July, 2005

• 23 July

  Security Council debates barrier

  UNITED NATIONS (AFP) — The UN Security Council opened a debate Thursday on Middle East tensions ahead of the planned Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, with Israel and the Palestinians clashing over Israel’s West Bank separation barrier. As Israel indicated that the Gaza pullout, due to begin in mid-August, …

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• 23 July

  Gov’t apologises after scuffles mar Rice talks

  EL FASHER (AFP) — US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice demanded and received an apology from Sudan Thursday after officials and press accompanying her were “manhandled” by security staff at President Omar Bashir’s residence. “They had no right to manhandle my staff and the press,” Rice told reporters after the …

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• 23 July

  Radar finds water for refugees

  A NEW TECHNIQUE using satellite radar images may hold the key to providing the water needs of 200,000 Sudanese living in sweltering heat in camps along the Chadian border. Alain Gachet, a geologist who spent most of his working life exploring for oil and mining companies, has developed a system …

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• 23 July

  Operator of mobile company in Iraq says envoy probably still alive

  CAIRO (AP) — The Egyptian owner of a mobile phone network in Iraq said Wednesday he was convinced that Egypt’s top envoy, believed slain by his abductors, is most likely alive, because of information he has obtained. The government said it had no indications he was still alive. Egyptian billionaire …

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• 23 July

  Hospitals under strain

  BAGHDAD — It is early afternoon in the emergency room of Baghdad’s Yarmouk Hospital. Medics are on stand by for a big influx of casualties from a bomb south of Baghdad. But right now they have a more pressing job. Several doctors, blood spattered on their white coats, are calmly …

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• 23 July

  Tape shows Saddam complaining about not being allowed to see lawyer

  BAGHDAD (AP) — Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein complained that he has not been allowed sufficient access to his lawyer in a new tape aired on Thursday by an Arabic satellite television station. The footage, broadcast by Dubai-based Al Arabiya, showed the former Iraqi leader complaining to Judge Munir Haddad …

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• 23 July

  12 killed, 50 injured in clashes over oil price hikes

  SANAA (AFP) — Twelve people were killed during clashes on Thursday between security forces and armed demonstrators in a second day of deadly protests against a government decision to hike fuel prices, witnesses said. At least 50 protesters were also wounded in the capital and at least six towns in …

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• 21 July

  Israeli MPs reject pullout delay

  OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (AFP) — The Israeli parliament overwhelmingly rejected a last-ditch move by right-wingers Wednesday to delay the Gaza Strip pullout for up to a year as a protest march against next month’s withdrawal was blocked.

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• 21 July

  Jailed dissident maybe pardoned

  TEHRAN (AFP) — Iran’s hardline judiciary said Wednesday it may consider a pardon for dissident writer Akbar Ganji, the country’s highest profile political prisoner who has been on hunger strike for five weeks. “Maybe a pardon can be applied to him. We are considering the matter,” judiciary chief Ayatollah Mahmoud …

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• 21 July

  President lifts ban on English daily newspaper

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