Fraud verdict on ex-Thai PM party

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -- A court Wednesday found two top members of the Thai Rak Thai Party of the ousted prime minister guilty of election law violations, a ruling that could lead to it being disbanded.
The Constitutional Tribunal ruled that former Defense Minister Thammarak Issaragura na Ayuthaya and former Transport Minister Pongsak Raktapongpaisal had illegally paid several small parties last year to help seal the Thai Rak Thai Party's election victory by ensuring that minimum turnout rules were met.
Former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra had called that election to reaffirm his mandate to rule after months of street protests demanding his resignation for alleged corruption and abuse of power. The April election was annulled by the courts, leaving Thailand with a caretaker government and a political crisis that led to Thaksin's ouster by the military in September.
Earlier Wednesday, the court cleared Thailand's oldest political party of election law violations charges, a verdict that could help restore stability ahead of December's elections.
"There are no legal grounds to disband" the Democrat Party, a judge read, which brought cheers and chants of "Democrats Fight On" from crowds gathered at the party headquarters and watching the proceeding on television.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

U.S. tells Iran face to face: Stop supporting militias

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The United States told Iran on Monday its support for militias fighting in Iraq needs to cease, said Ryan Crocker, U.S. ambassador to Iraq.
Crocker spoke at a news conference after a meeting with Iranian diplomats in Baghdad -- the first public and formal meeting between U.S. and Iranian representatives since the United States cut off diplomatic relations 27 years ago.
Crocker told reporters that in terms of policy for Iraq "there isn't much to argue about." But he said Iran needs to bring its actions in line with its "declaratory policy." (Watch what U.S., Iran had to say about each other )
"I laid out before the Iranians a number of our direct specific concerns about their behavior in Iraq," Crocker said. "Their support for militias that are fighting both the Iraqi security forces and coalition forces; the fact that a lot of the explosives and ammunition that are used by these groups are coming in from Iran; that such activities led by the [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] Quds Force needed to cease and that we would be looking for results."
Iran has repeatedly denied U.S. accusations that it is fomenting violence in Iraq.
Crocker said the Iranians did not respond directly on Monday to the U.S. allegations.
"The Iranians did not go into any great detail," he said. "They made the assertion that the coalition presence was an occupation and that the effort to train and equip the Iraqi security forces had been inadequate to the challenges faced.
"We of course responded on both points, making clear that coalition forces are here at the Iraqi government's invitation and under [U.N.] Security Council authorities, and that we have put literally billions of dollars into training and equipping an increasingly capable set of Iraqi security forces." (Watch Crocker describe 'businesslike' talks )
Crocker said the Iranian delegation proposed a trilateral mechanism to coordinate on security matters in Iraq. He said officials in Washington would have to consider whether to pursue that idea.
The Iranian ambassador told The Associated Press after the session that another meeting of the three nations will be held in Iraq within a month.
Crocker did not confirm that there would be a second meeting.
"The Iraqi government said it would extend an invitation in the period ahead for another meeting," he said. "We'll obviously consider that invitation when we receive it."
Crocker characterized the talks as "businesslike."
"We both laid out our support for the government of [Iraqi] Prime Minister [Nuri al-] Maliki as he undertakes a number of very difficult challenges," he said.
Iranian Ambassador to Iraq Hassan Kazemi Qomi also told the AP that he said in the meeting that Tehran was prepared to train and equip the Iraqi army and police to create "a new military and security structure."
Iran has offered before to train Iraqi forces and provide them with equipment.
Crocker said the Iraqi representatives "led the discussions" and that overall, "the talks proceeded positively."
No topics outside of Iraq were discussed, he said.
No talk of detainees, Iran's nuclear ambitions
Among the contentious issues not discussed were Iranian-Americans being held by Tehran, and Iranians detained by the U.S. in Iraq.
Tehran recently charged Haleh Esfandiari, one of four Iranian-Americans detained in Tehran, with conducting activities against the Iranian government, a charge dismissed by Washington. (Watch Esfandiari's representative describe Iranian jail cell )
The State Department repeatedly has called for Esfandiari's release as well as for more information about three other Iranian-Americans who have been detained, imprisoned or had their passports revoked.
In addition, Robert Levinson, an American and retired FBI agent, has been missing since March 8, when he was last seen on Iran's Kish Island.
The U.S. military is holding seven "Iranian intelligence service personnel" in Iraq, spokesman Maj. Gen. William Caldwell told CNN in an interview taped Friday.
Tehran has referred to five of the Iranians who were arrested in January as "diplomats" and is seeking their release.
Also left unmentioned at Monday's meeting was the international showdown between Iran and much of the West, led by the United States, over Tehran's nuclear ambitions.
A report issued Wednesday by the United Nations' nuclear watchdog -- the International Atomic Energy Agency -- said Iran has not only ignored the call to halt its nuclear work but has also increased its activities.
That prompted U.S. and British diplomats at the United Nations to announce they would press ahead for new sanctions against Iran. The U.N. Security Council has so far imposed two rounds of limited sanctions on Iran.
Talks mark rare meeting
The Iraq Study Group late last year called on the Bush administration to initiate talks with Iran and Syria.
The United States broke off diplomatic ties with Iran in April 1980 in the midst of the seizure of the U.S. Embassy. Iranian students occupied the embassy from November 1979 until January 1981, when they released the remaining 52 hostages.
While Monday marks the first time U.S. and Iranian diplomats have met bilaterally, they have taken part in informal meetings with Iraq's neighbors in recent months.
Copyright 2007 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.

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VIENNA, Austria (Reuters) -- Iran has not only ignored a U.N. Security Council deadline to stop uranium enrichment activity but expanded it, according to a confidential International Atomic Energy Agency report obtained by Reuters on Wednesday.
Iran's defiance of another 60-day deadline set by the Council when it imposed a second set of sanctions on March 24 will expose Tehran to tougher penalties over its nuclear work, which the West fears is a front for assembling atom bombs.
"Iran has not suspended its enrichment-related activities. Iran has continued with the operation of their pilot fuel enrichment plant and with construction of their (planned industrial underground) enrichment plant," the U.N. nuclear watchdog said in its report.
"It has started feeding cascades with UF6 (uranium gas). Iran has also continued with its heavy water-related projects."
But it said the amount of uranium gas fed into the cascade was far below the 80-90 percent suitable to detonate an atom bomb.
Concern about Iran's intentions remain high as it is still evading IAEA investigations into the murky origins and procurement activities of the atomic program and unexplained indications of military involvement, U.N. officials aid.
"Although no commercial amounts of enriched uranium are being produced yet, it is clear their program is advancing," one official said.
"Unless Iran addresses long-outstanding verification issues, and implements ... required transparency measures, the Agency will not be able to fully reconstruct the history of Iran's nuclear program and provide assurances about the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities in Iran or about the exclusively peaceful nature of that program," the report said.
Copyright 2007 Reuters. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Gunbattles rage around Lebanon refugee camp

