Document: Iran Caught Red-Handed Shipping Arms to Taliban

June 6, 2007 -- IRAN/AFGHANISTAN

Document: Iran Caught Red-Handed Shipping Arms to Taliban

NATO officials say they have caught Iran red-handed, shipping heavy arms, C4 explosives and advanced roadside bombs to the Taliban for use against NATO forces, in what the officials say is a dramatic escalation of Iran's proxy war against the United States and Great Britain. (ABC News)

TURKEY/IRAQ

Turkish Officials: Troops Enter Iraq

Several thousand Turkish troops crossed into northern Iraq early Wednesday to chase Kurdish guerrillas who operate from bases there, Turkish security officials told The Associated Press. (AP)

U.S. says No New Military Activity in Northern Iraq

U.S. officials have said that there was "no new activity" in northern Iraq after unconfirmed reports that thousands of Turkish troops had invaded, the White House said on on Wednesday. (Reuters)

AFGHANISTAN

Qaeda Vows Reprisals for Taliban Leader's Death

An al Qaeda leader threatened U.S.-led forces and their Afghan allies with a deadly summer of attacks in revenge for the killing of Taliban leader Mullah Dadullah. (Reuters)

Second Female Journalist Killed in Afghanistan

Two female journalists have been murdered in Afghanistan in less than one week. (ABC News)

Two NATO Soldiers Killed in South Afghan Clashes

Two NATO soldiers were killed on Wednesday in separate clashes with insurgents in southern Afghanistan, the alliance said in a statement. (Reuters)

IRAQ

U.N.: 4.2M Iraqis Now Displaced

More than 4 million Iraqis have now been displaced by violence in the country, the U.N. refugee agency said Tuesday, warning that the figure will continue to rise. (AP)

Simultaneous Blasts Kill 7 in Baghdad

Two simultaneous car-bomb explosions Wednesday rocked the neighborhood of the capital's holiest Shiite Muslim shrine, killing at least seven people and wounding 27 others, police reported. (AP)

PAKISTAN

Pakistan Arrests 350 Opposition Workers

Pakistani police have detained around 350 opposition party activists in the latest attempt to muzzle criticism of embattled President Pervez Musharraf, officials said Wednesday. (AFP)

Cases against 200 Pak Journalists

The Pakistan government on Tuesday registered cases against over 200 journalists for protesting against the government's crackdown on the media. (The Asian Age)

G8 SUMMIT

Violent Demonstrations Threaten To Cloud G8 Summit in Germany

The heads of the world's eight leading economies will convene on Wednesday to begin the G8 summit in the secluded resort of Heiligendamm on the Baltic coast. Crucial differences of opinion on key issues and countless protesters who aim to disrupt the summit are expected to make this year's meeting particularly turbulent. (Haaretz)

ALGERIA

One Killed In Bomb Blast in Algeria

One person was killed and eight injured in a powerful bomb blast in the Kabylie region of Algeria, security sources said Wednesday. (AFP)

SPAIN

End of ETA Truce Deals Blow to Spanish PM

The photos said it all. Eyes downcast, his face puffy, Spain's prime minister looked shattered by news that Basque rebels ETA were ending their truce, a move that dooms a key policy with elections looming next year. (Reuters)

COSTA RICA/U.S.

U.S. pulls visas of 22 Costa Rican Immigration Officials Suspected of Fraud

The United States has canceled the visas of 22 Costa Rican immigration officials suspected of selling visa stamps so that Costa Ricans could stay illegally in the U.S. without getting caught, the two countries said Wednesday. (AP)

IRAN/FINLAND

Iran Seizes 3 Finns in Persian Gulf

Iran has detained three Finns for allegedly straying into its territorial waters during a fishing trip in the Persian Gulf but is releasing no information on their whereabouts, the Finnish ambassador to Tehran said Wednesday. Ambassador Heikki Puurunen said Iranian officials assured him that the three men were in good condition and had been treated well since their Saturday detention. However, Puurunen told The Associated Press that Iran had not yet agreed to a Finnish request to see the men in accordance with consular agreements between the two countries. (AP)

LEBANON

Army Goes Back on Offensive against Fatah Al-Islam

Fierce combat resumed Tuesday evening at the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp after the Lebanese Army had maintained steady pressure throughout the day with sporadic shelling aimed at the camp's southwestern quarter, where Fatah al-Islam militants are reportedly concentrated. After a quiet night, heavy fighting resumed in Nahr al-Bared on Tuesday morning, with exchanges of gunfire and intermittent explosions in the camp. Troops shelled militants' hideouts with artillery fire, while militants fired rocket-propelled grenades. (The Daily Star)

Lebanese Officials: Soldiers Seize Hezbollah Weapons Truck

Lebanese troops have seized a truckload of rockets and ammunition belonging to the Hezbollah guerrillas in eastern Lebanon, security officials said Wednesday. (AP)

