http://allafrica.com/stories/200110090205.html

US Hospitality May Shed 1 million Jobs

Business Day (South Africa)

More than 1-million workers in the US hospitality industry could lose their jobs within weeks, the US Chamber of Commerce has warned ... Donohue said he supported the airline bailout, but warned against excessive long-term aid for a wide range of industries. "Congress should do this small stimulus and get the hell out of town before everybody lines up behind them to get their own special deal," he said ... The US Chamber of Commerce is lobbying for Congress to accelerate the distibution of previously-agreed tax cuts, and abolish the Alternative Minimum Tax.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200110100030.html

Shell Loses N880bn to Ogoni Crisis

Vanguard (Lagos)

Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) has incurred a loss of about $8.1 billion following withdrawal of its operations in Ogoni, Rivers State. A statement made available by SPDC reveals that operations in Ogoni account for 200,000 barrels of crude oil per day, put at a cost of $2.97 million or $900 million per annum ... n spite of the withdrawal, the vandalization continued unabated as SPDC's 24-inch and 28-inch flow lines which link Bomo and Bodo fields in Ogoni were damaged resulting in waste of products as well as damage to environment ...

http://allafrica.com/stories/200110100026.html

Traders Protest Rising Crime Wave in Asaba, Ask for Bakassi Boys

Vanguard (Lagos)

Traders in Asaba yesterday stormed the Governor House, Asaba requesting Governor James Ibori to urgently invite the "Bakassi Boys" to Asaba following a new wave of crime in the city that has claimed several lives of their colleagues ... Some of the placards read "We need Bakassi in Asaba," "We have no confidence in the police," "We want justice, " save us from the hands of the assassins and robbers."

Spokesman of the traders, Mr. Franklin Amadi who is also the President of Asaba Amalgamated Business Association told newsmen in Asaba yesterday during the demonstration that "we need the Bakassi Boys here (Asaba) because we are now in a helpless situation, our members are being killed by bandits on a daily basis, one after the other. What is happening now is an issue of serious concern and very sorrowful as we now live in fears.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200110090467.html

Moi Warns of Subversive NGOs

The Nation (Nairobi)

Kenyans were yesterday warned to be wary of the activities of some non-governmental organisations. Such NGOs commit resources to subversive activities instead of development projects, President Moi said. He disclosed that activities of some NGOs made him tense and "very uncomfortable." "I am not comfortable with them. If they invite me to officiate their functions, I get very tense," he said.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200110090464.html

Grim Statistics, Desperate Children

The Nation (Nairobi)

More than half of Kenyans are children aged less than 18. This numerical superiority notwithstanding, Kenyan society can hardly be described as child-friendly.

Many Kenyan children are subjected to conditions that undermine their chances of survival and ability to realise their full potential. Childhood for a significant number of Kenyan children means lack of food, shelter, health and insecurity, abandonment, abuse, assault and neglect.

Children in need of special protection include those in the streets, estimated to number about 250,000; child labourers aged under 15 and estimated to number about 3.5 million; and abandoned, neglected and battered children.

They also include child brides and adolescent mothers, who in 1998 constituted 70 per cent of teenaged girls; child commercial sex workers; children orphaned by HIV/Aids and other factors; HIV/Aids infected and affected children, juvenile delinquents, children of imprisoned mothers, children in armed conflict and refugee and displaced children.

http://allafrica.com/latest/newswire/

http://www.hindustantimes.com/nonfram/101001/dlame82.asp

OIC oppose spread of anti-terrorist war

Hindustan Times

The world's Islamic nations opposed on Wednesday the spread of the US-led onslaught on the Taliban regime in Afghanistan to any other Arab or Islamic country. The foreign ministers of the 57-member Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) said in a joint statement they "rejected that any Islamic or Arab country is attacked under the pretext of the fight against terrorism." The OIC did not condemn the US-led strikes on Afghanistan, but instead expressed "concern that they could cause victims among innocent civilians." Washington warned the United Nations on Monday that its war on terrorism might extend beyond the borders of Afghanistan.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/nonfram/101001/dLAME43.asp

