E-China: The bicycle kingdom is going electric

By ELAINE KURTENBACH, AP Business Writer

SHANGHAI – It's a simple pleasure, but Xu Beilu savors it daily: gliding past snarled traffic on her motorized bicycle, relaxed and sweat-free alongside the pedal-pushing masses. China, the world's bicycle kingdom — one for every three inhabitants — is going electric.

Workers weary of crammed public transport or pedaling long distances to jobs are upgrading to battery-powered bikes and scooters. Even some who can afford cars are ditching them for electric two-wheelers to avoid traffic jams and expensive gasoline.

The bicycle was a vivid symbol of China in more doctrinaire communist times, when virtually no one owned a car. Even now, nearly two decades after the country began its great leap into capitalism, it still has 430 million bicycles by government count, outnumbering electric bikes and scooters 7-1.

But production of electric two-wheelers has soared from fewer than 200,000 eight years ago to 22 million last year, mostly for the domestic market. The industry estimates about 65 million are on Chinese roads.

Car sales are also booming but there are still only 24 million for civilian use, because few of the 1.3 billion population can afford them. And unlike in many other developing countries, Chinese cities still have plenty of bicycle lanes, even if some have made way for cars and buses.

"E-bike" riders are on the move in the morning or late at night, in good weather or bad. When it's wet, they are a rainbow army in plastic capes. On fine days, women don gloves, long-sleeved white aprons and face-covering sun guards.

One of them is Xu, on her Yamaha e-bike, making the half-hour commute from her apartment to her job as a marketing manager. She had thought of buying a car but dropped the idea. "It's obvious that driving would be more comfortable, but it's expensive," she says.

"I like riding my e-bike during rush hour, and sometimes enjoy a laugh at the people stuck in taxis. It's so convenient and helpful in Shanghai, since the traffic is worse than ever."

The trend is catching on in the U.S. and elsewhere.

In Japan, plug-in bicycles are favored by cost-conscious companies and older commuters. "Many company workers are beginning to use them to visit clients instead of driving, to save fuel costs," says Miyuki Kimizuka of the Japan Bicycle Promotion Institute, a private industry group.

Australians use electric bicycles in rural towns without bus and train service. Tony Morgan, managing director of The Electric Bicycle Co. Pty. Ltd., the continent's largest manufacturer and retailer of e-bikes, says he has sold about 20,000 in the past decade, priced at 1,000-2,000 Australian dollars (about $800-$1,600).

In the Netherlands, an especially bicycle-friendly country, the industry says sales passed 138,800 last year.

In India, Vietnam and other developing countries, competition from motorcycles, as well as a lack of bike lanes and other infrastructure, are obstacles.

Indian sales have risen about 15 percent a year to 130,000 units, thanks in part to a 7,500 rupee ($150) government rebate that brings the cost down to about the cost of a conventional bicycle. But they are far outnumbered by the millions of new motorcycles taking to India's roadways.

In China, electric bikes sell for 1,700 yuan to 3,000 yuan ($250 to $450). They require no helmet, plates or driver's license, and they aren't affected by restrictions many cities impose on fuel-burning two-wheelers.

It costs a mere 1 yuan (15 U.S. cents) — about the same as the cheapest bus fare — to charge a bike for a day's use, says Guo Jianrong, head of the Shanghai Bicycle Association, an industry group.

They look like regular bicycles, only a bit heavier with the battery strapped on. Some can be pedaled; others run solely on battery. In China, their maximum weight is about 40 kilograms (90 pounds), and maximum legal speed is about 20 kph (12 mph).

"For us, these are tools for transportation," Guo said. "We're not like Americans and Europeans, who tend to bicycle for fun or exercise."

The e-bike doesn't emit greenhouse gases, though it uses electricity from power plants that do. The larger concern is the health hazards from production, recycling and disposal of lead-acid batteries.

Although China is beginning to turn out more electric bikes equipped with nickel-meter-hydride and lithium-ion batteries, 98 percent run on lead-acid types, says Guo.

A bike can use up to five of the batteries in its lifetime, according to Christopher Cherry, a professor at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville who researches the industry. A Chinese-made battery containing 10 kilograms (22 pounds) of lead can generate nearly 7 kilograms (about 15 pounds) of lead pollution, he says.

"Electric bikes result in far more emissions of lead than automobiles. They always use more batteries per mile than almost any other vehicle," Cherry said in a phone interview.

In China, owners are paid about 200 yuan ($30) to recycle old batteries but the work is often done in small, under-regulated workshops.

With price competition brutal among China's 2,300 electric bike and scooter makers, manufacturers have shied away from embracing costlier, cleaner technology. But bigger foreign sales and demand for better batteries may speed improvements.

"We are trying to upgrade to lithium battery technology to be able to sell internationally," said Hu Gang, a spokesman for Xinri E-Vehicle Group Co., the country's biggest e- bike manufacturer, with sales of more than 2 million units last year.

The goal is to boost production to more than 5 million units by 2013, he said.

"It's not that we're that ambitious," Hu said. "It's just that the industry is growing so quickly."

Peace, poll draw people back to south Afghan homes

By Jonathon Burch

BABAJI, Afghanistan (Reuters) – In scenes unthinkable only last month, dozens of Afghan men quietly lined up in a southern Afghan village at the weekend to register to vote in the presidential election.

Foreign troops were rarely seen in Babaji village in southern Helmand province until about three weeks ago, when the British military launched "Operation Panther's Claw," their largest operation since moving into the province in 2006.

The mud-brick village of Babaji and its surrounding farms and irrigation canals were long a safe haven for Taliban insurgents.

Hundreds of British soldiers faced stiff resistance as they advanced south toward Babaji and the Helmand River, a strategic and lush area north of the provincial capital, Lashkar Gah.

Fighting became heavier the further the troops pushed. Many roadside bombs, which have already killed scores of British troops, had been hidden along their route.

July has become the deadliest month for foreign forces in Afghanistan since the U.S.-led invasion in late 2001. Twenty British soldiers have been killed already this month.

Most families fled for nearby towns when the fighting began but people are slowly returning to their homes in Babaji.

Afghan election officials are setting up mobile registration centers to reach those people who missed out during the initial registration period for the August 20 poll. Ten districts -- five of them in Helmand -- missed out because of poor security.

At one of the new mobile centers, about 75 men queued up outside the British "base" -- a concrete compound in the middle of the village -- to pick up their voter registration cards.

"I'm very happy I'm able to register here and will be able to vote in the election," said Abdul Hakim.

