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Bush focuses on economy in last State of Union speech

2008-01-28T20:07:00.000-08:00

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush used his final State of the Union speech Monday to call for a quick shot in the arm for the economy in "a period of uncertainty" and demand Congress hold the line on spending and taxes.

President Bush delivers his final State of the Union address Monday.

With his approval ratings in the low 30s, an opposition-led Congress and his presidency overshadowed by the race for his successor, Bush offered little new.
But he urged lawmakers to work together to complete unfinished business and called for quick steps to bolster an economy unsettled by a housing and credit crunch.
"At kitchen tables across our country, there is concern about our economic future," the president told the nation in his annual address. Interactive: Bush's message over the years »
"In the long run, Americans can be confident about our economic growth. But in the short run, we can all see that growth is slowing."
The White House and leaders of the House of Representatives agreed on a $150 billion package of tax rebates and other measures aimed at spurring consumer spending and investment -- but the president warned Congress not to "load up the bill" with other measures.
"That would delay it or derail it, and neither option is acceptable. This is a good agreement that will keep our economy growing and our people working, and this Congress must pass it as soon as possible," he said.
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Read the transcript of the address
Dems respond to Bush's address
I-Report: Share your own State of the Union address
Bush pushes Congress to pass stimulus plan
Bush said he would cut or eliminate 151 "wasteful or bloated" government programs in his budget for 2009 -- cuts he said would total $18 billion of a budget that amounted to $3 trillion in 2008.
The president demanded Congress rein in "pork-barrel" spending in next year's spending bills, vowing to veto any measure that does not cut by half the number and cost of congressional "earmarks" -- spending on special projects often slipped into bills at the last minute.
He said he would order federal agencies to ignore any appropriations that were not directly voted on by Congress, saying that spending undermines "the people's trust in their government."
The plan will not apply to the nearly 12,000 earmarks for fiscal 2008 that passed late last year -- and Democrats were quick to point out that roughly half of those earmarks were sponsored by Republicans, some with White House support.
Bush also urged lawmakers to work together despite the upcoming November elections.
"Let us show our fellow Americans that we recognize our responsibilities and are determined to meet them," he said. "And let us show them that Republicans and Democrats can compete for votes and cooperate for results at the same time."
Democratic congressional leaders said they would work with Bush and with the Republican minority in Congress on a "timely, targeted and temporary" boost for Americans amid the looming slowdown.
"The President's vision tonight may have been too small for many of the challenges we face, but his pledge to 'cooperate for results' is right for the times," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, said in a written statement.
On Iraq, having successfully resisted Democratic efforts to bring the nearly five-year-old war to an end, Bush touted what he called the success of his decision to commit an additional 30,000 troops to the fight last year. But while he said those troops had reversed the bloody tide of sectarian warfare, U.S. troops will still be needed to preserve those gains.
"Our enemies in Iraq have been hit hard," he said. "They are not yet defeated, and we can still expect tough fighting ahead."
Critics said the goal of the U.S. campaign -- to get Iraqi leaders to reach political settlement of the conflict -- has not borne fruit. But Bush said U.S. officials "are seeing some encouraging signs" there, including the movement by Sunni Arab leaders to turn against Islamic jihadists loyal to al Qaeda.
"Ladies and gentlemen, some may deny the surge is working, but among the terrorists there is no doubt: Al Qaeda is on the run in Iraq, and this enemy will be defeated," Bush said.
He said about 20,000 of the additional troops dispatched last year will be coming home in the coming months, but repeated his stance that further withdrawals from the widely unpopular conflict would be based on the recommendations of U.S. commanders.
Meanwhile, Bush again called on neighboring Iran to halt its uranium enrichment program and warned it to avoid interfering with American operations in the Middle East, telling the Islamic Republic that "America will confront those who threaten our troops, we will stand by our allies, and we will defend our vital interests in the Persian Gulf."
Most of the goals Bush laid out were modest compared to previous years, when he used the State of the Union to sell big projects such as invading Iraq, partially privatizing Social Security or developing alternative fuels -- and many of the concepts Bush included were repackaged.
Bush included a new plug for last year's proposal for tax breaks for individual health insurance, framing it as an expansion of "consumer choice, not government control" -- an implicit jab at Democratic presidential contenders, all of whom advocate universal health care.
A longtime conservative goal -- federally backed vouchers for students to attend private schools -- was repackaged as a $300 million "Pell Grants for Kids" program aimed at keeping religious and parochial schools in inner cities. Watch Bush explain his plans for schools
He threatened to veto any tax increases in his final year and repeated his lonsgstanding call to lawmakers to make permanent the $1.6 billion in tax cuts approved during his presidency. Watch Bush pledge to veto tax increases
He left Congress to deal with two previous goals, an overhaul of U.S. immigration laws and Social Security. White House-backed immigration bills failed in Congress in 2006 and 2007, and Bush's Social Security plan did not make it into a bill.
Bush said Social Security and the health-care entitlements Medicare and Medicaid are forcing "painful choices" without long-term changes.
"I have laid out proposals to reform these programs," he said. "Now I ask members of Congress to offer your proposals and come up with a bipartisan solution to save these vital programs for our children and grandchildren."
Among other proposals in the 53-minute speech, the president:
Announced plans to hold the annual North American Summit of U.S., Canadian and Mexican leaders in New Orleans, still rebuilding from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said the president decided to hold the summit there to send a signal about the city's redevelopment since the hurricane, which killed more than 1,800 people on the Gulf Coast. The president and top administration officials were widely pilloried for their response to the hurricane, which left more than three-quarters of New Orleans flooded. The government has committed more than $100 billion to reconstruction in the disaster zone, and Bush said, "We reaffirm our pledge to help them build stronger and better than before."
Took a swipe at Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, urging Congress to pass a trade agreement with Colombia or risk emboldening "the purveyors of false populism in our hemisphere."
Repeated his goal of reaching a settlement of the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including the establishment of a peaceful, democratic Palestinian state, by the end of 2008.

SKorea races to save 22 hostages

2007-07-26T10:49:00.000-07:00

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- A top South Korean envoy is headed to Afghanistan, scrambling to save 22 of his country's citizens held captive by Taliban kidnappers after the militants killed one hostage.

However, a local police chief said that the negotiations with the captors were difficult because their demands were unclear.
"One says, let's exchange them for my relative, the others say let's release the women, and yet another wants a deal for money," said Khwaja Mohammad Sidiqi, a local police chief in Qarabagh. "They have got problems among themselves."
On Wednesday, authorities found the bullet-riddled body of 42-year-old Bae Hyung-kyu in Qarabagh district of Ghazni province, where the South Koreans were abducted July 19. Church officials said he was killed on his birthday.
Bae was found with 10 bullet holes in his head, chest and stomach, said Abdul Rahman, a police officer. Another Afghan police official, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the situation, said militants told him the hostage was sick and couldn't walk and was therefore shot.
Bae's mother, 68-year-old Lee Chang-suk, broke into tears as she watched the televised government announcement of her son's death.
"I never thought it possible," she said from her hometown on the southern island of Jeju, according to Yonhap news agency.
The kidnappers "will be held accountable for taking the life of a Korean citizen," Baek Jong-chun, South Korea's chief presidential secretary for security affairs, said in a statement before departing for Afghanistan to consult with top Afghan officials on how to secure the release of the remaining captives.
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After conflicting reports Wednesday from Western and Afghan officials that possibly eight of the other hostages had been released, South Korean presidential spokesman Chun Ho-sun said the 22 were still believed held but were not suffering from health problems.
Qari Yousef Ahmadi, a purported Taliban spokesman, said all 22 hostages were fine but claimed that Afghan authorities were not allowing South Korean officials to negotiate directly with the militants.
"Kabul officials asked us to give them more time," Ahmadi said, speaking by phone from an undisclosed location. "The Taliban are not asking for money. We just want to exchange our prisoners for Korean hostages ... When they release the Taliban we will release the hostages."
Chun said South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun had spoken with his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai, but did not disclose the contents of their discussion.
Ghazni police chief Ali Shah Ahmadzai said that the Afghan negotiators were speaking with the Taliban over the phone, in a hope of securing the hostages release.
"We will not use force against the militants to free the hostages," he said. "The best way in this case is dialogue."
Ahmadzai said he was hopeful about reaching "some sort of deal for the release of six up to eight people" later Thursday, without giving an explanation for his optimism.
Chun said that both governments were cooperating and that an Afghan official had told South Korea earlier Thursday that Kabul intended to negotiate with the Taliban. He said Seoul was aware of the Taliban's current demands but declined to specify them.
Seoul also repeated its call that no rescue mission be launched that could endanger the captives further.
"We oppose military operations and there won't be military operations that we do not consent to," Chun said.
Marajudin Pathan, the governor of Ghazni province, said militants have given a list of eight Taliban prisoners who they want released in exchange for eight Koreans.
An Afghan official involved in the negotiations earlier said a large sum of money would be paid to free eight of the hostages. The official also spoke on condition he not be identified, citing the matter's sensitivity. No other officials would confirm this account.
Foreign governments are suspected to have paid for the release of hostages in Afghanistan in the past, but have either kept it quiet or denied it outright. The Taliban at one point demanded that 23 jailed militants be freed in exchange for the Koreans.
The South Koreans, including 18 women, were kidnapped while on a bus trip through Ghazni province on the Kabul-Kandahar highway, Afghanistan's main thoroughfare.
South Korea has banned its citizens from traveling to Afghanistan in the wake of the kidnappings. Seoul also asked Kabul not to issue visas to South Koreans and to block their entry into the country.
Because of a recent spike in kidnappings of foreigners -- including an attempt against a Danish citizen Wednesday -- Afghan police announced that foreigners were no longer allowed to leave the Afghan capital without their permission.

Thai Supreme Court to hear corruption case against Thaksin

2007-07-11T10:25:00.000-07:00

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -- Thailand's Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to hear a corruption case against ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra over alleged wrongdoing in a land deal, in the top court's first case against the exiled former premier.

Thaksin, who has lived overseas since his government was toppled in a military coup last September, is charged with corruption, conflict of interest and dereliction of duty for personal gain in the case, involving a multimillion-dollar plot of land in central Bangkok.
"The Supreme Court political crime section accepts the case, and sets the first hearing for August 14," Thongloh Chomngam, chief of the nine judges, read from a prepared statement.
Thaksin's wife Pojamarn is also named in the case, and the court ordered them both to appear in court for the first hearing.
Noppadol Pattama, the lawyer and de-facto spokesman for Thaksin and his family, reiterated previous statements that Thaksin will not return to face trial.
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"I fear that my client will not get a fair trial because the judicial system in Thailand has been interfered with by some powerful groups, and I also fear for his safety," Noppadol told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.
Thaksin, prime minister from 2001-2006, was ousted by the military after demonstrations calling for him to step down because of alleged corruption and abuse of power. Another controversial business deal by his family, the $1.9 billion sale last year of telecommunications company Shin Corp. to a Singapore state investment company, contributed to public discontent

London on alert after explosives discovery

2007-06-30T02:07:00.001-07:00

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Security across London has been increased after police on Friday discovered two cars filled with explosives.
Meanwhile, police increased patrols across London in a hunt for what they said is a man seen running from one of the cars on Friday.
British officials said hundreds of people could have been killed if the devices in the cars had been set off.
The first car was discovered parked near Piccadilly Circus; the second was found about an hour later, less than a kilometer away near Trafalgar Square.
Scotland Yard authorities said they believed the two incidents were connected.
On Friday, London police said the second discovered car -- containing fuel, gas canisters and nails -- was "clearly linked" to the first explosives-packed car found outside a nightclub near Piccadilly Circus, Metropolitan Police said.
A "considerable" amount of fuel and gas canisters, along with a "substantial quantity of nails," was found in the blue Mercedes 280E, said Peter Clarke, Metropolitan Police deputy assistant commissioner, said about the second car.
He called the discovery of the second bomb "troubling," but urged the public to remain vigilant and report suspicious behavior to authorities.
The second vehicle was ticketed about 2:30 a.m. Friday (9:30 p.m. Thursday ET), Clarke said. It was near Trafalgar Square, roughly a half-mile from where the first vehicle -- also a Mercedes -- had been found about an hour earlier. (Watch how the second car was armed )
About 3:30 a.m., Clarke said, the Mercedes was taken to an impound lot in Hyde Park. Security sources earlier told CNN that workers who towed it thought the car smelled of gasoline, and became suspicious because of the reports that gasoline was among the explosive materials found in the first vehicle.
Clarke said the second device, like the first, was "potentially viable" but was rendered safe by police explosives officers.
"These vehicles are clearly linked," he said.
The first car, a silver Mercedes-Benz sedan, was discovered about 1:30 a.m. when an ambulance crew called to treat an ill person noticed what appeared to be smoke inside the car and notified authorities, London police said.
The car was parked in front of the Tiger Tiger club, and the discovery prompted the closing of several streets until the vehicle was hauled off nine hours later.
"In the car, they found significant quantities of petrol together with a number of gas cylinders," Clarke said. He could not immediately say how much fuel was there.
"I can tell you it was in several large containers," Clarke said. "There were also a large number of nails in the vehicle."
He said explosives officers manually disabled "a potential means of detonation for the gas and the fuel in the vehicle," which preserved crucial forensic evidence for investigators.
A cell phone was found as part of the device in the silver car, according to security sources with knowledge of the investigation, although it was not immediately known what role the cell phone may have played in the device. The sources said the device was apparently set up to be remotely detonated.
Metropolitan Police Counterterrorism Command officers are reviewing closed-circuit security camera video to see if they can determine who parked the car there, Clarke said.
London has a long history of bomb attacks and alerts during decades of violence mounted by Northern Irish guerrilla groups. Lone attackers also have previously targeted the city's gay and immigrant communities. (Timeline of attacks)
Friday's incident came days ahead of the second anniversary of July 7, 2005, when four Islamic extremist suicide bombers killed 52 people on London's transport system in the deadliest strike on the city since World War II.
Witness Daniel Weir said he was walking home from work when he noticed police had cordoned off the area around the nightclub and a nearby vehicle.
He snapped several photos, including one that showed a canister labeled "patio gas." (See the photos)
Clarke said it was too early to determine if the smoke the ambulance crew saw was an indication that the car bomb had been activated but failed to explode.
While Clarke would not speculate that Tiger Tiger was the target, he said "some features of what's happened resonate with previous plots."
"In one previous case we heard talk about nightclubs potentially becoming targets. ... We, of course, saw reference to vehicles being filled with gas or fuel in order to create an explosion," he said.
There had been no intelligence warning of an attack, he said.
"It is obvious that if the device had detonated there could have been significant injury or loss of life," Clarke said. "The vehicle was parked in one of the busiest parts of central London in the early hours of Friday morning when many, many people were leaving nightclubs and other places after the evening hours." (Watch police describe potential blast )
British Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said, "We're currently facing the most serious and sustained threat to our security from international terrorism."
The bombs were found just two days after new Prime Minister Gordon Brown took office, and one day after he appointed members of his Cabinet. (Full story)
"For Gordon Brown, it is a rude awakening to the realities you take on as prime minister," CNN's European political editor Robin Oakley said. (Watch Oakley comment on 'rude awakening' for Brown )
Brown, whose predecessor, Tony Blair, stoked anger among Islamic militants with his support for the Iraq war, said Britain faces "a serious and continuous threat" and the public "need to be alert" at all times.
The incident also came days ahead of the second anniversary of July 7, 2005, when four Islamic extremist suicide bombers killed 52 people on London's transport system in the deadliest strike on the city since World War II.

Shuttle completes mission in California

2007-06-22T16:21:00.000-07:00

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, California (AP) -- Atlantis and its seven astronauts returned to Earth safely Thursday, ending a two-week mission to deliver an addition to the international space station and bring home a crew member from the outpost.
Atlantis had to use its backup landing strip in California after rain and clouds over Florida ruled out Kennedy Space Center.
"We couldn't quite get comfortable with [Kennedy]," Mission Control told the Atlantis crew. "We are going to target Edwards."
The crew executed the landing on its first opportunity at Edwards at 3:49 p.m. ET.
Rain and clouds that scrubbed a planned Thursday landing in Florida continued Friday, and NASA waved off the first planned landing there, which would have been at 2:18 p.m. ET.
The landing site at Edwards had clear skies, and wind gusts there were not expected to pick up until late in the day.
"Our mind-set down here is we're going to land you somewhere safely today," Mission Control told the shuttle crew Friday morning.
Aboard Atlantis, the astronauts closed the shuttle's payload bay doors in preparation for landing. The doors are opened during flights so heat doesn't build up in the orbiter.
Atlantis commander Rick Sturckow said the crew would put on their orange spacesuits for landing.
"That sounds great, Houston," Sturckow said. "We're going to suit up then."
Among the crew returning to Earth was astronaut Sunita "Sunni" Williams, who spent 195 days on the space station, a women's endurance record.
The crew had three chances Friday to land at Edwards, the last at 6:59 p.m. ET. If the weather had spoiled all those opportunities, mission managers would have tried again Saturday, with another backup landing site in New Mexico in the lineup.
The preferred landing site is Kennedy, where it is easier and far cheaper to get Atlantis to its hangar to be prepared for its next mission in December.
Lands in California means it will cost $1.7 million and take up to 10 days to get it home to Florida aboard a jumbo jet.
Atlantis had enough power for its systems to orbit until Sunday, but managers didn't want to wait that long. The flight would have been extended to Sunday only if technical problems needed to be fixed.
During Atlantis' two chances to land Thursday, showers were within 34 miles of the landing strip at Kennedy Space Center, and clouds hung below an altitude of 8,000 feet, both violations of flight rules.
During the crew's 14-day mission to the international space station, the astronauts installed a new truss segment, unfurled a new pair of power-generating solar arrays and activated a rotating joint that allows the new solar arrays to track the sun.
Originally scheduled for 11 days, the mission was extended by two days to give astronauts time to repair a thermal blanket that had peeled away during the June 8 launch. Astronaut Danny Olivas stapled it back into place during a spacewalk. Another extra day in orbit was added after the weather in Florida prevented a landing Thursday.
The shuttle's visit to the space station was complicated by the crash of Russian computers that control orientation and oxygen production. (Watch how the cosmonauts fixed the computers )
Atlantis helped the station maintain its orientation for several days until the computers were revived. Cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Kotov used a cable to bypass a circuit board.
The cosmonauts at the space station attempted to power the Russian computers Thursday without using the cable bypass, but it was unsuccessful.

Abbas outlaws Hamas militia forces

2007-06-17T09:25:00.000-07:00

(CNN) -- The leadership rift between Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah deepened Sunday as President Mahmoud Abbas swore in a temporary cabinet for his emergency government in an attempt to regain control of the region.
Abbas also issued a decree stating that the Hamas militia and the Hamas executive force were outlawed, although an Abbas adviser said he was not outlawing the Islamic Hamas movement.
Soon after ministers were sworn in, Hamas said the government was "illegal" and outside the authority of Fatah movement leader Abbas.
The emergency cabinet replaces the Hamas-Fatah coalition Abbas dismantled after Hamas took control of Gaza by force this week. The new cabinet in the West Bank will be led by economist Salam Fayyad, who replaces Ismail Haniya as Palestinian prime minister
But Haniya's top adviser, Ahmed Youssef, told CNN's "Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer" that "there is nothing in the (Palestinian) constitution" that outlines an emergency government.
"There is a state of emergency but there is nothing called 'emergency government,'" Youssef said.
He said the move was "just a mistake" made by Abbas. Abbas declared a state of emergency as Hamas fighters seized control of Gaza last week.
According to Abbas and his Fatah allies, the president has the power to dissolve the government and form a temporary cabinet after calling for a state of emergency. The Palestinian Legislative Council must convene to vote on the cabinet after a 30-day period. While Hamas has gained control of Gaza, Fatah is trying to consolidate its power in the West Bank.
Fatah official Saeb Erakat denied that there were two Palestinian governments, but made it clear that the newly appointed cabinet's first priority would be to prevent the spread of the "chaos and lawlessness" in Gaza.
"We will not allow ... the catastrophe that's happened in Gaza to reach the West Bank, that's number one," Fatah official Saeb Erakat told CNN's "Late Edition."
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the formation of a new Palestinian government creates an "opportunity" for renewed peace moves, The Associated Press reported Sunday.
"We have a new opportunity in the last few days that we haven't had in a long time," Olmert told reporters shortly before taking off for New York. "A government that is not Hamas is a partner."
Hundreds flee
Humanitarian groups are concerned about the isolation of Gaza and its Hamas rulers.
The international community led by the United States cut off international funding to the Palestinian government after Hamas -- which does not recognize Israel's right to exist -- took power last year.
Israeli human rights groups are appealing for the Israeli government to reopen its border crossings with Gaza to allow food and medical relief supplies, one of the groups, called B'Tselem, announced Sunday.
In addition, B'Tselem said, "Hundreds of refugees are attempting to escape the violence and are trapped in Erez Crossing, caught between IDF soldiers and the military wing of Hamas which is preventing these refugees from returning to Gaza."
Karni Crossing, the main Israel-Gaza border crossing, has been closed for six days. According to B'Tselem, Erez crossing was closed on Saturday and Nahal Oz was closed on Sunday.
In addition, the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza has been closed since last weekend.
Talks are under way with Israeli officials about getting the borders open for humanitarian relief, the director of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency in Gaza, John Ging, told CNN.
Fuel supplies cut
The sole supplier of gasoline for motorists in Gaza has announced it will no longer provide gasoline to stations there in the wake of the Hamas takeover.
The Israeli fuel company Dor Alon said that the company will continue to supply gasoline to Gaza's electricity power plant, a spokeswoman said.
The Dor Alon spokeswoman would not say what prompted Sunday's announcement, however, its supply agreement is with the Palestinian Authority which no longer is in control of Gaza.
The company had threatened to cut off gasoline supplies in the past over non-payment issues.
Copyright 2007 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.

