First Friday prayer of holy month of Ramadan brings 93,000 worshippers to al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem's Old City. Hundreds of Palestinians push up against police lines set up at West Bank checkpoints
Roee Nahmias and AP
Some 93,000 Muslim worshippers arrived at the Temple Mount for the first Friday prayer of the holy month of Ramadan.  
Hundreds of Palestinians thronged two major West Bank checkpoints, trying to reach the key Islamic shrine in Jerusalem, despite tight Israeli restrictions.    Israeli troops turned back many of the West Bank faithful. Only men above the age of 45 and women above the age of 35, who had also obtained special permits, were allowed to enter Jerusalem's al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest shrine of Islam, said police spokesman Shmuel Ben-Ruby.  
Later Friday, several tens of thousands of Palestinians, many of them Jerusalem residents not affected by the restrictions, participated in the al-Aqsa service, and the crowd dispersed peacefully.  
This year, the start of Ramadan, a month of fasting and religious observance, coincided with the Jewish New Year. As customary, Israel imposed a blanket closure on the West Bank during the Jewish holiday, barring virtually all Palestinians from entering Israel.  
Hundreds ...   more »

By NICOLE WINFIELD 
ROME (AP) - A senior U.S. nuclear official said Friday that North Koreans were in Syria and that the government in Damascus may have had contacts with "secret suppliers" to obtain nuclear equipment.
Andrew Semmel, acting deputy assistant secretary of state for nuclear nonproliferation policy, did not name the suppliers, but said there were North Koreans in Syria and that he could not exclude that the network run by the disgraced Pakistan nuclear scientist A.Q. Khan may have been involved.
Semmel was responding to questions about an Israeli airstrike in northern Syria last week. Neither side has explained what exactly happened, but a U.S. government official confirmed that Israeli warplanes were targeting weapons from Iran and destined for Hezbollah militants in Lebanon.
The Washington Post reported Thursday that Israel had gathered satellite imagery showing possible North Korean cooperation with Syria on a nuclear facility.
Semmel, who is in Italy for a meeting Saturday on the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, said Syria was certainly on the U.S. "watch list."
"There are indicators that they do have something going on there," he said. "We do know that there are a number of foreign technicians that have been in Syria. We ...   more »

In TV interview, US secretary of state addresses reports of possible nuclear facilities in Syria, says, 'We have to have policies that prevent the world's most dangerous people from having the world's most dangerous weapons'
Ynet
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in an interview on Fox New's Sean Hannity Show Thursday night expressed concern following reports that Syria may be building nuclear facilities, saying, "We have to have policies that prevent the world's most dangerous people from having the world's most dangerous weapons." 
Rice did not mention any possible attack on Syria, but said the United States was working with its allies to "shut down activities". 
"That's why we have a Proliferation Security Initiative that tries to intercept dangerous cargos. So this is something that's been at the highest point of the President's agenda since he came into power and we work every day and we watch it every day and we're vigilant about it and we're determined," Rice explained. 
When asked about her political plans for the 2008 presidential election, specifically if she would run for vice president, the secretary of state said, "It's not for me." 
"I'm going to do everything I can to help carry out ...   more »