JERUSALEM (July 22, 2007): An Israeli man who hired a detective to find out whether his daughter was cheating on her husband was told by the investigator his wife was in fact the one being unfaithful, an Israeli newspaper reported today.

The man had his daughter followed at the request of his son-in-law, who had been suspicious of his wife’s behaviour. The daughter was found innocent but the private investigator managed to snap photographs of the mother and another man caught in the act, the Maariv daily said.

"I saved my daughter’s marriage and at the same time, saved myself from a woman who had it all in life but chose another man," the man, who has since sought to end the marriage, was quoted as telling his lawyer. - Reuters

India’s 'green' bandit killed after 32 years on run

LUCKNOW (July 22, 2007): A notorious bandit known by many Indians as a local Robin Hood who defended forests against illegal loggers and poachers was shot dead today in northern India after 32 years on the run, police said.

Shiv Kumar Patel, 56, also known as "Dadua", was killed along with 10 other members of his gang in Uttar Pradesh state.

The bandit faced more than 200 criminal cases against him, including murder, extortion and kidnapping.

Many local villagers hailed him as a kind of Robin Hood. He would often rob the rich to feed the poor, particularly those belonging to his own low "kurmi" caste.

Dadua had been roaming the jungles of Uttar Pradesh and neighbouring Madhya Pradesh state for decades. - Reuters

TEHRAN (July 22, 2007): Iran’s Foreign Ministry said today that televised "confessions" of two detained American-Iranians unveiled a U.S.-backed plan to topple Iran’s clerical establishment.

State television aired a programme called "In the Name of Democracy" on Wednesday and Thursday (July 18 and 19), featuring interviews with Haleh Esfandiari and Kian Tajbakhsh, who Iran accuses of being involved in a U.S.-backed plot to stage a "velvet revolution" in the Islamic state.

Washington has called the programme illegitimate and coerced, urging Iran to immediately release the two dual nationals, arrested separately in May while visiting Iran from the United States.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said the programme proved the United States had a long-term programme to "overthrow the system" in Iran.

"The confessions of the two detained people uncovers a long-term plan which America has invested in and has allocated a great budget for," Hosseini told a weekly news conference.

Esfandiari, an academic at the U.S.-based Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, said on Thursday (July 19) she had helped create a network "to lead to very fundamental changes in Iran’s system."

Senior cleric Ahmad Khatami, member of a body with power to sack or appoint Iran’s supreme leader, said on Friday (July 20): "The confessions proved America wanted to weaken the system by using intellectuals."

A U.S. State Department spokesman Tom Casey said on Friday: "This should be an
embarrassment to the Iranian regime. Is it really possible to imagine that a government is so fragile and so under siege that individuals coming to visit elderly family members threaten its existence?"

He said the U.S. request through the Swiss and other embassies in Tehran to have consular access to the pair, had been refused by Tehran. Tehran and Washington have no diplomatic relations since Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution.

Tajbakhsh, a consultant with the Soros institute, founded by billionaire investor George Soros, told the same programme: "The aim of the Soros centre was to bring a model of the Western democracy" to Iran after an eventual conflict.

The U.S.-based Soros Foundation’s Open Society Institute said it was "deeply concerned over Iran’s use of deliberately contrived television footage" of the pair.

The programme made no mention of two other American-Iranians detained on spying charges, one of whom has been freed on bail.

Iranian TV has in the past broadcast the so-called "confessions" by dissidents serving jail sentences for alleged attempts to undermine the Islamic Republic.

Washington is leading efforts to isolate Iran over its disputed nuclear programme, which Iran says is solely to generate electricity.

U.S. forces have detained five Iranians in Iraq on charges of backing militants there. The two countries are set to hold fresh talks in Iraq soon, following a landmark meeting in Baghdad in May.- Reuters

BANGKOK (July 22, 2007): Thousands of anti-coup protesters today marched on former Thai prime minister Prem Tinsulanonda's house here to demand the senior statesman's resignation as the top advisor to the country's monarch.

About 10,000 members of the United Front of Democracy againstDictatorship (UDD) marched from Sanam Luang - the Royal Grounds - to Prem's residence to demand he resign as chairman of the privy council to Thailand's much-revered King Bhumibol
Adulyadej.

The protesters were met by pro-Prem supporters who had lined upoutside his house. Both sides were sporting yellow T-shirts, which has become a sign of reverence for King Bhumibol, whose special colour is yellow.

Prem, a former army commander-in-chief who was prime ministerbetween 1979 to 1988, has been accused by the UDD as being the mastermind of the Sept 19 military coup that ousted former premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

The UDD, a loose coalition of anti-coup groups, charge that Prem abused his position at the privy council to interfere with Thai politics.

Thaksin, a billionaire businessman who introduced populist policies to Thailand's system of money politics, was ousted by a military junta last year on charges of corruption and for dividing the nation.

Popular opinion continues to be divided on whether Thaksin, whowas prime minister between 2001 to 2006, was a benefit or a bane to Thailand's 75-year-old search for democracy, which has been derailed by numerous military coups.

The tension between the pro-Thaksin and anti-Thaksin camps is likely to intensify over coming months as Thailand gears up for a referendum on Aug 19 to decide the fate of the country's 18th constitution.

A general election is expected to be held in either November or December.

Besides staging anti-junta protests, the UDD has also launched a campaign to get the people to vote against the draft constitution written by a junta-appointed committee, arguing that it would weaken the political party system and grant amnesty to the coup makers.

"If we can get people to vote no that will mean there will be no more coups," said Sant Hatthirat, a pro-democracy activist andadvisor to the UDD.

The UDD hopes Thailand will revert to the 1997 constitution, which was revoked by the junta when it staged the Sept 19 coup. - dpa