Rift seen in Iraq insurgency -- some groups reject al Qaeda

2007-06-08T09:32:00.000-07:00

BUHRUZ, Iraq (CNN) -- U.S. forces have begun arming nationalist guerrillas and former Saddam Hussein loyalists -- and coordinating tactics -- in a marriage of convenience against al Qaeda radicals in one of Iraq's most violent provinces, senior U.S. commanders tell CNN.
This new alliance, a result of the deepening divisions among Iraqi insurgent factions, was on display earlier this week at a highway intersection in the town of Tahrir. There, a group of some 15 insurgents publicly chanted: "Death to al Qaeda."
"The al Qaeda organization has dominated and humiliated Sunnis, Shiites and jihadis. It has forced people from their homes. They can't get enough blood. They killed many honest scholars, preachers and loyal mujahedeen," one of the group's spokesmen read from a written manifesto.
It's a sharp turnaround from just two months ago when the same insurgent forces were focused on fighting U.S. troops and driving them out of Diyala province, about 40 miles north of Baghdad.
U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Benjamin Mixon, commander of Multi-National Division North, believes U.S. counterinsurgency efforts in Vietnam and Latin America offer precedents for the strategy he is now pushing in this region of Iraq. (Watch how insurgents are turning against al Qaeda )
"We've seen this in previous counterinsurgency operations, using local nationals, arming them and forming them into scouts," he told CNN. "That's the primary role we want to use them in. They know the territory. They know the enemy."
The changing strategy isn't just confined to Diyala, according to U.S. officials. Gen. David Petraeus, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, told CNN Thursday that tribal forces in Anbar, the restive Sunni province west of the Iraqi capital, have "decided to oppose al Qaeda and fight with the coalition forces against them."
"What's taken place in Anbar is almost breathtaking," he said. "In the last several months, tribes that turned a blind eye to what al Qaeda was doing in that province are now opposing al Qaeda very vigorously. And the level of violence in Anbar has plummeted, although there clearly is still work to be done." (Full story)
At the highway intersection in Tahrir, the insurgents said they had named their anti-al Qaeda alliance the United Jihad Council. They said the newly formed council was an umbrella organization of smaller insurgent units, including the 1920s Brigades, the Mujahedeen Army, Islamic Army and the Salaheddin Brigades.
CNN videotaped gunmen posting lookouts on rooftops throughout Tahrir and patting down civilians -- checking for potential al Qaeda infiltrators -- as they made their way to prayers at local mosques.
Locals say al Qaeda amputated fingers for smoking
Nationalist insurgents say al Qaeda excesses are behind their falling-out. Several sources said al Qaeda members burned a 7-year-old child alive and murdered women and other children in the towns and villages around the provincial capital of Baquba. They did not give names or dates to back up their claims.
"They [al Qaeda] ruled with tyranny. They really harmed our town, so we had to stop them, and they left, no return," said one young gunman, who claimed membership in the nationalist 1920s Brigades.
Other civilian and insurgent sources in the towns of Tahrir and neighboring Buhruz said al Qaeda had imposed strict regulations, including a ban on smoking -- punishable by the amputation of a finger or hand -- and a curfew on citizens walking in the streets after 4 p.m.
Some citizens said al Qaeda had even banned Friday prayers.
Based on anecdotal evidence, offered by civilians in Buhruz, al Qaeda was financing its military operations by forcing citizens to pay a "war tax," as well as by kidnapping for ransom, selling smuggled fuel on the black market, and even using forced labor to harvest oranges and dates from sprawling plantations throughout the region.
In Buhruz, Capt. Ben Richards is one of the U.S. field commanders cementing the U.S. military alliance with its former foes from the nationalist insurgent factions. He said the new strategy was highly pragmatic. (Watch a marriage of convenience )
"If we go in with the mindset that every one of these persons has tried to kill an American, I don't think that's true, though in many cases it may be. But if you think that, then you're setting yourself up for a mindset that is not productive for us or for the Iraqi people," Richards, commander of a troop of Stryker combat vehicles, told CNN.
Richards described assistance from the former insurgent factions and what he calls other "concerned local nationals" as "militarily crucial."
His key ally in the region is a man known as Abu Ali, who says he has never belonged to an insurgent force but was an officer in one of Saddam Hussein's feared military intelligence units.
To date, Abu Ali says he has received 39 weapons and about 1,000 rounds of ammunition from the U.S. military. The insurgent factions he represents, however, are known to have significant arsenals of their own weapons, including light machine guns, assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades.
Publicly, Abu Ali is grateful for the assistance he and his followers have received from the U.S. military. He predicts he can help clear the entire province of al Qaeda militants within six months if the U.S. Army provides more ammunition and supports insurgent operations with air cover and help from tanks and armored personnel carriers.
But while the marriage of convenience may be successful for now, Abu Ali and his followers seem to have no intention of making a lasting commitment to the Americans.
"After we are done with al Qaeda," Abu Ali says, "we will ask the Americans to withdraw from Iraq. ... If they do not withdraw, there will be violations and the American army will be harmed."
He adds, "Especially after the help the U.S. Army has provided us, we would like them to go home as our friend, not enemy."
With the alliance only beginning to bear its first successes, few U.S. commanders seem to be looking toward the end of the affair. But there is a realization that it is a balancing act -- to prevent al Qaeda infiltration and to maintain the collaboration of nationalist insurgents.

ID cards of missing soldiers shown on insurgent Web site

2007-06-04T09:54:00.000-07:00

(CNN) -- A Sunni insurgent group on Monday posted video of the military identification cards of two missing American soldiers in Iraq.
The video also carries an audio commentary in Arabic in which the speaker says, without providing any proof, "We decided to put an end to this matter and announce the death of the soldiers."
According to the commentary, the group made the move because the U.S. military did not heed its demand to end the search for the soldiers.
CNN cannot independently verify the video, which was intercepted by terrorism expert Laura Mansfield.
The video is from the Islamic State of Iraq, an insurgent group that includes al Qaeda in Iraq.
The video included a still image of the photo identifications of Spc. Alex R. Jimenez , 25, of Lawrence, Massachusetts, and Pvt. Byron W. Fouty, 19, of Waterford, Michigan. (Watch how soldiers' ID cards ended up on Web site )
Above the photos, written in Arabic, was the message, "Bush is the reason for the loss of your prisoners."
The images appear to be authentic U.S. military identification cards, a military official in Washington said.
Military officials recently had received information that video or images related to the missing soldiers might appear on the Internet and contacted their families to inform them, U.S. military sources said.
Jimenez and Fouty went missing along with Pfc. Joseph J. Anzack Jr., 20, of Torrance, California, following a May 12 ambush on a military observation post south of Baghdad. Four American soldiers and an Iraqi soldier were killed in the attack.
On May 23, Anzack's body was pulled from the Euphrates River in Babil province, south of Baghdad.
The 10-minute video also included footage of a masked man at a diagram board -- apparently the planning stage of the attack -- followed by nighttime video of an apparent attack, and video from Arabic-language TV network Al-Jazeera of soldiers searching fields.
Images of what appear to be the missing soldiers' personal effects -- including Visa and Mastercard credit cards, a cross, $50 U.S. bills and Iraqi currency -- are shown at the end of the video.
The video concludes with images apparently taken from the identification cards of the two soldiers.
Gordon Dibler, Fouty's stepfather, said a military official visited him Saturday and told him that video of some of Fouty's personal effects -- including his ID and credit cards -- might appear on the Internet.
Dibler described the news of the video as "a double-edged sword."
"I was frightened of course to await the news, but it gives me some hope," he said.
"We don't know if these people didn't just find these items lying around. I'm hopeful of their return, and I'll keep asking the nation to pray."
Jimenez's mother, Maria Duran, said that the Pentagon hadn't contacted her family.
The Islamic State of Iraq claimed responsibility for last month's ambush and called on the U.S. military to halt its search for the missing soldiers.
CNN's Maria Dugandzic, Ines Ferre, Octavia Nasr and Barbara Starr contributed to this report.

Thai army: Suspected terror attacks kill 15

2007-06-01T09:41:00.000-07:00

PATTANI, Thailand (AP) -- Suspected insurgents sprayed gunfire into a mosque, killing at least five worshippers, and a roadside bomb killed 10 paramilitary troops in near simultaneous attacks in southern Thailand, the army said.
The bomb exploded Thursday on a road in Bannang Sata district in Yala province as government-hired paramilitary rangers drove by, killing 10 of them, said Thai Army spokesman Col. Akara Thiprote.
Two rangers were slightly wounded and the truck was damaged, Akara said.
The rangers had earlier been negotiating with Muslim protesters in a nearby district, he said. The whole area has been under a military curfew since a deadly bombing at a mosque and a grenade attack on a tea shop that left 10 people dead and wounded more than 20 on March 14.
Almost immediately after the bombing, an unknown number of assailants opened fire on a group of Muslim villagers leaving a mosque after evening prayers in nearby Sabayoi district of Songkhla province, killing five villagers, Akara said.
It was not immediately clear why the worshippers were attacked but officials blamed Muslim rebels.
"The insurgents opened fire on the Muslim villagers and put the blame on the authorities," Akara said.
He did not explain why he suspected Muslims had attacked the mosque.
Thailand is overwhelmingly Buddhist, but Muslims are a majority in the deep south, where they have long complained of discrimination.
Buddhists living and working in southern Thailand have been the targets of Muslim insurgents. However, Muslims -- mostly working for the government -- have increasingly fallen victim to the violence in recent months.
Thai military authorities have blamed such attacks on Muslims bent on intensifying hatred against the government and to radicalize Muslims and push them into joining the insurgency.
Some Muslims believe the security forces, or even Buddhist vigilantes, might have a hand in the attacks.
Since a Muslim rebellion flared in the three southernmost provinces in early 2004, near-daily bombings, drive-by shootings and other attacks have killed more than 2,200 people.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Fraud verdict on ex-Thai PM party

2007-05-30T09:50:00.000-07:00

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

2007-05-28T10:28:00.000-07:00

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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2007-05-23T11:13:00.000-07:00

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

2007-05-21T10:38:00.000-07:00

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

2007-05-18T10:02:00.000-07:00

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

2007-05-17T09:43:00.000-07:00

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

2007-05-16T09:05:00.000-07:00

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

2007-05-12T21:49:00.000-07:00

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

2007-05-11T10:37:00.000-07:00

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

2007-05-10T09:07:00.000-07:00

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

2007-05-09T08:48:00.000-07:00

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

2007-05-08T08:13:00.000-07:00

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

2007-05-07T08:37:00.000-07:00

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

2007-05-06T07:47:00.000-07:00

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

2007-05-05T07:14:00.000-07:00

(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

2007-05-04T08:36:00.000-07:00

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

2007-05-03T06:23:00.000-07:00

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

2007-05-02T11:26:00.000-07:00

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

2007-05-01T07:05:00.000-07:00

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.

British bomb plotters jailed for life

2007-04-30T07:38:00.000-07:00

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Five Britons have been jailed for life after being found guilty of plotting to carry out al Qaeda-inspired bomb attacks across Britain on targets ranging from a nightclub to a shopping mall.
The gang planned to use 600 kg (1,300 lb) of fertilizer to make explosives to be used in bombings in revenge for Britain's support for the United States in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks, prosecutors said.
Details of the case -- previously kept secret to ensure a fair trial -- reveal previously undisclosed ties between the five men, the suicide bombers who attacked London's transport network in 2005, and other al-Qaeda linked cells.
Spies had seen Mohammed Sidique Khan, the suspected ringleader of the July 7 bombings, and accomplice Shehzad Tanweer with the men in the days leading up to their arrest, but discounted them because they were not involved in the plot. (Watch how British security forces encountered two men who went on to carry out suicide attacks )
Opposition parties and survivors of the bombings demanded a public inquiry into the July 7 attacks in response to the news.
Omar Khyam, Waheed Mahmood, Anthony Garcia, Jawad Akbar and Salahuddin Amin were convicted on Monday of conspiring with Canadian Mohammed Momin Khawaja to cause an explosion likely to endanger life.
Garcia and Khyam were found guilty of possessing an article for terrorism -- the fertilizer, and Khyam was also convicted of having aluminum powder -- an ingredient in explosives.
The men denied all charges.
'Ruthless misfits'
Sentencing the men, Judge Michael Astill said: "The sentences are for life. Release is not a foregone conclusion. Some or all of you may never be released. You are considered cruel, ruthless misfits by society."
Khyam's brother Shujah Mahmood and another man Nabeel Hussain were found not guilty of involvement in the plot.
During the UK's longest terrorism-related trial, lasting more than a year, prosecutors said the men had only to decide on a target when they were arrested in 2004 before carrying out what would have been the first homegrown attack by Islamist militants.
Police swooped on the suspects about 16 months before four British Islamists carried out suicide bombings on London's transport system in July 2005, killing 52 commuters.
The prosecution said the men had discussed targets including London's biggest nightclub -- the Ministry of Sound -- gas, water and electricity supplies, synagogues, trains, planes, and a large shopping center, Bluewater, east of the capital.
'Massive' loss of life
British police said the scale of their operation, codenamed "Crevice" was, at the time, the largest anti-terrorist action they had carried out.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke, Head of the MPS Counter Terrorism Command and National Coordinator of Terrorism Investigations, said: "This case marked a new stage in our understanding of the threat posed by al Qaeda to this country.
"The investigation showed the links that these men had with al Qaeda in Pakistan.
"Most of them had attended a terrorist training camp in Pakistan in 2003, and were taught how to make explosives; some had been involved in extremism as far back as 2001.
"This was not a group of youthful idealists. They were trained, dedicated, ruthless terrorists who were obviously probably planning to carry out an attack against the British public.
"It was the first time since 9/11 that we in the UK had seen a group of British men intent on committing mass murder against their fellow citizens.
"While under surveillance they were heard discussing possible targets such as shopping centres, nightclubs, trains -- all heavily crowded places where the loss of life and destruction could have been massive.
"We now know that two of the people who attacked London on July 7, 2005 met with Khyam's group during the Operation Crevice surveillance operation. They were not part of that plot, and at that time were not a threat to public safety.
"In every case, and Operation Crevice was no exception, decisions have to be made as to who poses a threat to the public, and how resources should be used.
"It is a grave disappointment and a matter of great regret to everyone involved in counter-terrorism that we were not able to prevent the attack on 7th July 2005. What this case and others in the future will show is that we are dealing with a threat posed by interlinked networks of terrorists."
CNN International Security Producer Andrew Carey contributed to this report

Iran confirms it will attend summit on Iraq

2007-04-29T06:28:00.000-07:00

Tehran, Iran (AP) -- Iran on Sunday confirmed it will attend this week's conference on Iraq in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheik, saying its delegation will be headed by its foreign minister.
The announcement will be widely welcomed as Iran, a Muslim Shiite-majority nation, has considerable influence among Iraqi Shiites, who now lead the Baghdad government. Iran is also suspected of having influential links with Shiite insurgent groups -- although it has repeatedly denied such ties.
"A high-ranking delegation headed by Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki will attend the Egyptian conference on Iraq," Foreign Ministy spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said in an interview with state television.
Hours earlier, the Iraqi prime minister's office had announced that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had called to say his country would send a delegation to the two-day conference, which begins on Thursday.
"The decision came after consultations between Iraqi officials and the Iranian president," Hosseini said in the telephone interview, which was played on state TV.
Until Sunday, Iran had been the only country not to have announced its participation in the conference. All of Iraq's other neighbors as well as Egypt, Bahrain and representatives of the big five U.N. Security Council members have agreed to attend.
Hosseini's announcement came shortly after a top Iranian envoy, Ali Larijani, arrived in Baghdad for talks on issues to be raised at the conference. Hosseini said earlier Sunday that Larijani was going to the Iraqi capital because Iran had "some questions and ambiguities about the agenda."
In Baghdad, an adviser in the prime minister's office, Sadiq al-Rikabi, confirmed Larijani would meet senior Iraqi officials. "It is a very important visit," he added.
Last week Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari came to Tehran to try to persuade the government to attend the conference, and told reporters Iran's participation was "vital."
Earlier Sunday, the head of the Iranian parliamentary committee on national security and foreign policy, Alaeddin Boroojerdi, said an Iranian delegation should go to Sharm el-Sheik.
"Iran should attend the conference, actively and powerfully," Boroojerdi was quoted as saying by IRNA.
Boroojerdi added that if Iran did not participate, it would lay itself open to criticism from the United States.
Iran has considerable influence among Shiite parties in Iraq, who now lead the country's government. It is also alleged to have links with Shiite insurgent groups, which is why numerous American politicians and analysts have urged Washington to engage Tehran in talks designed to curb the violence in Iraq.
U.S. President George W. Bush on Tuesday signaled that the conference could provide an opportunity for one-on-one talks between his administration and Iran, but he stressed that Tehran's nuclear program would not be on the table.
He said U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice might have bilateral conversations at the conference. "They could. They could," Bush told PBS' "The Charlie Rose Show.".
The United States cut diplomatic ties with Iran following the 1979 storming of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. Although there have been periodic diplomatic contacts, the Bush administration has resisted pressure at home and abroad to engage Iran one-on-one in an effort to improve security in neighboring Iraq.
That policy began to change this spring. Although it is not inviting a broad conversation, the administration has repeatedly said it will not rule out sideline talks with either Iran or Syria at the conference May 3-4 at Egypt's Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheik.
Such contact would follow the model established last month when lower-level State Department officials had cordial discussions with Iranian and Syrian diplomats.
Bush said if a meeting occurs, Rice's message to the Iranians would be: "Don't send weapons in (to Iraq) that will end up hurting our troops, and help this young democracy survive."
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Turkey warned: Respect democracy

2007-04-28T09:04:00.000-07:00

ANKARA, Turkey (CNN) -- The European Union and the U.S. have urged the Turkish army to respect the country's democracy after military chiefs voiced concerns over the current presidential election.
In a statement issued on Friday night, top soldiers warned the army could intervene if the election process threatened to undermine Turkey's secular system of government, The Associated Press reported.
"It should not be forgotten that the Turkish armed forces is one of the sides in this debate and the absolute defender of secularism," the military statement said.
"When necessary, they will display their attitudes and actions very clearly. No one should doubt that."
Friday's parliamentary vote to elect Turkey's next president has been marked by tensions between Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Islamist Justice and Development Party and members of Turkey's secular establishment.
Lawmakers will vote again next week after the ruling party's candidate, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, failed to garner a clear win amid a boycott by the opposition Republican People's Party.
A government spokesman said Erdogan had spoken to Turkey's top general, Yasar Buyukanit, adding that the military statement was "not acceptable in a democratic order."
"The chief of the General Staff is answerable to the Prime Minister," Justice Minister Cemil Cicek said.
In Brussels, EU enlargement chief Olli Rehn said it was watching events in Ankara with concern, Reuters reported.
"It is important that the military leaves the remit of democracy to the democratically elected government and this is a test case if the Turkish armed forces respect democratic secularism and the democratic arrangement of civil-military relations," said Rehn.
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Dan Fried called for democracy to be respected: "We hope and expect that the Turks will work out these political issues in their own way, in a way that's consistent with their secular democracy and constitutional provisions."
Turkish human rights campaigners also condemned the statement by the army, which has ousted four governments in the past 50 years -- most recently in 1997 when it overthrew an Islamist government in which Gul and Erdogan served.
"The statement has damaged our country's democracy and our state of law," said the Ankara-based Human Rights Association.
Mehmet Agar, leader of the center-right opposition True Path Party, told reporters: "Turkey's problems must be solved by civilian politics."
Emergency talks
Erdogan and Gul held emergency talks on Saturday following Gul's failure by 10 votes to secure the two-thirds parliamentary majority necessary to avoid a second round of voting.
Parliament members are slated to vote a second time next Wednesday. A two-thirds majority again will be needed to elect a president in the second round. If voting goes to a third round, then a simple majority will do.
Opposition lawmakers have asked Turkey's Constitutional Court to declare Friday's vote void and want an early general election instead, according to journalist Andrew Finkel in Ankara.
The probability that Gul, whose wife wears the traditional Muslim head scarf, will become the president of an already Islamic-rooted government -- possibly bolstering the role of religion in politics -- has caused unease in the vastly secular nation.
Part of the president's role includes veto power on legislation. With a record number of vetoed legislative bills, the country's current president, Ahmet Necdet Sezer, is widely viewed as fulfilling a checks-and-balances roll in the government, according to Finkel. Sezer leaves office May 16.
Commentator Oktay Eksi of the Hurriyet newspaper said the army's statement amounted to a "straightforward ultimatum," AP reported.
"It expresses concern over the fact that if Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul is elected, the presidential palace, which is considered the last bastion of secularism, will be handed over to a person who is anti-secular," Eksi said.
-- CNN's Talia Kayali in Atlanta and journalist Andrew Finkel in Ankara 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.

Saudis say they've busted massive terror plot

2007-04-27T10:04:00.000-07:00

(CNN) -- Saudi security forces have arrested scores of suspects in a terror plot involving attacks on senior officials and government oil, military and security installations, a Saudi intelligence official said Friday.
The official said that the nine months-long terror sweep netted 172 militants -- members of cells that make up the al Qaeda network the Saudis have been tracking for years.
Some of those arrested had trained abroad as pilots so they could fly aircraft in attacks on Saudi Arabia's oil fields, the Interior Ministry said Friday, according to The Associated Press.
The operation was launched with intelligence gleaned from the interrogations of suspects arrested in the unsuccessful February 2006 strike on an oil processing facility in the desert kingdom, an official told CNN. (Watch CNN's Nic Robertson explain terror plot )
That intelligence official said some of those arrested in the latest roundup had flight manuals, but "they have no real flight training capabilities."
The Interior Ministry did not say the militants would fly aircraft into oil refineries, but it said in a statement that some detainees had been "sent to other countries to study flying in preparation for using them to carry out terrorist attacks inside the kingdom," according to AP.
Interior Ministry spokesman Brig. Mansour al-Turki told AP in a phone call, "They had reached an advance stage of readiness and what remained only was to set the zero hour for their attacks.
"They had the personnel, the money, the arms. Almost all the elements for terror attacks were complete except for setting the zero hour for the attacks."
Al Qaeda claimed previous attack
Those arrested are Saudis and citizens of other Arab and African countries. Many of them are not soldiers and have no training in fighting.
The intelligence source said some of the confiscated weapons had been hidden in the desert for years.
In addition, the operation confiscated 20 million Saudi riyals ($5.3 million), the source said.
A U.S. intelligence official said the arrests show there is "a serious threat" and noted the Saudis have been pursuing terror suspects actively.
"Al Qaeda is intent on attacking in Saudi Arabia," the official said. He added that the arrests provide more information that al Qaeda is still interested in airliner plots. Asked whether the United States played a role in the sweep, the official declined to comment on the specific operation.
However, he said it's no secret the United States and Saudi Arabia work closely on terrorism.
Arabic-language media have been focused on the news all day.
Saudi TV and Al-Arabiya reported that the militants pledged allegiance to the leader of the main cell during a ritual in Mecca, the Saudi city and the holiest city of Islam. A sheikh appearing on Saudi TV referred to the pledge at the holy site as an affront to the religion.
Al-Arabiya said some of those detained were working for airline and oil companies and that the majority of non-Saudi detainees were Yemenis and some Nigerians. Al-Arabiya and Al-Jazeera reported that the militants wanted to use airplanes to attack refineries.
The announcement comes more than a year after an unsuccessful attack on the world's largest oil processing facility in Abqaiq, in eastern Saudi Arabia. Forty militant suspects were rounded up by Saudi authorities a month later.
Al Qaeda in Saudi Arabia claimed responsibility for that attack, and one of al Qaeda's leaders was killed in a shootout three days after the failed strike.
Arabic-language network Al Arabiya said one of the seven terror cells seized was involved in the Abqaiq incident.
A principal goal of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has been to bring down the Saudi monarchy, and that has been one of the key motivational factors leading the Saudi authorities to keep tabs on the terror network. Bin Laden, a Saudi, has called for attacks on the kingdom's oil facilities.
Copyright 2007 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.

Girl freed from collapsed building

2007-04-26T10:35:00.000-07:00

ISTANBUL, Turkey (CNN) -- Crowds of rescuers descended upon the debris of a multistory apartment building that collapsed Thursday in Istanbul, frantically trying to remove the crumbled concrete to find any survivors.
A CNN Turk reporter on the scene said rescuers have freed a little girl from the rubble, while rescuers could hear voices from the debris.
Construction workers were trying to tear down a building next door and authorities believe that is what caused the apartment complex to collapse around 6 p.m. (11 a.m. ET), Istanbul Mayor Kadir Topbas told CNN Turk.
At least two people have been confirmed trapped, he said.
Residents said they evacuated the building after hearing a crack in the roof, but some went back inside before the building collapsed, Istanbul Governor Muammer Guler told CNN Turk.
At least 17 ambulances had arrived on the scene, located in the Sirinevler neighborhood of Istanbul. The building was at least six stories high, and levels pancaked on top of each other.
A room with couches and a hanging light still attached to the ceiling could be seen amid the rubble, as people searched for anyone who might be trapped.
Two women holding children walked out of an adjacent building that remained intact, but was exposed by the collapse.
An older woman leaned against the wall, sobbing hysterically.
Poor construction standards have been blamed for previous building collapses, especially during earthquakes, which are common in Turkey because it lies on the Anatolia fault.
On February 21, two people died when an Istanbul apartment building collapsed.
Journalist Andrew Finkel and CNN's Talia Kayali contributed to this report

Taliban: Bin Laden plans Iraq strikes

2007-04-25T10:34:00.000-07:00

(CNN) -- A Taliban military commander says Osama bin Laden helped plan the deadly suicide car bombing outside Bagram Air Base targeting a "very important American official," apparently referring to Vice President Dick Cheney.
Mullah Dadullah was interviewed by the Arab-language network al-Jazeera, which identified the official as Cheney. The network aired the comments on Wednesday, but did not say when the interview was done.
Dadullah said al Qaeda leader bin Laden also is involved in planning attacks in Iraq. He offered no proof for his statements.
The vice president was more than a half mile away from the site of the February attack in Afghanistan, which Afghan police said killed more than 15 people and wounded 20.
Secret Service agents briefly moved Cheney, who was unharmed, to a bomb shelter away from the base. He returned to his room when it was safe to do so. Cheney said he was told the base's main gate had been attacked.
Referring to bin Laden, Dadullah told the Arab-language network al-Jazeera, "Praise be to God he is still alive, and we have information about him and praise be to God he orchestrates plans in both Iraq and Afghanistan.
"You may remember the martyrdom mission in Bagram which targeted a very important American official. No Afghan can reach the Bagram base.
"This operation was a result of his blessed planning. He's the one who planned the details of this operation and guided us and the operation was successful," Dadullah said.
Bagram is about 40 miles (60 kilometers) north of the capital, Kabul.
On March 1, Dadullah told Britain's Channel Four that his forces were poised for a spring offensive against NATO-led coalition troops in Afghanistan, and that he was maintaining a regular line of communication with bin Laden.

