Saudis 'foil hajj attack plot'

Nearly three million people travelled to Saudi Arabia for the annual hajj season [AFP] Saudi Arabia has arrested a group of men said to have been planning a "terrorist act" during the annual Muslim pilgrimage, according to the Interior ministry. The ministry said on Friday that security forces had foiled a plot to carry out an attack on security forces during the hajj (pilgrimage). Mansour al-Turki, an interior ministry spokesman, told The Associated Press: "The group was arrested three days before the hajj season." Al-Turki gave no further details on the identity of those arrested, but the Saudi-owned Arabiya satellite news station described them as Saudis. "The group aimed to trouble the security of the pilgrimage," the television report said, but quoted Saudi sources as saying the attack did not target Islam's holiest sites in Mecca or the pilgrims. Security threat In depth Hajj incidents They said the arrests were made in several different cities of the oil-rich kingdom. Sami Zeidan, reporting for Al Jazeera from Mecca, said Saudi authorities had affirmed the group was "not only linked to al-Qaeda but also intended to disrupt the hajj". "We've heard of arrests before in Mecca," he said, "But the talk of al-Qaeda targeting hajj is a new element." He added: "It's difficult to see what al-Qaeda would gain from an attack that would disrupt the Muslim pilgrimage ... It leaves a lot of question marks." Pilgrimage Nearly three million pilgrims travelled to Saudi Arabia for the annual hajj season, which ended on Friday with a final visit to Mecca after days rituals in the surrounding hills. The authorities were on high alert this year because of the participation of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the first president from Iran to take part in the pilgrimage. Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz, Saudi Arabia's interior minister, said in early December that his forces had foiled "more than 180 terrorist operations" since a wave of bombings and shootings by the Saudi branch of al-Qaeda broke out four years ago. The Muslim kingdom also said it arrested 208 suspected al-Qaeda fighters over the past few months. source: http://english.aljazeera.net/

Japan halts humpback whale hunt

Tokyo still plans to kill nearly 1,000 whales, mostly of the minke variety [EPA]

Japan has dropped a plan to kill humpback whales following strong protests led by Australia.

"Japan will not hunt humpback whales," Nobutaka Machimura, Japan's chief government spokesman, said on Friday.

"It's true that Australia expressed quite a strong opinion to Japan on this," he said.

"As a result, I hope that this will lead to better relations with Australia."

Japan had planned to harpoon around 50 humpbacks on its current expedition - the first time since the 1960s that Tokyo would have hunted the species, which are popular with Australian whale-watchers.

Antarctic expedition

Tokyo, however, is still going ahead with its expedition in the Antarctic, planning to kill nearly 1,000 other whales, mostly of the smaller minke species.

Machimura said Japan and Australia had cultural differences over whales but that Tokyo hoped to preserve relations with Canberra, where the new left-leaning government has stepped up pressure against the hunt.

"Australians consider whales to be very affectionate, something I can't really relate to. But apparently they give names to every whale and there's quite strong public sentiment," Machimura said.

But he denied that Japan was backing down in response to Australia, saying it made its decision after talks with the head of the International Whaling Commission (IWC).

"Japan is thinking of the IWC as an organisation as a whole and that is why we decided on this, instead of particularly thinking about Australia," Machimura said.

Japan, which says whale meat is part of its culinary culture, hunts whales using a loophole in a 1986 IWC moratorium that allows "lethal research" on the giant mammals.

Welcome move

In Canberra, a spokesman for Stephen Smith, the foreign minister, said: "The Australian government welcomed Japan's announcement.

"While this is a welcome move, the Australian government strongly believes that there is no credible justification for the hunting of any whales and will vigorously pursue its efforts ... to see an end to whaling by Japan," he said.

Meanwhile, the Australian embassy in Tokyo said it, along with other embassies, would deliver a document on whaling to Japan's foreign ministry on Friday.

The embassy has declined to disclose the contents of the document or say how many other countries were involved.

While the whales are killed for "scientific purposes", their meat ends up in Japanese supermarkets and restaurants, although the public appetite for what is now a delicacy is waning.

Some experts say Japan fears that limits on whaling will lead to limits on all Japanese fishing. Others argue the whaling campaign is a form of nationalist diplomacy.

source:
http://english.aljazeera.net/

Many die in Tajikistan avalanche

At least 16 people have been killed in Tajikstan in an avalanche that swept down onto a road linking the capital, Dushanbe, with another city, Khudjand.

Russian television broadcast pictures of the area affected by the avalanche [EPA]

"We extracted 15 bodies from underneath the snow, it is unknown how many remain there," Khudoinazar Asoyev, a spokesman for the central Asian state's interior ministry, said on Friday.

He said: "A massive avalanche on Friday closed off a mountain road, trapping large cargo trucks travelling from the north to Dushanbe.

"Yet another avalanche crashed down on the vehicles when they stopped."

However, the emergency ministry contradicted the death toll, saying that a minimum of two people were killed in the avalanche.

"Rescuers have so far reported two people killed but because of bad weather they are only able to phone in occasionally," Munira Nazariyeva, the minsitry spokeswoman, said on Saturday.

It was not immediately clear how many people were trapped at the site, 70km north of Dushanbe.

"There are still people under snow, we cannot say how many at the moment. The rescue operation continues," she said.

Pictures shown on Russia's Vesti-24 news channel showed rescuers digging through the snow with shovels.

The interior ministry source said all victims were either drivers or passengers of cars trapped in the snow.

The vital link usually closed for the winter season, stayed open this year thanks to the newly built $31 million Anzob tunnel that goes under a snow-covered pass.