World's oldest dog dies in NY at 21 — or 147

By VIRGINIA BYRNE, Associated Press Writer – Mon Aug 31


NEW YORK – A wire-haired dachshund that held the record as the world's oldest dog and celebrated its last birthday with a party at a dog hotel and spa has died at age 21 — or 147 in dog years.

The dog, named Chanel, died Friday of natural causes at her owners' home in suburban Port Jefferson Station, on Long Island.

Chanel, as stylish as her legendary namesake, wore tinted goggles for her cataracts in her later years and favored sweaters because she was sensitive to the cold, owners Denice and Karl Shaughnessy said Monday.

The playful dachshund was only 6 weeks old when Denice Shaughnessy, then serving with the U.S. Army, adopted her from a shelter in Newport News, Va.

Along with her owner, Chanel spent nine years on assignment in Germany, where she became adept at stealing sticks of butter from kitchen countertops and hiding them in sofa cushions in the living room, Shaughnessy said. She also liked chocolate, usually considered toxic to dogs, Shaughnessy said.

"She once ate an entire bag of Reese's peanut butter cups, and, you see, she lived to be 21, so go figure," Shaughnessy added.

Karl Shaughnessy nominated Chanel for the title of world's oldest dog after noticing the Guinness World Records book had no record.

Guinness World Records officials presented Chanel with a certificate as the world's oldest dog at a Manhattan birthday bash hosted by a private pet food company in May.

Chanel loved the party, especially the cake, which had a peanut butter flavor and had been made for dogs, Denice Shaughnessy said.

Chanel exercised daily and ate home-cooked chicken with her dog food, but good care wasn't entirely responsible for her long life, said her owners, who attributed God.

"Dogs are God's angels sent here to look out for us," Denice Shaughnessy said.

A dog from New Iberia, La., named Max, is vying for the record of world's oldest dog. Owner Janelle Derouen said Max marked his 26th birthday on Aug. 9. She said Guinness World Records officials were reviewing documents to authenticate his age; a Guinness World Records official in London didn't immediately answer an e-mail from The Associated Press requesting confirmation of that.

When asked the secret to her dog's long life, Derouen said she was shocked he's still with her.

"I have five kids, and all my kids are grown and gone," she said. "Now my grandkids are playing with this dog."

Taliban Ready if Afghan Government Fails, Analyst Warns

Reuters

August 31, 2009

CANBERRA (Reuters) - Afghanistan's government must fight corruption and quickly deliver services to Afghans, because Taliban militants are filling gaps and winning support to their cause, a top counter-insurgency expert said on Monday.

The Taliban were already running courts, hospitals and even an ombudsman in parallel to the government, making a real difference to local people, said David Kilcullen, a senior adviser to U.S. commander General Stanley McChrystal.

"A government that is losing to a counter-insurgency isn't being outfought, it is being out-governed. And that's what's happening in Afghanistan," Kilcullen told Australia's National Press Club.

Afghanistan has been in a state of political limbo since August 20 presidential elections, with partial results so far placing President Hamid Karzai in the lead, but not by enough to avoid a second round against his main challenger, Abdullah Abdullah. But the election, which the Taliban failed to disrupt with rocket attacks, has been marred by allegations of fraud with around a third of the votes counted.

Kilcullen, an Australian military officer and adviser to past U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, said Karzai's government was failing to maintain a rapport with local people, who were now turning to the Taliban for court judgments, education and even fair taxation assessment.

A network of 15 Sharia courts in the Taliban-dominated south spent relatively little time on hardline Islamic issues, as Westerners usually believed, but instead focussed 95 percent of effort on civil issues, like land and inheritance disputes.

Local people would laugh at the idea that they could go to the police if a bike or goat was stolen, Kilcullen said, while the Taliban had even set up an ombudsman's office near the southern militant stronghold of Kandahar to hear complaints.

"It's a direct challenge to the international security forces," he said.

"If the Taliban do something that offends you, you go to the ombudsman and you complain, and they hear the case. Sometimes they fire or even execute Taliban commanders for breaking the code of conduct."

Kilcullen said hard fighting in Afghanistan would likely last another two years, after which insurgents would hopefully believe it was better to negotiate than continue combat with international and government forces.

That would be followed by a three-year transition to effective Afghan government and five-year overwatch period involving international forces as back-up, he said.

US Hummers Enter Pakistan, Undercover American Soldiers Swarm Islamabad

AHMED QURAISHI

Monday, 31 August 2009. ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Undercover armed Americans are swarming the Pakistani capital in the latest sign that the elected government has allowed Washington to dispatch what is believed to be a large number of American special operations agents and contractual security guards, including the infamous Blackwater private militia. This comes at a time when whistleblowers within the government and the military are reporting the arrival of a large number of US Marines in Pakistan. Some reports put the figure at 1,000 US soldiers, much of whom are thought to be arriving as part of the massive expansion of the US Embassy and four consulates across the country. While the US embassy continues to deny this, new buildings are under construction to house security teams. The expanded US embassy is supposed to become the largest US embassy in the world. Above is an exclusive picture taken by a source at the entrance of Port Qasim near Karachi, showing US Hummers being transported out of the facility. According to the source, the shipment was not destined for Afghanistan. The picture was taken on Aug. 19, 2009 and being released here for the first time. The latest evidence of the growing American military presence in the Pakistani capital is the arrest of four Americans carrying automatic weapons in a part of the Pakistani capital that foreigners seldom visit. The four were arrested in Sector G-9 of Islamabad in the evening of Saturday, Aug. 29. A police picket stopped two cars carrying the four Americans who refused to explain why they were carrying sophisticated automatic weapons in the capital city. Diplomats are not supposed to carry weapons because their security is the responsibility of the host government, and security guards are not supposed to be carrying weapons outside the embassy except during official assignments. The four were taken to a police station for interrogation but were released when two retired Pakistani army officers showed up and threatened police officers of dire consequences. The police established that the four Americans carried diplomatic status and were part of the US embassy staff. When I called today US embassy spokesperson Richard Snelsire about the incident, he refused to comment and referred me to the Pakistani Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Pakistani police. "Do US diplomats normally carry weapons?" I asked. Mr. Snelsire's reply was, "Only if they are permitted" to do so by the Pakistani government. But he avoided commenting on the incident or explaining whether the four were diplomats. The spokesman's reaction confirms suspicions that private US security guards are active in Pakistan. For obvious reasons these guards do not come under the cover of US Department of State employees in Pakistan. This could be one reason why US embassy spokesperson declined comment on the story since the presence and the activities of the four armed men might be beyond the purview of the US embassy in Islamabad. There is strong evidence that the private US mercenary army, Blackwater, has also established office in the Pakistani capital. Authorities have received several complaints of ill mannered military-type westerners misbehaving or recklessly driving by. The Pakistani capital was the scene of at least two incidents recently where armed American diplomats verbally and physically assaulted Pakistani police officers. In one case, newspapers called for expelling an armed US diplomat who cursed and swore at the host country. The Pakistani government, which is known to be pro-American, refused to take action. The Americans appear to have recruited a large number of retired Pakistani army officers, in addition to quietly hiring Pakistani civil servants without making any of this public. A famous government university professor in Islamabad who is active in US media campaigns against Pakistan's nuclear program has also been hired as a consultant. Government employees cannot offer their services to foreign governments but this is happening now under an increasingly weak Pakistani state and government. Who Is Inviting US Military To Pakistan There are indications that the PPP government and some other politicians, like Nawaz Sharif, are encouraging the Americans to get involved in domestic issues especially as a hedge against a powerful Pakistani military. Politicians are aware they have led the country to a national failure on all fronts since the general elections in February 2008. The public mood is gradually turning against them. This has stoked the rumor mill about disgruntlement within the Pakistani military regarding the failures of the politicians. Washington is spending nearly one billion dollars to expand its Islamabad embassy. On completion, the US embassy in Islamabad will become the largest in the world. Interestingly, both the government, led by President Zardari, and the opposition, led by Nawaz Sharif, refuse to question why Washington has been granted exceptional concessions to construct an imperial-size embassy and how at least 18 acres of the most expensive real state in the capital has been handed over to the Americans for this purpose at throwaway prices.