Soldier: Army ordered me not to tell truth about Tillman

2007-04-24T19:26:00.000-07:00

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The last soldier to see Army Ranger Pat Tillman alive, Spc. Bryan O'Neal, told lawmakers that he was warned by superiors not to divulge -- especially to the Tillman family -- that a fellow soldier killed Tillman.
O'Neal particularly wanted to tell fellow soldier Kevin Tillman, who was in the convoy traveling behind his brother at the time of the 2004 incident in Afghanistan.
"I wanted right off the bat to let the family know what had happened, especially Kevin, because I worked with him in a platoon and I knew that he and the family all needed to know what had happened," O'Neal testified. "I was quite appalled that when I was actually able to speak with Kevin, I was ordered not to tell him."
Asked who gave him the order, O'Neal replied that it came from his battalion commander, then-Lt. Col. Jeff Bailey.
"He basically just said ... 'Do not let Kevin know, that he's probably in a bad place knowing his brother's dead,' " O'Neal told House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry Waxman. "And he made it known I would get in trouble, sir, if I spoke with Kevin on it being fratricide."
The military instead released a "manufactured narrative" detailing how Pat Tillman died leading a courageous counterattack in an Afghan mountain pass, Kevin Tillman told the committee. (Watch Kevin Tillman accuse the military of lying )
Also Tuesday, former Pfc. Jessica Lynch told the House panel that the military lied about her capture.
Lynch testified that after her vehicle was attacked in Iraq in March 2003, she suffered a mangled spinal column, broken arm, crushed foot, shattered femur and even a sexual assault.
But it only added insult to injury, literally, when she returned to her parents' home in West Virginia, which "was under siege by media all repeating the story of the little girl 'Rambo' from the hills of West Virginia who went down fighting," Lynch said. (Watch Lynch set the record straight )
"It was not true," she said before gently chiding the military. "The truth is always more heroic than the hype."
Waxman, D-California, said the military "invented" tales about Tillman and Lynch. (Watch Lynch describe her bond with the Tillman family )
"The bare minimum we owe our soldiers and their families is the truth," Waxman said. "That didn't happen for two of the most famous soldiers in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars."
Brother calls tale 'calculated lies'
As the tide was turning in the U.S. battle against Afghan insurgents -- and as media outlets prepared to release reports on detainee abuse at Abu Ghraib in Iraq -- the military saw Pat Tillman's death as an "opportunity," Kevin Tillman told the panel.
Even after it became clear the report was bogus, the military clung to the "utter fiction" that Pat Tillman was killed by a member of his platoon who was following the rules of engagement, the brother said.
"Revealing that Pat's death was a fratricide would have been yet another political disaster during a month already swollen with disasters," Kevin Tillman said. "The facts needed to be suppressed. An alternative narrative had to be constructed, crucial evidence destroyed."
Tillman bristled at the military claim that the initial report was merely misleading.
Clearly resentful, he told the panel that writing a field report stating that his brother had been "transferred to an intensive care unit for continued CPR after most of his head had been taken off by multiple .556 rounds is not misleading."
"These are deliberate and calculated lies," he said.
Pat Tillman, who became a national hero after he gave up a lucrative contract with the NFL's Arizona Cardinals to join the Army's elite Rangers force, was awarded the Silver Star, the military's third-highest combat decoration, after the Army said he was killed leading a counterattack.
O'Neal testified that his superiors had him write a statement about the incident for Tillman's Silver Star commendation. He said the final version contained false statements about enemy fire that had been inserted by someone else.
Thomas F. Gimble, the Defense Department's acting inspector general, said that investigators could not determine who altered O'Neal's statement and that no attempt was made to examine the document's electronic history.
The Army later acknowledged that not only that Tillman was killed by his fellow soldiers, but that officers in Tillman's chain of command knew the counterattack story was bogus.
Still, Senior Chief Petty Officer Stephen White told the official heroism-under-fire story at a May 3, 2004, memorial service for Tillman.
"It's a horrible thing that happened with Pat," White, a Navy SEAL who was Tillman's friend, told the committee. "I'm the guy that told America how he died, basically, at that memorial. It was incorrect. That does not sit well with me."
Though the military blamed the erroneous report on an inadequate initial investigation, Mary Tillman told ESPN Radio last month that everyone involved in the shooting knew immediately that her son had been shot three times in the head by a member of his platoon.
"The Tillman family was kept in the dark for more than a month," Waxman said. "Evidence was destroyed. Witness statements were doctored. The Tillman family wants to know how all of this could've happened."
Lynch: Truth 'not always easy'
Lynch's testimony began with a recollection of the March 23, 2003, attack and her purported rescue nine days later.
As she and her fellow 11 soldiers drove through Nassiriya, Iraq, they noticed armed men standing in the streets and on rooftops. Three soldiers were quickly killed when a rocket-propelled grenade slammed into their vehicle, Lynch said.
The other eight died in the ensuing fighting or from injuries suffered during the fighting, she said. Lynch later woke up at Saddam Hussein General Hospital.
"When I awoke, I did not know where I was. I could not move. I could not call for help. I could not fight," she said, explaining she had a six-inch gash in her head and numerous broken bones. "The nurses at the hospital tried to soothe me, and they even tried unsuccessfully at one point to return me to Americans."
On April 1, U.S. troops came for her.
"A soldier came into the room. He tore the American flag from his uniform, and he handed it to me in my hand and he told me, 'We're American soldiers, and we're here to take you home.' And I looked at him and I said, 'Yes, I'm an American soldier, too,' " she recalled.
She was distraught to come home and find herself billed as a hero when two of her fellow soldiers had fought bravely until the firefight's end and another had died after picking up soldiers and removing them from harm's way.
"The American people are capable of determining their own ideals for heroes, and they don't need to be told elaborate lies," she said. "I had the good fortune to come home and to tell the truth. Many soldiers, like Pat Tillman, did not have that opportunity.
"The truth of war is not always easy. The truth is always more heroic than the hype," she said.
Lynch became a celebrity after U.S. troops filmed what they said was a daring raid on the hospital. Hospital staffers, however, said there were no Iraqi troops at the hospital when the purported rescue took place.
In the March 23, 2003, attack, Lynch, the Army claimed, was shot and stabbed during a fierce gun battle with Iraqi troops that left 11 of her comrades dead. It was later learned that Lynch never fired a shot during the firefight because her gun was jammed with sand.

U.S. military: Suicide bomb kills 9 U.S. soldiers in Iraq

2007-04-23T19:35:00.000-07:00

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Nine U.S. soldiers were killed Monday when a suicide car bomb struck near their patrol base in Diyala province, the U.S. military said in a statement.
Twenty other U.S. soldiers and one Iraqi civilian were wounded in the attack, the statement said.
In a separate incident, the military reported a U.S. soldier was killed in Muqtadya, northeast of Baghdad, by a roadside bomb.
Muqtadya is a city in Diyala province located about 25 miles (40 kilometers) northeast of the provincial capital of Baquba.
Also Monday, a suicide car bomber targeted a gathering of police vehicles in Baquba, killing six police officers, including a police general, a Diyala province police official said.
Dozens killed in insurgent attacks
Insurgents targeted Iraqis eating at restaurants, police patrolling the cities, a Kurdish political office and a Sunni mosque in a string of attacks in Iraq on Monday that left at least 51 people dead and 96 wounded, according to Iraqi officials. (Watch scenes of destruction from Baghdad bombs )
The deadliest attack happened when a suicide car bomber struck a restaurant in Ramadi, west of Baghdad, killing 20 civilians and wounding 35, an Interior Ministry official said.
A suicide car bomber struck a police checkpoint just outside Ramadi, killing four and wounding six civilians and police, a police official said.
In Baghdad, seven people were killed and 16 wounded when a suicide bomber detonated an explosive vest inside a restaurant near the Green Zone, Baghdad police said.
The restaurant was frequented by Baghdad police officers.
About a half-mile away from the restaurant, two parked car bombs exploded near Iran's embassy within hours of each other, police said.
Insurgents also bombed a Sunni mosque in the southwestern Baghdad neighborhood of Baya'a. They killed the mosque's guard to gain entry then rigged the mosque with explosives. No one was injured but the al-Kawthar mosque was damaged, an Interior Ministry official said.
A suicide car bomb detonated outside the Kurdish Democratic Party office in Tal Uskuf, killing at least 10 people and wounding 20, according to KDP official Abdul Ghani Yahya.
Iraqis protest security wall
Despite the daily attacks across Iraq, thousands of Iraqis took to the streets Monday to protest a concrete wall surrounding Adhamiya, a Sunni neighborhood in Baghdad.
The U.S. and Iraqi militaries say the wall is a temporary structure to prevent insurgent attacks.
But many Baghdad residents fear walls will exacerbate the sectarian divide that is fueling the insurgency in the Iraqi capital. (Watch why the wall was controversial )
"The aim of this wall is to isolate Adhamiya," one resident told CNN. "It's a step we think that is not for the good of the people, but it's to isolate them like Falluja and other Sunni cities."
Police estimated 7,000 Iraqis peacefully took to the street to voice their disapproval with the wall around Adhamiya, a Sunni enclave surrounded by Shiite neighborhoods.
Video showed the streets crowded with demonstrators, some carrying banners that read in English, "No to the sectarian barrier."
While it is a known insurgent stronghold, Adhamiya has also been the target of Shiite death squads.
On Sunday, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki expressed outrage, saying "the construction will stop."
In response, the U.S. military issued a statement Monday saying "the construction of the wall is under review" and vowing to "coordinate with the Iraq government to establish effective appropriate security measures."
But at a joint news conference later Monday, spokesmen for the U.S. and Iraqi militaries said there are no plans to stop erecting the security barriers, which they stressed are temporary.
The spokesman for the Baghdad security plan, Brig. Gen. Qassim Atta said al-Maliki was responding to "groundless" media reports that a permanent wall -- 40 feet (12 meters) high and 3 miles (5 kilometers) long -- is being constructed.
"The prime minister is in agreement with the work of the security forces and the issue of security barriers," Atta said at the news conference in Baghdad. "We will continue to set up these barriers in Adhamiya and other areas."
A combination of sand barriers, trenches, barbed wire and concrete barriers will be put in place temporarily to secure certain areas within the 10 Baghdad security districts, Atta said. They will be moved after each area is secure, he said.
"We have noticed a big drop in terrorist attacks in areas where we already set up these security barriers," he said.
The U.S. and Iraqi militaries have started setting up security barriers in Baladiyat, Zafaraniya, al-Shu'la, Baya'a, Adhamiya, and the outskirts of Sadr City, Atta said.
"It's a fluid situation and none of these barriers that we're erecting are permanent," U.S. military spokesman Rear Adm. Mark Fox said during Monday's news conference. "We will be able to employ them as necessary."
At a news conference in Cairo on Sunday, al-Maliki said that his previous comments expressed his "fear (that) this wall might have repercussions, which remind us of other walls we reject."
He was apparently referring to the wall Israel constructed in the West Bank, and to the wall that divided Berlin during the Cold War.
CNN's Jomana Karadsheh and Arwa Damon contributed to this report.

Sarkozy, Royal in presidential runoff

2007-04-22T19:38:00.000-07:00

PARIS, France (CNN) -- Right-wing candidate Nicolas Sarkozy and Socialist rival Segolene Royal will face each other in a presidential run-off after they came through a first-round vote on Sunday, preliminary results showed.
According to numbers from the French Interior Ministry, Sarkozy earned 31.11 percent of the votes, while Royal won 25.83 percent.
Turnout was the highest in more than 40 years, and appeared to fall just short of the record for first-round voting set in 1965.
Because of the close margin, they will face a run-off on May 6.
Centrist Francois Bayrou, one of four main contenders, won 18.55 percent of the votes while far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen took 10.51 percent, according to the ministry.
Royal will become France's first woman president if she wins.
Official results from the election that drew a huge turnout were expected later on Sunday evening.
An IPSOS opinion poll released late on Sunday suggested Sarkozy would win 54 percent of votes in the second round and Royal would secure 46 percent.
Sarkozy told cheering supporters on he wanted to rally the French people behind a "new dream." (Watch Sarkozy talking about his vision )
"My dear compatriots, I want only one thing: to gather the French people around a new French dream," he told supporters at his UMP party.
France must now choose between two visions of society in the second round, Sarkozy said.
"By placing me in the lead and Madame Royal in second position, (voters) clearly marked their wish to have a definitive debate on two ideas of the nation, two projects of society, two value systems," he said.
Sarkozy's dream was one of "a fraternal republic where no-one will be afraid."
"I want to say to all the French who are afraid, that I want to protect them against violence, against delinquency, against unfair competition, against outsourcing," the former interior minister said.
Royal called for voters to rally round her, promising to bring France change without upheaval. (Watch Royal's speech after the result was announced )
"I call on all those who ... believe it is possible to reform France without brutalizing it, who want a triumph of human values over the stock market, who want an end to the painful rise of insecurity and precariousness, to come together," she told a rally in central-western France.
"Many of us -- regardless of the first round -- do not want a France ruled by the law of the strongest or the most brutal, sewn-up by money interests, where all powers are concentrated in the same few hands.
"I reach out to all those who believe it is not only possible but urgent to break with a system that is no longer working," Royal said.
Unprecedented interest
The vote has generated unprecedented interest in France, at a time when the country has been beset by economic and social problems.
With incumbent Jacques Chirac standing down after 12 years in office, candidates have tried to assert their credentials as part of a new generation of politicians eager to reshape the troubled country's traditional ways of life.
But observers say the main contenders have often struggled to define policies setting them apart from their rivals despite dynamic campaigning.
Interior Ministry figures showed that 84.48 percent of France's 40 million voters cast ballots. Such a figure would near the record of 84.8 percent set for a first round in 1965, according to The Associated Press.
Observers say the next president will inherit a nation on the brink of an economic crisis, struggling with national identity and coping with a poverty-stricken immigrant community still reeling from the 2005 youth riots.
In Sarkozy and Royal, voters face a clear choice between a right-wing program based on free-market ideas and a left-winger promising to safeguard the country's "social model."
Also running in the election were three Trotskyites, a Communist, a Green and anti-capitalist campaigner Jose Bove. The other two are a hunters' rights candidate and the Catholic nationalist Philippe de Villiers.
CNN correspondent Jim Bittermann said the campaign had been fierce compared to previous presidential races.
"It has been a really intense campaign, probably more so than usual," he said.
Copyright 2007 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.

Blue Angels jet crashes during air show, killing aviator

2007-04-21T18:42:00.000-07:00

(CNN) -- A jet flying in formation with the U.S. Navy Blue Angels precision flying team crashed into a Beaufort, South Carolina, neighborhood, causing an "enormous fireball" during an air show, authorities said.
The Navy aviator was killed, Beaufort County Coroner Curt Copeland said. The F/A-18's pilot is the only known fatality. The aviator's name is being withheld pending notification of next of kin.
William Winn, the county emergency management director, told The Associated Press that eight people on the ground were injured. The extent of their injuries was not known.
Officials announced that Sunday's scheduled air show will go on but that the Blue Angels will not take part.
A Navy statement said the aviator had been on the team for two years -- and it was his first as a demonstration pilot. The accident was under investigation, the statement said.
Fred Yelinek told CNN he saw the crash occur about a mile from Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, which was holding the two-day show. He said the jet came down about 100 yards from him with an "earth-shattering rumble."
Yelinek said the jet struck a stand of pine trees, and pieces of the plane hit homes, but he didn't see any catch fire. The pieces were "as big as a hand but no larger," he said. (Watch Yelinek describe how the plane struck trees )
The Associated Press described the crash site as a neighborhood of small houses and trailers.
Photos from the site showed a street littered with debris, some of it resembling blown-out tires, and nearby trees on fire with smoke trailing away. There were no large pieces of debris.
Pieces of a tree and the plane crashed into the home of a neighbor, Yelinek said, but she was uninjured. Pieces also hit other houses and smashed car windshields, he said.
"Most people were very shaken but unhurt," the witness said.
"I was working on a pump in the yard across the street from the initial impact, and I heard the Blue Angeles go over ... in a full, tight formation," Yelinek said.
"And then, four or five minutes later, I hear them coming again, expecting to see pretty much the same thing. But I didn't hear any strange noises. And then it was the crashing sound of pieces of the airplane coming through the trees in the yard across the street."
"And then a huge fireball, maybe 200, 300 yards further on down. The debris started from the first impact with a pine tree, which was maybe 100 yards from my location."
"Part of the tree and the debris went through a house in that yard, then the main body of the airplane continued on about 300 more yards and hit about one city block further down at the intersection of Shanklin and Pine Grove roads.
"There's a lot of houses on all four corners of that intersection. And there was a lot of fire at that intersection, and continuing thereafter."
Another witness, Gerald Popp, said the six jets had been flying for about five minutes before one of them turned south, toward the Broad River.
"I saw him go down lower than the trees, and next I saw a big black cloud of smoke," said Popp, who also lives in Beaufort.
Pam and Bill Edwards said they were watching the air show from the media stand when they realized something was terribly wrong.
"It was right at the end of the air show ... we counted four planes landing, and there was one circling in that smoky area right over the crash site," Bill Edwards said. "I looked around the sky, and there was nothing else there. Then we saw the emergency helicopter go up, and we automatically assumed the worst at that point."
Justin Cooke, an off-duty air traffic controller at the base, told CNN that some of the runways used in the air show are near military base housing, which gets constant flyovers from the base's jets. But he said he didn't think the jet crashed into the base housing area.
"From my understanding, northeast of base housing is a residential area," Cooke said.
Although he was unable to confirm the jet had struck there, he said "one of my Marines said the power was out temporarily, and stuff had knocked off their walls from the impact" of the crash.
While the cause of the crash is unknown, he mentioned that birds pose a frequent problem to jets flying in the area, and can cause a crash.
"On an F-18, you have two motors, and if they take [a bird] in the engine, it could cause engine failure and shut that down," he said. He said the plane is capable of flying in excess of 450 mph.
The aerobatic maneuvers were to be repeated Sunday as part of the Low Country Blues Festival. The show also featured other aerial demonstration teams and civilian and military aircraft displays.
CNN meteorologists said the weather in Beaufort, which is near Savannah, was clear.
The last crash involving the Blue Angels was in 1999 in south Georgia. Two aviators were killed when their F/A-18 jet crashed while trying to land during a training flight.

Bells toll in honor of Virginia massacre victims

2007-04-20T09:40:00.000-07:00

BLACKSBURG, Virginia (CNN) -- Four days after the deadliest shooting on a U.S. college campus, Americans remembered victims of the Virginia Tech massacre with moments of silence and the tolling of bells.
Crowds stopped what they were doing Friday to gather silently throughout the university grounds. Forming a sea of school colors, orange and maroon, most mourners stood and listened solemnly, some embraced each other.
In addition to the day of mourning, which was declared by Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, school alumni have organized a "Hokie Hope" day, asking all alumni, students and friends of the school to wear the university's colors.
A salesperson at the Christianburg, Virginia, Wal-Mart said Hokie merchandise has been in high demand this week, as shipments continued to arrive at the store.
Amid the remembrances, Virginia Tech President Charles Steger announced that classes will resume on Monday.
"We will move forward in a way that will honor the memory of those we have lost," said Steger in a letter to students.
At noon, mourners will pause for a bell-ringing and a moment of silence across the university grounds, including the Drill Field, where a makeshift memorial honors the 32 students and faculty who were killed. Mourners continued to gathered at the memorial Friday morning.
Some of them wrote messages of hope, love and support on large boards that had been moved beneath tents due to Thursday's rain. Nearby, a handful of students relit candles. (Honoring the victims)
Reading the messages on the boards moved many visitors to tears.
"I'm glad I hugged you at our last practice," read one message to slain student Reema Samaha, a dancer. (Watch how the memorial has become the campus' center of gravity )
Another victim, engineering professor Kevin Granata, will be remembered at a public memorial service at 2 p.m. ET at the Blacksburg Presbyterian Church.
Granata was the father of three children: two sons, ages 13 and 12, and a daughter, 10. (Read how Granata was a top biomechanics researcher working on cerebral palsy)
Source: Cho fired more than 100 rounds
A law enforcement official familiar with the investigation confirmed Friday that Cho Seung-Hui, who police blame for the massacre, fired more than 100 shots during his rampage. Most victims were shot at least three times, the official said. Cho is believed to have used two pistols during the attack. The official said Cho used "a lot" of clips of ammunition during the shootings.
A woman who was wounded in the attack left Montgomery Regional Hospital on Thursday night, leaving a total of eight other gunshot victims recovering in three area medical facilities. The hospital expects to release one or two more patients later Friday or early Saturday, a spokesman said.
Kaine has invited communities across the nation to organize their own ceremonies Friday to remember those killed in the nation's worst shooting spree.
Memorial services were scheduled in cities across the nation, including Arlington, Texas; Seattle, Washington; Georgetown, Kentucky; Virginia Beach, Virginia; and Washington.
Candlelight vigils were set for Santa Monica Beach, California; Vancouver, Washington; Middletown, Pennsylvania; Charleston, West Virginia; and St. Mary's City, Maryland.
Bells will toll to honor the victims across the states of Georgia and Colorado at 12 p.m. ET, and residents are being asked to observe a moment of silence.
The observances coincided with Friday's eighth anniversary of the massacre by two students at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. (Read more about how Colorado plans to join Friday's day of mourning)
For some, sorrow was mixed with anger, not only at Cho for his rampage and his multimedia screed, but also at the media for airing his last recorded words and images.
News outlets were urged to focus on the victims of the shootings rather than the twisted ramblings of the man who gunned them down before killing himself as police closed in.
Peter Read, father of victim Mary Read, pleaded for media outlets to stop broadcasting the images that Cho mailed between the day's two shooting incidents.
"It's a second assault on us," he said. "It's a second assault on our children. Please put the focus back where it belongs: on these wonderful, vibrant, young human beings who were bringing so much to this world." (Watch how the airing of Cho's messages sparked an uproar )
Great-aunt calls Cho 'idiot'
In 2005, Cho was declared mentally ill by a Virginia special justice, who found he was "an imminent danger" to himself, a court document states. (Read more about "the kid who never spoke")
Cho's great-aunt, Kim Yang-soon, described Cho as "very cold" and said her niece was constantly worried about him, according to a translation from The Associated Press.
"Who would have known he would cause such trouble, the idiot," Kim said from her home in South Korea.
Cho's family left South Korea when he was 8 years old, settling in Centreville, Virginia. Some there said that Cho was picked on in his younger years, but that he wasn't alone in that respect.
"We called him the trombone kid, because he would just walk with his trombone all alone," Centreville resident John Williams said, adding that Cho was so quiet that he was an "easy target."
But experts said that Cho's messages provide evidence of a much bigger problem.
"The grandiosity, the persecutory beliefs that he expressed certainly are consistent with psychosis that we usually will see as part of a mental illness," said Dr. Todd Cox of Johns Hopkins University. (Watch why warning signs don't always predict behavior )
In the messages he mailed to NBC, Cho referred to the two students responsible for the Columbine killings in 1999 as "martyrs."
Law enforcement agencies across the nation have received about a dozen copycat threats to schools across the country in the wake of the Virginia Tech massacre, according to the FBI.
The university said Thursday that it will award posthumous degrees to the slain students at the scheduled May 11 commencement.
Copyright 2007 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.

