Full links, excerpts up now at
http://www.zianet.com/insightanalyticalTomorrow at Buzzflash.com
WORLD MEDIA WATCH FOR MARCH 17, 2004
1//The Independent, UK--LABOUR CALLS ON OPPONENTS OF WAR NOT TO LET TORIES IN (Labour is to appeal to opponents of the Iraq war not to desert the party amid growing concern that Tony Blair faces an electoral backlash over the conflict, especially if there is a terrorist attack in Britain. As an opinion poll suggested yesterday that, in protest at the Iraq conflict, one in five Labour supporters may not back the party, a close ally of Mr Blair warned that al-Qa'ida must not be allowed to reap the benefit of the train bombings in Madrid last Thursday.)
2//The Australian, Australia--NZ A SAFE HAVEN FOR TERRORISTS: SPY CHIEF (Terrorists may be using New Zealand as a "safe haven" to plot attacks or obtain passports, according to the country's security chief, who has already denied citizenship to three people with suspected terror links…Mr Woods's rare public remarks brought a terse response from the Government. "New Zealand is not a safe haven for terrorists," Prime Minister Helen Clark said… Also yesterday, New Zealand announced a review of security for visiting ships after HMAS Success was daubed with graffiti in Wellington Harbour on Monday reading "J Howard US Bootlicker". Miss Clark said she was "concerned" at the attack and Foreign Minister Phil Goff said it showed a terrorist could have blown up the ship.)
3//Al Bawaba, Jordan--BID TO BRING CALM FAILS: 11 KURDS KILLED IN SYRIA CLASHES (Some eleven people were killed in clashes between Arabs and Kurds in northern Syria Tuesday…In an effort to bring calm to the situation, arrests were conducted by the Syrian authorities against the Kurds living. This is despite several meetings between Syrian officials and the Kurdish leadership in the area. Kurdish sources have asserted to Al Bawaba that the riots have now moved on to other Syrian cities including Aleppo, Damascus, and Hasakeh…Darwish denied any Turkish presence in the city of Qamishli, however he did say that “gun fire was indeed heard coming from the Turkish border city of Dirbassiyah…the main purpose of the gunfire was probably an attempt on the Turk’s part to stimulate the Kurds into causing more turmoil.)
4//Gulf News Online, United Arab Emirates--PROFESSORS AMONG LEADING REFORMISTS HELD (Saudi authorities arrested four leading liberal activists yesterday a few days after they criticised a newly-established human rights body…The sources said the four men had recently criticised the newly established Human Rights Committee, which has been licensed by authorities as the first independent rights group established in Saudi Arabia. However, Taib and his colleagues said in public interviews the body was not independent and that most of its 41 members were appointees of government, the sources added.)
5//Inter Press Service, Italy—ANALYSIS: CLASS HATRED AND THE HIJACKING OF ARISTIDE (…almost all Haiti-watchers agree that various anti-Aristide forces have been at work in the U.S. capital for as long as the former Catholic priest has been leading his campaign on behalf of the poor in the western hemisphere's most impoverished nation. Those opposition elements include the International Republican Institute on International Affairs, linked to the National Endowment for Democracy, which has worked closely with the civil opposition in Haiti…But while the players in the shadow drama against Aristide, Haiti's first democratically elected president, are well known, their motivations are less clear. Their enmity might be personal, suggests Robert Fatton Jr, chairman of the government and foreign affairs department at the University of Virginia.)