Female ex-detainee reveals suffering of her prison mates in Hasharon

Palestinian Information Center

August 30, 2009

NABLUS, (PIC)-- Ex-detainee Sabrin Abu Amara, recently released from Hasharon prison, said that the female prisoners in this jail are living in harsh incarceration conditions in the holy month of Ramadan.

Abu Amara told the prisoners’ center for studies that the tension between the prisoners and the prison administration in Hasharon escalated after they prevented jailers from conducting a search in their section last week.

She added that the prison administration banned prison visits during Ramadan especially for Hamas female prisoners who were not allowed to see their children and families.

The ex-detainee also noted that there is no a schedule for providing food during the month of Ramadan, adding that the food served is very poor that it is not fit to eat.

With regard to the 19-month-old child Yousuf Al-Zak, the ex-detainee said that the prison administration allowed the child and his mother Fatima to stay all day in the corridor outside the cell.

Abu Amara had spent six consecutive years in prison and was released last week from Hasharon jail.

In another related context, the Palestinian Prisoners' Society said on Sunday that female prisoner Najwa Abdelghani from the village of Saida in Tulkarem disclosed serious violations committed by Israeli occupation forces (IOF) during her detention.

According to the club, prisoner Abdelghani revealed that the IOF troops stormed her home on 21/7/2009 in Saida and forced her family out in a barbaric way before kidnapping her along with her brother.

She was then taken to Al-Sharon prison and locked her up with Israeli convicts in one cell for two days before transferring her to Jalama prison for 14 days.

She said that in Jalama prison, she was exposed to intensive interrogation amid curses and yells by different Israeli officers and everyday passed was worse than the earlier one which made her eventually ill and emaciated from lack of eating and sleeping hours.

After 14 days, the prisoner was transferred in chains to the prison of Damon near Jalama, according the club.

In another context, the forum of Palestinian journalists strongly denounced Israel for kidnapping more journalists and called on the Arab and international media and human rights organizations to seriously and urgently intervene to get them released.

The IOF troops kidnapped at dawn Saturday journalists Mohamed Mona and Gofran Zamel after storming their homes in Nablus.

The forum said that those journalists are added to others previously detained in Israeli jails.

It’s official: Nakba is removed from the curriculum in occupied Palestine

Marcy Newman, body on the line

 

August 30, 2009 here is the latest news from the Zionist terrorist colonist regime: Education Minister Gideon Sa’ar briefed the cabinet on plans for the start of the school year, and announced that the word "nakba" will be taken out of lesson plans. "It can be said with certainty that Arab Israelis experienced a tragedy in the war, but there will be no use of the word 'nakba,’ whose meaning is similar to holocaust in this context," said Sa’ar. "The education system in the Arab sector will revise its studies about the homeland, geography, and society in elementary schools." interestingly, Palestinian refugees are asking unrwa to remove material about the nazi holocaust from the Palestinian curriculum in their schools: A group of refugee camp committees in the Gaza Strip wants the United Nations to remove history of the Jewish Holocaust from its classroom curriculum. According to a letter sent to UNRWA director John Ging, the committees urged the refugee agency to scrap its program because mention of the genocide "confirms the Holocaust and raises sympathy for Jews." UNRWA did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

 

Afghanistan's hidden toll: Troops invalided out triple in three years

Brian Brady and Nina Lakhani

 

The numbers of 'post-service' claims has risen by a factor of almost 100, from 15 to 1,455 since 2005 August 30, 2009 Unpublished figures show thousands of ex-soldiers have sought financial help – many suffering with stress disorders At its bloodiest, the fighting around Sangin in Afghanistan's Helmand Province, has been likened to Rorke's Drift, the 1879 battle portrayed in the film Zulu. The military discourage the comparison but as one officer puts it: "The only difference is there are no Zulus at Sangin." The town has seen some of the deadliest fighting of the campaign. More British soldiers have been killed there and more medals won than anywhere else in Afghanistan. But the benefits the British troops have brought are seized on by officials, including decreased opium production and more Afghans being educated. But the benefits have come at a price, not all of which are as obvious as the monuments to the fallen British soldiers erected by their comrades. Shortages of helicopters and surveillance equipment mean troops are only as safe as far as they can see with their rifle sights or binoculars. The Taliban also know it and are careful to lay their lethal mines and improvised explosive devices just out of sight. Soldiers work on the basis that every time they patrol there is a one in four chance one of them will die. Privately, senior British officers say they currently work on the assumption at least a "limb a day" will be lost. The tally of dead currently stands at 208, but some senior officers believe this could rise sharply. The numbers of those wounded and maimed have soared by 300 per cent in the past three years as the increasingly bloody struggle to maintain order has intensified. New figures obtained by The Independent on Sunday also show that the numbers claiming compensation for injuries sustained in Iraq and Afghanistan are more than 12 times higher than the total in 2005. Unpublished figures from the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (AFCS) reveal in disturbing detail the "hidden costs" of the military action, with soaring numbers being forced out by wounds. The number of soldiers applying to the AFCS for financial assistance after being medically discharged rose from 200 in 2005-06, when the scheme opened, to 845 last year. Troops claiming for injuries suffered in service rose from 240 to 3,255 during the same period. The disclosures follow revelations last week that service chiefs expect the number wounded in Afghanistan to have doubled by the end of the year. The total to the end of July was 299 – compared to 245 in the whole of 2008. The figures also show that the numbers of "post-service" claims has risen by a factor of almost 100, from 15 to 1,455 since 2005. A Ministry of Defense spokesman admitted the heavy toll is due to the number of people experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after leaving the services. PTSD sufferers tell of how traumatic memories come back regularly and involuntarily, resulting in chronic anxiety and hyper-alertness. The numbers affected are contentious, but conservative estimates say that tens of thousands of British troops who have served in Afghanistan and Iraq are suffering. The MoD's latest assessment of psychiatric health problems within UK forces, completed late last month, showed there were 3,181 new cases of "mental disorder" in 2008 – 16 cases for every 1,000 personnel. Troops who had been deployed to Afghanistan or Iraq showed high rates of "neurotic disorders", including PTSD, with the Royal Marines affected more than all the other services. The MoD acknowledges the high rates of mental health problems caused by military operations. In documents, seen by the IoS, officials concede that "some personnel returned from operations with psychological problems particularly when tour lengths exceeded expectations". The MoD has appealed for increased "X factor" payments, which recognize the extra difficulties faced by service personnel. Critics insist it is too little, too late, and fails to acknowledge the scale of the problem. Lord Guthrie, the former head of the Army, said the authorities had been slow to recognize the problem's scale and extent. "When we go to war, we just don't have the wherewithal to look after the physical and mental needs of our service people. You have to make sure that when you go to war, you are prepared to look after people, and that hasn't happened. "Successive governments have had a very poor record and have cut, cut and cut again the care for our service people. Having to rely on the NHS is not good enough. It has no capacity to deal with the extra people who need medical attention, and all this has been compounded by the reluctance of the MoD to admit how big the problem is. "We hear a lot about the dead, but rather less about the wounded. We haven't been able to see the proper figures," he said. Problems grow once soldiers have gone home, Lord Guthrie said: "You no longer have people to talk to. Support is very hard to come by. The Government has woken up much too late to this. Ideally, you need a network of military people throughout the NHS, but how do you pay for that?" James Saunders, 39, served in the first Gulf War in the Royal Artillery. Looking back, he was suffering from PTSD when discharged in 1993, but he believes the Army was glad to close the door on him and his problems. "When I asked to get out, I'd already been AWOL for six months, totally off-track, so they were glad to get rid of me. I'd see guys who'd been in Northern Ireland, drinking and getting into fights, but they were never punished. I realise now that the sergeants knew it was because they were suffering mentally, but rather than talk about it, they just ignored it." Former SAS trooper Bob Paxman, 41, said veterans' problems are exacerbated when they leave the forces and are "out of the family". His GP "didn't have a clue" where to send him and specialized counseling failed. He suffered a total breakdown in 2006. "I was on a dangerous job in Africa. I was a total wreck, at rock bottom. If I was left alone for more than five minutes, the flashbacks would come big style. So I self-medicated and filled myself with as much booze as possible. One night, I sank a bottle of whisky and put my 9mm pistol in my mouth but I couldn't pull the trigger," he said. After his experiences Mr Paxman helped set up the charity talking2minds to help others with similar problems. Combat Stress is another charity which has stepped into the vacuum created by the MoD and the NHS. It is helping around 4,000 ex-servicemen and women with combat-related mental health problems. It takes, on average, 14 years after discharge for a veteran suffering problems to approach them. Most current patients were on active duty in the Falklands, Northern Ireland and the first Gulf War; less than 10 per cent have served in Iraq or Afghanistan. Hundreds more are treated in private hospitals ever year, paid for by the NHS. David Hill, Combat Stress's chief executive, said: "The scale and size of the problem is not known and is not adequately mapped in the UK – unlike the US and Australia. We are currently seeing an unprecedented increase in demand. Since 2005, there has been a 66 per cent increase in referrals and we are already providing support for 316 veterans of recent conflicts." He says the NHS has no accurate figures on its veteran patients, and without such figures, no effective planning can be done. In contrast, in Scotland, veterans are more involved in planning mental health services. They work in collaboration with NHS and voluntary services to ensure they get the services they need. "This is a very good model, and one that we could all learn from," said Mr Hill. "There is a real drive in Scotland to understand more about the size and scale of the problem, and the services required to properly meet the current and future needs of veterans." The looming extent of problems created by Afghanistan has prompted the US to act. Earlier this month, it announced controversial plans to train all 1.1 million of its soldiers in emotional resilience. The training, the first of its kind for any military, hopes to prevent mental health problems from developing by helping soldiers to recognize and cope better with stressful situations in combat and civilian life. The $117m (£72m) scheme, to be rolled out by next summer, is unproven but the rising rates of suicide, PTSD and substance misuse has convinced military commanders to try it. British experts aren't convinced it is the correct route to take. Professor Simon Wessely, director of military health research at the Institute of Psychiatry in London, said: "I don't think, to be honest, that there is a great call for this, I doubt it will be well received by the armed forces themselves anyway, and any benefits are likely to be slim... so no, I wouldn't be pushing this. But if the US funds the research and show a significant benefit, then I am happy to be persuaded." Evidence strongly suggests that attempts to prevent PTSD work poorly, he said. "We have established and successful treatments;, the problem is acceptability and delivery." War wounds: 'I was on a self-destruct train. There was no help' James Saunders, 39, from Hampshire, joined the Army aged 17. Three years later, he flew to Iraq and spent six months fighting in the first Gulf War where he was involved in a terrifying friendly fire incident that injured five soldiers. On his return, his life spiraled out on control and he sought, and got, a discharge in 1993. It took another 12 years for him to find the psychological help he needed. "We would drive down Basra Road, looking at the carnage left behind by allied air forces. It was like a slow motion film with body parts everywhere, charcoaled corpses sitting in cars. These images were burnt into my memory. "When we flew home, a sergeant handed us all a piece of paper which said that we might experience problems with relationships. I was 21; I laughed and threw it in the bin. Eighteen months later, my son was stillborn and that sped up the self-destruct train. I ruined my relationship; cut myself off from family; I was taking every drug you can think of; went awol for months and eventually ended up in prison. I met at least six other army guys inside, all with similar problems, but there was no help. "It wasn't until a friend told me about Combat Stress four years ago that like so many guys, I realized I had PTSD. "If I'd told anyone in the Army about the nightmares or how I felt I'd have been considered unreliable. That's the way the military was, and still is. They train you physically but not mentally, which means good people are lost unnecessarily. If I'd had help back then, I'd still be in the Army now, coming up to my 22nd year of service.

