Russia claims right to strike first
The Seattle Times

MOSCOW — Russia and the United States see eye to eye on fighting terrorism, Russia's defense minister said yesterday, while reiterating that Moscow reserves the right to carry out pre-emptive strikes on militant bases abroad in the wake of the school-hostage seizure in Beslan.

Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov did not say what countries might be possible targets for a strike, but Russian officials have said Chechen separatists have bases in nearby Georgia, and Russia has had friction with that country's government over the issue.

President Vladimir Putin has blamed international terrorism and Chechen rebels for the school-hostage crisis in southern Russia where at least 330 hostages died Sept. 3. He lashed out at those in the West who continued to advise Russia to conduct peace talks with rebels in Chechnya, saying they should negotiate with Osama bin Laden.

Ivanov told the NTV television channel he had spoken twice with U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld last week, adding the U.S. administration was more receptive to Russia's arguments on how to fight terror than some European officials.

Iran's Khamenei calls on Muslim world's unity against US
People's Daily Online - China

Iranian Supreme Leader Seyyed Ali Khamenei on Monday called on the Muslim world to promote unity and stand against the United States, the official IRNA news agency reported.

"The Muslim world should promote unity and stand against the global arrogance of the US anywhere and in whatever manner," Khamenei was quoted as saying.

"Today, the oppressive US has attacked the Muslim world and is killing people in Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine under the pretext of anti-terrorism and through mottos such as democracy and freedom," Khamenei said.

Khamenei also recalled the hatred of the Muslim world against the US, saying that Islamic countries should obtain energy from the hatred to fight against the US.

"The logic of the global arrogance of the US is assassination, oppression and aggression. This logic has never been dialogue and fair compromise," he said.

'Al Qaeda planning to kill UK politicians'
Sify News - India

London: Al-Qaeda is planning to assassinate top British politicians and other international leaders supporting US President George Bush, revealed the terror suspect recently arrested in Pakistan saying the killings and attacks were to be carried out simultaneously in many countries.

According to an intelligence source in Pakistan, Osama has given the go-ahead to target important places and personalities in the US, UK and Pakistan.

Al-Qaida's WMD suicide bomb plan
WorldNetDaily

If suicide bombers come to America, they are likely to be carrying biological, chemical or nuclear weapons with them, according to an al-Qaida memo discovered by Pakistani authorities.

Pakistan President Pervez Musharaf, under heavy American pressure, has once again instructed his security and intelligence chiefs to focus on jihadi suicide volunteers – this time because of a memo showing they will be used to carry weapons of mass destruction, reveals Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin.

The president, himself under the constant shadow of militants threatening to assassinate him, reacted to a coded memo discovered during a recent raid on pro-al-Qaida activists in Karachi, by sharing parts of the memo's alarming contents with friendly governments.

Topping the memo's list stands the U.S., although European countries are also specified as preferred targets. Unlike many other discoveries of terrorist documents, this memo has an added factor causing more than the usual concern.

In it are detailed a number of ideas and options for attacking the West with WMDs by using suicide volunteers.

Related to this memo is a Spanish decision, voiced by Interior Minister Antonio Alonzo, to assign close to 2,000 security agents to a training and deployment program on the danger of nuclear, chemical and bacteriological terror attacks.

Turkey Terror Suspect Warns of Attacks
Newsday.com

ISTANBUL, Turkey -- A suspected leader of a cell accused in deadly suicide attacks in Turkey boasted Monday that he was an "al-Qaida warrior" and warned in court of future attacks if Turkey continued to support the United States.

Defendant Harun Ilhan told the court that he and two other suspected ringleaders who remain at large -- Habib Akdas and Gurcan Bac -- were behind the November bombings that left 61 people dead in Istanbul.

"I accept that I am an al-Qaida warrior," said Ilhan, who opened his testimony with a brief prayer and at times refused to stand during the trial.

Ilhan, a bearded man who wore blue jeans and sports shoes to the hearing, also praised the Sept. 11 attacks against New York and Washington and said that while Osama bin Laden is mortal, "jihad (holy war) is eternal."

"Even if Osama dies, our jihad will continue," he told the court.

"Al-Qaida exists in all of the Islamic world for victory and until this fight is finished with success it will continue," he said.

British Diplomat to Visit North Korea Explosion Scene
Scotsman.Com

A top British diplomat is to be taken to the scene of a massive blast in North Korea to verify the regime’s denial of nuclear tests.

The North Korean government has told Britain’s ambassador, David Slinn, he can visit the site as soon as tomorrow to check its claims that the explosion was caused deliberately as part of a major construction project.

A two-and-a-half mile wide mushroom cloud was seen close to the Chinese border on Thursday, sparking fears the ultra-secretive Communist regime may have carried out nuclear tests.

But the regime today dismissed those claims as “lies from hostile forces”.

Foreign Minister Paek Nam Sun told British Foreign Office Minister Bill Rammell – in Pyongyang for three days of talks on North Korea’s nuclear programme – the explosion was a controlled demolition of a mountain.

He said it was part of the construction of a hydro-electric power plant.