BEIRUT, Lebanon (CNN) -- Smoke billowed Monday over a Palestinian refugee camp as Lebanese forces battled Islamic militants for a second day near the northern city of Tripoli. The clashes have left dozens dead and wounded.
The Lebanese Cabinet met Monday to discuss how it will respond; on Sunday, the Cabinet declared its "full support" for military efforts to end the fighting, said Mohamed Chatah, a senior adviser to Prime Minister Fouad Siniora.
"I'm not in a position to tell you the exact manner in which security forces are going to root up these elements, but it's going to happen," Chatah said. "It's going to happen after the security forces themselves advise the government on what they need." (Watch smoke rise over the refugee camp as a fire rages below )
Lebanese security forces are targeting militants and are not randomly shooting into the refugee camp, Chatah said.
The fighting was sparked Sunday when Lebanese Internal Security Forces raided a building in a neighborhood north of Tripoli, army sources said.
Militants from Fatah al-Islam began shooting at the forces, who returned fire, triggering clashes in the vicinity of the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp.
Lebanese Internal Security Forces arrested four militants and found the bodies of 10 militants inside the building where they had barricaded themselves, an ISF spokesman said. Explosives were strapped to two bodies.
Security forces conducted the raid after Fatah al-Islam members tried to rob a bank Sunday and "take control of several security strongholds in the north, as if they were planning to carry out a major security operation," according to Ahmad Fatfat, a member of parliament and a minister in Siniora's Cabinet.
Nahr al-Bared is about nine miles (16 kilometers) north of Tripoli, Lebanon's second-largest city that is home to a large population of Sunni Muslims.
The overcrowded camp houses 31,023 registered refugees, according to the U.N. Relief and Works Agency. It is one of 12 Palestinian camps in Lebanon in which the United Nations operates. The agency estimates there are 350,000 refugees in the camps. (Facts on refugee camps)
The battle near the camp continued into Monday, killing 27 Lebanese soldiers and wounding 39 others. At least 15 militants have been killed in the clashes, security sources said.
Among the dead militants was Saddam al Hajj Dib, the sources said. Dib -- along with his brother, cousin and three other men -- was being tried in absentia in a Lebanese court for plotting to bomb two passenger trains in Germany in July. The bombs did not explode.
"Everybody in Tripoli is just scared," said Maya Halabi, a resident of Tripoli. "We never knew that there are terrorists in our town." (Watch civilians, soldiers scurry as the sound of gunfire fills the streets of Tripoli )
The fighting has left aid agencies hamstrung in their attempts to help the wounded and count the casualties. A U.N. Relief and Works Agency official in London said U.N. staffers are among the wounded.
"They have been unable to move around," said Richard Cook, adding that the agency is attempting to negotiate a cease-fire so food and medical supplies can be delivered to the camp.
The Lebanese Red Cross is "receiving a lot of calls" and is trying to help those in need, but the violence limits the agency's abilities to do so, said Director George Ketaneh.
Links to al Qaeda unclear
It is unclear if the militant group Fatah al-Islam is linked to al Qaeda.
Though Syria has claimed Fatah al-Islam is connected to the terror group, Lebanese Interior Minister Hasan al-Sabaa has described Fatah al-Islam as "part of the Syrian intelligence-security apparatus," according to Jane's Information Group, which provides analysis on international security matters.
In 2004, a Jordanian military court handed down in-absentia convictions for Shakir al-Absi -- now the leader of Fatah al-Islam -- and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in the October 2002 murder of Laurence Foley, a U.S. Agency for International Development diplomat who was gunned down in front of his Amman home.
Al-Zarqawi, who later became leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, was killed in a U.S. airstrike north of Baghdad last year.
In June, Al-Absi told Al-Arabiya TV that his group had no connection to al Qaeda or Syria, according to Jane's. Rather, he said, his group seeks to reform Palestinian refugee camps in accordance with Islamic law, or sharia.
Though al-Absi has been linked to al Qaeda, Lebanon's national police commander, Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi, scoffed at the purported connection, saying Fatah al-Islam was a pawn of Damascus, The Associated Press reported.
"Perhaps there are some deluded people among them, but they are not al Qaeda. This is imitation al Qaeda, a 'Made in Syria' one," he told the AP.
Nayla Mouawad, Lebanese social affairs minister, said the militants have "Syrian allegiance and only take orders from Syria."
Syrian leaders deny fomenting violence in Lebanon.
Lebanon's government is led by anti-Syrian politicians, including the prime minister.
The tenuous security situation prompted Syria temporarily to close two of its five border crossings with Lebanon, an interior ministry spokesman told the state-run Syrian-Arab News Agency.
The crossings will remain closed "till the security situation becomes more secure in north Lebanon," the source said.
Fatal bombing in Beirut
Meanwhile, a bomb went off late Sunday in the Beirut neighborhood of Ashrafieh, killing one woman, Lebanese security forces said.
Several others were wounded in the blast, which went off beneath a car at the southern entrance to a shopping mall in the east Beirut Christian neighborhood, sources said.
Political sources close to Siniora's U.S.-supported government said the bomb was similar to other explosive devices that have gone off in Beirut's Christian neighborhoods since the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
The U.N. Security Council is considering passing a resolution that would enforce the establishment of an international tribunal to try suspects in the Hariri assassination, an idea unpopular with the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, which has links to Syria.
Conflicts in south Lebanon between Siniora's government and Hezbollah have prevented the creation of a tribunal. Siniora last week reiterated his call for the United Nations to create the international tribunal.
The political sources said the explosion was an attempt by Syria to sow seeds of instability ahead of the Security Council deliberations.
CNN's Saad Abedine, Caroline Faraj, Nada Husseini, Octavia Nasr and Brent Sadler contributed to this report.
Copyright 2007 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.

At least 14 dead in Gaza violence

GAZA CITY (CNN) -- Israel launched more airstrikes against Hamas targets in Gaza Friday -- one day after the Israeli military began targeting the militant group in retaliation for dozens of Qassam rockets fired from Gaza into Israel over the last several days, the Israel Defense Forces said.
Three Palestinian militants were killed and four injured Friday in an airstrike on a car in the Sheikh Radwan area of Gaza City, Palestinian security sources said. The IDF confirmed the airstrike, saying it was targeting a car carrying Hamas militants and weaponry.
That brings to 14 the number of Palestinians killed in Israeli military airstrikes Thursday and Friday, according to Palestinian security and medical sources.(Watch as violence in Gaza intensifies )
Among them were five militants who died Friday morning south of Gaza City. A spokesman for the IDF said the Israeli Air Force had targeted a Hamas structure believed used for Hamas meetings and that possibly concealed a tunnel near the Karni crossing in northern Gaza.
The Israelis said they also targeted what they said was a Hamas rocket-launching site, immediately after an attack from northern Gaza into Israel.
The Israelis said Qassam rockets launched from Gaza hit a school and a synagogue in Sderot, near Israel's border with Gaza. Two other rockets hit a home and nearly hit a gas station, the military said. Officials said more than 90 rockets from Gaza have landed in Israel since Tuesday.
The cross-border attacks came as skirmishes between rival Palestinian militias within Gaza entered a sixth straight day.
Internal Palestinian violence between Hamas and Fatah flared again Friday when witnesses reported seeing the Fatah-affiliated Presidential Guard firing rockets at Islamic University -- considered a Hamas stronghold.
The Islamic militant group Hamas defeated Abbas' Fatah party in the January election.
Despite this, the factional fighting was quieter Friday than two days ago, according to CNN's Ben Wedeman.
Residents of the Jabiliya refugee camp marched in the streets to show their opposition to the sectarian fighting.
The airstrikes have angered Palestinian officials, who accused the Israelis of taking advantage of the internal violence between Hamas and Fatah factions, which continued despite numerous attempts at cease-fires.
CNN's Ben Wedeman and Ari Bell contributed to this report.

