Free Republic

Authorities in Uganda are studying what they term as strange mosquitoes that have invaded a district in the western region. The mosquitoes which have invaded Kabarole district are slightly bigger than the usual ones; feed day and night and cause skin rash on face and upper limbs of the people they bite. Those they bite develop symptoms similar to those of chicken pox. Now, Dr Joa Oketch, the Kabarole District Health Officer says they have taken blood samples from 27 people who were bitten by the strange mosquitoes and tested positive to malaria. He identifies the affected areas as Mugoma...

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistani Taliban militant leader Baituallah Mehsud claimed on Saturday responsibility for an attack on a U.S. immigration center in New York state in which 13 people were killed. "I accept responsibility. They were my men. I gave them orders in reaction to U.S. drone attacks," Mehsud told Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location.

BAGHDAD (AFP) — Four US soldiers were killed on Monday when two helicopters crashed in northern Iraq, American and Iraqi military officials said. "Four coalition forces members were killed when two aircraft went down in northern Iraq at approximately 2:15 am (2315 GMT)," a US army spokesman said in a statement.

North Korea's reclusive leader turned up for talks with a senior Chinese envoy Friday, making his first such appearance in nearly a half year in an apparent bid to show he is fit despite reportedly suffering a stroke last August.

SEOUL (AFP) South Korea's government on Thursday dismissed rumours of the death of North Korea's reclusive leader Kim Jong-Il as baseless after they swirled through stock markets."Recent rumours (about Kim's death) are groundless," Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Ho-Nyoun told reporters.The rumours emerged briefly on South Korea's financial markets and in Tokyo but were short-lived, market watchers said.The North's official Korean Central News Agency reported Thursday that Kim was touring a textile factory in the northeastern port city of Hamhung.Rumours about Kim's death have circulated this week despite reports by the North's state media that he visited army units Monday and...

Boris Johnson has been elected Mayor of London, adding to Labour's misery after disastrous local elections. The Conservative candidate beat Ken Livingstone with Liberal Democrat Brian Paddick in third place. Mr Johnson polled 1,168,738 votes to Mr Livingstone's 1,028,966. After second preferences were allocated, Mr Johnson achieved around 53% to Mr Livingstone's 47%. The result put further pressure on Prime Minister Gordon Brown after his party suffered its worst council election results in four decades. After the result was announced, the new mayor thanked his team and praised his opponents, particularly Mr Livingstone who he described as a "very considerable...

BELGRADE (Reuters) - A video of two young women looting with gay abandon during rioting in the Serbian capital Belgrade was becoming a Balkan smash hit on the video-sharing Web site YouTube Friday. Police arrested some looters but public humiliation by YouTube may prove a far more painful punishment for the pair, whose spree Thursday night was also aired on local television stations and was being discussed across the Internet. A persistent amateur cameraman followed the women as they loaded up with chocolates at a corner shop, came out giggling, then went after designer bags, shoes and clothes at Belgrade's...

BBC reporter freed in Gaza - sources Posted 22 minutes ago Alan Johnston, the BBC journalist held hostage in the Gaza Strip since March, has been handed over by his Islamist captors to ruling Hamas officials, a Palestinian source close to negotiations for his release said. The source and another Palestinian involved in the talks both said they saw the 45-year-old Briton being taken into the care of officials from the Hamas movement, which seized full control of Gaza three weeks ago.

Purge in Party Intelligence Unit - Beijing Three specialists on the Korean peninsula who worked for the international Department (ID) of the intelligence bureau operated by the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Committee were recently arrested for sharing confidential information with Seoul on North Korea’s nuclear tests. In regular contact with their “brethren” in North Korea’s Workers’ Party, the Chinese Communist Party’s agencies are renowned for gleaning the best information about the Pyongyang regime. The official in charge of the International Department, Wang Jiarui, is also a leading intermediary in multilateral talks with North Korea. Since the mid 1980s some of...

["Today's Encounter" programme featuring an interview with Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari by Ahmad Zaydan; place and date not given - recorded] Al-Jazeera Satellite Television at 1730 gmt on 27 May broadcasts a recorded 25-minute interview with Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari by Ahmad Zaydan within its "Today's Encounter" programme. The place and date of the interview are not specified. Asked to react to Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf's call for sending Islamic forces to Iraq under UN auspices, Zebari says: "This proposal is not new. It was presented to us in the past. However, the issue was not followed up....

A leaked government document at the heart of an Official Secrets Act trial contained a “stinking fish” that had the potential to cause political embarrassment to President Bush, a defence barrister told the Old Bailey yesterday. Rex Tedd, QC, acting for David Keogh, a 50-year-old civil servant who read the document and took a copy of it out of his office, said that his client had handed it over to a friend because its contents had preyed on his conscience. The document was a recorded minute, in the form of a letter, of a two-hour meeting about Iraq between Tony...

