Iran's top leader reportedly warns politicians

TEHRAN, Iran – State radio says Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has told politicians to be careful in their stances on the country's postelection unrest, saying that disturbing security is "the biggest vice."

Khamenei's comments appear aimed at warning opposition politicians against making any moves that would encourage further protests like the ones that shook the country following the disputed presidential election on June 12.

Khamenei also says foreign enemies supported the unrest by broadcasting "procedures for rioting" through their media, according to Monday's state media report.

Security forces crushed protests by hundreds of thousands following the election, which the opposition claims President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won through fraud.

Pakistan: 4 police officers killed in ambush

PESHAWAR, Pakistan – Police say gunmen ambushed a police patrol in Pakistan's volatile northwest, killing four officers.

Senior police official Nisar Khan says two victims died at the spot on the outskirts of Peshawar city early Monday, while two others died at hospital from multiple bullet wounds.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the ambush, but Taliban militants in the region frequently target security forces.

The police were patrolling a road that leads to the Khyber tribal region, an area where militants often attack trucks supplying U.S. and NATO forces in neighboring Afghanistan.

Turkey extends smoking ban to bars, cafes

by Hande Culpan

ANKARA (AFP) – Turkey went smoke-free on Sunday as the government introduced a ban in bars, cafes and restaurants -- despite business owners' protests -- in a bid to break the national addiction to nicotine.

Strongly supported by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a tobacco hater, the smoking ban came into effect at midnight as ashtrays were removed from tables inside these establishments and smokers stepped outside for a puff.

"The saying 'smoke like a Turk' is now a thing of the past," said the liberal Radikal daily on its front page, likening the ban to a "revolution" in a country where people could smoke even on buses 15 years ago. The popular Aksam daily simply said "The End".

Sunday's measure is an extension to a May 2008 ban on smoking in workplaces and indoor public spaces. Health Minister Recep Akdag says it has reduced the number of smokers by seven percent and tobacco consumption by 20 percent since its introduction.

Official statistics say almost one in three adults smoke in Turkey -- and that rate that reaches 48 percent among men -- putting the country in 10th place in tobacco consumption in the world.

Smoking-related illnesses are responsible for nearly 100,000 deaths a year and are a huge burden on the economy, according to the World Health Organization.

"People spend 15 to 20 billion dollars (10.6 to 14.1 billion euros) to buy cigarettes each year," Tokat Erguder, who run's the WHO's tobacco-control programme in Turkey, said in a newspaper interview.

"In addition, the state has an annual expenditure of 3.4 to 4.5 billion dollars" to pay for the treatment of smoking-related illnesses, he added.

Recent surveys suggest that there is widespread public support of up to 95 percent for the smoking ban, but some smokers say the ban is excessive.

"I find the ban a bit extreme and Jacobinic... The state will never get people to quit smoking by banning tobacco use," Semsi Guler, a retired lawyer, said sitting outside a cafe in capital Ankara's Tunali district.

"People will now stay home to smoke to their liking," he added.

Bar and cafe owners have long protested that they will lose business during what is already an economic crisis.

They want to be able to set up separate smoking sections on their premises, but their calls for a delay in the implementation of the ban have been rejected by the government.

An association of traditional coffee-house owners said they were mulling a legal appeal against the ban.

"Ninety-five percent of those who come to coffee-houses smoke," Huseyin Menekse, from the association's executive board, told the Anatolia news agency.

"The ban means that people will no longer come to these establishment, forcing them to close up one by one,"

Bars in the Sakarya district of the capital Ankara sported posters that read "We are against smoking and the smoking ban".

Despite the ban however, many doubt that the anti-smoking measure will be applied uniformly throughout the country.

While city bars and cafes will face regular inspection, it will harder to enforce the ban in coffee-houses in rural villages, where men while away their time drinking tea and smoking.

Under the ban, owners of bars and restaurants are supposed to first warn a customer who insists on lighting up, then refuse to serve him and if that does not work to call the police.

