■ Isreal
Gaza pullout losing support
A new poll yesterday showed that support for the Gaza Strip pullout is ebbing, as the former head of Israel's domestic security service warned that a Jewish suicide bomber could target Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to stop the withdrawal. With the pullout due to begin in less than 10 weeks, only 53 percent of those questioned in the Yediot Aharonot newspaper's survey said they supported Sharon's disengagement plan, while 38 percent said they were opposed. When the last poll was held in February, 69 percent said they supported the withdrawal while 27 percent objected.
■ Iraq
Sheikh calls for release
One of the Muslim world's most influential figures in Europe yesterday called for the unconditional release of a French journalist who was kidnapped in Baghdad five months ago, as well as a prompt withdrawal of US and other foreign military forces in Iraq. Sheikh Hussein Halawa, secretary-general of the European Council for Fatwa and Research, said he was ready to go to Iraq if necessary to secure the release of Florence Aubenas. Aubenas, a senior correspondent for the French newspaper Liberation, and her interpreter Hussein Hanun al-Saadi, went missing after leaving the journalist's hotel in Baghdad on Jan. 5.
■ Zimbabwe
Russia decorates top brass
Russia has given medals to Zimbabwe's defense minister and other senior military officials to mark the "strong military ties" between the two countries, the state-controlled Herald newspaper reported yesterday. Russian ambassador to Zimbabwe Oleg Scherbak awarded the commemorative medals at a ceremony held on Wednesday to mark the 60th anniversary of Russia's defeat of the German army during World War II, the paper said. The paper reported Defense Minister Sydney Sekeremayi as saying that Zimbabwe "would continue to source military equipment from Russia and to learn new military tactics in order to defend its territorial integrity."
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