Audio News

[Reza1969]

Suicide Bombings in Afghanistan Increase Sharply

By Benjamin Sand
Islamabad
02 May 2006

A suicide attacker has hit a military convoy on patrol outside the Afghan capital, Kabul killing a civilian. Suicide bomb attacks have increased dramatically in Afghanistan during the past few days.

The bomber apparently detonated a car packed with explosives as Canadian troops traveled along the main road leading from the capital to the American military base in Bagram.

Officials said the blast killed the suicide bomber and a local Afghan man. The Canadians reportedly escaped serious injury.

NATO spokesman Major Luke Knittig says international peacekeepers moved in quickly to secure the area.

"We have put a quick reaction force at the scene that is providing investigative and medical assistance," he said.

The early morning attack was the latest in a string of suicide bombings in recent days.

Officials count at least five attacks in the past two days, and more than 20 in the past two months.

Taleban insurgents recently vowed to intensify their four-year-old fight against the U.S.-backed central government.

The hard-line Islamic group took control of Afghanistan in the late 1990s, providing sanctuary to Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaida terrorist organization. The Taleban was driven from power in 2001 by a U.S.-led invasion.

Earlier this year, fugitive Taleban officials claimed they had recruited some 200 suicide bombers to attack government and foreign military targets.

But Afghan and coalition officials say their development and peacekeeping projects will go ahead as planned.

Major Knittig, the NATO spokesman, says national and international forces are ready for whatever the Taleban has in store.

"It is part of a test that we fully expected, and you're seeing growing capacity, particularly from Afghan security forces, to deal with this threat," noted Knittig.

NATO has about 10,000 troops in Afghanistan, and will add another 5,000 later this year when it expands its security force to the country's southern and eastern provinces.

Last year, approximately 1,600 people in Afghanistan were killed by insurgent-related violence, the highest number since the invasion.

More than 300 people have been killed this year, including 15 American and at least seven Canadian soldiers.

Source : VOA News

The audio file link :

[Reza1969]

Rapid Containment Key to Preventing Bird Flu Pandemic

By Nancy-Amelia Collins
Jakarta
02 May 2006

The World Health Organization says it may be possible to prevent or delay a human bird-flu pandemic if countries immediately act to contain outbreaks.

The World Health Organization says rapid intervention at the earliest signs of a human bird-flu outbreak may prevent hundreds of millions of infections and millions of deaths.

The WHO regional director for the Western Pacific, Shigeru Omi, says once there are signs the H5N1 bird-flu virus is spreading among people, there will only be two or three weeks to prevent or at least slow down a global pandemic.

"If some initial sign, initial indication a pandemic happen, we have to immediately pick up, detect this initial sign or signals and we have to implement all the necessary measures," Omi says.

Omi says those measure include giving large numbers of people anti-viral drugs, restricting travel, quarantining infected areas and closing schools. He says all countries must be held accountable for these measures.

"There is a responsibility for countries to implement and improve the quality of surveillance and to implement these public measures such as restriction of movement if there are the signs of the pandemic starts," Omi says.

Omi made the remarks in Jakarta during a ceremony to mark $70 million in aid pledged by Japan to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to fight the H5N1 virus.

The aid includes a stockpile for Southeast Asia of half a million doses of Tamiflu, considered the best treatment for bird flu so far.

ASEAN Secretary-General Ong Keng Yong says the group's 10 members last year organized themselves to better fight the spread of the bird flu virus.

"In fact, in countries like Thailand and Vietnam the work has been very strong and we believe that the preventive measures have helped us to contain the spread of the disease," Ong Keng Yong says. "So we are using lessons learned from these countries to tackle the potential threat."

The H5N1 virus is now endemic in Asia, where millions of birds have been culled across the region to halt the spread of the disease.

Since 2003, bird flu has infected more than 200 people - mostly in Asia - and killed roughly half of them.

Although most victims have caught the virus from close contact with infected birds, health experts fear the virus may mutate to a form easily passed between humans.

