JI plans bombings in RI, RP: Abu Rusdan has admitted that he led

JI plans bombings in RI, RP: Abu Rusdan has admitted that he led
meetings to plan a series of bombings in Indonesia and the
Philippines. The National Police detectives chief Comr. Gen.
Erwin Mappaseng told reporters on Thursday that Rusdan, who was
arrested late last month in Central Java with 17 other alleged
Jamaah Islamiyah members across the country, replaced cleric Abu
Bakar Ba'asyir as JI leader. Erwin said Rusdan is the son of
Mohammad Faleh, whom Ba'asyir met and befriended while they were
detained by the New Order regime in the 1960s. Faleh was said to
be a fighter of Darul Islam group, which wanted to set up an
Islamic state in Indonesia. Ba'asyir is currently being tried at
the Central Jakarta District Court for treason. -- JP

Explosion on U.S. warship near Gulf injures 11: Eleven U.S.
Marines were injured on Wednesday night in an explosion in a
trash container aboard the amphibious assault warship USS Saipan
in the northern Arabian Sea, the Navy said on Thursday. None of
the injuries was life-threatening, although one of the eleven was
evacuated to an American Army field hospital in Kuwait for
treatment of a serious arm injury, the U.S. 5th Fleet said in a
statement. Others were being treated aboard the ship. The cause
of the explosion was under investigation, the Navy said. The 5th
Fleet is based in Bahrain. -- Reuters

Sri Lanka says taking steps to meet rebel demands: The Sri Lankan
government expressed confidence on Thursday that talks with Tamil
Tigers could be restarted quickly, but despite stepped-up
international efforts the rebels showed no sign of returning to
negotiations. The government said it was taking practical
measures to rebuild war-hit Tamil areas after the Liberation
Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) suspended peace talks last month,
saying not enough was being done to improve living conditions. --
Reuters

U.S. pushing for UN action against Iran: Concerned that Iran may
be running a nuclear weapons program, the United States is
pushing for UN action against Tehran, diplomats said on Thursday.
Washington is specifically seeking a declaration from the board
of the International Atomic Energy Agency that Iran has violated
the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, which it has signed, said
the diplomats. The United States has accused Iran of secretly
embarking on a program to enrich uranium at Natanz in southern
Iran, which it fears could be used to make nuclear weapons. --AP

Admission of seven Eastern European nations into NATO ratified:
The U.S. Senate on Thursday voted unanimously to admit seven
Eastern European nations into NATO, adding 200,000 troops to the
alliance, as well as new bases for missions worldwide. By a vote
of 96 to 0, the Senate approved opening membership in the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization to Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia,
Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. --AFP

India rejects Pakistan's nuclear disarmament call: Prime Minister
Atal Behari Vajpayee on Thursday turned down Pakistan's proposal
for a nuclear-free South Asia and said the Iraq war and political
changes in Kashmir prompted the two rival neighbors towards
amity. "Pakistan's nuclear program is India-specific, but our own
nuclear program goes beyond that," he said. "Our concern is about
other nations as well ... Our nuclear doctrine is of no-first-use
while Pakistan has no such provision but they call for a no-war
pact," he told parliament, which was debating new peace overtures
with Islamabad. --AFP

Floods kill 68, displace 100,000 people: Dozens of people were
killed and more than 100,000 displaced by floods that hit
southeastern Ethiopia, southern Somalia and Kenya in recent days,
officials said on Thursday. In Ethiopia, the Wabe Shebelli river,
swelled from recent heavy rains, burst its banks, submerging
villages and washing away crops and livestock, said Mohmmud
Dirir, the mining and energy minister. --AP