Flouting the ban can lead to a fine of 69 liras (45 dollars, 32 euros) for the smoker, while the establishment itself will have to pay 560 liras for a first-time offense and up to 5,600 liras for repeat offenses.

Local authorities have drafted in some 5,000 inspectors to check that premises are implementing the ban.

Fifty-six more on trial in Turkish coup plot case

By Thomas Grove

SILIVRI, Turkey (Reuters) – Two retired Turkish generals went on trial on Monday in a group of 56 people accused of plotting in a shadowy right-wing organization to overthrow Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's government.

They join 86 others already being tried for planning to carry out a campaign of bombings and assassinations, and force the army to step in against Erdogan's government.

The plot by the "Ergenekon" group is one of several factors that has strained relations between the government, which has its roots in political Islam, and the armed forces.

An alleged scheme by the military to discredit the ruling AK Party, and a new law that allows soldiers to be prosecuted in peacetime by civilian courts has added to tension.

The two-year-old case, in which almost 200 people including retired and active army officers, lawyers, journalists and politicians have been charged, has rattled financial markets in the European Union candidate country.

Among the 56 people who went on trial on Monday at Silivri prison near Istanbul are two four-star generals, for whom prosecutors are seeking life imprisonment.

They are retired general Sener Eruygur, a former commander of the paramilitary gendarmerie forces, and retired general Hursit Tolon, a former army commander. Both are charged with masterminding a terrorist group and inciting armed rebellion against the government.

Tolon, wearing a business suit and looking relaxed, answered questions by the four-judge panel in the new custom-built courtroom at the prison outside Istanbul. Eruygur, reported to be in poor health, was not present.

Turkish stocks and lira made gains as improved corporate earnings in the United States boosted investor risk appetite, but traders are following the case for signs of political instability.

SECULAR ELITE

Many in Turkey's elite, including generals, judges and professors, fear the AK Party is trying to undermine its secular founding principles by introducing Islam -- the predominant religion -- into public life, something the party denies.

Hundreds of protesters demonstrated outside the courtroom, waving Turkish flags and chanting: "The patriots are in prison."

But the once-untouchable military -- which has unseated four elected governments, either in outright coups or by political pressure -- has found its influence waning as the government pushes reforms aimed at meeting EU membership criteria.

Now on the defensive, it has denied any links to Ergenekon.

The case, which has dominated headlines in the local media, came to light two years ago when a cache of explosives was discovered in a house in Istanbul.

The investigation has been welcomed by pro-democracy advocates as a chance to break taboos on the military and to root out "deep state" elements in the civil service who have been trying to destabilize the government.

"This kind of case has never been seen before in Turkey," said Akin Atal, an independent lawyer. "Such alleged claims of unity between the state and the mafia being on trial is unheard of."

But as the police round up journalists, human rights activists, artists and academics in a ever-expanding case, some question whether the AK Party is misusing the judiciary, once a bastion of the secularist elite, to punish political opponents.

Many of these accuse the AK Party of seeking revenge for an attempt to ban it in court last year, something it denies.

1st funeral held for Jakarta bomb victims

By IRWAN FIRDAUS, Associated Press Writer

JAKARTA, Indonesia – The first of the Jakarta hotel bombings' seven victims was buried Monday — just days after he again became a father.

The wife of 38-year-old Evert Mocodompis could not attend his funeral because she gave birth to their second child the day before he was killed, local media reported.

He died while working in the restaurant of the J.W. Marriott hotel on Friday. Family and friends sang hymns and tossed flowers on his grave.

Police continued to piece together bomb fragments, body parts and other clues gathered from the Marriott and the Ritz-Carlton, which was bombed within minutes of Friday's first blast.

Police have said explosive material recovered at the hotels is "identical" to that used by the Southeast Asian terrorist network Jemaah Islamiyah in earlier attacks.