Nigeria: 25 militants killed in fighting

2007-04-18T18:59:00.000-07:00

KANO, Nigeria (Reuters) -- Nigerian security forces killed 25 Islamic militants in an all-day battle on the outskirts of the northern city of Kano on Wednesday, authorities said.
Troops surrounded the militants in the Panshekara district of the city early on Wednesday after they had burned a police station and killed 13 officers in an ambush a day earlier. (Full story)
Sustained bursts of automatic gunfire were audible at a military checkpoint on the edge of the Panshekara district. A fighter plane swooped over the area repeatedly and a column of black smoke rose into the sky.
"The army has discovered the enclave of militants and we are pushing them back. We have killed many of the militants," army Brig. Gen. Kenneth Agbola Vigo said, adding that he expected to complete the operation by nightfall.
A senior police officer said 25 militants were killed.
"In total you have 25 militants killed: 22 in the battle zone and three shot by police outside the perimeter," the officer said, asking not to be named.
The three in the second group were killed after they shot at police from a moving car. Officers recovered 10 million naira ($78,000) from the car, the officer added.
Thousands of residents fled from the area.
The police officer said some soldiers had also been killed in the battle, but there was no official confirmation.
The heavily armed militants burned down a police station on Tuesday, wounding two officers, and then ambushed and killed 13 police who came to investigate.
Residents said the militants were avenging the assassination of a hardline Muslim cleric at a mosque in Kano on Friday, which they blamed on the government.
The Secretary-General of Jama'atu Nasril Islam, Nigeria's largest Muslim organization, said the militants, who use names such as "Taliban" and "al Qaeda", were not a recognized group.
"They use Islamic names to scare people and show their anger. Police should not be a target," Abdulkadir Orire said.
Kano has seen several bouts of ethnic and religious bloodshed in the past few years, and tensions are running high in the city of 6 million because of flawed state elections held on Saturday and a presidential vote on April 21.
It was not clear if the latest violence was election-related.
The attack was the second on a police station in northern Nigeria's biggest city in a week. Attackers killed a divisional police officer in the Sharada district last week, but the motive for that incident was not clear.
Kano is one of 12 northern Nigerian states which introduced sharia law in 2000. The move by state governors alienated Christian minorities and sparked violence.
Southern Nigeria is predominantly Christian.
Copyright 2007 Reuters. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Professor: Shooter's writing dripped with anger

2007-04-17T18:56:00.000-07:00

BLACKSBURG, Virginia (CNN) -- A year and a half before before Cho Seung-Hui went on a deadly shooting spree on the campus of Virginia Tech, a professor was so concerned about his anger that she took him out of another teacher's creative writing class and taught him one-on-one.
The former chairwoman of Virginia Tech's English department, Lucinda Roy, said the anger Cho expressed was palpable if not explicit.
Cho, an English major, never wrote about guns or killing people,, she said. But his writing was disturbing enough that she went to police and other university officials to seek help. (Watch the professor tell how her student frightened her )
"The threats seemed to be underneath the surface," she said. "They were not explicit and that was the difficulty the police had."
"My argument was that he seemed so disturbed that we needed to do something about this."
Without a clear threat, nothing could be done, however, and Roy made the decision to instruct him away from other students.
"I just felt I was between a rock and a hard place," she said. "It seemed the only alternative was to send him back to the classroom, and I wouldn't do it."
While teaching Cho one-on-one, Roy said she "made it clear that that kind of writing was unacceptable and he needed to write in another voice."
She also said that she encouraged Cho to go to counseling, and believed that he may have "gotten tired of hearing it" and begun to tell her he had been going when, perhaps, he had not.
Cho was an intelligent student, Roy said, but he left students and professors alike unnerved in his presence.
Police say Cho killed at least 30 people and wounded 17 others before killing himself in Norris Hall, an engineering classroom building, Monday.
According to a search warrant, police found a note in Norris Hall containing a bomb threat directed at engineering buildings on the campus. During a three-week period before the shootings, the university received two other bomb threat notes, and police are investigating to see if those threats were related to the shooting. (Watch how the note threatens engineering buildings)
It's also believed the 23-year-old student killed two other people earlier that day in a dormitory on campus. (Watch how some are asking why warnings weren't issued sooner )
Virginia Tech Police Chief Wendell Flinchum said ballistics tests show that one of the two guns recovered at Norris Hall was used at the dorm. (Watch what police were looking for in Cho's room )
'Twisted, macabre violence'
Ian MacFarlane, who said he had class with Cho, called two plays Cho wrote "very graphic" and "extremely disturbing."
MacFarlane provided a copy of the writings to AOL where he is an employee. (Read MacFarlane's blog and the two plays)
"It was like something out of a nightmare," MacFarlane wrote in a blog. "The plays had really twisted, macabre violence that used weapons I wouldn't have even thought of.
"Before Cho got to class that day, we students were talking to each other with serious worry about whether he could be a school shooter."
Cho paid $571 for a 9 mm Glock 19 pistol just over a month ago, the owner of Roanoke Firearms told CNN Tuesday. He also used a .22-caliber Walther pistol in the attack, police said. (Interactive: The weapons used in the shootings)
John Markell said Cho was very low-key when he purchased the Glock and 50 rounds of ammunition with a credit card in an "unremarkable" purchase.
Cho presented three forms of identification and did not say why he wanted the gun, Markell said. (Watch how quickly these guns can be fired, reloaded )
State police conducted an instant background check that probably took about a minute, the store owner said.
Markell said he was shocked when three agents from the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms arrived at his store Monday with the receipt for the weapon.
Shooter's note
Cho did not leave a suicide note, according to Col. Steve Flaherty, superintendent of the Virginia State Police. (Watch Flaherty describe the scene after the shootings )
However, ABC News reported that other law enforcement sources said Cho did leave some kind of note in his dorm room. It contained an explanation of his actions and states, "You caused me to do this," ABC News reported.
It also railed against "rich kids," "debauchery" and "deceitful charlatans" on campus, according to the Chicago Tribune. (Note indicates Cho was angry at "rich kids")
Authorities are still investigating whether Cho had any accomplices in planning or executing Monday's rampage, Flaherty said.
Cho, a resident alien from South Korea, lived at the university's Harper Hall, Flinchum said.
"He was a loner, and we're having difficulty finding information about him," said Larry Hincker, associate vice president for university relations.
Governor not ready to talk gun control
Tuesday, after an emotional convocation service on campus attended by President Bush, Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine announced that at the university's request, he was appointing an independent panel to review Monday's tragedy.
"It is a very important thing, and a standard thing, that a thorough after-action review be done, both on the event and the response, so that we can learn all we
However, Kaine said he wasn't interested in arguments about gun control.
"People who want to take this within 24 hours of the event and make it their political hobby horse to ride, I've got nothing but loathing for them," Kaine said at a Tuesday evening news conference.
"To those who want to try to make this into some little crusade, I say: Take that elsewhere. Let this community deal with grieving individuals and be sensitive to those needs."
As questions continued to arise about how police reacted to the first shooting at the dorm, university President Charles Steger on Tuesday defended the response, saying police believed it to be "a domestic fight, perhaps a murder-suicide" that was contained to one dorm room.
Police cordoned off the 895-student West Ambler Johnston dorm and all residents were told about the shooting as police looked for witnesses, Steger said.
Authorities were still investigating what they believed was an "isolated incident" when the slaughter started at Norris Hall.
"I don't think anyone could have predicted that another event was going to take place two hours later," Steger said, adding that it would've been difficult to warn every student because most were off campus at the time. (Watch a student's recording of police responding to loud bangs )

Police: Virginia Tech shooter an English major, 23

2007-04-17T10:46:00.000-07:00

BLACKSBURG, Virginia (CNN) -- The gunman who killed 30 people at Virginia Tech's Norris Hall before turning the gun on himself was student Cho Seung-hui, university police Chief Wendell Flinchum said Tuesday.
University officials said they were still trying to determine whether Cho was responsible for an earlier shooting at a dormitory that left two dead.
However, Flinchum said ballistics tests show that one of the two guns recovered at Norris Hall was used at Norris and at the dorm, both located on the 26,000-student campus. (Watch police disclose new information about the shooter )
Authorities are still investigating whether Cho had any accomplices in planning or executing Monday's rampage, Col. Steven Flaherty of the Virginia State Police said.
"It certainly is reasonable for us to assume that Cho was the shooter in both places, but we don't have the evidence to take us there at this particular point in time," Flaherty said.
Cho, a 23-year-old South Korean and resident alien, lived at the university's Harper Hall, Flinchum said. He was an English major, the chief said.
Cho was a loner and authorities are having a hard time finding information about him, said Larry Hincker, associate vice president for university relations.
A department of Homeland Security official said Cho came to the United States in 1992, through Detroit, Michigan. He had lawful permanent residence, via his parents, and renewed his green card in October 2003, the official said.
His residence was listed as Centreville, Virginia, a suburb of Washington, D.C.
The university and police are still in the process of releasing the names of the 32 people killed in Monday's shootings. (Watch how some are asking why warnings weren't issued sooner )
"What went on during that incident certainly caused tremendous chaos and panic in Norris Hall," Flaherty said, describing how victims were found in four classrooms and in the stairwell of the school's engineering science and mechanics building.
Doctor recalls 'amazing' injuries
A doctor at a Blacksburg hospital described the injuries he saw Monday as "amazing" and the shooter as "brutal."
"There wasn't a shooting victim that didn't have less than three bullet wounds in them," said Dr. Joseph Cacioppo of Montgomery Regional Hospital.
Even among the less serious injuries, Cacioppo said, "we saw one patient that had a bullet wound to the wrist, one to the elbow and one to the thigh. We had another one with a bullet wound to the abdomen, one to the chest and one to the head."
A source familiar with the investigation said the weapons found at Norris were a Walther .22-caliber semi-automatic and a 9 mm Glock -- both with the serial numbers filed off. (Watch how quickly these guns can be fired, reloaded )
As questions continued to arise about how police reacted to the first shooting at the dorm, Steger on Tuesday defended the response, saying police believed it to be "a domestic fight, perhaps a murder-suicide" that was contained to one dorm room.
Police cordoned off the 895-student West Ambler Johnston dorm and all residents were told about the shooting as police looked for witnesses, Steger said.
Authorities were still investigating what they believed was an "isolated incident" when the slaughter occurred at Norris Hall.
"I don't think anyone could have predicted that another event was going to take place two hours later," Steger said, adding that it would've been difficult to warn every student because most were off campus at the time. (Watch a student's recording of police responding to loud bangs )
Steger told reporters Monday that when police responded to Norris Hall they found the front doors chained shut. The gunfire had stopped by the time they reached the second floor, he said.
The gunman killed 31 people, including himself, and wounded 15 in Norris Hall classrooms.
Student: Gunman 'seemed very thorough'
The gunman was dressed "almost like a Boy Scout" and wore a black ammunition vest, said a student who survived by pretending to lie dead on a classroom floor.
"He just stepped within five feet of the door and just started firing," said Erin Sheehan. "He seemed very thorough about it, getting almost everyone down, I pretended to be dead." (Watch student describe surviving by playing dead )
The shooter, who remained quiet throughout the rampage, came back 30 seconds after the first round of gunfire and Sheehan and her classmates tried to barricade the door with their bodies, she said.
After the shooter couldn't get in, he began firing through the door, Sheehan said. Of the 25 students in her German class, Sheehan was one of four able to walk out on her own when police arrived.
As of midday Tuesday, officials were still releasing the names of victims, which include a marching band member from Georgia and an Israeli Holocaust survivor who headed the engineering and science department. (Full story)
The university has scheduled a convocation for 2 p.m. ET Tuesday. President Bush and the first lady are scheduled to attend.
Classes have been canceled for the rest of the week, and Norris Hall will be closed for the remainder of the semester, Steger said. Student Emily Alderman said students were sending out instant messages urging each other to wear their Virginia Tech Hokie gear in a sign of unity.
There have been two bomb threats at the university this month, the latest of which came Friday. Flinchum said Tuesday they were unrelated to the shootings. (Watch gunfire on the campus )
Last August, the first day of class was cut short at Virginia Tech by a manhunt for an escaped prisoner accused of killing a Blacksburg hospital security guard and a sheriff's deputy.
Before Monday, the deadliest mass shooting in the United States occurred in 1991, when George Hennard drove a pickup truck into a Killeen, Texas, cafeteria and fatally shot 23 people, before shooting and killing himself.

Witness survives by pretending to be dead

2007-04-16T19:51:00.000-07:00

(CNN) -- A gunman who killed at least 30 people at one of two shootings on the campus of Virginia Tech Monday was dressed "almost like a Boy Scout," said a woman who survived by pretending to lie dead on a classroom floor.
"He just stepped within five feet of the door and just started firing," said Erin Sheehan who was in one of the Norris Hall classrooms where the second shooting incident took place.
Sheehan described the gunman -- who later shot and killed himself according to police -- as a young man wearing a short-sleeved tan shirt and black ammunition vest.
"He seemed very thorough about it -- getting almost everyone down -- I pretended to be dead," she said. (Student survives by playing dead )
"He was very silent," said Sheehan, one of only four students in her 25-student German class who were not shot.
The gunman left for about 30 seconds, but returned because "I guess he heard us still talking."
"We forced ourselves against the door so he couldn't come in again, because the door would not lock," Sheehan said.
The man tried three more times to force his way in then began firing through the door, she said.
Student Tiffany Otey was taking a test inside Norris Hall when the shooting began. She and about 20 other people took refuge behind a locked door in a teacher's office. Police officers with bulletproof vests and machine guns were in the area.(Watch a student's recording of police responding to loud bangs )
"They were telling us to put our hands above our head and if we didn't cooperate and put our hands above our heads they would shoot," Otey said. "I guess they were afraid, like us -- like the shooter was going to be among one of us." (Watch students react to shooting )
Some students leaped from windows to escape.
"We heard some loud banging, and we weren't sure if it was construction or not. We heard people screaming, so everybody in the class huddled in the back," said Josh Wargo, a student who was in Norris Hall. "We were going to go out the front door, and someone opened the door, and it sound like the shots were being fired down the hallway. We all jumped out of the window."
The shooter attacked more than one classroom at Norris Hall, according to police and the death total there makes it the deadliest shooting in U.S. history.
"It was kind of scary," said Matt Waldron. "These two kids I guess had panicked and jumped out of the top-story window and the one kid broke his ankle and the other girl was not in good shape just lying on the ground."
Laura Lisbeth, a 19-year-old sophomore, told CNN.com on Monday evening that while she was at Holtzman Alumni Center she saw one of her friends who had been shot in the arm.
Lisbeth said she was shaken by the day's events.
"I'm terrified," she said. "It's gonna be so hard to walk back into class and trust that nothing bad will happen."
Madison Van Duyne said she and her classmates in a media writing class were on "lockdown" in their classroom. They were huddled in the middle of the classroom, writing stories about the shootings and posting them online.
Two hours between incidents
Two people were killed in a separate incident at a dormitory on the campus about two hours earlier, around 7:15 a.m. University police Chief Wendell Flinchum said police were still investigating whether the two incidents are related.
At a news conference Monday afternoon, Flinchum did not rule out a separate shooter for the dormitory incident. (Watch the police chief explain where bodies were found )
One dormitory victim identified
Courtney Dalton, an 18-year-old student who worked at West End Dining Hall, said her friend Ryan Clark was one of the two dormitory victims.
She said Clark, a resident assistant at West Johnston Ambler Hall, had once worked at the cafeteria serving pizza.
"He was a happy person; this is really sad," she said, sobbing.
"All I can do is pray for his family now," she told CNN.com.
'Person of interest'
At the time of the later shootings at Norris Hall, police were investigating a "person of interest" in the dormitory shootings, Flinchum said. But the man -- a non-student who knew one of the victims -- had not been arrested, and it is unclear if he has any link to the other gunman, he said.
Flinchum said at a Monday night news conference that they had a preliminary identification of the shooter at Norris Hall but were not releasing it.
A law enforcement source close to the investigation told CNN a 22-caliber handgun and a 9 mm handgun were recovered at the scene.
University President Charles Steger told reporters Monday night that police found the front doors of Norris chained shut and that by the time they got to the second floor, the gunfire stopped. (Watch gunfire on the campus )
Officials thought first incident was isolated
Asked why the campus, which has more than 26,000 students, was not shut down after the first shooting, Flinchum responded that police determined "it was an isolated event to that building and the decision was made not to cancel classes at that time." (Officials thought shooter had fled)
Sharon Honaker with Carilion New River Medical Center in Christiansburg said one of the four gunshot victims being treated there was in critical condition.
Scott Hill, a spokesman for Montgomery Regional Hospital in Blacksburg, said 17 wounded students were taken there.
West Ambler Johnston Hall is a dormitory that houses 895 students and is located near the drill field and stadium. (Campus map)
Amie Steele, editor-in-chief of the campus newspaper, said one of her reporters at the dormitory where the first shootings occured reported "mass chaos."
The reporter said there were "lots of students running around, going crazy, and the police officers were trying to settle everyone down and keep everything under control," according to Steele. (Watch police, ambulances hustle to the scene )
The university is updating students through e-mails, and an Internet webcam is broadcasting live pictures of the campus.
Last August, the first day of class was cut short by a manhunt for an escaped prisoner accused of killing a Blacksburg hospital security guard and a sheriff's deputy.
After Monday's shootings, students were instructed to stay indoors and away from windows, according to a university statement. (Watch a student describe living through a "college Columbine" )
The university has scheduled a convocation for 2 p.m. ET Tuesday. Classes also have been canceled Tuesday. In Washington, the House and Senate observed moments of silence for the victims and President Bush said the nation was "shocked and saddened" by news of the tragedy.
"Today, our nation grieves with those who have lost loved ones," he said. "We hold the victims in our hearts, we lift them up in our prayers and we ask a loving God to comfort those who are suffering today."
Before Monday, the deadliest mass shooting occurred in 1991, when George Hennard drove a pickup truck into a Killeen, Texas, cafeteria and fatally shot 23 people, before shooting and killing himself.
The deadliest school shootings came in 1966 and 1999. In the former, Charles Joseph Whitman, a 25-year-old ex-Marine, killed 13 people on the University of Texas campus. He was killed by police.
In 1999, 17-year-old Dylan Klebold and 18-year-old Eric Harris -- armed with guns and pipe bombs -- killed 12 students and a teacher before killing themselves at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado.
CNN's Ashley Fantz and Jeanne Meserve contributed to this report.

Al-Sadr spokesman: ministers to leave Iraq government

2007-04-16T00:41:00.000-07:00

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Anti-U.S. Shiite cleric and militia leader Muqtada al-Sadr will announce Monday the departure of his movement's six ministers from Iraq's government to press demands for the U.S. to leave Iraq, the bloc's spokesman Saleh al-Ageili told CNN.
The move makes good on a threat issued last week after Iraq's prime minister rejected a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S.-led troops, said al-Ageili.
Al-Sadr's stake in the government controls the ministries of Health, Agriculture, Province Affairs, Transportation, Tourism and Civil Society Organizations.
The withdrawal will not affect Sadr's 30 members of parliament, .
The powerful political movement boycotted Iraq's government for two months after Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki met with President Bush in November.
The movement rejoined the government in January after Iraqi parliament members said they would consider the group's demands, which include a timetable for U.S.-led coalition troop withdrawal and a United Nations assurance that troop deployment would not be extended.
Al-Sadr, widely popular in Iraq's Shiite heartland, opposes the U.S. occupation of Iraq and, during the war, his Mehdi Army militia has fiercely fought coalition and Iraqi forces.
Many opponents of the occupation have demanded a timetable for U.S. troop withdrawal, an issue heavily debated in the United States.
Al-Sadr's faction, which was instrumental in getting al-Maliki the prime minister's position last year, is part of the Shiite-led United Iraqi Alliance, the political bloc that holds sway in Iraq. Speaking on Tuesday in Japan, al-Maliki said "achievements and victories" on the ground -- not timetables -- should determine the "departure of international forces" from his war-torn country.
"We are progressing on the security issue day by day because we are having security responsibility handed over to us continuously," al-Maliki said. "We see no need for a withdrawal timetable because we are working as fast as we can."
Reacting to al-Maliki's comments, al-Sadr's political committee issued a statement Wednesday warning its cabinet ministers might quit as a result.
"This decision has been taken because Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki did not respect the will of the Iraqi people who went on protest on April 9th demanding ... occupation forces to withdraw from Iraq," al-Ageili said.
CNN's Mohammed Tawfeeq contributed to this report

Gates: Army tours extended by three months

2007-04-11T19:33:00.000-07:00

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Tours of duty for members of the U.S. Army will be extended from 12 months to 15 months effective immediately, Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced Wednesday.

"What we're trying to do here is provide some long-term predictability to our soldiers and their families," Gates told reporters at the Pentagon.

In exchange for the extension, Gates said the service will be able to give all units a year at home between deployments.

He denied the order was a sign that the Army has passed its breaking point under the stresses of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, saying the service has met or passed its recruiting and retention goals.

But he added that the military has been "stretched" by the conflicts.

And he blasted Tuesday's leak of that proposal to the media, saying the Defense Department hoped to give the troops 48 hours' advance notice of the decision.

The order covers the active-duty Army, which provides most of the estimated 146,000 U.S. troops in Iraq. National Guard and reserve troops would continue to spend a year in the war zone, Gates said.

About 15,000 more troops are expected to be deployed to Iraq in coming months to support the efforts to pacify Baghdad and other provinces.

The Marines, whose members serve seven months deployed, are unaffected by Wednesday's order, said Gen. Peter Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Troops now held beyond 12 months are paid an additional $1,000 a month. That policy will continue, Gates said.

Also, the Army has struggled to entice soldiers and Marines not to leave the service. The campaign to retain soldiers has reached $1 billion, with bonuses soaring nearly sixfold since 2003. (Read full story)

Army: Money crunch ahead
Last week, the Army warned program managers to prepare for a possible money crunch if President Bush vetoes an emergency war spending bill that calls for the eventual withdrawal of combat troops from Iraq.

But analysts say Pentagon staff will be the first to face cuts. In a memo sent Monday, the Army Budget Office warned that a resolution to the standoff between Bush and Congress over the bill "is doubtful before the end of April."

It said managers needed to plan to stretch current funds into June, with operations in Iraq and Afghanistan exempt from the restrictions. (Read full story)

Democrats used the announcement to again call for changes to the president's war strategy.

"The Bush administration has failed to create a plan to fully equip and train our troops, bring them home safely and soon, and provide our veterans with the quality care they deserve," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California said. "Extending the tours of all active-duty Army personnel is an unacceptable price for our troops and their families to pay."

In her statement, Pelosi encouraged Bush "to sit down with us to find a solution to bring this war to an end."

