EXCLUSIVE: Two Snipers and Car Captured in Iraq

August 31, 2006 -- IRAQ NEWS

Two Snipers and Car Captured in Iraq

ABC News has obtained exclusive photographs of two alleged Iraqi snipers and a vehicle modified as a "mobile shooting platform." (ABC News)

Series of Attacks Leaves 46 Dead in Iraq

A series of attacks killed at least 46 people across Iraq Thursday, including 39 within a half hour in a Shiite section of Baghdad, officials said. At least 118 people were wounded. (AP)

IRAN NUCLEAR STANDOFF

IAEA Says Iran Not Stopping Enrichment

Iran's president defiantly refused to compromise as a U.N. deadline for his country to stop enriching uranium arrived Thursday, saying Tehran would not be bullied into giving up its right to nuclear technology. (AP)

U.S. Military Sees Iran's Nuke Bomb 5 Years Away

The U.S. military is operating under the assumption that Iran is five to eight years away from being able to build its first nuclear weapon, a time span that explains a general lack of urgency within the Bush administration to use air strikes to disable Tehran's atomic program. (The Washington Times)

ISRAEL

Gunman Enters British Embassy in Israel

An armed man threatening to commit suicide apparently breached security at the British Embassy in Tel Aviv and was loose on the grounds inside, Israeli police said Thursday. The man, of Arab descent, was demanding asylum in the United Kingdom, police officials said. (AP)

MIDEAST

Israel Says Syria, Not Just Iran, Supplied Missiles to Hezbollah

New postwar intelligence indicates that the militant group Hezbollah had broader access to sophisticated weaponry than was publicly known — including large numbers of medium-range rockets made in Syria, said U.S. and Israeli government officials and military analysts. (L.A. Times)

Egyptian Weekly on Hizbullah's Armed Children's Militias

In its August 18, 2006 edition, the Egyptian weekly Roz Al-Yusuf featured an investigative article by Mirfat Al-Hakim titled "Hizbullah's Children's Militias." The article reveals that Hizbullah has recruited over 2,000 children aged 10-15 to serve in armed militias, and that the Hizbullah-affiliated Mahdi Scouts youth organization is training them to become martyrs. The following are excerpts from the article. (MEMRI)

BIRD FLU

No Avian Flu Found After Thousands of Alaskan Birds Tested

The expected avian flu outbreaks in North American birds have yet to show up. (ABC News)

AFGHANISTAN

Foreign Fighters Join Taliban in Afghanistan, U.K. Says

Foreign fighters are starting to appear among Taliban forces fighting British troops in southern Afghanistan, a senior British official said on Wednesday. (Reuters)

U.S. Says Afghan Opium Production Soars, But Fight against Problem Getting Better

A top U.S. official acknowledged Thursday that Afghanistan opium production was soaring, but that the United States believes it has a strategy to successfully fight the problem. (AP)

CIVILIAN DEATHS IN IRAQ

No Death Penalty for Iraq Marine

US military prosecutors will not seek the death penalty for a US marine charged with killing an Iraqi civilian. (BBC)

AL QAEDA

Experts Fear Africa Next Big Stage for Al Qaeda

There is mounting evidence that the African continent will become the next Al Qaeda hotbed as the militant group seeks to expand its global operations, a senior expert on terrorism said. (Reuters)

DARFUR

Darfur Rebels Say Attacked as U.N. Vote Nears

Darfur rebels said Sudanese planes and troops attacked villages in the western region before a U.N. Security Council vote Thursday on the deployment of U.N. peacekeepers to the region. (Reuters)

U.S.

Feds Say Air Controller Slept 2 Hours

In the day leading up to the crash of Comair Flight 5191, a federal investigator says the air traffic controller on duty had worked for almost 15 hours and slept for two. (AP)

Nicotine Up Sharply In Many Cigarettes
The amount of nicotine in most cigarettes rose an average of almost 10 percent from 1998 to 2004, with brands most popular with young people and minorities registering the biggest increases and highest nicotine content, according to a new study. (Washington Post)

NORWAY

Police Recover 'The Scream' Two Years After It Was Stolen

Norwegian police have today recovered The Scream and another stolen masterpiece by Edvard Munch two years after they were stolen from an Oslo museum by armed men. (Times of London)

ANALYSIS & OPINION

We're Not Winning This War

By John Lehman

Are we winning the war? The first question to ask is, what war? The Bush administration continues to muddle a national understanding of the conflict we are in by calling it the "war on terror." (Washington Post)

Turkey Goaded by Bombings

By Hilmi Toros

Bomb blasts in Turkey this week did more than kill three and injure 20. They dealt another blow to Turkey's tourism sector and its image as a rock of stability in an explosive Middle East. (Asia Times)

Raising Nicotine Doses, on the Sly
While most of us thought the country was trying to curb smoking, and the rapacious habits of the tobacco companies, it turns out the industry has been sneakily making cigarettes more addictive. (NY Times)

The High Price of Friendship
By Patricia Weitsman
According to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the United States has engaged in more multinational operations since the end of the cold war than it did in the preceding 90 years. Relying on one's partners to fight wars makes sense. After all, it is better to fight with your friends at your side than alone, right? Wrong. (NY 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, Hoda Osman and Elizabeth Sprague of the ABC News Investigative Unit. The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ABCNEWS.