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London 21 July suspect claims device was "flour bomb" Hussain Osman, the suspect for the July 21 incident at Shepherds Bush who UK authorities wish to extradite from Italy, claims that the device in his rucksack was a bag of flour. U.S. President Bush: 'We're at war' Speaking in Texas, President Bush said the return of American forces to U.S. soil will be event-driven decision. A timetable for withdrawal is not practical because it would give the enemy a tactical event upon which to plan.

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U.S. immigrant worker debate taken up by Virginia township In a plan spearheaded by Bill Threlkeld, local officials were lobbied to use taxpayer money to build a regulated day laborer center in an old police station. This they say would get the day-laborer groups off the street. The plan has the backing of Herndon mayor, Michael L. O'Reilly.

Wikipedia Current Events
Ayman al-Zawahri, a leader of Al-Qaeda, has issued a televised statement blaming Tony Blair and his government's foreign policy for the July 2005 London bombings. The Ministry of Housing in Israel has issued tenders for the construction of a further 72 houses in a Jewish Settlement of Beitar Ilit, near Bethlehem, on the West Bank.

Wikipedia Current Events
Four Israeli Arabs die when Eden Tzubeiri, a member of the banned Jewish extremist Kach party, opens fire on a bus in Shfaram, Israel. He was later lynched by a mob. Tzubeiri is believed to have been AWOL from his IDF post. In the UK, the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee has cut its interest rate by a quarter percent to 4.5% . In Mauritania, coup leaders name Ely Ould Mohamed Vall, former national police chief, as the new president of the country. In South Korea, scientists in Seoul National University have cloned a dog named Snuppy. In New Zealand, ruling Labour Party states that they plan to set limit to claims to Waitangi Tribunals to 2008 and settlements to 2020.

NATO to expand Afghanistan presence

NATO has confirmed today that it intends to expand its presence in Afghanistan by sending forces into the south and east of the country in 2006. The move will see NATO take the lead role in Afghan security.

Presently, much of NATO's 8,000-strong International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) is based in the capital Kabul, with units also based in the north and west of the country.

The NATO decision has been welcomed by the United States who hope that they will be able to withdraw some of its 19,000 troops from Afghanistan. The US forces are based in the south — the centre of much of the violence against Coalition forces in the country — and are not under NATO command.

Ironically, in the aftermath of the invasion of Afghanistan, the US opposed the move amid requests by Afghans for NATO to spread across the country.

Today, Turkey handed over control of ISAF to an Italian/UK-led unit, commanded by Italian Liuetenant-General Mauro Del Vecchio. The deputy-commander is British Major-General Roger Lane of the Royal Marines, who previously served in the country in 2002.

Command of ISAF rotates every six-months. Previous ISAF commanders have been Canadian, British, French and German.

A recent surge in violence against NATO and US forces — blamed on Al Qaida and the remnants of the deposed Taliban regime — has seen nearly 1000 people killed since March.

NATO intends to send an additional 2,000 troops for the Afghanistan parliamentary elections scheduled to take place next month. Hamid Karzai became the first democratically elected president of Afghanistan after presidential elections were held on 9 October 2004.

It is believed that the British Army will deploy up to 5,000 troops next year, likely to be made up of the élite 16 Air Assault Brigade.

Economy - Bush toughens up on Central America

In a speech in Texas on Wednesday, President George W. Bush discussed the trade deficit, saying:

"We had a problem in our hemisphere about trade. I don't know if you realize it or not, but most of the goods from Central America came into this country duty-free. Yet eighty percent of our goods were taxed through tariffs in Central American countries. That didn't seem to make sense to me; it certainly wasn't fair. All I say to people is you treat us the way we treat you. If your goods can come into our markets duty-free, our goods ought to be able to go into your markets duty-free."

According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis International Economic Accounts Balance of Payments,

"The deficit on goods increased to $186.3 billion from $182.2 billion, as goods imports increased more than exports. More than half the increase in imports was in consumer goods. Much of the increase in exports was in industrial supplies and materials, in consumer goods, and in capital goods."

In the US, the DR-CAFTA (Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement, or simply CAFTA) bill passed by two votes. At present in contention is the Andean Free Trade Agreement.

"The House passed H.R. 304, to implement the Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement [CAFTA], by a recorded vote of 217 ayes to 215 noes, Roll No. 443."

The bill passed by a slight majority in both the House and Senate.