Israel launches retaliatory airstrikes, killing two

GAZA CITY (CNN) -- Israel retaliated Thursday against two days of Hamas rocket attacks by launching airstrikes on Hamas targets in Gaza, killing two people and leaving more than 30 wounded, Palestinian security sources and an Israeli security source said.
The first Israeli strike, on Hamas' executive force compound, killed one person and wounded 30, Palestinian medical sources said. A later Israeli airstrike targeted and hit a car in Gaza City, a spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces said.
Palestinian security sources said one member of Hamas' Izzedine al Qassam brigades was killed in that attack and another was wounded.
The IDF also confirmed a third strike on a Hamas post in northern Gaza City, but Palestinian sources said the strike was in northern Gaza outside the city. No casualties were reported in that attack.
And Palestinian sources said that an Israeli airstrike on a second car killed one Hamas militant, but IDF officials said there was not an attack on another car.
The strike on Hamas' military wing headquarters came as violence ratcheted up between the warring Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah and between Palestinians and Israeli forces, claiming the lives of more than 40 Palestinians since Sunday.
The Israeli security source said Israeli forces have "more strategic targets" they can hit.
"We want to show the terrorists we know where they are," the source said.
Israeli airstrikes Wednesday on Hamas headquarters in the town of Rafah, near the border with Egypt, and other targets around Gaza killed at least six Palestinians, Palestinian officials reported.
Palestinian Information Minister Mustafa Barghouti said Thursday that Palestinians were "very angry" that the "Israelis (were) trying to take advantage of internal fighting."
"Israel has decided to escalate this and this could lead to disaster... we have no peace partner," he added.
Three Qassam rockets fell in the Israeli town of Sderot on Thursday morning -- one of which fell on a school and left one person lightly wounded, Israeli officials said.
Since Monday, as many as 80 rockets have been fired from Gaza into Israel, an IDF spokeswoman said. More than two dozen rockets rained down Wednesday, injuring at least 17 people, Israeli authorities said.
A statement from the Israeli government said Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Amir Peretz and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni "decided to allow the IDF and the security establishment to carry out a series of actions in order to hit those who launch Qassam missiles and their commanders, to disrupt launch capabilities and to strike at terrorist infrastructures."
"The prime minister made it clear that Israel cannot continue to show restraint when its citizens are being attacked; therefore, a harsh and severe response was decided upon," the statement said.
The IDF told CNN there was normal military activity near the border with Gaza, and a limited Israeli force inside Gaza near the northern section of the border.
Israeli troops withdrew from Gaza in September of 2005, ending their 38-year occupation of the region.
A Hamas official from the Izzedine Al Qassam brigades said it's the right of the Palestinian people to defend themselves against Israeli crimes in any way they see fit.
But even as they defend themselves, Palestinians loyal to Fatah and those loyal to Hamas are fighting each other.
At least 19 Palestinians were killed Wednesday in the fourth day of heavy fighting between the two parties.
Palestinian security sources in Gaza said gunmen fired on guards protecting Prime Minister Ismael Haniya's residence. Haniya, of the ruling Islamic party Hamas, was home at the time of the shooting, the sources said, but there was no report of injuries.
The latest cease-fire between the two groups took effect at 8 p.m. (1 p.m. ET) Wednesday, but sporadic gunfire could be heard into the night as Hamas fighters clashed with gunmen from Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah faction. It was the fourth attempt at implementing a truce in as many days.
Abbas canceled a planned trip to Gaza on Thursday because of the violence, his office said.
Elsewhere, Palestinian security sources confirmed one person was killed when clashes broke out during a funeral Thursday in Rafah.
In a sign of the heightening chaos, fighting in central Gaza City on Wednesday forced dozens of journalists to take cover in the studios of the television news network Ramattan, a 15-story building that came under fire from small arms and rocket-propelled grenades.
Fatah-affiliated security personnel on the building's roof were taking fire from Hamas-affiliated gunmen below, the journalists reported. Video from the building showed the journalists inside huddled together closely, wearing bulletproof vests and helmets as explosions could be heard outside.
The Palestinian government is struggling to quell the latest round of fighting, which has highlighted the weaknesses of the Hamas-Fatah unity government formed earlier this year. Abbas spoke to Hamas' exiled leader, Khaled Meshaal, on Wednesday and both pledged to do everything within their power to end the fighting between their rival movements, Barghouti said.
Hamas came to power in parliamentary elections in January 2006 after more than a decade of Fatah rule over the Palestinian Authority. But the United States and Israel consider Hamas a terrorist organization, and the European Union joined them in cutting off aid over the group's refusal to recognize Israel's right to exist explicitly.
CNN's Ben Wedeman, Nidal Rafa, Michal Zippori and Shira Medding contributed to this report.

Bangkok shaken by 6.1 earthquake

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -- An earthquake of magnitude 6.1 with its epicenter in western Laos was reported Wednesday afternoon by the U.S. Geological Survey, and its tremors were felt as far away as the Thai capital of Bangkok, several hundred kilometers to the south.
There were no initial reports of damage or casualties.
The quake occurred at 3:56 p.m. (0856 GMT) at a point 155 kilometers (97 miles) west-northwest of the Laotian city of Luang Prabang, said the USGS. The region is sparsely populated, with little urban development.
The quake caused high-rise buildings in Bangkok to sway, and many offices were evacuated, with their panicky occupants gathered in the street.
The quake was also felt in the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai, a popular tourist destination 268 kilometers (167 miles) southwest of the epicenter, but a spokesman for the Disaster Mitigation and Prevention Center there said there were no reports of damage.
A Lao Foreign Ministry spokesman, Yong Chanthalansy, said by telephone from the Laotian capital Vientiane that the earthquake lasted for about 10 seconds.
He said their were no initial reports of casualties from the remote area and that there had been no panic.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Deadly violence erupts in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- At least 33 people have been killed during massive clashes between pro-government supporters and opposition party members Saturday in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi, police and intelligence sources said.
Many of those killed were supporters of deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, who had gathered as he arrived in the city earlier in the day, police said. An unknown number of other people have been wounded.
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf removed Chaudhry from his post on March 9, accusing him of misusing his powers. The dismissal has sparked widespread demonstrations.
Chaudhry was slated to address a bar association meeting in Karachi, but because of the upheaval was not able to leave the Karachi airport. He was flying back to Islamabad.
Musharraf, meanwhile, held his own public rally in Islamabad as a show of his strength.
"My head is held up high," the president told a cheering crowd. "Love for the people is in my heart ... The strength of the people, of the Pakistani people, is with me, and I salute you all."
Lawyers supporting Chaudhry told CNN they had walked some 10 miles Saturday to welcome him as he arrived at Karachi airport, having vowed to greet him "at any cost".
All main city roads, including the road to the airport, had been blocked and sealed off with containers and trucks, police said, in what appeared to be a bid by government supporters to restrict movement and interrupt the rally.
A provincial high court ordered the provincial government to provide security for Chaudhry on his visit. According to police sources, more than 15,000 police officers will be deployed in Karachi along with paramilitary troops.
More than 800 political workers had been arrested, the sources said, adding that they were members of labor and student organizations who had planned to greet Chaudhry on his arrival. The police did not say why they had been arrested.
The atmosphere grew tense and uncertain after gunmen opened fire on political workers of the opposition Pakistan Muslim League, killing six of them, police in Karachi said.
Legal row
Pakistan's Supreme Court bar and many legal experts have said Musharraf does not have the constitutional power to remove the chief justice from the bench. So far, 14 superior and civil court judges and two deputy attorney generals have resigned over the matter.
Chaudhry was appointed to the court by Musharraf in 2005, but had recently started exercising independence from the government in a number of cases involving the disappearance of terror suspects and human rights activists.
The U.S. has tiptoed around the matter, partly because Musharraf is a key ally in its war on terrorism.
Musharraf's critics accused him of removing Chaudhry in an effort to intimidate the judiciary ahead of crucial elections and a vote in parliament to extend his rule later this year.
Media ban
On Wednesday Pakistan's Supreme Court banned the media from discussing the legal battle being waged by Chaudhry, saying coverage should not interfere with the process.
The court issued the ban because of what it claims is a "campaign of making the honorable judges of the Supreme Court/members of the Supreme Judicial Council controversial" in broadcast and print media.
Journalists' organizations launched a protest against the ban, with reporters saying they were merely covering the story and have done nothing illegal.
In a statement Wednesday, the Supreme Court said special passes would be issued for reporters and lawyers to attend Chaudhry's hearing on the presidential reference filed against him.
It added that media coverage, discussion and analysis that impeded legal procedures would be treated as contempt of court. Chaudhry's lawyers protested the decision and said they would challenge it in the Supreme Court.