 

Historical Boycott of the Afghan Nation with the Farce Election

Afghan Resistance Statement
Historical Boycott of the Afghan Nation with the Farce Election

Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan

 

Ramadan 8, 1430 A.H, August 30, 2009


In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate

The decisive and complete boycott of the Afghan people with the August 20 election showed once again that the Afghans could not be trapped through conspiracies and wiles of the invaders and their surrogates. Contrarily, they have been continuing their legitimate struggle to establish an Islamic system and regain national independence. The gallant Mujahideen staged incessant attacks in the east, west, north and south of the country which frustrated the organizers of the election in the White House and turned their hopes into despondency.

The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan appreciates the stance of the Afghans to completely boycott the American drama. The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan assures them that the martyrdom-seeking youth affiliated with the Islamic Emirate will continue to protect your honour by shedding their blood and will keep up the current momentum of the lawful and legitimate struggle until the last soldier of the invaders leave our country. Similarly, the Islamic Emirate will not allow the invaders and their surrogates to play with your destiny.

Dear Country men:

Yesterday, the Russians had launched their self-same nefarious scheme in our country under the well-known slogan of bread, cloth and shelter and was trying to create division among the different ethnicities and the north and south of the country by applying the notorious formula of divide them and subjugate them.

They martyred, injured, imprisoned and made homeless millions of Afghans in order to implement their wicked and ambitious ideology. Today America and its allies are busy strafing, detaining, torturing and killing the Afghans under the empty slogans of democracy, reconstruction and philanthropy.

They want to start the flames of racial prejudices in our country. However, the menace of racial bigotry had been dispelled from our country because of wisdom and sagacity of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. Thus, the enemy wants to revive the wicked perceptions and notions of disintegration of Afghanistan.

The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has worked out plans aimed at targeting the enemies of Islam, humanity, peace and freedom. We are sure, we will have the blessing of freedom in the near future with the help of Allah (swt) and the support of the people of Afghanistan. We will have an independent, progressive and pure Islamic regime in the prideful Afghanistan.

Being the embodiment of the aspirations of the people of Afghanistan, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan declares categorically that the election of August 20 has no legitimacy whatsoever. This was a superficial parody to trick the Afghans and the public of the world by showing to them that the Afghans have no problems with the deployment and existence of foreign troops on their soil.

Moreover, to show that the Afghans are free to elect their future president by ballots. But it is clear as the broad day light that the Afghans have been opposing the existence of the foreign troops on their soil and the installation of the stooge regime from day one. They have resorted to the current armed jihad to defend the territorial sovereignty of our country and the Islamic and national values of our people.

-Down with the enemy of Islam and the country.

- Victorious be the freedom-loving fighters.


Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan

‘Brilliant’ Kennedy Widow Would Be Good Appointee, Hatch Says

Jeff Plungis

Aug. 31 (Bloomberg) -- The widow of the late U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy should be considered as an interim appointee to represent Massachusetts in his place, two U.S. senators said.

Senators Orrin Hatch, a Utah Republican, and Christopher Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat, said yesterday on CNN’s “State of the Union” they could support Kennedy’s widow Victoria Reggie Kennedy as an interim senator if Massachusetts allows a temporary appointment before a special election.

“Vicki ought to be considered,” Hatch said. “She’s a very brilliant lawyer. She’s a very solid individual. I have nothing but great respect for her.”

Massachusetts law requires a special election be held within five months to fill a seat that comes open before the end of a term. The issue has taken on urgency for Democrats in the U.S. Congress, who are struggling to pass health-care legislation before the end of the year.

Victoria Kennedy, 55, has said she's reluctant to serve, but she may change her mind after talking with her children and others, Dodd said. The people of Massachusetts would welcome filling the seat, he said.

“If she did, I’m for it,” Dodd said. “I think she’d be great. We could certainly use her in the Senate. Whatever she thinks is best, I’m for.”

‘Soul of Democratic Party’

Kennedy was buried Aug. 29 at Arlington National Cemetery across the Potomac River from Washington. At a funeral Mass earlier in the day in Kennedy’s hometown of Boston, President Barack Obama described him as “a champion for those who had none, the soul of the Democratic Party, the lion of the United States Senate.”

Kennedy married Victoria Reggie, the daughter of a family active in Louisiana politics, in 1992. She was recently divorced and had two small children from her previous marriage.

The soonest Massachusetts law could be changed and an interim senator picked is Sept. 24, state Representative Michael Moran, a Boston Democrat and co-chairman of the Joint Committee on Election Laws, said Aug. 27. He added that there wasn’t yet an agreement to do so.

The week before his death, Kennedy sent a letter to Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, a Democrat, and top lawmakers in the state urging them to change the law so that someone could fill in before the special election. Kennedy argued in the letter that Massachusetts should have a mechanism to allow for the full complement of two senators as soon as possible after a resignation or death. The late senator was not up for re-election until 2012.

Democrats Dominate

Democrats outnumber Republicans in the Massachusetts House 114 to 16, and 35 to 5 in the Senate. Democrats changed the law during the 2004 election cycle to prevent then-Governor Mitt Romney, a Republican, from replacing U.S. Senator John Kerry in the event he was elected president. Kerry lost to President George W. Bush and remained in the Senate.

