Caning of Malaysian woman who drank beer postponed

By SEAN YOONG, Associated Press Writer

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – The first woman in Muslim-majority Malaysia to face caning for drinking beer was reprieved Monday because of the holy month of Ramadan. Her family said she would rather get the thrashing with a rattan cane now and put the ordeal behind her.

Islamic officials had taken Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno, a 32-year-old mother of two, into custody and were driving her to a women's prison for the caning when they abruptly turned around and sent her back to her family home in northern Malaysia.

"She feels like a football being kicked around," Kartika's father, Shukarno Abdul Muttalib, told The Associated Press. "She's so exhausted and unhappy with the delay. She would prefer to just receive the six strokes and have everything finished."

Amnesty International, Malaysian lawyers and some politicians have condemned the sentence, while other critics have warned it would tarnish Malaysia's image as a moderate country. Islamic officials have defended it as necessary to uphold Islamic values — underscoring tensions between religious conservatives and more liberal and secular elements in society.

Beer, wine and liquor is widely available at shops, bars and restaurants in Malaysia, unlike in more austere Islamic nations such as Iran and Pakistan. Christians, Hindus, Sikhs and other minorities in Malaysia are free to consume alcohol but its Shariah law forbids Muslims — who make up 60 percent of the 27 million population — from drinking, although a minority of Muslims still indulge despite the religious stricture.

Islamic morality police — enforcement officials of the Islamic Religious Department — arrested Kartika in a raid for drinking beer at a hotel lounge at a beach resort in Cherating in Pahang state in December 2007. Kartika was sentenced to six lashes of a rattan cane by the Shariah court last month in what was considered a warning to other Muslims to abide by religious rules.

Islamic law provides for a three-year prison term and caning for Muslims caught drinking. Most previous offenders were fined and no woman has ever been caned.

The morality police are not a pervasive force in Malaysia, and most citizens were surprised at the verdict against Kartika.

Mohamad Sahfri Abdul Aziz, a state legislator in charge of religious affairs, said Monday the Attorney General's office advised that Kartika's caning should be delayed for compassionate reasons until after the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which began Saturday.

"The sentence is not being canceled," Mohamad Sahfri said, without specifying exactly when it would be carried out.

In an interview with the AP last week, Kartika said she regretted drinking and was even willing to be caned in public in order to send a clear message to other Muslims to avoid alcohol. Authorities said the caning had to be done at a prison.

Government officials have remained silent on the issue even though the local media have reported on it extensively. The only prominent personality to comment has been former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.

On Monday, he urged authorities to check Islamic teachings to determine whether it would be appropriate to cane Kartika for drinking.

"Is it possible that a judge may have been unfair or mistaken in his consideration? Is there no room in Islam for mercy toward those who commit an error for the first time?" Mahathir wrote on his widely read blog.

Chandra Muzaffar, president of the Malaysian think tank, International Movement for a Just World, said the international attention on Kartika's case could "provide ammunition" for some people to criticize Malaysia's capacity for religious tolerance.

"She should not be caned in the first place," Chandra said. "What we should do is advise her. This punitive psychology is a bane for Muslim societies, and we should get away from it."

Islamic officials had insisted that the caning's purpose is to educate rather than punish. They say the rattan cane supposed to be used on Kartika would be smaller and lighter than the one used for men, and that she will remain clothed.

Men convicted of crimes such as rape and bribery in Malaysia are caned on their bare buttocks, breaking the skin and leaving permanent scars.

Rattan canes used in the punishment are made from palm plants common in tropical parts of Asia. They have been used for decades for corporal punishments in countries such as Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei.

Separately Monday, officials in the central state of Selangor near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia's largest city, stepped up efforts to deter drinking by empowering mosque officials to arrest Muslims who consume liquor in public places, The Star newspaper's Web site quoted state lawmaker Hassan Ali as saying.

PA Launches Purge Of Hamas-Aligned Teachers

RAMALLAH [MENL] -- The Palestinian Authority has launched a purge of teachers aligned with Hamas.

Hamas asserted that 17 teachers accused of being aligned with Hamas have been dismissed by the PA. The Hamas movement said the teachers had worked in the West Bank city of Hebron.

Egypt Cracks Down On MB

CAIRO [MENL] -- Egypt has launched another crackdown on the Islamic opposition.

Officials said Egyptian security forces have been raiding strongholds of the Muslim Brotherhood. They said the raids have led to the arrest of scores of Brotherhood operatives on the eve of the Muslim fast month of Ramadan.

Egypt Rejects U.S. Defense Umbrella

CAIRO [MENL] -- Egypt has rejected a U.S. proposal for a nuclear defense umbrella in the Middle East.

Egypt's state-owned Al Gumhoriya newspaper said President Hosni Mubarak has opposed any U.S. defense pact in the Middle East. Al Gumhoriya, the largest daily in Egypt, said Mubarak's opposition was not linked to Israel's participation in the U.S. plan.

"Egypt will not participate in any such thing, even if Israel does not participate," Al Gumhoriya said on Aug. 20.

Russia's New Fighter Prepares For First Flight

MOSCOW [MENL] -- Russia plans to conduct the first flight of its most advanced fighter-jet by 2010.

The Russian Air Force has been overseeing the development of Moscow's first fifth-generation fighter-jet. Officials said the fighter, produced by Sukhoi, would fly in late 2009.

Exhausted Greek crews battle on against fires

By DEREK GATOPOULOS, Associated Press Writer



ATHENS, Greece – A Greek monastery clanged its bells in warning Monday as an out-of-control wildfire raced down a mountainside, elderly nuns were evacuated from its threatened convent and the remains of Saint Ephrem were removed to a safer location.

At the Saint Ephrem Monastery near Nea Makri, north of Athens, buildings were silhouetted against a red sky lit up by the glow of nearby wildfires. Workers shoveled sand and sprayed areas with limp garden hoses in apparently fruitless attempts to battle the inferno.

"The flames were 30 meters (100 feet) high," said one of the dozen nuns evacuated, wearing a black habit and a surgical mask to ward off the smoke and grit. "Thankfully they came and rescued us."

For the fourth straight day, exhausted Greek firefighters battled around the clock to try and contain massive blazes north of Athens. To their relief, more water-dropping planes and firefighting help arrived from other European nations.

Six major fires were burning across Greece, including blazes on the islands of Evia and Skyros in the Aegean Sea and Zakynthos in the west. But the most dangerous was the fire near Athens, which started north of the Marathon plain and spread over Mount Penteli on the northern edge of Athens.

Crews tried hard Monday to push the fires back from the outskirts of the Greek capital, with 17 water-dropping planes and helicopters swooping over flames near populated areas. They were joined by up to 2,000 firefighters, military personnel and volunteers.

But fed by strong winds, the flames still spread and threatened property further to the north, where the nuns were rescued and residents defended their homes with only buckets of water.

"We making every possible effort to limit the boundaries of the fire," said Fire Service spokesman Yiannis Kappakis.

Fires north of Athens have razed about 58 square miles (37,000 acres or 15,000 hectares) of forest and brush, damaged or destroyed homes, and forced thousands to temporarily flee their homes. Popular tourist destinations have not been affected.

At least five people were being treated for burns and several dozen had reported breathing problems, but no injuries were serious, Health Ministry officials said.