An unexploded bomb left in a room of the Marriott resembled devices used in attacks on Bali and one found in a recent raid against the network on an Islamic boarding school in Central Java, national police spokesman told a news conference Sunday.

The culprits in Friday's attacks that killed seven and wounded 50 are believed to have belonged to Jemaah Islamiyah "because there are similarities in the bombs used," Maj. Gen. Nanan Sukarna said.

The decapitated bodies of the two alleged suicide bombers were also recovered at the scenes, police said.

Anti-terrorism police were hunting for Noordin Mohammad Top, a fugitive Malaysian who heads a particularly violent offshoot of the network and has been linked to four major strikes in Indonesia since 2002.

The twin suicide bombings came four years after the last serious terrorist attack in Indonesia and unleashed a new wave of anxiety in the world's largest Muslim-majority country.

After years of sectarian violence and annual terrorist strikes, the nation of 235 million had been enjoying a period of stability. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was re-elected to a second term earlier this month, partly on the strength of government efforts to fight terrorism.

"I am shocked by these bombings," Razif Harahap, a 45-year-old graduate student, said in Jakarta on Sunday. "The same people who carried out these attacks could launch another one, because the mastermind is still at large."

Investigators are trying to identify the two bombers, one of whom is believed to be Indonesian. Knowing who they are could help determine if they had links to Noordin.

The official Antara news agency said Sunday that the government was intensifying efforts to find Noordin and trace the network's finances to try to uncover any links to Friday's blasts.

In addition to Mocodompis, officials have identified the bodies of four other victims, including three Australians and one New Zealander. Four badly damaged bodies remain unidentified.

Among the dead was Craig Senger, the first Australian government official to be killed in a terrorist attack, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said Sunday. Senger worked as a Trade Commission officer at the embassy in Jakarta.

Officials said 17 foreigners were among the wounded, including eight Americans and citizens of Australia, Britain, Canada, Hong Kong, India, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway and South Korea.

Jemaah Islamiyah rose to prominence after the 2002 nightclub bombings on the beach resort of Bali that killed 202 people, most of them foreigners.

It staged attacks in Indonesia in each of the next three years: a 2003 car bombing outside the J.W. Marriott hotel, a 2004 truck bombing outside the Australian Embassy, and triple suicide bombings on Bali restaurants by attackers carrying bombs in backpacks in 2005.

After the government launched a massive anti-terrorism campaign, no major attacks had been reported since then — until Friday's explosions.

Surviving Mumbai attacks gunman pleads guilty

MUMBAI (AFP) – A Pakistani man on trial in India over last year's Mumbai attacks pleaded guilty on Monday, admitting his part in the atrocity for the first time.

Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, 21, told a special prison court -- where he had originally pleaded not guilty -- that he wanted to confess, before narrating how the attacks were carried out.

"I want to confess my crime," he told the court. "Yes, I did it."

Kasab's lawyer, Abbas Kazmi, was unaware that his client was going to take such action, TV news channels reported.

Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam told reporters that Kasab had "stood up and informed the court that he was willing to confess."

A total of 166 people died and more than 300 others were wounded when 10 heavily armed gunman attacked sites across south Mumbai, including luxury hotels, the city's main railway station, a restaurant and a Jewish centre.

Kasab and an accomplice opened fire with AK-47 assault rifles and threw hand grenades at commuters at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, killing 52 and wounding 109 in the bloodiest episode of the 60-hour reign of terror.

The pair, who were seen on CCTV cameras and by a string of witnesses, then fled the station, firing indiscriminately on the way, killing civilians and a number of senior police officers.

Among the dead was the head of the city's Anti-Terrorism Squad, Hemant Karkare.

Kasab was the only one of the 10 gunmen to survive. All are said to have been trained, equipped and financed by the banned, Pakistan-based Islamist group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).