President Bush met for lunch with Colombian President Alvaro Uribe at the Bush Ranch in Texas and communicated his desire for the future prosperity of a Colombia free of drug trafficking and violence.

U.S. President Bush: 'We're at war'

Speaking in Texas, President Bush in a Wednesday address to the American Legislative Exchange Council in the city of Grapevine said, "The violence in recent days in Iraq is a grim reminder of the enemies we face."

"After September the 11th, I made a commitment to the American people that the United States of America will not wait to be attacked again." Bush said. "We will take the fight to the enemy, and we will defend our freedom."

There has been debate within the Administration as to how to refer to the ongoing conflict. In recent appearances, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has avoided using the word "war", preferring the phrase "global struggle against violent extremism." Bush's speech marks a return to the existing phrase "war on terror". In the speech he acknowledged that the struggle is against those who use terror to achieve their goals, implicitly recognising that the term "war on terror" may be misleading.

"Make no mistake about it, this is a war against people who profess an ideology, and they use terror as a means to achieve their objectives," he said.

Of the military strategy in Iraq, Bush said that coalition forces continue to hunt down terrorists, and the Iraqi security forces are being trained to take on more responsibility. "As Iraqis stand up, Americans and coalition forces will stand down," Bush said. "And we're making progress. More and more Iraqi units are more and more capable of defending themselves."

The return of American forces to U.S. soil will be event-driven decision, he said. A timetable for withdrawal is not practical because it would give the enemy a tactical event upon which to plan.

Politically, Iraq’s National Assembly is working on a constitution that members pledged to have ready by August 15. The Iraqi people would then vote on the constitution October 15. If passed, the new Iraqi government under a constitution would be elected December 15.

The United States has lost twenty-one Marines in Iraq since August 1.

Two killed in Istanbul explosion

Two were killed and at least four were injured in Thursday's explosion in Pendik, eastern Istanbul suburb, Turkey. Some media reported that the blast occured in a trash bin, while others say that it occured in a moving vehicle.

A 21 year old woman and her mother died in the blast. It is still unknown who is responsible.

This was the last of a series of explosions in Turkey, and trash bins have already been used for bombing. A similar explosion happened in Antalya on Tuesday, when two smaller explosions wounded nine people.

Other tourist resorts have been targeted as well. In July, mini-bus bombing killed five in Kusadasi, and twenty were injured when a bomb in a dustbin exploded in Cesme.

Al Qaeda: 'Blair brought destruction to the heart of London'

A warning has been sent out by Osama Bin Laden's lieutenant Ayman al-Zawahri saying that more attacks will be carried out because of Tony Blair's foreign policy decisions.

The comments were from a videotape shown on the satellite television channel al-Jazeera. The message said was: "Blair has brought you destruction to the heart of London, and he will bring more destruction, God willing."

Al-Zawahri also warned other nations to leave Muslim lands to avoid further violence. He was quoted as saying: "What you have seen, O Americans, in New York and Washington and the losses you are having in Afghanistan and Iraq, in spite of all the media blackout, are only the losses of the initial clashes, If you continue the same policy of aggression against Muslims, God willing, you will see the horror that will make you forget what you had seen in Vietnam."

Tony Blair has denied that his policies caused the July 7 bomb attacks. Downing Street has refused to comment on the tape.

Police were on high alert today in London, with 6000 officers watching for a repeat of the attacks two and four weeks ago and they continue to investigate the 7 July bombings and are holding 15 people in connection with the 21 July attempt.

South Korean scientists clone dog for first time

Seoul National University’s Hwang Woo-Suk has reported his findings in the Journal Nature after being involved in producing the first cloned dog.

The dog, named Snuppy, was born on April 24th. He is an Afghan hound. The issue presents a whole host of ethical questions for researchers in the stem cell field.

Companies like Amgen are interested in the technology, as is accounted in Fortune Magazine for making human-safe pharmeceuticals. The business sector relies on technology improvements to make life saving realities.

The Los Angeles Times has reported that Snuppy came from the DNA of the tissue of the ear of the original canine.

According to ABC News Associated Press reporter JI-SOO KIM, Korea has declared that we are still a long way from creating clones of monkeys, which have a great deal more humanlike traits.

Slashdot actually reported an RSS feed yesterday at 4:15PM regarding the BBC and Reuters News articles which told of the 2 successful terms of gestation for Snuppy. "the South Korean team only obtained three pregnancies from more than 1,000 embryo transfers into 123 recipients." (BBC).