Possible candidates in the special election include Democratic U.S. Representatives Stephen Lynch, Michael Capuano, Edward Markey, James McGovern and William Delahunt.

State Attorney General Martha Coakley and former Representative Martin Meehan, both Democrats, may also contend as well as former Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey, a Republican.

Dodd, who is serving as acting chairman of Kennedy’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said the Massachusetts senator would expect lawmakers to continue to fight for their priorities on issues like health care.

Kennedy’s death should remind senators that civility is an important part of the process, Dodd said in a separate interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” The best way to honor Kennedy’s legacy is “to start acting like senators,” he said.

“You respect each other. There are differences, you bring partisanship to the table,” Dodd said. “But you work out your differences. That’s what we were elected to do."

LA-area blaze doubles in size, threatens homes

LOS ANGELES – The U.S. Forest Service says a wildfire in the mountains north of Los Angeles nearly doubled in size overnight and continues to threaten a broadcasting antenna complex and thousands of homes.

Spokeswoman Dianne Cahir says the fire had burned 134 square miles of brush and trees by early Monday.

The fire in the Angeles National Forest was only 5 percent contained before making its overnight run. It's a half-mile from Mt. Wilson, a ridgetop center that includes many broadcasting antennas and an observatory. Crews planned to set backfires to slow its advance. Planes have dropped retardant around the towers.

At least 18 homes have burned and 12,000 are threatened in a 20-mile stretch from Pasdena to Acton. Two firefighters died when their vehicle rolled down a mountain.

Libya says Lockerbie bomber in hospital

By ALFRED de MONTESQUIOU, Associated Press Writer

TRIPOLI, Libya – A Libyan official said the man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing has been hospitalized and television footage showed him breathing through an oxygen mask, signs his illness from cancer may be worsening shortly after his early prison release sparked international outrage.

The Libyan Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Mohammed Siala, said Monday that Abdel Baset al-Megrahi was in the hospital and described him as a "dying man."

"He is in the hospital, he is a dying man, it is normal than he came to spend his last few days in Libya," Siala told The Associated Press.

His comments came after Britain's Channel 4 television Sunday night showed footage of the 57-year-old al-Megrahi in a Tripoli hospital bed propped up by pillows and wearing an oxygen mask while some members of his family stood nearby. A reporter can be heard asking al-Megrahi a question about his case but al-Megrahi appears too weak to answer.

Al-Megrahi was convicted of bombing Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988, killing 259 people on the plane and 11 on the ground. Scotland released him Aug. 20 on compassionate grounds because doctors said he was dying of prostate cancer.

His release and return to Libya where he was greeted warmly at the airport by hundreds of cheering supporters has led to outrage from many of the Lockerbie victims and questions about whether his release was secured in order to facilitate lucrative oil trade with Libya.

Both Britain and Scotland have denied that business had anything to do with allowing al-Megrahi to leave prison after completing only eight years of his life sentence.

There was no way to independently verify al-Megrahi's condition, and the Libyan official offered no further details. Al-Megrahi underwent extensive medical testing before Scottish officials confirmed his cancer diagnosis, but questions have been raised about the seriousness of his condition.

The London-based Asharq Al-Awssat newspaper last Wednesday quoted al-Megrahi's father as saying that the former Libyan inmate was not dying.

"It is not that serious as some news media have been portraying," Ali al-Megrahi told the newspaper. "I see he is improving day by day, and he is better than the day he returned."

Hamas condemns Holocaust lessons

Gaza's ruling Islamist movement Hamas has resisted suggestions that Palestinian children should be taught about the Holocaust in UN-run schools.

The head of its education committee in Gaza, Abdul Rahman el-Jamal, told the BBC that the Holocaust was a "big lie".

He said that to teach it would be to "grant a big favour" to Israel, which has been fighting Hamas for years.

The UN, which runs most Gazan schools, recently asked local groups whether the Holocaust should be taught.

It uses local textbooks and, in Gaza, that means using material from neighbouring Egypt, the BBC's Tim Franks reports.

But over the past seven years the UN has added its own coursework about human rights.

Mr Jamal told the BBC that the UN should, instead, teach about the Naqba, the term Palestinians use to describe the establishment of the state of Israel and the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees.

A spokesman for the UN said that no final decision on this year's curriculum had yet been made. Some 200,000 children are taught in schools run through the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).
During the Holocaust, Nazi Germany murdered some six million Jews.

However, the event's significance is often disputed in parts of the Middle East where Israel is seen as the enemy and the Holocaust is seen as a tool used by Israel to justify its actions.

Afghanistan: Turning Point Looms for the U.S.

By MARK THOMPSON / WASHINGTON


Monday marks the end of August, a month with both good and bad news out of Afghanistan - and the approach of a key turning point. Civilian casualties caused by Western attacks have fallen dramatically under a new edict from General Stanley McChrystal barring air strikes that risk innocent deaths (19 killed since July 1, down from 151 in the same period of 2008). That's designed to show the Afghan people that the U.S. military is a force for good in their country. But at the same time, U.S. troop deaths reached 45 in August, making it the deadliest month for American military personnel since the war began 94 months ago. That's due to U.S. forces challenging the Taliban more directly, and the Taliban's stepped-up use of roadside bombs to kill as many Western troops as possible.


Both elements signal the arrival of a pivot point in Afghanistan, and one that is looming in Washington. McChrystal, now shepherding the final 6,000 U.S. troops into the country to join the 62,000 already there, knows he needs even more forces to prevail. He's expected to request them sometime before the war's eighth birthday on Oct. 7. That prospect is being viewed coolly inside the Pentagon. But President Obama - who has declared the Afghan conflict his top national-security priority - isn't expected to refuse his handpicked commander's initial request for reinforcements, probably 10,000 to 20,000 more troops.

On Monday, McChrystal turned his official review of the war over to his superior, General Davis Petraeus, chief of U.S. Central Command. "The situation in Afghanistan is serious, but success is achievable and demands a revised implementation strategy, commitment and resolve, and increased unity of effort," McChrystal said in a statement announcing he had finished his survey. While the report doesn't recommend additional troops, Pentagon officials expect it to form the foundation for such a request in coming weeks.

While McChrystal's redeployed and reinforced troops appear to be making progress in various parts of Afghanistan, there remain staggering challenges. The key southern city of Kandahar - long the capital of Taliban might - appears increasingly under the sway of the insurgency. There are widespread reports of vote fraud in the Aug. 20 presidential election in which incumbent Hamid Karzai claims to be leading. What's more, military and foreign-policy experts - some of whom have been advising McChrystal - say both the U.S. military and civilian presence is inadequate.

"President Obama inherited a disaster, a war which had been under-resourced horribly for at least six of the last seven and a half years," former CIA official Bruce Riedel, who was tapped by the White House to review Afghan policy, said last week. Even if McChrystal gets whatever forces he feels he needs, the best one can hope for is that the situation may be stabilized in 12 to 18 months. "Anyone who thinks that in 12 to 18 months we're going to be anywhere near victory is living in a fantasyland," Riedel said.

Both Riedel and Anthony Cordesman, a military expert who has been advising McChrystal, mentioned Vietnam in their remarks to an audience at the Brookings Institution last week. That's a ghost that strikes fear into the heart of many Democrats, who fear Obama may be treading down the same path in Afghanistan that President Johnson followed to political ruin - for him and his party - in Vietnam. "What I found, being in Afghanistan, was all too familiar of problems not only in Iraq but in Vietnam years ago," Cordesman said. "We take the insurgency, and we define it in terms of tactical clashes rather than areas of influence." The Taliban's areas of influence have grown dramatically, he said.

Riedel warned that if the presidential election isn't seen as legitimate, it could lead to the collapse of the central Afghan government. "If the government of Afghanistan now goes into free fall - something like the South Vietnamese governments of the 1960s - then all the troops in the world really aren't going to matter," Riedel said. "If we don't have a government we can point to that has some basis of legitimacy in the country, the best generals, the best strategy, isn't going to help turn it around."

Still, even the specter of Vietnam is unlikely to dissuade Obama if he agrees with McChrystal's request for more troops, Michael O'Hanlon, a defense expert at Brookings, told the same gathering. "The idea that a Democratic Congress would pull out the rug from underneath a President of their own party on what he has declared to be his top national-security priority before the midterm elections, to me, is unthinkable," O'Hanlon said. He added that such an outcome won't occur "until there is much more evidence that the strategy is failing."