"I believe that the entire conspiracy was hatched by these Pakistani nationals and it was only a formality," Ashok Chavan, the chief minister of Maharashtra state, of which Mumbai is capital, told the NDTV news channel.

"All those involved in the 26/11 (November 26) attacks should be hanged."

U.S., India expected to sign defense pact

By Arshad Mohammed

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – The United States and India are expected to sign an agreement on Monday that would take a major step toward allowing the sale of sophisticated U.S. arms to the South Asian nation, three senior U.S. officials said.

Known as an "end-use monitoring" agreement and required by U.S. law for such weapons sales, the pact would let Washington check that India was using any arms for the purposes intended and preventing the technology from leaking to others.

The deal would be a tangible accomplishment of Hillary Clinton's first trip to India as U.S. secretary of state and it could prove a boon to U.S. companies such as Lockheed Martin Corp and Boeing Co.

Both U.S. defense contractors are in the running to compete for India's plan to buy 126 multi-role fighters, which would be one of the largest arms deals in the world as India takes steps to modernize its largely Russian-made arsenal.

The two U.S. companies are competing with Russia's MiG-35, France's Dassault Rafale, Sweden's Saab KAS-39 Gripen and the Eurofighter Typhoon, made by a consortium of British, German, Italian and Spanish firms, for the contract.

The U.S. officials, who spoke on condition that they not be identified, said the defense agreement was not finalized as of late Sunday but that they expected it to go through in time for Clinton's signature on Monday.

"If we don't sign that, it will be a definite slap in the face," said a U.S. congressional aide ahead of Clinton's visit to New Delhi, where she met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and was to see External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna in the evening.

Clinton's visit aims to deepen ties with India, a country whose economic power and political stability make it a natural U.S. ally, according to analysts, despite the long history of U.S.-Indian tensions during the Cold War, when Washington at times tilted toward India's rival Pakistan.

Before her official meetings, Clinton on Monday spoke to students at Delhi University and said both sides should try to get past stereotypes to build on strong U.S.-Indian links.

"People watching a Bollywood movie in some other parts of Asia (may) think everybody in India is beautiful and they have dramatic lives and happy endings," she said to laughter.

"And if you were to watch American TV and our movies, you'd think that we don't wear clothes and we spend a lot of time fighting with each other," Clinton said.

U.S. officials hope for two other tokens of a closer relationship to be confirmed during Clinton's trip: an Indian announcement of two nuclear sites reserved for U.S. companies to build reactors and a broad strategic dialogue to be led by the U.S. secretary of state and the Indian foreign minister.

Clinton hinted at the latter, telling the students that the two sides would announce "a comprehensive strategic approach" to cover a breadth of issues in their relationship.

U.S. officials estimate that the nuclear sites represent up to $10 billion in business for U.S. nuclear reactor builders such as General Electric Co. and Westinghouse Electric Co, a subsidiary of Japan's Toshiba Corp.

In addition to her official talks with Singh and Krishna, Clinton planned to meet Sonia Gandhi, the head of the ruling Congress party, and with L.K. Advani, the aging leader of the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, on Monday.

Afghans raise flag on country's highest peak

KABUL (AFP) – Two Afghan mountaineers have planted their national flag on the country's highest peak, becoming the first Afghans to conquer the 7,492-metre (24,580-foot) Mount Noshaq, organizers told AFP.

"Two climbers reached the summit of Noshaq... where they planted the Afghan flag. They are the first Afghans to do so," said Louis Meunier, one of two Frenchmen with the pair, speaking from their base camp on Sunday.

One of the Afghans, Malang Daria, said ahead of the trip that planting the national flag on the summit would be "a proud moment for all Afghans."

Before starting on their expedition on June 26, the Afghans spent nearly a month training in the French Alps to "learn the necessary techniques... build the whole team and acclimatise to high altitude," said Meunier.

Noshaq is located in the far northeast of Afghanistan in the Wakhan Corridor that connects the country to China. It is part of the legendary Hindu Kush.