Source : VOA News

The audio file link :

[Reza1969]

Journalists Call for Press Freedom in Ethiopia

By Cathy Majtenyi
Nairobi
02 May 2006

On the eve of World Press Freedom Day, Ethiopian journalists and others in Kenya are calling for the Ethiopian government to release more than a dozen journalists imprisoned following last year's elections and to respect freedom of the press and expression.

Ethiopian journalist Wemdesen Teklu, now a refugee living in Kenya, described to reporters how difficult it is to be a journalist in Ethiopia. "I left my country in 2001 due to just on-going harassment and persecution - if you remember the Addis Ababa university students getting harassed," he said. "So, due to that reason, I was forced to leave my country with the students. I have been in jail many times and I have been also tortured. This is what I experienced in my country when I was in jail. I am writing just the truth.... I did not do any crime."

Wemdesen said Ethiopian authorities have banned all independent media, and that 63 journalists have been charged with treason and other offenses since October of last year. Of those, five were VOA reporters charged with treason in absentia. Those charges have since been dropped.

He said 16 journalists - including a pregnant newspaper editor - remain in prison and could face the death penalty merely, he says, for being critical of the government.

Wemdesen and other Ethiopian journalists living in Kenya are calling for the Ethiopian government to release the imprisoned journalists and respect the country's constitution, especially regarding freedom of expression and freedom of the press.

More than 100 journalists, opposition politicians and supporters, activists, and others who protested the results of last May's elections in Ethiopia face treason, genocide, and other charges. They accused the ruling party of committing electoral fraud to win last year's elections.

Their imprisonment and trials have been condemned internationally, most recently by U.N. Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour.

Meanwhile, Amnesty International released a report urging the Ethiopian government to release at least 40 of the detainees, which the organization calls prisoners of conscience.

The secretary general of the Kenya Union of Journalists Ezekiel Mutua was on hand to lend his support to the Ethiopian journalists. "In reality, there is no free press in Ethiopia," he said. "In reality, journalists are jailed for writing any negative reports about the government. In reality, journalists in Ethiopia are being turned into puppets of the regime, and if you do not tow the line, then you are targeted as an enemy of the state."

The Ethiopian government says the journalists and others in jail are guilty of fomenting violence.

Wednesday is World Press Freedom Day.

Source : VOA News

The audio file link :

[Reza1969]

Bush Says Diplomacy Best Option for Dealing With Iran

By Paula Wolfson
Washington
09 May 2006

President Bush says he thinks diplomacy is the first and most important option in dealing with Iran's nuclear ambitions. Mr. Bush was asked about the dispute during a trip to the state of Florida.

The focus of the trip was supposed to be health care for the elderly. But when senior citizens got a chance to ask questions, they asked about Iran.

The president told them the goal is to prevent Iran from using its nuclear program to develop atomic weapons. He said in the case of Iraq, diplomacy failed to bring Saddam Hussein in compliance with international demands. But he said this time, diplomatic efforts to resolve the dispute may succeed.

"The first choice and a choice that I think will work with the Iranians is diplomacy," Mr. Bush says. "And I believe we can accomplish this through diplomacy."

He made the remarks at a time when members of the United Nations Security Council are struggling to find the best way to put pressure on Iran, with China and Russia resisting calls for economic sanctions.

The president said he would not negotiate in public, and would let the diplomats do their work in private. But he made clear, while there are differences in strategy, they all agree the overall aim is to prevent Iran from getting nuclear arms.

"The first step toward good diplomacy is to have different countries agree on a common goal, which is that the Iranians should not have the capacity and-or nuclear weapons," Mr. Bush says.

Mr. Bush said through hard work, the countries dealing with the Iran nuclear issue will remain bound together. He said they all recognize the danger inherent in a nuclear-armed Iran. He said they understand the consequences, and added Tehran must understand the consequences of its continued defiance.

"It's very important for the Iranians to know they will be isolated in the world," Mr. Bush says. "The rest of the world, much of the world, shares the same demands that those of us involved in negotiations say."

The president made no mention of the letter, relayed to him Monday by the Swiss Embassy in Tehran, from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The 18-page letter has many criticisms of the Bush administration, but does not refer directly to the impasse over Iran's nuclear ambitions. It was quickly rejected by Bush administration officials, and the White House has made clear Iran should not expect a formal written reply.