Hamas will include Jordanian prisoners in any exchange deal

(MENAFN - Jordan Times) Top Hamas officials have vowed to include Jordanian prisoners in any future prisoner exchange agreement between the Islamist group and Israel, an activist said yesterday. The promise was made by Hamas leader Khaled Mishaal during a meeting with activists from the professional associations, according to Maysara Malas, head of the national committee for prisoners in Israel. "We received assurances from Mishaal that all Jordanian prisoners will be listed among detainees to be freed from Israeli jails in any upcoming prisoner exchange," Malas told The Jordan Times. Malas met Mishaal during the funeral of the latter's father, who was buried in Amman on Saturday. Thousands of activists from across the political spectra attended the funeral. Mishaal, who holds a Jordanian passport, was given the green light to officially enter Jordan last week "on humanitarian grounds" to attend his father's funeral after 10 years in exile. Malas noted that the association delivered an official letter to Mishaal on Sunday asking him to include Jordanian prisoners in exchange agreements with Israel. Malas said the government should "support all efforts" to have Jordanian prisoners freed from Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday said there was no imminent breakthrough on a prisoner exchange deal with Hamas amid media reports of recent progress, thanks to German mediation. The Israeli press has reported that the involvement of German mediators in recent months had led to progress in arranging an exchange of Gilad Shalit for Palestinian prisoners. The Israeli soldier was captured on June 25, 2006 by Palestinian fighters in a cross-border operation and is kept by Hamas as a bargaining chip. There are about 11,000 Palestinians in Israeli prisons, according to Palestinian officials. Earlier this month, activists and families of prisoners in Israel held a sit-in near the Prime Ministry to pressure the government to secure the release of 29 Jordanians in Israeli prisons and disclose the fate of around 30 presumed to be missing. The government has over the past years secured the freedom of dozens of Jordanians held captive in Israel. Some Jordanians are serving multiple life sentences, including Abdullah Barghouthi, who was handed 67 life sentences for his alleged role in bombings inside Israel. By Mohammad Ben Hussein

Pakistan forces kill 40 militants in Khyber raids

By RIAZ KHAN, Associated Press Writer


PESHAWAR, Pakistan – Government forces destroyed four militant bases and killed 40 insurgents Tuesday in a new offensive near Pakistan's famed Khyber Pass, the main route for supplies to U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan, authorities said.

The offensive follows a suicide blast in the region last week that killed 19 police officers at a key border crossing.

Tariq Hayat, the top administrator in Khyber, said 40 militants were killed and 43 arrested. The four destroyed bases belonged to the militant group Lashkar-e-Islam, he said. The death toll could not be independently verified.

Hayat gave no indication of whether a sustained operation was planned in the area, through which scores of trucks carrying fuel and other goods to U.S and NATO troops in Afghanistan travel each day. The convoys are often targeted.

Pakistan is under intense U.S. pressure to crack down on militants close to the Afghan border, a lawless region where al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden is believed to be hiding out. The Taliban there also help mount attacks against Western troops across the frontier.

Elsewhere in the northwest, the army claimed 105 Pakistani Taliban fighters had surrendered in the Swat Valley. Eight were close aides to Swat Taliban chief Maulana Fazlullah, said Brig. Salman Akbar, the army commander of Kabal town in the valley.

The Taliban were not immediately available for comment.

The army launched an offensive in Swat in April that the government says was a success, although no insurgent leaders were killed or captured and pockets of resistance remain. On Sunday, a suicide bombing at a police station killed 17 cadets training. The army says it has killed 45 militants in Swat since that attack.

Human rights activists have accused security forces of executing captured militants and dumping their bodies, but the military denies it.

Ramadan drummers return as Kashmir insurgency wanes

By Sheikh Mushtaq

SRINAGAR, India, Sept 1 (Reuters) - As soldiers watch from a distance, men beating drums walk the pre-dawn streets of troubled Kashmir to wake up Muslims to eat sohour, the last meal before starting a day of Ramadan fasting.

A centuries old Muslim ritual of human alarm clocks beating drums and bells in the pitch-dark hours of Islam's holiest month has returned to the strife-torn region.

With a decline in rebel violence the men, known as Sehar Khans, are among the few who venture out at night in Kashmir, where nighttime walkers run the risk of getting shot by nervous troops. Sehar means "dawn" in Kashmiri.

"I started the job this year, because I do believe that security has improved a lot," 55-year-old drummer Abdul Khaliq Bhat told Reuters.

"I am doing it for Allah and, of course, for some additional money for Eid celebrations," Bhat added, before starting to beat drums through a dark lane in Srinagar, Kashmir's summer capital, which is dotted with security check posts and police bunkers.

"Wakhta-e-Sehar (time to get up)," he shouts, as people wake up and turn on lights in their homes.

Ramadan culminates in the Eid al-Fitr festival when people go to mosques for prayers and visit friends and family to exchange gifts and greetings.

That is also when people tip the drummers for the service they have provided during the fasting month.

Most of the human alarm clocks are poor but some faithful do the job to earn sawab, or heavenly reward, during the sacred month.

"The militancy has disappeared now, that is why I decided to resume this sacred family job. It gives us satisfaction and this is a way you can earn more sawab," said another drummer, Mohammad Rafiq.

Simmering opposition to New Delhi's rule in Jammu and Kashmir, India's only Muslim-majority state, erupted into a violent revolt by Islamist militants in 1989. More than 47,000 people have been killed.