Meunier and fellow French climber Jerome Veyret earlier said they hoped the expedition would be a "sign of hope and peace" in the troubled country.

"Maybe it will also inspire other potential travelers to come to the Wakhan," an area untouched by the violence seen elsewhere in Afghanistan, said Meunier.

The expedition made use of about 50 porters to bring provisions to a base camp in this remote corner of the country, which is inaccessible to pack animals.

NATO: Fighter jet crashes at Afghan base

By JASON STRAZIUSO, Associated Press Write

KABUL – A Tornado fighter jet crashed inside NATO's largest base in southern Afghanistan on Monday in the second major crash on the base in two days, officials said.

The jet crashed inside Kandahar Airfield during takeoff at 7:20 a.m. Afghanistan time (0250 GMT), said Capt. Ruben Hoornveld, a spokesman for the NATO-led force. The two-member crew ejected and were being treated at the base hospital.

There was no indication that insurgent activity caused the crash, he said, but officials could not immediately say why the plane went down. The jet caught fire and emergency personnel responded.

NATO didn't identify which nation the jet came from, but a U.S. military spokeswoman in Kabul, Lt. Cmdr. Christine Sidenstricker, said the jet was a Tornado — an aircraft commonly flown by British forces.

The crash happened one day after a Russian-owned civilian Mi-8 helicopter crashed at Kandahar Airfield, killing 16 people on board. Both Kandahar crashes follow a string of deadly aircraft downings elsewhere around Afghanistan in recent days.

Hoornveld said he did not know why two aircraft had crashed in Kandahar in two days.

"Honestly I can't say, but from my personal view it's coincidence," he said.

Afghan police and NATO troops closed down the highway that runs by the base, and emergency personnel cordoned off the crash site and evacuated the surrounding area, Hoornveld said.

The crash of the Tornado is the third aircraft to go down in Afghanistan in three days. A U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jet crashed early Saturday in central Afghanistan, killing two crew members. U.S. officials say insurgent fire did not bring down the plane.

Last week, Taliban militants downed an Mi-6 transport helicopter in southern Afghanistan, killing six Ukrainian civilians on board and an Afghan child on the ground.

Earlier in July, two Canadian soldiers and one British trooper were killed in a helicopter crash in Zabul province. Officials said that crash did not appear to be a result of hostile fire.

Idaho town prays for return of captured US soldier

By JOHN MILLER, Associated Press Writer

HAILEY, Idaho – Friends and family of an Idaho soldier who was captured in Afghanistan prayed for his safe return Sunday, shaken by the image of the frightened young private in a Taliban video posted online.

Pfc. Bowe R. Bergdahl, 23, was serving with an Alaska-based infantry regiment earlier this month when he vanished, just five months after arriving in Afghanistan. He was serving at a base near the border with Pakistan in an area known to be a Taliban stronghold.

Bergdahl is from Hailey, a town of about 7,000 people in central Idaho where he worked as a barista and was active in ballet. A sign that hangs in the window of Zaney's River Street Coffee House says "Get Bowe Back," and a message inside asks customers to "Join all of us at Zaney's holding light for our friend."

Sue Martin, owner of the coffee shop, said she knew Bergdahl as a free-spirited young man with blond hair who rode his bicycle everywhere in town and was keen to learn as much as he could about the world.

"He joined the ballet. Then he joined the Army," Martin said in an interview from a room at Zaney's, which has become an impromptu meeting place for friends, acquaintances and the media since the Taliban video was shown around the world. "People have been calling and asking what they could bring to show their support."

Bergdahl's family issued a statement asking people to keep the soldier in their thoughts and prayers, but told The Associated Press they were asking that the media respect their privacy.

Neighbors and others in the community have known for weeks that Bergdahl had been captured, but said the family urged them not to talk about the kidnapping out of fear that publicity would compromise his safety. Idaho Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter told the AP that he had been working to keep the soldier's name quiet until it was officially released.

