September, 2005

• 20 September

  ‘$1b plundered from Iraq funds’

  LONDON (Reuters) — Large-scale corruption in Iraq’s ministries, particularly the defence ministry, has led to one of the biggest thefts in history with more than $1 billion going missing, Iraq’s finance minister said in an interview. “Huge amounts of money have disappeared. In return we got nothing but scraps of …

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• 20 September

  Sharon returns with leadership under challenge

  OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon flew home on Monday to a battle for his political survival after collecting diplomatic dividends at the United Nations for a pullout from the Gaza Strip. Sharon faces a showdown with hardline rival Benjamin Netanyahu trying to unseat him as head of …

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• 20 September

  Egypt, PA urge Gaza border monitoring

  CAIRO (AP) — Egypt and the Palestinian Authority are pushing Israel to agree to third party monitoring of border traffic as a way of reopening a legal crossing on the Gaza frontier, which thousands of people surged across illegally last week, officials said Monday. The proposal, under which officials from …

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• 17 September

  UN must play central role in fight against terrorism, Putin says

  UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United Nations must shift its focus from just settling disputes between states to coordinating the world’s fight against terrorism, Russian President Vladimir Putin told the second day of a UN summit Thursday. Echoing remarks by Britain’s Prime Minister Tony Blair and US President George W. …

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• 17 September

  Suicide bombers kill 24 policemen in Iraq

  BAGHDAD (AP) — The US military said on Thursday the brutal insurgent bombings that killed nearly 200 people in Baghdad over the past two days were a “predictable spike in violence” tied to the coming referendum on Iraq’s new constitution. As suicide bombers continued their campaign in Baghdad for a …

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• 17 September

  Court tells Israel to reroute part of West Bank barrier

  OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (Reuters) — Israel’s top court ordered the government on Thursday to reroute part of its West Bank barrier to reduce Palestinian hardship, a ruling that could force it to remove a section already built on occupied land. But Israel’s supreme court justices sparked Palestinian anger when they declared …

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• 17 September

  Watchdog slams US forces for media deaths

  NEW YORK (Reuters) — A media watchdog criticised the US military on Wednesday for consistently failing to investigate the killing of journalists in Iraq by its forces, and said the Pentagon was losing credibility as a result. The report by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, or CPJ, said …

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• 17 September

  Qatar calls on Arabs to talk to Israel after pullout

  NEW YORK (AP) — Arab nations should make a gesture towards Israel after its withdrawal from Gaza by talking with their Middle East neighbour to chart a future for the region, Qatar’s foreign minister said. Praising the Israeli pullout after 37 years of occupation in Gaza, Sheikh Hamad Ben Jassim …

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• 17 September

  Tehran offers know-how to Islamic states

  TEHRAN (Reuters) — Iran is ready to share its nuclear technology, considered to be a front for bomb-making by Washington, with other Islamic countries, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying on Thursday. The comments were likely to heighten Western concerns about Tehran’s nuclear programme just ahead of a key …

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• 17 September

  EU-US drive to refer Iran programme runs into trouble

  VIENNA (AP) — A US-European drive to refer Iran to the UN Security Council is encountering fierce opposition and could be postponed despite deep international concerns about Tehran’s nuclear agenda, diplomats and government officials said Thursday. Just days before planned action on referral, the diplomats and officials — some in …

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