspicions that the objective of the Iranian nuclear program is to eventually build a bomb, but Brazil has managed to assure the international community its intentions are industrial and commercial, not military.
On Friday, Industrias Nucleares do Brasil officially la... (more)
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Cold War Talk Prompts Russian Call for 'World Government'Translated By Nicolas Dagher
Russian Foreign Secretary Sergueii Lavrov called for the establishment of a world government, bringing together the United States and Russia. Lavrov's call comes at a time of a chilling of relations between Moscow and Washington and amidst signs of a new Cold War. Moscow is wary of the establishment by America of a front of "New Democracies" in Eastern Europe, Ukraine and Georgia to counter "the Russian Bear," which is powerfully awakening.
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Israel will hit Iran in the next few months: Israeli officialWASHINGTON: Israel will strike Iran’s nuclear facilities in the next “month or two or three,” an Israeli official has been quoted here as saying.
The unnamed official told Arnaud de Borchgrave, editor-in-chief of the United Press International (UPI), at the recently held national day reception at the Israeli Embassy that he believed Israel would strike Iran first in the next two or three months and that fighter bombers would not be involved as they had been to ta... (more)
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World leaders suspect the Bush administration of involvement in the 911 attacks(WMR) -- The first skeptics to question what role the Bush administration played in the 9-11 terrorist attacks were a few cabinet ministers in the governments of America's NATO allies. They included German Science and Technology Minister Andreas Von Bulow and British Environment Minister Michael Meacher. They were joined by Belgian European Parliament Member Paul Lannoye.
However, in recent months the former cabinet ministers have been joined in their skepticism about the "officia... (more)
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Israel seen as world's sixth nuclear powerLONDON, May 10 (IranMania) - Israel, which warned Iran against any future attack, is regarded as the sixth country in the world to acquire nuclear weapons, a title its government has never confirmed or denied, AFP reported.
Despite its ambiguous position, the Jewish state is widely regarded as owning at least 200 atomic warheads, making it the only nuclear power in the Middle East.
British defence specialist Jane's puts the figure at "between 200 and 300".
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Zapatista leader warns of brewing rage in MexicoMEXICO CITY - Zapatista rebel leader Subcomandante Marcos said Tuesday that Mexico is in a ``state of rage and social indignation,'' and he warned that the upcoming presidential election will do nothing to stop the discord from intensifying.
In a rare television interview with Mexico's Televisa network, the masked rebel leader said last week's deadly riot that left a teenager dead and scores injured in a town outside Mexico City is indicative of the country's brewing tensions.
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