But a slow-moving peace process between India and Pakistan, which both claim the scenic Himalayan region in full but rule it in parts, has eased tension.

Now, as night falls, Srinagar no longer shuts down. Shops and restaurants which used to pull down the shutters before sunset stay open until late in the evening.

"It's an amazing feeling, the return of the Sehar Khan is definitely a harbinger of permanent peace," Kahlida Begum, a 60-year-old housewife said.

"Allah will answer our prayers."

Koreas restore regular cross-border traffic

By KWANG-TAE KIM, Associated Press Writer


SEOUL, South Korea – North and South Korea restored regular traffic across their heavily fortified border for their jointly run industrial park Tuesday in the latest sign of improved relations between the two, officials in Seoul said.

The North's state radio station, meanwhile, quoted leader Kim Jong II as saying that the U.S. should abandon its "hostile policy" toward the North and sign a peace treaty with the communist nation to reduce tension on the peninsula. His comments echoed statements he has made in the past. Pyongyang Radio didn't say when Kim made the remarks.

The U.S. fought with South Korea in the 1950-53 Korean War that ended in an armistice, leaving the North and South still technically at war. About 28,500 American troops are stationed in South Korea as deterrence against the North.

U.S. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said Monday he had no comment on the matter.

The resumption of regular traffic between the neighbors for their joint industrial park in the North was the latest indication of efforts by Pyongyang to reach out to Seoul and Washington, after months of provocations that included nuclear and missile tests.

The North had severely restricted traffic across the border since December. The clampdown affected the flow of goods and personnel to and from the factory park in Kaesong.

The border will open 23 times a day to traffic to and from Kaesong, up from the previous six times, Seoul's Unification Ministry spokeswoman Lee Jong-joo told reporters Tuesday. The number of people and vehicles allowed to cross the border at one time will no longer be restricted, she said.

"I don't have any sense of uneasiness," Han Maeng-woo, a 53-year-old South Korean worker, said as he left for the industrial complex. He said his company will be able to resume investment that was suspended during the inter-Korean tensions.

Kaesong is home to some 110 South Korean-run factories that employ about 40,000 North Korean workers. The project is the most prominent symbol of the inter-Korean cooperation that prospered under two liberal South Korean presidents following the Koreas' first-ever summit in 2000.

The reconciliation process and most joint projects came to a halt after conservative President Lee Myung-bak took office early last year. North Korea protested Lee's tough policies, such as linking aid to the impoverished neighbor to nuclear disarmament.

But in August, Pyongyang freed two American journalists and a South Korean worker held for more than four months of detention, agreed to resume joint projects and set a date for the reunion of families separated during the Korean War.


Pyongyang also sent an official delegation to Seoul to mourn the death of former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung, who met with North Korean leader Kim Jong II during the 2000 Korean summit.

The two sides agreed Friday to hold a new round of family reunions in late September. On Saturday, North Korea released four South Korean fishermen seized in late July after their boat strayed into northern waters.
Kelly said the U.S. is "encouraged by more dialogue between North and South."

Official: Iran is ready for nuclear talks

TEHRAN, Iran – Iran's state TV is quoting the country's top nuclear negotiator as saying Tehran is ready to cooperate with world powers to ease fears over its nuclear program and has prepared a revised package of proposals to present to Western countries.

The U.S. has given Iran a deadline at the end of September to take up an offer of nuclear talks with six world powers and enjoy trade incentives should it suspend uranium enrichment activities. If not, Iran could face harsher sanctions.

Iran has vowed it will never suspend enrichment work but is ready to provide guarantees that its nuclear activities won't be diverted toward producing weapons.

Iran's top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili spoke to reporters on Tuesday.

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

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran's conservative-dominated parliament is supporting President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's nominee for defense minister, who is wanted by Argentina in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish cultural center in Buenos Aires.

Gen. Ahmad Vahidi's nomination has already drawn an outcry from Argentina and Jewish groups but Iranian lawmakers hailed him as a hero with cries of "Death to Israel" as he addressed the chamber Tuesday.

The support raises the likelihood Vahidi will be confirmed as defense chief when parliament votes Wednesday.

Vahidi is one of five prominent Iranians sought by Argentina in the bombing, which killed 85 people. He was the commander of a special unit of Iran's Revolutionary Guard known as the Quds Force at the time of the attack.

AU leaders wrap up special summit on regional conflicts

Leaders of the African Union (AU) wrapped up a special summit in Libya on Monday which was aimed to tackle regional conflicts, especially situations in Somalia, Sudan's Darfur and the Great Lakes region.

The African leaders adopted the "Tripoli Declaration" and a plan of action to find urgent solutions to crises and conflicts in Africa, but they failed to submit any substantial proposals to resolve the conflicts during the summit, the third for the AU this year.

The African countries approved Libya's proposal to make resolving the conflicts of Africa one of the regular topics of the AU summits of heads of state and government, the final document was quoted as saying by local media.

The action plan urged African member states who have pledged to contribute to the AU peacekeeping mission in Somalia to honor their promises "rapidly."

On Monday, AU Commission Chairman Jean Ping told reporters before the opening of the one-day summit that three African countries, namely Sierre Leone, Malawi and Nigeria, had agreed to contribute forces to reinforce the peacekeeping mission in Somalia.

The transitional government of Somalia declared a state of emergency in the country in June, and appealed to its neighbors to send military forces to help it quell Islamist insurgency.

Uganda and Burundi are the only countries that have deployed 4,300 out of the proposed 8,000 peacekeepers in Somalia under the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM).

The African leaders also called for an international conference on the rising piracy off the Somali coast.

About 30 African leaders attended the special summit held on the eve of celebrations marking the 40th anniversary of the Libyan Revolution, which brought Libyan leader Muammar Ghaddafi to power after overthrowing Western-backed King Idriss on Sept. 1, 1969.

It is AU's second summit in two months. The 53-member organization normally holds two summits a year.

At its 13th summit held in Libya's Sirte city in July, the AU accepted its current chairman Ghaddafi's proposal to hold a special session on the consideration and resolution of conflicts in Africa.

The AU, established in 2002 to replace the Organization of African Unity that was founded in 1963, aims at preserving and promoting peace and stability in the African continent, carrying out the strategy of reform and poverty reduction and realizing the development and renewal of Africa.

Source: People's Daily.
Link: http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/90856/6744661.html.

Libya: Lockerbie bomber's health quickly worsening

By ALFRED de MONTESQUIOU, Associated Press Writer

TRIPOLI, Libya – The health of the Lockerbie bomber, who has terminal prostate cancer, has swiftly deteriorated since his release from a Scottish prison less than two weeks ago, said a senior Libyan official Tuesday.

The head of the Libyan State Information Agency, Majid al-Dursi, said Tuesday that Abdel Baset al-Megrahi is in the hospital and described him as "very sick."