Nine members of a multinational peacekeeping force, eight of them French, were killed Sunday when their plane crashed while attempting an emergency landing in northern Egypt. "Nine people on board the plane died in the crash. This included eight French crew members and one Canadian," an Egyptian security official told AFP on condition of anonymity. The Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) and French military sources said they had received reports that a French transport aircraft belonging to the peacekeeping force had crashed but did not immediately confirm any casualties. According to Egyptian security sources on the crash site, the light...

Men face terrorism charges after raids The Australian Federal Police (AFP) have arrested two men in Melbourne in connection with alleged terrorism. The AFP, along with Victoria Police, staged raids on eight locations in Melbourne and two in Sydney this morning. In Melbourne, a 32-year-old Mount Waverley man has been charged with three offences related to being a member of a terrorist organisation, and knowingly making funds available to an terrorist organisation. A 36-year-old man from Vermont South is expected to charged later this afternoon. AFP Assistant Commissioner, Frank Prendergast, says the activities are allegedly connected to the Sri Lankan...

ADDIS ABABA, April 24 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese embassy in Ethiopia on Tuesday confirmed that a group of unidentified gunmen attacked a Chinese oil company's premises early in the morning in Ethiopia's Somali state, causing heavy casualties. The embassy has formed an emergency team, maintaining close contact with the Ethiopian government and military, according to the Chinese Charge d' Affaires ad interim Zhang Yuebang. At least nine Chinese workers were killed during the attack, Xu Shuang, acting manager of the Chinese oil company, told Xinhua. Another seven Chinese workers were kidnapped by the gunmen, who also killed 65 Ethiopian employees...

SEOUL (AFP) - North Korea's appointment of a transport technocrat as its new prime minister is aimed at building up its economy following the international deal on scrapping its nuclear programmes, analysts said Thursday. The communist state's parliament on Wednesday sacked premier Pak Pong-Ju and replaced him with transport minister Kim Yong-Il, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said. Kim Yong-Il, 62, is a career administrator in land and maritime transport. He served in the army for nine years and then graduated from the University of Marine Transport with the qualification of navigation officer. Kim served as instructor and...

Al-Jazeera to broadcast interview with former Iraqi commander on 8 April Doha Al-Jazeera Satellite Channel Television in Arabic at 1028 gmt on 6 April carries the following announcement: "In the first interview with the media, Staff General Sayf al-Din al-Rawi, commander of the Iraqi Republican Guard and number 14 on the playing cards list of most wanted people, will speak about why the Baghdad defence plan collapsed and where the Iraqi Army's weapons and equipment went following the occupation of the Iraqi capital. The commander of the Iraqi Republican Guard will speak to Al-Jazeera in an exclusive interview. The first...

dubai • Iraqi former deputy prime minister Tareq Aziz wants to live in Rome after his release from jail, believing he will be welcomed in the Italian capital, an Arab newspaper reported yesterday. Aziz’s plans were revealed by his lawyer in Baghdad last week, the pan-Arab newspaper Asharq Al Awsat said. “I want to live in Rome. The Pope and Italian officials welcomed me,” Aziz said in answer to a question about his future hopes delivered via his lawyer. Aziz was the only Christian member of Saddam Hussein’s cabinet and frequently met Pope John Paul II and his close advisers,...

US Army 'jammed' Swiss and French satellitesBern: The US Army mistakenly jammed the satellite signal of a number of news organisations earlier this year - including the French and Swiss national news agencies - in an attempt to shut down an Iraqi TV station, according to a Swiss newspaper. Daily Tages-Anzeiger reported in yesterday's edition that the incident occurred on January 23 and lasted about 24 hours, affecting a large number of radio, television and internet services, including those of Agence France Presse (AFP) and its Swiss counterpart Schweizerische Depeschagentur (SDA). An internal SDA memo states that "the loss of...

British PM has made his announcement to Parliament on Iraq: - 1,600 troops to withdraw by end of the year - no overall deadline for troop withdrawal mentioned

Blast close to US base in JapanThere has been a small explosion near a United States' military base south of the Japanese capital, Tokyo, US officials have confirmed. The blast happened outside the Camp Zama army base around 40km (25 miles) south-west of Tokyo. Police found two pipes believed to have contained explosives close to the camp, Kyodo News agency reported. A Pentagon official said that there were no reports of injuries caused by the blast. "A small explosion was heard in the vicinity of the base," said Air Force Maj David Smith. "It did not occur on the base."...