TRIESTE, Italy (Reuters) - Washington is to dramatically overhaul its Afghan anti-drug strategy, phasing out opium poppy eradication, the U.S. envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan told allies on Saturday. Richard Holbrooke, attending a G8 conference on stabilizing Afghanistan, also discussed efforts to support its August 20 election. Washington has nearly doubled its troops to combat a growing Taliban insurgency and provide security for the vote. "The Western policies against the opium crop, the poppy crop, have been a failure. They did not result in any damage to the Taliban, but they put farmers out of work," Holbrooke told Reuters after a series of bilateral meetings in Italy. "We are not going to support crop eradication. We're going to phase it out," he said. The emphasis would instead be on intercepting drugs and chemicals used to make them, and going after drug lords.
TRIESTE, Italy (Reuters) - Washington is to dramatically overhaul its Afghan anti-drug strategy, phasing out opium poppy eradication, the U.S. envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan told allies on Saturday.
Richard Holbrooke, attending a G8 conference on stabilizing Afghanistan, also discussed efforts to support its August 20 election. Washington has nearly doubled its troops to combat a growing Taliban insurgency and provide security for the vote.
"The Western policies against the opium crop, the poppy crop, have been a failure. They did not result in any damage to the Taliban, but they put farmers out of work," Holbrooke told Reuters after a series of bilateral meetings in Italy.
"We are not going to support crop eradication. We're going to phase it out," he said. The emphasis would instead be on intercepting drugs and chemicals used to make them, and going after drug lords.
WASHINGTON, Jun 24 (IPS) - In March 1997, FBI Director Louis Freeh got what he calls in his memoirs "the first truly big break in the case": the arrest in Canada of one of the Saudi Hezbollah members the Saudis accused of being the driver of the getaway car at Khobar Towers.Hani al-Sayegh, then 28 years old, had arrived in Canada in August 1996 after having left Saudi Arabia, by his own account, in August 1995, for Iran and Syria. The Canadian government charged him with being a terrorist, based on claims by the Saudi regime. In order to be transferred to the United States without facing deportation to Saudi Arabia, where he was believed to face the death penalty, al-Sayegh had to agreed to a plea bargain under which he would admit to having proposed an attack on U.S. personnel, for which he would have to serve up to 10 years in prison. In fact, the only thing al-Sayegh had actually admitted to, according to FBI sources, was having proposed an attack on one AWACS plane that had been turned over to the Saudi Air Force - a proposal he said had been rejected. Both before and after being brought to Washington, moreover, Al-Sayegh steadfastly denied any knowledge of the Khobar Towers bombing. Despite that consistent denial by al-Sayegh, a Washington Post story on Apr. 14, 1997 quoted U.S. and Saudi officials as saying that al-Sayegh had met two years earlier with senior Iranian intelligence officer Brig. Gen. Ahmad Sherifi and that Iran was the "organising force" behind the Khobar bombing. That story, leaked by officials supporting the Saudi version of the Khobar story, cited Canadian intercepts of al-Sayegh's phone conversations in Ottawa before his arrest as allegedly incriminating evidence.
A senior Iranian cleric yesterday called for protesters to be executed as "enemies of Allah", as authorities came one step closer to formally declaring Mahmoud Ahmadinejad winner of the disputed election. The demand that demonstrators "must be shown no mercy" came as the main opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi took a more conciliatory attitude towards authorities by saying he will seek official approval for future demonstrations - a significantly more emollient stance than 24 hours earlier, when he vowed to "neutralise this evil conspiracy" against the public. In addition his website was attacked by hackers, and is now blank.
The demand that demonstrators "must be shown no mercy" came as the main opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi took a more conciliatory attitude towards authorities by saying he will seek official approval for future demonstrations - a significantly more emollient stance than 24 hours earlier, when he vowed to "neutralise this evil conspiracy" against the public. In addition his website was attacked by hackers, and is now blank.
TEHRAN - The presiding board of the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee has held separate meetings with Expediency Council Chairman Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and defeated presidential candidates Mohsen Rezaii, Mir-Hossein Mousavi, and Mahdi Karroubi. The board members met Karroubi on Thursday, Mousavi on Wednesday morning, and Rafsanjani on Wednesday afternoon, Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee Chairman Alaeddin Boroujerdi told the ISNA news agency in an interview published on Friday.
The board members met Karroubi on Thursday, Mousavi on Wednesday morning, and Rafsanjani on Wednesday afternoon, Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee Chairman Alaeddin Boroujerdi told the ISNA news agency in an interview published on Friday.
Saad Hariri has been asked to form a new Lebanese government after garnering the support of 86 members of the 128-seat body, officials say. Michel Sleiman, the Lebanese president, issued a decree appointing Hariri prime minister-designate after meeting him at the presidential palace in Beirut on Saturday. "According to the constitution and after the president consulted with the speaker of parliament and parliamentarians, he summoned Saad Hariri and tasked him with forming a new government," a presidential statement said.
Saad Hariri has been asked to form a new Lebanese government after garnering the support of 86 members of the 128-seat body, officials say.
Michel Sleiman, the Lebanese president, issued a decree appointing Hariri prime minister-designate after meeting him at the presidential palace in Beirut on Saturday.
"According to the constitution and after the president consulted with the speaker of parliament and parliamentarians, he summoned Saad Hariri and tasked him with forming a new government," a presidential statement said.
At approximately 6:30 a.m. local time, heavily-armed elements of the Honduran military began circulating outside the presidential palace. The president was reportedly arrested, taken to the airforce base in Tegucigalpa and transferred out of the country. This is a rapidly developing situation, with protestors now gathering in Tegucigalpa. Electricity has been cut and local media interrupted.