That's surely a reassuring thought for McChrystal, bunkered down in Kabul. He knows the number of additional troops he may request needs to be as small as possible. That's why he has ordered his subordinates to look into whether some troops that are performing administrative or logistical tasks - perhaps as many as 10,000 - could be replaced with trigger pullers. That would give McChrystal more firepower without boosting troop levels. And the Army is expected to issue contracts before year's end to private firms to guard 50 or more U.S. bases in Afghanistan and the convoys that supply them, work currently being done by troops. "The number of personnel required at each location will be based on prior requirements," the solicitation reads, "and may be modified or increased dependent upon mission needs." Just like the real Army.

PDP expresses concern over growin, unrest among youth in Jammu and Kashmir

Srinagar, Aug 31 : Expressing concern over the growing unrest among the youth of the state, former Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed today said they were facing tough times due to unemployment and being victimized by invoking Public Safety Act (PSA) on them for protesting the issues of which they were the stakeholders.

He said there was growing unrest among the youth due to severe socio economic and political problem. They were confronting in the modern times when economic growth and political emancipation have touched new heights at the global level, he said.

Mr Sayeed was addressing a meeting of youth wing of PDP here.

He said the system needed major overhauling for securing bright future of the youth.

''Employment opportunities have to be generated from our own resources which essentially requires scraping of some agreements reached between the former National Conference (NC) regime and the then Union Power Minister Kumara Manglam, to make the state self reliant,'' he said, adding the technocrats and other highly qualified youth should be provided social security till they were employed.

Mr Sayeed reiterated his party’s demand of revoking APSPA as a major of confidence building to secure the right of living with honor and dignity.

He the government was ''victimizing'' the youth by creating an atmosphere wherein the vested interests were exploiting the situation to the fullest.

Mr Sayeed said the old methods of dragging money from the innocent youth have again come into play he expressed apprehensions over what he termed use of brutal methods on peace loving youth of the state and described the act of harassment of youth under the pretext of PSA as ''unwarranted and uncalled for''.

Chief Spokesman of the party Naeem Akhtar emphasised on awareness of youth about the state’s Right to Information Act which would go a long way in curbing nepotism and corruption.

ISRO to launch Mars mission by 2013

New Delhi, Aug 31: Indian Space research Organization (ISRO) chairman G. Madavan Nair said on Monday that India would launch a mission to Mars by 2013.

The ISRO has begun the preparations for sending a spacecraft to Mars.

Earlier on Aug 13 the Union Government sanctioned seed money of Rs 10 crore for Mars project, to carry out various studies on experiments to be conducted, route of the mission and other related details necessary to scale the new frontier.

On Sunday ISRO called off the maiden Lunar mission after Indian Deep Space Network at Byalalu near Bangalore lost control over the Chndrayaan–I spacecraft.

Though Chandrayaan-I was slated to be a two-year mission, Nair claimed that ISRO scientists have achieved nearly 95% of Chandrayaan's scientific goals in less than a year.

Indonesian police: Terrorist infiltrated airline

JAKARTA, Indonesia – A suspect wanted in connection with hotel suicide bombings in the Indonesian capital had infiltrated the national airline in a plot to carry out a "bigger attack," the national police chief told members of parliament Monday.

The suspect, identified only as Syahrir, had been recruited by a militant network and was working as a technician with the airline, Garuda Indonesia, said National Police Chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri. Documents seized by police uncovered the plot to strike in Indonesia's airline sector, he said, without providing details.

Syahrir had resigned from the airline, but remains at large, Danuri said.

The blasts at the J.W. Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels on July 17 killed seven people and wounded more than 50 others, ending a four-year pause in terror attacks in the world's most populous Muslim-majority nation.

Syahrir is the brother-in-law of a militant suspect shot dead by police earlier this month in an hours-long standoff in Central Java province, Danuri said.

The suspect who was shot, Ibrohim, had been working as a florist at the two hotels for years before smuggling in explosives and the bombers for the July attacks, police say.

Danuri declined to provide further information to reporters after making his comments to the national foreign affairs and security committee.

Police are still searching for several suspects in the hotel bombings, including the alleged mastermind, Noordin Muhammad Top, said to head a breakaway faction of the regional terrorist network Jemaah Islamiyah.

Indonesia suffered bombings between 2002 and 2005 that together killed more than 240 people, most of them foreign tourists on the resort island of Bali. The J.W. Marriott was bombed once before, in 2003.

US general sends Afghan war review to Pentagon

KABUL – NATO says the top commander of U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan has finished his 60-day strategic review of the war and that it is now being sent up the chain of command to the Pentagon and NATO headquarters.

A NATO statement released Monday said U.S. Gen. Stanley McChrystal reports the situation is "serious" but that success is achievable. McChrystal says success demands a revised strategy, commitment and resolve.

NATO says the assessment was requested by the U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and NATO headquarters and that it seeks to reduce the capability of insurgents, including al-Qaida.

NATO officials say the review does not ask for more troops, an issue that will be considered separately.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) — Police say Taliban militants ambushed a supply convoy for NATO troops in southern Afghanistan, killing an Afghan guard who was escorting the trucks.

Zabul province police chief Ghulam Jailani Farhai says the militants opened fire on the line of trucks on the main highway from Kandahar province into Zabul early Monday. Private security guards hired to protect the convoy fought off the attackers, but one of the guards died in the battle and four were wounded.

Farhai also said three militants died while trying to plant a bomb on a road in Zabul's Shamolzai district.

In Kandahar, meanwhile, an official says three Afghan police were killed when their vehicle struck a roadside bomb.

Ahmadinejad cabinet faces growing opposition

by Farhad Pouladi and Aresu Eqbali

TEHRAN (AFP) – Top Iranian lawmakers voiced strong opposition on Monday to some of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's proposed ministers, including women, on the second day of a debate on his controversial cabinet line-up.

Parliament is due to hold a vote of confidence on the 21-member cabinet on Wednesday but the hardline Ahmadinejad is battling to win support even from conservative MPs who complained about the inclusion of women and charged that many of his nominees lacked experience.

And on Monday, lawmakers openly objected to one of the three women Ahmadinejad has picked -- which will mark the first time in the Islamic republic's 30-year history there could be female cabinet ministers.

Education minister-designate Sousan Keshvaraz, dressed in a black chador, sought to win the support from a hostile parliament by showcasing her Islamic credentials and her plans for the post.

"I have grown up in a family which appreciates (Islamic) values and took part in religious events as well as in rallies against the shah's government... and have been a member of the women's Basij," she said, referring to the volunteer Islamic militia.

She said if she became the education minister, she would encourage "ideological and social counseling" for students.

But parliament's education commission chief Ali Abbaspour, a powerful conservative, strongly opposed her candidacy.

"If Keshavarz gets the vote, then we have no choice but to impeach her," he warned. "She has only a year's experience... and is talking of the same programmes outlined by previous ministers. The president has to nominate a strong minister."

The other two women nominees, Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi at the health ministry and Fatemeh Ajorlou at welfare and social security, also lack ministerial experience and have come under fire from MPs and hardline clerics.

Ahmadinejad's nominations for interior minister -- current defense minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar -- and oil minister -- current commerce minister Masoud Mirkazemi, have also met with stiff opposition.

It is crucial for Ahmadinejad, who is already at loggerheads with members of his hardline support base, to win over the 220-member conservative bloc in the 290-seat parliament if his cabinet is to win the confidence vote.

According to the Iranian constitution, the cabinet needs to be approved by more than 50 percent of lawmakers present for the vote.

But the president, whose hotly disputed re-election on June 12 set off the worst unrest in Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution, faces a daunting task to win over MPs.

On Sunday, top conservative MP Ahmad Tavakoli, voicing the sentiment of many other lawmakers, said 16 of Ahmadinejad's nominees "have no experience required for the ministries they have been nominated for."

Iran remains mired in turmoil after Ahmadinejad's victory triggered massive opposition street protests and unrest which left at least 30 people dead and shook the very foundations of the Islamic regime.

Ahmadinejad, battling a sustained opposition campaign as well as disputes with his own supporters, urged parliament to approve his new cabinet on Sunday and said his election victory was confirmation the people wanted his government to "continue on the same path."

"Heated words in parliament as cabinet reviewed," was the headline in the leading hardline newspaper Kayhan, often a harsh critic of Ahmadinejad.

"Top conservatives oppose cabinet," thundered prominent conservative daily Jomhuri Eslami, while the Javan daily said Sunday's events in parliament were "unprecedented."

