"Mercenaries to stay in jail longer"

A Half Million Lebanese March for Syria
It was a warning. They came in their tens of thousands, Lebanese Shia Muslim families with babies in arms and children in front, walking past my Beirut home. They reminded me of the tens of thousands of Iraqi Shia Muslims who walked with their families to the polls in Iraq, despite the gunfire and the suicide bombers.
And now they came from southern Lebanon and the Bekaa to say they rejected America's plans in Lebanon, and wanted - so they claimed - to know who killed Rafiq Hariri, the former prime minister murdered on 14 February, and to reject UN Security Council Resolution 1559 which demands a Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon and the disarmament of the Hizbollah guerrilla movement, and to express their "thanks" to Syria. This was a tall order in Lebanon.

It is not democracy that's on the march in the Middle East
Managed elections are the latest device to prop up pro-western regimes

Public Version of Saddam Capture Fiction
A former U.S. Marine who participated in capturing ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein said the public version of his capture was fabricated.
Ex-Sgt. Nadim Abou Rabeh, of Lebanese descent, was quoted in the Saudi daily al-Medina Wednesday as saying Saddam was actually captured Friday, Dec. 12, 2003, and not the day after, as announced by the U.S. Army.

Mercenaries to stay in jail longer
THE 62 mercenaries jailed for violating Zimbabwe's immigration and security laws while en route to stage a coup in Equatorial Guinea, may stay in prison longer after the Attorney-General's Office filed an application with the Supreme Court seeking leave to appeal against a High Court decision to reduce their sentences.

Cosatu demo against Zim flops in SA
A DEMONSTRATION by the Congress of South African Trade Unions to exert pressure on the Zimbabwe Government ahead of this month's parliamentary polls flopped yesterday as only a handful of protesters turned up.

Congo war is world's top 'forgotten' crisis
Brutal conflicts in Congo, Uganda and Sudan are the world's three biggest "forgotten emergencies", each dwarfing the toll of the Asian tsunami but attracting scant media interest, a Reuters poll of experts showed on Thursday.

Tsunami coverage dwarfs 'forgotten' crises-research
New research finds the Indian Ocean tsunami got more media attention in the first six weeks after it struck than all of the world’s top 10 "forgotten" emergencies combined have received in the past year.

Rwanda killers face local justice
Traditional community courts in Rwanda have begun trying people accused of involvement in the 1994 genocide in which some 800,000 people were killed.

Pygmies flee after Burundi poll
Some 600 pygmies, or Twa, have fled Burundi for neighbouring Rwanda to escape persecution and hunger, officials say.

Italy holds U.S. responsible for agents death
Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, said on Wednesday that the United States must assume responsibility for the so-called "friendly fire" killing of Nicola Calipari, an Italian intelligence agent in Iraq.

Egypt rebuffs U.S. "democracy" claims
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmad Aboul Gheit dismissed President George W. Bush’s claim that U.S. policies could lead to democracy in the Middle East.

Israel guilty of funding illegal outposts
The Israeli government has been actively and secretly conniving with Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank to construct outposts in direct violation of domestic and international law, according to damning official report.

New Report Says Half Billion People Affected by Malaria
A new global malaria estimate dramatically increases the number of cases worldwide, especially in Southeast Asia.

South Africa Exhumes Graves of Anti-Apartheid Fighters
Forensic specialists in South Africa have exhumed two bodies believed to be those of anti-apartheid fighters killed by security forces 17 years ago and buried in unmarked graves. Investigators hope to positively identify the remains and possibly find clues to who killed them. These are the first of more than 20 exhumations expected over the next several weeks, as authorities try to close some of the cases that were left open by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Iran and Venezuela strengthen relations
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Iranian President Mohammad Khatami will meet in Venezuela today in an effort to further strengthen already stable and dynamic ties between both nations.