U.S. general wants more troops for bloody Iraq province

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The U.S. military commander in charge of northern Iraqi operations on Friday said more troops are needed to stem rising insurgent violence in Diyala province.
"I do not have enough soldiers right now in Diyala province to get that security situation moving," said Army Maj. Gen. Benjamin R. Mixon, commander of the 25th Infantry Division.
Mixon's comments came as a political battle was being waged in Washington over whether funding for U.S. forces fighting in Iraq should be tied to a deadline for their withdrawal.
In Washington on Thursday, the U.S. House passed a bill that would tie war funding beyond July to a progress report. The bill faced an uncertain future in the Senate, however, and President Bush vowed to veto it. (Full story)
Vice President Dick Cheney visited Iraq earlier this week with a tough message for Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki that time is running out for a solution to the country's mounting security crisis.
A senior administration figure said Cheney told Iraqi officials that the situation had reached a critical point.
"We've got to get this work done. It's game time. ... Everybody's got to sit down, raise their game, redouble their efforts," the source said.
Mixon did not specify whether more U.S. or Iraqi forces were needed. He made his comments during a news briefing from Iraq via teleconference at the Pentagon.
"We have plans to put additional forces in that area. ... We have put additional forces in there over that last couple months, an additional Stryker battalion, but I'm going to need additional forces in Diyala province to get that situation to a more acceptable level."
He said he has been in touch with Gen. Raymond Odierno, the No. 2 U.S. commander in Iraq, about more troops in Diyala, even before the troop escalation that the administration calls a "surge" began in February. He said Odierno has been "providing them over time as they have become available."
About 3,500 U.S. soldiers, 10,000 Iraqi soldiers and several thousand police officers are stationed there. More than 3,000 additional police are needed, he said.
The level of violence has increased in Diyala, Mixon said, because the forces are increasing their offensive operations against the insurgents, many of whom have left Baghdad during the recent security crackdown, and because al Qaeda in Iraq has made Diyala a focus.
"It's where many of their high-level individuals have been killed or captured," he said. "They declared it their caliphate a year or two ago. So they have been in there for a while."
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the late al Qaeda in Iraq leader, was killed in a U.S. airstrike last year while he was hiding in the Diyala town of Hibhib.
The province borders Iran and is an effective hiding place for insurgents.
"And quite frankly, there are a lot of former regime elements in there, and the Sunni population in certain areas were providing them support," Mixon said. "So we stepped up our offensive operations, and it was at that point when I realized that I was going to need additional forces."
On April 23, two suicide car bombers struck a U.S. outpost in Diyala, killing nine American soldiers and wounding 20 others from the Army's 82nd Airborne Division.
Referring to the entire region he covers, which includes Nineveh, Salaheddin and Tameem provinces, Mixon said, "We are making progress," but added, "it is slow."
The "bureaucracy in Baghdad" needs to do a better job of helping and supporting soldiers, saying "ministries move too slow to provide help," even though the situation has improved.
He said the government needs to show the Iraqi people it can provide the proper security and services.
Mixon was asked about the U.S. troop escalation called "the surge," and said those issues were being debated in Washington, and that his mind wasn't on possible deadlines for withdrawal that are being debated in Congress.
However, he said, "we just can't think about pulling out of here just like that."
"We need a long-term commitment in some form or fashion to ensure security in the region," he said, adding that it "doesn't need to be in the number we have now."
Troops urged to fight fair
America's top military commander in Iraq has sent a letter to troops challenging them to "occupy the moral high ground" after a Pentagon survey showed some service members were reluctant to report the "illegal actions" of fellow personnel.
In the letter, dated Thursday, Gen. David Petraeus wrote he was "concerned" with the poll's findings.
"This fight depends on securing the population, which must understand that we -- not our enemies -- occupy the moral high ground," he said.
The survey of ethics, released last week, assessed the mental health and ethical attitudes of more than 1,300 soldiers and nearly 450 Marines last year. (Read the report)
Results showed that fewer than half of soldiers and Marines would report a team member for unethical behavior.
Survey results also showed that about 10 percent admitted mistreating noncombatants or damaging their property when it was not necessary.
Only about 47 percent of Army soldiers and 38 percent of Marines agreed that noncombatants should be treated with dignity and respect.
In the letter, Petraeus also underscored that torture to obtain information from the enemy was "wrong."
More than a third of soldiers and Marines reported that torture should be allowed to save the life of a comrade. "Beyond the basic fact that such actions are illegal, history shows that they also are frequently neither useful or necessary," Petraeus said.
Other developments
The U.S. military on Friday reported the deaths of two U.S. soldiers in Iraq on Thursday. One soldier was killed in a roadside bombing targeting a patrol in eastern Baghdad. Another soldier died from wounds sustained in an explosion in Diyala province, a military statement said. Thirty-four U.S. military personnel have been killed in May, bringing the total for the Iraq war to 3,385, including seven Defense Department civilians.
Coalition forces killed "four terrorists" and detained "nine suspected terrorists" in raids Thursday and Friday targeting car bomb networks in Iraq, the U.S. military said in a statement. One of those killed was a suspected car-bomb cell leader "allegedly tied to al Qaeda in Iraq senior leadership."

Blair: My political journey is over

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Tony Blair announces he will step down as Labour Party leader and British prime minister, defending his record during his decade in power, but adding "my apologies to you for the times I've fallen short."
Blair spoke at his parliamentary constituency in northeast England and said he would tender his resignation to Queen Elizabeth on June 27. He later returned to London.
"I've come back here to Sedgefield, to my constituency, where my political journey began and where it's fitting that it ends," Blair said.
"I've been prime minister of this country for just over 10 years ... I think that's long enough for me, but more especially, for the country."
At times, the PM appeared choked with emotion, thanking the nation for supporting him during his time in office and apologizing for his shortcomings -- but not his actions.
"I give my thanks to you, the British people, for the times that I've succeeded and my apologies to you for the times I've fallen short," Blair said.
After announcing his departure, Blair defended his record.
"I ask you to accept one thing," he said. "Hand on heart, I did what I thought was right. I may have been wrong -- that's your call.
"But believe one thing if nothing else. I did what I thought was right for our country and I came into office with high hopes for Britain's future and you know I leave it with even higher hopes for Britain's future."
Blair arrived to a cheering crowd of local activists. Earlier, in London, Labour's longest-serving PM told his Cabinet of his decision.
His departure is expected to trigger a leadership election in the ruling Labour Party that mean a new PM by the end of June. John Prescott, Blair's deputy prime minister since 1997, also resigned Thursday. (Watch how his announcement is one of the worst kept secrets in global politics )
Moving forward
Finance minister, Gordon Brown, is the favorite to succeed Blair. The 56-year-old Scot has been chancellor throughout Blair's tenure.
Blair will not be leaving power until after a leadership election within his party, his spokesman emphasized on Wednesday.
The selection process -- which includes a vote of Labour lawmakers, party members and members of affiliated trade unions -- is expected to take six to seven weeks, with confirmation by a party conference at the end of June. At that point, Blair will formally submit his resignation to Queen Elizabeth II.
Given Labour's majority in the House of Commons, a general election is not required.
Blair's legacy
Blair has seen his popularity plunge because of his steadfast support for the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and political scandal.
His widely anticipated departure announcement comes a week after Labour took heavy losses in local and national elections in England, Scotland and Wales.
Blair's decision comes as Protestant Unionist leader Ian Paisley and former arch-foe Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness, a former IRA commander, were sworn in as Northern Ireland's power-sharing leaders. The landmark capped 10 years of Blair's drive for peace. (More on his legacy)
The charismatic 54-year-old has been at the helm of Labour since 1994 and led it to an unprecedented three straight election victories in 1997, 2001 and 2005.
CNN's Chief International Correspondent Christiane Amanpour said Blair began his career as a young, dynamic leader with a lot more hair and fewer wrinkles, who "made it cool again to be British, not just noble."
Amanpour highlighted Blair's humanitarian interventions in Kosovo and Sierra Leone as well as his commitment to peace in Northern Ireland, saying his achievements were "quite amazing."
But his political fortunes have been weighed down by Iraq and an investigation into whether Labour campaign donors were rewarded with political honors. In December, he became the first serving prime minister questioned as part of a criminal inquiry relating to the investigation.
Amanpour said Blair was arguably one of the most successful prime ministers in British history but added that his Iraq policy "is something that will dog him for many years."
"Nobody, perhaps least of all Tony Blair, could forsee Iraq as such a disaster," Amanpour added.
But even at the end of his political career Blair continues to defend his decisions, just as he did at the 2005 Labour Party conference.
"I know there's a bit of us that would like me to do a Hugh Grant in Love Actually and tell America where to get off," he said. "But the difference between a good film and real life is that in real life there's the next day, the next year, the next lifetime to contemplate the ruinous consequences of easy applause."
Copyright 2007 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.