"I hope there are no security problems here. I just want peace," the 29-year-old said after collecting his card.

Asked who he would vote for, Hakim would not give anything away. "On the day of the election I will decide," he laughed.

NO WOMEN ALLOWED

Crouching outside the compound waiting for his turn to register, 35-year-old Abdul Samad welcomed the improved security but said many people still stayed in their homes out of fear.

"Six months ago there was fighting here, there was no security. A lot of people fled the area," said Samad.

"But now also, a lot of people haven't come. Out of a 100 people only 20 have come. The other 80 aren't here," he said.

British soldiers estimate 40-50 percent of the population are living in their houses in Babaji again and more families are trickling back. But many are wary of their new neighbors.

One group that was unsurprisingly absent at voter registration on Saturday was the village's women.

Devoutly Muslim Afghanistan is one of the world's most conservative countries, where women play little role in public life. Helmand and the south are among the strictest areas.

"We do not give permission for women to ... register. In the cities maybe two out of every hundred are allowed," said Samad.

White-turbaned Kamal, 45, agreed. "It's not in our culture. In our tribe it's not allowed for women to vote," he said.

Major Paddy Ginn, the British officer in charge of the area, said the voter registration process had helped show villagers that the were there for the long run.

"When the Taliban are here they support the Taliban. When we are here they are very friendly and support us. What we have to do is tip them over the balance so they see the long-term ... solution is with the governance of Afghanistan," said Ginn.

But Ginn warned the Taliban would try to hit back.

In a grim echo of that warning, a British Viking armored vehicle hit a roadside bomb near Babaji early on Saturday, killing one soldier and wounding several others.

Pakistan arrests pro-Taliban cleric Sufi Muhammad

By ASIF SHAHZAD, Associated Press Writer

ISLAMABAD – A Pakistani minister says authorities have arrested pro-Taliban cleric Sufi Muhammad, who brokered a now-failed peace deal between the government and militants in the Swat Valley.

Mian Iftikhar, information minister for the North West Frontier Province, said police arrested Mohammed on Sunday in Peshawar for speaking against the government and encouraging violence and terrorism.

The influential cleric negotiated a peace deal with the government in February that was widely seen as allowing the Taliban to take control of the valley. But the deal collapsed in April when the Taliban advanced into neighboring districts, triggering a military offensive that prompted a spree of retaliatory attacks by militants in the northwest and beyond.

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

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistani police have detained a former lawmaker and a suspected Taliban militant in connection with the beheading of a Polish geologist kidnapped near the Afghan border last year, a police official said Sunday.

Investigator Malik Tariq Awan, who is part of a team of officials from police and intelligence agencies, told The Associated Press that the two were taken into custody a month ago.

He named one as Shah Abdul Aziz, a member of a pro-Taliban religious party who was elected to parliament's lower house in 2002 as part of an anti-American alliance made up of several religious parties.

Awan said by telephone from the Attock district bordering Pakistan's troubled North West Frontier Province that Aziz is believed to have plotted the abduction of Piotr Stanczak, who was kidnapped by gunmen in September while surveying oil and gas fields for a Krakow-based geophysics company. Three Pakistanis traveling with the geologist were killed.

A video emerged in February of Stanczak's beheading, and his remains were recovered and flown back to Poland in April.

In the video, a hooded militant said they killed the geologist because Pakistan's government failed to meet their demands of releasing their 26 prisoners and withdrawing troops from tribal regions.

Stanczak's beheading was the first of a westerner in Pakistan since Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl's in 2002.

Another senior police official, Raja Hasan Akhtar, said Aziz has been in the custody of the Islamabad police, who questioned him for a month along with other intelligence agencies.

"The whole plan was his. He was also acting as a go-between for the Taliban to negotiate their demands with the government," Akhtar said.

The other man detained was identified as suspected militant Ata Ullah. Awan said he was arrested in the garrison town of Rawalpindi, adjacent to the capital, and was also questioned for a month.

He said Ullah gave a statement before an anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi in which he admitted his role in the beheading.

Ullah told the court that he and other militants had seized and killed the engineer on orders from a Taliban commander in Darra Adam Khel, a town in the North West Frontier Province, Awan said.

"Aziz acted to negotiate our demands. At one stage, he told our commander to kill" the geologist if the lawmaker didn't made contact with the commander in a week, Awan quoted part of Ullah's court statement as saying.

Akhtar said the police would produce both of the accused in court on Monday, seeking to have their custody order extended so authorities can collect more evidence.

Thousands of China steel workers clash with police

BEIJING (Reuters) – Some 30,000 disgruntled Chinese steel workers clashed with riot police in protest over a takeover deal, resulting in the death of an executive from another steel company, a human rights group said.

News that Beijing-based Jianlong Steel Holding Company would buy a majority stake in state-owned Tonghua Iron and Steel Group triggered Friday's protest, which also led to 100 people being injured, the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy said on its website.

Discontent over inequality and unemployment amid the economic downturn has triggered social frustration in China, with many cases of riots by angry citizens. Friday's clash happened in the northeast province of Jilin.

Chen Guojun, the general manager of Jianlong, was beaten to death by workers who were angry that Chen was paid about three million yuan ($440,000) last year, while Tonghua's retired workers received as little as 200 yuan a month, the center said.

A police officer from the Tonghua municipal public security bureau confirmed the riot and the death of Chen, who was in his 40s, the South China Morning Post said on Sunday.

"Yes, it did take place," the newspaper quote the officer as saying. "Workers from Tonghua would not allow ambulance and medical practitioners to enter the building to rescue Mr. Chen and he died."

Calls to Tonghua by Reuters were unanswered on Sunday.

Tonghua's workers blocked highways and smashed three police vehicles in Tonghua city on Friday afternoon, the center said, adding that they dispersed late at night after Chen's death.

Jianlong, which temporarily controlled Tonghua last year, is attempting to buy Tonghua for the second time, according to the center.

China, the world's top producer and consumer of steel, has been forcing its mammoth steel sector to slim down and consolidate, but its plans have generally met with resistance, with many local governments anxious to preserve their own sources of revenue.

Local television announced on Friday night that the deal would be shelved permanently, the South China Morning Post said.

Thousands of China steel workers clash with police

BEIJING (Reuters) – Some 30,000 disgruntled Chinese steel workers clashed with riot police in protest over a takeover deal, resulting in the death of an executive from another steel company, a human rights group said.

