:
NEWLY RELEASED OBL TAPE -
and other related news briefs (4#) -

# As Sahab has just released an Osama Bin Laden snippet, which is probably not of recent vintage, in which he is reportedly seen encouraging martyrdom. I am using Jeffrey Imm's report on CTB as my reference here.

# Music is now banned in the Tribal Area of Bajaur Agency in Pakistan. Local Taliban recently detained six people on charges of drug-taking and paraded them naked in a bazaar in Inayat Killey... CDs and cassettes were seized from the area and destroyed on this occasion. [satp]

# "The Iraqi port city of Basra, already prey to a nasty turf war between rival militia factions, has now been gripped by a scary rumour: giant badgers are stalking the streets by night, eating humans." [afp/au]

# "Claims by the editor of a hardline Iranian newspaper that Bahrain is part of Iran and should be returned have provoked uproar in the Gulf Arab island which is seeking an explanation from Tehran."

...