N. Korea Accuses U.S. of War Pretext Plot

The AP/Lexington Herald-Leader are reporting that North Korea has accused the Bush administration of “making up reports about the North’s nuclear weapons program as a pretext for war, saying it echoed similar allegations Washington made about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq before the U.S.-led invasion.” The accusation comes as both nations are working to establish a third round of talks re: NK’s nuclear capability.

Libyan Nuclear Developments

Significant quantities of Black-Market parts ‘lost in transit’, and Malaysia cracks down on the Black Marketeers with ‘Friends in High Places’.

From the Washington Post, via the AFP and thence The Australian :

The United States has been told by Libyan intelligence officials that an important quantity of nuclear equipment secretly purchased by Libya in a bid to create its own nuclear arsenal appears to be missing, The Washington Post reported today.

Libya promised last December to abandon its quest for nuclear weapons in exchange for improved relations with the West.

Citing unnamed US officials, the newspaper said the equipment included sensitive components of machines used to enrich uranium.

It had been ordered from black-market suppliers months earlier and was now long overdue, the report said.

US officials said the Libyans wanted to prepare the Americans for the possibility that more illicit nuclear shipments could suddenly appear on Tripoli’s docks, the paper said.

But despite a search that has spanned the globe, US and international investigators are still struggling to account for a number of sensitive parts Libya ordered for construction of its uranium enrichment plant, The Post said.

US and UN investigators have identified many of the network’s operatives and methods and recovered tens of thousands of parts in a dragnet that has reached from South-East Asia to the Middle East and Europe, according to the report.

However, the investigators believe that some of the suppliers to the network have not yet been identified, The Post said.

Also from The Australian :

Three months after clearing him of criminal activity, Malaysia arrested a senior figure in the network that traded in Pakistan’s nuclear secrets because he exposed the country to possible attack and economic sanctions from “big powers”, a minister said today.
[…]
A State Department spokesman said Washington was “delighted” with the arrest yesterday of Buhary Syed Abu Tahir, the highest-level operative of the trafficking network of disgraced Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan to be jailed since it was exposed early this year.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi previously insisted Tahir had committed no crime in Malaysia by arranging for a company controlled by the leader’s son to make centrifuge parts for Libya’s nuclear programs.

Strong earthquake rocks Iran

CNN: Strong earthquake rocks Iran

A 6.2 magnitude earthquake has struck northern Iran, centered about 45 miles north of the capital, Tehran, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Friday’s quake is the first major one to hit Iran since last December’s 6.6 magnitude event that virtually destroyed the ancient city of Bam, killing more than 25,000 people.

Friday’s quake is centered much deeper than the Bam quake — 26 km (16 miles) instead of the relatively shallow 10-km (6-mile) Bam quake. Bam is about 990 km (610 miles) southeast of Tehran.

There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.

Evicting Tajikistan's Lone Syanagogue

Place this one in the “tolerance for other religions” category… Meryl Yourish notes that the Muslims of Tajikstan have ordered the local Jewish community to vacate the city’s only remaining synagogue by July to clear the site for construction of a new presidential palace:

“The synagogue’s rabbi, Mikhail Abdurakhmanov, told the news service that under Soviet rule, the communist authorities had seized control over the synagogue in 1952, but that “by law the synagogue should belong to the Jews who built it out of their own funds around 100 years ago.” He urged the authorities to refrain from demolishing the structure, noting that while they had offered the community a plot of land to build a new synagogue, this option would not be feasible… the Jewish community in Tajikistan oday simply does not have the money either to build a synagogue or to rent a building,” the rabbi said, pointing out that only 500 Jews remain in the entire country.”

Winds of Change.NET Central Asia expert Nathan Hamm has more, including a number of links to the history of Jews in Central Asia.

Greece to shoot 'terror planes'

BBC: Greece to shoot ‘terror planes’

Greece has vowed to shoot down any aircraft trying to wreck the Olympics with a 11 September-style attack.

Any such plane “won’t reach its target,” Public Order Minister Giorgos Voulgarakis told state television.

However, the minister said such action would only be taken if a plane refused to change course after being warned.

