Wolfowitz to Resign This Afternoon?

May 16, 2007 -- U.S.

Wolfowitz to Resign This Afternoon?

World Bank officials say the bank's board is completing an "exit strategy" that will allow World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz to resign this afternoon and "still save some face" over the issue of his efforts to seek a promotion and pay raise for his girlfriend at the bank. (ABC News)

U.S. Reading Program Benefits Bush Friend

A Texas businessman listed as a major fundraiser for President George Bush has made millions of dollars in profits from a federal reading program that critics say favored administration cronies at the expense of schoolchildren. (ABC News)

Report: DHS Erred With Limo Contract

The Department of Homeland Security violated government regulations by awarding a multi-million-dollar contract to a limousine company with ties to the Duke Cunningham scandal, a recent investigation concluded. (ABC News)

PAKISTAN

Geopolitical Diary: Examining a Post-Musharraf Pakistan

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, in an interview with the British daily Times Online published Wednesday, referred to President Gen. Pervez Musharraf as "a gone man." Sharif is not exaggerating -- with each passing day Musharraf appears to be losing his hold on power. (Stratfor)

Fighting Erupts In Pakistani Town

At least five people have been killed in clashes between militants and security forces in the Pakistani town of Tank, officials and locals say. (BBC)

Al-Qaeda Strikes at Anti-Taliban Spies

There was no doubt in the Pakistani intelligence community when Taliban commander Mullah Dadullah was killed in Afghanistan last weekend by US-led forces that retaliatory action would be taken against anti-Taliban collaborators. (Asia Times)

Five Killed In Pakistan Militant Clashes

Taliban militants fought running battles with security forces on Wednesday in the Pakistani town of Tank, killing five civilians in a rocket blast at a bus stop, officials said. (AFP)

IRAQ NEWS

Mortar Rounds Slam Into Baghdad's Green Zone

At least nine apparent mortar rounds slammed into the U.S.-controlled Green Zone on Wednesday, wounding at least six people, the second such attack in as many days, an official said. "Preliminary information indicates they were mortars, but that hasn't been confirmed," U.S. Embassy spokesman Lou Fintor told The Associated Press. He said at least six people were reported injured but their nationalities had not been confirmed. (AP)

'Chlorine Bomb' Hits Iraq Village

At least 32 people have been killed and 50 injured in a suspected chlorine bomb in Iraq's Diyala province, police say. (BBC)

Clashes Erupt Between Police and Militia in Iraq

Radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia clashed with Iraqi security forces in southern city of Nasiriyah on Wednesday afer overnight fighting left four people dead. (AFP)

COLOMBIA

Colombia 'Militia Link' Alleged

A commander of Colombia's right-wing paramilitary AUC has alleged that two members of the current government previously conspired with the group. (BBC)

Analysis: Colombia: Uribe's Double Whammy

The Colombian government confirmed late May 14 that the country's Directorate of Intelligence, a department of the national police force, has been carrying out illegal wiretaps on opposition leaders and journalists. The timing could not have been worse for President Alvaro Uribe Velez. The same day, the Supreme Court ordered the arrest of five congressmen and 14 former legislators and business leaders -- mostly Uribe allies -- for signing the so-called "Ralito Accord." The July 2001 pact with paramilitary group United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) called for signatories to jointly "refound the country," essentially creating a shadow government. (Stratfor)

GUANTANAMO

Pakistani Denies al Qaeda Role, Alleges U.S. Torture

A Pakistani man held at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay has denied belonging to al Qaeda and accused U.S. authorities of torturing him, according to a document released by the Pentagon on Tuesday. (Reuters)

NORTH KOREA

Japan Says North Korea Developing New Long-Range Missile

North Korea is developing a new long-range ballistic missile that may be capable of hitting the U.S. territory of Guam, a Japanese official said Wednesday. (AP)

