20 Decapitated Bodies Found In Iraq

June 28, 2007 -- IRAQ

20 Beheaded Bodies Found In Iraq

Twenty beheaded bodies were discovered Thursday on the banks of the Tigris River southeast of Baghdad and a car bomb killed another 20 people in one of the capital's busy outdoor bus stations, police said. (AP)

Baghdad Bomb Kills 25, as British Soldiers Die

A car bomb attack has killed at least 25 commuters at a bus stop and wounded dozens of others in Baghdad this morning, only hours after three more British soldiers were killed in a roadside bombing in Basra. (The Times of London)

4 Journalists Killed in Iraq

Four more Iraqi journalists have been killed in attacks across Iraq in the last three weeks, a media watchdog and police said on Thursday. (Daily Jang)

Readiness of US-Trained Iraqis Doubted

The United States has invested $19 billion to train and equip nearly 350,000 Iraqi soldiers and police since it toppled Saddam Hussein, but the ability of those forces to provide security for the country remains in doubt, according to the results of a bipartisan congressional investigation to be released today. (Washington Post)

AFGHANISTAN

Suicide Bomber Kills American in Kabul

A suicide car bomber hit a convoy of security contractors in the Afghan capital Thursday, killing an American and a Nepalese citizen and wounding three other Americans, police said. The Taliban claimed responsibility. (AP)

Taliban Free 18 Mine Clearers Held For Six Days

The insurgent Taliban movement has released 18 Afghan mine clearers captured six days ago, but has held on to their equipment and three sniffer dogs, the rebel group and an official said Thursday. (Daily Jang)

U.S. WIRETAPPING

White House Is Subpoenaed on Wiretapping

The Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday issued subpoenas to the White House, Vice President Dick Cheney's office and the Justice Department after what the panel's chairman called "stonewalling of the worst kind" of efforts to investigate the National Security Agency's policy of wiretapping without warrants. (NY Times)

U.S.

Report: Wasteful Government Spending at All-Time High

The U.S. government has committed to spend a record-high $1.1 trillion with companies holding government contracts "plagued by waste, fraud, abuse or mismanagement," according to a new report by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. (ABC News)

U.S. Faces More Distrust from World, Poll Shows

Distrust of the United States has intensified across the world, but overall views of America remain very or somewhat favorable among majorities in 25 of 46 countries and the Palestinian territories surveyed in an international poll conducted by the Pew Research Center, in results reported Wednesday. (NY Times)

PAKISTAN

250,000 in Distress: •Turbat Situation Critical •Mirani Dam in Danger

More than 250,000 people in Balochistan have either been rendered homeless or severely affected by a cyclone which lashed the coastal areas and the heavy rainfall which almost paralysed major parts of the province. At least 24 people have been reported killed in floods and rain-related incidents. (Dawn)

3 Insurgents Killed By Own Bomb in N Waziristan

Three insurgents died when a bomb they were planting on a road detonated prematurely in North Waziristan on Thursday. (Daily Jang)

1988 PAN AM BOMBING INVESTIGATION

Panel Recommends Appeal in Lockerbie Bomber Conviction

A Scottish judicial panel on Thursday questioned the reliability of evidence used to convict a former Libyan intelligence agent of carrying out the 1988 bombing of a Pan American plane over Lockerbie, Scotland, and recommended that he be granted an appeal. (AP)

INDONESIA

All Indonesian Airlines Banned from Flying into EU

All Indonesian airlines and several from Russia, Ukraine and Angola will be barred from flying to the European Union due to safety concerns, the European Commission said Thursday. (AP)

IRAN/U.S.

Why Are Three Americans Still Being Held in Iran?

Amnesty International is lobbying for the release of three American scholars of Iranian descent now being held in the notorious Evin prison in Tehran. (ABC News)

NORTH KOREA

US 'Deeply Troubled' By Pyongyang Missiles

North Korea has test-fired "several missiles", the United States confirmed on Wednesday, as UN inspectors prepared to visit a reactor at the centre of the reclusive regime's nuclear programme.... (South China Morning Post)

LEBANON

6 Killed In Fighting in Northern Lebanon

Lebanese troops killed at least six Islamic militants during a gunbattle in northern Lebanon on Thursday, a military official said. (AP)

SYRIA/LEBANON

Siniora Accuses Syria of Sending Arms to Camps

Prime Minister Fouad Siniora accused Syria on Wednesday of sending arms to Palestinian camps in Lebanon and threatened to raise the issue with the Arab League. Siniora was speaking from Paris the day after independent experts handed the UN Security Council a report saying that Lebanon was largely incapable of preventing arms smuggling from Syria. (Daily Star)

