Inside Kandahar

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Civilians in Afghanistan have paid the heavist price for the conflict in their country, caught up almost daily in both Taliban attacks and air raids by US force.

Nigeria: A Man & His 86 Wives

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A eighty-four year old man in Northern Nigeria has prompted anger from Muslims, even receiving death threats, for having 86 wives. Al Jazeera's Yvonne Ndege, reports from Bida, where Mohammed Bello has caused huge controversy.

Benazir Bhutto - Experts Reflect - Part one

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After a look at recent NewsHour interviews with Benazir Bhutto, Pakistan experts and former colleagues of the late prime minister reflect on her political career, including her election as the first female prime-minister in 1988.

Teen Arrested in Bhutto Plot

A 15-year-old detained near the Afghan border has confessed to joining a team of assassins sent to kill Benazir-Bhutto, officials said on Saturday.

Police also announced they had foiled new suicide attacks against the country's Shiite-minority.

In the southern city of Karachi, meanwhile, the police chief said officers detained five men with explosives, detonators and a small quantity of cyanide intended for attacks on this week's Shiite Muslim festival of Ashura.

Via Time-Magazine

Britain-Russia: Row escalates

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Russia has been accused of intimidation after the British Council reluctantly agreed to suspend operations in St. Petersburg and Ekaterinburg.

In Time: Iraqi scuds hit Israel

1991: Iraqi Scud missiles hit Israel
Iraq has attacked two Israeli cities with Scud-missiles, prompting fears that Israel may be drawn into the Gulf-War.

Israel's largest city, Tel-Aviv, and Haifa, its main seaport, were hit in the attacks, which began at 0300 local time, when most residents were asleep.

In-Context
Iraq fired Scud missiles at Israeli cities again the next day and throughout the Gulf War, but failed to provoke Israel into unilateral retaliation.

After more than a month of intensive air attacks, the Allies launched a land offensive on 24 February. One day later, the Iraqis began retreating.

Via BBC

'Arellano-Felix cartel' executes victims

Six executed kidnapping-victims have been found inside a house in the Mexican town of Tijuana, where armed men took refuge during a shootout with soldiers.

The firefight broke out when agents prepared to raid a house near the US border that police now say was a shelter for a cell of a drug cartel named Arellano-Felix.

According to Edgar Millan, a spokesman for the federal public safety department, the victims, all male, were blindfolded and gagged and shot in the head.

Via Al-Jazeera

Britain-Russia: Rift grows

Britain yesterday accused Russia of staining its international-reputation by using "blatant intimidation" against staff of the British Council.

In unusually blunt terms, David-Miliband, UK foreign secretary, said Moscow's "reprehensible" tactics against the British cultural body were reminiscent of the cold-war".

He spoke of "anger and dismay" at actions he said were directly linked to the bitter dispute over the 2006 murder of Alexander-Litvinenko, the former KGB officer.

Via Box-UK

The Cold War

The term "Cold War" was introduced in 1947 by Americans Bernard Baruch and Walter Lippmann to describe emerging tensions between two former-allies.

It was the period of conflict, tension and competition between the United States and Soviet-Union and their respective allies from the mid-40s till early-90s.

Link > CNN Special: Cold War

Apocalypse Now: Opening Scene

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"Apocalypse Now" remains an important artistic-statement. The title of the movie appears as graffiti late in the film, which reads, "Our motto: Apocalypse Now".

Image Day - Sri Lanka bus bomb

More than two dozen people have been killed in a bus-blast in the south-east of Sri-Lanka on the same day the government formally withdrew from a ceasefire.

Via BBC

Britain-Russia: Relations worsen

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Britain's relations with Russia worsened, after the director of the British Council office in St Petersburg was detained by the Russian-authorities.

US strikes Al-Qaeda in Iraq

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It's one of the biggest air-strikes in Iraq since the 2003 invasion. The US military says it carried out a 10-minute bombardment of suspected Al-Qaeda safehavens.

'Al-Qaeda in Iraq'

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The Bush administration is building its new-case to stay in Iraq as a war against Al-Qaeda. However, it is not the largest group fighting in Iraq-today.

What-Happened in the Persian-Gulf?

Doubts have intensified over the nature of an alleged aggressive confrontation by Iranian patrol boats and American warships in the Persian-Gulf.

The Persian Gulf was the focus of the Iraq-Iran War that lasted from 1980 - 88.

It has similarities with the incident in 88, when in the same Strait of Hormuz, the USS Vincennes shot-down an Iranian civilian-airliner.

Iranian version
The Iranians have issued their own video, in which one of their sailors, in a much higher and quite different voice from the one which issued the "warning", asks the US ships who they are and what course they are on.

He gets a dusty reply that the US vessels are in international waters.

Beyond the propaganda
Tensions between Iran and the US have diminished recently following the US National Intelligence Estimate that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon.

There are still serious points of potential-conflict between the two, with Iran always determined to exert its influence in the region.

Via BBC/Guardian-Unlimited

The Iraq Conspiracy

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Simon Reeve looks into the reasons behind the war in Iraq, from oil to the petro-dollar, to US supremacy and finishes with the Iranian oil bourse.

Cease-Fire No More

On Thursday, the Sri Lankan government notified the mission of its-decision to pull out of the 2002 Norwegian-brokered truce, saying the agreement had allowed Tamil-rebels to regroup.

The collapse of the truce was accompanied by continued battles near rebel-held territory in Sri Lanka's north. Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama told reporters Friday that Norwegian monitors will have what he call a redefined role.

Via VOA