India to caution Powell against Pakistan's inclusion in anti-terror coalition

Hindustan Times

India to caution Powell against Pak's inclusion in anti-terror coalition Pratap Chakravarty (AFP) (New Delhi, October 10) India will stress its opposition to Pakistan's inclusion in the global anti-terrorism coalition when US Secretary of State Colin Powell visits South Asia, officials said on Wednesday ... "We are going to tell Powell what we told Tony Blair: that the US has made the problem a part of its solution (by including Pakistan in the coalition), which we will not accept as long as Pakistan supports cross-border terrorism in Kashmir," a senior Indian foreign ministry official said. Blair's weekend trip to New Delhi and Islamabad did little to advance India's demands that the Kashmir insurgency also be tackled by the US-led alliance, although the British leader promised to "strengthen the coalition in all its forms". The Indian official also tried to allay any fears in Washington that the US battle against terrorism could be derailed by another India-Pakistan conflict.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/nonfram/101001/dLAME39.asp

India fumes as West urges Kashmir restraint

Hindustan Times

Western powers are leaning hard on India and Pakistan to make peace, desperate to ensure their dispute over Kashmir does not spin out of control and open up a second front in the war on terrorism. First, British Prime Minister Tony Blair flew to Islamabad and New Delhi at the weekend, bringing a plea for restraint now in return for a promise of help later. US Secretary of State Colin Powell is expected to bring the same message during a visit slated for early next week. Diplomats say the message is very clear: don't do anything to rock the boat until Washington has dealt with Afghanistan, and there will be help later in sorting out Kashmir. But while Pakistan seems to be playing ball -- President Pervez Musharraf sacked three top generals on Monday to clean out Islamic militancy -- India is champing at the bit, furious about Islamabad's support for militants in Kashmir.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/nonfram/101001/dLAME104.asp

Helicopter strikes next in US campaign: Report

Hindustan times

The United States plans to use helicopter gunships to strike targets in Afghanistan linked to Saudi-born extremist Osama bin Laden and the ruling Taliban regime, The New York Times reported Wednesday. The low-flying helicopters based near, but not in, Afghanistan can be mobilized once US air missiles wear down the Taliban's air defenses, two senior Pentagon officials told the daily. It was unclear when the close-in operations would begin, but the officials said the helicopters would be easier targets for Afghan artillery than the Air Force bombers and Navy jets that have been striking the country from high altitude.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/nonfram/101001/dLAME11.asp

US forces pound Afghanistan, claim 'air supremacy'

Hindustan Times
Explosions and anti-aircraft fire lit up the skies over Kabul and other cities across Afghanistan Tuesday, as American planes launched a third night of air strikes against Taliban targets. With the United States claiming "air supremacy" over Afghanistan, sorties were flown against Taliban positions around Kabul, the western cities of Herat and Shindand, plus Jalalabad in the east. In Kabul, the electricity supply was cut, plunging the city into darkness as jets made two passes, beginning at 9.20 pm (1650 GMT), and ground-to-air tracer fire lit up the night sky.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/nonfram/101001/dLAME37.asp

'US attack on Iraq would be serious strategic mistake'
Hindustan Times
A US attack on a second Muslim country, particularly Iraq, would be a "serious strategic mistake," the newspaper of Morocco's ruling coalition said Wednesday. Under the headline "Who's Next?" the daily L'Opinion, mouthpiece of the Istiqlal party, said countries including Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Libya and Iran were potential targets after Afghanistan in the US-led military campaign against terrorism. "Iraq is in the eye of the cyclone," the editorial said. Washington has shown "its willingness to launch raids against countries and organizations that it will accuse of backing terrorism," it added.

http://www.irna.com/en/world/011010183739.ewo.shtml

Pakistani official gunned down
Islamabad, Oct 10, IRNA -- Unidentified gunmen gunned down a top Pakistani government official on Wednesday in the port city of Karachi, police said.
According to NNI, chairman of the Sindh Board of Technical Education Syed Hassan Zaidi was shot dead in the city's Temuria district, in North Nazimabad.
The victim was alighting from his car outside his residence when he was ambushed by assailants on a motorcycle. They fled after the shooting. No one has claimed responsibility of the attack.

