August, 2005

• 19 August

  Government approves execution of 3 men

  BAGHDAD (Reuters) — Iraq’s presidency has signed death sentences for three men convicted of murder, paving the way for the first state-endorsed executions since the fall of Saddam Hussein. The men will be hanged. President Jalal Talabani, who opposes capital punishment, did not sign the document, but his deputy signed …

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• 19 August

  Top operative shot dead in Medina clash

  RIYADH (AFP) — Saudi security forces shot dead one of the country’s top Al Qaeda leaders in the holy city of Medina Thursday, the latest of the group’s chiefs in the Kingdom to be gunned down in a shoot-out. The clash that killed Saleh Al Ufi coincided with another operation …

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• 16 August

  Iraq constitution drafters get extra week

  BAGHDAD (Reuters) — Iraq’s parliament, pushed to the brink of a midnight deadline, gave negotiators an extra week on Monday to complete a draft constitution after weeks of intensive talks failed to bridge sectarian and ethnic rifts. Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish leaders now have seven more days to agree the …

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• 16 August

  Warlord Aidid seeks end to bitter dispute over government seat

  MOGADISHU (AFP) — Powerful Somali warlord Hussein Mohammed Aidid said Monday he hoped to mediate an end to a bitter dispute in the lawless nation’s transitional government that has sparked fears of deepening anarchy. Aidid, the deputy prime minister in the government, travelled to Mogadishu on Sunday after a four-year …

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• 16 August

  Israel’s crisis over Gaza plan

  THE DECISION BY Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to pull Israeli settlers out of the Gaza Strip and part of the West Bank has shaken Israel’s Orthodox Jewish community to its foundations. Never before has an Israeli government relinquished what the religious population universally regards as holy land, promised to …

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• 16 August

  President unveils new reconciliation plan

  ALGIERS (AFP) — Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has unveiled a draft charter for peace and national reconciliation that will be put to a referendum on September 29, national television reported on Sunday. The draft calls for “concrete steps to stop bloodshed and restore peace” in the north African country after …

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• 16 August

  Iran names hardliner to run atomic policy

  TEHRAN (AFP) — Iran named an outspoken hardliner to run its nuclear policy Monday in a move likely to intensify international concerns following the Islamic regime’s rejection of European incentives for abandoning ultra-sensitive fuel cycle work. New President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad nominated the former director of state broadcast media, Ali Larijani, …

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• 16 August

  Bush administration hoped for on-time constitution

  WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Monday the Iraqi parliament “needed a little more time” to work out compromises but had made “substantial progress” towards drafting a constitution despite missing is self-imposed deadline. The process is working in an orderly fashion, and “I believe they are going …

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• 16 August

  2 peacekeepers injured in Sinai ‘terror attack’

  AL ARISH (AFP) — Two Canadian women peacekeepers were wounded in a bomb blast Monday in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula that officials described as a terrorist attack. “Terrorists planted two gas canisters on the road and linked them to an electrical wire. They hid in nearby apricot groves and blew them …

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• 16 August

  Israel begins pullout

  RAFAH — The official start of the Israeli evacuation of settlements in Gaza was marked in Rafah with midnight prayers of thanks at mosques across this conflict scarred border city in the southern Strip. And as another blisteringly hot day dawned, so, it seemed, did a growing realisation that a …

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