SPAIN

Top Judge Warns of High Terror Threat
The threat of terrorism in Europe remains very high due to anger over the Iraqi war and the growing influence of North African groups linked to al-Qaida, a leading anti-terrorism judge warned Thursday. (AP)

COLOMBIA

11 Kidnapped Deputies Killed: Colombian Rebels

Eleven kidnapped Colombian state lawmakers held hostage for five years were killed after a military attack on the jungle camp where they were being kept, according to a statement on a Web site sympathetic to the country's largest rebel group. (Daily Jang)

Colombian Navy Captures Alleged Rebel

The navy has captured an alleged rebel suspected of masterminding a wave of recent bombings that killed three people and wounded dozens in Colombia's most violent city, the government said Wednesday. (AP)

DRUG TRAFFICKING

Brazil Police Kill 19 in Rio Slum Siege

Police backed by helicopters raided a notorious Rio shantytown and killed 19 suspected drug traffickers in pitched gunbattles. (AP)

MADELEINE KIDNAPPING INVESTIGATION

Italian Man said Arrested in Madeleine Kidnapping

An Italian has been arrested in Spain over the kidnapping of 4-year-old Madeleine McCann, who vanished from her resort bedroom in Portugal last month, Spain's El Pais newspaper Web site said on Thursday. (Reuters)

LIBYA

Libya's Gadhafi Misbehaving Again

More than a year after the United States renewed diplomatic ties with Libya, leader Moammar Gadhafi still has not completed settlement payments to the families of Pan Am 103 victims, and he recently delivered an incendiary speech during which he laughed off any financial impact of the settlement. (ABC News)

SEX SLAVERY/JAPAN

U.S. Panel OKs Sex Slave Resolution

The U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee overwhelmingly passed a resolution Tuesday demanding an apology from Japan over the sexual exploitation of women in the Asia-Pacific region by the military during the war. (Japan Times)

INDIA

10 N-Ships Visited India

The UPA government has allowed nine nuclear-powered vessels to dock in Goa port since 2004. Of these, three were from France, one from Britain and five from the United States. The last one to dock was the USS Providence, which was in Goa between October 30 and November 3 last year. (Asian Age)

ANALYSIS & OPINION

Closing Guantanamo

The Bush administration appears to be inching toward a conclusion that most of the world reached long ago: The Guantanamo Bay prison for terrorism suspects has been a disaster and must be shut down. Both Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates have urged Mr. Bush to move Guantanamo's detainees to the United States. If he does not act, the prison will surely be closed by Congress or Mr. Bush's successor. If the president moves now, he can mitigate the stain Guantanamo will leave on his legacy. More important, he can help to create a sustainable basis for holding and interrogating foreign terrorism suspects in the future. (Washington Post)

Pakistan to Help As the US's Jailer

By Syed Saleem Shahzad

With the Bush administration under pressure to close the US detention facility at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, plans have been made to relocate some of its "war on terror" captives to the countries of their origin. In Pakistan, construction has already begun on new special jails in three cities, paid for by the US. Inmates can expect a long wait for their day in court. (Asia Times)

Convergence or Acknowledgement?

Dr Haider K Nizamani

It is interest divergence that causes friction between Washington and Islamabad. Interest convergence may not be a realistic goal at present. Trust would automatically follow if the two countries acknowledge each other's interests and set realistic expectations. (Daily Times)

Mirror of Lies

By Mshari Al-Zaydi

Sudanese President Omar al Bashir smiled as he made some harsh statements earlier this week saying, "We will not relinquish Sudan and we will not hand it to colonialists." He scoffed at the international community that "whines" about the Darfur crisis and identified the source of the problem as the undermining of Sudanese greatness. (Asharq Alawsat)

Iran: Is Fuel Rationing a Spark in a Powder Keg?

As many as 50 gasoline stations were reportedly torched early June 27 in Iran as angry citizens protested fuel rationing measures. There are additional unconfirmed reports that gasoline stations in several other cities across the country were also burned. Elsewhere, protesters reportedly blocked the main highway in Tehran, and clashes were said to have led to at least three deaths. (Stratfor)

Warnings in the Egyptian Press: The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt Is Going the Way of Hamas in Gaza

In the wake of Hamas' takeover of Gaza, some in the Egyptian press have expressed fears that the Muslim Brotherhood may seize power in Egypt. They expressed concern at the similarities between Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood, and said that lessons should be learned from the Palestinian experience in Gaza. The following are excerpts of articles from the Egyptian press: (MEMRI)

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.