In the video posted Saturday on a Web site pointed out by the Taliban, Bergdahl says his name and his hometown. The Pentagon confirmed his identity Sunday.

"We hope and pray for our son's safe return to his comrades and then to our family, and we appreciate all the support and expressions of sympathy shown to us by our family members, our friends and others across the nation," Bob Bergdahl, the soldier's father, said in a statement issued through the Department of Defense.

The family, described by neighbors as deeply private, lives six miles west of Hailey on a remote gravel county road. The humble home has a metal roof and several outbuildings, and vehicles parked in front. The family has chained and locked the front gate, and a small cardboard sign says: "No visitors."

Neighbors are abiding by the family's wishes not to comment on the record about Bergdahl's capture, but described the 23-year-old as an "adventurous" soul who was educated at home, danced ballet and took part in a sport fencing club, the Sun Valley Swords.

One of the directors of the Sun Valley Ballet School in Ketchum said Bergdahl performed with the group for four or five years until about 2008.

"He's athletic," Jill Brennan said. "He just had a knack for it. He's a wonderful young man."

In the 28-minute video, Bergdahl said he was "scared I won't be able to go home." He said he was lagging behind a patrol when he was captured, which conflicts with earlier military accounts that indicated he walked off the base with three Afghans.

It wasn't clear who initially captured Bergdahl, but the U.S. command in Afghanistan said he was being held by the Taliban and condemned the video as a violation of international law.

"I'm glad to see he appears unharmed, but again, this is a Taliban propaganda video," spokeswoman Lt. Cmdr. Christine Sidenstricker said. "They are exploiting the soldier in violation of international law."

With a shaved head and dressed in a nondescript, gray outfit, Bergdahl was shown eating at one point and sitting cross-legged. He choked up when discussing his family and his hope to marry his girlfriend.

"I have a very, very good family that I love back home in America," Bergdahl said.

The Pentagon identified his hometown as Ketchum, which is about half the size of Hailey and about 12 miles north. His family says he grew up in Blaine County, closer to Hailey.

Hailey is a mix of a working-class community and resort town, just down the road from upscale Sun Valley, a ski resort that's home to celebrities including Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tom Hanks and Sen. John Kerry. Bruce Willis maintains a vacation home in the area and owns local businesses.

Bergdahl is a member of 1st Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, based at Fort Richardson, Alaska.

He entered the Army in June 2008 and was trained in Fort Benning, Ga., said Lt. Col. Jonathan Allen, spokesman for Fort Richardson. Bergdahl reported for duty in Alaska in October, and deployed to Afghanistan in February.

In the video, Bergdahl said the date was July 14; it's clear the video was made no earlier because Bergdahl repeated an exaggerated Taliban claim about a Ukrainian helicopter that was shot down that day.

He was interviewed in English and asked his views on the war, which he called extremely hard; his desire to learn more about Islam; and the morale of American soldiers, which he said was low. He was prompted by his interrogators to give a message to the American people.

"Please, please bring us home so that we can be back where we belong and not over here, wasting our time and our lives and our precious life that we could be using back in our own country," he said.

The circumstances of Bergdahl's capture weren't clear.

On July 2, two U.S. officials told the AP the soldier had "just walked off" his base with three Afghans after his shift. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record.

On July 6, the Taliban claimed on their Web site that five days earlier a "drunken American soldier had come out of his garrison" and was captured by mujahedeen.

Details of such incidents are routinely held very tightly by the military as it works to retrieve a missing or captured soldier without giving away any information to captors.

Afghans in contact with the Taliban told the AP that the soldier was held by a Taliban group led by a commander called Maulvi Sangin. They said the fighters decided to move him north into Taliban-controlled areas of Ghazni province.

The Afghans spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of arrest or reprisal. It was impossible to independently confirm their information.

A Taliban spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, said the militants holding the soldier haven't yet set any conditions for his release.