Blair shunted by his own party

Prime Minister Tony Blair, battered over his Iraq policy and a series of scandals in his cabinet, is facing a growing revolt within his Labor Party as scores of Labor members of Parliament demand that he set a date to step aside.

"I have a job for him: ambassador to Outer Mongolia," said Robert Wareing, a Labor member of Parliament for 23 years. He said "a very strong feeling" in the party that Blair should go has increased since Labor's dismal third-place showing in local elections Thursday. The future of the Blair government, the Bush administration's closest European ally, suddenly appears more shaky and uncertain. Blair, who was already suffering low approval ratings and rebellion among some factions of his party after nine years in office, is facing sharp, new attacks since the election and a controversial cabinet reshuffle Friday.

A BBC survey Sunday found that 52 of 172 Labor members of Parliament questioned said Blair should resign within a year. Labor MPs interviewed said a large number of their colleagues, many of whom have been Blair supporters in the past, are endorsing a letter demanding that Blair announce a timetable for stepping down.

"He said he's going to go. We just want to know when he's going to go. It's a reasonable request," said Ian Gibson, a Labor MP who said between 50 and 100 Labor MPs think Blair should say when he is going to leave office. Labor has 353 members in the 646-seat House of Commons.

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US says world safer, despite 11,000 attacks in '05

The U.S. war on terrorism has made the world safer, the State Department's counterterrorism chief said on Friday, despite more than 11,000 terrorist attacks worldwide last year that killed 14,600 people. The U.S. State Department said the numbers, listed in its annual Country Reports on Terrorism released on Friday, were based on a broader definition of terrorism and could not be compared to the 3,129 international attacks listed the previous year. But the new 2005 figures, which showed attacks in Iraq jumped and accounted for about a third of the world's total, may fuel criticism of the Bush administration's assertion that it is winning the fight against terrorism. Asked if the world was safer than the previous year, U.S. State Department Counterterrorism Coordinator Henry Crumpton told a news conference, "I think so. But I think that (if) you look at the ups and downs of this battle, it's going to take us a long time to win this. You can't measure this month ...

Web users to 'patrol' US border

A US state is to enlist web users in its fight against illegal immigration by offering live surveillance footage of the Mexican border on the internet. The plan will allow web users worldwide to watch Texas' border with Mexico and phone the authorities if they spot any apparently illegal crossings. Texas Governor Rick Perry said the cameras would focus on "hot-spots and common routes" used to enter the US. US lawmakers have been debating a divisive new illegal immigration bill. The Senate has approved a law that grants millions of illegal immigrants US citizenship and calls for the creation of a guest-worker programme, while beefing up border security. But in order to come into effect, the plan must be reconciled with tougher anti-immigration measures backed by the House of Representatives, that insist all illegal immigration should be criminalised. The issue has polarised politics and US society. Right-wing groups have protested against illegal immigrants, while ...

Al-Qaeda number two in new video

Al-Qaeda's number two Ayman al-Zawahiri has appeared in a video saying that Iraqi insurgents have "broken the back" of the US military. He praised "martyrdom operations" carried out by al-Qaeda in Iraq in the video, posted on an Islamist website. And he called on the people and army of Pakistan to fight against President Musharraf's administration. This is the third message from prominent al-Qaeda leaders to emerge within a week. A tape from Osama Bin Laden was broadcast on 23 April, followed two days later by a message from Iraqi insurgent Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Pakistan focus Zawahiri, who wore a black turban and a white robe in the video, described the leaders of Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Iraq as traitors, and urged Muslims to "confront them". He praised Iraqi militants, saying that the US, Britain and allies had "achieved nothing but losses, disasters and misfortunes" in Iraq. "Al-Qaeda in Iraq alone has carried out 800 ma...

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