News that Beijing-based Jianlong Steel Holding Company would buy a majority stake in state-owned Tonghua Iron and Steel Group triggered Friday's protest, which also led to 100 people being injured, the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy said on its website.

Discontent over inequality and unemployment amid the economic downturn has triggered social frustration in China, with many cases of riots by angry citizens. Friday's clash happened in the northeast province of Jilin.

Chen Guojun, the general manager of Jianlong, was beaten to death by workers who were angry that Chen was paid about three million yuan ($440,000) last year, while Tonghua's retired workers received as little as 200 yuan a month, the center said.

A police officer from the Tonghua municipal public security bureau confirmed the riot and the death of Chen, who was in his 40s, the South China Morning Post said on Sunday.

"Yes, it did take place," the newspaper quote the officer as saying. "Workers from Tonghua would not allow ambulance and medical practitioners to enter the building to rescue Mr. Chen and he died."

Calls to Tonghua by Reuters were unanswered on Sunday.

Tonghua's workers blocked highways and smashed three police vehicles in Tonghua city on Friday afternoon, the center said, adding that they dispersed late at night after Chen's death.

Jianlong, which temporarily controlled Tonghua last year, is attempting to buy Tonghua for the second time, according to the center.

China, the world's top producer and consumer of steel, has been forcing its mammoth steel sector to slim down and consolidate, but its plans have generally met with resistance, with many local governments anxious to preserve their own sources of revenue.

Local television announced on Friday night that the deal would be shelved permanently, the South China Morning Post said.

US hopes China talks spur economic recovery, jobs

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER, AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON — With the global economy mired in recession, the United States and China begin talks Monday to seek a solution together despite tensions over currencies, the U.S. budget deficit and the huge U.S. trade gap with China.

Ultimately, how well the U.S. efforts succeed could help determine how fast the economy recovers and how many U.S. jobs might be created once it does.

Other issues, such as climate control and North Korean nuclear ambitions, also will command attention. Few expect the talks to bridge the sharp differences between Beijing and Washington. But both governments want to use the occasion to help build a less confrontational relationship.

Three years ago, Henry Paulson, then Treasury secretary, used the talks to press Beijing to let its currency, the yuan, rise in value against the dollar, to make it cheaper for Chinese to buy U.S. goods. U.S. manufacturers blame an undervalued yuan for record U.S. trade deficits with China — and, in part, for a decline in U.S. jobs.

The U.S. efforts have yielded only mixed results. The yuan, after rising in value about 22 percent since 2005, has scarcely budged in the past year. Beijing had begun to fear that a stronger yuan could threaten its exports. Chinese exports already were under pressure from the global recession.

But the Obama administration intends to remain focused on the trade gap. It plans to stress at the talks Monday and Tuesday that China can't rely on U.S. consumers to pull the global economy out of recession this time. In part, that's because U.S. household savings rates are rising, shrinking consumer spending in this country.

"Perhaps the most important message we are going to have for the Chinese is that there has been a fundamental change in the U.S. economy," said a senior administration official, who briefed reporters on the meetings under rules that did not permit use of his name. "The U.S. economy is going to recover, but it is going to be a different type of recovery than what the Chinese have seen in the past."

For the United States, suffering from a 9.5 percent unemployment rate, the ultimate goal is to help put more Americans to work.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will be co-leaders of the U.S. delegation, joined by their Chinese counterparts, Vice Premier Wang Qishan and State Councilor Dai Bingguo.

The meeting will include officials from various U.S. departments and agencies and President Barack Obama will address the opening session.

The Chinese are bringing a delegation of 150 officials, one of the largest ever to visit the United States.

Iran's opposition asks to mourn iconic victim

By NASSER KARIMI, Associated Press Writer

TEHRAN, Iran – Iran's opposition leader asked authorities Sunday for permission to hold a memorial service for victims of last month's post-election unrest, including a young woman whose death was caught on video and became a symbol for protesters, said the leader's top aide.

Iranian authorities have pressured the families of slain protesters not to mourn publicly out of fear the gatherings could spark the kind of demonstrations that followed the June 12 presidential vote. Hundreds of thousands of supporters of opposition leader Hir Hossein Mousavi took to the streets to protest President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's disputed victory.

Despite the regime's violent crackdown that killed at least 20 people and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's demand that the opposition drop it's claims of massive vote fraud, Mousavi and his supporters have kept up the pressure by criticizing the state's harsh response and reaching out to top clerics for support.

Looking for other ways to keep pressure on the regime, Mousavi and fellow pro-reform presidential candidate, Mahdi Karroubi, sent a request to the Interior Ministry to hold a memorial service in Tehran's main mosque Thursday to commemorate the end of the 40-day mourning cycle for at least 10 people killed on June 20, said Mousavi's top aide, Ali Reza Beheshti.

One of those killed was Neda Agha Soltan, a 27-year-old woman shot to death during a Tehran demonstration. Her dying moments on the street were caught on a video viewed by millions on YouTube, and she became an icon in the opposition's struggle.

Soltan's family has said that the volunteer Basij militia, whose members have been accused of shooting the young woman and other protesters, denied Soltan a formal funeral. Iranian authorities have denied that the Basij was behind the killing.

Mousavi and Karroubi attempted to assuage concerns that the requested memorial would spark additional unrest, saying it "will be held without any speeches and will be limited to the reciting of the Quran (the Muslim holy book) and moments of silence."

The regime's concern about unrest has historical precedence. The deaths of protesters during the 1979 Islamic Revolution fueled a 40-day cycle of mourning marches, and shootings of mourners, that contributed to the overthrow of the U.S.-backed dictator, Shah Reza Pahlavi.

Pakistan stretched thin for Mehsud battle

by Masroor Gilani

ISLAMABAD (AFP) – Consolidating military gains in Swat and worries about Taliban spillover from south Afghanistan are clouding Pakistan's offensive against the country's most wanted warlord, analysts say.

In mid-June, the military said it had received orders and was preparing to launch an offensive against Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud and his network in the South Waziristan tribal district bordering Afghanistan.

Troops have sealed off much of the eastern border between South Waziristan and areas under government control, and carried out air raids in what the military calls softening up for a full-scale ground operation.

Pakistan says it has eliminated the Taliban in a military offensive launched last April in northwestern districts Buner, Dir and Swat, which rendered nearly two million people displaced.

But deadly skirmishes continue, raising fears that the Taliban escaped into the mountains and might return, as after previous offensives.

Signs of battle were visible on the road winding up to Swat at the weekend. South of the valley at Batkhela, two bodies were dumped by the road. Residents said they were Taliban killed by the army.

