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NAIROBI. Kenyans celebrate as Obama eyes White House.</B> Kenyans rejoiced yesterday after Barack Obama plunged into the US presidential race, saying if the youthful senator from Illinois wins the White House he will not forget his African roots. Obama, who was born in Hawaii to a Kenyan father and a white American mother, was greeted like a long-lost son in August when he visited his ancestral village in the remote western Kenya. His vow to “change our politics” with a campaign that could make him the first black president in US history was greeted with cheers of joy and pride on the streets of the capital Nairobi.
PHILIPPINES. Arroyo vows to defeat militants. </B>Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has vowed to defeat Islamic militancy “with a hand of steel”. She said the “relentless pressure” against the rebels was paying off. Arroyo was speaking a day after the military announced that Abu Sulaiman, a key member of rebel group Abu Sayyaf, had been killed in a gun battle. Sulaiman, also known as Jainal Antal Sali, had a $5m bounty placed on his head by the US, in part for the 2001 abduction of a group of tourists. The kidnapping resulted in the deaths of two Americans and several others. Sulaiman is also believed to have been involved in the bombing of a passenger ferry in the central Philippines in 2004, which killed at least100 people.
LONDON. Accused bomber raised suspicion at Heathrow. </B>One of six men on trial for plotting to bomb London in 2005 was stopped at Heathrow airport seven months earlier and asked about his Muslim beliefs and why he was flying to Pakistan, a police witness said recently. Detective Constable Louis Chryssathis was a plain clothes special branch officer at Heathrow who stopped Muktah Said Ibrahim as he was leaving Britain for Pakistan in December 2004. Chryssathis told Woolwich Crown Court that when asked about religion, Ibrahim “stated he was a Muslim by birth but not a regular worshipper. He stated he was not able to worship as often as he would like. He said he didn’t have enough time.”
<B>BEIRUT. Hundreds protest against Lebanon’s economic reform plan. </B>Hundreds of Lebanese protesters rallied outside the Economy Ministry in Beirut yesterday as part of a Hezbollah-led campaign to topple the government and block its economic reform plans. “We are not against reform, we are against the (government’s) reform programme,” the crowd chanted. Scores of soldiers and police cordoned off the ministry near the commercial Hamra street. Four similar protests took place at government buildings over the past eight days. The demonstrations, much smaller than the vast gatherings organised by Hezbollah and its allies in December, were called by the main labour union confederation and backed by the opposition to press a 48-day-old campaign to topple Prime Minister Fouad Siniora’s government.
<B>ISRAEL. PM faces calls to resign.</B> Israeli opposition politicians have called on PM Ehud Olmert and his defence minister to resign. This follows the resignation of the head of Israel’s armed forces, Lieutenant General Dan Halutz, over the handling of the conflict in Lebanon. Ehud Olmert and Amir Peretz should share the blame for failures in the conflict with the militant Hezbollah movement in 2006, the opposition figures said. Gen Halutz said he was taking responsibility for the mistakes made. The conflict ended without Israel achieving its main aim, the release of two soldiers captured by Hezbollah in a cross border raid into Israel. The Lebanese militant group described Gen Halutz’s resignation as proof of its victory over Israel.
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