Source : VOA News

The audio file link :

[Reza1969]

Iran's Leader Blasts US, Calls Democracy a Failure

By Peter Heinlein
United Nations
09 May 2006

Iran's president has declared in a letter to President Bush that democracy has failed worldwide, and accused the United States of spreading hatred. U.S. officials have dismissed the letter as unhelpful in addressing the standoff over Iran's nuclear program.

In a rambling 18-page letter, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad criticizes President Bush's handling of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, and accuses the United States of spreading lies about the Iraq war.

A copy of the letter obtained by VOA through European diplomats Tuesday makes almost no reference to Iran's nuclear intentions. Instead, it focuses on alleged wrongdoing by the United States.

In the document, the Iranian leader contends that the people of the world have lost faith in international institutions, and refers to Western-style democracy as a failed concept.

He several times mentions the Koran and urges what he calls "a return to the teachings of the divine prophets."

News of the letter had briefly raised hopes of a breakthrough in the standoff over Iran's nuclear program. But in comments to the Associated Press, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the contents do not address the nuclear issue in a concrete way.

Rice met late into the night Monday with foreign ministers of the other Security Council nations and Germany to discuss strategy on Iran.

Afterward, Britain's new Foreign Secretary, Margaret Beckett, called the lengthy session "important but difficult." But she acknowledged there had been no agreement on any of the outstanding issues, and that the ministers had issued instructions to diplomats to continue working.

"We've sent officials away to work towards how we can express the clear determination and the insistence that Iran should comply on this matter with the will of the international community," she said. " So there is a good deal of work officials have to do against the background of clear common ground as to our objectives."

A senior U.S. official briefing reporters said prospects for agreement in the next week are "not substantially good." On the other hand, the official said he was encouraged that, "no one is leaving the table."

In a speech in Florida Tuesday, President Bush said he was committed to a diplomatic solution.

Germany's Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said there are as many as six issues still to be resolved before a resolution could be passed.

Diplomats on all sides say there is broad agreement that Iran should be prevented from acquiring a nuclear weapons capability. But veto-wielding Security Council powers China and Russia have objected to any Council action that would legally require Iran to halt its nuclear enrichment activity.

China's U.N. ambassador, Wang Guangya, acknowledged that Beijing opposes any action that could lead to sanctions against Iran. But he told VOA that China would prefer to find a diplomatic solution that avoids the use of a veto.

"Veto is always there, but nowadays in the Council it is how to work constructively," the ambassador said. "So each member has to consider the concerns of the others. We want to be a constructive player."

There was no immediate word on when discussions would resume on a draft Iran resolution put forward last week by France and Britain, with German and U.S. backing. The resolution would carry the force of law under Chapter Seven of the U.N. Charter, but Western and Asian diplomats say Russia has proposed compromise language that would soften the impact of the measure.

The U.N. nuclear watchdog agency reported to the Security Council last month that it could not confirm Iran's nuclear program was only for peaceful purpose because Tehran has not been fully open. But it found no firm evidence of a weapons project.

Source : VOA News

The audio file link :

[mahramasrar2]

hi dear reza and thank you for your lovely topic

unfortunatly links of audio news that you have put are ant working and this massege will appeare when you click

Sorry, the file you requested is not available

please do something for that
thank you very very very much

[Reza1969]

Dozens of Taleban Rebels Reportedly Killed in Afghanistan Clash

By Benjamin Sand
Islamabad
24 May 2006

U.S. Military officials in Afghanistan say 24 Taleban rebels have been killed in a clash with government and coalition forces in southern Afghanistan. U.S. officials have also apologized for an air strike earlier this week that reportedly killed 16 civilians.

Officials say the rebels were killed in a firefight Tuesday in Uruzgan province in southern Afghanistan. Several government soldiers were also reportedly killed.

It was the latest in a series of clashes in the past two months in which about 300 people have been killed.

In addition, coalition officials acknowledged responsibility for an air strike Sunday that reportedly killed Afghan civilians in a remote part of southern Kandahar province.

A spokesman for the United States military, Colonel Tom Collins, apologized for the loss of innocent lives. But he defended the action, telling reporters in Kabul that the strike was ordered after coalition troops came under fire.