Firefighting planes and helicopters from France, Italy and Cyprus were operating outside Athens, with more planes due to arrive later Monday and Tuesday from Spain, Turkey and the European Union, Civil Protection Agency officials said.

Several other EU countries had also offered help, they said.

There were no firm estimates on the thousands of residents who evacuated or the scores of homes that were torched. Athens regional governor Yiannis Sgouros said damage would be assessed once the fires were put out.

"There are some signs of optimism but no letting up of the firefighting effort," he said.

Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis toured the fire-affected areas on Sunday amid strong criticism of his government's response to the emergency by conservation groups and municipal officials.

Critics said the government had not reformed its forest-protection plans even after huge fires swept through southern Greece two years ago, killing 76 people.

"A compete overhaul is required in the way we deal with forest fires ... There is no sign the (government) is moving the right direction," Dimitris Karavellas, director of the environmental group WWF in Greece, told the Associated Press.

He said state planners had made insufficient use of volunteer groups and had failed to crackdown on rogue developers who build homes illegally in burnt forest areas.

Government spokesman Evangelos Antonaros insisted Monday that the firefighting effort was "well coordinated,"

"From the first moment, (we had) the presence of personnel on a large scale," he declared.

Antonaros also disputed estimates by municipal officials that scores of homes had been destroyed or seriously damaged and said the number of people involved in state-organized evacuations was "limited," with most having returned to their homes.

Fires raged, meanwhile, at the coastal town of Nea Makri and nearby Marathon — site of one of ancient history's most famous battlegrounds — to the northeast of the capital and at Vilia to the northwest.

The blaze at Nea Makri tore down a hillside toward houses, where volunteers with water-soaked towels wrapped around their necks beat back the flames with tree branches.

Fires also continued to threaten the ancient fortress town of Rhamnus, home to two 2,500-year-old temples.

Over the weekend, authorities evacuated two large children's hospitals as well as campsites and villages outside of Athens.

Officials have not said what started the fires. Hundreds of forest blazes plague Greece every summer and some are set intentionally — often by the unscrupulous land developers or animal farmers seeking to expand their grazing land.

"There is still a state of ambiguity as to where the forest starts and residential areas end. As long as this persists, there is an incentive for starting fires," Karavellas of WWF said. "These are areas that are always being eyed for development."

Greece's National Weather Service said strong winds are expected to ease Tuesday.

German candidates clash over Afghanistan exit

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has snubbed a promise by her rival in the upcoming elections to withdraw troops from Afghanistan, saying the mission there continues until its goals are met.

Merkel said she would bring home the Bundeswehr, Germany's military forces, "as soon as possible" but only after their mission was complete.

“We have a goal, and that is self-sustaining security for Afghanistan,” Merkel told public television Sunday.

Her comments came a day after Vice-Chancellor and Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeir told Spiegel in an interview that if victorious, his center-left Social Democratic Party would move to negotiate a "concrete schedule" for gradually bringing the soldiers home.

Steinmeier's Social Democrats Party (SPD) is currently sharing power in a fragile grand coalition with Merkel's Christian Democrats Party (CDU).

By the end of this year, the parliamentary mandate which allows Germany to contribute up to 4,500 troops to the NATO mission in Afghanistan expires. It must be renewed if the troops are to remain in the country.

The rising death toll there, however, has made the mission increasingly unpopular in Germany.

The war in Afghanistan looks no closer to defeating the Taliban militancy that has raged in the country since the fall of the Taliban regime following the 2001 US-led invasion.

US Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff, the highest ranking officer in the US Army, told CNN on Sunday that the situation in Afghanistan was “deteriorating” and that the insurgents had grown more “sophisticated” in the past eight years.

Germany's parliamentary elections are set to take place on September 27.

Iran lawmakers make plea for Karroubi paper

Nearly a week after Iranian authorities shut down a Reformist newspaper belonging to a former Parliament speaker, members of Iran's Majlis call on the Judiciary to lift the ban on the paper.

Etemad-e-Melli (National Trust) daily -- belonging to leading opposition figure Mehdi Karroubi -- was ordered closed after publishing a letter by the Reformist cleric claiming that jailers brutally 'raped' post-vote prisoners in Iran's detention centers.

An investigating judge at the Civil Servants Prosecution Office, which handles press cases, said that Karroubi's popular newspaper had been ordered shut until further notice for what was described as "publishing unlawful and criminal material."

In a letter to the newly-appointed Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Sadeq Larijani, a number of Majlis lawmakers rejected any unfairness in reporting stories by the banned daily.

"Throughout these times, this paper -- critical of the government -- has acted as a supervisory organ seeking to promote the climate of [constructive] criticism without any deviation from fairness," read the letter to the Judiciary.

"Since the people received the news of the daily shutdown on your first day of taking office and the last day of Ayatollah Hashemi-Shahroudi [former judiciary chief] in office, we, the representatives of the people in Majlis, ask you to issue an order so that related authorities take prompt action to lift the ban on this popular daily," the Iranian lawmakers asked Larijani.

Days after Iranian authorities closed down the Etemad-e-Melli daily, reports emerged that the defeated presidential candidate has plans to establish a satellite TV network, called Saba.

Somali insurgents reject Ramadan ceasefire call

* Insurgents vow to step up attacks during holy month

* Shabaab commander says president wants to re-arm

* 11 people killed during clashes on first day of Ramadan

By Mohamed Ahmed

MOGADISHU, Aug 23 (Reuter) - Somali insurgents on Sunday rejected a government call for a ceasefire during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and accused the president of trying to use religion as a cover for re-arming his troops.

President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, a former Islamist rebel, had called for an end to fighting during Ramadan to allow people to pray. [ID:nLM409364]

"We will not accept that ceasefire call. This holy month will be a triumphant time for mujahideen and we will fight the enemy," Hizbul Islam leader Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys told a news conference.

Ahmed's United Nations-backed government is seen by many analysts as the country's best hope for a return to stability after 18 years of conflict, but it holds just small pockets of the capital and parts of the south.

Insurgents including the Al Shabaab group, which Washington says is al Qaeda's proxy in Somalia, have controlled most of the south for months.

A regional commander for al Shabaab questioned the government's call for a ceasefire and vowed to escalate attacks.

"We will redouble the war against infidels. His call does not mean he has respect for Ramadan, but it is designed to re-arm his pro-Western militia," said Bare Adan Khoje, Shabaab commander for the South Western Gedo region.

At least 11 people were killed and 22 others wounded on the first day of Ramadan when the insurgents attacked government positions in the capital, the state defense minister said.

"They attacked our positions on Saturday evening and we gave them a lesson. Their bodies are lying on the streets," Yusuf Mohamed told Reuters.

Ali Nuur, a Mogadishu school teacher said he had been trapped in a mosque by the fighting.

"Seven of the bodies were lying on the streets when I got out of the mosque," he said.

More than 100 people died last week in different parts of the country as pro-government militias and insurgents engaged in various battles.

Italy's Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said on Sunday that the European Union (EU) should appoint a special envoy for Somalia.

"The EU must not only speak with a single voice... but should study the appointment of a special envoy," Frattini said speaking in the Italian seaside resort of Rimini.