Another body lay in the Swat town of Marghazar. Residents identified him as a local Taliban commander who was captured and killed as a warning.

"The army has to consolidate Swat and help maintain security so that IDPs (internally displaced persons) return without any fear that the Taliban would come back," former interior minister Hamid Nawaz told AFP.

"My assessment is that the army will remain in Swat until the civilian set-up is also consolidated and an intelligence network is in place," added Nawaz, who is also a retired lieutenant general.

Last week US regional envoy Richard Holbrooke heard concerns in Pakistan that 4,000 US Marines operating further south in Afghanistan will push Taliban across the border and inflame in insurgency in Baluchistan.

When the US airborne assault began, Pakistan said it redeployed troops along the Afghan border to stop Taliban fighters fleeing into its southwest, ripped apart by Islamist, sectarian and regional violence.

"There can be a spillover of the Helmand operation into Pakistan and the military has to guard the border as well," said Nawaz.

"But in South Waziristan, firefights continue and strikes are being carried out against militants with a view to cause maximum damage."

Mehsud has two prices on his head -- five million dollars from the United States, which considers him a key Al-Qaeda facilitator, and 615,000 dollars from the Pakistani government.

Suspected US missiles and Pakistani air strikes target his strongholds but so far he has escaped harm.

"Baitullah Mehsud is one of the most dangerous and odious people in the entire region," said Holbrooke, but added he thought a Waziristan offensive had been delayed because of operations in Swat.

"The highest priority right now has to be to secure the areas in Swat and Buner as the refugees return... So maybe they're delaying their offensive.

The Taliban denies claims that Maulana Fazlullah, architect of the Swat uprising, was wounded and threatened renewed holy war.

"Northern Swat is still insecure and the leadership, Fazlullah, is not captured, so there's a long way to go there," recognised Holbrooke.

He said Pakistan was busy coordinating its military activities with NATO troops in Afghanistan, where the United States was determined not to repeat mistakes of the past when Taliban escaped.

Defence analyst Talat Masood said "this could be the consideration," but argued the army would continue targeted air strikes against Mehsud's network, concentrated on perfect guerrilla terrain.

"They have always been hesitant to launch a full-scale operation in South Waziristan, because the conditions there are very different than Swat," Masood said. "They would continue with limited targeted action."

Military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas ruled out any question that Waziristan was on the back burner.

"Military operations are of different forms... The areas around South Waziristan are sealed and aerial targeting is being done," Abbas said.

"We will decide upon the ground offensive at an appropriate time. We do not start operations because someone or media reports say so," he said.

US eyes private guards for bases in Afghanistan

By RICHARD LARDNER, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON – U.S. military authorities in Afghanistan may hire a private contractor to provide around-the-clock security at dozens of bases and protect vehicle convoys moving throughout the country.

The possibility of awarding a security contract comes as the Obama administration is sending thousands of more troops into Afghanistan to quell rising violence fueled by a resurgent Taliban. As the number of American forces grow over the next several months, so too does the demand to guard their outposts.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates has said he wants to cut back on the use of contractors that now provide a wide range services to American troops in war zones, including transportation, communications, food service, construction, and maintenance. As recently as February, however, Gates called the use of private security contractors in certain parts of Afghanistan "vital" to supporting U.S. bases. A contract for the work also creates job opportunities for Afghans, he said.

But the use of private contractors in Iraq has been highly contentious. Since a September 2007 shooting of Iraqi civilians in Baghdad by guards employed by Blackwater (now Xe Services), critics have urged U.S. officials to maintain much tighter controls over hired guards.

The Washington Post reported Saturday that the Army published a notice July 10 informing interested contractors it was contemplating a contract for "theater-wide" armed security.

"The contract would provide for a variety of security services, to include the static security of compounds on which U.S. and coalition forces reside, and for the protection of mission essential convoys in and around forward operating bases located throughout Afghanistan," the notice states.

No formal request for proposals has been issued. If the military decides to move ahead, a contract could be awarded by Dec. 1.

US envoy warns of imperfect Afghan poll

By FISNIK ABRASHI, Associated Press Writer

GHAZNI, Afghanistan – President Barack Obama's special envoy said Friday that Afghanistan's upcoming presidential contest will be imperfect, but the country cannot be held to a democratic standard that even the U.S. struggles to achieve.

The U.S. military, meanwhile, reported two more American service members died in combat, adding to what has already been the deadliest month for U.S. and international forces since they invaded the country eight years ago. A third soldier was reported killed in a clash Friday in eastern Afghanistan but officials would not disclose the nationality pending notification of kin.

Richard Holbrooke's trip to this central Afghan province coincided with President Hamid Karzai's first election rally in Kabul ahead of the Aug. 20 ballot. Karzai praised the role of foreign troops but promised that rules governing their presence will change if he wins re-election.

"Elections here will be imperfect," Holbrooke said between briefings at a military base run by Polish and U.S. troops. "But I am an American who lived through an imperfect election eight years ago. I am not going to hold Afghanistan to standards which even the United States does not achieve."

"What we want is an election that reflects the legitimate will of the Afghan people and whoever wins the international community will support," he added.

With insurgency threatening large areas of the country, there are fears that not enough voters will participate in the polls for the results to be accepted — especially among the Pashtuns, the dominant ethnic group that forms the majority of the Taliban. Karzai is a Pashtun.

At the rally, Karzai shook hands and promised supporters he would hold NATO and U.S. troops accountable for actions that harm or ignore the rights of Afghan citizens, including killing civilians, raiding private homes and detaining people without charge.

Karzai has done little campaigning in the run up to the elections but is leading a crowded field of 41 candidates. He has sent representatives to most campaign events and bowed out of a televised debate Thursday with his two closest competitors. The other two candidates went on with the debate next to his empty podium.

During the Friday rally, about 3,000 people — men wearing turbans and vests and some women in headscarves — crammed into an assembly tent in western Kabul to hear Karzai.

The president said there had been many improvements in Afghanistan during his rule, noting that there are more roads, hospitals and schools than when he came to power eight years ago.

He said that if he is re-elected, he will revisit Afghanistan's agreement with international forces that are working to restore peace in the country to make sure they respect the rights of Afghan citizens. Increasing civilian casualties, house raids and detentions have caused too much friction between groups that are working toward a common goal, he said.

"I want to remove the fear between us and the international troops," he said.

Too often, he said, international troops make decisions without consulting the Afghan government.

