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Indonesia on high alert for Bush visit

JAKARTA, Nov. 18 (UPI) -- Indonesia's intelligence agency chief said Saturday U.S. President George Bush's visit could provoke terrorist attacks and put the agency on high alert.

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The Jemaah Islamiyah Noerdin Moh terrorist group, linked to al-Qaida, topped the list of potential terror attack suspects, intelligence chief Syamsir Siregar said in Jakarta.

The threat "still exists, as long as the members of the Noerdin's group have not been all captured," he said after a meeting at the Coordinating Ministry of Politics, Law and Security.

Siregar would not elaborate on the seriousness of any threats, China's Xinhua news agency reported.

Bush is scheduled to visit Indonesia on Monday.

Indonesia has been hit by a series of suicide bombings in recent years, most of which targeted Westerners.


Blair heads to Pakistan for talks

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Nov. 18 (UPI) -- British Prime Minister Tony Blair plans talks in Pakistan with President Pervez Musharraf on combating international terrorism.

The growing strength of insurgents in Afghanistan also will be on the agenda, Sky News reported.

The two leaders are scheduled to meet on Sunday. The visit is to include an announcement of a joint working group to fight terrorism and the drug trade, Sky News said.

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Blair also plans to double development aid from 236 million pounds ($447 million) to 480 million pounds ($909 million).

"It is not just designed to counter radicalism but also to train people in the skills which allow the Pakistan economy to develop," a spokesman for the prime minister said.


Iran calls on Muslims to destroy Israel

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia, Nov. 18 (UPI) -- Iran's foreign minister Saturday called on Islamic and Arab countries to sever their relations with Israel and prevent cooperation with Israeli companies.

Manouchehr Mottaki told the executive committee of the Organization of the Islamic Conference in Saudi Arabia that Muslims must destroy Israel and restore the legitimate people of what he termed "occupied Palestine" to power.

He said the Hezbollah resistance during the July fighting between Lebanon and Israel showed "oppressed nations would guarantee their victory and bring defeat to the enemies," Iran's official IRNA news agency reported.

Mottaki called on the global community to help remove economic sanctions against Palestinians.

The Organization of the Islamic Conference is an intergovernmental organization representing 57 mostly Islamic nations in the Middle East, other parts of Africa, Asia, Europe and South America.


Italy extradites bombing suspect to Spain

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MADRID, Nov. 18 (UPI) -- Italy has extradited to Spain a leading suspect in the 2004 Madrid train bombing that killed 191 people, El Pais reported Saturday.

Rabei Osman Sayed Ahmed allegedly helped the terror bombers help prepare the explosives for the railway attack.

The 35-year-old Ahmed was jailed in Italy earlier this year for having ties to links to terror groups in Iraq and Europe.

Italian authorities also said they recorded Ahmed in a conversation in which he claims that the train bombing was his idea.

The Egyptian-born Ahmed is among 29 suspects that will stand trial in the bombing in February.

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