4 bombers, officer die in Casablanca terrorist attacks

2007-04-10T20:24:00.000-07:00

CASABLANCA, Morocco (AP) -- Three suspected terrorists blew themselves up as police were closing in Tuesday, and another suspect was shot dead by police while he was preparing to detonate his explosives, authorities said.
A police officer was killed and another was injured. A young child also was injured, officials said.
The explosions in Casablanca, weeks after the bombing of an Internet cafe in the city, promised to further rattle the North African kingdom whose first high-profile brush with Islamic terrorism came in five suicide bombings in the city in May 2003.
Moroccan authorities responded to the 2003 attacks, which left 45 people dead, with the arrest of thousands of alleged Islamic militants -- some accused of working with al Qaeda to plot strikes in Morocco and abroad. At least two of those killed Tuesday were suspected of links to those attacks.
Parliamentary elections are scheduled for September. The opposition Justice and Development Party, an Islamic group, is expected to win the most votes.
Tuesday's violence started when police, acting on a tip, surrounded a four-story apartment building in the working-class Hay Farah neighborhood of Casablanca where the suspected terrorists were holed up, officials said.
The suspects were thought to have links to last month's cyber cafe bombing.
One of the bombers who killed himself, Ayyoub Raydi, was the brother of the cafe bomber, Abdelfettah Raydi, an Interior Ministry official said. The official asked that he not be named, citing ministry policy.
After police surrounded the building before dawn Tuesday, one of the suspects fled to the roof, where he blew himself up, said a police official on the scene who refused to give his name, saying he was not authorized to do so. Morocco's official MAP news agency identified that bomber as Mohamed Rachidi.
A second man appeared to be on the verge of also detonating explosives, fumbling with his clothes, when a police sniper shot him, officials said. The suspect later died of his wounds. He was identified by police as Mohamed Mentala. Mentala was carrying 4 kilograms (nearly 9 pounds) of explosives, the Interior Ministry official said.
Mentala and Rachidi had been sought by police for alleged involvement in the 2003 suicide bombings in Casablanca, the Interior Ministry official said. MAP said Rachidi, 37, was part of a terrorist cell involved in the killing of a Casablanca police official in 2003.
Ayyoub Raydi blew himself up in the afternoon as police were searching the neighborhood for him, officials said. A bloody pair of legs were seen lying in the middle of a road after that explosion. Police covered up the legs, shorn off at the knees, with pieces of cardboard. Broken glass and charred debris littered the street.
A police officer was killed and another seriously injured in that blast, the Interior Ministry official said. A 7-year-old boy was hospitalized with light injuries, the official said.
Police cordoned off the area, erecting metal barriers to keep thousands of onlookers back.
In the evening, a fourth person detonated his explosives in the middle of a boulevard, said a police official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.
The MAP news agency said the blast injured five people. It gave no details.
"We all thought that the guy had gone the other way -- and then Kablam! -- there was this explosion behind us," said a shopkeeper who gave his name only as Saad. "This is horrible. There's no trust here anymore, because they [the bombers] can get so close to you."
Investigations of the March 11 cafe bombing led police to a wider suspected plot to attack the port in Casablanca, which is Morocco's largest city, as well as police stations and tourist sites in Morocco.
In that blast, bomber Abdelfettah Raydi detonated his charge when the cyber cafe's owner caught him surfing jihadist Web sites. He was killed, and four others were injured.
Authorities say the subsequent investigation uncovered a larger plot that involved at least 30 people. The group had amassed dozens of kilograms of homemade explosives in a Casablanca apartment.
Police have so far arrested 31 suspects, who have been questioned by judges in preliminary court hearings. Raydi and many other suspects were among some 2,000 arrested after the 2003 bombings, but were later released from prison under a royal pardon.
Moroccan authorities have said they do not believe Raydi's group had links to international terrorist networks.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

UK bans military from selling stories

2007-04-09T19:04:00.000-07:00

LONDON, England (CNN) -- The British government has banned all military service members from talking to the media in return for payment following a storm of protests over interviews with the 15 marines and sailors who were held captive in Iran.
A defense ministry spokesman told CNN on Monday that a review was announced the day before into military personnel speaking to the media in return for payment.
While this review is ongoing, a ban is in force on all personnel from speaking to the media for payment. Effectively, personnel can still talk to the media but cannot receive money in return.
The move to ban payment for interviews is not a retrospective measure so will not affect any payments made or promised to any of the 15 military personnel, a defense ministry spokesperson told CNN on Monday.
Defense Secretary Des Browne issued a statement saying the Royal Navy faced a "very tough call" over its decision to allow the sailors to receive payments for their accounts, the first of which appeared in Monday's newspapers.
Browne said lessons must be learned from the review. "I want to be sure those charged with these difficult decisions have clear guidance for the future," Browne said in his first comment about the controversy, according to The Associated Press.
"Until that time, no further service personnel will be allowed to talk to the media about their experiences in return for payment."
Meanwhile Iranian state television aired video Sunday of 15 British sailors and marines watching football on television, eating, laughing and playing ping-pong and chess during nearly two weeks in Iranian custody. (Watch Iranian video showing the British group in captivity )
The images, aired on Iran's Arabic-language network al-Alam, appeared to refute the former captives' account of psychological pressure. The images showed they were held "in comfort" and that they enjoyed "complete freedom" during their captivity, the network said.
While in custody, some of the detainees confessed to straying into Iranian waters while on patrol in the northern Persian Gulf -- but they recanted upon return to Britain on Thursday. (Watch disgust grow over the decision allowing them to sell their stories )
Their commanding officer, Royal Navy Lt. Felix Carman, said he and his crew were held in isolation from each other during their captivity, interrogated most nights and presented with two options. "If we admitted that we had strayed we would be back on a plane to the U.K. pretty soon. If we didn't, we faced up to seven years in prison," he said. (Full statement)
Those accounts were given "after 26 hours of being questioned in a military base," al-Alam said.
In an interview published Monday, the only woman among the detained crew told Britain's Sun tabloid that she feared she was being measured for a coffin while in detention, according to Reuters. (Full story)
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said he had ordered the release of the Britons as an Easter gift and out of respect for last week's anniversary of the Prophet Muhammed's birth.
Meanwhile, the decision by the British navy to allow the former detainees to get paid for public appearances, book deals or news interviews has raised criticism that they are getting special treatment.
"It does compare very badly with the six soldiers who were killed in Iraq this week, against the Royal Marines who are fighting a serious battle in Helmand province in Afghanistan," said retired army Col. Bob Stewart. (Watch a profile of one of them, Prince William's friend )
"And quite frankly, a vast part of the British armed forces think it's not fair," the former commander of British peacekeepers in Bosnia-Herzegovina said.
The British navy defended its decision, saying that permission was granted to make sure the service "had sight of what they were going to say," it said. (Full story)
"Quite aside from the 'human interest story' surrounding these individuals, there are also sensitive strategic issues in play," the Defense Ministry said in a written statement. "It was clear that the stories they had to tell were likely to have emerged via family and friends regardless of any decision the Navy took."
CNN's Matthew Chance contributed to this report.

Al-Sadr to followers: Fight Americans, not Iraqis

2007-04-08T18:06:00.000-07:00

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A powerful and radical Shiite cleric implored his followers Sunday to stop killing Iraqis and focus their violent efforts on ousting American forces from the war-torn nation.
Muqtada al-Sadr also called on Iraqi forces to join the insurgents in the battle against "the occupiers."
The firebrand cleric's mandate came as a Baghdad security spokesman announced that a ban on civilian vehicular traffic will go into effect Monday, the fourth anniversary of the fall of Baghdad.
The 24-hour vehicle ban is slated to begin at 5 a.m. (10 p.m. Sunday ET), Baghdad security operations spokesman Gen. Qassim Atta said on Iraqi state television.
South of the capital, in Diwaniya, U.S. and Iraqi forces were in their third day of battling al-Sadr's Mehdi Army.
Meanwhile, caravans of the cleric's followers were converging on Najaf, south of Diwaniya, for an anti-American demonstration scheduled there Monday at al-Sadr's behest.
They walked through the streets Sunday chanting in Arabic, "No, no to the occupiers; yes, yes to Islam" and "Iraq will always be independent and free of occupiers," police said.
Najaf is an al-Sadr stronghold and a Shiite hub.
Authorities are stepping up security and checkpoints to prepare for the influx of al-Sadr supporters, Najaf police said.
In a statement -- attributed to al-Sadr and released in Najaf on Sunday -- the cleric purportedly said insurgents should not be killing Iraqis and that Iraqi police and troops should be on the side of the militias.
"You, the Iraqi army and police forces, do not walk alongside the occupiers because they are your enemy," it said. "I am here to advise you the honest resister hopes for two thing from God: either victory or martyrdom. But at the same time, the honest resister should not kill a fellow Iraqi."
The statement also carried a message to the Mehdi Army forces in Diwaniya: "My brothers in the Mehdi Army and my brothers in the Iraqi security forces, stop fighting each other. This will be an accomplishment in our enemy's scheme."
The U.S. military said it has captured 39 militia fighters and killed several in the Diwaniya fighting, which began Friday and has been dubbed Operation Black Eagle.
"So far, we have achieved great success fighting the terrorists," said Maj. Gen. Oothman Faroud, who is leading Iraqi soldiers in the Diwaniya operation. "We have freed the people of Diwaniya from the murder and intimidation that has plagued the city 24 hours a day, seven days a week for months."
Six U.S. troops killed
Six American soldiers died Sunday, including three killed by a roadside bomb south of Baghdad, U.S. commanders reported.
In a separate attack south of the city, one soldier was killed and three wounded Sunday when their unit came under rocket or mortar fire, according to the military.
Two more soldiers were killed in fighting north of Baghdad, in Salaheddin and Diyala provinces, U.S. commanders said.
The deaths hike the weekend toll for U.S. troops in Iraq to 10. Four soldiers were reported killed Saturday in an explosion in Diyala, which includes the restive city of Baquba.
The casualties bring the U.S. death toll in Iraq to 3,280, including seven civilian contractors, since the March 2003 invasion that toppled former dictator Saddam Hussein.
Bombs erupt in, around Baghdad
A powerful car bomb killed at least 17 civilians and wounded 26 others on Sunday in the latest in a spate of attacks outside the Iraqi capital since a new security plan there took effect.
The vehicle was packed with explosives and old artillery shells, Mahmoudiya police officials said. The blast sent the shells flying into a nearby residential building and an auto mechanic's shop.
Mahmoudiya is 21 miles (35 kilometers) from the capital. The explosives detonated about 54 yards (50 meters) from Mahmoudiya Hospital.
"Three of us and a young boy were sitting in a store selling spare parts for cars when there was a huge explosion. Debris from the roof fell on me," one wounded man, who gave his name as Sadeq, told Reuters news agency while lying on a hospital bed.
Explosions also were reported around Baghdad, police said. At least five people were killed in the blasts.
Four of the deaths came in southwest Baghdad's al-Alam neighborhood when a car bomb exploded near an outdoor market. Sixteen people were wounded in the explosion, police said.
A roadside bomb targeting an Iraqi police patrol in northern Baghdad's Adhamiya neighborhood killed a Baghdad police officer and wounded four officers.
South of the capital, in the holy city of Karbala, clashes broke out between police and gunmen in the desert, according to a Karbala police official. The gunmen fled in their vehicles before they could be detained.
After the fight, police found the bodies of six shepherds from a group of 18 who were abducted, along with their livestock, by suspected al Qaeda in Iraq members Wednesday, the official said.
The shepherds were kidnapped near the desert borders of volatile Anbar province in western Iraq.
Other developments
• Seventeen bodies were found scattered around Baghdad on Sunday. Such finds typically are the result of sectarian attacks carried out during the night.
• Early Sunday raids launched by U.S.-led coalition forces in Baghdad netted a senior al Qaeda-in-Iraq leader linked to a number of roadside bomb attacks in the capital, the U.S. military said.
• In Mahmoudiya, troops captured three "known insurgents," the U.S. military said. Two of those detained were identified as being involved in an attack last week in which a U.S. paratrooper was shot to death and another was wounded; the third insurgent was linked to roadside bomb production, the military said.
CNN's Carolina Sanchez and Mohammed Tawfeeq 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.

U.S. sends warplanes to strike suspected Iraq insurgents

2007-04-07T20:05:00.000-07:00

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- U.S. warplanes struck suspected insurgents armed with rocket-propelled grenades in the southern Iraqi city of Diwaniya on Saturday, the U.S. military said.
Residents in the predominantly Shiite city used a hotline to tip off authorities that insurgents carrying grenade launchers were in the area, the military said. Iraqi soldiers then took action.
"The troops made positive identification of the militiamen and called for the airstrike," a military statement said.
Iraqi police told The Associated Press that at least one civilian was killed and five seriously injured when a U.S. tank fired on a house in Diwaniya. The U.S. military had no immediate comment on any civilian casualties, AP reported.
The airstrike is part of a military crackdown on insurgents in Diwaniya, which is known to be home to Shiite militias. The operation is being led by Iraqi soldiers and supported by coalition soldiers and paratroopers.
U.S. troops swept into the troubled city before dawn Friday, killing three militia fighters and capturing 27 people, the U.S. military said. The attack -- named Operation Black Eagle -- is targeting gunmen loyal to anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
The U.S. military also said troops found a site where powerful explosives were being assembled.
A spokesman for al-Sadr said Saturday that militia fighters in Diwaniya had destroyed three American vehicles and captured a robot used to detonate roadside bombs, AP reported.
More deadly suicide bombings
North of Baghdad on Saturday, five Iraqi police officers were killed when a suicide car bomber slammed into a police checkpoint in Samarra, local emergency police told CNN.
The chief of police in Ramadi on Saturday reported the death toll from a suicide attack in the city west of Baghdad on Friday rose to 35 people, with 40 wounded. An official also revealed the bomber had detonated a truck carrying chlorine gas.
Ramadi Chief of Police Gen. Tarqi al-Thibawi told CNN many of the victims were women and children, but he could not give an exact breakdown. Many children who had just left school were crowded in the area of the explosion, he said.
The suicide bomber set off a truck carrying chlorine gas cylinders, the Iraq Interior Ministry official said. Part of a three-story residential building collapsed and many nearby shops were damaged, the chief of police said.
Sunni Arab insurgents began using chlorine gas in vehicle bombings this year in Anbar province, where Ramadi is located, and in Baghdad.
The U.S. military reported Saturday that two U.S. soldiers were killed and seven others were wounded Friday in separate bomb explosions around Iraq's capital. All were Multi-National Division-Baghdad soldiers.
Since the war began four years ago, there have been 3,270 U.S. military deaths, including seven civilian employees of the Defense Department. (Watch why more National Guard units will go to Iraq )
CNN's Mohammed Tawfeeq and Basim Mahdi 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.

British soldier killed in Iraq was close friend of prince

2007-04-06T18:57:00.000-07:00

LONDON, England (AP) -- A British female soldier killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq was a close friend of Prince William, a spokesman for the royal family said Friday.
Second Lt. Joanna Yorke Dyer, 24, was among four soldiers killed when a British patrol was attacked early Thursday in the southern Iraqi city of Basra.
William, who is second in line to the British throne, met Dyer while both were at the Sandhurst military academy, family spokesman Patrick Harrison said.
"Prince William was deeply saddened to hear the tragic news of Jo Dyer's death," said Harrison, press secretary for Prince Charles, William's father.
"Jo was a close friend of his at Sandhurst, and he is very much thinking of her family and friends right now. They are in his thoughts and prayers."
William and his younger brother, Prince Harry, are both officers with the Blues and Royals, an elite cavalry regiment. Harry, third in line to the throne, is to be deployed to Iraq, the Ministry of Defense has said.
Dyer's commanding officer, Lt. Col. Mark Kenyon, said in a statement that the soldier was "a talented and energetic officer who was determined to make the most of her deployment to Iraq."
Prime Minister Tony Blair called the ambush an "act of terrorism" Thursday and suggested it may have been carried out by elements linked to Iran, although he stopped short of blaming Tehran.
The British patrol struck a roadside bomb and was hit by small-arms fire, said Capt. Katie Brown, a British military spokeswoman. The explosion created a 9-foot crater in the road.
A civilian interpreter was also killed and a fifth British soldier was seriously wounded, Brown said.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Warnings over 'diluted' climate report

2007-04-05T18:49:00.000-07:00

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) -- A major report on how global warming will dramatically change life on Earth will likely read less dire about massive extinctions than scientists originally wrote.
Participants in marathon negotiations over an authoritative climate change report, due out Friday, said government delegates have weakened the original language in the report.
A final draft of the report -- written by scientists before government officials edit it -- says "roughly 20-30 percent of species are likely to be at high risk of irreversible extinction" if global average temperature rises by 2.7 to 4.5 degrees Fahrenheit.
That part has been "diluted," said retired scientist Ian Burton attending the session on behalf of the Stockholm Environment Institute.
Another delegate said the amended version hedged on the sweep of the original text, inserting a reference to species "assessed so far."
Guy Midgley of the National Botanical Institute in South Africa, a lead author of the chapter on ecosystems that includes extinctions, said the changes will be "commensurate with the science."
Negotiations stretched past midnight and into early Friday. One issue of major debate was whether to delete all or parts of key tables specifying the projected impact of each rise of 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit, delegates said.
Another prolonged tussle emerged over whether to include estimated costs of damage from climate change -- calculated per ton of carbon dioxide emissions, said the delegates on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
Negotiations were expected to push right up against a Friday morning deadline for the report's release.
As they broke for dinner Thursday, carrying yellow boxes with gift chocolate Easter eggs, negotiators said they were in for a long night, but had confidence they will make their deadline.
There is little dispute about the science, although some disagree about their confidence in the research. But the main issue at the Brussels conference is how the report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will say what it has to say in the most effective possible way -- that 120 nations' negotiators can accept.
The key is making it easily understandable, said Oyvind Christophersen, who heads the Norwegian delegation as a senior adviser for climate and energy. "The challenge is how to summarize a big, big report."
The entire final draft report, obtained last week by The Associated Press, has 20 chapters, supplements, two summaries and totals 1,572 pages. This week's wrangling is just over the 21-page summary for policymakers.
It is the second of four reports from the IPCC this year; the first report in February laid out the scientific case for how global warming is happening. This second report is the "so what" report, explaining what the effects of global warming will be.
The situation became so slow that the panel chairman took the unusual step of warning delegates to get moving and scientists started grumbling about the possibility of recessing the conference until June, a scientist told The Associated Press. The scientist spoke on condition of anonymity because participants have been warned by top officials not to divulge details of negotiations.
Some of the biggest debates expected Thursday in the closed-door negotiating session center on what to include on the charts that summarize "key vulnerabilities" the world faces with global warming.
The charts have been called a "highway to extinction" because they show that with every degree of warming, the condition of much of the world worsens -- with starvation, floods and the disappearance of species.
Those charts "tell us there's a danger in the future," said Belgian delegate Julian Vandeburie, who is in the science policy branch of his government.
Vandeburie compared the world's current situation to the Munich peace conference in 1938, when Britain and France had a choice between confronting Hitler and appeasing him: "We are at the same moment. We have to decide on doing something or not."
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

UK sailors reunited with families

2007-04-05T09:52:00.000-07:00

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Fifteen British service members detained for most of the past two weeks in Iran were reunited with their families on Thursday after flying home from Tehran.
The group of sailors and marines landed at London's Heathrow Airport around midday following a six-hour flight before being transferred by helicopter to a military base in Chivenor, southwestern England. (Watch the former detainees' arrival back home to the UK )
Video showed the group, still in their uniforms, laughing and hugging family members. Some posed for pictures while others talked on cell phones. They were also due to undergo debriefings and medical examinations. (Watch former detainees reunite with friends and families )
Speaking in Downing Street as the British Airways flight carrying the 15 landed in London, British Prime Minister Tony Blair welcomed their release, announced by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as a "gift" on Wednesday, but reiterated that no diplomatic deals had been done to secure their release.
Blair said the group's homecoming was a reason to "rejoice" but noted that their arrival back to the UK came amid news of the deaths of four British soldiers in Iraq.
"We are glad that our service personnel return safe and unharmed from their captivity, but on the other, we return to the sober and ugly reality of what is happening through terrorism in Iraq," he said. (Watch Blair's remarks on the 15's release )
Blair said the group's sudden release vindicated the UK's "dual-track strategy" of pursuing bilateral dialogue while mobilizing international pressure, adding that their return had been secured "without any deal, without any negotiation, without any side agreement of any nature whatsoever."
New channels
He said the crisis had opened up new channels of communication with Tehran which it would be "sensible" to pursue and said it was the "right moment" to reflect on relations with Iran.
"But there cannot be any misunderstanding of the basis upon which that communication takes place," said Blair. "We have to hold absolutely firm in relation to support from any aspect of the Iranian regime for terrorism.
"If Iran has genuine concerns about the region, or concerns about what's happening there, those are things that can be discussed. What you cannot have is where there is an attempt to subvert the will of the democratically elected government in Iraq, or the international community."
Responding to the claim by Ahmadinejad that the UK had sent a letter of apology to Tehran vowing not to intrude into Iranian territorial waters, Blair noted that the claim was "nothing new" since British forces should not have been in Iranian waters, adding "obviously it's our contention that they weren't," in reference to the 15 marines and sailors.
Blair also dismissed suggestions that any deal had been made involving the release of Iranians held in Iraq.
"Let me make it absolutely clear: No, there are no agreements about any Iranian elements that may be held in Iraq because they're being held in Iraq as a result of the wrongful interference with the business in Iraq," Blair said.
Carrying large duffel bags and brightly patterned gift bags, the detainees strolled onto the tarmac after arriving at Heathrow -- the sailors wearing blue uniforms and the marines in fatigues -- and briefly lined up for a photo-op.
Earlier, they were seen off from Tehran by Britain's ambassador to Iran, Geoffrey Adams, Iran's state-run IRIB network reported. The crew members sat in business class on the flight, according to an Associated Press reporter.
Before boarding, the Britons were pictured receiving and inspecting gifts given to them on Ahmadinejad's behalf.
The service members' departure from Iran came hours after Ahmadinejad announced at a Wednesday news conference that they were free to leave. (Watch how Iran's PR plan unfolded )
The service members had been denied British consular access and held in a secret location never divulged by the Iranian government since March 23. (Timeline)
Big party
Meanwhile, friends and family of one of the detained sailors, Nathan Summers, are planning "a big party" in the small town of Hayle, southwestern England, to celebrate his release, Summers' grandmother April Rawsthorne told CNN's "American Morning" on Thursday.
"We're a large family and we have loads of friends," she said. "We're all going to get together and have a really good night out."
The party began on Wednesday at the Cornubia Pub in Hayle, where Summers worked before joining the Royal Navy, following news of the 15's imminent release.
"We really will celebrate once I actually see my son on English soil," said Summers' mother, Tracey Watkins. "That will be the time. When he's in my arms." (Watch Summers' friends and family raise their glasses in joy )

Iran president says British sailors and marines to be freed

2007-04-04T18:26:00.000-07:00

TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad met with some of the 15 British military personnel held in Iranian custody for almost two weeks, shortly after pardoning the group and vowing to set them free.
Iranian state television showed footage of Ahmadinejad shaking hands, smiling and chatting with the detainees, who were dressed in suits. One of them was heard to comment in English: "We are grateful for your forgiveness."
Ahmadinejad joked with one of them: "What kind of compulsory trip were you on?" He added: "I wish you success." (Watch Ahmadinejad meet British detainees, wish them luck )
An Iranian diplomat in London told The Associated Press that the 15 would be handed over to the British Embassy in Tehran. It is unclear when that handover would take place.
According to the president's office, the Britons will leave Tehran at 8 a.m. Thursday (0430 GMT). (Watch how the announcement played out )
Parents expressed huge relief.
"Well, we were absolutely, totally shocked," said Alison Carman, mother of Lt. Felix Carman, as she stood beside her husband. "It was just unbelievable. It was a bolt out of the blue. We'd been praying for their release, and when it actually happened, I think I fell to the floor, and Paul burst into tears."
In the town of Hayle, a party was under way at the Cornubia Pub, where one of the detained sailors, Nathan Thomas Summers, worked before joining the Royal Navy. (Watch friends and family lift a toast )
"We haven't gotten any news yet, but the Ministry of Defense and the Royal Navy have been absolutely fantastic keeping us up to date with every bit of information we've needed," said Summers' mother, Tracey Watkins.
"We really will celebrate once I actually see my son on English soil," she said. "That will be the time. When he's in my arms."
She said she was told that Summers would have to undergo debriefing and a physical exam before seeing his family, but he can call them once he reaches the British Embassy.
"As politics is concerned, I try to keep out of it," Watkins said. "I am just glad I'm getting my son back."
British Prime Minister Tony Blair said the announcement comes "as a profound relief, not just to them but to their families that have endured such distress and anxiety over these past 12 days."
"Throughout, we have taken a measured approach: firm but calm, not negotiating but not confronting either," Blair said in a brief statement to reporters. (Watch Tony Blair react to news that UK personnel will be freed )
"To the Iranian people, I would simply say this: We bear you no ill will. On the contrary, we respect Iran as an ancient civilization and as a nation with a proud and dignified history.
"And the disagreements that we have with your government we wish to resolve peacefully through dialogue. I hope, as I have always hoped, that in the future we are able to do so."
In Washington, White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said: "President Bush also welcomes the news."
Ahmadinejad's announcement came at the end of a lengthy news conference Wednesday, in which he said the detainees had violated Iran's territorial waters and called their release "a gift to the British people."
"I declare that the people of Iran and the government of Iran -- in full power to place on trial the military people -- to give amnesty and pardon to these 15 people, and I announce their freedom and their return to the people of Britain," Ahmadinejad said.
The action was a goodwill gesture for the Iranian new year, he said, adding that Iran had received a letter from Britain promising not to intrude into Iranian waters. (Watch why one expert calls Ahmadinejad "a master of political gestures" )
"The British government sent a letter to our Foreign Ministry and said it would not happen again. Of course, our decision had nothing to do with the letter. It's a decision made by our government to give a gift to the people of Britain," Ahmadinejad said in answer to a reporter's question. (Watch Ahmadinejad warn Blair not to question released personnel )
"They will go through some brief formalities, and then they will go to the embassy," he said. "They can go on a British Airways flight to Heathrow, they can go through the UAE, it is up to the British Embassy in Tehran in coordination with the Foreign Office here."
Ahmadinejad had earlier praised the border guards who captured the 15 on March 23, presenting their commander with a medal for bravery.
"I thank the border guards who bravely protect our borders and also arrested the violators, and I grant them the bravery medal to their commander," Ahmadinejad said.
Ahmadinejad's announcement followed a cooling in the diplomatic row that had raged between London and Tehran since the Britons' detention March 23.
Iran had released several videos showing the 14 men and one woman, including confessions from four of the sailors. (Watch two crew members describe their 'intrusion' )
Britain said the confessions were coerced and expressed its outrage about the videos' release.
Other developments
A U.S. military official said Washington officials were considering a request made by Iran to allow Iranian representatives access to the five detained Iranians captured in early January by U.S. forces during a military raid in northern Iraq. "The request has been made, but nothing has been approved," the official told CNN on Wednesday. (Iraq pressing U.S. to release Iranians)
Iranian officials in Kish Island said a U.S. inquiry into an American citizen who has been missing for several weeks in southern Iran was made for "political purposes," according to IRNA, Iran's state-run news agency.
Copyright 2007 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.