"It should be clear who is the owner of the house and who is the guest," he said. The appeal prompted shouts and clapping throughout the crowd.

That theme was hammered home Thursday by Karzai's two leading competitors during the television debate.

Former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah and ex-Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani both cited civilian casualties, searching private homes without permission and arresting people without cause as major reasons for opposition to the presence of American and other international forces.

The two U.S. troops died in an explosion in southern Afghanistan, according to a U.S. military spokesman Lt. Robert Carr. No other details were released. Their deaths raised to at least 37 the number of U.S. service members to die in the Afghan war in July.

Roadside bombs now account for about two-thirds of the hostile-fire deaths suffered by Western forces in Afghanistan. On Friday, the British Ministry of Defense announced it was sending 125 additional troops to its 9,000-strong force here, including a company of explosives experts to counter the threat of roadside bombs.

The rising deaths have raised doubts among the U.S.-led coalition about the conduct of the war, forcing some governments to defend publicly their commitments at a time when the U.S. is shifting resources to Afghanistan from Iraq.

In Ghazni, Holbrooke said that the most difficult part of his assignment was to "make sure that the European and the American publics understand how important it is" to remain in Afghanistan.

"This is not Iraq. This is not Vietnam. This is a nation that is directly related to the attacks of 9/11," Holbrooke said, referring to al-Qaida's attacks in New York and Washington on Sept. 11, 2001.

Holbrooke was accompanied by Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt and a number of Kabul-based European diplomats. Holbrooke said the joint visit showed "that the European Union and the U.S. are indispensable allies to each other."

Also Friday, Sweden's military reported that Swedish and Finnish soldiers killed three insurgents in a clash in the north.

The military says the fighting started late Thursday when a Swedish unit was attacked near Mazar-e-Sharif. Swedish and Finnish soldiers were called to assist and exchanged fire with insurgents throughout the night. No international troops were wounded.

Hubble image shows debris from Jupiter collision

BALTIMORE – NASA's Hubble Space Telescope is offering a glimpse of atmospheric debris from an object that plunged into Jupiter in a rare collision with the planet.

Scientists used the telescope Thursday to capture what they call the "sharpest visible-light picture" so far of the expanding gash. An amateur stargazer in Australia spotted the impression last Sunday.

Amy Simon-Miller of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., says the magnitude of the impact is believed to be rare. Simon-Miller estimates the diameter of the object that hit the planet was the size of several football fields.

The debris possibly came from a comet or asteroid that hit Jupiter.

NASA also says the new images prove repairs done on the Hubble in May were successful.

Suicide attackers strike southeastern Afghan city

By JASON STRAZIUSO and RAHIM FAIEZ, Associated Press Writers

KABUL – Less than a month before Afghanistan's presidential election, Taliban fighters wearing suicide vests attacked a provincial capital Saturday, triggering gunbattles that killed seven militants. U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke said it is "extraordinary" to hold a presidential election during a war.

U.S. and NATO forces have stepped up operations in hopes of ensuring enough security for a strong voter turnout for Afghanistan's Aug. 20 presidential election.

The assault in Khost began when at least six Taliban fighters carrying AK-47s and rocket-propelled grenades stormed the area around the main police station and a nearby government-run bank. All were shot and killed before they could detonate their suicide vests, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

A seventh attacker detonated a car rigged with explosives near a police rapid reaction force, wounding two policemen, the ministry said.

Interior Ministry spokesman Zemeri Bashary said all the attackers were killed, but the Defense Ministry later said an eighth attacker may have escaped. The ministry said no government forces were killed but 14 people were wounded — 11 civilians and three police.

The attack came five days after Taliban militants launched near-simultaneous assaults in Gardez, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) northwest of Khost, and in the eastern city of Jalalabad. Six Afghan police and intelligence officers and eight militants died in the two attacks.

Though the three attacks did not kill large numbers of Afghan or U.S. security forces, they showed the tenuous security situation in Afghanistan's countryside. Such attacks grab headlines in Afghanistan and raise the question of whether voters can safely go to polls.

The U.S. envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, alluded to those concerns, saying Saturday it was "extraordinary" to hold an election in the middle of war. He said the vote faces "many complex challenges," including security issues and access to polls for women. Authorities need a respectable turnout for the results to appear credible both here and in countries supporting the government.

Holbrooke met separately with President Hamid Karzai and his top two challengers — former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah and former Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani.

Abdullah told Holbrooke that he is struggling to fight Karzai's built-in advantage as president with government assets at his disposal.

The former foreign minister noted a recent election commission report that said 70 percent of election coverage on the country's state TV channel goes to Karzai. "That's a very worrying sign," Abdullah said. "All the ministers, the main ones, are out doing campaign work."

Holbrooke said he was "concerned" over reports of state media bias. Karzai's campaign has denied the president is using government tools to campaign.

Karzai is believed to be the favorite to win the presidency, but he must win more than 50 percent on Aug. 20 to avoid a run-off. Analysts say it is likely Karzai will win unless the almost 40 challengers rally behind a single opposition candidate.

Holbrooke and U.S. Ambassador Karl Eikenberry toured the election commission and watched dozens of Afghans enter voter registrations into banks of computers. He said the "whole world" will be watching the election.

Responding to a question at a news conference about whether there was enough security in the countryside to hold a vote, Holbrooke said: "Do you want the Afghanistan people to abandon the election in the face of a small band of Taliban?"

U.S. troops helped provide security during the Khost attack but were not involved in the battle.

Khost is about 15 miles (20 kilometers) from the Pakistani border and has long been a flash point because of smuggling across the frontier. Last May, 11 Taliban suicide bombers struck government buildings in Khost, killing 20 people and wounding three Americans.

Also Saturday, a British soldier was killed by a roadside bomb in Helmand province, the focus of major offensives by U.S. and British forces. The soldier was the 20th British service member killed in Afghanistan this month and the 189th since the war began in 2001.

Fighting has increased sharply in Afghanistan this month after President Barack Obama ordered thousands more U.S. troops to the country, shifting the focus of the war against Muslim extremism from Iraq.

At least 66 international troops have died in July, the bloodiest month of the nearly eight-year war.