Shrine Allegedly Damaged by Sadr's Men

Ayatollah Mohammed Baqr al-Mehri, the Kuwaiti representative of Iraq’s most powerful Shiite cleric, Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani, said the Sadr militia fired a mortar shell at the dome of the shrine but missed it and hit a wall instead.

Ayatollah Mehri called the attack “a cowardly act” and said Sadr loyalists should not use the shrine for storing their weapons and as a sanctuary.

“We want to tell the world, and America, that Muqtada al-Sadr is not one of us, and this is a conspiracy against Shiites so that we don’t get any [political] rights,” Ayatollah Mehri said, referring to Shiite demands for greater political representation in the new Iraq.

Pakistan Car Bomb Kills Seven

At least two car bombs exploded Wednesday outside a Pakistani-American cultural center in Karachi, Pakistan, police and witnesses reported.

Ghulam Mohammed Dogar, senior superintendent of city police, said a bomb planted inside the first car detonated outside the gate of the center, and one injured person was sent to a hospital.

Minutes later, a second car parked nearby exploded, billowing fire and smoke, an Associated Press reporter at the scene said.

The reporter saw three photographers and three policemen being taken to a hospital in an ambulance.

Ebola Outbreak Confirmed In Sudan

The Associated Press reports:

The World Health Organization confirmed Tuesday that five people have died of Ebola in southern Sudan, but dismissed fears that a new variant strain of the disease had emerged.

In addition to the dead, 14 other people are infected with the hemorrhagic fever, WHO said.

This outbreak was first reported last week.

The fact that there is no vaccine or treatment for the Ebola virus was driven home earlier today when it was reported that Ebola killed a scientist.

Olympic organizer denies security problems

JERUSALEM POST: Olympic organizer denies security problems

Comments about potential security shortfalls for the Athens Olympics undermine the most expensive protection network in the games’ history and could encourage terrorists to try to strike, the chief organizer suggested Monday.

“I am concerned that we send a consistent message to those who wish us ill,” said Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki at the start of the three-day conference on efforts to protect the Aug. 13-29 Games.

“Telling them incorrectly that there are holes in Athens security procedures and our preparations can be circumvented - when all of our preparations are designed to achieve the opposite - is bad security strategy,” she told about 350 security experts representing national Olympic committees, sponsors and broadcasters.

Gadhafi threatens to pull out of Arab league

JERUSALEM POST: Gadhafi threatens to pull out of Arab league

Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi threatened to pull his country out of the Arab League on Saturday after withdrawing from the opening session of the annual Arab summit.

Speaking at a news conference shortly after he walked out of the opening session of the summit in Tunis, Gadhafi did not say flatly that he was pulling out, a threat Libya has made before, accusing the 22-member organization of being ineffective.

Wiesenthal Center to Jews: Don't attend Olympics

JERUSALEM POST: Wiesenthal Center to Jews: Don’t attend Olympics

The Simon Wiesenthal Center said Friday it would not lift a travel advisory to Greece because its new government has not taken steps to fight anti-Semitism.

In a letter also sent to the International Olympic Committee, the Center called Greece the “greatest net producer of anti-Semitism in Europe” and said Premier Costas Caramanlis had done little to fight anti-Semitism.

“We have made repeated attempts to convince the Greek authorities to take appropriate action,” the center said.

OxDem Global Democracy Briefing: May 19/04

Winds of Change.NET’s weekly democracy briefings present a survey each week of the most important trends and events in democratization around the globe. Today’s weekly Democracy Briefing is brought to you by Patrick Belton, co-editor of OxBlog and president of the Nathan Hale Foreign Policy Society.

TOP TOPICS

• Local Palestinian elections announced: on May 10, the PA cabinet announced it would begin a year-long process of local elections this summer, with Jericho holding elections first in August. Local elections have not been held in thirty years in the West Bank, and forty in the case of Gaza. In a policy shift, the cabinet announced an Israeli withdrawal is not a prerequisite for local elections, though it would continue to be for legislative and presidential elections. Analysts attributed the new flexibility to PM Qurei’s desire to shore up the Palestinian leadership’s international standing in advance of meeting with Condi Rice in Berlin next week, and Arafat yielding to internal pressure to address the chaos and corruption currently plaguing many Palestinian towns.

