GN Online: Muslim doctors shun U.S. drugs A group of Muslim doctors in Mumbai plan to boycott drugs manufactured by U.S. and British companies from next week to protest the killing of innocent civilians in Afghanistan, a doctors' association official said yesterday.

The Jerusalem Report Magazine: Israel : Israel Article The prime minister says he’ll personally head negotiations with the Palestinians for statehood, but also that he’ll send troops into Palestinian areas whenever necessary. He calls the Palestinian Authority a coalition of terror, but insists he is not seeking to topple it. No wonder the Americans, his coalition partners and the Israeli public are confused.

FOXNews.com - Powell Affirms Support for a Palestinian State Secretary of State Colin Powell affirmed his support for a Palestinian state on land held by Israel on Friday in a series of television interviews.

Salon.com News | No facts, please -- we're British Americans are flocking to feisty British papers for news about the war. But there's a reason the U.S. media fails to follow up on the Brits' "scoops" -- they're frequently not true.

BBC News | MIDDLE EAST | Bin Laden's PR blunder Osama Bin Laden's popularity in the Arab world appears to be waning - even if his appeal is still a force to be reckoned with, especially in parts of Saudi Arabia.

Chicago Tribune | Security giant's overhaul fails to win over its foes Reeling from a barrage of criticism for security lapses at its checkpoints at the nation's airports, the country's largest airport security firm on Friday sought to recast itself by announcing a major overhaul.

HIDING PAST AND PRESENT PRESIDENCIES: The Problems With Bush's Executive Order Burying Presidential Records On November 1, President George W. Bush signed his latest effort to govern by secrecy - Executive Order 13233. For good reason this Order has a lot of historians, journalists, and Congresspersons (both Republican and Democratic) upset.

U.N. Readies New Sites for Afghan Refugees (11/10/2001) The U.N. refugee agency prepared on Saturday a remote site in northern tribal areas and another on the south of Pakistan's frontier, the first of 11 new camps the government has approved for Afghans fleeing drought and war in their homeland.

Pakistan Seeks Gestures From U.S., Says Musharraf Pakistan's leader said in an interview published on Saturday that he needs visible U.S. gestures, such as the release of American F-16 fighters sold to his country over a decade ago, to help blunt domestic criticism of his decision to support the U.S. bombing in Afghanistan.

Afghan Opposition Advances After Seizing Key City The triumphant Afghan opposition said they swept Taliban forces from four more northern provinces on Saturday, a day after routing the militia in strategic Mazar-i-Sharif in the first major victory of the U.S.-led war.

BBC News | MIDDLE EAST | Abdullah says bombing must go on King Abdullah of Jordan says US attacks on Afghanistan must continue until Washington achieves its military objectives against Osama Bin Laden and his al-Qaeda organisation.

The American habit of napping just before a war starts | csmonitor.com When historian and author David Halberstam included a reference to terrorism in his latest bestseller, "War in a Time of Peace," he didn't expect it to appear prophetic.

The Humanitarian Front | csmonitor.com Money to fund relief efforts to help millions of displaced Afghans, for now, isn't a severe problem. It has poured in to relief agencies from around the world.

Taliban Defense Minister Confirms Loss of Key City Taliban Defense Minister Obaidullah Akhund told Reuters on Saturday that the militia had lost the strategic northern Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif to the opposition Northern Alliance.

Report: bin Laden claims he has nuclear weapons (11/09/2001) Pakistan's Dawn newspaper said on Saturday that in an interview from inside Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden said he had nuclear and chemical weapons and might use them to respond to U.S. attacks.

Suicide squads await US troops in Afghanistan -DAWN - International; 09 November, 2001 The Taliban have set up "suicide death squads" made up mainly of "Afghan Arabs" to attack US and British ground forces in a future phase of the US-led campaign, a report said on Thursday.

THIS TIME THERE'S A LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL - David H. Hackworth We're in Round One of a 30-rounder, and after only a monthlong bombing campaign, the doubting Thomases are already saying we're bogged down in another no-win war. These naysayers -- many of whose entire counterinsurgency experience, apart from office politics, consists of movies like "Apocalypse Now" -- are comparing our efforts in Afghanistan to Vietnam.

The Leader in Airport Security, and in Lapses It seemed impossible, at a time when fingernail clippers are being confiscated by the hundreds at American airports, that a man could slip past a checkpoint at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago with a bag of knives, Mace and other weapons.

Dutch to Contribute Troops The Netherlands will contribute at least 1,200 troops to the war on terrorism, the government said Friday, joining Germany and Italy, who agreed this week to send forces.

Osama Family's Suspicious Site On Oct. 27, Christopher Curry's company, Shrimpo.com, purchased a domain name that once belonged to the Saudi Binladin Group, the international construction conglomerate owned by the family of public enemy No. 1, Osama bin Laden.