Most reformist newspapers largely downplayed Sunday's debate, but the Sarmayeh newspaper said: "The generals in the majlis (parliament) against Ahmadinejad."

King orders exemption of public school students from annual fees

30 August 2009
Salt -- His Majesty King Abdullah II on Sunday directed the government to exempt public school students across the kingdom from annual fees for the 2009-2010 academic year.

In a meeting with teachers from the King Abdullah the Second Schools for Excellence in the Balqa, Irbid and Zarqa governorates, the king said that upgrading education was on top of his priorities.

"We are always with you and closely following up on your affairs and thinking about how to support teachers", the king reassured the education staff across the kingdom during the meeting, which followed the opening of the new King Abdullah the Second School for Excellence in Salt.

Venezuela: Colombia isolated in S American countries

Colombia has found itself isolated at Friday's South American summit due to its intention to allow more U.S. military presence in the South American country, Hugo Chavez of Venezuela said Sunday.

The extraordinary summit of South American Union of Nations (Unasur) is called to discuss the decision made by Colombian President Alvaro Uribe to allow the installation of seven U.S. military bases on the Colombian territory.

The move has come under strong criticism as many countries warned of U.S. military expansion in the region.

"We don't want yankee bases in South America," the out-spoken Chavez told foreign media at Miraflores Palace, the president's official residence in Caracas.

The 12-nation meeting showed that South America had backed self-determination in an unprecedented way and rejected U.S. hegemony, Chavez said.

On Sunday, Chavez slammed Uribe for failing to understand the concerns of regional leaders who asked him for a copy of the final U.S.-Colombia military agreement.

Chavez also said that trade relations with Colombia have remained frozen since a July 28 decision to freeze fuel exports and trade agreements worth around 7 billion dollars with the country.

Chavez had threatened to cut ties with Colombia if the agreement was signed.

"Every day the chill gets stronger. I have told the foreign minister, Nicolas Maduro, to prepare for a full break. Since then we have been ready but we are taking care to bring forward action to prevent what I believe would be a disaster on a historical scale, a war with Colombia," he said.

He warned that three major resources in Latin America are coveted, which are Venezuela's oil, the forest riches of the Amazon and Uruguay's aquifers.

Chavez sets off on 11-day foreign trip

MEXICO CITY, August 31 (RIA Novosti) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez starts on Monday an 11-day foreign trip that will take him to Russia, Belarus, Syria, Algeria, Libya and Iran.

"The purpose of the trip is to strengthen political, energy and military ties with these countries," Chavez said at a news conference on Sunday.

Chavez's first stop is Libya, where he will attend celebrations to mark the 40th anniversary of the Libyan Revolution and participate in an African Union summit. He will then head on to Algeria and Syria.

He then goes on to Iran.

"Iran is for us a strategic partner, with whom we have recently concluded a range of deals in the spheres of defense, energy, industry and technology," Chavez said, adding that Venezuela was ready to "strengthen" its ties with the Islamic Republic.

From Iran, Chavez flies to Russia for talks with the Russian leadership.

"We have signed off on major oil projects with Russia," he commented. "This concerns not only extraction, but also the processing of heavy crude into light crude and its transportation to ports. This requires colossal financial output, and we are actively working on this."

He also said that he would discuss military cooperation and the peaceful use of atomic energy in Moscow.

However, he denied that Venezuelan military cooperation with Russia was related to U.S. plans to deploy military bases in Colombia.

"There have been attempts recently to link the deployment of the American bases in Colombia with our cooperation with Moscow. But these are entirely different things," he said.

"Does Russia really have hegemonistic plans for the Latin American continent?" he asked rhetorically.

The last stop on his tour will be Belarus.

Australian Town, Dolphin Point, Under Threat From Bushfire

Dozens of homes are under threat from a fire burning out of control near the town of Dolphin Point on the Australian state of New South Wales' south coast.


A NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) spokesman says residents in the towns of Lake Tabourie and Dolphin Point are on alert as three waterbombing helicopters and 90 firefighters battle blazes in the area.

"We do have a lot of firefighters in there to protect those properties," said the spokesman.


Residents have been warned to protect their properties and be aware of smoke and ash affecting homes in High View Drive and Seaside Parade in Dolphin Point.

West to southwesterly winds of 40 kilometers per hour, with gusts of up to 60 kilometers per hour, are forecast for the area on Sunday afternoon.

The strong winds and erratic gusts are threatening to fan flames and cause problems for firefighters.


"We're still doing property protection in Dolphin Point and as the fire continues to move behind properties in that area," said the spokesman.

More than 100 Dolphin Point homes are surrounded mostly by bushland, including state forest and conservation areas.

"Crews are being hampered by that west, southwest wind which is expected to be quite gusty today," said the spokesman. "We're alerting all residents in the area to protect their property because they may be affected by smoke and ash."

Firefighters are closely monitoring the Lake Tabourie fire, which is moving alongside the Princes Highway.

The highway has been closed to traffic south of Burrill Lake.

The spokesman said the RFS's policy of allowing property owners to choose to stay and defend their homes or evacuate was still in place.

However, he said at this stage, Dolphin Point residents who had chosen to stay should not leave their homes.
"If the person feels that their property is well prepared and they themselves are both physically and mentally prepared and can defend their property, they are free to do so.

"If they feel they could not cope with the situation and their property is not prepared, they need to leave well ahead."

NSW Emergency Services Minister Steve Whan said the early fires on the South Coast could be a sign of a very difficult fire season ahead.

"People here in the fire control are telling me that they haven't seen fire behavior like this at this time of year before," he told ABC Radio.

Further south, the strong winds are also a concern for residents close to a bushfire burning at Tilba.

Dalai Lama prays, encourages democracy in Taiwan

By PETER ENAV, Associated Press Writer

SHIAO LIN, Taiwan – The Dalai Lama said Taiwan should have "very close and unique links" with China but also enjoy democracy, as he arrived at a devastated village Monday to pray for victims of Taiwan's worst storm in 50 years.

Beijing has voiced its opposition to the Dalai Lama's visit, saying it could have a negative effect on relations between the mainland and Taiwan, which Beijing wants back after the two split six decades ago.

The Tibetan spiritual leader insisted his visit was a humanitarian one and that he had no political agenda, but in his remarks to reporters he encouraged Taiwan to preserve its democracy.

Kneeling on the ground above what was once the farming village of Shiao Lin, the Tibetan spiritual leader offered his prayers for the estimated 500 villagers who died in mudslides triggered by Typhoon Morakot in early August. The village is now an empty stretch of mud and scattered boulders.

Overall, some 670 were killed in the storm, and the Dalai Lama plans to lead a mass prayer ritual for them.

At Shiao Lin, he put his palms together in prayer while a monk next to him recited a Buddhist sutra. He then embraced two weeping relatives of Shiao Lin victims, holding their heads as he knelt on the ground and prayed.

Some 50 former Shiao Lin residents had returned to welcome him, many wearing T-shirts with pictures of the village before the deadly mudslides.

"We welcome him and we're very happy that he's here," said Liu Ming-chuan, 44.

The Dalai Lama also made brief remarks about the tragedy and about the invitation for his visit. He has said he had a moral responsibility to visit the victims.

He said he was not disappointed by President Ma Ying-jeou's refusal to meet him. "This is a humanitarian visit," he told reporters. "On my side, there is no political agenda."

"In any case, Taiwan should have very close and unique links with mainland China, but at the same time Taiwan also should enjoy democracy and prosperity," he added.

Communist Party-ruled China has long vilified the Dalai Lama for what it claims as his attempt to fight for independence of Tibet, which has been under communist rule for decades.

But instead of criticizing Ma for his visit, the spokesman for China's State Council Taiwan Affairs Office blasted Taiwan's opposition Democratic Progressive Party for its "ulterior motives to instigate the Dalai Lama, who has long been engaged in separatist activities, to visit Taiwan."

Taiwan's opposition had invited the Dalai Lama to comfort the typhoon victims.

The invitation came as Taiwan and China have dramatically improved their relations after decades of enmity. Ma has made closer business ties and cultural exchanges a signature issue of his 15-month-old administration.

Beijing has said it "resolutely opposes" the Taiwan visit, and a Chinese official for Taiwan affairs on Sunday night warned the visit "is bound to have a negative influence on the relations between the mainland and Taiwan."