• Coverage of India’s recent elections.

• Greater Middle East Initiative: following criticism from Arab governments and prior to the June meeting of the G-8 in Sea Island, Georgia, the United States is revising its proposals to assist Middle Eastern democracy. Current proposals center around a literacy corps, a microfinance fund, a ‘foundation for democracy’ to fund civil society programmes, and a democracy assistance group to coordinate G-8 and EU reform efforts. Critics say the programme has been gutted after meeting with Arab criticism; Senators Hagel, Lieberman, and Lugar have introduced separate legislative proposals to create a public-private Trust for Democracy funded with $1 billion a year for five years. Arab League foreign ministers have drafted a counterproposal, which will be taken up at a summit this week in Tunis.

Other Topics Today Include: Diplomats boycott Burmese ‘democracy’ conference; Kuwait announces it will allow women to vote; Malawi to elect a new president and parliament on Thursday; US warns Ukraine to hold fair elections later this year; UK and South Africa discuss promoting democracy in Zimbabwe; and Surprise developments in India - the world’s largest democracy.

Read the Rest…

Russia's Oil & America's Future

The American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) has an interesting article on their site: “Oil Business is Big Politics in Russia”:

bq.. “The largest petroleum companies in the United States and Europe want to invest tens of billions of dollars in Russia’s oil industry.

Good idea? Bad idea? Do they have any choice?

William Ratliff of the Hoover Institution at Stanford wrote a 2003 white paper issued by the institution, “Russia’s Oil in America’s Future — Policy, Pipelines and Prospects.” In it, he examines the problems and possibilities of Russian oil development, especially as it will affect the United States.

He sees Russia as a magnet for industry investment, despite the problems: “We don’t really have good options,” he said. “Russia is probably the best second choice.”

Having said that, the AAPG is very up-front about the risks. We have the AAPG article link, and Ratliff’s Hoover Institution White Paper, over at The Pro’s Edge. If you believe that the future of Russia and the world oil industry are important issues, these materials are a good place to start.

Bomb found at British car dealer in Athens

REUTERS: Bomb found at British car dealer in Athens

An unexploded bomb has been found outside a British car dealership in southern Athens, in the latest attack coinciding with the lead-up to the Olympic Games in August, a police spokeswoman says.

The bomb was in a box under a car at a dealership for the famed Land Rover, now owned by Ford, but still built in Britain.

Police detonated the device and the motive for the attack was unknown, the spokeswoman said on Wednesday.

“It was a home-made explosive device of minor power,” she said.

Poison Gas Reported Missing in London

Two of the Posting Guidelines on The Command Post are :

* All items must have a professional news source and, when possible, a link.

*Do not post information from other blogs unless you link that blog and they cited a credible media source. Cite and link both: “Instapundit reports that CNN is saying…”

I’m deliberately breaking both of these guidelines for a very exceptional case.
From Random Acts of Reality, a Blog based in London, England, written by an E.M.T [Paramedic] working for the London Ambulance Service, dated May 18th, about 12 hours ago.

A van carrying Phosgene and Methyl Bromide was stolen today from Bow[a suburb of London - AEB].

Phosgene, for those of you who don’t know, is a poisonous gas which was used in the trenches of World War I - hideously fatal to humans. Methyl Bromide is an insecticide - and is not much fun to be around either. Why was a van carrying, for want of a better term, chemical weapons left unguarded? Was it stolen to order? Why hasn’t the government mentioned this - why isn’t it on every news programme in the country?
This is the secret knowledge of the ambulance service…Does it make you sleep soundly in your bed knowing that this stuff happens and you never know about it?

If you smell a mossy/cut grass smell then go upwind and await the emergency services in their “noddy suits”.

As of 8 hours ago, it still hadn’t been found.

AfricaPundit's Regional Briefing, May 18/04

Winds of Change.NET Regional Briefings run on Tuesdays & Wednesdays, and sometimes Fridays too. This Regional Briefing focuses on Africa, courtesy of AfricaPundit.