"His health is deteriorating fast since he arrived," said al-Dursi. Asked how long al-Megrahi could still have to live, he answered: "Only God knows when it will be over. But he is dying now."

There was no way to independently verify his health, and it was not clear how long he has to live. Scottish officials released him from prison Aug. 20 on compassionate grounds due to his cancer, sparking an international uproar. At the time, Scottish officials said doctors had determined al-Megrahi had less than three months to live.

Al-Megrahi was the only person convicted of the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, which killed all 259 people on board the plane and 11 people on the ground.

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

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

Television footage on Britain's Channel 4 that aired Sunday showed al-Megrahi in the hospital, breathing through an oxygen mask and propped up by pillows.

Taiwan: China cancels events over Dalai Lama visit

By ANNIE HUANG, Associated Press Writer

TAIPEI, Taiwan – China canceled or postponed several events meant to highlight its rapidly improving relations with Taiwan, apparently to protest the Dalai Lama's visit to the island, Taiwan's ruling party said Tuesday.

The Tibetan spiritual leader's visit, aimed at comforting victims of last month's deadly typhoon, has posed the most serious challenge to relations between the island and the mainland since President Ma Ying-jeou took office 15 months ago on a platform of ending 60 years of hostility.

Taiwan's ruling party said it sent an emissary to China last week to try to explain why Ma approved the visit.

"Beijing's attitude toward this is important to us, so we tried to explain to them about Taiwan's thinking," Nationalist Party Deputy Secretary General Chang Rong-kung said.

He did not say how China responded.

China has canceled or postponed at least two planned visits to Taiwan, and nixed ceremonies meant to mark the expansion of direct air service, said Nationalist Party spokeswoman Chen Shu-rong. China had already said its delegation would not join Saturday's opening ceremony for the Deaf Olympics in Taipei.

An official with China Southern Airlines, however, said no ceremony had been planned for the direct flights, saying budgets are tight and such flights have become routine. The official requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to media.

Chen told The Associated Press China's actions could be linked to the visit of the Dalai Lama, whom Beijing accuses of seeking independence for his native Tibet.

"We do not exclude the possibility," she said.

Although annoyed by Ma's approval of the visit, China has so far carefully calibrated its response. Communist officials who canceled the visits were not high level, and ongoing economic cooperation with Taiwan was not disrupted.

On Tuesday, the Dalai Lama presided over a mass prayer service in the southern city of Kaohsiung to assuage the pain of Typhoon Morakot, leading some 10,000 worshipers in Buddhist chants.

His remarks were strictly religious, with no mention of politics.

Speaking on the first full day of his visit Monday, the Dalai Lama called on Taiwanese to work hard to preserve their democracy — a comment almost certain to be resented by China's communist leaders.

Beijing dislikes the Dalai Lama because he has a large international following, keeping China's heavy-handed rule over Tibet in the spotlight.

China had warned the Dalai Lama's visit was "bound to have a negative influence on the relations between the mainland and Taiwan" — a far harsher stance than its earlier comment that placed the blame for the trip on Taiwan's pro-independence opposition, rather than Ma.

Taiwan's opposition invited the Dalai Lama to visit and comfort victims of the typhoon, which killed 670 people. Ma later approved it but said he would not meet the spiritual leader.

A number of the Dalai Lama's planned appearances in Taiwan have been scaled back or canceled, prompting media speculation that Ma's government wants to show Beijing it is trying to rein him in.

But Presidential Office spokesman Wang Yu-chi denied the government was behind the program changes.

"His schedule was decided by the Dalai Lama himself, and we respect his decision," Wang said.

China and Taiwan split amid civil war in 1949, but Beijing regards the island as part of its territory. Since taking office last year, Ma has moved Taiwan's economy closer to China's and spoken repeatedly in favor of a peace treaty.

The result has been easing tensions in one of the world's most enduring conflicts.

America's Little-Known Natural Wonders

Spectacular destinations you may not know about

By Christopher Vourlias

Thanks to the work of conservationists and the National Parks Service, the dramatic landscapes of all the top wonders have been preserved, along with the lesser-known national treasures, like the remarkable spires of Fisher Towers or the subterranean marvels of the Lost Sea. Whether it’s a top wonder or a hidden gem, it’s worth remembering the words of Teddy Roosevelt, who looked with wonder across the Grand Canyon and remarked, “Keep it for your children, and your children’s children, and all who come after you.”

* * * * *

Mammoth Cave
Kentucky

Buried beneath the bedrock of central Kentucky is Mammoth Cave National Park, the longest cave system in the world. Sprawling across more than 50,000 acres, the World Heritage Site and Biosphere Reserve offers splendid spelunking. With 365 miles of known passageways, it dwarfs the competition: South Dakota’s Jewel Cave, the world’s second-longest cave system, boasts just 145 miles of passages.

* * * * *

Mt. McKinley
Alaska

The native Athabascans called it Denali, or “the high one” — an apt name for North America’s tallest peak. Soaring 20,320 feet above sea level, Mt. McKinley crowns one of America’s wildest frontiers in Alaska’s Denali National Park. The first climbers conquered the mountain nearly a century ago; today nearly half those who attempt the ascent make it to the top—though close to 100 lives have been claimed by the mountain through the years.

* * * * *

Fisher Towers
Utah

High above the rose-red landscape of southern Utah, these remarkable rock formations rise like sandstone sentries guarding one of the country’s most magnificent regions. Centuries of wind and rain have shaped the Fisher Towers; today the abstract, sculpted towers and spires attract legions of climbers. The ascent of the famous “corkscrew summit” isn’t for the faint-hearted: It’s a long 500-plus feet from the top to terra firma.

* * * * *

The Lost Sea
Tennessee

Buried deep beneath the surface in Sweetwater, Tenn., the Lost Sea is the largest underground lake in the U.S — and second-biggest in the world. Part of Craighead Caverns, it was discovered more than a century ago by a 13-year-old exploring the sprawling cave system. The caverns are filled with crystal clusters, stalagmites, stalactites, eerie rock formations and even an underground waterfall.

* * * * *

Two Ocean Pass
Wyoming

Straddling the Continental Divide, this mountain pass in Wyoming offers a unique aquatic phenomenon: a stream which breaks off into two tributaries, one flowing west toward the Pacific Ocean, the other flowing east toward the Gulf of Mexico, and, ultimately, the Atlantic Ocean. A fish could theoretically swim across the whole breadth of the continent via the pass — the only one of its kind in the United States.

* * * * *

Barringer Crater
Arizona

It’s believed that this massive crater in the Arizona desert — some 4,000 feet across, and nearly 600 feet deep — was formed by a meteor impact 50,000 years ago. Scientists estimate the hunk of cosmic rock was traveling close to 30,000 mph when it hit the earth’s surface. Barringer Crater was named for the engineer who was the first to suggest, in 1903, it was caused by a meteorite; three years later, President Theodore Roosevelt authorized the establishment of a post office nearby at Meteor, Ariz.