Source: Alertnet.
Link: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LN343117.htm.

Jewish religous groups 'enter Al-Aqsa compound'

August 23, 2009

Jerusalem – Ma’an – Jewish religious groups entered the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem’s Old City on Sunday, according to the Al-Aqsa Foundation for Waqf and Heritage.

The group sent a statement explaining that the incident was unprecedented, because Jewish religious groups have never in the past entered the compound during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. The month of fasting and prayer began on Saturday.

Israeli authorities have not commented on the report.

The Al-Aqsa Foundation called on Palestinians from Jerusalem and inside the Green Line to come to the Al-Aqsa Mosque in order to protect it.

Last Thursday the websites of Jewish religious groups published images showing a wedding party which that was secretly staged inside the Al-Aqsa compound. The groups have also entered the compound for religious rituals and lectures about the archaeological findings they saw are the remains of the first and second Jewish Temples on the same site.

Believed to be the location where the prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven during his Night Journey, Al-Aqsa is the third holiest site in Islam. The compound, with the golden Dome of the Rock, is also a focal point of Palestinian national pride.

The compound sits atop what Jews refer to as the Temple Mount, where the Jewish first and second Temples are thought to have stood. The location is especially sensitive because some extremist Jewish groups seek the demolition of the mosques and the construction of a "Third Temple."

A visit by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to the compound in 2000 helped spark the second Palestinian uprising, the Al-Aqsa Intifada.

"Ramadan Hard Without Them"

IslamOnline.net & News Agencies

August 23, 2009

GAZA CITY — Almaza Samuni used to anxiously await the holy fasting month of Ramadan; her favorite time of the year. But this year Ramadan is different.

"I'm sad because my mother is not around to make the meals for breaking the fast," the orphaned child told Agence France Presse (AFP) on Sunday, August 23.

Samuni, 13, used to spend Ramadan afternoons cooking with her mother and her six siblings, all of them were killed in the Israeli onslaught against Gaza last December.

In the evenings, the family used to gather around a table and break their fast together in a joyous atmosphere.

Today, Samuni lives in a tent pitched on the ruins of their house in a rubble-strewn wasteland on the outskirts of Gaza City.

Every day of Ramadan, which began in Gaza on Saturday, she will break her fast alone with her father, whose Israeli wounds have not healed yet.

"Ramadan is hard without them," Samuni gloomily said.

Her father, Ibrahim, says Ramadan opens the wound and reminds him and his daughter of what they have lost.

"My wife, my children, my siblings and my uncles were all killed," he recalls in tears.

More than 1,400 Gazans, including 437 children and hundreds of other unarmed civilians, were killed and 5,450 wounded in three weeks of air, sea and land attacks.

"There are no more happy days."

Empty Chairs

Not far from the Samunis makeshift tent, lives Dalal Abu Aisha, whose Ramadan is no less gloomy.

The 14-year-old girl was the sole survivor when an Israeli tank shell struck her home during the 22-day offensive.

She breaks the Ramadan fast on a table of empty chairs that were once occupied by her parents and three siblings.

"Now that Ramadan is here it reminds Dalal of the early-morning meals, the breaking of the fast with her family and the presents she used to receive from her father," Umm Adel, an aunt who is helping to raise Dalal, told AFP.

The shy teenager does not speak about what happened to her family, but the scars run deep.

"She always seems distracted."

Her uncle Rashad laments that Dalal is not alone in the misery of missing her loved ones.

"Dalal's life is hard, just like all the children of the martyrs."

He says this year’s Ramadan is the saddest in years.

"The war has added so much to our grief; it's more than we can bear."

Hazrat Amer Kabir shrine to be repaired by 2010

Srinagar, Aug 24 (PTI) Jammu and Kashmir government today said the repair and renovation work of the famous shrine of Sufi saint Hazrat Amer Kabir in Pulwama district was expected to be completed by next year.

The shrine at Tral in South Kashmir was destroyed in a mysterious fire in December 1998.

Repair and renovation of the shrine of Hazrat Amer Kabir also known as 'Khan Khai Faiz Panah' was being executed by Tourism department through Jammu and Kashmir Project Construction Corporation and is going on smoothly, Tourism minister Nawang Rigzin Jora said.

The work is expected to be completed by August, 2010, he said in a written reply to a question in the state Assembly.

Jora said so far work worth Rs 235 lakh has been completed as part of phase one. It was earlier estimated at Rs 227 lakh.

China to try 200 for Xinjiang unrests

China is to put more than 200 people on trial for alleged involvement in deadly unrests, which erupted in the country's Xinjiang region last month.

The trials are expected to start this week in Urumqi -- the regional capital shaken by violence in early July, the China Daily reported on Monday.

Nearly 200 people were killed and 1,600 others wounded in the violence sparked over a row between ethnic Uighurs and Han Chinese.

Chinese authorities have ever since carried out a severe crackdown on mainly the Muslim-majority city of Kashgar in southern Xinjiang and Urumqi, detaining over 1,500 people.

There is no exact account on how many Uighurs and how many Han Chinese would go to trial this week, but according to China Daily more than 170 Uighurs and 20 Han lawyers had been assigned to the suspects.

Their charges include vandalizing public property and transport, organizing crowds to cause bodily harm to others, robbery, murder and arson.

So far more than 3,300 items of physical evidence, including bricks and clubs stained with blood, 91 video clips and 2,169 photographs have been collected by the authorities and are to be represented at court, the newspaper added.

Although security in Urumqi is already high, armed police have started around-the-clock patrols of the area near the Intermediate People's Court, where the trials are to be held.

As there is an intense public interest in the matter, the court proceedings will be made public.

Beijing -- which claims most of the people killed in the ordeal were Han Chinese -- accuses the Washington-based separatist World Uighur Congress, led by exiled Rebiya Kadeer, of instigating the unrest.

Kadeer, who says many Uighurs were also killed in the riots, denies the accusations.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=104360§ionid=351020404.

Iran: Bloodshed can't solve Yemen conflict

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hassan Qashqavi says Tehran believes 'political solutions' can resolve problems in Yemen, adding that bloodshed should not be an option.

“We have good relations with Yemen and believe that the incidents in the northwestern Saada province are among Yemen's internal affairs,” Qashqavi said at his weekly press conference on Monday.

“The conflict can be resolved through political solutions,” the spokesman added while rejecting allegations about Iran's involvement in the conflict.

A Yemeni security official earlier claimed that military forces have seized Iranian-made weapons from Shia rebels fighting in the country.

Qashqavi went on to add that the Tehran government supports Yemen's establishment and the country's territorial integrity.

Dozens of people have so far been killed, among them two Shia leaders, in clashes between fighters and the government forces in Yemen's northern areas.

Yemen's government officials has accused opposition groups of trying to reinstall a religious reign, toppled by a 1962 military coup in northern Yemen.

The army has been using its air and ground forces against the fighters who, on the other hand, say they are defending their people against the government.

The Huthis belong to the Zaydi branch of Shia Islam.

Jordan tries 6 Shias for 'promoting Shi'ism'

Jordan has held the first trial of six Shia Muslims accused of promoting their ideology before a military court in the Sunni majority country.

A Jordanian judicial official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said six Shia Muslims were put on trial before a military court, an AP report said.