TOP TOPICS

• The mainstream media isn’t paying much attention to the increasingly serious (and increasingly brutal) war in western Sudan, but the blogosphere is beginning to take notice. See below for more. (Via Instapundit.)

• South Africa scores a goooooooal! by winning its bid to host the 2010 World Cup—the first in Africa.

• Good news: Abiola discusses Uganda’s progress in combatting AIDS.

Other Topics Today Include: More Sudan links; African Solidarity Watch; Sharia in Nigeria; Qaddafi’s continuing tyranny; Zimbabwean oppostition in disarray; Mugabe’s refusual of food aid; Comrade Bob retiring?; Annuak genocide watch.

Read The Rest…

Dan's Winds of War: May 17/04

Welcome! Our goal is to give you one power-packed briefing of insights, news and trends from the global War on Terror that leaves you stimulated, informed, and occasionally amused every Monday & Thursday. Today’s “Winds of War” is brought to you by Dan Darling. of Regnum Crucis.

TOP TOPICS

• The Chadian rebel group Movement for Democracy and Justice (MDJT) claims to be holding Amari Saifi, the second-in-command of the Algerian al-Qaeda affiliate GSPC, and that they are willing to turn him over to the US in return for unspecified concessions. According to Strateypage via Rantburg, if Saifi is being held by the Chadians there is the possibility that al-Qaeda members based in neighboring Sudan may be raising a ransom to free him. There also seems to be the fear that Saifi is working with the MDJT as part of an elaborate trap, though this would strike me as rather suicidal behavior for an otherwise obscure African rebel group to engage in …

• The Yemeni government appears to be more or less bribing terrorists to keep trouble away from the homeland. This is more or less how the non-crazy Saudis’ cash ended up in al-Qaeda’s coffers and I think we’ve already seen how this movie ends. On the other hand, Yemen did thwart a plot to assassinate the US ambassador, so many their plan is better than it looks on the surface.

Other Topics Today Include: Iran Reports; Hezb-e-Islami in upcoming Afghan elections; 2 Taliban commanders captured; Waziristan amnesty suffers a setback; latest sectarian violence was the work of the SeS or LeJ; Hassan Hattab executed by his own lieutenants; Nigerian governor blames al-Qaeda for recent violence; Filippino authorities disrupt al-Qaeda financing; Malaysia deports Abu Jibril; al-Muqrin sez al-Qaeda’s operating in Iraq; Spain busts al-Qaeda recruiters; EU counterterrorism chief notes paradox of the Continent’s relationship with terrorists; Sao Tome as an alternate energy source; and Mexican UFOs turn out to be gas.

Read the Rest…

Iran to Present Full Nuke Picture to UN Soon-Envoy

REUTERS: Iran to Present Full Nuke Picture to UN Soon-Envoy

Iran has drafted a report aimed at providing a complete picture of its nuclear program and will hand it over to the U.N. nuclear watchdog “very soon,” its ambassador to the United Nations in Vienna said Thursday.

Iran is due to present a complete account of its nuclear activities and plans to the International Atomic Energy Agency by mid-May, ahead of a meeting of the agency’s board of governors next month.

“The report is ready,” Iranian envoy Pirooz Hosseini told Reuters.

“After a final review by the experts, we will hand it over very soon to the agency,” Hosseini said.

Makeshift bomb rattles Athens

REUTERS: Makeshift bomb rattles Athens

A makeshift bomb exploded outside an Athens bank on Thursday and a Greek fringe group claimed responsibility for three blasts in the city last week, saying they were to protest heavy security measures for the Olympics.

Thursday’s early morning blast outside a branch of Alpha Bank caused minor damage and no casualties, but will raise more concern about the safety of the Games this summer.

The group “Revolutionary Struggle” told the newspaper “To Pontiki” last week’s bombs which damaged a police station but caused no casualties were a response to Olympic security plans.

“With regard to the Olympic Games we say that Greece’s transformation into a fortress, NATO’s involvement, the presence and activities of foreign intelligence units show clearly that (the Olympics) are not a festival like Games organisers say, but it’s a war,” it said in a statement sent to the newspaper.

