SOUTH ASIA

PAKISTAN TV ADS SEEK FRESH BIN LADEN LEADS

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – A television and radio campaign offering a $25 million reward for information leading to the capture of Osama bin Laden hit the airwaves in Pakistan this week in an American-government funded drive to get fresh leads about the Al Qaeda leader.

The 30-second television spot flashes photographs of Mr. bin Laden and 13 other top terror suspects, including his deputy Ayman al-Zawahri and Taliban leader Mullah Omar, with an emotional appeal for help in bringing them to justice.

“Who are the people who are suffering from terrorism? Our mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, sons, and daughters! Who are those terrorists? And who can stop them? Only you!” a voice appeals in the Urdu language.

The spot makes no direct reference to the American government, a reflection of continued resentment of the United States by many in this Islamic nation of 150 million, despite close official ties between Islamabad and Washington in the war on terror.

The campaign is an upshot of counterterrorist rewards legislation authored by Rep. Mark Kirk, a Republican from Illinois. The measure also gave President Bush the option to double the reward for the Al Qaeda chief to $50 million.

– Associated Press

SOUTHEAST ASIA

CAR BOMB KILLS FIVE IN THAI BORDER TOWN

BANGKOK, Thailand – In an escalation of the sectarian violence plaguing Muslim-dominated southern Thailand, a powerful car bomb exploded yesterday in a busy nightlife district, killing five people and injuring more than 40. The car bomb was believed to be Thailand’s first.

A series of smaller attacks during the past year have been blamed on Islamic separatists in the mostly Buddhist country, but yesterday’s car bomb raised questions about whether foreign militants were involved.

The bomb was planted in a car parked near the Marina Hotel at Sungai Kolok, a town on the Malaysian border that is popular with male tourists. No one has taken responsibility for the attack, which police believe was triggered with a mobile phone. Authorities compared the bomb to those used by insurgents in Iraq and a government spokesman said it “shows that those behind this attack are not ordinary.”

It was not known whether foreign Islamic insurgents might have been involved, said the acting army commander for the area, Major General Khwanchart Klaharn. The southern Thai militants so far have limited attacks to their own territory and have not targeted Westerners.

– Associated Press

CAUCASUS

GEORGIA’S PARLIAMENT APPROVES NEW PREMIER

TBILISI, Georgia – Georgia’s Parliament approved the president’s nomination of Zurab Nogaideli as prime minister yesterday, bringing in a new government two weeks after the previous premier died from apparent carbon monoxide poisoning.

Mr. Nogaideli, who had been finance minister, will fill the post left empty by Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania’s sudden death on February 3. Lawmakers postponed the confirmation vote last week to give Mr. Nogaideli more time to present his policies and his team, which were both approved yesterday by a 175-24 vote. Mr. Nogaideli pledged to “maintain the political course” set by his predecessor and President Mikhail Saakashvili.

– Associated Press

WESTERN EUROPE

IRISH POLICE ARREST 7 IN BELFAST BANK HEIST

DUBLIN, Ireland – Irish police arrested seven people, including a member of the IRA-linked Sinn Fein party, and seized millions of dollars suspected of being stolen in the December robbery of $50 million from a Belfast bank, the biggest cash theft in history, authorities said yesterday.

In the biggest of several coordinated raids targeting IRA money-laundering operations across the Republic of Ireland, police said they recovered at least $4.4 million during a raid on one house in the village of Farran, 10 miles west of the southwestern city of Cork. Police also seized approximately $155,000 at one property in the Douglas section of Cork City. Police arrested three men and a woman in the Cork-area raids but did not specify where each occurred. Police said the operation began Wednesday night with the arrests of three men at Dublin’s Heuston train station.

Detectives trailed a suspected major money-launderer from Cork who, after stepping off the train at Dublin, allegedly was caught delivering a suitcase containing $122,000 in laundered euro notes to two men from Londonderry, Northern Ireland.

– Associated Press