East Turkestan has no "Mu'atasim"

20 July 2009

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Today, Friday 10 July 2009, marks the sixth day of brutal hostilities against the Muslims of East Turkestan by Chinese government forces, together with Han Chinese gangs supported by these forces, leaving nearly two hundred dead and hundreds injured. Then came the peak of hostilities against the Muslims, when authorities forbade Jumm’a prayers and closed the main Masjid in Urumqi the capital of the region that China calls Xinjiang, rather than its real name “East Turkestan” a part of the Central Asian state of Turkestan, which Muslims opened to Islam in the First Century AH, corresponding to the beginning of the Eighth Century CE, and was occupied forcibly by China in the middle of the last century, i.e. 1949.

O Muslims!

What makes China and others dare to occupy Muslim lands?

And what makes China and others dare to perpetrate tyranny and brutal, bloody hostilities against the Muslims?

And why is it that the Muslims are a “soft target” for every villainous aggressor?

And what makes the Muslims a target for plunder and an easy mount upon which to ride, even by the unworthy?

And why is it that the Islamic Lands are considered as a place only for the spilling of the pure blood of the elderly, women and children, a place for distress calls from the bereaved, for division and dismemberment and for control by enemies and allies alike?

Why is it that Muslims are poor and destitute, when their lands are lands of wealth and power?
O Muslims!

There is only one reason, which anyone who has a heart, hearing and sight can comprehend, and that is the Muslims have lost the caretaker who looks after their affairs. They have lost the Imam who protects them and behind whom they fight, as RasulAllah صلى الله عليه وسلم said:

إِنَّمَا الْإِمَامُ جُنَّةٌ يُقَاتَلُ مِنْ وَرَائِهِ وَيُتَّقَى بِهِ» أخرجه مسلم

“The Imam is a shield, behind him you fight and by him you are protected.” [Muslim]

So, they have lost the rightly guided Khaleefah who will protect the sanctity of Islam and guard the frontiers. And they have lost the Mu’atasim who will answer the distress call of the afflicted, the cries of the oppressed and the screams of the subjugated!

The Muslims today number more than one and a half billion, but they are without a state that rules by all that Allah has revealed and fight Jihad fee sabeelillah, but instead they have rulers that rule by everything other than Islam and fight everyone other than the enemies of Allah, His Messenger and the Believers. They look and listen to all that occurred in East Turkestan, but they did not mobilize to help them, for they are deaf, dumb and blind and have no sense. Their example is that of one who speaks, but the speech is merely words without any action and yet he insists he is doing good.

And what has become of the Muslims is the rulers’ doing: large in numbers but light in weight, froth like froth on a stream, so true is the saying of RasulAllah صلى الله عليه وسلم,

بَلْ أَنْتُمْ يَوْمَئِذٍ كَثِيرٌ وَلَكِنَّكُمْ غُثَاءٌ كَغُثَاءِ السَّيْلِ وَلَيَنْزَعَنَّ اللَّهُ مِنْ صُدُورِ عَدُوِّكُمْ الْمَهَابَةَ مِنْكُمْ وَلَيَقْذِفَنَّ اللَّهُ فِي قُلُوبِكُمْ الْوَهْنَ فَقَالَ قَائِلٌ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ وَمَا الْوَهْنُ قَالَ حُبُّ الدُّنْيَا وَكَرَاهِيَةُ الْمَوْتِ» رواه أبو داود

“Rather you will be numerous on that day, but you will be like froth as froth on the stream and Allah will remove fear of you from the hearts of your enemies and strike you hearts with Wahan.” And RasulAllah صلى الله عليه وسلم was asked, “O RasulAllah what is Wahan?” And he صلى الله عليه وسلم answered, “Love of life and fear of death.” [Abu Dawud]

O Muslims!

The Muslim commander Qutaiba bin Muslim Al-Bahilee opened Turkestan - the West of Central Asia and opened its two major cities, Samarkand and Bukhara, in 94 AH, and then he turned towards the east until he reached Kashgar, which in those times was the capital of East Turkestan, which China now calls Xinjiang, and he completed its opening in the year 95 AH. He then stopped at the gates of China and his army was about to set foot on Chinese soil. When the Chinese Emperor heard about him, he was stricken by fear and panic and sent a delegation to the Muslim commander to pay Jizyah and sent him soil in which he could fulfill his oath to step on Chinese soil; such was the glory of the Muslims and Islam! The Muslims had been granted dignity by their Lord, strengthened by their Deen, standing as a strong and powerful wall that no-one who hated Islam and Muslims would dare to approach, let alone assault.

O Muslims!

Indeed what you face in all corners of the earth is enough for you to make you reflect and think and march in determination, or the following applies to you:

أَوَلَا يَرَوْنَ أَنَّهُمْ يُفْتَنُونَ فِي كُلِّ عَامٍ مَرَّةً أَوْ مَرَّتَيْنِ ثُمَّ لَا يَتُوبُونَ وَلَا هُمْ يَذَّكَّرُونَ

“See they not that they are put in trial once or twice every year Yet, they turn not in repentance, nor do they learn a lesson (from it).” [at-Tawba, 9:126]

Hizb ut-Tahrir calls upon you to work hard with it to support it in establishing the Khilafah, so the Ummah is restored as the best nation brought forth to humankind and the state which is the leading state in the world returns. A state which will cut the necks of those who attack the Muslims and Islam, and maim the hand that reaches out to them with evil intent whether it is in Turkestan or anywhere else in Islamic Lands, with a Mu’atasim answering the distress calls, to retaliate against those who oppress, and the earth again will be enlightened by the radiance of the new Khilafah.

وَيَوْمَئِذٍ يَفْرَحُ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ * بِنَصْرِ اللَّهِ يَنْصُرُ مَنْ يَشَاءُ وَهُوَ الْعَزِيزُ الرَّحِيم

“And on that day, the believers will rejoice - With the help of Allah. He helps whom He wills, and He is the All-Mighty, the Most Merciful.” [Ar-Rum, 30:4-5]

Hizb-ut-Tahrir 10 July 2009 CE

17 Rajab 1430 AH

Source: Hizb-ut-Tahrir Pakistan.
Link: http://www.hizb-pakistan.info/home/leaflets/east-turkestan-has-no-muatasim.

U.S. defense chief heads to Israel, Jordan

By Jim Wolf

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates heads to Israel on Sunday for talks covering missile defense, Israel's plan to acquire the multinational F-35 fighter jet and efforts to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions.

During a visit that will last about six hours on Monday, Gates is to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak to discuss those and other bilateral defense issues, a senior U.S. defense official said.

"We're talking about the threats and challenges that we see in the region," the official told a small group of reporters on Friday. He said the Israelis were "antsy" about Iran but were not leaning on the Obama administration to halt its effort at expanded direct diplomatic engagement with Tehran.