“All members representing the international capital, global mercenary killers and state officials, as well as well-off western Olympic tourists planning to be here, are not welcome,” it said.

Athens bombers warn tourists of attending Olympics

JERUSALEM POST: Athens bombers warn tourists of attending Olympics

A Greek radical group claimed responsibility Thursday for last week’s triple bombings at a police station and warned that some visitors to the Olympic Games, from heads of state to wealthy Western tourists, are “undesirable.”

The proclamation by the group Revolutionary Struggle did not threaten to carry out future attacks, but clearly expressed anger that the unprecedented Olympic security has transformed Greece into a “fortress.”

“All members of international capital (multinational companies, business executives), global mercenary killers, the state officials and the wealthy Western tourists who plan on finding themselves at the games are undesirable,” said the statement published in the weekly newspaper To Pontiki.

Police officials did not immediately comment, but believe the declaration is from the same group that struck in September with twin bombings at a judicial complex that injured one officer.

Eyes on Korea Briefing: May 11/04

Winds of Change.NET Regional Briefings run on Tuesdays & Wednesdays, and sometimes Fridays too. Today’s Regional Briefing focuses on Korea, courtesy of Robert Koehler in Seoul.

Today’s Headings Include:

• The DPRK (North Korea)
• The ROK (South Korea, incl. elections coverage)
• US-ROK Issues (incl. Iraq)
• Random Korea Stuff, from photos to sports to religion

Official: Greece Can Cope with Any Terror Attack

REUTERS: Official: Greece Can Cope with Any Terror Attack

he Greek government is confident it can cope with any potential terror attack against the August Olympic Games, the minister supervising the Games’ preparations said Sunday.

Asked on BBC Television if she believed security was sufficient to repel an attack by the al Qaeda network or other militant groups, Deputy Culture Minister Fani Palli-Petralia said her answer was a “definite yes.”

Petralia, who is new Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis’ personal appointee to the Games’ preparations, said no country had requested to bring its own armed guards to protect its team, although she acknowledged that this may be a possibility.

“This is something which will be discussed at other levels,” she said. “There is not any country until now who has really asked officially to have armed agents.”

“I don’t think it’s needed because the Greek police and Greek security can guarantee everything,” she added.

Update on North Korea Train Blast

Satellite pictures (genuine ones this time) of the town of Ryongchon before and after are available via GlobalSecurity.org.
Everything within 100 metres of the blast is flattened, everything within 200 metres is rubble, and everything within 400 metres is wrecked. There’s signs of severe structural damage out to 800 metres.

Update on E. Jerusalem Explosion

Fox TV reporting an explosion in East Jerusalem, with reports of casualties.

Just breaking.

First linked report:

AT least six people were hurt, three seriously, in an east Jerusalem explosion, medical sources said today.

Three or four people were lightly injured, they said.

An AFP correspondent at the scene said the blast destroyed at least one convenience store opposite a taxi stand.

The explosion happened just outside the walls of Jerusalem’s Old City, in the heart of occupied and annexed east Jerusalem.

The cause of the blast was not immediately clear.

Second report says three Palestinians were injured.

Update: Gas explosion was a workplace accident.

[Moved here from GWoT]

Bush Proposes a Plan to Aid Opponents of Castro in Cuba

In a White House ceremony to mark the release of a report on Cuba by a presidential commission, President Bush announced a plan to use military aircraft to help American broadcasters reach Cuba and to increase sharply the money for Cuban critics of the government of President Fidel Castro. Mr. Bush said his actions would help hasten an end to the Castro regime which has been in power for 45 years.

Senator Max Baucus, Democrat of Montana called the plan ‘a dangerous diversion from reality’ and noted that ‘at a time when the United States faces very real terrorist threats in the Middle East and elsewhere, the administration’s absurd and increasingly bizarre obsession with Cuba is more than just a shame’.

Other Democrats, such as the only Cuban-American Democrat in the House, Representative Robert Menendez of New Jersey, accused Mr. Bush of pandering to Cuban exiles in South Florida.