Explosion in Baghdad while Cheney visits

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A mortar round landed in Baghdad's Green Zone while U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney was meeting with government officials, the Iraqi Interior Ministry said.
The U.S. Embassy press office in Baghdad, however, said an explosion was heard, but it could not verify whether it was inside or outside the zone.
There are no reports of any casualties.
Attacks on the heavily fortified area, the seat of U.S. and Iraqi government power in the country, are common.
The vice president had arrived unannounced in Baghdad early Wednesday to tell Iraq's government "it's game time," a senior Bush administration official said.
The senior administration official summarized Cheney's message: "We've got to pull together. We've got to get this work done. It's game time."
An important topic on Cheney's agenda is to persuade the Iraqi Parliament to forgo its planned two-month recess. The Bush administration is pushing for members to keep working on legislation, such as a measure on oil revenues.
"The reality is, with the major effort we're making, the major effort the Iraqi security forces and military are making themselves, for the Iraqi Parliament to take a two-month vacation in the middle of summer is impossible to understand," Ryan Crocker, the United States' new ambassador to Iraq, told reporters.
The trip to Baghdad -- Cheney's second -- comes as the Bush administration is trying to foster national unity among the fractious Iraqi leaders.
Shortly after landing, Cheney met with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. He told reporters the two discussed political and economic issues and how to build an Iraq that is "self-governing and free of threats of the insurgency and al Qaeda."
Al-Maliki said they worked to chart the "best ways to support the efforts of the Iraqi government in order to succeed in this experiment."
Cheney also met with Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, who briefed him on the effectiveness of the U.S. military buildup, The Associated Press reported.
The vice president also saw Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and government ministers, but no details were offered about that meeting.
Cheney also plans to visit with U.S. troops, a White House statement said.
Vice president to visit Sunni countries
The stopover kicks off a weeklong visit to the region, where Cheney will hold talks with leaders in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan -- all Sunni Arab countries.
The trip closely follows Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's participation in a two-day international conference on Iraq in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. It also comes a little over a week after Bush's decision to veto a $124 billion war spending bill that called for U.S. troops to leave Iraq by 2008.
Another political crisis likely discussed on Cheney's visit is the threat posed by the country's most powerful Sunni bloc to bolt from Parliament and erode the country's effort to establish a unity government.
Cheney is slated to meet with the bloc's leader Tariq al-Hashimi -- one of Iraq's two vice presidents.
Al-Maliki, a Shiite, met with al-Hashimi on Tuesday. The sitdown apparently eased the tension that would have prompted the Sunnis to split from the Council of Representatives, which could be a devastating blow to reconciliation.
The government is working to gain support and trust from Sunnis, who were in power during the Saddam Hussein regime. Many of the insurgents in the country -- which has a Shiite majority -- are Sunni militants and people who have supported Hussein's Baathist party.
Deadly bomb hits Kurdish ministry
At least 14 people were killed and 87 more were wounded early Wednesday when a suicide truck bomb exploded outside an Iraqi government ministry in Irbil, the capital of the northern Kurdish region, according to the Kurdish regional government.
Khalid Salih said the bomber exploded his truck outside the Iraqi Interior Ministry around 7:30 a.m. Bombings are relatively rare in the three-province Kurdish region..
Also, on a road between Kirkuk and Tikrit in northern Iraq, four Iraqi journalists were killed on Wednesday, police in Kirkuk said.
The official said gunmen in a car opened fire on the journalists' minibus about eight kilometers away from an Iraqi Army checkpoint. Their bodies were found in the vehicle.
The journalists weren't identified, but all four were men. One of them was the director of a local media organization, but officials did not say which one.
In eastern Baghdad, a civilian was killed and two Iraqi soldiers were wounded when a car bomb exploded near an army checkpoint on Palestine Street.
Coalition forces seized 18 "suspected terrorists during raids around Iraq Tuesday and Wednesday, the U.S. military said. The raids were staged southeast of Taji, north of Karma, in Mosul and near Baghdad and Ramadi.
The military also said it was investigating reports of civilian deaths during a confrontation on Tuesday between troops and insurgents in Iraq's Diyala province.
U.S. troops noticed insurgents setting up a roadside bomb near Mandali.
A helicopter strike killed two of the insurgents, but people later told the military that five civilians, including two children, were killed and three others were wounded.
Other developments
A Task Force Lightning soldier was killed and four were wounded by gunfire in Diyala Province on Tuesday, the U.S. military said. The U.S. death toll in the Iraq war stands at 3,373, with 29 killed so far in May. Seven civilian Defense Department contractors also have been killed.
In Iraq on Tuesday, a parked car exploded near a prominent Shiite mosque in a southern city, killing 16 civilians and wounding at least 64 others, authorities said. The strike, along with a suicide attack targeting police in Diyala province and a roadside bombing in Baghdad, killed 24 people across the country Tuesday.
Copyright 2007 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.

Power sharing begins in N. Ireland

BELFAST, Northern Ireland (CNN) -- Northern Ireland's major Protestant and Catholic parties joined together Tuesday to form a power-sharing government, marking a "new era of politics" and an end to three decades of sectarian conflict in the province.
Protestant Democratic Unionist Party leader Ian Paisley was sworn in as the Northern Ireland assembly's first minister and key player Martin McGuinness of Sinn Fein will take on the role of deputy first minister.
The two men bridged the sectarian divide and took oaths of office in front of a quiet assembly room with members foregoing applause out of respect for a recently deceased assembly member and colleague from Paisley's DUP, George Dawson.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern attended the swearing-in ceremony at Stormont, home to the Northern Ireland assembly, near Belfast. (Watch the long path Northern Ireland took to get to this point )
Paisley, 80, and McGuinness, 56, arrived within minutes of each other Tuesday morning and both set an optimistic tone.
"It is a special day because we're making a new beginning," Paisley said. "I believe we're starting on a road which will bring us back to peace and to prosperity."
Paisley's deputy McGuinness, said he was "increasingly confident" that the new government would work, saying it was a "good day."
"The happenings here today are surely going to represent a fundamental change of approach with parties moving forward together to build a better future for the people that we represent," he said.
In committing his party to the deal, Adams said there would be challenges ahead, but added the deal marked the start of "a new era of politics on this island."
He said the new government brought with it the potential for a new beginning after many years of violence.
"I think what today proves is that dialogue and perseverance and tenacity and persistence can bring about results," Adams said. "We are going to succeed."
A fresh start
"It's a day that many people thought would never come," said CNN's European Political Editor Robin Oakley, adding that the coming together of two politically opposite poles was like "the lion laying down with the lamb."
Decades of violence in the province have killed at least 3,600 people and injured 36,000.
Oakley said the steady normalization of life after ceasefires and the laying down of arms would be cemented by the power sharing agreement. He added that while disputes and disagreements would still happen, the peace agreement "restored a degree of normal politics."
"It is a development that makes such a difference to the lives of ordinary people here in Northern Ireland," Oakley said. "We can say this is that day that politics takes over from terrorism here in Northern Ireland," he added.
Dr. Brendan O'Duffy, a senior lecturer with Queen Mary University in London, told CNN there was still a threat of political gridlock and a lot of work to do looking forward. But goodwill between the players and the "delicate power sharing" would allow people to "clash constitutionally instead of violently," he said.
In another development last week, the Ulster Volunteer Force, the most powerful Protestant paramilitary group, said it would put its weapons "beyond reach" of further use against Catholics, bolstering the peace process, a Reuters report said. (Full story)
Blair's crowning jewel
With British Prime Minister Blair expected to depart Downing Street next month after 10 years in power, Oakley said the Northern Ireland peace deal would be the crowning jewel of a political legacy tarnished by Iraq and political scandals.
While Blair dedicated a large part of his time in office to the peace process in Northern Ireland, Oakley said the agreement had involved the efforts of many world leaders over the years including former British PM John Major and former U.S. President Bill Clinton.
While the power-sharing government would attend to Northern Ireland's day-to-day affairs, Oakley said decisions on issues of policing would still be made from London.
The parties will share responsibility for the ministries with the DUP running the finance, economy, environment and culture portfolios and Sinn Fein taking on education, regional development and agriculture.
Reuters contributed to this report.