Iran president to free UK sailors

2007-04-04T06:40:00.000-07:00

TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says Iran will pardon and set free 15 British sailors and marines being held in Iranian custody.
"I declare that the people of Iran and the government of Iran -- in full power to place on trial the military people -- to give amnesty and pardon to these 15 people and I announce their freedom and their return to the people of Britain," Ahmadinejad told a news conference.
He said the Britons would be taken to the airport after the news conference. The action was a goodwill gesture for the Iranian new year which began last week, he said.
A spokesperson for British Prime Minister Tony Blair said: "We are looking at what has been said."
Ahmadinejad said the 15 detainees had violated the country's territorial waters and praised the border guards who captured them, presenting their commander with a medal for bravery.
"I thank the border guards who bravely protect our borders and also arrested the violators, and I grant them the bravery medal to their commander," Ahmadinejad said.
Ahmadinejad was speaking after a senior Iranian official on Wednesday welcomed UK efforts to negotiate the release of the marines and sailors.
Iran's parliament speaker Gholamali Haddadadel told an Iranian state broadcaster's Web site that British efforts to negotiate the detainees' release were "appropriate."
"The British are trying to solve the issue of their arrested soldiers with negotiations and this is appropriate action," Haddadadel was quoted as saying.
But he added: "The British should agree to their mistake and change their behavior of before."
Haddadadel is considered an influential figure within Iran because of his connections with the country's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to whom he is related by marriage.
Meanwhile a spokeswoman for British Prime Minister Tony Blair confirmed late on Tuesday that diplomatic moves had been made towards Tehran to secure the release of the 15 military personnel.
"The prime minister remains committed to resolving this by diplomatic means," the Downing Street spokeswoman said.
"The UK has proposed direct bilateral discussions and awaits an Iranian response on when these can begin."
On Tuesday Blair described the next two days as being "fairly critical" in an interview with a Scottish radio station and welcomed comments by Ali Larijani, the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security, that Iran saw "no need" to put the 15 on trial.
"The most important thing is to get these people back," Blair told Glasgow-based Real Radio.
Larijani also told Iranian state TV on Tuesday that the two countries' foreign ministries had held talks about the standoff for the first time. (Watch how tempers have cooled in diplomatic dispute )
But Larijani told Britain's Channel 4 television that Britain must admit its military personnel intruded into Iranian territorial waters and "guarantee this violation would not be committed again."
Britain insists the sailors and marines were well inside Iraqi waters when Iran captured them on March 23.
In addition to demanding their release, Britain also wants consular access to the detainees, whose location is unknown.
Iran has released several videos showing the 14 men and one woman in which they appeared to be in good health. Iran also released videotaped confessions from four of the sailors -- including the woman, Faye Turney. (Watch the two crew members describe their 'intrusion' )
Britain said the confessions were coerced and expressed its outrage at the videos' release.
The newest images, published Tuesday by the Iranian news agency Fars, show crew members talking in a group and playing a game.
It was not immediately clear if new stills were a breach of Tehran's earlier suggestion that no more images would be published.
Other developments
A U.S. military official said Washington officials were considering a request made by Iran to allow Iranian representatives access to the five detained Iranians captured early January by U.S. forces during a military raid in northern Iraq. "The request has been made but nothing has been approved," the official told CNN on Wednesday. (Iraq pressing U.S. to release Iranians)
Iranian officials in Kish Island said a U.S. inquiry into an American citizen who has been missing for several weeks in southern Iran was made for "political purposes," according to IRNA, Iran's state-run news agency.
Syria is undertaking "quiet diplomacy" between Iran and Britain to "resolve the row over the British sailors," the country's foreign minister Walid al-Moallem told Kuwait's state-run newspaper Al-Anba. The report, which was published Wednesday, comes as a top U.S. official, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, is in the Syrian capital to meet with President Bashar al-Assad.

Officials: Not enough aid arriving in Solomons

2007-04-03T19:45:00.000-07:00

HONIARA, Solomon Islands (AP) -- The first boatloads of international aid have reached survivors of a devastating tsunami in the Solomon Islands, but officials warn of a dire food shortage if supplies don't quickly get to hundreds of people camped on hillsides.
At least 28 people died in Monday's tsunami and quake, measured at a magnitude of 8.1 by the U.S. Geological Survey. The victims include a bishop and three worshippers killed when a wave hit a church and a New Zealand man who drowned trying to save his mother, who remains missing.
Disaster officials said the toll was expected to rise Wednesday, as rescue crews reached outlying villages that were flattened by the waves. Bodies could be seen floating in the water by authorities conducting aerial surveys of the destruction; there was no official count of those missing.
Some of more than 2,000 people who camped on a hill behind the town of Gizo after Monday's disaster have returned to look for supplies or loved ones. Others have been too afraid to venture to the coast amid more than two dozen aftershocks.
Julian Makaa of the National Disaster Management Office said more than 900 homes had been destroyed around Gizo and about 5,000 people affected.
Boats reached Gizo on Tuesday from the Solomons' capital, Honiara, carrying food and other supplies, some of which was distributed to survivors. But officials said shortages would become dire within days without more help.
"There is no food available" in Gizo and Noro, a nearby town, said government spokesman Alfred Maesulia. "Some settlements have been completely wiped out by the waves."
Australia, New Zealand, the United States, the International Red Cross and the United Nations were among those offering aid, but no formal relief plan was announced after a day of meetings by senior government officials.
Makaa said the airport had been cleared of debris and would reopen Wednesday.
Six doctors and 13 nurses would be among the first flown to the towns of Munda and Gizo, where the region's only hospital was inundated, he said.
Disaster teams that flew over the coast around Gizo reported the "destruction was massive and widespread," said Fred Fakarii, chairman of the National Disaster Management Council.
Aerial TV footage showed tin- and thatched-roof buildings collapsed along the muddy shore. Other structures leaned awkwardly on broken stilts as men picked through the debris.
"There are some very ragged, remote areas, and there's no connecting roads, (just) isolated villages," Deputy Police Commissioner Peter Marshall told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio.
Makaa said officials could only guess at the numbers of dead in the most remote villages, where two-way radio is the usual mode of contact with the outside world.
The earthquake, which struck 10 kilometers (six miles) beneath the sea floor about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from Gizo, set off alarms from Tokyo to Hawaii. The quake also tested procedures put in place after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami left 230,000 dead or missing in a dozen countries.
But because of Gizo's proximity to the epicenter, the destructive waves -- up to 5 meters (16 feet high) -- hit before an alarm could be sounded. The disaster has rekindled debate about whether the multimillion-dollar warning systems installed after the 2004 tsunami are worth the cost.
"When you have a tsunami coming in so quickly after an earthquake, it doesn't do much good to have an early warning system," said U.S. earthquake expert Kerry Sieh. Officials would be better off putting more resources into disaster response education and efforts to permanently relocate vulnerable communities to higher ground, he said.
Michael Rottmann, the U.N. special coordinator for the early warning system in Indonesia, said warning systems are useful if the message gets out quickly.
"I think a lot of lives can be saved if you have a warning in less than 10 minutes," he said. "If you have five minutes and you have a reliable warning, you can get very far ... up into a hill or away from the beach."
No significant tsunami was reported Monday anywhere outside the Solomons, which are comprised of more than 200 islands with a population of about 552,000 people.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Iran: No need to put British crew on trial

2007-04-03T02:13:00.000-07:00

TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- A top Iranian security official says his country sees "no need" to put 15 seized British sailors and marines on trial and that the ongoing dispute between Iran and Britain over their captivity can be resolved diplomatically.
The British government by saying that both it and Iran had a "shared desire to make early progress" in resolving the dispute.
However, Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said that in order to resolve the impasse, Britain would have to admit its military personnel had intruded into Iranian territorial waters and "guarantee this violation would not be committed again."
"We would be interested in diplomatic discussions, and, in my view, it is quite resolvable," said Larijani, who also said he believed "there should be a delegation to clarify" whether the British personnel intruded into Iranian waters.
The British government has insisted that the sailors and marines were in Iraqi waters when they were seized on March 23, and has demanded that the Iranian government let them go.
In an effort to isolate Iran diplomatically, Britain has appealed for support from both the European Union and U.N. Security Council.
In his interview with Channel 4, Larijani faulted Britain for creating a "harsh diplomatic atmosphere" that has prolonged the dispute and said the British government's "wrong attitude should be corrected."
"We are not pleased to have British citizens in our country as captives," he said. "Maybe if the UK government would have acted otherwise, we would not have had the case drag on so long."
Responding to Larijani's interview, a spokeswoman at the British foreign office said officials were still "studying" Larijani's remarks.
"There remain some differences between us, but we can confirm we share his preference for early bilateral discussion to find a diplomatic solution to this problem. We will be following up with the Iranian authorities tomorrow, given our shared desire to make early progress," the spokeswoman said.
Video footage has shown four of the British crew saying they were captured in Iranian waters. In footage aired Sunday, two of the sailors used maps to show the alleged location where they were seized. Iran has said the others have also confessed. (Watch the two crew members describe their 'intrusion')

Thousands homeless from tsunami

2007-04-02T19:03:00.000-07:00

HONIARA, Solomon Islands (AP) -- Bodies floated out to sea and thousands of residents camped out overnight Tuesday on a hillside above a devastated town in the western Solomon Islands after a tsunami that struck without warning washed away coastal villages, killing at least 13 people. The death toll was expected to rise.
The Solomon Islands government declared a national state of emergency, as the prime minister held meetings with his impoverished country's aid donors about getting help.
"My heart goes out to all of you at this very trying time," Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare said in an address to the nation.
A wall of water reportedly 30 feet high struck the island of Choiseul and swept a third of a mile inland, while smaller but still destructive waves surged ashore elsewhere in the western part of the impoverished archipelago, causing widespread damage and driving thousands from their homes. (Learn about the power of tsunami waves)
Thirteen people were confirmed killed in the Solomons, and the toll was expected to rise as assessment teams made their way into the stricken zone, National Disaster Management Office spokesman Julian Makaa told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio. (Watch as the Solomon Islands government discusses early damage -- 7:06 )
The station also reported the first deaths in neighboring Papua New Guinea, were a family of five was reportedly washed away.
Makaa said more than 900 homes were destroyed in the Solomons.
The tsunami was triggered by a magnitude 8.0 quake that struck shortly after 7:39 a.m. Monday six miles beneath the sea floor, about 25 miles from the western island of Gizo and 215 miles northwest of the Solomons' capital, Honiara, the U.S. Geological Survey said. (Learn more about earthquakes)
The quake -- the strongest in the Solomons in more than three decades -- set off tsunami alarms from Tokyo to Hawaii and closed beaches along the east coast of Australia more than 1,250 miles away. Lifeguards with bullhorns yelled at surfers to get out of the water at Sydney's famous Bondi Beach.
The danger passed quickly, but officials rejected suggestions they overreacted, adding that the emergency tested procedures put in place after the 2004 Indian Ocean disaster that left 230,000 dead or missing in a dozen countries. (Learn more about the Pacific tsunami warning system)
Up to 4,000 people were camped on a hill behind Gizo, a town of about 7,000, said Alex Lokopio, premier of hard-hit Western Province. In all, at least 5,000 people were affected by the tsunami, Makaa said.
Many people were too scared to return to the coast amid more than two dozen aftershocks, including at least four of magnitude-6 or stronger.
Initial reports from other islands suggest similar or worse levels of damage, the Red Cross said. Roads were inaccessible and there was heavy damage to infrastructure, including phones and electricity, said Martin Blackgrove, the International Red Cross' regional disaster management coordinator for the Pacific, based in Fiji.
Because of Gizo's proximity to the quake's epicenter, the tsunami struck before an alarm could be sounded.
"There wasn't any warning -- the warning was the earth tremors," Lokopio told New Zealand's National Radio. "It shook us very, very strongly and we were frightened, and all of a sudden the sea was rising up."
Within five minutes, a wall of water up to 16 feet high plowed into the coast, inundating homes, businesses, a hospital, schools and two police stations, and dumping boats into streets in Gizo, a popular spot for diving, witnesses and officials said.
Water 'right up to your head'
Outlying villages, where many houses are flimsy wooden structures, may have fared worse, based on scattered reports from residents with two-way radios.
"It was just a noise like an underground explosion," Gizo resident Dorothy Parkinson told Australia's Nine Network television. "The wave came almost instantaneously. Everything that was standing is flattened."
Judith Kennedy said water "right up to your head" swept through town. Her father, dive shop owner Danny Kennedy, said Gizo was devastated when the wave subsided.
"There are boats in the middle of the road, buildings have completely collapsed and fallen down," he told The Associated Press.
Alfred Maesulia, a spokesman for Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare, told the Sydney Morning Herald that some coastal villages were struck by waves up to 30 feet tall, although most reported heights of between 9 and 15 feet.
"There are reports that some villages were completely washed away," he told AP.
Maesulia said the death toll was expected to rise as the cleanup progressed.
"Some people were seen floating on the sea during the big waves but it was very difficult to go near them," he told the AP. "The number at the moment is 13. It's possible that number will increase, maybe double up or even more."
Villagers on Simbo, Choiseul and Ranunga islands reported deaths and widespread destruction, he said.
"Sasamungga village is quite a big village. ... It was reported that 300 houses were completely destroyed in that village alone."
Debris needed to be cleared before Gizo's airfield could be fully operational, the Red Cross said.
Fresh water was in short supply in some areas, while temporary, localized food shortages have also been reported, it said. Some of the affected areas can only be reached by boat.
International aid pledges
A damage assessment team flew over the tsunami zone late Monday, then reported back to the government in Honiara, National Disaster Management Office spokesman Julian Makaa said.
Helicopters made the first drops of tents, drinking water and other supplies to the crowd on the hill behind Gizo, said Peter Marshall, the Solomons' deputy police commissioner. Flights were expected to resume Tuesday.
One boat carrying relief supplies left Honiara for Gizo, and at least three more were expected to go Tuesday, Makaa told the British Broadcasting Corp.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the United Nations had a humanitarian team ready to deploy to the Solomon Islands and offered assistance to the government, U.N. spokeswoman Michele Montas said in New York. (UNICEF accepting donations)
The Australian government pledged $1.6 million in emergency aid and said helicopters already in the Solomons as part of a multinational security mission had been made available for rescue and relief.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said it was releasing $53,000 in initial aid to the national Red Cross.
The archipelago has more than 200 islands with a population of about 552,000 and lies on the Pacific Basin's so-called "Ring of Fire," an arc of volcanos and fault lines where quakes are frequent.
The quake occurred when the Australian tectonic plate suddenly dived beneath the Pacific plate, said David Wald of the USGS National Earthquake Information Center in Colorado.
The undersea temblor lifted the ocean bottom, generating deadly tsunami waves near the epicenter, Wald said.
"It would have been a much worse situation if the cities were heavily populated," Wald said.
On July 21, 1975, a large tsunami hit Bougainville, killing an estimated 200 people, according to the U.S. Geological Survey and World Health Organization. That tsunami and a 1956 wind storm, which also killed 200, are the deadliest natural disasters to strike the nation.
The Solomon Islands has been rocked by several strong earthquakes in recent history. The region was hit by temblors of magnitudes 8 and 8.1 in 1971 and 7.3 in 2003.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

People missing after tsunami

2007-04-01T20:00:00.000-07:00

CANBERRA, Australia (Reuters) -- Several people were missing on Monday after a powerful earthquake in the South Pacific hit the Solomon Islands, triggering a small tsunami, officials said.
A tsunami warning was also issued for other Pacific Rim countries, including Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Australia, after the shallow quake, which had a magnitude of at least 8.0.
"It was just like a real extreme tide. We didn't get like a huge big impact wave," Danny Kennedy, a dive shop owner and provincial politician on Gizo island told Reuters.
"The water just came up about probably about 4 to 5 meters (12 to 15 feet) above sea level, and kind of just went up into the communities and doused everything," he said.
From the capital Honiara, Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corp. said residents on Simbo island had reported waves traveling up to 200 meters (220 yards) inland, damaging homes.
"There are reports of two villages hit and four people missing on the island of Mono," Solomon Islands' chief government spokesman, Alfred Maesulia told Reuters from the capital of the the string of islands.
Mono is in the Treasuries Islands, an isolated and mountainous chain in the far west of the Solomons. The quake also hit nearby New Georgia, damaging a hospital in Gizo, the provincial capital, which has a population of about 20,000.
"There are quite large boats sitting in the middle of the road. Many of the houses that were on stilts are sitting on the ground. A number of the coastal communities have been completely wiped out," Kennedy said.
He said the hospital had been evacuated and patients had been taken to a doctor's house on higher ground, with more than 2,000 left homeless.
"Everybody is in a bit of a panic at the moment because everybody is talking about a new 50 meter wave coming," Kennedy said. "You had a lot of people standing at the markets. Many of the people just rode it out in their boats, but a lot of the Chinese stores have lost pretty much all of their cargo."
The National Disaster Management Office said up to 60 buildings had been destroyed including houses, although there were no confirmed deaths, a spokeswoman told Reuters. Japan's NHK television said at least three people were reported dead.
Higher ground
"We are telling people to flee to higher ground in case an aftershock causes more waves," said the spokeswoman, who insisted she not be named.
"Communications are down, but at the moment there are no confirmed deaths. There are many reports of missing people."
Japan's meteorological agency said a tsunami of 0.15 meter (6 inches) was recorded in Honiara, and that were a tsunami wave to reach Japan it would be around 0400 GMT. Australia's weather bureau confirmed the height, saying damage was quake-related.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii placed the quake's center around 350 kilometers (220 miles) northwest of Honiara. The quake, centered about 10 km (six miles) below the surface of the ocean, struck around 6:40 a.m. (2040 GMT on Sunday).
The New Georgia islands are popular with international travelers for scuba diving. Most homes in the mountainous islands are constructed of timber and bamboo, with villagers relying on fishing and logging for employment.
Solomons police spokesman Mick Spinks said some tidal damage had been reported in Gizo, where a harborfront hotel had been destroyed, as well as Lefung and Taro.
Geological agencies, including those in Australia and Japan, put the magnitude of the quake at 8.1 while the U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) revised its earlier estimate to 8.0.
Ada Akao from Australia's High Commission in Honiara said the quake was felt in Honiara but no buildings in the city appeared to have been damaged.
The initial tremor was followed around seven minutes later by a second one, centered further west, of magnitude 6.7, USGS said.
Australia issued a tsunami alert for the far north coast of Queensland state, including the tourist city of Cooktown and the Willis and Barrier Reef islands.
"We haven't actually had any reports of significant tsunami damage or tsunami waves, but it would take some time for waves to reach tidal gauges," senior forecaster John Turnbull from the bureau told Reuters.
The tsunami warning center said areas north of the Solomon islands should not be significantly affected.
Copyright 2007 Reuters. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Iranians protest outside British embassy

2007-04-01T10:48:00.000-07:00

TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- Hundreds of Iranian students crowded outside the British Embassy in Tehran on Sunday, setting off firecrackers and hurling projectiles toward the compound, an embassy spokesman said.
No one was injured and there was no damage in the protest, which continued into the late afternoon, the spokesman said.
The students are protesting the alleged trespass of 15 British marines and sailors into Iranian waters on March 23.
Britain and Iraq say the Britons were well inside Iraqi waters, and London is demanding the release of the 15 detainees.
Iran has not allowed British ambassadors access to the Britons, who are being held at an undisclosed location in Iran.
Video from earlier in the day showed Iranians of all ages crowded around the embassy while Iranian forces maintained a cordon around the peaceful crowd, which chanted and waved flags.
U.S. President George W. Bush called Iran's detention of the sailors "inexcusable behavior" and called for their release, referring to them as "hostages."
"The Iranians took these people out of Iraqi water," said Bush, speaking Saturday at Camp David with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. "And it's inexcusable behavior."
The U.S. government had been notably quiet on the subject from the beginning, but Bush voiced strong opinions Saturday.
"The Iranians must give back the hostages," he said. "They were innocent. They were doing nothing wrong. And they were summarily plucked out of water." (Watch President Bush's address )
Also Saturday, an Iranian official said his country had started a legal process to determine the guilt or innocence of the detainees.
If they are not guilty, they will be freed, said Ambassador Gholam-Reza Ansari, who is in Russia.
"But the legal process is going on and has to be completed, and if they are found guilty, they will face the punishment," he said on Russian TV. (Watch Iranian ambassador call British sailors 'invaders' )
Ansari -- speaking to the TV news channel Vesti-24 -- also hinted that there could be a diplomatic settlement, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency in Iran.
"If the UK government admits its mistake and apologizes to Iran for its naval personnel's trespassing of Iranian territorial waters, the issue can be easily settled."
Iran's president called Britain "arrogant" Saturday for not apologizing, media in Iran reported.
British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said Saturday that Britain has written to Iran to seek a peaceful resolution to the standoff.
Third letter released
On Friday, Iran released a third letter purportedly written by detained British sailor Faye Turney, in which she claimed to have been "sacrificed" by British and U.S. policies and urged both countries to withdraw their troops from Iraq. (Full story)
The letter, the authenticity of which CNN cannot independently determine, followed two previous letters said to be written by Turney and released separately this week. (Watch Turney say what happened when she was captured )
Friday's letter was released just hours after Turney appeared with two other Britons in new video aired by Arabic language network Al Alam. (Text of letters)
In the video, one of the 15 detained service personnel held in Iran confessed to "entering your waters without permission."
"On the 23rd of March 2007 in Iranian waters we trespassed without permission," said Nathan Thomas Summers. The third detainee in the video has not been identified. (Watch detained British sailor make his 'confession' )
Summers said the Britons were being treated well, as did the Turney letter.
CNN's Shirzad Bozorgmehr contributed to this report

