NP US urges curb on Arab TV channel

[Doug Millison]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/low/english/world/americas/newsid_1578000/1578619.stm

Washington has asked Qatar to rein in the influential and editorially
independent Arabic al-Jazeera television station, which gives airtime to
anti-American opinions.

The emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad Khalifa al-Thani, confirmed after a meeting
with US Secretary of State Colin Powell in Washington that he had been
asked to exert influence on the Qatari-based channel, which can be received
almost worldwide.

It was al-Jazeera which carried the faxed statement purportedly from Osama
bin Laden, calling upon Muslims to fight the US, and broadcast unconfirmed
reports that members of the US special forces had been captured in
Afghanistan.

It has also been re-transmitting an exclusive interview with Bin Laden
conducted three years ago, and featuring a number of anti-American analysts
on its talkshows. [...]