CENTRAL ASIA

TALIBAN THREATENS TO KILL U.S. COMMANDO

KABUL, Afghanistan – The American commando missing in Afghanistan is being held by the Taliban who have decided to kill him, a purported spokesman for the group said yesterday, offering no proof for the claim he has made earlier. The commando is the last of a four-member U.S. Navy SEAL team missing for 10 days in Kunar province, near the Pakistani border. One of the men was rescued and the other two have been found dead. About 300 troops and several aircraft are searching for the U.S. Navy SEAL in the rugged mountains in eastern Afghanistan, an American military spokeswoman, Lieutenant Cindy Moore said. “We hope he is not in harm’s way,” Lieutenant Moore said. The Taliban spokesman, Mullah Latif Hakimi, has said previously that the Taliban are holding the commando. But his information has in the past frequently proven exaggerated or untrue, and his exact tie to the Taliban leadership cannot be independently verified. “This American will never be forgiven. Definitely he will be killed,” Mr. Hakimi said. He said the group would release a video after the man’s death.

– Associated Press

UZBEKISTAN PONDERS FUTURE OF U.S. AIRBASE

TASHKENT, Uzbekistan – Uzbekistan signaled yesterday that it was reconsidering the future of a U.S. airbase used for operations in neighboring Afghanistan, throwing into doubt the American military presence in this former Soviet republic. The move, which comes amid a cooling in relations between Washington and the authoritarian Uzbek leader Islam Karimov, marks a victory for regional giants Russia and China in their apparent efforts to push America out of ex-Soviet Central Asia. Uzbekistan became a key American ally in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attacks. On Tuesday, a regional alliance led by China and Russia and including Uzbekistan called for America and its coalition allies in Afghanistan to set a date for withdrawing from several states in Central Asia.

– Associated Press

SOUTHEAST ASIA

PHILIPPINE PRESIDENT SAYS SHE WON’T QUIT

MANILA, Philippines – The embattled president, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, said yesterday she won’t quit and asked her entire Cabinet to resign instead to give her maneuvering room to survive her biggest crisis. Her announcement – in a hastily arranged radio address – appeared to be a pre-emptive move amid rumors that at least two, and perhaps a dozen, of her Cabinet members were preparing to resign because of allegations that she fixed last year’s election. Opposition Senator Aquilino Pimentel called it a panic move: “Like in chess, she’s close to a checkmate.” If Ms. Arroyo goes down, she made clear it won’t be without a fight. “First of all, I am not resigning my office,” said Ms. Arroyo, who earlier claimed her opponents have no platform other than to get rid of her and were engaged in “the most cynical manipulation” of the populace. Catholic professors and a Protestant church group yesterday joined the calls for Ms. Arroyo’s resignation, and a three-star general quit in a move that appeared to be linked to the election scandal.

– Associated Press

MIDDLE EAST

GAZA RESIDENTS FILE FOR COMPENSATION

JERUSALEM – Pragmatism won out over ideology yesterday as hundreds of Gaza settlers took a first step toward cooperating with the government’s plan to evacuate the coastal strip and filed for compensation. A representative of the settlers said families began the process of seeking government payments as a kind of insurance policy, but vowed to continue to fight the pullout scheduled to begin in mid-August. Yesterday, hundreds of settlers handed in forms requesting detailed assessments of their properties, an attorney representing the settlers, Itzik Spiegel, said. Some of the requests were submitted on orange paper, the color symbolizing opposition to the pullout from Gaza and four West Bank settlements. The deputy head of the Gaza settler regional council, Itzik Ilia, said the families were submitting the forms because yesterday was the deadline the Supreme Court gave for requesting an assessment. But, he said, “It will only be a done deal when I leave … with my family.”

– Associated Press

NORTH AMERICA

CANADIAN COURT ORDERS EXTRADITION OF SUSPECTED ECO-TERRORIST

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – A court yesterday ordered the extradition of suspected eco-terrorist Tre Arrow, one of the FBI’s most-wanted fugitives, to face firebombing charges in America. Mr. Arrow, born Michael Scarpitti, is accused of participating in the 2001 firebombing of logging and cement trucks in Oregon. The FBI claims he is associated with the Earth Liberation Front, or ELF, a group that has claimed responsibility for dozens of acts of destruction over the past few years. A British Columbia supreme court judge, Kristi Gill, ruled that there was enough evidence against Mr. Arrow to have him extradited to face federal charges. His lawyer said he would appeal, a process that could take months. The former American Green Party candidate for Congress in 2000 – who says the trees told him to change his name – last week told the court that he was innocent of the charges and a target of a government conspiracy.

– Associated Press