Call to Boycott Iran over Nukes

From the AFP via The Australian :

Policy makers in the US have accused Iran of “deception” in pursuing a nuclear weapons programme and systematically trying to hide it.

Despite Iran’s assurances to the contrary to the International Atomic Energy Agency, the US House of Representatives said “It is abundantly clear that Iran remains committed to a nuclear weapons program.”.

It called on Europe, Japan and Russia to break off trade and energy ties with Iran until Tehran ends its nuclear ambitions.

A resolution passed by the House said that once Iran’s uranium enrichment facilities are operational, it will have sufficient capacity to produce enough nuclear material for 25 to 40 nuclear weapons a year.

“Iran has engaged in a systematic campaign of deception and manipulation to hide its true intentions and keep its large-scale nuclear efforts a secret,” said Republican Representative Dan Burton of Indiana.

Georgia on the Brink

With mounting protests in Ajaria, the central government has given the seperatist region mere hours to submit to Tbilisi’s rule.

“I want to warn everyone, all armed people and the authorities who are still on Aslan Abashidze’s side that the hours of his regime are numbered. You have approximately two to three hours to come over to the side of the Georgian people and obey the Georgian president in order to avoid possible bloodshed,” Merabishvili said.

In the latest news, President Saakashvili has offered Ajarian leader Aslan Abashidze safe passage out of Georgia if he resigns. This comes after negotiations with Russia and the United States regarding asylum for Abashidze.

North Korea Builds Up Missiles

Cross-post from OTB

Korea Herald: North Korea Builds Up Missiles

North Korea is reported to be building two underground launching sites aimed at deploying an intermediate-range ballistic missile with a target distance of up to 4,000 kilometers following successful development last year.

The missile is capable of reaching U.S. military bases in Guam or possibly Hawaii, the new report said.

“Two missile stations in Yangduk in western Pyeongan Province and in Heocheon in northeastern Hamgyeong are under construction with 70 to 80 percent completed,” the Chosun Ilbo newspaper reported, citing an unidentified South Korean official.

The source said a U.S. spy satellite has detected about 10 new ballistic missiles and mobile launching pads at these bases.

But the South Korean military avoided commenting on the report.

“We can’t confirm nor deny the report, as similar stories have already been covered by the media,” said Defense Ministry spokesman Brig. Gen. Nam Dai-yeon in a news briefing.

United States Forces Korea also refused to comment on the report, saying, “We do not discuss (these) operational issues.” The USFK spokesperson did not elaborate on this comment.

The new system is clearly set apart from the North’s mainstay lineup of Scud and Rodong missiles that can fly much shorter distances. The missiles are reportedly 12 meters long and 1.5 meters wide, which are smaller than the already deployed missiles, but it can travel farther and is technically enhanced as it could be launched from a vehicle.

The North has about 500 Scud missiles with ranges of 300 kilometers to 500 kilometers and keeps most of its short and medium-range missiles. Also in its stockpiles is a huge amount of tanks in some 11,000 underground facilities.

The communist regime also possesses the Rodong-1 missile, which has a range of 1,300 kilometers (810 miles) and is capable of reaching most parts of Japan.

In August 1998, Pyongyang stunned the world by test-firing its Daepodong-1 intermediate-range ballistic missile that soared over Japan’s main island and into the Pacific Ocean. It has a range of up to 2,200 kilometers, but has yet to be deployed for a launch.

The North is also known to be developing a Daepodong-2 missile that can reach as far as Alaska with a maximum range of 6,000 kilometers, according to Defense Ministry data.

But the ministry did not disclose how many missiles the North has recently deployed and where they are located.

Analysts said the North’s reinforcement of missiles, regardless of the credibility of the report, may help the United States accelerate its move to establish a missile defense system in Northeast Asia.

“Pyongyang sees their missile development as their sovereign rights, but it could also justify the United States and Japan’s move to establish the missile-defense system, further irking China,” Baek Seung-joo, a North Korea expert at the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses, told The Korea Herald.

South Korea’s 650,000-member military is facing off 1.1 million-member North Korean army. About 37,000 U.S. troops remain in South Korea, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended in an armistice, but not a peace treaty.