http://www.irna.com/en/head/011010182032.ehe.shtml

Apartheid regime seeks to besmirch Islamist groups

IRNA

Al-Khalil, Oct 10, IRNA -- The Israeli apartheid regime is planning to launch a worldwide disinformation campaign against Islamic resistance groups in Palestine and Lebanon, ostensibly for the purpose of reaping political capital out of the ongoing American-led crusade against Afghanistan.
A spokesman for the Zionist regime admitted that Israel "can't ignore Islamic propaganda about linking the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to anti-American terrorism."
The spokesman said the Zionist foreign ministry would soon start a propaganda blitz in the United States and Europe to disabuse people of the idea that Israeli repression of the Palestinian people is the root-cause of terrorism in the Middle East.
The spokesman recognized though that task is not going to be easy in the light of recent opinion polls in the United States which showed that nearly half the American people thought that there indeed was a linkage between the two.
Asked why Israel wouldn't include Fatah, which has been active in the intifada, under the umbrella of terrorist organizations, the spokesman said "not now, Fatah's turn will come later."

http://www.irna.com/en/head/011010181807.ehe.shtml

Israeli occupation army torment Palestinians
Al-Khalil, Oct. 10, IRNA -- With the world's attention focused on the situation in Afghanistan, the Israeli occupation army is doing all it can to persecute, torment and punish Palestinian civilians for daring to revolt against Jewish occupation and apartheid.
Indeed, since the 11 September terrorist attacks on the United States, the Israeli army has adopted a clear "overkill policy" toward Palestinian civilians, bluntly ignoring the most elementary codes of conduct of how an occupying power should behave toward its subjects, particularly the non-combatants.
"They (the Israelis) felt that this is their opportunity to carry out deadly strikes against our civilians, and they did and are doing that now," said the mayor of Al-Khalil Mustafa Natshe, whose town bore the brunt of the latest Israeli rampage of terror and murder in the West Bank.
According to Palestinian sources, the Israeli army and paramilitary Jewish terrorists killed over 40 Palestinians in the last two weeks, most of them civilians.

http://www.irna.com/en/head/011010155147.ehe.shtml

Educational institutions closed down in Quetta
Islamabad, Oct 10, IRNA -- All educational institutions in Balochistan's provincial capital Quetta were closed down on Wednesday, Radio Pakistan said.
It further said all the institutions in Quetta and its suburbs will remain closed till October 13 and will reopen Monday next week. In the backdrop of ongoing U.S.-led military strikes against Afghanistan, the province has been the scene of several violent anti-U.S. demonstrations.
According to reports, thus far five persons have lost their lives in clashes with the police.
During recent demonstrations, a number of govermental and non-governmental buildings, including a UN office, were attacked. The NWFP government already shut down several institutions since a couple of days ago.

http://www.irna.com/en/head/011010135804.ehe.shtml

Blair hints at supporting US extension of war
London, Oct. 10, IRNA - Prime Minister Tony Blair gave his first hint Wednesday that he may be prepared to back the US extension of the war to Afghanistan to other Muslim countries.
According to Britain's Press Association news agency, Blair told Abu Dhabi television that no country would be targeted without evidence they were doing something wrong.
"We have evidence in respect of Afghanistan. The second phase of this is to look where else terrorists operate," the prime minister was quoted saying.
Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman Menzies Campbell urged the British government on Tuesday to clarify its war aims after the publication of letters written by the US and UK to the Security Council over the invocation of article 51 of the UN Charter.
He said there was a "marked difference" in the responses setting out the justification for the air strikes against Afghanistan, under the article, which permits military action in self defense.
The letter from US Ambassador to the UN, John Negroponte, stated that the war against international terrorism may be extended against "other organisations and other states."

http://www.irna.com/en/head/011010130740.ehe.shtml

Fire breaks out in Pak GHQ premises
Islamabad, Oct 10, IRNA -- A fire broke out in the premises of the Pakistani Army General Headquarters (GHQ), causing damage to a paper and statinery store and a nearby wooden structure in the wee hours of Wednesday.
According to an official press release, the fire was caused by a short circuit occurring at 4:00am in a store in GHQ in Rawalpindi, adjacent to the federal capital.
A wooden structure of a nearby building also caught fire resulting in damage to office items including furniture. The duty officers, it said, took all necessary measures to bring the fire under control. The fire brigade extinguished the fire and normal routine work in the GHQ started in time.
An inquiry has been ordered to ascertain the cause of fire and extent of damage, it stated. However, some sources added that records of a training section were also burned during the fire.