* * * * *

City of Rocks
Idaho

The only “city” in Idaho without a single soul to inhabit it, this collection of granite monoliths and soaring pinnacles includes rock formations more than 2.5 billion years old. Today the City of Rocks is a favorite for climbers, but it was wagon trains of California-bound settlers who left their mark in the 1840s. They scrawled their signatures on the rocks with axle grease, many of which are still visible today.

East Jerusalem Shuts Out Thousands of Prayers

By Mel Frykberg

QALANDIA, West Bank, Aug 31, 2009 (IPS) - The future of East Jerusalem and of Palestinian access to it has again been brought under the spotlight.

Thousands of Palestinians were turned away at West Bank checkpoints leading into Jerusalem by Israeli security forces as they tried to attend Friday Ramadan prayers at Al-Aqsa Mosque.

IPS witnessed dozens of heavily armed Israeli soldiers and police cordoning off the Qalandia border crossing south of Ramallah, and preventing hundreds of Palestinians from crossing through.

Women wept and elderly men argued with law enforcement officers. Several scuffles broke out, and a number of young men were beaten and arrested as they tried to force their way through the metal barriers.

The first Friday of Ramadan, Islam's holy month when Muslims fast from dawn to dusk, is one of the holiest days of the period. Praying at Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam's third holiest site, is considered a religious duty for all Muslims.

While thousands of Palestinians from elsewhere, mostly children, women over 45 and men over 50 made it to Jerusalem, the vast majority of the West Bank and Gaza's population of nearly four million people are forbidden by the Israeli authorities from travelling there.

This year many Palestinians from the occupied territories didn't even bother trying to get to Jerusalem.

Nevertheless, Israel's policy has caused immense anger. "East Jerusalem has cultural, religious, educational, business and family importance for Palestinians," Dr. Adnan Husseini, Palestinian Authority (PA) minister responsible for East Jerusalem told IPS.

"Without East Jerusalem as our capital there will be no Palestinian state and without a Palestinian state there will be no peace process. Without a peace process there will be no regional stability. No Arab or Muslim country will accept Israel's continued occupation of East Jerusalem," says Husseini.

Israel annexed East Jerusalem following the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, a move not recognised by the international community, which considers East Jerusalem a part of the Palestinian West Bank.

Palestinian apprehensions about their rights to the eastern sector of Jerusalem have been raised once again as it appears the U.S. might be caving in to Israeli intransigence.

U.S. State Department officials have acknowledged that a compromise from their previous firm stance on settlements laid out by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton may be necessary due to the inflexibility shown by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in recent talks with U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell in London.

A statement released by a U.S. State Department spokesman suggests that President Barack Obama could be easing pressure on Israel to cease settlement expansion and building in East Jerusalem.

P.J. Crowley said that the administration would be showing flexibility on "pre- conditions for all parties involved in Middle East peace negotiations.

"We put forward our ideas, publicly and privately, about what it will take for negotiations to be restarted, but ultimately it'll be up to the parties themselves, with our help, to determine whether that threshold has been met," he said.

Up until this statement the U.S. and the EU have repeated unequivocally that Israel is obliged to cease its settlement expansion and building in East Jerusalem as this prejudices a future settlement on the city and the peace process itself.

"The statements coming from the U.S. administration are ambiguous and we are concerned. We are waiting to be informed personally by the American administration if there has been a change in their policy. We don't believe the U.S. has the right to negotiate away our rights to East Jerusalem," Husseini told IPS.

"However, if Israel continues to build settlements in East Jerusalem, then the matter has to be handed over to the UN Security Council and sanctions placed on Israel. Why should we continue to negotiate with Israel if it continues to take our land?"

Prof. Moshe Maoz from Jerusalem's Hebrew University says it is too early to say whether there has been an about turn by the U.S.

"The language is very ambiguous but it is very worrying at the same time. I hope that Obama is not giving in to Netanyahu. This would be a disaster for all concerned, both Israelis and Palestinians. What is needed now is for the U.S. to increase pressure on Israel, not reduce it," Maoz told IPS.

"I think it could be a tactical move on the part of the Americans. They are aware that the settlement issue is stalling peace talks. There are rumours that Obama has a settlement plan in the pipeline which could involve final borders between Israel and a future Palestinian state.

"If this is true then I think the U.S. could come back to the issue of a settlement freeze in East Jerusalem at a later stage. One of Obama's former Mideast advisors Rashid Khalidi is from East Jerusalem, so I'm sure the President is well aware of the facts on the ground."

Meanwhile, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul-Gheit told reporters in Stockholm last Friday that East Jerusalem is Arab "and it will continue to be so." He said the Arab world expects the area to be included in a moratorium on Israeli settlements.

Are the Taliban Surrounding NATO Armies and Cutting them Off?

Are the Taliban Surrounding NATO Armies and Cutting them Off?
Why Washington Needs Iran and Russia

Juan Cole

 

August 31, 2009

There is an old saying in military affairs, that everyone wants to do strategy and tactics, but real men do logistics. That is, moving persons and materiel around and managing supplies seems tedious, but they are crucial to success. The Obama administration has substituted the Logistics of War for the War on Terror. It is moving troops and equipment and assets around in the millions, on a vast scale, and therefore its enemies--whether the Sunni radicals in Iraq or the neo-Taliban, are also concentrating on logistics. The staccato, desultory news items of bombings here and air strikes there, make sense if the individual incidents are viewed as struggles over supply lines-- whether supply lines for military purposes, or supplies of intangibles such as international legitimacy. And in this context, the gingerness with which Washington is now approaching Russia and Iran makes perfect sense.

The logistics war in AfPak were on full view Sunday, with the long fingers of blazing conflagrations jabbing the sky amidst billowing waves of jet black smoke both in Chaman in Pakistan near the Afghan border, and in Kunar Province. The bombing of supply trucks is to this war what u-boat attacks on supply ships were to the two world wars.

In Chaman, Dawn reports, "At least 15 oil tankers, trailers and containers caught fire in Chaman on Sunday night after a blast in a vehicle carrying supplies for NATO forces in Afghanistan." The NATO supply vehicle became a sitting duck because the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan has been closed for the last few days over a dispute about whether Pakistani border guards may search Afghan fruit trucks.

Meanwhile, a different sort of supply line was hit in Mingora in the Swat valley, when a Taliban suicide bomber killed 16 recent police recruits and wounded 5 others. The Pakistani Army had attacked the 4,000 Taliban fighters that were dominating Swat this spring, much to the annoyance of the people of Swat, and had largely expelled them. But obviously furtive Taliban terrorist cells are still able to operate there, even against police stations. The point of these special operations police recruits was to make the expulsion of the Taliban permanent.