Residents return to tornado-flattened town

GREENSBURG, Kansas (CNN) -- Survivors returned Monday to a Kansas town that was flattened by a mile-wide tornado, some finding little remaining of their homes.
Traffic leading into Greensburg backed up as police checked drivers' identification. Residents were being allowed to inspect their property until 6 p.m. Monday.
Searchers were still probing rubble left in the wake of Friday's twister that killed nine people and was rated among the strongest by tornado experts, an EF-5 with 205-mph winds. (Watch treetops sheared off amid a flying American flag )
"Virtually the entire city has been destroyed, " said Maj. Gen. Tod Bunting of the Kansas National Guard on Monday. "It's as bad as anything I've seen." The general said in some ways the damage is worse than Hurricane Katrina because the entire city lays in ruins. (Watch as town tries to cope after tornado )
"There's no place to go to stage to rebuild," said Bunting, a nearly 30-year veteran of the Guard. "We'll have to create that."
Forecasters predicted that more severe weather was possible Monday elsewhere across the central Plains. (Watch more dangerous flooding likely in Oklahoma City )
Searchers spent the weekend sifting through the debris and are still hoping to account for residents who fled as the storm approached.
"Some of this rubble is 20, 30 feet deep and that's always a challenge," Bunting said Monday. "That's where we've spent all our efforts, and we'll do it again today."
Greensburg City Administrator Steve Hewitt said it's "hard to tell" if anyone is trapped in the rubble, but "it's a possibility."
"The search and rescue continues and it will continue until ... we find everything and have everything organized," Hewitt told CNN's "American Morning."
"We need to make sure we've found everybody and everybody is safe and accounted for."
Hewitt said it's essential for the agricultural community to rebuild, in part because it's the county seat. (Interactive: Map of towns hit by tornadoes)
"That's going to be tough. It's a long road ahead of us," said Hewitt, who lost his home in the tornado.(Watch Hewitt tour devastation that includes his own home )
"We're going to bring people back. We gotta to get reorganized, we gotta build our government back up, we've got to," he said.
The Red Cross said about 90 percent of Greensburg, home to about 1,500, was destroyed or heavily damaged. The storm stripped trees of most of their branches and destroyed all the town's churches.
One resident, Faye Hargadine, 80, found herself trapped in her home immediately following the twister.
"I was trapped in this corner, and I was curled up. ... And then I saw a light out in the street and I stood up and began yelling, but the windows in my porch were broke out," Hargadine said. "And so the neighbor lady came with a light and she got another lady and they got me out of the house. They pulled me out the window."
Storm damage has cut water and electricity to Greensburg, said Dick Hainje of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, who described the scene as catastrophic.
"We will do whatever it takes," said Hainje. "This town will come back."
Trailers and mobile homes for survivors are en route to the town, Hainje said.
Democratic Gov. Kathleen Sebelius told CNN the use of so many National Guard troops and resources in Iraq is slowing Kansas' efforts to recover.
"States all over the country are not only missing personnel -- National Guard troops are about 40 percent of the troops on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan -- but we're missing the equipment," she said. "When the troops get deployed, the equipment goes with them. So here in Kansas about 50 percent of our trucks are gone. We need trucks. We are missing humvees, we're missing all kinds of equipment that could help us respond in this kind of emergency."
The governor said city and county trucks were destroyed in the region. "National Guard are our first responders. They don't have the equipment they need to come in, and it'll just make it that much slower."
The National Guard has said for years that it is short of equipment at home due to deployments to Iraq.
"Of course I agree with the governor," Bunting told CNN. "We have limited resources. So if we had another big storm right now we'd be hard-pressed to cover that."
Twister rated as EF-5
In addition to the devastation in Greensburg, parts of Oklahoma were reeling from twisters that hit Saturday night, killing one person.
The Oklahoma town of Sweetwater, about 225 miles south of Greensburg, was hit hard by a twister that severely damaged a high school and other buildings Saturday. (Watch a 360-degree look at the devastation that twisters left behind in Greensburg )
Larry Ruthi, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Dodge City, Kansas, told CNN on Sunday that the tornado that struck Greensburg on Friday night was an EF-5, the highest level in a classification system used by the National Weather Service, and had estimated winds of 205 mph (330 kph).
The damage path at its widest point was about 1.7 miles (2.7 kilometers), and it tracked for 22 miles (35 kilometers). (Watch an aerial view of the devastation )
The tornado moved at an average speed of about 20 mph (32 kph) and took about 15 to 20 minutes to wipe out the town, he said. (Watch homes turned into piles of bricks and splintered wood )
Of the nine people killed in Kansas, eight died in Kiowa County, which includes Greensburg, and one in Stafford County to the northeast, officials said.
The victim in Stafford was a sheriff's deputy, the Kansas Highway Patrol said.
More than 50 people were injured, authorities said.

Huge turnout in French election

PARIS, France (CNN) -- Huge numbers of French voters turned out on Sunday for a presidential election runoff in which conservative Nicolas Sarkozy is widely expected to defeat Socialist Segolene Royal.
By noon 34.11 percent of France's 44.5 million registered voters had turned up at the polls, up from 31.21 percent in the April 22 first round and from 26.2 percent in the 2002 election, said the interior ministry.
This was the highest turnout registered at midday for the past four elections (2002, 1995, 1988 and 1981), with only the 1974 election that was won by Valery Giscard d'Estaing registering a higher participation rate at 35.62 percent at noon.
On Saturday, polling stations opened in French Guiana, the Caribbean islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe and the overseas territory of St. Pierre and Miquelon off Canada's east coast.
Results of the election are expected to be announced at 8 p.m. (1800 GMT).
The voting followed last-minute warnings by both candidates about their rivals.
On Friday, Royal compared Sarkozy to U.S. President George W. Bush and described her opponent as a "dangerous choice."
Sarkozy has vowed to get tough on crime and immigration, cut unemployment and liberalize the French economy.
"This warlike language is the negation of basic democratic rules," Sarkozy said, according to Reuters. "No doubt it's because she's demoralized," he added.
Sarkozy has topped every opinion poll since collecting the most votes in the first round of voting on April 22.
"To explain that if people don't vote for one candidate there will be violence is quite simply to refuse the democratic and republican expression of opinion," Sarkozy said.
Official campaigning ended Friday at midnight between Sarkozy and Royal.
'Dangerous choice'
Royal told French radio on Friday morning she would "fight to the finish," warning that Sarkozy's tough stance on law and order would plunge the country into violence -- a reference to his role in curbing protests as interior minister during the 2005 Paris riots.
"The choice of Nicolas Sarkozy is a dangerous choice. I do not want France to be oriented toward a system of brutality," Royal said on RTL radio.
Royal added that her rival could not even set foot in some deprived suburbs without provoking unrest.
"When a candidate has so much nerve to tell lies and counter-truths and cannot even go everywhere in the country, then yes, I think this candidacy is a risk."
In a separate interview published by Le Parisien, Royal accused Sarkozy of mimicking Bush's "compassionate conservatism."
"[Sarkozy] carries the same neo-conservative ideology. He doesn't hesitate to envisage dismantling public services, when we badly need nurses and teachers," the newspaper quoted her as saying.
Sarkozy, who in a fiery televised debate on Wednesday watched by 20 million people questioned whether Royal possessed the temperament to be president, retorted that his opponent could "feel the ground giving way beneath her feet."
"She's not in a good mood this morning. It must be the opinion polls," he told Europe 1 radio, adding: "I am waiting serenely for the French people's choice."
In final rallies on Thursday evening, both candidates urged their supporters to come out in force on Sunday.
Royal, bidding to become France's first female president, told 25,000 supporters in the northern city of Lille that voting for a woman would be an "audacious choice," The Associated Press reported.
"The victory that we want so much, that we desire so much for France, that victory is at hand," she said.
Sarkozy, addressing supporters in Montpellier in the south, vowed to govern "without hatred" in a "disparate coalition."
Both candidates continued their efforts Friday to win over voters who failed to back them in last month's first round. Royal spent the day in Brittany, in western France, while Sarkozy was visiting the Alps.
Copyright 2007 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.