A Taiwanese official said 70 Chinese athletes have decided not to attend Saturday's opening ceremony of the international Deaf Olympics in Taipei, but would still take part in the games. Emile Sheng, an executive of the games' organizing committee, declined to comment on media reports that the group was boycotting because of the Dalai Lama's visit.

Not all in Taiwan have welcomed the Tibetan spiritual leader.

Earlier Monday, some 20 demonstrators confronted him outside his hotel, saying the visit was short of bringing real disaster relief to Taiwan.

"I love it," the Dalai Lama told reporters in response. "It's an indication of freedom of expression. It's wonderful."

Hamas slams UN over "Holocaust classes" in Gaza

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA, Aug 30 (Reuters) - Hamas condemned the United Nations on Sunday, saying it planned to teach Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip about the Holocaust -- but the U.N. agency which runs schools in the enclave would not confirm any change.

Branding the Nazi genocide of the Jews "a lie invented by the Zionists", the Islamist movement which runs the Gaza Strip wrote in an open letter to a senior U.N. official that he should withdraw plans for a new history book in U.N. schools.

A spokesman for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which educates some 200,000 refugee children in Gaza, said the Holocaust was not on its current curriculum. He would not comment on Hamas's statement that it was about to change.

Palestinians resent the way world powers reacted to the Holocaust by supporting the establishment of Israel in 1948, a move that left half the Arab population of then British-ruled Palestine as refugees in Gaza, the West Bank and abroad.

Hamas said it believed UNRWA was about to start using a text for 13-year-olds that included a chapter on the Holocaust.

In an open letter to local UNRWA chief John Ging, the movement's Popular Committees for Refugees said: "We refuse to let our children study a lie invented by the Zionists."

UNRWA spokesman Adnan Abu Hasna said: "There is no mention of the Holocaust in the current syllabus." Asked if UNRWA planned to change that, he declined to comment.

In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, run by the Western-backed Palestinian Authority of President Mahmoud Abbas, teachers said there was no official guidance on teaching about the Holocaust.

Israelis are angered by denial of the Holocaust among some in the Middle East, notably lately by leaders in Iran, who provide support for Hamas. Abbas, who has engaged in negotiation with Israel, has had to distance himself from his own 1980s doctoral thesis, which cast doubt on the scale of the Holocaust.

Hamas' official spokesman in Gaza, Sami Abu Zuhri, said he did not want to discuss the history of the Holocaust but said:

"Regardless of the controversy, we oppose forcing the issue of the so-called Holocaust onto the syllabus, because it aims to reinforce acceptance of the occupation of Palestinian land."

Colombian president comes down with the swine flu

By VIVIAN SEQUERA, Associated Press Writer

BOGOTA – Colombian President Alvaro Uribe has the swine flu and officials have advised other South American leaders who met with him at a summit of the infection, authorities said Sunday.

The 57-year-old Uribe began feeling symptoms Friday, the same day as a meeting of South American presidents in Bariloche, Argentina, and he was confirmed to have swine flu after returning home, Social Protection Minister Diego Palacio said.

"This isn't something that has us scared," Palacio said at a news conference. Uribe, a key U.S. ally in Latin America, is not considered a high-risk patient and will continue working from his computer, officials said.

Public health director Gilberto Alvarez said in a telephone interview that there was no need to put the president in isolation and that his condition would monitored for three days to a week.

During a Union of South American Nations summit of the region's presidents Friday, Uribe spent hours defending his plan to give U.S. troops more access to Colombian bases as part of his government's fight against drug traffickers and leftist rebels. Many of his colleagues have voiced concerns about the idea.

Palacio said Colombia's foreign ministry was informing governments whose leaders may have come in contact with Uribe.

No governments immediately reported cases of sick officials.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who attended the summit, said he felt fine and had been tested for swine flu after returning from another UNASUR summit in Ecuador earlier in August. He said he didn't see any need to be tested again.

"At this moment, no, because I do not have anything," Chavez said. "I am so well that last night I pitched" in a game of softball.

Chavez, a socialist who has strained relations with the conservative Uribe, wished the Colombian leader good health.

"I regret this and hope there are no repercussions for the president's health and that nobody else has caught the disease," Chavez said.

Dr. Alberto Cortez, an infectious disease specialist at Colombia's Universidad Nacional, said it is possible the disease could have been passed to other leaders at the summit. But he added it needs to be established when Uribe became sick to determine whether he picked up the virus in Argentina — where there are many cases — or if he arrived there with the illness.

Uribe is the second Latin American leader to come down with the swine flu.

On Aug. 11, Costa Rican President Oscar Arias announced he had swine flu and was being quarantined at his home. The 69-year-old leader, who won the 1987 Nobel Peace Prize for his work in ending Central America's civil wars, has recovered.

Colombia's presidential office released a brief statement Sunday saying the country's National Health Institute confirmed that Uribe had swine flu. It said his case was "developing satisfactorily."

The health institute's director, Juan Gonzalo Lopez, said Uribe's case was confirmed Sunday and the president he had complained of body pains and general discomfort.

Cesar Mauricio Velasquez, spokesman for Uribe, said Uribe planned to handle his duties while recovering.

"The president will continue doing his work by computer," Velasquez said.

Colombia has reported 621 confirmed cases of swine flu, including Uribe's. There have been 34 deaths from the illness, the government says.

2 firefighters killed fighting Calif. wildfire

By RAQUEL MARIA DILLON and JULIET WILLIAMS, Associated Press Writers

LOS ANGELES – Two Los Angeles County firefighters were killed Sunday when their vehicle rolled down a mountain side amid the intense flames of a wildfire that threatened 12,000 homes. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger urged those in the fire's path to get out as the blazes rained ash on cars as far away as downtown Los Angeles, spreading in all directions in dry conditions.

Firefighters fixed their attention on the blaze's fast-moving eastern side where flames lapped at the foot of the vital communications and astronomy center of Mount Wilson, and on the northwestern front, where the two firefighters were killed on Mount Gleason near the city of Acton.

"We ask for your understanding, for your patience as we move through this difficult time, and please, prayers for the families of our two brothers that we lost," county Deputy Fire Chief Mike Bryant said through tears at a Sunday night press conference.

Bryant said the men's families have been notified. He did not release their identities or give a cause for the crash, and officials at the press conference would take no questions on the deaths.

Television helicopter video on Sunday night showed an upside-down vehicle on the mountain side.

"Our hearts are heavy as we are tragically reminded of the sacrifices our firefighters and their families make daily to keep us safe," Schwarzenegger said in a statement.

The blaze was only about 5 percent contained and had scorched 66 square miles in the Angeles National Forest. Mandatory evacuations were in effect for neighborhoods in Glendale, Pasadena and other cities and towns north of Los Angeles. Officials said air quality in parts of the foothills bordered on hazardous.

The fire, which broke out Wednesday afternoon, was the largest of many burning around California, including a new blaze in Placer County northeast of Sacramento that destroyed several homes and businesses.

The Southern California fire was expected during the night Sunday to reach the top of Mount Wilson, where 22 television stations, many radio stations and cell phone providers have their transmitters, said U.S. Forest Service Capt. Mike Dietrich.

Firefighters were pulled from the top of the mountain after clearing brush and spraying retardant on antennas because it was too dangerous for them to remain.

"We've done all the preparation we can," county fire spokesman Mark Savage said.

Television stations said if the antennas burn broadcast signals will be affected but satellite and cable transmissions will not be.

Two giant telescopes and several multimillion-dollar university programs are housed in the century-old Mount Wilson Observatory. The complex of buildings is both a historic landmark and a thriving modern center for astronomy.

At least 18 homes were destroyed in the fire and firefighters expected to find many more, authorities said.

While thousands have fled, two people who tried to ride out the firestorm in a backyard hot tub were burned. The pair in Big Tujunga Canyon, on the southwestern edge of the fire, "completely underestimated the fire" and the hot tub provided "no protection whatsoever," Sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said Sunday.

The pair made their way to firefighters and were airlifted out by a sheriff's rescue helicopter. They received adequate notification to evacuate from deputies but decided to stay, Whitmore said.

Whitmore described their condition as "critical" but fire officials said one of the two was treated and released and the other remained hospitalized in stable condition. A third person was burned Saturday in an evacuation area along Highway 2 near Mount Wilson, officials said. Details of that injury were not immediately known.

"There were people that did not listen, and there were three people that got burned and got critically injured because they did not listen," Schwarzenegger said at a news conference at the fire command post.

For the third straight day, humidity was very low and temperatures were expected in the high 90s. Nearly 3,000 firefighters were battling the blaze.