After Israel, Gates will visit Jordan for talks with King Abdullah and his defense chief that will focus on coordinating efforts to leave a stable Iraq after U.S. forces complete their scheduled pullout by the end of 2011.

"We see pretty eye to eye with the Jordanians on most of the security challenges," the official said.

Israel and the United States, among others, fear that Iran is seeking to develop a nuclear arsenal under cover of an electricity generation program, a charge Tehran denies.

Israel and the United States also view Iran as a profound threat to regional security because of its military aid to armed groups in Iraq and Afghanistan, to the Palestinian group Hamas and to Lebanese Hezbollah.

On Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the United States might cope with a nuclear Iran by buttressing its allies and spreading an unspecified "defense umbrella" over the region.

Clinton's remarks drew a quick rebuke from Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Dan Meridor. He said it would be far better to keep Iran from crossing the nuclear threshold than to try to counter it with any defense network.

"We already have long-running defense understandings with the Americans, and I can only hope this will continue," Meridor told Reuters on Thursday at a diplomatic reception north of Tel Aviv, reflecting apparent unease over what may be divergent views on coping with the perceived Iranian threat.

LAYERED SHIELD

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Saturday that Tehran would strike suspected Israeli nuclear facilities if the Jewish state attacked, Iranian state television reported.

Israel, widely believed to be the Middle East's only nuclear power, is banking on a layered shield against ballistic missiles, co-developed with the United States, to help protect it from any such Iranian attack.

Israeli officials called off a joint test of their Arrow missile-defense shield this week moments before the interceptor, co-produced by Chicago-based Boeing Co., was to have been fired.

The United States also is eager for Israel to formalize plans to start buying as many as 100 Lockheed Martin Corp's radar-evading F-35 Joint Strike Fighter in a potential $15 billion deal, with deliveries starting in 2014.

The purchase has been held up by technology transfer questions, Israel's push for integration of Israeli-built electronic warfare capabilities and cost concerns. The F-35 is being developed with financing from the United States and eight other countries to replace at least 13 types of warplanes, including the multirole F-16 fighter.

The defense official who briefed reporters ahead of Gates' trip said the Obama administration, supported by European allies, had asked the Israelis to be patient "to try to allow us to have diplomacy work."

"They say, 'Try.' We're all for trying," he said.

Gates, a former Central Intelligence Agency director who was President Barack Obama's sole Cabinet holdover from former President George W. Bush, is not bringing any new U.S. positions to Israel, the senior defense official said.

Protesters call for end to Iranian rights abuses

By JILL LAWLESS, Associated Press Writer

LONDON – Protesters across the world called on Iran Saturday to end its clampdown on opposition activists, demanding the release of hundreds rounded up during demonstrations against the country's disputed election.

Groups including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International backed a global day of action, with protests planned in more than 80 cities.

The protesters want Iranian authorities to release what they say are hundreds, or even thousands, of people detained during protests that followed the presidential election last month that returned Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to power.

Inside Iran, as well, Iranian police and pro-government militia attacked and scattered hundreds of protesters who had gathered in Tehran in response to the global demonstrations of solidarity, witnesses said.

Demonstrators in Vanak and Mirdamad districts chanted "death to the dictator" and "we want our vote back" before they were attacked and beaten by police Saturday. The witnesses spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has declared Ahmadinejad's victory valid.

Police said about 600 protesters joined a "noisy but peaceful" demonstration, outside the Iranian embassy in London, one of a series of events in cities across Europe. In Brussels, Belgium, protesters held placards carrying images of the detained or dead, including Neda Agha Soltan, the 27-year-old whose death — beamed around the world on the Internet — became a rallying cry for opponents of the regime.

In Amsterdam, several hundred people watched Iranian Nobel Peace prize laureate Shirin Ebadi urge the international community to reject the outcome of the Iranian election and called for a new vote monitored by the United Nations.

Several hundred protesters gathered behind police barricades just off Times Square in New York City. One man hoisted a green placard, splattered with red, that read, "Where is my vote?" The crowd chanted, "Stop the killing. Stop the torture." A small group of Iranians in New York have been on a three-day hunger strike and are holding frequent demonstrations outside the United Nations to call on the world body to investigate human rights abuses in Iran.

In Washington, hundreds of demonstrators were marching from a U.N. office downtown to the National Mall for a rally.

About 80 people wearing headbands, wristbands or bandanas in green — the color of Iran's protest movement — demonstrated in front of the U.N.'s European headquarters in Geneva, while several hundred people staged a rally at Paris' Trocadero square overlooking the Eiffel Tower.

"We've had enough of religious regimes that don't have the Iranian people's best interest at heart," said protester Sakineh Davoodi, a 50-year-old cashier from Iran who has lived in France for 23 years.

About 350 people gathered in downtown Vienna, and about 150 protesters gathered in Rome. In Norway, about 250 Iranian emigres met at a conference center on the outskirts of Oslo, and about 3,000 people gathered in Stockholm and others in Copenhagen, Denmark.

In the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, some 20 Iranians — among them refugees and students — gathered outside the local press club to protest the Iranian crackdown, yelling "Death to the dictator!"

"Innocent Iranians are being killed," said Hessam Moghimi, 27, who has lived in Pakistan for about eight years. "We want justice for the blood that's been spilled."

There were small protests in the Australian cities of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and the capital, Canberra. About 80 people gathered in Tokyo, draping green scarves around their necks and lighting candles.

In Seoul, South Korea, where about 30 people rallied, Amnesty's Park Jin-ok said the group was calling for "immediate and unconditional release" of detainees.

About 20 gathered in a small square in Sao Paulo, Brazil, to take part in a 30-minute rally. Fariba Vahdat, a member of Brazil's Baha'i community, said she attended to protest "the cruelty being meted out on the streets of Iran."

Dozens of activists gathered outside the embassy of Iran in Prague to protest the detention of those who protested election results in Iran. "The people could face torture and their lives are in danger," said Lenka Pitronova, an organizer of the rally.

The demonstrators also want the U.N. to investigate alleged rights abuses and say Tehran must allow freedom of expression and assembly. Hundreds of thousands of Iranians held protests after the election denouncing it as fraudulent until security forces launched a heavy crackdown, arresting hundreds and killing at least 20.

Bill Gates quits Facebook over 'too many friends'

NEW DELHI (AFP) – Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates said he was forced to give up on the social networking phenomenon Facebook after too many people wanted to be his friend.

