UK bans military from selling stories

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

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

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

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

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.