Says 100% sure Qaeda smuggled surface-to-air missiles

Al-Qaeda snatched missiles in Libya: Chad President

PARIS : Al-Qaeda's offshoot in North Africa has snatched surface-to-air missiles from an arsenal in Libya during the civil strife there, Chad's president said in an interview to be published Monday.

Idriss Deby Itno did not say how many were stolen, but told the African weekly Jeune Afrique that he was "100 percent sure" of his assertion.

"The Islamists of al-Qaeda took advantage of the pillaging of arsenals in the rebel zone to acquire arms, including surface-to-air missiles, which were then smuggled into their sanctuaries in Tenere," a desert region of the Sahara that stretches from northeast Niger to western Chad, Deby said in the interview.

"This is very serious. AQIM (al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb) is becoming a genuine army, the best equipped in the region," he said.

Elsewhere in the interview, Chad's president backed the assertion by his neighbor and erstwhile enemy Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi that the protests in Libya have been driven in part by al-Qaeda.

"There is a partial truth in what he says," Deby said. "Up to what point? I don't know. But I am certain that AQIM took an active part in the uprising."

After years of tension between the two nations, which were at war during part of the 1980s, Deby has more recently maintained good relations with Gaddafi.

The Chadian leader described the international military intervention in Libya, launched a week ago by the United States, France and Britain, as a "hasty decision."

"It could have heavy consequences for the stability of the region and the spread of terrorism in Europe, the Mediterranean and the rest of Africa," he cautioned.

Deby denied assertions that mercenaries had been recruited in Chad to fight for Gaddafi, though some of the several thousand Chad nationals in Libya may have joined the fight "on their own."

AQIM originated as an armed Islamist resistance movement to the secular Algerian government.

Today, it operates mainly in Algeria, Mauritania, Mali and Niger, where it has attacked military targets and taken civilian hostages.

Health benefits of walnuts

WASHINGTON: Walnuts are the no. 1 nut for heart health, said the US research that was presented at the American Chemical Society annual meeting.

That is because walnuts were found to have more antioxidants -- and better-quality antioxidants -- than other popular nuts tested, the research said.

'Nuts are good for heart. They can lower cholesterol, reduce the oxidative stress caused by the free radicals, and decrease unhealthy inflammation.

Walnuts have more, better antioxidants than peanuts, pistachios, other nuts, the researcher said.

More than a decade of scientific evidence shows that incorporating walnuts in a healthy diet reduces the risk of heart disease by improving blood vessel elasticity and plaque accumulation.

Walnuts have also been shown to aid in the lowering LDL cholesterol (the bad cholesterol) and the C-Reactive Protein (CRP). CRP was recently recognized as an independent marker and predictor of heart disease.

Japan radioactivity found in UK

LONDON: Extremely low levels of radioactive iodine from the tsunami-hit Japanese nuclear plant have been detected in parts of the UK.

A statement from the Health Protection Agency said the "minutest traces of iodine" were being seen in the UK, with low levels detected at monitoring stations in Oxfordshire and Glasgow

The agency said there was no public health risk posed by the iodine, as the radiation dose received from inhaling air with the levels recorded in the past few days would be minuscule and much less than the annual background dose.

While levels may rise in the coming days and weeks, they will be "significantly below any level which could cause harm to public health", the HPA said.

The statement comes after the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) said an air sampler in Glasgow had picked up iodine particles which they believe could be from the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan.

The HPA said that trace levels of the radioactive chemical iodine-131 had been detected by measurements taken at a monitoring station in Oxfordshire on Monday. The measurements followed reports of iodine at monitoring stations in Glasgow and Oxfordshire.

Dr James Gemmill, Sepa's radioactive substances manager, said: "The concentration of iodine detected is extremely low and is not of concern for the public or the environment.

The fact that such a low concentration of this radionuclide was detected demonstrates how effective the surveillance programme for radioactive substances is in the UK.

1 BYE 1 GO.Libyan Minister

LONDON: Libya's foreign minister has not been offered immunity following his unexpected arrival in Britain, London said Thursday, while urging other members of Moamer Kadhafi's "crumbling" regime to quit.

Mussa Kussa, a former head of Libyan intelligence and one-time ambassador to Britain, arrived "under his own free will" at Farnborough airport southwest of London on Wednesday, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said.

He was being questioned by British officials, but Hague insisted that Kussa, who has been accused of masterminding the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, had not been offered immunity from prosecution.

"Mussa Kussa is not being offered any immunity from British or international justice," Hague told reporters.

The 59-year-old Libyan flew to Britain with his son from Tunisia, where he had spent two days on what Tripoli had officially described as a private visit.

Kadhafi's government, embroiled in a war with rebel fighters against his 42-year rule, later shrugged off the defection by saying the regime "does not depend on individuals". (AFP)