The Scotsman Online - Scotland's best selling quality national newspaper SADDAM Hussein’s younger son and likely successor was the target of an assassination attempt inside the presidential palace in Baghdad, an Iraqi opposition leader claimed yesterday.

House panel flunks federal government on computer security against hackers, terrorists (11/09/2001) Despite dramatically tighter security at U.S. buildings since the terrorist attacks, a House panel is giving the government failing marks for lax protection of federal computer networks against hackers, terrorists and others.

Some experts say American hate groups are probably not behind the anthrax attacks (11/09/2001) American hate groups have talked for years about using anthrax to strike at the U.S. government.

Bush Refusal to Meet Arafat Angers Palestinians Palestinian officials accused the United States on Friday of bowing to Israeli demands by ruling out talks between President Bush and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat at the United Nations at the weekend.

Afghan Opposition Says Taliban Routed in Key Town Northern Alliance forces said on Friday they had overrun Taliban defenses and entered the strategic town of Mazar-i-Sharif in a major attack launched after fierce U.S. bombing raids.

Afghan Rebels Close In on Pivotal City (washingtonpost.com) The opposition Northern Alliance said today that it gained ground in its battle to capture the key northern city of Mazar-e Sharif, and a senior alliance official said rebel leaders decided to await the outcome of the battle before launching an offensive on the Afghan capital, Kabul.

BBC News | MIDDLE EAST | Powell says Iraq may be next target US Secretary of State Colin Powell has warned of possible military action against Iraq after the current campaign in Afghanistan.

San Jose as the city most ready | csmonitor.com California city is touted as national leader in planning for emergencies.

ABCNEWS.com : Afghan Seeks Help in Anti-Taliban Fight A Pashtun tribal leader called today on "the U.S., Europe and Muslim countries" to help rid Afghanistan of the Taliban as another Central Asian nation sought an active role in the coalition against terrorism and President Bush prepared to address the nation.

Pakistan's Musharraf Says Bombing Must Stop (washingtonpost.com) The U.S.-led military attacks on Afghanistan should be stopped as soon as possible because the whole world sees them as a war against innocent civilians, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf said on Thursday.

Opposition Plans Advance as U.S. Jets Pound Taliban (washingtonpost.com) Afghan anti-Taliban opposition forces said on Thursday they would launch an offensive to capture the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, backed by scorching U.S. air raids.

news.telegraph.co.uk - My terrorist education taught me to long for a martyr's romantic death Education, education, education is more than a means to a good job and a prosperous economy. It feeds the soul of a child. We should beware that it is not nourished on a fanatical diet.

Bush Rallies Home Front; Taliban Foes Ready Attack President Bush on Thursday rallied a home front shaken by terror warnings and anthrax outbreaks while in Afghanistan anti-Taliban forces prepared an offensive to capture a strategic northern city.

Ashcroft: U.S. Wins in First Battle Against Terror U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft said on Thursday the United States had won its opening battle in the war against terrorism.

Powder in Vietnam Office Is Anthrax, Scientist Says (11/07/2001) A Vietnamese government scientist said Thursday a sample of white power discovered in the office of a BP joint venture in Ho Chi Minh City had tested positive for anthrax.

Bush Sees Taliban 'Crumbling,' Targets Cash Nexus President Bush said on Wednesday that the Taliban was crumbling and fugitive militant Osama bin Laden was ``on the run'' as bombers pounded Taliban front lines and federal agents swooped on suspected terrorist financial networks across the United States.

Airlines reluctant to screen for bombs (11/06/2001) U.S. domestic flights continue with nearly all of their cargo never inspected for explosives. The most optimistic estimates from airlines are that 5 to 10 percent of checked bags are scanned for bombs before they are loaded onto domestic flights. Government records, however, indicate that figure is less than 1 percent.

US sees boon in Afghan winter | csmonitor.com The US intends to fight through Afghanistan's harsh winter and turn the bitter cold into a tactical weapon for American and opposition forces as they battle the Taliban and hunt for terrorists.

Pakistan Clamps Down on Taliban Envoy (washingtonpost.com) Over the past month, the Afghan Taliban regime's embassy here has been the scene of frequent, often tumultuous news conferences at which Taliban diplomats have denounced U.S. military attacks on Afghanistan, complained of resulting civilian casualties and defended Saudi extremist Osama bin Laden.

Bush continues diplomatic blitz A day after asserting that nations could not be neutral, President Bush told Americans on Wednesday that “we will prevail” and continued his diplomatic blitz to bolster the international coalition in the war on terrorism, meeting with his closest ally, British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Blair promised that the campaign would not end when the military phase was over but would work for “a broad-based regime” to lead Afghanistan “after the present Taliban regime led by Mullah Omar is out of the way.”