On the Afghan side of the border, militants from the Hizb-i Islami or "Islamic Party" of Gulbadin Hikmatyar "stormed a NATO supply convoy and torched at least 10 vehicles in the troubled eastern province of Kunar," according to Pajhwok News Service.

Meanwhile, the Taliban have used pockets of Pashtun populations in the north of the country as a base to take over three districts that allow them to block supplies coming in from Tajikistan, according to McClatchy.

These setbacks are taking place even as US missiles slammed into a base of the militant Haqqani group in eastern Afghanistan, allegedly killing 35 guerrillas. The Haqqani group is cooperating with the Hizb-i Islami and with the 'old Taliban' of Mulla Omar in attempting to undermine the Kabul government and its NATO backers.

Both Hikmatyar and Jalal al-Din Haqqani were assets of the Reagan administration in the 1980s fight against the Soviets and they received large amounts of monetary aid from Washington, but have now turned on it.

In any case, the Taliban are obviously attempting to cut the supply routes that allow the US and NATO to keep their troops supplied with ammunition, fuel and food.

The hundreds of ballot fraud complaints now flooding into the offices of election monitors in Afghanistan threaten to deny legitimacy to the presidential election and thence to the Kabul government itself. In essence, the Obama administration and NATO intended those elections to form a supply line of international and domestic legitimacy, which has now been disrupted, apparently in some large part by partisans of President Karzai.

At the same time that NATO and the US are trying to move troops and materiel into Afghanistan, the US is attempting to move 1.5 million pieces of equipment out of Iraq, according to AP. Moreover, all but 40,000 US troops out of 130,000 now in country should be out by next year this time. Just as the supply trails into Afghanistan are vulnerable, so too are those out of Iraq. Much of the materiel is being put on trucks and taken south through Mahdi Army and Badr Corps (Shiite militia) territory to Kuwait in the south. Other trucks ply the once-perilous road between Baghdad and Aqaba in Jordan, going through sometimes hostile Sunni Arab territories. As the US forces and military equipment in Iraq dwindle, the remaining troops become more vulnerable.

As for the southern route, the major forces that can convince the armed Shiites to let the US leave in peace via Kuwait are the government of PM Nuri al-Maliki, which has been positioning the new Iraqi Army in the south and cultivating tribal levies there, and the Iranian government of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Should relations take a very bad turn for the worse between the US and Iran, the danger of Shiite militia attacks on the US convoys would spike.

Also in Afghanistan, the US increasingly depends on Russian good will, and Iran is influential in Herat, Mazar, the Hazarah regions and Kabul. Iran can play a positive role in its two neighboring countries, de facto acting as an ally of the US. Or it could play spoiler.

The United States has been made a hostage to Iran and Russia by George W. Bush's fooling miring of the US military in the midst of 300 million hostile, anti-imperialist Middle Easterners,

Obama's presidency may succeed or flounder on his success in the recondite art of logistics, both in the strict military sense and in a wider metaphorical sense, of putting the right personnel and "assets" in place for political victories.

In that regard, Iraq could well be a big win.

AfPak, so far no so much.

Jewish settlers plan massive construction

Vita Bekker

August 31, 2009

TEL AVIV // The accelerating pace of Jewish settlement expansion in East Jerusalem this year may spur violence between Israelis and Palestinians in the city and cripple new efforts by the Obama administration to kick-start peace talks, an Israeli anti-settlement group warned yesterday.

The "massive" construction being planned by Jewish settlers within Palestinian neighbourhoods in East Jerusalem is likely to prompt clashes, said Yudith Oppenheimer, the executive director of Ir Amim, a Jerusalem-based advocacy group.

"There is a combination of factors, including settlers invading Palestinian neighbourhoods, already annoying with their presence and control of houses and land and their mass construction plans when, next door, Palestinian neighbours cannot even build a balcony because they do not get a permit. This creates the conditions for violence," she said.

On Sunday, Ir Amim claimed that the Israeli government and the Jerusalem municipality had, during the first six months of 2009, helped pro-settler private groups advance plans to construct about 150 housing units in Palestinian neighbourhoods in Jerusalem. The units would be able to accommodate 750 settlers, adding to the 2,000 Jews already residing within Palestinian neighbourhoods, the group said.

Such construction in East Jerusalem is taking place despite calls by the United States, Israel’s staunchest ally, and other western countries for Israel to freeze all building in occupied Palestinian territory, including in East Jerusalem.

Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, is conducting intensive talks with the US on a compromise on the settlements issue. The two sides are expected to reach an agreement in coming weeks.

But Mr Netanyahu has insisted that Jerusalem is Israel’s "eternal, undivided" capital and during a visit to London and Berlin last week he said that "Jerusalem is not a settlement". In July, he rejected a US call to halt Jewish construction in East Jerusalem, saying: "We cannot accept the idea that Jews will not have the right to live and buy [homes] anywhere in Jerusalem."

Israeli media have reported that the administration of Barack Obama, the US president, may agree to continued Israeli building in East Jerusalem as part of a compromise that halts new construction in the occupied West Bank.

But Ms Oppenheimer cautioned that such expansion may be a "major threat" to solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. "Jerusalem is not just another house or hill," she said.

Groups such as Ir Amim say settlers’ building schemes are part of a bid to establish Israeli strongholds within Palestinian areas to prevent them from being easily claimed by the Palestinians in any future peace pact. According to the groups, the settlers are aiming to establish an irreversible situation that would block any compromise on the city.

Israel won East Jerusalem from Jordan during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and later annexed it in a move not recognised by the international community. The fate of Jerusalem is one of the most sensitive issues in the long-simmering Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state, which would also include the West Bank and Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. About 180,000 Jews live in East Jerusalem, including about 2,000 who reside in Palestinian neighbourhoods. About 270,000 Palestinians live in the eastern part of the city.

According to Ir Amim, the Jewish construction in East Jerusalem is "co-ordinated and facilitated" by the Jerusalem municipality and various ministries of the Israeli government.

Among the projects spurring the most concern among groups such as Ir Amim is a plan settlers have just submitted for approval to the Jerusalem municipality regarding Ras al-Amud, where 14,000 Palestinians reside. The plan includes building 104 housing units, a kindergarten, library, swimming pool and car park in the middle of the neighbourhood.

Akiva Eldar, a commentator for Haaretz, a liberal Israeli newspaper, yesterday said any backtracking by the Obama administration on a construction freeze in Jerusalem would be "so explosive that it would cause the negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians to crash and burn".

Iraq-Syria war of words escalates

Monday, 31 August 2009

Syria's president has hit back at Iraqi accusations that Syria supports deadly insurgent attacks in Iraq, calling the claims immoral and illogical.