North Korea and the United States have been locked in a standoff over the North’s development of nuclear weapons.

The North recently accused Washington of preparing a preemptive attack against it when the United States announced it would withdraw its troops by October from the heavily fortified inter-Korean border.

The U.S. military in South Korea will deploy two more Patriot antimissile batteries and establish an air defense brigade in Korea this fall to effectively deter the North’s missile attacks.

A first working group meeting will be held in Beijing May 12 under the six-nation talks that have been struggling to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue since the fall of 2002.

Bombs Rock Central Athens Police Station

REUTERS: Bombs Rock Central Athens Police Station

Three bomb blasts hit a central Athens police station early Wednesday, a police official said.

It was not clear whether there were any casualties or damage to the building. The police official said authorities had received an anonymous warning that the three explosive devices would go off at the police station in Kalithea.

In August Greece hosts the Olympics, amid fears the games could be a target for political violence.

Saudis: Al Qaeda Behind Attack

Saudi Arabia’s interior minister said early Tuesday that al-Qaida was likely responsible for an attack in the oil-industry city of Yanbu that killed five Westerners and a Saudi and caused dozens of foreigners to leave the country.

Interior Minister Prince Nayef, arriving in Kuwait to sign a pact on terrorism intelligence sharing with members of the Gulf Cooperation Council, was asked whether al-Qaida was to blame for the attack.

“Yes, but we need time to confirm this,” he said.

Strike Kills Gunman; Arafat Compound Surrounded;

Again. Haven’t we been here before?

…Israeli troops took up positions around Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s office building in the West Bank city of Ramallah early Tuesday, witnesses said.

Residents who saw the Khan Younis refugee camp violence said the gunmen targeted by the helicopter fired two missiles at Israeli tanks before the helicopter struck. Residents said the dead Palestinian was a 25-year-old gunman.

As the attack occurred, the Israeli military was carrying out operations in two parts of the camp. Tanks and bulldozers leveled land and tore down buildings across from a Jewish settlement.

BBC has more

Mexico, Peru Withdraw Ambassadors from Cuba

Citing different reasons, both Mexico and Peru are pulling their ambassadors from Cuba. Mexico has accused Cuba of interfering with its domestic affairs while Peru pulled out its envoy after being harshly criticized by Fidel Castro on May Day. The dispute with Mexico began with Mexico’s support last month for a censure of Cuba at a U.N. rights body. Peru has also criticized the Communist island’s human rights record.

Ajar Bridges Destroyed

Ajaria’s seperatist leaders have cut all road links between the region and the rest of Georgia:

Two key bridges in Adjara – Choloki and Kakuti were reportedly blown up on May 2 at 1 pm, by the local authorities, hence destroying the only road links between the Autonomous Republic and the rest of Georgia.

Meanwhile, Georgian Defense Ministry wraps up its major military exercises in Poti, some 30 km away from Adjarian Autonomy on May 2. Georgian elite troops, air forces and heavy armor, as well as navy forces participated in the three-day long maneuvers, which is attended on May 2 by President Saakashvili.

Unofficial reports say that explosion of two major bridges in Adjara was caused by the fear of Adjarian authorities over possible incursion of armed forces into the region; whoever President Saakashvili, as well Georgian Defense Minister Gela Bezhuashvili denied earlier on May 2, that central authorities were planning use of armed forces in the restive region.

Reports say that troops loyal to Aslan Abashidze are on high alert in Adjarian capital Batumi. “Armed groups are already patrolling the streets of Batumi and more forces, loyal to Abashidze are dispatched at Choloki [administrative border between Adjara and rest of Georgia],” Eter Suladze, Batumi-based journalists of local newspaper Batumelebi told Civil Georgia on May 2.

Ajarian opposition groups say the bridges were also destroyed to make military defections more difficult.

Sharon's Likud Party Votes Against Gaza Pullout

Reuters reports that Israeli Prime Minister Sharon’s Likud party overwhelming voted against Sharon’s Gaza pullout plan. According to Reuters Sharon’s plan was rejected by a ratio of 60 percent to 40 percent.