He said the six men pleaded not guilty but did not provide further details on the subject. Promoting Shia ideology and religious sectarianism Jordan are among the accusations recognized by the court.

According to the officials, the closed-door trial that started last week was the first of its kind in Jordan. Jordan has not recognized any law that prevents Shia Muslims from practicing their religion.

But Jordanian officials have expressed concern that the growing influence of Iran and the popularity of the Lebanese Hezbollah movement for its firm resistance against Israel could encourage some Sunni Jordanians to convert to Shiism.

Jordanian security forces find people converting from Sunni to Shia Islam guilty and try them in military courts.

Ramadan SMS messages flourish in Gaza

by Saud Abu Ramadan, Emad Drimly

Gaza resident Khalil Mheisen, who has not visited his relatives abroad for more than two years due to the Israeli blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip, has sent dozens of SMS messages to their cellular phones to congratulate them on the occasion of Ramadan.

Since the 30-day fasting month of Ramadan began on Saturday, Mheisen, in his mid forties in Zeitoon neighborhood in southern Gaza city, has sent and received dozens of messages on his cellular phone to and from his friends and relatives living either in the Gaza Strip or in other Arab countries.

"The technology has enabled me to carry out my social life and overcome some obstacles, which disabled me from communicating with my friends and relatives living in the West Bank and Egypt. I haven't seen them for more than two years," said Mheisen.

On the eve of Ramadan and during the first and second days, hundreds of thousands of messages were sent through the mobile phones of Gaza residents to their relatives and friends on the holy occasion.

"Sending SMS messages to my friends and relatives is much cheaper than calling them to say 'Happy Ramadan' and wish them happy and easy fasting during the holy festival," said Mheisen, who owns a food store in downtown Gaza city.

Officials of Gaza Jawal Company (the Palestinian cellular phone services) said that exchanging SMS messages on holy and social occasions had become an essential social habit for Gaza residents.

The Jawal Company had made a special offer to its Gaza customers by offering them a free SMS message which can be sent through the internet. The residents said this offer had caused a heavy load on the service of sending and receiving messages.

Mona Khaldoun, a female university student from Gaza, complained that she has spent the whole day sending SMS messages to her colleagues, classmates and relatives. "Many of my messages can't be sent out due to high load and pressure on the service itself," she said.

As her mobile rang, she knew that she had received another congratulation message from a friend, which said "You are as sweet as sugar ... I congratulate you on the holy month of Ramadan."

She said, "for me sending messages to friends and relatives with such good offer from Jawal company is cheaper and I can afford it."

Some of the SMS messages are beautiful and warm verses of poetry, others include colorful pictures with verses from the Muslim holy book of Quran. There are also messages from friends and relatives abroad with prayers that the blockade will be ended soon.

Some Gaza residents believe that the increasing use of short SMS messages stems out from the current Palestinian situation, mainly the reality of living under a strict Israeli siege and the complete closure of crossings.

Israel has imposed a blockade on the Gaza Strip right after Islamic Hamas movement won the elections in January 2006, and the blockade was highly tightened after the Islamic movement seized control of the enclave and ousted President Mahmoud Abbas' security forces in June 2007.

Ayman al-Jamal, an unemployed Gazan in his late twenties, said that congratulating his friends and relatives, who live in the West Bank and abroad, by sending them short SMS messages "is the only way in the current time," adding "we hope the siege will be lifted one day."

However, there are also some who expressed concerns that the use of SMS messages "would for sure harm the social ties and relationships between relatives and friends."

They warned that the messages have a negative impact on the original traditions, according to which people should visit each other and meet face to face during Ramadan.

"I hope someday we people in Gaza will be able to communicate with each other face to face," said Ayman al-Jamal.

Hamas starts school year in Gaza unilaterally

Hamas authorities on Sunday cut the last circle of mutual cooperation with the West Bank-based Palestinian government by deciding to start the school year in the Gaza Strip unilaterally.

On Sunday, 250,000 students in the Hamas-controlled Gaza headed for their schools a week earlier than their counterparts in the West Bank.

Observers say the new differences over the beginning of the new year, which usually launches at the beginning of September, could boost political split between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

Since Hamas routed security forces of Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas in 2007 and seized control of Gaza, Abbas fired a Hamas-led unity government and formed a Western backed administration in the West Bank where his Fatah movement holds sway.

Islamic Hamas rejected Abbas's decision and continued ruling the coastal Strip with nearly fully isolation except for some sorts of cooperation involving education, health and religious affairs.

Yousef Ibrahim, deputy education minister in the Hamas administration, denied that his ministry has unilaterally stopped coordination with its counterpart in Ramallah.

"We have agreed to start the school year on Aug. 23 but the Ramallah government bottled out at the last minute due to pressures by some sides unrelated to the education family," Ibrahim said.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) has also opened its schools for more than 200,000 students from the refugee families who take benefits from the international agency's services.

Meanwhile, Hamas government has not officially ordered female students to maintain Islamic-style clothing when they go to school.

But at Basheer al-Rayyes secondary school, a female principle stood on the gate, allowing only the girls who wore a black robe and a white headscarf into the school and keeping those who wore the traditional jeans dress outside even if they have put a head cover.

Islam Saa'd was one of the students who were banned from their school. "We reject that the Jilbab (the long, loose Islamic dress)be imposed on us."

Her friend, Salwa, 16, said in tears: "We can accept to wear everything except the Jilbab because it extorts our childhood and make us look old women."

A third student, who asked for anonymity, said she has agreed with a group of her classmates to move to a private school to avoid clothing restrictions.

But Hanin Musallam, said she supports "any decision imposing the Islamic uniform because it secures our purity."

The school principle, who refused to give her name, admitted that there was no official or written decision authorizing her to impose a specific type of clothing on her students, but she said that the girls "have to wear a dress that is acceptable to the Muslim community."

Her remarks reflects the vagueness of Hamas government's decisions which observers say it gradually spreads Islamic lifestyle but denies it officially to avoid international criticism. The education minister, Mohammed Askool, refused to comment on the issue.

Israel's Netanyahu brings balancing act to Europe

By MATTI FRIEDMAN, Associated Press Writer

JERUSALEM – Benjamin Netanyahu arrives in Britain on Monday as a leader walking a tightrope.

On one hand, the Israeli prime minister faces a firm international front demanding a full halt to his country's four-decade-old settlement enterprise. Netanyahu has heard that demand and will almost certainly hear it again from all three of the key people he is slated to meet in Europe this week: British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the representative of Israel's closest ally, U.S. Mideast envoy George Mitchell.

Flouting the international community will demand a diplomatic cost Israel can ill afford to pay.

But at home, Netanyahu's partners in an unruly governing coalition are pulling him in the opposite direction and are suspicious of any sign of compromise. Crossing them could unravel his hold on power.

In recent weeks, some of Netanyahu's allies have been doing their best to draw him to the right. A group of his Cabinet ministers paid a supportive visit to an unauthorized settlement outpost in the West Bank — even though Netanyahu has promised to remove such wildcat settlements — and called on the prime minister to ignore President Barack Obama's call to stop building homes for Jews on land the Palestinians want for a future state.

Netanyahu's four-day visit to London and Berlin is likely to showcase the tricky balancing act on which his political survival depends.