President Bashar al-Assad was speaking as Turkey launched a diplomatic initiative to defuse a growing rift.

Iraq has accused Syria of hosting terrorist training camps and sheltering alleged masterminds of recent attacks.

France and Iran have also joined efforts to cool a row which threatens regional stability and co-operation.

Last week, Iraq and Syria recalled their ambassadors from each other's capitals following Iraqi allegations of Syrian involvement in two devastating bombings on 19 August in Baghdad which killed about 100 people.

Speaking at a joint news conference with his Cypriot counterpart, Dimitris Christofias, President Assad said Syria had asked Iraq to provide evidence to back up its claims, but had not received any response.

"When Syria is accused of killing Iraqis at a time it's hosting around 1.2 million Iraqis... the least that can be said about this accusation is that it's immoral," Mr Assad said.

"When Syria is accused of supporting terrorism, while it has been fighting it for decades... this is a political accusation that follows no political logic.

"And when it is accused of terrorism without proof, it is outside any legal logic," he added,

'Religious teaching'

Indicating from the Iraqi side that the row was far from being settled, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki said "90% of terrorists" of Arab origin had infiltrated Iraq via Syria.

He was speaking during a visit by Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmad Davutoglu, who was due to head to Damascus after meeting the Iraqi president and foreign minister.

In comments to reporters at Ankara airport, Mr Davutoglu had spoken of his desire to "re-establish trust and goodwill between the two sides" so that the crisis could be overcome.

On Sunday, Iraqi security officials made fresh accusations about Syria's alleged role, showing journalists footage of what they said was a Saudi militant confessing he had attended a training camp in Syria.

The 29-year-old, calling himself Muhammad al-Shamari, said he had then crossed into Iraq and carried out a number of attacks.

"They taught us lessons in Islamic law and trained us to fight. The camp was well known to Syrian intelligence," he said.

Last week, Iraqi police broadcast the confession of an Iraqi man, in which he said a former Iraqi Baathist based in Syria had ordered him to carry out the ministry bombings. It is impossible to verify any of the claims.

Ties between Iraq and Syria, ruled by rival branches of the Arab nationalist Baath Party, were characterized by strong mutual hostility for most of Saddam Hussein's rule from 1979.

Tensions resurfaced after the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, although diplomatic relations were restored in 2006.

Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki of Iran, a close ally of both countries, visited Iraq and Syria on Sunday in an attempt to mediate.

The French foreign ministry said on Monday: "We hope that Syria and Iraq will quickly return their relations to normal and continue building closer ties as they had been doing in recent months."

Before setting off to Baghdad, Mr Davutoglu said he had held a lengthy telephone conversation with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Sunday to discuss the dispute.

Source: British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).
Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8230635.stm.

Libya celebrates 40th anniversary of Gaddafi's rule

Tripoli (Earth Times - dpa) - Libya began Tuesday a week of celebrations marking the 40th anniversary of the coup d'etat that brought Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi to power in 1969. The festivities are being attended by Venezuela's president, Hugo Chavez, along with African leaders including Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe, and Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir.

The African leaders gathered in Tripoli on Monday for a one-day African Union summit that was set to coincide with the celebrations.

Many Western countries are only sending low-level diplomatic representation following international protests, particularly from the United States and Britain, over the hero's welcome Tripoli offered to the freed Lockerbie bomber Abdel Basset al-Megrahi.

France is sending its secretary of state for development, Alain Joyandet.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who met with Gaddafi on Sunday to celebrate Libyan-Italian Friendship Day, did not attend the ceremony.

Serbian President Boris Tadic will most likely be the only head of a European country to attend, according to Serbian dailies.

Tadic will be present at a military parade in honor of Gaddafi, where 26 members of the Serbian army will participate. Serbian Defense Minister Dragan Sutanovac will also be there.

To celebrate the day, a three-hour showcase event will be held in Tripoli on Tuesday night that the Libyans say will rival an Olympic opening ceremony, al-Jazeera satellite channel reported.

The celebrations will include military bands, 400 dancers depicting scenes from Libya's history, aerobatic flights and fireworks displays.

Russians mark 5 years since Beslan school tragedy

By MIKE ECKEL, Associated Press Writer


BESLAN, Russia – Wailing mothers and anguished relatives on Tuesday marked the fifth anniversary of Russia's worst terrorist attack, mourning the hundreds killed at Beslan's School No. 1 and haunted by questions over the botched rescue attempt.

Scores of people filed through the ravaged shell of the school's gymnasium, lighting candles, laying carnations and offering bottles of water to the victims of the 2004 attack, which saw 32 heavily armed militants hold more than 1,000 people hostage for nearly three days.

"I can't go on, I can't do it," cried one woman, who staggered about the gym wailing in Russian and the local Ossetian.

The ordeal ended on Sept. 3, 2004, in a disastrous rescue attempt that resulted in the deaths of 334 people, more than half of them children, in the North Caucasus town.

The Beslan attack shook Russia deeply and prompted then-President Vladimir Putin to push through sweeping changes to the country's electoral system, tightening the Kremlin's grip on power.

A recent upsurge in violence across Russia's North Caucasus, however has undermined the Kremlin's claims it is bringing stability to the region. Underscoring the problem authorities face, a passer-by was killed and 13 people injured Tuesday when a man detonated explosives in a car at a traffic police post in nearby Dagestan.

In the Beslan gymnasium, mothers and grandmothers grasped desperately at photographs of their lost children, which hung from walls below charred timbers and the remains of two basketball hoops. Many lit candles and whispered Orthodox prayers. Others placed bottled water at the base of the walls — a reference to the fact that the hostages went three days without food or water. Many were forced to drink their own urine during the siege.

Relatives and prominent human rights activists say the Sept. 3 rescue operation went horribly awry, with many victims dying from crossfire, accidental explosions and possibly even heavy weaponry such as flame-throwers wielded by federal forces.

Officials say the explosion that sparked the maelstrom on the third day were set off accidentally by the terrorists themselves. But relatives of the dead say government snipers may have killed one of the terrorists holding a bomb trigger, setting off a cascade of violence.

"Five years have passed and no one has been punished!" yelled Matras Tsallgov, whose brother and nephew died in the attack.

The only attacker known to have survived, Nur-Pashi Kulayev, was sentenced to life in prison in 2006.

Recovery, US troops priority for new Japan leader

By ERIC TALMADGE, Associated Press Writer


TOKYO – Japan's likely next prime minister will create a new Cabinet post to oversee national strategy and the economy, officials said Tuesday, and quickly turn his attentions to proving himself on the diplomatic front — an area in which he is virtually untested.

One of Yukio Hatoyama's first challenges will be with key ally Washington over a plan to move 8,000 U.S. Marines off the southern Japan island of Okinawa, a plan that could cost Japan as much as $10 billion. Some members of his Democratic Party of Japan have balked at that pricetag.