Mandatory evacuations were also in effect for neighborhoods in Altadena and for the communities of Acton, La Canada Flintridge, La Crescenta and Big Tujunga Canyon.

There was some progress Sunday, as a small number of La Canada Flintridge residents living west of the Arroyo Seco were told they could go back to their homes.

But more evacuations were ordered in Acton in the Antelope Valley, and school districts in La Canada Flintridge and Glendale announced that classes were canceled Monday because of the fire.

Fixed-wing aircraft and a DC-10 jumbo jet were dropping water and flame retardant on the fire.

At the fire command post, Schwarzenegger praised firefighters for successfully protecting subdivisions in the foothills.

Rob Driscoll and his wife, Beth Halaas, said they lost their house in Big Tujunga Canyon. By Sunday they were desperate for more information and came to the command post to get answers.

"Our neighbors sent us photos of all the other houses that are lost," Halaas said, her voice breaking as her young son nestled his sunburned face in her arms. "We've heard as many as 30 houses burned."

At least 12 evacuation centers were set up at schools and community centers in the area.

The center at Crescenta Valley High School filled up, but by Sunday afternoon fewer than two dozen people remained. Residents trickled in to get information and snacks.

Debbie and Mercer Barrows said their house was saved but they lost their scenic view of a hillside to the flames.

"That'll grow back," said Mercer Barrows, a TV producer.

To the north, several homes and businesses were destroyed in a fast-moving fire that broke out Sunday afternoon in the Sierra foothills town of Auburn northeast of Sacramento and the governor declared a state of emergency in the area.

The fire had consumed 275 acres amid high winds and was 50 percent contained after dark Sunday, City of Roseville fire division chief Dennis Mathisen said.

About 30 people waited anxiously for news at an evacuation center in the Rock Creek Elementary School.

Pam and Stephen Incerty did not know the fate of their home on a beautiful 5-acre parcel in the rolling hills covered with trees.

Stephen Incerty wondered what the land looks like now after fire has ripped through it.

"If there's nothing there when we get back, we won't rebuild," he said. "There'd be no trees, just dirt."

In the state's coastal midsection, all evacuation orders were lifted Sunday after a 10-square-mile fire burned near the Monterey County town of Soledad. The blaze, 80 percent contained, was started by agricultural fireworks used to scare animals away from crops. The fire destroyed one home.

In Mariposa County, a nearly 7-square-mile fire burned in Yosemite National Park. The blaze was 50 percent contained Sunday, said park spokeswoman Vickie Mates. Two people sustained minor injuries, she said.

Park officials closed a campground and a portion of Highway 120, anticipating that the fire would spread north toward Tioga Road, the highest elevation route through the Sierra.

About 50 homes in the towns of El Portal and Foresta were under evacuation orders and roads in the area will remain closed through Monday, Mates said.

Category 4 hurricane threatens Mexico's west coast

By MARK STEVENSON, Associated Press Writer


CABO SAN LUCAS, Mexico – A strengthening Hurricane Jimena roared toward Mexico's Baja California peninsula, where residents stocked up on food Sunday and authorities set up shelters, anticipating landfall in the coming days.

Mexico issued a hurricane watch for the resort-dotted southern portion of Baja, meaning hurricane conditions are possible within 36 hours.

Jimena, a dangerous Category 4 storm, could rake southern Baja California by Tuesday evening, forecasters said,

"I think it's going to be a substantial hurricane by the time it approaches," said Richard Pasch, a senior specialist with the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

Brenda Munoz, who lost her home when Hurricane Juliette struck Baja in 2001, was taking no chances, stocking up on food this time around.

"I remember when Hurricane Juliette hit with a lot of intensity. It flattened our home, lots of flooding, lots of disaster," Munoz said at the resort town of Cabo San Lucas. "We're already prepared with food and everything so it won't catch us off guard."

But with the weather still mild Sunday, Jim Patterson, a tourist from Big Bear Lake, California, could not muster up much concern.

"Are you saying it would be a good idea to stock up on tequila?" he joked at a seaside restaurant. "No fear. I've been through tornados and earthquakes and everything else, but never a hurricane."

At least 10,000 families will be evacuated from potential flood zones, said Francisco Cota, the local director of Civil Protection. He said 60 shelters would be set up.

Farther south, Jimena kicked up surf along the mainland western coast and generated strong winds that bent trees in the resort town of Zihuatanejo, uprooting at least one. Strong waves and wind prevented a couple on a boat from reaching port, forcing them to spend the night at sea, said Zihuatanejo coast guard official Jose Angel Lara.

On Sunday night, Jimena had maximum sustained winds near 145 mph (230 kph) and was moving west northwest at 7 mph (11 kph.)

It was centered about 445 miles (715 kms) southeast of Cabo San Lucas and 255 miles (410 km) south of Cabo Corrientes, a coastal town in the western state of Jalisco.

Authorities in Cabo Corrientes were setting up shelters in case of heavier wind and rain, said Arturo Garcia, an official with Jalisco's Civil Protection agency.

The U.S. hurricane center issued a public advisory for residents in western Mexico and the southern part of the Baja peninsula to keep tabs on Jimena.

Economists from around the world were scheduled to attend a conference sponsored by the Paris-based Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development on Tuesday and Wednesday in Los Cabos at the southern tip of the peninsula. It was not clear if the conference will still take place; the organization's office was closed Sunday.

Farther out in the Pacific, a weakening Tropical Storm Kevin had top winds of 40 mph (65 kph) and was centered about 840 miles (1,430 kms) southwest of the Baja peninsula's southern tip.

Two Gitmo detainees sent to Portugal

WASHINGTON, Aug. 29 (UPI) -- The U.S. Department of Justice says the Portuguese government has assumed control of two Guantanamo Bay detainees.


The Department of Justice said in a release that two Syrian nationals were transferred to Portugal from the U.S. detention facility in Cuba via an arrangement between the U.S. and Portuguese governments.

The U.S. government, which ensured all necessary security measures were in place for the detainee transfer, will maintain contact with Portugal regarding the two detainees, the department said. The prisoners' names and suspected crimes were not reported.

The detainee transfer was authorized by the Guantanamo Review Task Force and the U.S. Congress was made aware of the transfer plan, the Department of Justice said.

The two prisoners mark the most recent detainee transfer involving Guantanamo Bay prisoners. More than 540 Guantanamo Bay detainees have been transferred to various countries worldwide since 2002. Less than 250 remain at the detention center, various news outlets say.

Polls: Japan's Opposition Wins Historic Victory

By COCO MASTERS / TOKYO


It took less than two hours to realize a change that has been brewing for half a century. The polls for Japan's general election closed at 8 p.m. nationwide, and by 9:40 p.m. Yukio Hatoyama - head of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) and soon to be the nation's new prime minister - reacted to his party's landslide victory with characteristic reserve and calm. "It is important that we not be too proud and try hard to make this victory a victory for the public."

Elsewhere, victorious DPJ candidates lifted their arms and hoarsely shouted the celebratory phrase "banzai" after exit polls show Japan's main opposition party blasted the incumbent Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) from its virtually untested 54-year reign. Polls indicate DPJ's historic win will likely hand the party more than 300 of the 480 seats in the Diet's lower house, while the LDP is expected to get about 100 - just one-third of what it had before Prime Minister Taro Aso dissolved parliament in July and called the Aug. 30 election. If the DPJ lands more than 321 seats, it will have the two-thirds majority it needs to unilaterally pass bills rejected by the upper house.

A defeated Aso appeared before television media and assumed responsibility for his party's crushing blow. Expressing his grief over the results, Aso said that he would step down as president of the LDP, requesting that an election be held as soon as possible for new party leadership. Media reports say that relinquish his post. "We could not wipe away the resentment that the LDP accumulated over the years," he said. "I feel we were destined [to have this defeat]." Many bigwig incumbents lost their constituencies, such as Fukuoka prefecture's Taku Yamasaki (a former minister once considered a successor to former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi) and former Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu. Those LDP candidates who were elected include Koizumi's son and former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

The Japanese people voted for the DPJ - with its slogans of "regime change" and "livelihood first" - amidst the worst economic crisis in Japan's postwar history. An unprecedented 14 million votes were cast ahead of Sunday's election, about 13% of all eligible voters. And voter turnout is expected to reach 70% - the highest in nearly 20 years. As exit polls came out around the nation, television media tended to focus on which LDP candidates lost - marking LDP incumbents with red "batsu" or Xs - rather than focus on the DPJ winners, reflecting what some observers believe - that Sunday's landslide win is less a vote of confidence in the DPJ’s ability to effect change than a show of frustration over the LDP's failed leadership.