Kennel experts, according to the BBC, agree that there will be many moral issues to contend with, especially among pet lovers.

London 21 July suspect claims device was "flour bomb"

Hussain Osman, the suspect for the July 21 incident at Shepherds Bush who the UK authorities wish to extradite from Italy, claims that the device in his rucksack was merely a bag of flour with a detonator in it.

Osman escaped from Britain via the Channel Tunnel and was arrested last week in Rome. He told his Italian lawyer that he was only staging a demonstration and had no intention of killing anyone.

Osman's claim contrasts starkly with Sir Ian Blair's statement shortly after the bombings. At that time Commissioner Blair said:

"Clearly the intention must have been to kill. You don't do this with any other intention."

Osman is reported to have stated:

"I am against war... I've marched in peace rallies and nobody listened to me. I never thought of killing people."

His intention may have simply been to draw attention to the war in Iraq.

Foreign investment rises in Romania by 19 percent

Romania's level of foreign direct investment rose by 19% in the first six months (January-July) of 2005 when compared to the same period of 2004, according to the Romanian Agency for Foreign Investment (ARIS). The country recorded US$750 million of foreign investment in this period, and 56 total investment projects, in comparison to 40 projects between January and July 2004. The majority of the investments occured in the Bucharest-Ilfov region, which includes the Romanian capital.

The rise in foreign investment is mainly attributed due to a more liberal taxation policy introduced by the Romanian government on January 1, 2005, which centres around a 16% flat tax on personal income and corporate profit. Additionally, the country's expected membership of the European Union in 2007 and its relatively stable political climate also led to an increase in foreign investment in 2005.

Former UK MP Mo Mowlam 'critically ill'

Former Labour Party MP and Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Mo Mowlam, 55, is reported to be critically ill at King's College Hospital, London.

According to a King's College Hospital spokeswoman, Ms. Mowlam is "critical but stable," and added that her family did not want further details disclosed.

Ms. Mowlam survived a brain tumour in the 1990s, which saw her lose her hair, forcing her to wear a wig.

Many state that her charismatic personality played an important role in the Northern Ireland peace talks, leading to the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 and an IRA ceasefire.

'Star Wars' headed to TV as weekly series

At the Siggraph 2005 computer graphics convention in Los Angeles, California Tuesday, Star Wars creator George Lucas unveiled plans for a weekly computer-animated series based on the science fiction saga.

The new show, to be called Clone Wars, will be a 3-D animated spinoff of the series and is to be produced in a Lucas facility in Singapore. Lucas already has done limited-run 2-D traditional animated television with Star Wars: Clone Wars shorts on the U.S. cable channel, Cartoon Network.

Lucas said advances in digital technology allow an animated television series to do what otherwise would be too expensive.

Prominent Iranian judge assassinated

Investigations continued Thursday after a prominent Iranian judge, Hassan Moghaddas, was assassinated in the middle of his evening commute Tuesday evening. Iranian police have so far attributed the killing to "...some mad gesture or a settling of accounts."

Judge Moghaddas presided over several controversial cases in his career, including the sentencing of Iranian reporter Akbar Ganji and was also unsuccessfully subpoenaed to testify in an investigation into the death of Canadian-Iranian reporter Zahra Kazemi.

Canada's new governor general announced

Sources have told the Canadian television network CBC that Michaëlle Jean will become Canada's next governor general. The current officeholder, Adrienne Clarkson, who is recovering from artificial pacemaker surgery, will step down on September 27 to make way for Jean, who is best-known in English-speaking Canada as the host of the CBC television documentary show, "The Passionate Eye".

Born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Jean is an award winning journalist who is fluent in five languages. The official announcement of her appointment will be made by Prime Minister Paul Martin at 11:00 Eastern Time (1500 UTC) on Thursday, August 4.

Today in History
642 - Penda of Mercia defeated and killed Oswald of Northumbria in the Battle of Maserfield, becoming the most powerful of the Anglo-Saxon rulers of the time.

1100 - Henry I was crowned King of England in Westminster Abbey.

1858 - Cyrus West Field and colleagues completed the first transatlantic telegraph cable.

1861 - The U.S. government issued its first income tax: 3% of all incomes over 800 dollars (later rescinded in 1872).

1995 - Operation Storm: Croatian forces recovered the town of Knin from the Republic of Serbian Krajina.

August 06 is Independence Day in Burkina Faso

Quote of the Day

"Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever." ~ Mohandas Gandhi

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