U.S./LAOS

US Smashes Dad's Army Conspiracy against an Old Communist Enemy

A plot by pro-American dissidents to overthrow one of the last Asian communist dictatorships has been thwarted by a US undercover agent who posed as an arms dealer. (Time Online)

SCOOTER LIBBY TRIAL

Bush Faces Question of Whether to Pardon Libby

The sentence imposed on former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby yesterday put President Bush in the position of making a decision he has tried to avoid for months: Trigger a fresh political storm by pardoning a convicted perjurer or let one of the early architects of his administration head to prison. (Washington Post)

DC MADAM SCANDAL

Despite Madam Scandal, Tobias Honored as 'Living Legend'

Randall Tobias may have become the butt of late-night comics' jokes after admitting to ABC News he was a client of the so-called "D.C. Madam" and resigning his top State Department post in April. But his home state of Indiana is celebrating him as a "legend." (ABC News)

FRANCE

France Terror Removals Condemned

France is failing to safeguard foreign terror suspects it deports from human rights violations such as torture, an international watchdog claims. (BBC)

TAINTED FOOD FROM CHINA

China Launches Drive for Food and Drug Safety

China will launch a long-term offensive against dangerous medicines and bad foods that have alarmed consumers, the government announced in a plan that vows stronger export controls. (Reuters)

U.S.

Navy Doctor Charged With Taping Sex

The military has charged a former Naval Academy doctor who hosted midshipmen at his home with secretly videotaping the students having sex, the Navy said Tuesday. (AP)

ANALYSIS & OPINION

Before Talking, See If There Is Anything to Talk About

By Tony Badran

Recently, writing in The Washington Post, US Congressman Darrell Issa made "the case for talking to Syria." However, implementing his proposal would effectively reverse years of multilateral US policy to deal with Syrian behavior in Lebanon - a policy carefully constructed with Trans-Atlantic and Arab allies and enshrined in seven UN Security Council resolutions. Instead, Issa, a California Republican, proposed an awkward change of course for, well, it was unclear for what in exchange. The fuzziness at the heart of his argument only reflected that of most American officials who would like to see a renewal of dialogue with Syria. (The Daily Star)

The Resolution Threatens Syria's Stability

By Abdul Rahman Al-Rashed

Although Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora has said -- and Deputy Saad al-Hariri has reiterated -- that the objective of UN Security Council Resolution 1757, which endorsed the formation of the tribunal of an international character under Chapter 7 [of the UN Charter], is not to undermine Syria's stability or target it, these assurances are not accurate because the course of future developments could destabilize the political and security situation in Syria. (Asharq Al- Awsat)

Did the U.S. Incite Iran's Crackdown?

Tehran's jailing of Haleh Esfandiari, a 67-year old grandmother who holds dual Iranian-American citizenship, as well as the interrogation of others with similar papers, is evidence that Washington's latest attempt to foist change on Iran is backfiring — as Iranian democracy advocates had warned. The Bush administration had trumpeted its $61.1 million democracy program, including Farsi-language broadcasts into Iran, education and cultural exchanges and $20 million worth of support for "civil society, human rights, democratic reform and related outreach" as an important effort. However, sources tell TIME that several key Iranian reformers had repeatedly warned U.S. officials through back channels that the pro-democracy program was bound to expose them as vulnerable targets for a government crackdown whether they took Washington's funds or not. (Time)

Message for Mr. Putin

In the past few days, the anti-Western rhetoric of Russian President Vladimir Putin, which had been rising in pitch for several months, has reached Soviet levels of shrillness. He accused the United States of "imperialism" and "diktat" and threatened to target Europe with new Russian weapons. In an interview with foreign journalists, he cynically mocked Western democracy, saying that U.S. "torture, homelessness, [and] Guantanamo" and Europe's "harsh treatment of demonstrators" have left him as the only "absolute and pure democrat" in the world. (Washington Post)

An Islamic Test for Turkey

By Michael Gerson

Here in Turkey, the matter of headgear is taken seriously. An edict in 1925 forbade the wearing of the fez, causing millions of Turkish men to don bowlers, which were seen as more Western and secular. In 1982, the government of Turkey banned the wearing of headscarves by women in university classrooms -- a symbolic statement that Turkey would not be taking the route of the Iranian revolution across the border, which mandated the veil. But colorful headscarves are common on the streets here, worn in piety and protest. And the resulting headscarf debate is the Turkish equivalent of the American abortion controversy -- heated, culturally defining, admitting no compromise. (Washington Post)

Cool It; It's Not a Cold War

By Rajan Menon

News reports these days opine with tiresome regularity that Russia and the United States are headed for a new Cold War. But don't believe the hype. (LA Times)

Gitmo: A National Disgrace

Ever since President Bush rammed the Military Commissions Act of 2006 through Congress to lend a pretense of legality to his detention camp at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, we have urged Congress to amend the law to restore basic human rights and judicial process. Rulings by military judges this week suggest that the special detention system is so fundamentally corrupt that the only solution is to tear it down and start again. (New York 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.