He says U.S. commanders did not know civilians were in the houses when the U.S. planes attacked, and he accused Taleban insurgents of intentionally using civilian houses for protection.

"The ultimate cause of why civilians were injured and killed is because the Taleban knowingly, willfully chose to occupy homes of these people," said Collins.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has ordered an inquiry into the incident.

In a written statement Tuesday, Mr. Karzai expressed concern over U.S. tactics, but also condemned the Taleban's use of so-called human shields.

Collins also told reporters that rebel activity has been rising in several southern Afghan provinces, which were the Taleban's traditional stronghold.

"There are several hundred hard-core Taleban fighters," he said. "And we know for a fact that in recent weeks they have grown in strength and influence in some parts of Kandahar, Helmand, and Uruzgan."

Local officials in the region say rebel activity typically rises during the summer and does not mean the government is losing popular support.

This year's violence has been the rebel's deadliest so-called "summer offensive" since U.S.-led forces ousted the Taleban regime in 2001 for harboring terrorist leader Osama bin Laden.

Source : VOA News

The audio file link :

[Reza1969]

hi dear reza and thank you for your lovely topic

unfortunatly links of audio news that you have put are ant working and this massege will appeare when you click

Sorry, the file you requested is not available

please do something for that
thank you very very very much

Hi pal

I updated the links of all the posts except the first one but I'm working on it. Thanks for your attention.

[mahramasrar2]

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i think if you upload them somewher in this site or friends sites your works will last longer

[Reza1969]

Terrorist Mastermind Zarqawi Killed in Iraq

By Michael Bowman
Washington
08 June 2006

U.S. forces have killed al-Qaida's top lieutenant in Iraq, Jordanian-born Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, in an airstrike northeast of Baghdad. The news has been met with jubilation in much of Iraq, and been welcomed by world leaders.

Spontaneous street celebrations erupted in parts of Baghdad and elsewhere in Iraq after Iraqi and U.S. officials announced Zarqawi and several of his top aides had been killed.

At a news conference in Baghdad, cockpit video was shown from one of two U.S. warplanes, each of which dropped a massive bomb on a farmhouse that had been used as a terrorist safe haven near the provincial capital of Baquba.

"We had absolutely no doubt whatsoever that Zarqawi was in the house," said Major General William Caldwell. "There was 100 percent confirmation. And that was the deliberate target we went to get [strike]."

The commander of coalition forces in Iraq, General George Casey, said Zarqawi's body had been conclusively identified by fingerprint matching, facial recognition, and scars the terrorist mastermind was known to have.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari proclaimed, "It is a great day for the people of Iraq."

At the White House, President Bush also welcomed the news.

"Zarqawi personally beheaded American hostages and other civilians in Iraq," the president noted. "He masterminded the destruction of the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad."

Mr. Bush added: "I congratulate our troops on this remarkable achievement. Zarqawi is dead. But the difficult and necessary work in Iraq continues. We can expect the terrorists and insurgents to carry on without him."

British Prime Minister Tony Blair echoed the cautious tone. Mr. Blair said a blow against al-Qaida in Iraq is a blow against al-Qaida everywhere - but added that many obstacles remain in the battle against terrorism.

Speaking in Brussels, U.S. Defense Secretary Ronald Rumsfeld said American forces had been tracking Zarqawi for some time. Once located, they opted against a ground assault on the terrorist den out of concern that Zarqawi might escape. Rumsfeld, who is attending a meeting of NATO defense ministers, said no single person has had the blood of more innocent people on his hands in recent years than Zarqawi.

"Given the nature of the terrorist networks, really a network of networks, the death of Zarqawi - while enormously important - will not mean the end of all violence in that country, and one ought not to take it as such," he said. "But let there be no doubt that the fact that he is dead is a significant victory in the battle against terrorism in that country, and I would say worldwide."

Already, U.S. military commanders are examining who might succeed Zarqawi as al-Qaida's top operative in Iraq.

Zarqawi's death came as Iraq's parliament approved Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's nominees for the ministries of defense and interior, ending weeks of political gridlock over the posts in Iraq's new unity government.

Source : VOA News

The audio file link :