Netanyahu, who has weathered decades in the often brutal arena of Israeli politics, knows a thing or two about maneuvering, but this particular balancing act is likely to require all of his considerable political skill. Both Israel's friends abroad and Netanyahu's domestic allies will be carefully watching him to see who gets shortchanged.

"It's very clear that his goal is not to lose his coalition and not to fight with Obama," said Israeli political analyst Hanan Crystal. "The question is, how do you stop settlements while preventing the toppling of the government?"

The answer, Crystal said, is likely to be apparent soon when Netanyahu announces some form of compromise with the U.S. and "winks" at his hard-line allies at home. "He's an expert at winking," Crystal said.

Israeli government officials say that one compromise being discussed would see Israel freeze building except for 2,500 units currently under construction. They spoke on condition of anonymity because details of the talks between Israel and the U.S. are secret.

The number of Israeli settlers in the West Bank — home to some 2.5 million Palestinians — has more than doubled since the mid-1990s and now stands at around 300,000.

Netanyahu has compromised some since taking office in March, after winning an election on a hard-line platform and putting together a government in which he is one of the more moderate voices.

He first endorsed the formation of a Palestinian state, a major reversal after years of opposing the idea, though it came with strict conditions. And last week, Netanyahu's housing minister said Israel had temporarily stopped granting approval for new building projects in the West Bank.

After that announcement, Obama said he was "encouraged by some of the things I am seeing on the ground," an indication, perhaps, that the sides are getting close to a compromise. Netanyahu's meeting with Mitchell on Wednesday, the key encounter of his trip, is meant to bring such an agreement even closer.

But the halt in approvals for new building was seen by Netanyahu's critics as little more than a maneuver. The settlement watchdog group Peace Now said Sunday that there has been no real slowdown in construction and that settlers can keep building indefinitely, using plans that have already been approved.

Netanyahu has also taken steps to improve life for Palestinians in the West Bank. With the territory enjoying a period of calm, some military checkpoints have been lifted, permits for importing raw materials are being granted, and there are other signs that life there is gradually assuming a semblance of normalcy.

The Palestinians say that is no replacement for political independence and have refused to renew peace talks until the Israelis freeze settlement construction.

Shlomo Avineri, a prominent Israeli political scientist who headed the Foreign Ministry in the 1970s under Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, termed Netanyahu's Europe trip a "holding action."

"He's not expecting agreement, but expecting understanding for his political difficulties in finding a formula that can satisfy his own government and satisfy the international community," Avineri said.

Shiite groups announce new alliance minus Iraqi PM

By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA, Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD – Major Shiite groups have formed a new alliance that will exclude the Iraqi prime minister, lawmakers said Monday, a move likely to stoke fears of increasing Iranian influence and set back efforts to end sectarian politics ahead of January parliamentary elections.

The alliance will include the largest Shiite party, the Iranian-backed Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council, anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's bloc and some Sunni and secular independents.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's Dawa Party won't be included because of disagreement over who would lead the alliance, Shiite lawmaker Reda Jawad Taqi told The Associated Press. He said a last-minute meeting held Sunday in a bid to bring al-Maliki's Dawa party into the coalition had failed to overcome the differences.

The coalition will likely be led by the Supreme Council if Dawa stays out, something that would likely deepen Iranian influence in Iraq just as U.S. forces begin to withdraw. The last American soldier is scheduled to leave Iraq by the end of 2011.

The announcement was a new blow to al-Maliki, whose efforts to portray himself as a champion of security has been battered by a series of devastating bombings in Baghdad and in northern Iraq in recent weeks. The most recent of these struck the foreign and finance ministries on Wednesday, killing about a 100 people and wounding about 500.

The uptick in violence has heightened fears that Iraqi security forces aren't ready to protect the people nearly two months after most U.S. troops pulled back from urban areas.

Monday's announcement also was a major shakeup in Shiite politics, which have long been dominated by the Supreme Council and al-Maliki's party.

The coalition will replace the United Iraqi Alliance, which won control of parliament in the December 2005 elections but began to unravel later with the withdrawal of two major factions and bitter rivalry between al-Maliki and the Supreme Council.

Members of the groups joining the list stood one-by-one at a press conference to announce the new list.

Former Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari read a statement, noting that the ailing leader of the Supreme Council, Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, was absent because he has been hospitalized in Iran.

"We wished that al-Hakim could be with us, but he is sick," al-Jaafari said. "We pray he will feel better soon but he will be with us spiritually," al-Jaafari said. Al-Hakim was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2007.

He said the new alliance would be focused on establishing economic health and security in Iraq.

Also absent was al-Sadr, who is believed to be in Iran. His bloc was represented by lawmakers and officials.

Afghan elections seen as a setback for women

By NAHAL TOOSI and NOOR KHAN, Associated Press Writer

KABUL – For women, Afghanistan's recent elections appear to have been more of a setback than a step forward.

Early reports strongly suggest that voter turnout fell more sharply for women than for men in Thursday's polls. Election observers blame Taliban attacks, a dearth of female election workers and hundreds of closed women's voting sites.

Some worry the result could be a new government that pays even less attention to women's concerns in a country where cultural conservatism already restricts female participation in public life.

Kulsoom Bibi, a woman in her 40s, is among those who did not vote.

"The rockets started coming from the early morning and, until night, the rockets still came," she said in Kandahar, the southern city that is the spiritual birthplace of the Taliban. "The government hasn't done anything for women, and there were a lot of security problems. That's why I didn't cast my vote."

Official results from Thursday's presidential and provincial council elections aren't expected for weeks.

Amid Taliban threats, both women and men appear to have voted in lower numbers than in previous elections. One election official estimated overall turnout at 40-50 percent, down from 70 percent in the last presidential election in 2004.

Women voters, however, faced additional obstacles, observers said.

At least 650 polling stations for women did not open, according to the Free and Fair Elections Foundation of Afghanistan, the country's top independent vote monitoring group. In the southern province of Uruzgan, only 6 of 36 women's polling stations opened, the group said.

That was partly because authorities couldn't find enough female staffers.

In some areas, "there were women who came to polling stations, and found no women workers there and went away. They didn't cast their votes," said Nader Nadery, the head of the group.

European Union observers noted that poor security hardened cultural attitudes in a nation where most women won't leave home without wearing an all-encompassing burqa.

"The lack of personal security ... disproportionately affected women and consolidated the opinions of many families and communities that it was not appropriate for women to be active outside the home," the EU mission said in a statement.

Afghan women have made great advances since a U.S.-led invasion ousted the Taliban government in 2001. Under the Taliban, women were banned from school and could not leave their homes without a male relative. Today, millions of girls are getting an education, while some women hold elected office.

But as the Taliban have re-emerged, especially in the nation's south and east, women have again become favorite targets. Female government officials regularly report receiving threats to their safety. Some women leaders, including a prominent policewoman, have been assassinated.

At the same time, the government has taken steps deemed anti-woman, most notably passing a law that appeared to legalize marital rape. After an international outcry, the law was revised, though activists say the new version still has problems.

The news for women was not all bad. Solid female turnout was reported in the relatively safe north.