Hatoyama's party, nevertheless, appears ready to meet the big challenges his new administration will face. With an economy in crisis, record unemployment, and faltering welfare systems, the DPJ is already looking for all the help it can get. The party is expected to meet on Monday with the leftist Social Democratic Party and the conservative People's New Party to discuss the possibility of forming a coalition. As Hatoyama said Sunday night, "We have been fighting, thinking we have to change politics and now we are about to realize it." The Japanese people have set the ball rolling. Now it's up to the DPJ to take the lead.

Pakistan: Border blast sets NATO fuel trucks afire

CHAMAN, Pakistan – An explosion ripped through a line of trucks ferrying fuel to NATO troops in Afghanistan, setting several oil tankers ablaze Sunday at a backed-up Pakistani border crossing, police said.

The blast appeared to be the second terrorist attack Sunday in Pakistan and the second in a week to target a border crossing. Also Sunday, a suicide bomber targeted a police station in the northwestern Swat Valley, killing 15 cadets.

Local police chief Hasan Sardar said flames and smoke were billowing into the sky as authorities struggled to control the blaze Sunday night near the Chaman border crossing in Baluchistan province in Pakistan's southwest.

"It was a big explosion under one of the oil tankers that caused other vehicles to catch fire. The fire is spreading," Sardar told The Associated Press by phone.

"We are at the moment trying our best to control the blaze. We are not sure whether there is any human loss," he said. "It is just panic everywhere there."

The explosion Sunday night set at least three oil tankers, two container trucks and two dump trucks on fire, police officer Abdul Rauf said.

Chaman is one of two main crossing points for supplies for American and NATO troops fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan. The foreign troops get about 75 percent of their supplies through Pakistan.

The crossing has been closed for two days amid a dispute between Afghan and Pakistani customs officers that Rauf said had left more than 1,000 trucks backed up along the road to the border.

Another suicide bombing killed at least 19 guards further north at the Torkham checkpoint, the other main crossing and gateway to the famed Khyber Pass.

The Pakistani Taliban have vowed revenge after the loss of key territory and the death of their top leader, Baitullah Mehsud, in a CIA missile strike Aug. 5 further west near the Afghan border.

Five killed in Algeria attacks

Algiers, Aug 30 (New Kerala): Five people have been killed and three wounded in two separate attacks in Algeria, a media report said Saturday.

Three people including two military forces were killed in a car bomb in western Algeria, said the report.

In Jijel Province of eastern Algeria, two armed soldiers were killed and three wounded in an ambush against the Algerian army, according to the report.

Though violence has declined in Algeria after a large group of radical Islamists surrendered to the government, attacks occur sporadically in different areas of the country.

Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika said last week that the government would continue to pursue its national reconciliation policy to grant a chance to the repentant military radicals.

In September 2005, the national reconciliation charter was overwhelmingly adopted in a national referendum, under which armed Islamists can abandon their arms and surrender to the government.

Former Israeli prime minister Olmert indicted

JERUSALEM – Israeli legal authorities have indicted former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert on corruption charges.

The indictments filed Sunday charge Olmert with illegally accepting funds from an American backer, and double-billing for trips abroad. He faces charges including fraud and breach of trust.

The charges surfaced when Olmert was still prime minister, eventually forcing him to step aside. Olmert allegedly committed the offenses while serving as mayor of Jerusalem and later as a Cabinet minister, and before being elected prime minister in 2006.

Olmert was replaced as prime minister in March by Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu. He left politics and is currently a private citizen.

Olmert has denied any wrongdoing.

Ruling party concedes defeat in Japan election

By ERIC TALMADGE, Associated Press Writer


TOKYO – Japan's Prime Minister Taro Aso conceded defeat in elections Sunday as media exit polls indicated the opposition had won by a landslide, sending the conservatives out of power after 54 years of nearly unbroken rule amid widespread economic anxiety and desire for change.

"These results are very severe," Aso said in a news conference at party headquarters, conceding his party was headed for a big loss. "There has been a deep dissatisfaction with our party."

Aso said he would have to accept responsibility for the results, suggesting that he would resign as party president. Other LDP leaders also said they would step down, though official results were not to be released until early Monday morning.

The left-of-center Democratic Party of Japan was set to win 300 or more of the 480 seats in the lower house of parliament, ousting the Liberal Democrats, who have governed Japan for all but 11 months since 1955, according to exit polls by all major Japanese TV networks.

The loss by the Liberal Democrats — traditionally a pro-business, conservative party — would open the way for the Democratic Party, headed by Yukio Hatoyama, to replace Aso and establish a new Cabinet, possibly within the next few weeks.

The vote was seen as a barometer of frustrations over Japan's worst economic slump since World War II and a loss of confidence in the ruling Liberal Democrats' ability to tackle tough problems such as the rising national debt and rapidly aging population.

The Democrats have embraced a more populist platform, promising handouts for families with children and farmers and a higher minimum wage.

The Democrats have also said they will seek a more independent relationship with Washington, while forging closer ties with Japan's Asian neighbors, including China. But Hatoyama, who holds a doctorate in engineering from Stanford University, insists he will not seek dramatic change in Japan's foreign policy, saying the U.S.-Japan alliance would "continue to be the cornerstone of Japanese diplomatic policy."

National broadcaster NHK, using projections based on exit polls of roughly 400,000 voters, said the Democratic Party was set to win 300 seats and the Liberal Democrats only about 100. TV Asahi, another major network, said the Democratic Party would win 315 seats.

The LDP's secretary-general, Hiroyuki Hosoda, said he and two other top officials plan to submit their resignations to Aos, who serves as president of the party.

As voting closed Sunday night, officials said turnout was high, despite an approaching typhoon, indicating the intense level of public interest in the hotly contested campaigns.

"We've worked so hard to achieve a leadership change and that has now become almost certain thanks to the support of many voters," said Yosihiko Noda, a senior member of the DPJ. "We feel a strong sense of responsibility to achieve each of our campaign promises."

Ruling party leaders said they were devastated by the results.

"I feel deeply the impact of this vote," former Prime Minister Shintaro Abe, a leading Liberal Democratic Party member, told television network TBS. "Our party must work to return to power."

Even before the vote was over, the Democrats pounded the ruling party ruling party for driving the country into a ditch.

Japan's unemployment has spiked to record 5.7 percent while deflation has intensified and families have cut spending because they are insecure about the future.

Making the situation more dire is Japan's aging demographic — which means more people are on pensions and there is a shrinking pool of taxpayers to support them and other government programs.

"The ruling party has betrayed the people over the past four years, driving the economy to the edge of a cliff, building up more than 6 trillion yen ($64.1 billion) in public debt, wasting money, ruining our social security net and widening the gap between the rich and poor," the Democratic Party said in a statement as voting began Sunday.

"We will change Japan," it said.

Hatoyama's party held 112 seats before parliament was dissolved in July.

The Democratic Party would only need to win a simple majority of 241 seats in the lower house to assure that it can name the next prime minister. The 300-plus level would allow it and its two smaller allies the two-thirds majority they need in the lower house to pass bills.

Many voters said that although the Democrats are largely untested in power and doubts remain about whether they will be able to deliver on their promises, the country needs a change.

"We don't know if the Democrats can really make a difference, but we want to give them a chance," Junko Shinoda, 59, a government employee, said after voting at a crowded polling center in downtown Tokyo.

Having the Democrats in power would smooth policy debates in parliament, which has been deadlocked since the Democrats and their allies took over the less powerful upper house in 2007.

With only two weeks of official campaigning that focused mainly on broadstroke appeals rather than specific policies, many analysts said the elections were not so much about issues as voters' general desire for something new after more than a half century under the Liberal Democrats.

The Democrats are proposing toll-free highways, free high schools, income support for farmers, monthly allowances for job seekers in training, a higher minimum wage and tax cuts. The estimated bill comes to 16.8 trillion yen ($179 billion) if fully implemented starting in fiscal year 2013.

Aso — whose own support ratings have sagged to a dismal 20 percent — repeatedly stressed his party led Japan's rise from the ashes of World War II into one of the world's biggest economic powers and are best equipped to get it out of its current morass.

But the current state of the economy has been a major liability for his party.

"It's revolutionary," said Tomoaki Iwai, a political science professor at Tokyo's Nihon University. "It's the first real change of government" Japan has had in six decades.