Jet with 115 aboard feared crashed

(CNN) -- Searchers in Cameroon on Saturday were working to track down a missing Nairobi-bound Kenya Airways flight reported to have gone down in a forested area southwest of the Cameroonian capital of Yaounde.
African media reports say Kenya Airways Flight KQ 507 -- which was carrying 115 crew and passengers -- crashed near Yaounde.
One local government officer, Alex Bayeck, said villagers reported hearing a "large boom."
"Searchers have gone out looking in this area," including police, emergency workers and military police, he told The Associated Press. The region has few roads and is dotted by small villages.
There was no word yet on survivors, Bayeck said as he traveled to the crash site.
But Titus Naikuni, the company's chief executive officer, refused to describe the incident as a crash. He told reporters that "at the moment you can't make a clear statement until you see the aircraft itself."
The plane took off from the Cameroonian city of Douala bound for Nairobi, Kenya and was scheduled to arrive in the Kenyan capital about 6 a.m., the airline said. There were reports of thunderstorms in the area around the time of takeoff overnight.
An airline official said the last message from the aircraft was an automatic distress signal received soon after takeoff from Douala airport. The plane was just six months old, the airline said.
People from 25 different countries were on aboard. They included one American, five Britons, one Swiss, one Swede, six Chinese, and 15 Indians. The remainder were Africans, including at least 35 from Cameroon and at least nine from Kenya, according to airline figures.
The Associated Press is reporting that Anthony Mitchell, a Nairobi-based AP correspondent, "was believed" to be on the flight.
Relatives waiting at Nairobi's airport were distraught as news reports about the missing plane came in. Dozens of family members cried and collapsed in the airport terminal.
One person there said families there had received no information. "I cannot talk now because there is no news," he told AP, declining to give his name. "We have not been given any information."
Cameroon's military sent helicopters from Douala airport to the believed crash site, AP reported.
Kenyans are sending a delegation to Cameroon, and Naikuni said the United States was helping authorities track the flight location. Naikuni said the location is about 100 kilometers, or more than 60 miles, southwest of Yaounde.
A Kenya Airways flight crashed seven years ago, on January 30, 2000, when a Nairobi-bound flight took off from Abidjan, Ivory Coast. The airline is considered one of the safest in Africa.
Copyright 2007 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.

Deal reached on climate change

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -- Delegates approved the world's first roadmap for stemming mounting greenhouse gas emissions Friday, laying out an arsenal of anti-warming measures that must be rushed into place to avert a disastrous spike in global temperatures.
The report, a summary of a voluminous study by a U.N. network of 2,000 scientists, showed the world has to make significant cuts in gas emissions through the development of biofuels, increases in fuel efficiency, the use of renewable energy like solar power, and a host of other options.
The document made clear that the world has the technology and money to decisively act in time to avoid a sharp rise in temperatures that scientists say would wipe out species, raise ocean levels, wreak economic havoc and trigger droughts in some places and flooding in others. (Watch what proposals could help save the planet )
Under the most stringent scenario, the report said the world must stabilize the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere by 2015 -- eight years from now -- to keep global temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) over preindustrial levels.
Delegates said the approval of the report should conclusively debunk arguments by skeptics that combatting global warming was too costly, that it would stifle development in the world's poorer countries or that the temperature rise had gone too far for humankind to do anything about.
"If we continue doing what we are doing now, we are in deep trouble," cautioned Ogunlade Davidson, the chair of one of the working groups at the weeklong conference in Bangkok, Thailand.
Delegates hailed the policy statement as a key advance toward battling global warming and setting the stage for an even stronger international agreement to replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocol on greenhouse emissions when it expires in 2012.
"It's stunning in its brilliance and relevance," Rajendra Pachauri, chair of the group running the conference, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said of the study. "It's a remarkable step forward."
The report "highlights the importance of a portfolio of clean energy technologies consistent with our approach," said the head of the U.S. delegation, Harlan Watson.
Coming out of the meeting early Friday, delegates said science appeared to have trumped politics -- especially opposition from booming China, which wanted language inserted allowing for a greater buildup of greenhouse gases in the environment before action would be taken.
Beijing and its supporters had argued that moves to make deep cuts in carbon dioxide emissions risked stifling its spectacular economic growth, delegates said. But the final report included mention of a stringent emission target mentioned in an earlier draft.
Delegates at the meeting had wrestled over how to share the burden of cutting emissions, how much such measures would cost, and how much weight to give certain policy measures, such as advanced nuclear power, an option supported by the United States.
"This is still an excellent report," French delegate Michel Petit said, adding that China and the other developing countries ended up compromising on all major issues. "Nothing important was removed during the process."
The report follows two studies by the IPCC earlier this year warning that unabated greenhouse gas emissions could drive global temperatures up as much as 6 degrees C (11 degrees F) by 2100, triggering a surge in ocean levels, destruction of vast numbers of species, economic devastation in tropical zones and mass human migrations.
Even the most stringent efforts outlined in the report, however, would not save the globe from suffering. An increase in temperatures to 2 degrees C (3.6 degrees F) could still subject up to 2 billion people to water shortages by 2050 and threaten extinction for 20 percent to 30 percent of the world's species, the IPCC said.
Environmental groups said the report demonstrates the world can afford to battle global warming and must do so immediately.
"This is a roadmap that the IPCC is delivering," said Hans Verolme of WWF International. "It's time for the politicians to do more than just pay lip service to the issue of global warming, and to stop climate change before it's too late."
Environmentalists said nations must carry forward this momentum by deciding on concrete actions at the Group of Eight summit of leading industrial nations in June in Germany and at a U.N. Climate Summit in Bali, Indonesia, in December.
"With the final piece of the jigsaw in place, the picture of our options for the future is now in sharp focus," said Stephanie Tunmore, Greenpeace International climate & energy campaigner. "It is quite clear that immediate action to cut greenhouse gas emissions is required."
China, the world's second-largest greenhouse gas emitter after the United States, pushed hard during the meeting, along with India and other developing countries, to raise the proposed cap on carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, delegates said. (Watch how China is on track to being the world's top polluter )
A draft of the report proposed the world limit concentrations of greenhouse gases to between 445 and 650 parts per million, but China sought to strike the lower range over fears it would hinder its booming economy, Michael Muller, Germany's vice minister for the environment, told reporters before the agreement was reached.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

U.S. says terrorist in Jill Carroll kidnapping killed

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A U.S. military commander said Thursday that an al Qaeda in Iraq militant believed to be involved in last year's kidnapping of journalist Jill Carroll has been killed.
He is Muharib Abdul Latif al-Jubouri and was identified as the senior minister of information for al Qaeda in Iraq, said Maj. Gen. William Caldwell.
Caldwell said al-Jubouri was killed in a fight about four miles (six kilometers) west of the Taji air base north of Baghdad; the body initially was identified by photos, then confirmed by DNA testing on Wednesday.
Caldwell said al-Jubouri was believed connected with the 2006 kidnapping of American reporter Jill Carroll, who was released nearly three months later, and Tom Fox, one of four men from the Chicago, Illinois-based peace group Christian Peacemaker Teams, who was found fatally shot in Baghdad in March 2006.
Caldwell also tried to clarify reports of the deaths of two other key insurgents, Abu Ayyub al-Masri, the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, and Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, the head of the Islamic State of Iraq.
The Islamic State of Iraq is an umbrella organization of Sunni militant groups that includes al Qaeda in Iraq.
Caldwell said the United States does not have the body of either man.
"We have nobody in our possession or know of anybody that does, alive or dead, that is going through any kind of testing or analysis at this point with respect to those two individuals," he said.
Caldwell said it is not known who al-Baghdadi is or whether he exists.
Iraq's Interior Ministry said al-Baghdadi has been killed and that it has his body. Iraqi state TV showed a body that it said was al-Baghdadi's.
Brig. Gen. Abdul Karim Khalaf, an Interior Ministry spokesman, claims al-Baghdadi was seriously wounded in a March 4 battle in the northern Iraqi province of Salaheddin, but he eluded capture. The battle was a result of a joint U.S.-Iraqi operation.
Khalaf said al-Baghdadi later died of his injuries, but it is not clear when.
Iraqi security forces, based on intelligence they have been tracking for some time, intercepted militants early Thursday carrying al-Baghdadi's body in the western Baghdad region of Ghazaliya.
In March, authorities arrested a man originally thought to be al-Baghdadi, but later learned he was a senior member of al Qaeda in Iraq.
On Tuesday, tribal leaders in Abu Ghraib and Falluja told the Iraqi government that al-Masri was killed in fighting.
Al-Masri is the "war minister" in the Cabinet of the Islamic State of Iraq -- which has claimed responsibility for a number of insurgent actions.
Iraqi authorities also said they can't confirm al-Masri's death, reports of which were dismissed by the Islamic State of Iraq.
A statement issued by the insurgent group said al-Masri is "safe" and "still battling the enemies of God." (Watch how al Qaeda in Iraq evolved under al-Masri )
Al-Masri is an Egyptian who replaced Abu Musab al-Zarqawi as head of al Qaeda in Iraq after al-Zarqawi's death in a U.S. airstrike last June.