Gates, the billionaire computer geek-turned-philanthropist who was honored Saturday by India for his charity work, told an audience in New Delhi he had tried out Facebook but ended up with "10,000 people wanting to be my friends".

Gates, who remains Microsoft chairman, said he had trouble figuring out whether he "knew this person, did I not know this person".

"It was just way too much trouble so I gave it up," Gates told the business forum.

Gates was in the Indian capital to receive the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development, awarded by the government for his work for the charitable organization, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

The foundation, built by his massive fortune, has committed nearly one billion dollars to health and development projects in India, targeting especially AIDS and polio.

Gates also confided to the audience that he was "not that big at text messaging" and that "I'm not a 24-hour-a-day tech person".

"I read a lot and some of that reading is not on a computer," he said.

Gates, who sought to drive a vision of a computer on every desk and in every home, said the information technology revolution had been "hugely beneficial" but added: "All these tools of tech waste our time if we're not careful."

Morocco challenges Mideast Holocaust mind-set

By ALFRED de MONTESQUIOU, Associated Press Writer

RABAT, Morocco – From the western edge of the Muslim world, the King of Morocco has dared to tackle one of the most inflammatory issues in the Middle East conflict — the Holocaust.

At a time when Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's dismissal of the Holocaust has made the biggest headlines, King Mohammed VI has called the Nazi destruction of the Jews "one of the most tragic chapters of modern history," and has endorsed a Paris-based program aimed at spreading the word among fellow Muslims.

Many in the Islamic world still ignore or know little about the Nazi attempt to annihilate the Jews during World War II. Some disbelieve it outright. Others argue that it was a European crime and imagine it to be the reason Israel exists and the Palestinians are stateless.

The sentiment was starkly illustrated in March after a Palestinian youth orchestra performed for Israeli Holocaust survivors, only to be shut down by angry leaders of the West Bank refugee camp where they live.

"The Holocaust happened, but we are facing a similar massacre by the Jews themselves," a community leader named Adnan Hindi said at the time. "We lost our land and we were forced to flee."

Like other moderate Arab leaders, King Mohammed VI must tread carefully. Islamic fervor is rising in his kingdom, highlighted in 2003 by al-Qaida-inspired attacks in Casablanca on targets that included Jewish sites. Forty-five people died.

The king's acknowledgment of the Holocaust, in a speech read out in his name at a ceremony in Paris in March, appears to further illustrate the radically different paths that countries like Morocco and Iran are taking.

Morocco has long been a quiet pioneer in Arab-Israeli peace efforts, most notably when it served as a secret meeting place for the Israeli and Egyptian officials who set up President Anwar Sadat's groundbreaking journey to Jerusalem in 1977.

Though Moroccan officials say the timing is coincidental, the Holocaust speech came at around the same time that Morocco severed diplomatic relations with Iran, claiming it was infiltrating Shiite Muslim troublemakers into this Sunni nation.

The speech was read out at a ceremony launching the "Aladdin Project," an initiative of the Paris-based Foundation for the Memory of the Shoah (Holocaust) which aims to spread awareness of the genocide among Muslims.

It organizes conferences and has translated key Holocaust writing such as Anne Frank's diary into Arabic and Farsi. The name refers to Aladdin, the young man with the genie in his lamp, whose legend, originally Muslim, became a universally loved tale.

The Holocaust, the king's speech said, is "the universal heritage of mankind."

It was "a very important political act," said Anne-Marie Revcolevschi, director of the Shoah foundation. "This is the first time an Arab head of state takes such a clear stand on the Shoah," she said in a telephone interview.

While the Israeli-Palestinian conflict often aggravates Arab sentiment toward Israel, Morocco has a long history of coexistence between Muslims and Jews.

The recent Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip has further inflamed resentment at Israel's treatment of the Palestinians. But Ahmed Hasseni, a Casablanca cab driver, echoes a widely held view that it shouldn't affect relations with Morocco's Jews.

"We're not dumb," he said. "We don't confuse the Israeli army with the Jewish people," he said.

Jews have lived in Morocco for 2,000 years. Their numbers swelled after they were expelled from Spain in 1492, and reached 300,000 before World War II, when yet more fled the German occupation and found refuge in Morocco, then a French colony.

Today they number just 3,000, most having emigrated to France, North America or Israel, but they are free to come back to explore their roots, pray at their ancestors' graves and even settle here.

Simon Levy heads the Jewish Museum in Casablanca, a treasure trove of old Torah scrolls, garments and jewelry illustrating the rich culture of Moroccan Jewry.

"That I still run the only Jewish museum in the Arab world is telling," he said.

Andre Azoulay, a top adviser to the current king, is Jewish and one of six members of the king's council in a monarchy that oversees all major decisions. Considered one of Morocco's most powerful men, he views his country as "a unique case" for the intensity of its Jewish-Muslim relations. "We don't mix up Judaism and the tragedy of the Middle East," he told The Associated Press in an interview.

A founding member of the Aladdin project, Azoulay says part of the program's goal is to show the West that Muslims aren't hostile to Jews, and that Morocco was among countries that resisted Nazi plans to exterminate their Jewish populations. He points to king Mohammed V, the current ruler's grandfather, who is credited with resisting French colonial anti-Semitic policies.

Such actions were rare, but not unique in North Africa during World War II. In Tunisia, the late Khaled Abdelwahhab hid Jews from the Nazis on his farm, and was the first Arab to be nominated as "Righteous Among the Nations," a title bestowed by Yad Vashem, Israel's Holocaust memorial, on those who risked their lives to save Jews in the Holocaust. His case is still under study.

The Aladdin project is only just beginning. Its work has yet to reach schools or bookstores in Morocco, although the Shoah foundation's Revcolevschi said Anne Frank's diary is among Holocaust memoirs available in Arabic and Farsi on the Internet, and is being sold under the counter in Iran.

"People speak of a clash of civilizations, but it's more a clash of ignorance," she said. "We're countering this."

Hakim El Ghissassi, an aide to the senior Islamic Affairs official who delivered Mohammed's speech, said the king is uniquely positioned to promote Islam's dialogue with Judaism, because his titles include "Commander of the believers" — meaning he is the paramount authority for Moroccan Muslims.

"What the king has said on the Holocaust reflects our broader efforts," said El Ghissassi, listing such reforms as courses to reinforce Morocco's tradition of tolerant Islam by familiarizing local imams with Jewish and Christian holy books.

"We want to make sure everybody can differentiate between unfair Israeli policies and respect for Judaism," he said.