Many women set aside fears to run in the elections. Two were among more than three dozen presidential candidates. And 333 women ran for provincial council, up from 242 in 2005, according to the EU. However, the proportion of women candidates decreased in 14 of the 34 provinces.

Haroun Mir, director of Afghanistan's Center for Research and Policy Studies, said the low female turnout is one reason the next government is likely to do little for women beyond appointing a handful to token positions.

"Women are scattered, they don't have a unified voice," he said. "I'm pretty sure that they will not have any influence or any bargaining power."

Rachel Reid, Afghanistan researcher for Human Rights Watch, described efforts to increase women's participation in the election as "too little and too late."

"Presidential candidates were more likely to present themselves as able to negotiate with the Taliban than to protect women's rights," she said.

Women need to improve their lobbying ability to gain more powerful positions in government, said Shinkai Karokhail, a female lawmaker from Kabul.

She found solace in the fact that many women turned out to vote despite the volatile situation.

"One woman in Kandahar coming out and casting their vote is like more than 1,000," she said. "The fear I had is maybe none of the women would come out."

3 Calif. fires contained after burning for weeks

DAVENPORT, Calif. – Firefighters have surrounded three wildfires that have been burning throughout California for weeks.

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection says that a wildfire that consumed about 7,800 acres, or about 12 square miles, in Santa Cruz County was 100 percent contained on Sunday night.

Another blaze in Yuba County was surrounded Sunday after consuming 4,000 acres and two homes.

And officials in Santa Barbara County say a third fire that torched nearly 90,000 acres and burned for two weeks near Santa Maria was declared fully contained on Saturday night.

The three fires drove thousands from their homes, but all evacuation orders had been called off before the weekend.

Obama facing hard choices on Afghanistan war plans

By RICHARD LARDNER, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON – As public support for the war in Afghanistan erodes, President Barack Obama soon may face two equally unattractive choices: increase U.S. troops levels to beat back a resilient enemy, or stick with the 68,000 already committed and risk the political fallout if that's not enough.

Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, is completing an assessment of what he needs to win the fight there. That review, however, won't specifically address force levels, according to Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

But military officials privately believe McChrystal may ask for as many as 20,000 additional forces to get an increasingly difficult security situation in Afghanistan under control. And one leading Republican is already saying McChrystal will be pressured to ask for fewer troops than he requires.

"I think there are great pressures on General McChrystal to reduce those estimates," said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., in an interview broadcast Sunday. "I don't think it's necessarily from the president. I think it's from the people around him and others that I think don't want to see a significant increase in our troops' presence there."

Mullen on Sunday described the situation in Afghanistan as "serious and deteriorating," but refused to say whether additional forces would be needed.

"Afghanistan is very vulnerable in terms of (the) Taliban and extremists taking over again, and I don't think that threat's going to go away," he said.

Mullen also expressed concern about diminishing support among a war-weary American public as the U.S. and NATO enter their ninth year of combat and reconstruction operations.

In joint TV interviews, Mullen and U.S. Ambassador Karl Eikenberry said last week's presidential election in Afghanistan was historic, given the threats of intimidation voters faced as they headed to polling stations. It could be several weeks, however, before it's known whether incumbent Hamid Karzai or one of his challengers won.

"We're not sure exactly what the level of voter turnout was," said Eikenberry, a retired three-star Army general. "Taliban intimidation, especially in southern Afghanistan, certainly limited those numbers."

Charges of fraud in the election are extensive enough to possibly sway the final result, and the number of allegations is likely to grow, according to the commission investigating the complaints.

The independent Electoral Complaints Commission has received 225 complaints since the start of Thursday's vote, including 35 allegations that are "material to the election results," said Grant Kippen, the head of the U.N.-backed body.

President Obama's strategy for defeating the Taliban and al-Qaida is a work in progress as more U.S. troops are sent there, Mullen said.

Three years ago, the U.S. had about 20,000 forces in the country. Today, it has triple that, on the way to 68,000 by year's end when all the extra 17,000 troops that Obama announced in March are to be in place. An additional 4,000 troops are arriving to help train Afghan forces. More civilian workers are going as well to help rebuild Afghanistan's economy and government.

Mullen said the security situation in Afghanistan needs to be reversed in the next 12 month to 18 months.

"I think it is serious and it is deteriorating, and I've said that over the last couple of years, that the Taliban insurgency has gotten better, more sophisticated," he said.

Just over 50 percent of respondents to a Washington Post-ABC News poll released this past week said the war in Afghanistan is not worth fighting.

Mullen, a Vietnam veteran, said he's aware that public support for the war is critical. "Certainly the numbers are of concern," he said. But, he added, "this is the war we're in."

"I recognize that we've been there over eight years," he said. "But this is the first time we've really resourced a strategy on both the civilian and military sides. So in certain ways, we're starting anew."

"We're just getting the pieces in place from the president's new strategy on the ground now," he said. "I don't see this as a mission of endless drift. I think we know what to do."

McChrystal's orders from Mullen and Defense Secretary Robert Gates was "to go out, assess where you are, and then tell us what you need," Mullen said. "And we'll get to that point. And I want to, I guess, assure you or reassure you that he hasn't asked for any additional troops up until this point in time."

McCain, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said McChrystal should say exactly how many troops he needs, let the Congress debate it and Obama would make the ultimate decision.

McChrystal and other military leaders in Afghanistan should use the same aggressive "clear and hold" approach that Gen. David Petraeus used successfully in Iraq, McCain added. That will create a secure environment for people so that economic and political progress can be made, he said.

On the question of what it will take to turn the tide in Afghanistan, McCain echoed Mullen's projection: "I think within a year to 18 months you could start to see progress."

McCain acknowledged that public opinion on Afghanistan is slipping. But he said that opinion could be reversed.

"I think you need to see a reversal of these very alarming and disturbing trends on attacks, casualties, areas of the country that the Taliban has increased control of."

Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Obama's leadership on Afghanistan is key to bolstering public support.

"He really can't just leave this to the Congress, to General McChrystal, and say, 'Folks, sort of, discuss this,' after the report comes in," Lugar said.

Mullen and Eikenberry appeared on NBC's "Meet the Press" and CNN's "State of the Union." Lugar was on CNN. McCain's interview Friday with ABC's "This Week" was aired Sunday.

Thousands flee raging wildfires in Greece

By NICHOLAS PAPHITIS, Associated Press Writer



ATHENS, Greece – A partial drop in gale-force winds early Monday offered hard-pressed Greek firefighters a brief respite after wildfires raged unchecked for two days north of Athens, burning houses and swathes of forest while forcing thousands to flee their homes.

But Fire Brigade officials cautioned that the fires still threatened inhabited areas on the capital's northern fringes, the eastern coastal town of Nea Makri and nearby Marathon — site of one of history's most famous battlegrounds.

"There are fewer hazardous points," Fire Brigade spokesman Yiannis Kappakis said. "But the blaze is still developing."

Several houses were gutted but there were no reports of deaths or injuries. There was huge damage to the countryside, however, with thousands of hectares of the area's rapidly dwindling forests gone.

Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis said the fire — one of more than 90 that broke out across Greece over the weekend — was hard to tame.

"The situation remains very difficult," he said after a fire brigade briefing. "The enormous (firefighting) effort will continue on all fronts throughout the night."

