Hydrablog

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/30/AR2008033002277.html
WORLD IN BRIEF
Monday, March 31, 2008; A16
PAKISTAN
Insurgent Leader Embraces Offer
[Pakistan] [south asia] [Pakistan as the new Afghanistan] [hydra central] [AfPak] [Pakistan seemingly on the brink] [islamists, tribals, and jihadis striking back] [followup] [it appears truly the frontline of the jihadis] [recent external reported OBL released 2 audiotapes in 2 days after relative quiet?] [followup] [new parliamentary coalition moving toward policy that allows negotiation with jihadis and islamist?] [the uunfortunate results of bush’s Musharraf policy] [*****]
An insurgent leader with alleged ties to al-Qaeda welcomed an offer by Pakistan's new prime minister, Yousaf Raza Gillani, to negotiate with Islamist fighters accused of launching terrorist attacks from tribal regions bordering Afghanistan.
Maulvi Faqir Mohammed [****]also said Sunday that his fighters were not "enemies" of Pakistan. "Our war is with America," [****] he said in a speech to more than 4,000 supporters, hundreds of armed insurgents among them, in the Bajur tribal region.
FRANCE
Plane on Call for Colombia Hostage
France said Sunday that it was ready to evacuate French-Colombian hostage Ingrid Betancourt in the event of a deal between the Colombian government and her rebel captors.
A spokesman for President Nicolas Sarkozy said a plane with medical facilities would be kept on standby in France.
Colombian officials said Saturday that France would be willing to take in former guerrilla fighters as part of a possible deal with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, to free scores of hostages, including Betancourt, who is reported to be gravely ill after six years in captivity.
IRAN
Meetings Held Over Film Dispute
Iran's Foreign Ministry called in the Dutch ambassador Sunday to protest an "insulting and anti-Islamic" film [****] by a Dutch lawmaker that accuses the Koran of inciting violence, state media said.
A senior diplomat from Slovenia, which holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, was also called to the ministry in Tehran over the film by Geert Wilders.
Iran state radio said the Dutch envoy, Radinck van Vollenhoven, expressed regret over the making of the film. But a spokesman for the Dutch Foreign Ministry said that "no regrets were expressed" and that the Dutch government initiated the meeting.
EQUATORIAL GUINEA
Suspect Links Thatcher Son to Plot
A British mercenary awaiting trial in Equatorial Guinea for leading a failed 2004 coup has said the son of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher was involved in the plot, [***]the public prosecutor said Sunday.
Jose Olo Obono said former special forces officer Simon Mann had testified that Mark Thatcher knew all about the scheme to overthrow President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, who has ruled the oil-rich West African country since taking power in a 1979 coup.
In 2004, Thatcher was detained by South African police on suspicion of bankrolling the scheme but struck a plea bargain and paid a large fine.
* * *
Vatican Says Muslims Outnumber Catholics
Islam has surpassed Roman Catholicism as the world's largest religion, the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano reported Sunday. [***] Monsignor Vittorio Formenti said that figures on Muslims were put together by Muslim countries and provided to the United Nations and that the Vatican could vouch only for its own data.
From News Services
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