Former rebels join Nepal government

2007-04-01T06:14:00.000-07:00

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) -- Nepal's communist rebels joined an interim government on Sunday as part of a landmark peace deal that ended their decade-long insurgency, pledging to ensure development in the impoverished Himalayan nation and hold credible elections.
Five former Maoists were appointed ministers, while a sixth was given a junior minister portfolio in the new government to be headed by Girija Prasad Koirala. The swearing-in ceremony was broadcast live on national television.
The former insurgents were sworn in along with 16 other ministers and junior ministers by a visibly pleased Koirala, 84, whom Parliament re-elected as prime minister earlier Sunday for a sixth time.
Three more ministers have yet to be named while one junior minister was out of town and could not attend the swearing-in ceremony, according to the prime minister's office.
"This is the beginning of a new chapter in Nepal's history. I urge all to leave behind all minor differences and move forward together to get to our goals," Koirala said.
"The government will be fully devoted to establishing peace and security in the country," he said.
Maoist leader Prachanda said their main focus would be to ensure elections are held for a special assembly that will rewrite the constitution and decide whether Nepal will continue as a constitutional monarchy state. The Maoists had fought for 10 years to replace Nepal's monarchy with a republic.
"This day marks the beginning of a new Nepal. Our priority for now is to hold the elections, which will be free and fair," said Prachanda, whose real name is Pushpa Kamal Dahal.
"Our next goal is to provide some immediate relief to the people and then turn toward long-term development of the country," he said.
The former insurgents were given key portfolios such as the Ministry for Information and Communication which controls state-run television, radio and newspapers, and the Ministry for Local Development, according to the prime minister's office.
Sahana Pradhan of the Communist Party of Nepal United Marxist-Leninist, a mainstream political party not affiliated with the former communist rebels, was appointed foreign minister.
Ram Chandra Poudel, deputy leader of Koirala's Nepali Congress party, was named minister for peace and rehabilitation, the No. 2 slot after the prime minister.
Ram Sharan Mahat remained finance minister and Krishna Sitaula returned as home minister. Mahat and Sitaula are also from the Nepali Congress party.
The inclusion of the former rebels is part of a peace process that began last year when the Maoists agreed to give up their armed campaign to rid Nepal of its constitutional monarchy and join an interim government.
The landmark agreement on the formation of a joint government was finalized late Friday in a meeting involving Koirala, leaders of the seven ruling coalition parties, and Prachanda, the leader of the former rebels who goes by a single name.
But the announcement a new Cabinet snagged on a dispute between the Nepali Congress party and the Communist Party of Nepal United Marxist-Leninist over which party would be second-in-command in the new government.
Koirala met with leaders of the seven parties and the former rebels Sunday morning at his official residence to try to work out the differences.
Jhal Nath Khanal of the Communist Party of Nepal United Marxist-Leninist later said his party backed down, allowing the Nepali Congress to take the No. 2 slot.
The government and rebels signed a peace agreement in November, halting an insurgency that killed more than 13,000 people.
Since then, the rebels have locked up their weapons, confined their fighters in U.N.-monitored camps and joined Parliament.
The interim government is to hold elections later this year for a special assembly that will rewrite the Constitution and decide whether Nepal will continue to have a king.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Bush calls British sailors 'hostages' in Iran

2007-03-31T22:15:00.000-07:00

CAMP DAVID, Maryland (CNN) -- President Bush on Saturday called Iran's detention of 15 British sailors and marines "inexcusable behavior" and called for their release, referring to them as "hostages."
"The Iranians took these people out of Iraqi water," said Bush, speaking at Camp David with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. "And it's inexcusable behavior."
The 15 have been detained in an undisclosed location in Iran since March 23. Iran claims they "trespassed" into Iranian territorial waters. Britain denies the claim.
The U.S. government had been notably quiet on the subject from the beginning, but Bush voiced strong opinions Saturday.
"The Iranians must give back the hostages," he said. "They were innocent. They were doing nothing wrong. And they were summarily plucked out of water."
Lula da Silva did not address the British issue, but said Brazil has no political issues with Iran and considers Tehran an important trading partner.
Also Saturday, an Iranian official said his country had started a legal process to determine the guilt or innocence of the detainees.
If they are not guilty, they will be freed, said Ambassador Gholam-Reza Ansari, who is in Russia.
"But the legal process is going on and has to be completed, and if they are found guilty, they will face the punishment," he said on Russian TV. (Watch Iranian ambassador call British sailors 'invaders' )
Ansari -- speaking to the TV news channel Vesti-24 -- also hinted that there could be a diplomatic settlement, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency in Iran.
"If the UK government admits its mistake and apologizes to Iran for its naval personnel's trespassing of Iranian territorial waters, the issue can be easily settled."
Iran's president called Britain "arrogant" Saturday for not apologizing, media in Iran reported.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad -- in remarks carried by state radio and reported by the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency -- said, "The occupying British forces entered our waters, and our border guards, with courage and alertness, arrested them."
Instead of issuing any regret or displaying any shame, Britain postured, he said, issuing declarations and making speeches.
"These arrogants, due to their arrogant mentality and selfishness, instead of apologizing, they acted as if we owe them," he said.
Ahmadinejad also took a wider swipe at Britain and other Western nations.
"In the last 300 years, the arrogant powers have been stealing from other nations. They have enslaved the people of other nations," he said.
He said that after World War II, the Western countries "declared themselves the winners and created international organizations in order to continue their domination over the rest of the world."
"The arrogant powers unfortunately today are openly breaking the laws that those international organizations they themselves founded and created," Ahmadinejad said, according to IRNA.
British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said Saturday that Britain has written to Iran to seek a peaceful resolution to the standoff.
"We have made our response, and now we are beginning to discuss. As you may know, it's a holiday period in Iran, and that is perhaps not too helpful," said Beckett, speaking to reporters at the European Union foreign ministers' meeting in Germany.
The contents of the diplomatic notes passed between the two countries have not been disclosed.
"The message I want to send is that everyone regrets that this position has arisen. What we want is a way out of it, we want it peacefully, and we want it as soon as possible. We would like to be told where our personnel are; we would like to be given access to them," Beckett said.
The 15 British sailors and marines have been detained in an undisclosed location in Iran since March 23. (Watch brother and friends tell of fears for sailor )
EU officials meeting in Germany -- already dealing with the conflict over Iran's nuclear aspirations -- said they wanted to resolve the crisis.
"Of course, we're standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the United Kingdom," German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told reporters.
Steinmeier said ministers had given EU security and foreign affairs chief Javier Solana a brief to use his office to help secure the release of the sailors.
Third letter released
On Friday, Iran released a third letter purportedly written by detained British sailor Faye Turney, in which she claimed to have been "sacrificed" by British and U.S. policies and urged both countries to withdraw their troops from Iraq. (Full story)
The letter, the authenticity of which CNN cannot independently determine, followed two previous letters said to be written by Turney and released separately this week. (Watch Turney say what happened when she was captured )
Friday's letter was released just hours after Turney appeared with two other Britons in new video aired by Arabic language network Al Alam. (Text of letters)
In the video, one of the 15 detained service personnel held in Iran confessed to "entering your waters without permission."
"On the 23rd of March 2007 in Iranian waters we trespassed without permission," said Nathan Thomas Summers. The third detainee in the video has not been identified. (Watch detained British sailor make his 'confession' )
Summers said the Britons were being treated well, as did the Turney letter.

Guantanamo's Hicks to serve nine months

2007-03-30T18:46:00.000-07:00

GUANTANAMO BAY U.S. NAVAL BASE, Cuba (Reuters) -- A U.S. military tribunal sentenced Australian al Qaeda trainee David Hicks on Friday to seven years in prison, but he will only have to serve nine months of the sentence.
Hicks, who became the first war crimes convict among the hundreds of foreign captives held for years at the Guantanamo prison camp, had pleaded guilty to supporting terrorism in an agreement with U.S. military prosecutors.
The deal allowed all but nine months of the sentence to be be suspended. He will serve it in Australia, and the United States must send him home by May 29. (Watch as a legal expert suggests Hicks may have opted for a "pragmatic course of action")
The tribunal judge accepted Hicks' guilty plea as part of an agreement that limited his sentence to seven years in prison, in addition to the five years he has been held at the Guantanamo base in Cuba.
The former kangaroo skinner from Adelaide acknowledged that he trained with al Qaeda, fought against U.S. allies in Afghanistan in late 2001 for two hours, and then sold his gun to raise cab fare to flee by taxi to Pakistan.
Hicks, 31, denied having advance knowledge of the September 11 attacks. His attorney, Marine Maj. Michael Mori, portrayed him as a now-apologetic soldier wannabe who never shot at anyone and ran away when he got a taste of battle.
The prosecutor, Marine Lt. Col. Kevin Chenail, said Hicks freely joined a band of killers who slaughtered innocents. "We are face to face with the enemy," Chenail said.
Hicks was captured in Afghanistan in December 2001 and was among the first prisoners the United States sent to Guantanamo a month later. Washington considers them dangerous and unlawful "enemy combatants" who must be detained in the war against terrorism.
Rights groups and foreign governments have condemned the prison at the U.S. naval base on the eastern tip of Cuba for what they say is abuse of prisoners' rights.
But Washington has argued the camp is necessary to hold detainees in the war on terrorism it declared after the 9/11 attacks.
Hicks is not accused of shooting anyone.
To finalize his plea, Hicks had to convince the judge that his plea was genuine and not just a maneuver to escape Guantanamo and return home, as his father describes it.
Hicks was in the first group of prisoners brought to Guantanamo in January 2002 and has said he was abused by his captors, which the U.S. military denies.
The chief prosecutor, Air Force Col. Moe Davis, on Thursday said he was not claiming that "David Hicks is on par with Osama bin Laden."
Copyright 2007 Reuters. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Detainee 'sacrificed by Britain, U.S. policies'

2007-03-30T10:22:00.000-07:00

TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- Iran on Friday released a third letter purportedly written by detained British sailor Faye Turney, in which she claims to have been "sacrificed" by British and U.S. policies and urges both countries to withdraw their troops from Iraq.
"We were arrested after entering Iranian waters by the Iranian forces. For this I am deeply sorry," the letter states.
"I am writing to you as a British service person who has been sent to Iraq, sacrificed due to the intervening policies of the Bush and Blair governments.
"I believe that for our countries to move forward, we need to start withdrawing our forces from Iraq, and leave the people of Iraq to start rebuilding their lives."
The letter, the authenticity of which cannot be independently determine by CNN, follows two previous letters said to be written by Turney and released separately this week. (Watch Turney say what happened when she was captured )
Friday's letter was released just hours after Turney appeared with two other Britons in new video aired by Arabic language network Al Alam.
In the video, one the 15 detained service personnel held in Iran for the past week confessed to "entering your waters without permission."
"On the 23rd of March 2007 in Iranian waters we trespassed without permission," said Nathan Thomas Summers. The third detainee in the video has not been identified. (Watch detained British sailor make his 'confession' )
Summers said the Britons were being treated well, as did the Turney letter.
There has been no official reaction by the British government to the letter.
Prime Minister Tony Blair, speaking to reporters after the video was aired said: "All this does is enhance people's sense of disgust. Captured personnel being paraded and manipulated in this way doesn't fool anyone.
"What the Iranians have to realize is that if they continue in this way they will face continuing isolation."
Blair called for "patience" in dealing with the crisis, adding: "The most important thing is to ensure people are returned safe."
Earlier Friday, Britain's Foreign Office responded to the video, telling CNN that "using our servicemen in this way for propaganda reasons is outrageous."
Meanwhile, EU foreign ministers on Friday demanded Iran release 15 Britons, though some warned against escalating the dispute and said their diplomatic ties with Tehran would not be immediately affected, AP reported. (Full story)
Friday's video was the second so-called confession by a British detainee to be aired by Al Alam this week.
On Wednesday, it showed a video of Turney wearing a black scarf covering her hair, "admitting" that she and her crew had gone into Iranian waters. "Obviously we trespassed into their waters," she said.
Footage in the video also showed the other 14 British detainees eating.
The video caused outrage in London and Britain's ambassador to Iran visited the foreign ministry Thursday to protest its broadcast, Britain's Foreign Office confirmed.
Blair called it "completely wrong -- a disgrace, actually -- when people are used in that way. It's contrary to all international law and convention."
British Foreign Minister Margaret Beckett announced Wednesday that Britain was freezing all bilateral diplomatic business with Iran until the 15 Britons were freed.
Security Council appeals for release
On Thursday, the UN Security Council expressed concern for the marines and sailors and appealed for their early release. (Watch the war of words build )
The U.N. statement fell short of a full condemnation sought by the British government.
On Friday, Turkey's government said it had spoken with Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, who suggested Tehran was willing to reconsider an offer to release Turney, The Associated Press reported.
In footage aired Thursday, said to be of the capture operation, gunshots could be heard on the tape and a helicopter was shown above inflatable boats in choppy seas.
Iranian guard boats were seen cruising around while a couple of Iranian guardsmen shot into the air.
Then the video showed some of the British troops -- including Turney -- seated in a boat with an Iranian flag, presumably after their capture.
An Iranian military official also appeared on state television giving a briefing about the incident, indicating on a map where he said it happened. (Watch the war of words build )
The demonstration looked similar to a Wednesday briefing on the incident by British Vice Admiral Charles Style, who released a map of the Shatt al-Arab purporting to show the coordinates of the British boat when it was captured, along with pictures of handheld GPS devices showing the location. (Watch Iran's use of maps to show British 'trespassing' )
Release delayed
Earlier Thursday, Iran said the British personnel entered its waters six times before they were arrested.
Officials also announced that the promised release of Turney was suspended because of Britain's "behavior" in the matter.
"The wrong behavior of those who live in London caused the suspension," Iranian military commander Alireza Afshar said, according to the Mehr news agency.
Ali Larijani, the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Council, warned that Britain's tough stance in the matter was causing a delay in the release of Turney. (Watch what Iran says is holding up the release of British personnel )
On Wednesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki had said Turney would be released "very soon."
Larijani said Tehran would like to resolve the issue through bilateral discussions and an investigation of legal and technical issues, and again asserted that the British patrol boats entered Iranian waters illegally.
In London on Thursday, the British Foreign Ministry said the Iranian government had sent a formal note to the British Embassy in Tehran.
"Such exchanges are always confidential, so we cannot divulge any details," a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said. "But we're giving the message serious consideration and will soon respond formally to the Iranian government."
Copyright 2007 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.

Iran 'may delay UK sailor release'

2007-03-29T05:48:00.000-07:00

(CNN) -- Iran has said it could delay the release of a British woman captured last week along with 14 other military personnel if the UK takes the issue to the U.N. Security Council or freezes relations.
In video footage aired Wednesday, Faye Turney, the only woman captive, said her group had "trespassed" in Iranian waters; other images showed the group eating together.
Iranian negotiator Ali Larijani made his comments on Iranian state radio on Thursday, the day after Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Turney would be released "as soon as possible" but did not say when.
"We even said that the grounds were ready for the release of a woman among the British sailors but if we are faced with a fuss and wrong behavior then this would be suspended and it would not take place," Reuters quoted Larijani as saying.
Thursday also marked the sixth day Iran has defiantly refused Britain consular access to their service members or disclosed their location
Britain has urged the Security Council to support a call for the immediate release of its service members. It said in a statement the 15 Royal Navy sailors and Royal Marines were operating in Iraqi waters under a mandate from the Security Council and at the request of Iraq. The issue was expected to be debated Thursday.
On Wednesday the British government also announced it was freezing ties with Tehran over the crisis.
UK Prime Minister Tony Blair has denied though that Britain wants confrontation with Iran over the detention of the sailors.
"We want this resolved. We do not want a confrontation over this. We want this resolved as quickly as possible," the PM's official spokesman told reporters on Thursday.
Iran's foreign minister has said British officials can meet the detained sailors and marines, but must first acknowledge that they entered Iranian waters.
"Admitting the mistake will facilitate a solution to the problem," Manouchehr Mottaki told The Associated Press late Wednesday night in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where he was attending an Arab summit.
The British Ministry of Defence has given what it said was proof the British ship HMS Cornwall, which was carrying the sailors and marines, never strayed into Iranian waters.
The global positioning system on the ship proves the vessel was "clearly" 1.7 nautical miles inside Iraqi waters and that the boat was "ambushed" by the Iranian forces, British Vice Adm. Charles Style said.
A map with coordinates that Iran provided on Saturday "turned out to confirm [the sailors] were in Iraqi waters," and Iraq has supported that position, Style said.
Iran later provided a second set of coordinates on Monday that placed the vessel inside Iranian waters, Style said. Those coordinates placed the ship "over two nautical miles" from the position shown by the HMS Cornwall and confirmed by the merchant vessel the British personnel had boarded when captured.
The "change of coordinates," Style said "is hard to legitimate."
On Wednesday, the Iranian Embassy in London said in a statement that British personnel had made an incursion of 0.5 kilometers (0.3 miles) into Iranian territorial waters.
Detainees appear on Iranian TV
The row over the location of the British personnel when captured on March 23 intensified Wednesday when images of them in detention appeared on Iranian television.
"Obviously we trespassed into their waters," Faye Turney said in video broadcast by Alalam, an Iranian Arabic-language network.
"They were very friendly, very hospitable, very thoughtful, nice people. They explained to us why we'd been arrested. There was no aggression, no hurt, no harm. They were very, very compassionate," Turney said. (Watch Turney identify herself and describe what happened )
It was not known when the videotape was shot, or whether Turney, 26, was able to speak freely.
Turney -- who holds the rank of leading seaman, roughly equivalent to a petty officer first class in the U.S. Navy -- appeared to be in good physical condition and wore a black scarf to cover her hair. (Read Turney's profile)
In other scenes, she was shown smoking a cigarette as she spoke with someone off camera.
Alalam also broadcast video showing some of the other British detainees eating with Turney. All appeared healthy and unharmed. It was not known when that video was taken either.
The video broadcasts met outrage by the British government. (Watch the captured British sailors and Turney's letter )
A spokesman for Britain's Foreign Office said it was "completely unacceptable for these pictures to be shown on television, given the potential distress to their [the sailors'] families."
British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said she was "very concerned about these pictures and any indication of pressure on or coercion of our personnel." They "were carrying out a routine operation in accordance with international law and under a United Nations resolution in support of the Iraqi government," she added.
Britain would cut off all bilateral diplomatic business with Tehran -- excluding discussions about the detainees -- until they were released, she announced earlier Wednesday.
Letter also released
Iran also released a letter it said was written by Turney to her parents. The letter was handed to the British ambassador to Iran in Tehran on Wednesday, the state-run news agency reported.
"We were out in the boats when we were arrested by Iranian forces as we had apparently gone into Iranian waters. I wish we hadn't because then I'd be home with you all right now. I am so sorry we did, because I know we wouldn't be here now if we hadn't," the letter said. (Read letter)
CNN cannot confirm that Turney wrote the letter or, if she did, whether she did so under duress.
The television station broadcast video of what appeared to be a handwritten letter, signed "Faye." (Watch CNN's Aneesh Raman's analysis of what's striking about this video )
"I want you all to know that I am well and safe. I am being well looked after. I am fed 3 meals a day and have a constant supply of fluids," the letter said.
Meanwhile the U.S. navy was wrapping up its largest exercise in Gulf waters since 2003. (Full story)
Copyright 2007 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.

Bush attacks Democrats on Iraq deadline

2007-03-28T09:30:00.000-07:00

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush accused congressional Democrats Wednesday of meddling in Iraq war policy and setting a deadline for a U.S. pullout that would have disastrous repercussions for both countries.
As the Senate resumed debate Wednesday on a bill containing a spring 2008 timetable for bringing American troops home, Bush argued again that such a step would result in a needless delay of funds for troops. But Democrats are insisting that he'll have to accept some sort of timeline to get the money.
"Why doesn't he get real with what's going on with the world?" Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, said after Bush's speech. "We're not holding up funding in Iraq and he knows that. Why doesn't he deal with the real issues facing the American people?" (Watch how the vote unfolded )
Bush said Wednesday that the Democratic strategy move will not force him to negotiate. He said again that he would veto any funding legislation that includes a withdrawal timeline. (Watch Bush threaten to veto legislation)
"The consequences of imposing such a specific and random date of withdrawal would be disastrous," Bush said in a speech at the National Cattlemen's Beef Association meeting. "Our enemies in Iraq would simply have to mark their calendars. They'd spend the months ahead plotting how to use their new safe haven once we were to leave. It makes no sense for politicians in Washington, D.C. to be dictating arbitrary timelines for our military commanders in a war zone 6,000 miles away."
Bush broadly defended his new war plan, which involves sending 21,500 additional U.S. combat troops to Iraq to help secure Baghdad and troubled Anbar Province. He said two months of joint operations with Iraqi troops have seen some early successes but "it's going to require a sustained, determined effort to succeed."
"If we cannot muster the resolve to defeat this evil in Iraq, America will have lost its moral purpose in the world and we will endanger our citizens," the president said. "If we leave Iraq before the job is done, the enemy will follow us here."
Bush accused lawmakers of engaging in little more than "political statements" even as money for troops will run out next month.
"If Congress fails to pass a bill to fund our troops on the front lines, the American people will know who to hold responsible," Bush said.
But Reid and other Democrats say they won't back down.
"Rather than making all the threats that he has, let's work with him and see if he can give us some ideas how we can satisfy the wishes of a majority of the Senate, the majority of the House and move forward," Reid said.
The bill finances operations in Iraq and Afghanistan but requires Bush begin bringing home some combat troops right away with a nonbinding goal of ending combat missions as of March 31, 2008.
The House last week passed a similar bill by a 218-212 vote. That bill orders combat troops out by August 31, 2008 -- guaranteeing the final spending measure negotiated with the Senate will include some sort of timetable on the war.
Sen. John McCain, a 2008 Republican presidential aspirant, called the vote "a very bad decision." (Watch McCain assess Iraq's future )
McCain, appearing on NBC's "Today" show Wednesday from Orlando, Florida, said the war "was badly mismanaged. But there are signs of progress everywhere. ... I am confident that given the opportunity, we can have success. The consequences of failure are catastrophic because if we come home, bin Laden and Zarqawi, they are going to follow us."
Senate Republicans tried Tuesday to strip out the withdrawal language but failed in a 50-48 vote. One Democrat -- Sen. Mark Pryor of Arkansas -- sided with Republicans in opposition to the public deadline, contending such a measure would broadcast U.S. war plans to the enemies.
"Congress should not define how long our enemy has to hang on to win," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina.
Sen. Chuck Hagel delivered the deciding vote by joining anti-war Republican Gordon Smith of Oregon in breaking ranks and voting with Democrats to put a nonbinding end date on the war. (Watch Hagel question claims of progress in Iraq )
"We have misunderstood, misread, misplanned and mismanaged our honorable intentions in Iraq with an arrogant self-delusion reminiscent of Vietnam," said Hagel, R-Nebraska.
Pryor said he supports setting a deadline for U.S. involvement in Iraq, but only so long as such a date remains classified. Pryor compares the 2008 date set by his Democratic colleagues akin to announcing to the Germans plans for the U.S. invasion of France in World War II.
But ultimately, Pryor said, he will vote in favor of the bill.
"At the end of the day, the end of the process, I'm going to support the troops," he said.
Sen. Chuck Schumer said he sees Tuesday's vote as the first step in turning up the heat on Bush's war policies.
"This is not one battle; it's a long-term campaign," Schumer, D-New York, told reporters.
The vote leaves hanging a small group of Republicans frustrated by the war and wanting to go on record as such but opposed to setting a timetable.
In recent months, GOP Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, John Warner of Virginia, Norm Coleman of Minnesota and Olympia Snowe of Maine wanted legislation expressing opposition to Bush's war strategy and setting goals for the Iraqi government to meet in exchange for continued U.S. support.
But each said they opposed setting a firm timetable on the war and sided with their Republican colleagues.
"My vote against this rapid withdrawal does not mean that I support an open-ended commitment of U.S. troops to Iraq," Collins said in a statement issued after the vote.
If Bush's strategy in Iraq does not show "significant results" by fall, "then Congress should consider all options including a redefinition of our mission and a gradual but significant withdrawal of our troops next year."
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Emergency rule proposal plunges share prices