In Nea Makri, south of Marathon, local authorities said blaze stretching for 2.5-miles (four-kilometers) was tearing down a hillside towards some houses, and a dozen nuns were evacuated from a nearby Christian Orthodox convent.

"The situation is tragic right now, there's a huge fire coming our way" Nea Makri mayor Iordanis Loizos said. "There is nothing we can do ... but wait for the (water-dropping) planes at dawn."

Water-dropping aircraft were to resume operations at first light Monday, assisted by aircraft from France, Italy and Cyprus. More than 2,000 firefighters, soldiers and volunteers are fighting the blaze on the ground.

Officials have not said what started the fire. Hundreds of forest blazes plague Greece every summer and many are set intentionally — often by unscrupulous land developers or animal farmers seeking to expand their grazing land.

In many afflicted areas, despairing residents pleaded for firefighters and equipment that were nowhere to be seen.

On Sunday, thousands of residents of Athens' northern outskirts evacuated their homes, fleeing in cars or on foot. The fire destroyed several houses as it advanced across an area more than 30 miles (50 kilometers) in circumference.

Six major fires were burning early Monday across Greece. The Athens blaze started north of Marathon plain, and spread over Mount Penteli — on the city's limit to the north — threatening outlying suburbs.

Driven by gale-force winds, the blaze grew fastest near Marathon, from which the long-distance foot race takes its name, born from a legendary run after the 490 B.C Athenian victory over an invading Persian army.

A guard at the nearby Museum of Marathon said the fire at one point came within 50 yards (meters) of the building, whose exhibits include weapons and skeletons from the battle. However, its main front was moving south toward Nea Makri.

The fire also threatened the ancient fortress town of Rhamnus, home to two 2,500-year-old temples.

The mayor of Marathon said he had been "begging the government to send over planes and helicopters" to no avail.

"There are only two fire engines here; three houses are already on fire and we are just watching helplessly," mayor Spyros Zagaris told Greek TV.

Zagaris was among several local leaders who accused the government of having no plan to fight the fire.

Finance Minister Yiannis Papathanassiou responded: "This is not the time for criticism under these tragic conditions. We are fighting a difficult fight."

Another official said emergency workers were exhausted.

"The firefighters, soldiers and volunteers fighting the fire are tired and their equipment is being used constantly and there is fatigue there too," said deputy Interior Minister Christos Markoyiannakis.

Opposition politicians have been restrained in their criticism so far.

But both Communist Party leader Aleka Papariga and Giorgos Karatzaferis, head of populist right-wing Popular Orthodox Rally, said the government had learned nothing from the catastrophic summer fires of 2007, when 76 people died and several villages were totally destroyed in southern Greece.

A shift in wind helped halt the flames in the town of Agios Stefanos, a township on the fringes of Athens on the opposite side of Mount Penteli from Marathon. Most of its 10,000 inhabitants had evacuated Sunday afternoon. By nightfall, the town was empty, authorities said.

About 58 square miles (37,000 acres or 15,000 hectares) of forest, brush and olive groves have burned, according to Athens prefect Yiannis Sgouros. The highly flammable pine forests around Athens' northern suburbs helped the fire spread.

Sgouros said the full extent of the damage would take days to estimate.

Authorities evacuated two large children's hospitals, as well as campsites and homes in villages and outlying suburbs threatened by blazes that scattered ash across Athens. The flames also threatened a large monastery on Mount Penteli.

Elsewhere in Greece, serious fires were reported on the islands of Evia and Skyros in the Aegean Sea and Zakynthos in the west. Another large fire that started Saturday near the town of Plataea, 40 miles (60 kilometers) northwest of Athens, was spreading unchecked toward a coastal resort in western Attica.

Pakistan Taliban commander vows Afghan fight

By ISHTIAQ MAHSUD, Associated Press Writer

MAKEEN, Pakistan – Pakistani Taliban fighters are committed to helping the fight in Afghanistan and consider Barack Obama their "No. 1 enemy," a top commander said amid uncertainty about whether a new leader has been appointed to head the movement.

Waliur Rehman made the remarks in an interview Sunday with The Associated Press at a time of intense speculation over the next leader of the al-Qaida-allied group. A CIA missile strike on Aug. 5 is believed to have killed former chief Baitullah Mehsud. Rehman, a cousin of Baitullah, is seen as a strong candidate for the post.

Rehman said on Saturday that Baitullah had given him full control over the network and that a new leader "would be chosen within five days." Rehman made no reference to Hakimullah Mehsud, whose aides said separately later Saturday that he had been chosen as new leader during a meeting Friday.

Rehman's comments cast doubt on whether Hakimullah's appointment had been agreed by all top Taliban members, and could indicate splits over succession within the movement of up to 25,000 fighters.

Rehman met the AP in a forest near Makeen village in the heart of the semiautonomous lands close to the Afghan border where al-Qaida and the Taliban hold sway. Looking healthy and dressed in clean, ironed clothes, he was accompanied by five armed guards.

American officials are watching closely to see who succeeds Baitullah, in particular whether the new leader will direct more fighters across the border where U.S. and NATO forces are facing soaring attacks by insurgents. Baitullah was believed to have mainly concentrated on attacking Pakistani targets.

"We are with Afghan Taliban. We will keep on helping them until America and its allies are expelled," he said, adding this did not mean an end to attacks in Pakistan. "American President Obama and his allies are our enemy No. 1," he said. "We will sacrifices our bodies, hearts and money to fight them."

Like most other members of the Taliban network, he insisted Baitullah was alive but sick, hence the need for a new chief. U.S. and Pakistani officials are almost certain he is dead, especially since the Taliban have provided no proof he is alive.

Two close aides to another commander, Maulvi Faqir Mohammad, told The Associated Press on Saturday a 42-member Taliban council, or shura, had appointed Hakimullah their new leader in an unanimous decision on Friday.

"Now all these talks of differences should end," said one of the aides, Bakht Zada. "There have not been any differences ever."

Mohammed Amir Rana, an expert on Pakistani militant groups, said he believed the Taliban had not agreed on a replacement.

"Maulvi Faqir Mohammad is trying to manipulate the race by announcing to the press that Hakimullah is the head," he said. "Until now there is no consensus," he said, adding that supporters of Waliur Rehman, did not accept him.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik said the government had received intelligence reports about Hakimullah's appointment "as the chief terrorist" but there was no official confirmation. The Dawn newspaper quoted one unidentified intelligence officer as saying the announcement "was a ruse" as part of the ongoing power struggle.

Malik also said he had received reports that the Taliban had kidnapped and killed Baitullah Mehsud's father-in-law and other relatives because they believed the relatives may have betrayed his location, leading to the U.S. missile strike that killed him, the state news agency Associated Press of Pakistan reported late Sunday.

Earlier this month, Malik had claimed Rehman and Hakimullah had been killed in a shootout between rival factions over who should take over the Taliban and its arms and cash.

"There was no truth in those claims of mine or his death," Rehman said. "It is futile propaganda by enemies."

Since Aug. 5, Pakistani officials have been eager to portray the Taliban as in disarray, saying commanders and the rank-and-file were fighting among themselves. At one point, Mohammad — who comes from a different part of the tribal region — claimed to have taken over the leadership.