White House ups Hollywood call The Bush administration’s outreach to Hollywood has taken on new urgency. The industry’s top leaders, including Viacom Inc. chairman Sumner Redstone and News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch, will assemble in Beverly Hills on Sunday morning with Karl Rove, the president’s senior adviser, to hammer out a specific agenda for the entertainment industry to aid the fight on terrorism.

House endorses NATO expansion, giving security assistance to seven countries that want to join (11/07/2001) The House on Wednesday endorsed expanding NATO and giving $55.5 million in security assistance to seven countries that once were part of the Warsaw Pact and now want to join NATO.

U.S. Raids, Blocks Assets of Terror-Funding Groups U.S. agents on Wednesday raided offices and froze assets of two ``terrorist-supporting'' financial networks that officials said provided money, weapons and communications for Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda group

Taliban Foes on Horseback, U.S. Aims at Terror Cash U.S. agents on Wednesday raided groups around the country suspected of funding terrorism, while in Afghanistan opposition forces on horseback were said to be attacking tanks as they reported new gains against the ruling Taliban.

Chirac says new Security Council move in works to hasten political process in Afghanistan France and Britain are drawing up a plan for a post-Taliban government in Afghanistan built around the former king and United Nations backing, French President Jacques Chirac said Tuesday.

Voters could transform San Francisco into solar power leader (11/06/2001) Early returns showed San Franciscans leaning in favor of a $100 million bond issue that would make the fog-shrouded city the nation's largest municipal producer of sun-generated electricity.

The Heat Is Online - A WORLDWIDE GOAL OF CLEAN ENERGY The U.S. been traumatized, since Sept. 11, by the realization of just how vulnerable our society is. As shock yields to perspective, we realize that we face three simultaneous - and superficially unconnected-challenges.

A security guard is attacked at a power plant With the world as it is now, an attack at a power plant gets even more attention. And it comes just days after the news leaked that the coast guard was already looking for a suspicious boat in our region. At this point, the coast guard is not sure whether the two things are connected. It could be a coincidence. But here's the good thing out of this whole mess: AEP says it was a test that security passed.

Pope to preach the virtues of the Web The leader of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope John Paul II, may not fiddle around with computers much himself, but he certainly seems to be warming to the Internet. On Tuesday, the Vatican announced that the pope has decided the theme of next year’s World Communications Day will be “Internet: A New Forum for Proclaiming the Gospel.” Meanwhile, the pope is said to be on the verge of proclaiming a sixth-century Spanish priest as the patron saint of cyberspace.

CNN.com - Northern Alliance claims wins; U.S. boosts air cover - November 6, 2001 Northern Alliance commanders claimed two victories Tuesday, including the capture of a town outside the strategically important city of Mazar-e Sharif.

FBI: Threat of Calif. Bridge Attacks Not Credible An investigation has determined the threat of possible terrorist attacks targeting bridges in California and other Western states was not credible, the FBI said on Tuesday.

Saudis Seethe Over Media Reports on Anti-Terror Effort (washingtonpost.com) In a fiery speech broadcast on Saudi state television Sunday, Crown Prince Abdullah accused the U.S. media of conspiring to damage Saudi Arabia's reputation and to drive a wedge between Riyadh and Washington.

Taliban Dispersal Slows U.S. (washingtonpost.com) warplanes bear down on front-line Taliban troops in northern Afghanistan, efforts to weaken rear-guard forces in key cities have been frustrated by the movement of Taliban units out of their barracks and into residential areas, religious buildings and cultural centers, defense officials said yesterday.

Where Do We Go From Here? (washingtonpost.com) As the war against the Taliban gathers momentum, it is important to see it in its proper perspective. President Bush has eloquently described the objective as the destruction of state-supported terrorism. And for all its novelty, the new warfare permits a clear definition of victory.

Expert: Federal Law Needed on Smallpox Vaccination Public health officials must have the authority to quarantine and forcibly vaccinate the entire population--with the help of the military if needed--in the event of a smallpox attack on the US, a bioterrorism expert said Monday.

U.S. Consulate in Russia Receives Anthrax in Mail The worldwide anthrax scare extended to the edge of Siberia Tuesday when the U.S. consulate in Yekaterinburg in Russia confirmed it had received mail tainted with anthrax.

Bush Says Al Qaeda Seeking Nuclear Weapons President Bush accused Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network on Tuesday of seeking chemical, biological and nuclear weapons, and called on Afghans fed up with Taliban rule to help locate the elusive accused mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks.

Living in a World Without Women In the war of militant Islam against the infidel West, there is a chilling paradox. Nowhere — not on protesters' banners, pre-suicide videos or posters of the most wanted — is there a woman's face. These martyrs and radicals call themselves the purifiers of society and the saviors of the poor, yet everything the world has learned in the last decade about why some countries develop and others stay mired in poverty shows that women can make all the difference.