2007-03-28T09:17:00.000-07:00

Thai share prices closed 1.40 per cent lower on Wednesday, faring worse than the regional average, as the junta leader called for imposing emergency rule in Bangkok, brokers said.
Despite investors' fears, businessmen are rather positive with the call, saying that if this is to install political stability, it should benefit the general mood in the business sector.
The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) composite index lost 9.53 points to 669.04 while the blue-chip SET 50 index dropped 7.66 points to 467.67.
A source from a foreign brokerage house said that the emergency rule would exacerbate confidence among foreign investors, who have been wary of the Bank of Thailand's unclear measures.
"Foreign investors' confidence in this government is terribly low. Thus, if the government is to enforce the emergency rule, this would worsen the situation as it would indicate the government's instability," he said.
However, Suchart Chantaranakaracha, chairman of Thai National Shippers' Council, said that the emergency rule would raise political confidence among foreign and local business operators.
"Thailand has suffered from instability and this leads to low confidence. If this is to improve the security stability, this should benefit the entire business community," he said.
Business Reporters
The Nation

Bus of children, teachers hijacked

2007-03-28T00:31:00.000-07:00

MANILA, Philippines (CNN) -- At least two gunmen took preschool children and their teachers hostage on a bus, as they headed on a field trip in Manila Wednesday morning, authorities said.
"Our hostages are 32 kids and 2 teachers," a sign in the bus window said. "We have 2 grenades, an Uzi and a .45-caliber pistol."
The sign also said: "We want housing and schooling for 145 kids in a daycare center." (Watch the bus and the telephone that's been placed for the hostage-takers to use )
A local politician, Sen. Ramon Revilla, entered the bus early in the afternoon to conduct direct negotiations with the men.
About an hour later, a child was taken off the bus, after complaining of not feeling well. He was placed in an ambulance and taken to the hospital, as temperatures soared into the mid-30s C (90s F).
The engine of the purple-and-gray bus continued to run, providing air conditioning, AP reported.
One of Revilla's children is the godson of one of the hostage-takers, who's been identified as Jun Ducat, said Col. Rommel Miranda of the Manila police department, in citing both Ducat and the senator.
Ducat has been "described as very kind and helpful to other people," Miranda said, adding, "He's one of those people who helped children go through pre-school" in the local area. (Watch what's known about Ducat )
Another politician, Sen. Alfredo Lim, a former Manila police chief, said Ducat, had once taken two Catholic priests hostage over a pay dispute.
Local media reports said he was the owner of the daycare center, but that could not be confirmed.
"He actually knows all of these children and all of the teachers on the bus," said Social Welfare Secretary Esperanza Cabral, who talked with Ducat on the phone. "He has been a donor to the daycare center and to the school."
Ducat was disqualified as a congressional candidate in 2001, AP reported. It was not immediately clear why he was disqualified.
The hostage drama just a short distance from City Hall.
Earlier video from the scene showed a woman making the hand symbol for a phone to police nearby, as a man held a grenade next to her arm.
Police later put a wired telephone on the ground next to the bus, but no one came out to claim it.
A second sign later appeared in the bus window, saying, "We need an amplifier so you can listen to what we're asking for."

News agency: Contact with sailors possible

2007-03-27T10:17:00.000-07:00

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Britain will be allowed to make contact with 15 sailors and marines seized by Iran as soon as a preliminary investigation has been completed, an Iranian official has been quoted as saying.
"After preliminary investigations are over contacts of the British embassy and consulate with the soldiers will be possible," Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini told the official IRNA news agency. He did not elaborate, according to Reuters.
Britain's ambassador to Tehran has met with Iranian officials this week in a bid to get the naval personnel released. He has also asked for access to them. Iran will not disclose their whereabouts, but has said they are well.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Tuesday his country is prepared to move to a "different phase" if negotiations fail to free those held captive.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards captured the group Friday, while it was conducting what Britain called an inspection of a merchant vessel near the mouth of the Shatt al-Arab, at the northern end of the Persian Gulf.
Britain said the Royal Navy crew were seized in the Iraqi part of the waterway, where the border with Iran is disputed. Iran however says the group was in Iranian waters.
In an interview on GMTV on Tuesday Blair said: "I hope we manage to get them (the Iranian government) to realize they have to release them. If not, then this will move into a different phase."
Asked what that meant, Blair said: "Well, we will just have to see, but what they should understand is that we cannot have a situation where our servicemen and women are seized when actually they are in Iraqi waters under a U.N. mandate, patrolling perfectly rightly and in accordance with that mandate, and then effectively captured and taken to Iran."
Blair's spokesman said later the prime minister did not mean Iranian diplomats would be expelled or military action was likely.
His office did say though that officials may have to make public evidence proving the Britons were seized in Iraqi -- not Iranian -- waters, if there is no swift release of the sailors.
"We want to resolve this quickly without having a public confrontation with them, but as the prime minister said we want to resolve it. If we cannot resolve it quickly, then maybe we have to be more explicit," said the spokesman.
CNN's European Political Editor Robin Oakley said Blair's reference to a "different phase" intrigued many people.
"Downing Street officials said Mr Blair wasn't hinting at expelling Iranian diplomats from London or at any kind of military action," Oakley said.
"What is likely is that British authorities will shift the dialogue steadily from private exchanges to more public ones. Diplomats also expect there to be more concerted action at the United Nations if the men are not released soon. British authorities are confident that they have evidence to prove their insistence that the Royal Navy personnel never left Iraqi waters."
Earlier Tuesday, Iran said the 15 sailors and marines were healthy and being treated in a humane fashion.
"They are in completely good health. Rest assured that they have been treated with humanitarian and moral behavior," Mohammad Ali Hosseini, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
Hosseini said the one woman in the group, Faye Turney, had complete privacy. "Definitely all ethics have been observed," he said. A file photo of Turney, taken in 2000, was released Tuesday.
The official declined to say where the marines were being held and repeated that their case was under investigation.
"The case should follow procedures," Hosseini said. "Media hyperbole will not help (speed things up)."
Meanwhile on Tuesday the U.S. Navy started its largest show of force in the Persian Gulf since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, led by a pair of aircraft carriers and backed by warplanes off the coast of Iran.
U.S. Navy Cmdr. Kevin Aandahl told AP the maneuvers were not organized in response to the capture of the British sailors -- nor were they meant to threaten the Islamic Republic, whose navy operates in the same waters. (Full story)
Sailors questioned
Hard-liners in Iran have urged the government to charge the 15 marines and sailors with espionage and put them on trial.
No official word has emerged on whether Iran's government will do so.
But, according to AP, Iran has begun questioning the sailors and marines.
"It should become clear whether their entry was intentional or unintentional. After that is clarified, the necessary decision will be made," AP quoted Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Mehzi Mostafavi as saying.
Competing claims
The group was part of a boarding party from the frigate HMS Cornwall, which was on routine patrol to prevent smuggling, Britain's Ministry of Defense said. (Location of incident)
The vessel was intercepted on suspicion of smuggling automobiles, a U.S. military official who monitors the region told CNN. The official insisted on anonymity because the incident did not involve American forces.
Britain insists the group was in Iraqi waters, a claim Iraq supports; Iran insists it was in Iranian waters.
Competing claims on the waterway, which provides Iraq's only outlet to the Gulf, was one of the causes of the 1980-88 war between Iran and Iraq. (Read about the contested waterway)
The incident could escalate an already fraught relationship between Iran and the West.
On Saturday, the U.N. Security Council of Saturday agreed to tougher sanctions against Iran for its refusal to meet U.N. demands that it halt uranium enrichment. Many in the West fear the country's nuclear program is not for power generation but for arms making, a claim Iran denies. (Full story)
Iran's semi-official FARS News Agency reported the same day that the captives were taken to Tehran to explain their "aggressive behavior," and that they had confessed to trespassing into Iranian waters.
This is not the first such incident. In 2004, Iran stopped three British boats and seized eight Royal Navy Sailors and six Royal Marines. The Iranian Foreign Ministry said at the time the three boats had crossed into Iran's territorial waters, and the detained servicemen appeared on Iranian television blindfolded.
They were released after Iran said it determined they had mistakenly crossed into Iran's waters, a claim Britain never accepted.
CNN's Aneesh Raman 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.

Hicks pleads guilty at Guantanamo

2007-03-26T18:59:00.000-07:00

GUANTANAMO BAY U.S. NAVAL BASE, Cuba (Reuters) -- Australian prisoner David Hicks on Monday pleaded guilty before a U.S. military tribunal to a charge of providing material support to terrorists.
The 31-year-old former kangaroo skinner was accused of fighting for al Qaeda in Afghanistan during the U.S.-led invasion in 2001 and has been held at Guantanamo for more than five years. He announced his decision at a hearing in the U.S. war crimes tribunal at the base.
Hicks answered "Yes, sir," when the judge, Marine Col. Ralph Kohlmann, asked if that was in fact his plea.
Hicks had faced life imprisonment if convicted. The judge ordered the prosecutors and defense lawyers to draw up a plea agreement by 4 p.m. ET (2000 GMT) on Tuesday, which was expected to spell out what sentence he would serve.
Under a long-standing diplomatic agreement, Hicks will serve his sentence in Australia.
Copyright 2007 Reuters. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

2 rescued in Gulf after falling off cruise ship

2007-03-25T19:09:00.000-07:00

HOUSTON, Texas (CNN) -- Cruise line officials are trying to figure out how two passengers managed to fall at least 50 feet from a ship's balcony into the Gulf of Mexico Sunday, where they were rescued hours later.
"You cannot just fall off a ship," said Princess Lines' spokeswoman Julie Benson, describing the occurrence as "extremely rare ... this hasn't happened to Princess, that I can recall."
The 22-year-old man and 20-year-old woman -- who have not been identified publicly other than as Americans -- fell at about 1:30 a.m., 150 miles from Galveston, Benson said.
They were recovering Sunday with minor injuries in the medical center aboard the Grand Princess, a spokeswoman for Princess Cruises told CNN.
"They're being watched and treated for their injuries," which include hypothermia from the 71-degree water, Benson said.
In addition to being extremely rare, the outcome of the incident was "extremely lucky," Benson said.
Falling 50 to 60 feet into water is itself "rather treacherous," she said. The fact that the two fell into pitch-black water roiled by sea swells, current and wind made the incident even more dangerous, she said.
"It appears, at the moment, that it was just a terrible accident, and there was nothing sinister about it," she said, adding it was not clear whether the two had known each other prior to the voyage or how they both fell.
They were reported missing after their friends "heard screams" and discovered the two were missing, a passenger said the ship's captain had told him.
"When alerted to this, the ship stopped, initiated an emergency search operation, and returned to the position where the overboard incident was initially reported," Benson said, adding that the ship turned around and headed back within 10 minutes of getting word.
"Rescue boats were launched from Grand Princess, and the U.S. Coast Guard was notified," she said.
Capt. Ed Perrin, a Briton with some 20 years experience, "turned around rather immediately" and attempted to retrace his path, taking into account such variables as current and wind, Benson said.
At 5:30 a.m., after four hours in the water, the woman was found and pulled from the water by the crew of a rescue boat that had been lowered from the cruise liner; a half hour later, the man was rescued, she said.
Neither had been wearing a life jacket, she said.
The two passengers remained on board as the ship continued toward a scheduled stop Monday in Costa Maya, Mexico. The nearly five hours lost to the search were made up "just by increasing the speed," Benson said. "The ship will be maintaining its original schedule."
The Grand Princess, with 2,783 passengers and 1,122 crew, departed Galveston on Saturday afternoon for a week-long voyage through the western Caribbean.

Cricket team heads home amid probe into death

2007-03-25T07:47:00.000-07:00

(CNN) -- The Pakistani cricket team arrived in London on Sunday after being permitted to leave Jamaica following further questioning of individual members about the death of coach Bob Woolmer.
Mark Shields, Jamaica's deputy police commissioner, told a news conference late Saturday that investigators wanted to clear up ambiguities in original statements by three team members to police two days ago.
Those questioned were team manager Talat Ali, team captain Inzamam Ul-Haq and player and assistant coach Mushtaq Ahmed, he said.
Shields told reporters that the questioning was "standard police procedure."
Police are looking at betting and match fixing among their lines of inquiry. (Watch what has emerged as a possible motive in Woolmer's murder )
Woolmer, 58, was found in his Pegasus Hotel room last Sunday. He was declared dead at a hospital soon afterward.
Earlier this week, Jamaican police questioned, fingerprinted and took DNA samples from the entire Pakistani contingent -- players, managers and trainers.
The team touched down at London's main Heathrow Airport after boarding a flight from the Caribbean late on Saturday.
Players were the last to leave the plane and were escorted off by six police officers.
Television pictures showed the team looking grim-faced and speaking little as they headed to collect their baggage.
They then boarded a bus parked at the back of the terminal to avoid camera crews waiting for them in the main concourse.
The Pakistani contingent will be staying at a hotel near the airport until Tuesday, team spokesman Pervez Mir said on Sunday.
He said team members were distressed over speculation that Woolmer's death might be related to match fixing.
"There have been a lot of unnecessary rumors," Mir said.
Players are prepared to return to Jamaica if investigators require further assistance, Mir said, adding that the team does not expect to meet with British police.
Woolmer's death came only hours after Pakistan's humiliating elimination from the World Cricket Cup competition by an unheralded Irish team on St. Patrick's Day.
Nasim Ashraf, who resigned as chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board after last Saturday's defeat, told CNN he received an e-mail that Woolmer sent last Saturday evening, expressing disappointment over the loss.
"I would like to praise my association with the Pakistan team, but now I would like to announce my retirement after the World Cup to live the rest of my life in Cape Town," the e-mail read.
Match-fixing scandals -- some involving millions of dollars -- have plagued the international game over the last two decades. Some players have been banned for life and others jailed.
Pakistan's loss in the tournament prompted outrage among the team's hard-core fans. In the streets of Karachi, Pakistan -- before the news of Woolmer's death -- protesters burned effigies of Ul-Haq.
Woolmer, who was English, played Test cricket for England in the mid-1970s. He coached the South African national team before taking over as Pakistan's coach in 2004.
-- CNN's John Raedler in Kingston and Alphonso Van Marsh in London contributed to this report

Security Council approves new sanctions on Iran

2007-03-24T18:50:00.000-07:00

UNITED NATIONS (CNN) -- Iran's foreign minister rejected a unanimous vote by the U.N. Security Council on Saturday to impose new sanctions on Iran because of its refusal to suspend its uranium enrichment program.
Speaking to the 15-member council in measured tones after the vote, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said, "Iran presents no threat to international peace and security and therefore falls outside the council's charter mandate."
Western nations, including the United States, contend Iran is using the uranium program to develop nuclear weapons, but Iran says the technology will only be for civilian use.
"As we have stressed time and again, Iran's nuclear program is completely peaceful," Mottaki said.
Despite his denial that the Security Council has any power over Iran, Mottaki offered hope that the impasse can be resolved.
"We have expressed our readiness to take unprecedented steps and offered several proposals to allay possible concern in this regard," he said.
Expressing the divide between Iran and the U.N. demand, the acting U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Alejandro Wolff, said:
"While we hope that Iran complies with this resolution ... the United States is fully prepared to take additional measures in 60 days should Iran choose another course."
China's U.N. ambassador, Wang Guangya, said China supports Iran's right to a peaceful nuclear energy program, but fully backed the resolution.
"We support the Security Council in taking further and appropriate actions to urge the Iranian side to suspend enrichment-related activities, in order to bring the process back to the negotiation track," Wang said.
The new measures follow a resolution adopted December 23 that prohibited trade with Iran in nuclear materials and ballistic missiles. It also froze assets of individuals and institutions involved in Tehran's atomic programs.
The new embargo on Iranian weapons exports -- such as small arms and explosives -- is an attempt to put the squeeze on supplies to militants in the Palestinian territories, Lebanon and Iraq.
Nations and international banks are barred from making any new loans to Iran. The new penalties build on previous sanctions barring transfer of nuclear materials and know-how.
The latest sanctions, formulated last week by the five permanent members of the council -- the United States, China, Russia, Britain and France -- plus Germany, freeze the assets of 28 additional individuals and organizations involved in Iran's nuclear and missile programs. About a third of those are linked to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, an elite military corps.
The resolution also calls for a voluntary travel embargo on Iranian officials and Revolutionary Guard commanders.
Several council members spoke before the vote, stressing that they prefer to resolve the issue of nuclear development through negotiation.
"This resolution is about the need to build international confidence in Iran's nuclear program," said Rezlan Ishar Jenie, Indonesia's U.N. ambassador.
The British ambassador to the United Nations, Sir Emyr Jones Parry, who chaired the six-nation group, said after the vote, "The path of proliferation by Iran is not one that the international community can accept.
"We want Iran to make the right choice: cooperation with the international community, which requires the removal of any doubt that Iran could develop nuclear weapons," Jones Parry said.
"The resolve of the Security Council is clear -- Iran must make its choice."
In other comments, Wolff said, "The United States is pleased that the Security Council has once again unanimously taken action against what is clearly a great threat to international peace and security."
Iran's continued "defiance" requires that the council take such action, he added.
Speaking for the White House, National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe told CNN:
"Once again, the United Nations Security Council has voted unanimously -- a vote with the support of not just the permanent members, but also Islamic and nonaligned countries -- to send a strong message to Iran's leaders: Stop isolating your country and your people, suspend your program and come to the table.
"The international community is united: It's time for Iran to comply or potentially face harsher measures in the future."
French U.N. Ambassador Jean-Marc de la Sabliere said, "Nobody in this council wishes to deny Iran its rights, or to prevent the Iranian people from benefiting from nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.
"All states party to the Non-Proliferation Treaty have the right to the peaceful use of nuclear energy" as long as they meet the Non-Proliferation Treaty obligations.
"It is unacceptable that the Iranian authorities find pretext to shirk from their commitments" under that treaty, de la Sabliere said.
The 10 nonpermanent council members are Belgium, Italy, Qatar, Congo, Panama, Slovakia, Ghana, Peru, South Africa and Indonesia.

Iran says British sailors 'admit' to illegal entry

2007-03-24T07:13:00.000-07:00

TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- Iran says the 15 British sailors and marines seized by Iran in the Persian Gulf have admitted to trespassing into Iranian territory, the semi-official FARS News Agency reported Saturday.
But the British Ministry of Defence would not confirm the report.
The British government said its request to communicate with the detained troops has not been granted by Iran.
Earlier Saturday, FARS reported that the sailors and marines were brought to Tehran to explain their "aggressive behavior." (Watch how British sailors and marines were seized )
The British Ministry of Defence said Friday the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy surrounded and seized the marines while they were conducting a routine inspection on a merchant vessel. They were then "escorted by Iranian vessels into Iranian territorial waters." (Location of incident)
Iran's foreign ministry spokesman on Saturday condemned the British government for attempting to cover up its "blunder" and said it should stop "putting blame on others," according to IRNA, the state-run Iranian news agency.
Hours after reports of the arrests surfaced, a flurry of diplomatic activity ensued.
Britain announced it had called Iran's ambassador for a meeting and demanded the immediate release of the marines while Iran announced on state-run TV that it had asked Britain's representative to Tehran to explain why the personnel had crossed into Iranian territory.
Iran waited until late Friday to release a statement. The report was aired on state-run TV and sourced Iranian foreign ministry officials. There was no mention of where the marines were being held or what would happen next, only that they were arrested for trespassing.
Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said Friday her office was making clear it expected the personnel to be released immediately, along with "a full explanation of what happened." She was in England at the time.
A U.S. military official who monitors the region told CNN the marines stopped a vessel suspected of smuggling automobiles, and boarded it for an inspection. While the marines were on board, as many as six ships from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy showed up and claimed the British had entered Iranian waters.
A dispute ensued over whether the marines were on Iraqi or Iranian territorial waters, and the 15 were then seized and taken to Iran, along with the two small rigid hull inflatable boats they had used to get from their ship to the vessel, the U.S. military official said. The official insisted on anonymity because the incident did not involve the U.S. military.
Nick Lambert, commodore of the ship, said his marines were inside Iraqi territorial waters when they were arrested. There was no fighting and no use of weapons, he told a BBC pool reporter on the ship. "It was entirely peaceful."
The incident threatened to exacerbate the tension between Iran and much of the West on the eve of a U.N. Security Council vote to impose new sanctions on Iran. The world powers will meet Saturday to consider that next step in the dispute over Tehran's nuclear ambitions. (Full story)
There have been similar incidents in the past. In 2004, Iran stopped three British boats and seized eight sailors and six marines. The Iranian Foreign Ministry said at the time the three boats had crossed into Iran's territorial waters.
The detained servicemen appeared on Iranian television blindfolded.
They were released after Iran said it determined they had mistakenly crossed into Iran's waters.
-- CNN's Nicola Goulding contributed to this report

DNA samples taken from slain coach's team

2007-03-24T01:38:00.000-07:00

From CNN's John Raedler
Adjust font size:
MONTEGO BAY, Jamaica (CNN) -- Jamaican police on Friday took DNA samples from the entire Pakistani contingent to the Cricket World Cup in their investigation into the strangulation of Pakistani coach Bob Woolmer earlier this week, a team spokesman said.
Pervez Mir said the DNA testing was supposed to have taken place Thursday, before the team left Kingston for Montego Bay, but police agreed to allow the tests to take place Friday so the team would not miss its flight.
A Jamaican government helicopter flew the test samples back to Kingston when they were processed, Mir said.
Before departing Kingston for Montego Bay on Thursday, all members of the Pakistani contingent -- players, managers and trainers -- gave statements to police and were fingerprinted.
Jamaican police announced Friday that they were treating the death of Woolmer, 58, as a homicide. He was found unconscious in his hotel room on Sunday and declared dead at a hospital soon afterward.
On Thursday, Deputy Police Commissioner Mark Shields urged anyone with any information about the case to come forward.
"It's a very busy hotel," he said. "I'm absolutely certain that someone saw something that could help us in this investigation."
Asked about suspects, Shields said only that "we have a few definite lines of inquiry."
Among those lines of inquiry, Shields later said, was betting on cricket matches and match fixing. (Watch what has emerged as a possible motive in Woolmer's murder )
Woolmer's death came only hours after Pakistan's shocking elimination from the Cricket World Cup competition by the relatively unknown Irish team on St. Patrick's Day.
Cricket officials have also begun an investigation into possible match fixing.
Woolmer's family said on Friday they were perplexed by his murder, dismissing reports the coach was involved with match fixing or that a book he wrote was behind his death.
"To the best the family's knowledge there is absolutely nothing to suggest Bob was involved in match fixing," his wife and sons said in a statement.
"Contrary to reports, they can confirm there is nothing in any book Bob had written that would explain this situation and there were no threats received," the statement said, read by Woolmer's manager Michael Cohen at the family home in Cape Town, South Africa.
Police refused to comment on a report by Mir that the walls and floor of the bathroom of Woolmer's room were spattered with blood, vomit and feces. (Watch Mir describe what he saw )
Pakistan's loss on Saturday prompted outrage among the team's hard-core fans. In the streets of Karachi -- before the news of Woolmer's death -- protesters burned effigies of Woolmer and the team captain.
Woolmer, who was English, played Test cricket for England in the mid-1970s. He coached the South African national team before taking over as Pakistan's coach in 2004.
On Friday, the ICC said the World Cup will continue despite calls for it to be suspended in the wake of Woolmer's death. (Full story)