Hakimullah comes from the same tribe as Baitullah and had been seen as a likely replacement.

As military chief of Baitullah's Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or Pakistani Taliban Movement, Hakimullah commanded three tribal regions and had a reputation as Baitullah's most ruthless deputy. He first appeared in public to journalists in November 2008, when he offered to take reporters on a ride in a U.S. Humvee taken from a supply truck heading to Afghanistan.

Authorities say he was behind threats to foreign embassies in Islamabad, and there was a 10 million rupee ($120,000) bounty on his head. Hakimullah claimed responsibility for the June 9 bombing of the Pearl Continental hotel in the northwestern city of Peshawar, and the attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore earlier this year.

Rehman was among Baitullah's closest advisers and deputies. Mehsud reportedly said during a shura that Rehman should be his successor if something happened to him.

Islamic officials release woman held for caning

By MARK D. BAKER, Associated Press Writer

KARAI, Malaysia – Islamic officials Monday abruptly released a Muslim model scheduled to be caned this week for drinking beer after briefly detaining her, in an unexpected twist for Malaysia's first woman to face the corporal punishment.

Two female and one male officials came to the house of Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno in northern Malaysia on Monday and took her away in a van on what was supposed to be a four-hour road journey to a prison near Kuala Lumpur, the country's main city.

But they returned after about 30 minutes and said they had received "instructions from the higher powers" to release her, said Kartika's father, Shukarno Abdul Muttalib. The officials said that "for now, the sentence cannot be carried out," Shukarno said.

Officials had said earlier that Kartika, a 32-year-old mother of two, would be caned sometime during the week but no specific date was set. Amnesty International had condemned the decision, and many critics had said the caning would harm Malaysia's reputation as a moderate Muslim country.

It was not immediately clear whether Kartika would be taken back into custody later.

Badaruddin Ahmad Bustami, an Islamic Department official, said prison representatives suddenly informed department authorities who took custody of Kartika that they "cannot accept her." He said the prison did not give any reasons.

"We don't know what to do. We will discuss this with the Shariah court" to determine whether the sentence should be waived, Badaruddin told The Associated Press.

Prison Department officials could not immediately be reached.

Shukarno said he and his daughter would head to a district police station to file statements about her abrupt release. He said they were confused about what had happened and were worried that officials might later accuse his daughter of running away from them.

Kartika was arrested in a raid for drinking beer at a hotel lounge last year for breaching the Muslim-majority country's Shariah law, which forbids Muslims to consume alcohol.

She was sentenced by a Shariah court in July in what was considered a warning to other Muslims to abide by religious laws. Kartika did not appeal and said she was willing to be caned.

Dressed in a full-length cream-and-red satin gown and a head scarf, Kartika emerged from her house and walked past a group of about 50 local Muslims who said prayers for her.

After a last kiss with her 5-year-old daughter, she got into the silver van along with her sister and the Islamic officials.

She did not speak to the horde of media assembled outside the house in the countryside, about 5 miles (7 kilometers) from Karai town in the northern Perak state.

In an interview with The Associated Press last week, Kartika had said she wants to be caned because "I want to respect the law."

The law provides for a three-year prison term and caning for Muslims caught drinking, but most offenders are fined. Drinking is legal for non-Muslims.

Islamic authorities had insisted that the purpose of the caning is to educate rather than punish. They say the rattan cane supposed to be used on Kartika would be smaller and lighter than the one used for men and that she will remain clothed. The prison official who canes her is also supposed to use very little force.

Men convicted of civil crimes such as rape and bribery in Malaysia are caned on their bare buttocks, breaking the skin and leaving permanent scars.

At least 200 sea lions found dead on Chilean coast

SANTIAGO, Chile – At least 200 sea lions have been found dead along Chile's northern coast.

Local television stations Channels 7 and 13 are showing images of the dead and dying mammals on the rocks and in the sea near Iquique.

Chile's fishing service says many of the dead apparently are young sea lions abandoned when their mothers were drawn too far offshore hunting food. It says the El Nino phenomenon has made prey scarce near shore.

Environmental groups said Saturday they suspect a local molybdenum plant or other industry may be to blame.

News media in neighboring Peru reported earlier this month that more than 20 sea lions had been found dead in the Chimbote region there.

NATO commanders press for more resources in Afghanistan

By Adam Entous

KABUL (Reuters) – NATO military commanders told U.S. President Barack Obama's envoy on Sunday that they needed more troops and other resources to beat back a resurgent Taliban, particularly in eastern Afghanistan near the Pakistan border.

The Taliban has made inroads in recent months in many areas that U.S. forces though they had stabilized. The deteriorating security has increased pressure on the Obama administration to consider sending more forces into the fight, a move that could prove a hard sell with the U.S. Congress and the American public.

U.S. Major General Curtis Scaparotti, commander of forces in eastern Afghanistan, said he told U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke that veteran Taliban commander Jalaluddin Haqqani had expanded his reach in several areas in Afghanistan near the border with Pakistan.

"Haqqani is the central threat. We've seen that expansion and that's part of what we're fighting," Scaparotti told reporters after the meeting.

The U.S. military has launched big offensives against the Taliban in southern Afghanistan but officials acknowledge that more attention may need to be paid to the increasingly unstable eastern provinces.

It is unclear how much room Obama has to maneuver.

A new Washington Post-ABC News poll showed most Americans believe the war in Afghanistan is not worth fighting and just a quarter say more troops should be sent there.

U.S. senators visiting Kabul said they told Afghan President Hamid Karzai and members of his cabinet on Sunday that U.S. patience was running out.

"I conveyed to Karzai that there's going to come a time when the patience of Americans will run out," U.S. Senator Robert Casey, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, said.

Senator Sherrod Brown, an Ohio Democrat who was part of the same delegation, said: "Time is not running out next week. But they have to show results. It's the last chance."

Some military officials contend that there are a growing number of Uzbek and other foreign fighters among the Taliban in border areas.

Asked about the presence of Uzbek fighters, one commander said his men had never found one, alive or dead, but added: "I'm pretty sure they are there."

U.S. officials increasingly see the fight against the Taliban as a "single battlefield" that runs from Afghanistan into the tribal areas of Pakistan.

While welcoming Pakistan's offensive against militants in the Swat valley, northwest of Islamabad, some U.S. officials are concerned that Islamabad will put off indefinitely a push into the South Waziristan region on the Afghan border, a stronghold of Pakistani Taliban fighters led by Baitullah Mehsud.

Mehsud is widely believed to have been killed this month in a missile strike by a U.S. pilotless drone aircraft.

Scaparotti said Taliban leaders in Afghanistan and their subordinates "routinely go to Pakistan to be safe" and to resupply their forces.

"We hope that they keep up the pressure," he said of a prospective Pakistani operation in Waziristan.

Holbrooke also met U.S. and allied commanders in southern, western and northern Afghanistan.

In the city of Herat, the commander of Italian forces, General Rosario Castellano, said he told Holbrooke that the Iranian border was "very porous" and neither he nor Afghan authorities had enough guards to prevent arms smuggling. He said the Afghans have only 170 guards to protect a border that stretches nearly 1,000 km (620 miles).

In the north, one commander said progress was being made but that Taliban activity had increased in some areas such as Kunduz.