Israeli foreign minister joins calls for Olmert to resign

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni told Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Wednesday that he should resign over his handling of last summer's war in Lebanon.
"I expressed my opinion that resignation was the right thing where he is concerned," Livni said at a news conference after her meeting with Olmert.
But she said whether Olmert goes or not is a "personal decision" for the prime minister.
"I am not trying to oust him. It is a decision he has to make," she added.
Olmert gave no sign he is ready to quit. After the meeting between Olmert and Livni, an Israeli government official told CNN that Olmert told a meeting of the Kadima party he is in an uncomfortable position but he is not shirking from responsibility and will be the one to fix the mistakes.
There have been growing calls from both inside and outside the government since a commission issued an interim report Monday holding Olmert responsible for "severe failures" in the conduct of Israel's campaign against Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon.
Livni said she does not support new elections but believes that if Olmert resigns, the Israeli parliament -- the Knesset -- can form a new government.
"If the prime minister decides to resign, I believe the Knesset can come up with a government ... a broad-based government," she said, adding, "I will not support a new prime minister from a different political party."
Livni is considered a rising star in Israeli politics but denied she is trying to use the crisis over the war in Lebanon to win the prime minister's job for herself.
"I didn't come to the Foreign Ministry as a way to get to the prime minister's office," she said.
She said she intends to remain in her job.
"I will remain in the government in order to make sure the process is undertaken to correct things," she said. However, she serves as foreign minister at the pleasure of Olmert, and it was unclear if he would fire her after her decision to tell him to resign.
Livni said she does intend to run for leadership of the Kadima party.
"Kadima needs to choose its leadership in a democratic manner, in primary, and when the time comes I plan to submit my candidacy," she said. "Now is the time to restore the public's trust in the government."
Currently the Kadima coalition, which Olmert heads as prime minister, holds 78 seats in the 120-seat Knesset.
But after the report on the war by the Winograd Commission, polls show that Olmert's support among the Israeli public is virtually zero.
On Tuesday, the leader of Olmert's Kadima faction also called for him to quit.
"I am trying to convince the members of Kadima to turn to the prime minister and ask him to resign for the good of the country, the Kadima party and his own good," coalition Chairman Avigdor Yitzhaki said on Israeli army radio. "In light of the findings of the report, the prime minister has no choice but to resign."
But at the start of Wednesday's weekly Security Cabinet meeting, Olmert called for patience.
"The members of the commission made it clear the main issue is learning the lessons derived from the failings," he said. "In my opinion that is the main obligation of this government -- the government that is responsible for the failings and is also responsible for the corrections.
"To all those that are in haste to make political gain I advise, slow down."
The Winograd Commission, in the interim report released Monday, said that Olmert was too hasty to go to war, that Defense Minister Amir Peretz was inexperienced, and that former Israeli army Chief of Staff Dan Halutz acted impulsively without disclosing that the Israeli military was not prepared to carry out a land war in Lebanon.
While there was a heavy loss of life in Lebanon during the war, Hezbollah remained a potent force at the end of the campaign and the two Israeli soldiers whose kidnapping sparked the conflict remain captives.
Cabinet member Eitan Cabel, a Labor Party member of Olmert's Kadima-led coalition, resigned Tuesday and called on Olmert to follow his lead, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported.
The storm gathering around Olmert, including mass protests, like one scheduled for Thursday in Tel Aviv, could force the successor to Ariel Sharon out of office -- and out as Kadima party chairman.
Yitzhaki has pointed to Livni as the natural replacement for Olmert. But Olmert, according to Israel's Channel 10 television, has rejected Livni as his successor

Tribes claim leader of al Qaeda in Iraq killed

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Unconfirmed reports that al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Ayyub al-Masri has been killed come from local tribes and not Iraq's intelligence services or military, an Iraqi government spokesman said Tuesday.
Ali al-Dabbagh, spokesman for Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, said the government won't be able to confirm al-Masri's death until it makes an identification of the body.
"Iraqi security forces do not have the body," al-Dabbagh said on Iraqi state TV. "Iraqi security forces and Multi-National Forces are trying to retrieve the body for visual identification and DNA tests."
The reports of al-Masri's death emerged after a confrontation Tuesday between Sunni tribes and al Qaeda in Iraq at a bridge in an area under Sunni tribal control, al-Dabbagh said.
Al-Masri -- also known as Sheikh Abu Hamza al-Muhajer -- succeeded Abu Musab al-Zarqawi as the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq after he was killed in a U.S. airstrike in June.
If Sunni militants had information that led to al-Masri's death, it may be a sign of a rift among Sunni militants in Iraq, said CNN terrorism analyst Peter Bergen.
Militant groups in the nation "have been trying to put a more Iraqi face" on their movement and have been trying to "exclude the foreign militants from a public role," Bergen said.
Al-Masri is Egyptian.
Hints of rifts among Iraqi militant groups emerged last month when two claims of responsibility for the April 12 Iraqi parliament cafeteria attack had been posted by the Islamic State of Iraq.
Earlier Tuesday, an Iraqi Interior Ministry spokesman said "very strong intelligence" indicated al-Masri was killed in fighting between rival militant groups north of Baghdad.
"We received intelligence reports of al-Masri getting killed in clashes between al Qaeda in Iraq and other militant groups at dawn today" in al-Niba'ie in Taji, north of Baghdad, Brig. Gen. Abdul Karim Khalaf said.
The U.S. military and U.S. Embassy in Baghdad had no information on the reports of al-Masri's death.
"I have no confirmation of what is being reported in the Iraqi media," said military spokesman Lt. Col. Christopher Garver.
In February, Iraq's Interior Ministry claimed Iraqi security forces wounded al-Masri in another clash north of Baghdad, but the U.S. military cast doubt on that report. The ministry never backed away from its claim.
Recently, the insurgent umbrella group Islamic State of Iraq posted a list of Cabinet members and named al-Masri as its "war minister."
The group, which includes al Qaeda in Iraq and other insurgents, claimed responsibility for a number of violent acts last month, including the suicide attack at the Iraqi parliament, the killings of nine U.S. soldiers in Diyala province and the execution of 20 security force officers.
On Saturday, the group distributed leaflets in Samarra to police, warning that they have three days to "repent" or be killed.
The insurgent group also told police to use loudspeakers at mosques and marketplaces to announce their rejection of the "apostate state" and their joining of the "Islamic State."
Other developments
President Bush is expected to veto the war spending measure from Congress on Tuesday, reiterating his vow to reject any spending bill with a timetable for removing U.S. troops from Iraq. (Full story)
At least 14 people were killed in a pair of attacks on minibuses south of Baghdad, a police official in Babil province said Tuesday. Police patrols found 11 people shot to death and three others critically wounded near Iskandiriya on Monday night. According to police, the survivors said they played dead to keep from being shot again. The bus was traveling from Hilla to Baghdad. Also Tuesday, gunmen killed three people and wounded five others when they opened fire on a minibus in Lattifiya.
In a decline from the previous month, 1,501 Iraqi civilians lost their lives in sectarian and insurgent violence in April, the Iraqi Interior Ministry said Tuesday. March saw 1,872 civilians killed, and 1,646 died in February. There were 2,334 Iraqi civilians wounded during April, compared with 2,708 the month before, the ministry said.
Poor construction, improper design, substandard materials and lack of maintenance have caused the failure of seven of eight U.S.-funded Iraq reconstruction projects that were recently reviewed by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, according to an Inspector General report. (Full story)
CNN's Jomana Karadsheh and Michael Ware contributed to this report.