U.S. drops massive bombs on Taliban The United States has begun using the biggest conventional weapon in its arsenal over northern Afghanistan, NBC News has learned, dropping two BLU-82 “daisy cutter” bombs last weekend on troops of the ruling Taliban militia. Use of the 15,000-pound bombs — which leave craters as wide as five football fields — marked a dramatic increase in firepower over northern Afghanistan aimed at helping the opposition alliance launch an offensive in the north.

New U.S. offensive in P.R. war After weeks of getting caught off-guard by Osama bin Laden’s televised messages, White House officials are claiming a major victory in public relations, thanks to a new media offensive launched to discredit bin Laden and the Taliban within the Arab world.

Ten killed in Muslim-Christian fighting in northern Nigeria (11/05/2001) Interreligious clashes killed 10 people in a northern Nigerian village after Christians proposed moving a local government office out of the palace of a Muslim chief, officials said Monday.

Nuclear experts warn of threat from 'dirty bombs' | csmonitor.com Before commercial airliners were used as guided missiles, few experts viewed x-ray materials as potential terrorist weapons.

FOXNews.com - Arab Ministers Slam Bin Laden, Israel Arab leaders railed against Usama bin Laden Monday and said most Muslims and Arabs do not support him or his cause.

FOXNews.com - Seven Fired After Armed Man Passes Checkpoint at O'Hare Airport Seven workers at Chicago's O'Hare airport were fired Monday for a letting a man with knives and a stun gun in his luggage pass through a security checkpoint.

BBC News | AMERICAS | US special forces 'botched mission' An operation by United States special forces inside Afghanistan launched two weeks ago went badly wrong, according to a report in the New Yorker magazine.

Taliban government functions in Afghanistan but in its own, unique style (11/05/2001) It was almost noon but a clock on the wall at the Telecommunications Ministry reads 8:35 a.m. and a guard said it's been that way for years.

OPEC expected to cut output by as much as 1.4 million barrels a day, official says (11/05/2001) Alarmed by a relentless slide in oil prices, OPEC members are likely to agree to cut production by as much as 1.4 million barrels a day when the cartel's delegates meet next week, an OPEC official said Monday.

Defense Secretary Rumsfeld says Afghanistan operation won't take years to complete (11/05/2001) Putting more military teams into Afghanistan has improved the U.S. bombing, and the campaign will not take years to complete, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Monday.

Bush Seeks to Shore Up Support for War Efforts President Bush launched a week-long offensive on Monday aimed at shoring up support for his war on terrorism from Algeria and other nations, and reassuring Americans about efforts to protect them at home.

U.S. Rockets Hit Taliban in Kabul U.S. aircraft rocketed a hotel and vehicle used by Taliban fighters in Kabul Monday, littering the street with wreckage and body parts, residents said.

Afghans heading home from Iran There’s no one here. That’s not the way it is supposed to be. Dogharoun — home to a water tower, a customs shed and a small, walled compound with one-story offices for various relief agencies — was expecting thousands of refugees to cross from Afghanistan into Iran. But aid officials say that so far, the flow has been in the other direction.

President steps up efforts to court allies with aggressive diplomacy efforts this week (11/04/2001) President Bush is using a burst of diplomatic activity this week to seek support overseas and hold together a delicate international coalition as the two-month anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks approaches.

news.telegraph.co.uk - Iranian officials in secret Taliban talks IRAN has held secret negotiations with the Taliban in an attempt to secure its influence in the region and block the return of the exiled Afghan king Zahir Shah.

Israeli leader cancels meeting with Bush (11/04/2001) Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Saturday scrapped a planned visit to the United States to meet with President Bush, apparently because of U.S.-Israeli tension over Israel's forays into Palestinian-controlled territory.

BBC News | SOUTH ASIA | US rejects Pakistan Ramadan plea US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has rejected Pakistan's call to stop bombing Afghanistan during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Medical Workers Vaccinated Against Smallpox The United States, fearful of a bioterrorism attack similar to the anthrax scare sweeping the country, said on Sunday key front-line medical workers were being vaccinated against smallpox.

U.S. Says More Special Forces in Afghanistan The United States again struck Taliban front lines in Afghanistan on Sunday and its military leaders said they had seriously damaged the ability of the country's fundamentalist Islamic rulers to govern, communicate or defend themselves.

ABCNEWS.com : Military Gains; Bin Laden Denunciations The United States apparently has narrowed its search for bin Laden to a few complexes of caves and tunnels. But Rear Adm. John Stufflebeem, deputy director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Friday he did not want to characterize locating bin Laden as "imminent."