New N. Korean Missile Prompts Kyuma to Seek High-Altitude Interceptor

Japan and the United States need to study technologies for intercepting high-altitude ballistic missiles, Defense Minister Fumio Kyuma said Tuesday in response to news that North Korea has developed a new ground-launched, intermediate-range missile. (The Japan Times)

AFGHANISTAN

Poppy Fields Are Now a Front Line in Afghanistan War

In a walled compound outside Kabul, two members of Colombia's counternarcotics police force are trying to teach raw Afghan recruits how to wage close-quarters combat. (NY Times)

AFGHANISTAN/PAKISTAN

Two Killed In Pakistan Forces, Afghan Refugees Clash

At least two people were killed and five wounded on Wednesday in an exchange of fire between Pakistani security forces and Afghan refugees in southwestern Pakistan, police said. (Reuters)

CLUSTER BOMBS

400 Million People Live In "Minefields": Report

Some 400 million people around the world live and work in what are effectively minefields, at daily risk of death or maiming by cluster bombs, according to a report issued on Wednesday. (Reuters)

SOMALIA

Blast Hits AU Convoy In Somalia

A remote-controlled bomb killed four African Union peacekeepers from Uganda and wounded five more when it hit their convoy in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, on Wednesday, the AU said. It was the first attack of its kind against the mission's troops, which previously had only been shot at, said an AU security source, speaking on condition of anonymity. (Mail & Guardian)

ALGERIA

Bombs Explode On Eve of Algerian Polls

Bombs killed a police officer and wounded five other people on Wednesday on the eve of parliamentary elections in Algeria, prompting fears of renewed Islamist extremism. The blasts came 48 hours after the North Africa branch of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network called on Algerians to boycott Thursday's polls. (Mail & Guardian)

NIGERIA

Nigeria Militants Bomb Home of Incoming Vice-President

Nigerian militants used dynamite to blow up the home of vice-president-elect Goodluck Jonathan in southern Bayelsa State early on Wednesday, killing two police officers, police said. (AFP)

U.K.

Three Suspects Released In Bomb Case in Britain

Three people arrested last week in connection with the suicide bombings in 2005 on London's transport system, including the widow of ringleader Mohammad Sidique Khan, have been released without charge, police said. (Reuters)

ANALYSIS & OPINION

America's Suicidal Statecraft in the Middle East

By Shlomo Ben-Ami

Since its victory in the Cold War, America's global hegemony has rested on three pillars: economic power, military might, and a vast capacity to export its popular culture. The recent emergence of additional powers - the European Union, China, India, and a Russia driven to recover its lost status - has eroded America's capacity to shape events unilaterally. (Daily Star)

Being Cool with Putin

During her visit to Russia Tuesday for a meeting with President Vladimir Putin, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice did what a diplomat ought to do: She asked for a cooling of "overheated" rhetoric. "I don't throw around terms like 'new Cold War,' " Rice noted, prudently. "It's a big, complicated relationship, but it's not one that is anything like the implacable hostility between the United States and the Soviet Union." (Boston Globe)

Strategic Error Poisoned Blair's Legacy

By Ian Davidson

Tony Blair has a powerful claim to being one of the most successful British politicians of any recent generation, at least in domestic economic and social policy. But history will remember him mainly for his strategic error in going to war in Iraq. (The Japan Times)

Moderation Despite the RAND Corporation!

By Mshari Al-Zaydi

Question: Is it in the interest of Arab and Muslim countries to fight Al Qaeda and militant fundamentalism?And another question: does it serve the American interests now to fight Al Qaeda and militant fundamentalism?The answer to both questions is yes! (Asharq Alawsat)

Tehran's Cheating and CIA Spin

On Sunday, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) officials inspected Iran's main nuclear facility at Natanz and concluded Iran is producing fuel suitable for nuclear reactors. (Washington Times)

The Insider Daily Investigative Report (DIR) is a summary of major news articles and broadcasts relating to investigative news, including international terrorism and developments in Iraq. The DIR is edited daily from foreign and U.S. sources by Chris Isham and Elizabeth Sprague of the ABC News Investigative Unit. The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ABCNEWS.