Hatoyama, whose Democratic Party of Japan won a landslide victory in parliamentary elections over the weekend, moved to cement a coalition with smaller allies Tuesday so that he can more easily steer the national agenda. He also met with top leaders of his own party to ensure a smooth transition and discuss his Cabinet appointments.

Hatoyama, a Stanford-educated Ph.D and the grandson of a former conservative prime minister, was to formally replace the Liberal Democrats' Taro Aso as premier in a special session of parliament to be held in the next few weeks.

His left-of-center Democrats soundly defeated the conservative Liberal Democratic Party, which has been in power for virtually all of the past 54 years. They now face a host of severe problems centered on rebuilding the world's second-largest economy and dealing with record-high unemployment.

One of his first moves will be to create a new Cabinet post to oversee fiscal policy and other top national strategy issues, a party lawmaker said. He is also expected to name one of the party's most senior members to take the finance minister portfolio.

"The new post will be a key department that connects the prime minister directly with the entire Cabinet," Kenzo Fujisue, a Democratic Party lawmaker in charge of national security issues, told The Associated Press.

Japan's Kyodo news agency reported that Hatoyama will not make his decisions on the lineup public until the last minute.

Hatoyama did not speak with reporters Tuesday.

Diplomacy — and particularly ties with Washington — were also likely to dominate his first months in office.
After being elected, Hatoyama was expected to travel to New York to attend a session of the United Nations, and officials said U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates is planning to visit Tokyo in October to discuss the U.S.-Japan military alliance.

The United States has about 50,000 troops deployed across Japan under a mutual security pact that has been in place for most of the post-World War II era.

Hatoyama's Democrats have said that they want to re-examine Tokyo's relations with Washington and bring to Japan a more independent stance that, while keeping U.S. relations as a cornerstone of their global policy, also places more emphasis on relations with Japan's Asian neighbors.

Security relations with the United States are good, but some details of the alliance could flare up into bigger problems.

Hatoyama's party has said it wants to end a refueling mission in the Indian Ocean in support of U.S.-led coalition forces in Afghanistan.

"We are not shifting away from the U.S., but want to figure out how to play a more complementary role," DPJ lawmaker Fujisue said. "The Japan-U.S. alliance is still the main pillar of our foreign policy."

The two governments are also working out the contentious details of an arrangement to move some 8,000 Marines off of the southern Japan island of Okinawa to the tiny U.S. territory of Guam by 2014.

The Marines' move has been complicated by the related issue of moving an air station now located in the crowded Okinawan city of Futenma. Washington wants the facility to be replaced with another airfield on Okinawa, but that plan has met with tough local opposition and has not been realized.

The Democratic Party has said the base should be moved off Okinawa.

Failure to find a suitable replacement could throw off the timing of the Marines' move and harm trust between the two governments.

Hatoyama's party has been vague on what it intends to do about the base but some members have also questioned Japan's contribution to the cost of moving the troops, which has been estimated at as much as $10 billion. Washington has insisted that it stick with existing plans.

"The United States has no intention to renegotiate the Futenma replacement facility plan or Guam relocation with the government of Japan," State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said Monday.

World's first cloned wolf dies: researcher

SEOUL (AFP) – One of the world's first two cloned wolves has died from an apparent infection, a professor who produced the clones almost four years ago said Tuesday.

Snuwolf (Seoul National University wolf) was found dead on August 26 at Seoul Zoo, Professor Shin Nam-Shik of the university told journalists.

Snuwolf apparently died of an infection and had no other health problems, Shin said. "But we can't say anything for certain until we complete the analysis of autopsy results."

He denied the death might be linked to a faulty cloning technique. "Sudden deaths among dogs and wild animals always happen. This death must not be blown out of proportion," Shin stressed.

Shin is a member of the team from the university led by Professor Lee Byung-Chun which created the world's first cloned dogs in early 2005.

The team also cloned two female wolves, Snuwolf and Snuwolffy, which were born in October 2005. Shin said Snuwolffy is alive and healthy at the zoo.

Their feat was clouded as it was achieved under the stewardship of now-disgraced cloning expert Hwang Woo-Suk. But a probe by an independent panel confirmed the canine cloning was genuine.

Poland marks 70th anniversary of WWII beginning

By RYAN LUCAS and DAVID RISING, Associated Press Writer

GDANSK, Poland – Officials from across the Europe and the U.S. gathered in northern Poland on Tuesday to mark the outbreak of World War II 70 years ago, in a ceremony bringing together former foes and friends to pay tribute to the tens of millions killed in the conflict.

Ahead of the international commemoration, Polish leaders came together at dawn on Gdansk's Westerplatte peninsula for a ceremony marking the exact time the German battleship Schleswig-Holstein shelled a tiny Polish military outpost where the Polish navy's arsenal was housed in the war's opening salvo.

Red and white Polish flags fluttered in the breeze as the officials at 4:45 a.m. (0245GMT) placed wreaths at the foot of the monument to the defenders of Westerplatte as an honor guard looked on.

"Westerplatte is a symbol, a symbol of the heroic fight of the weaker against the stronger," President Lech Kaczynski said. "It is proof of patriotism and an unbreakable spirit. Glory to the heroes of those days, glory to the heroes of Westerplatte, glory to all of the soldiers who fought in World War II against German Nazism, and against Bolshevik totalitarianism."

Prime Minister Donald Tusk echoed that praise, while warning of the dangers of forgetting the war's lessons.
"We meet here to remember who started the war, who the culprit was, who the executioner in the war was, and who was the victim of this aggression," Tusk said.

"We meet here to remember this, because we Poles know that without this memory, honest memory about the truth, about the sources of World War II, Poland, Europe and the world will not be safe.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin — representatives of the two countries that invaded Poland in September 1939, starting the war — were to take part in the commemoration later in the day.

Merkel told Germany's ARD television Tuesday that her country would never forget the "causes and effects" of the war.

"Germany triggered the Second World War," she said. "We brought endless suffering to the world."

Within a month of the Sept. 1 attack, Poland was overwhelmed by the Nazi blitzkrieg from the west, and an attack two weeks later from the east by forces from the Soviet Union, which had signed a pact with Hitler's Germany.

It was the beginning of more than five years of war that would engulf the world and see more than 50 million people slaughtered as the German war machine rolled over Europe.

Poland alone lost some 6 million citizens — half of them Jews — and more than half its national wealth.
During the German occupation, the country was also used as a base for the Nazis' genocide machinery, home to Auschwitz, Majdanek, Sobibor and other death camps built for the annihilation of Europe's Jews.

At the height of the war, the European theater stretched from North Africa to the outskirts of Moscow, and pitted Germany and its allies, including Italy, against Britain, France, the Soviet Union and the United States, along with a host of other countries, including Polish forces in exile.

The war in Europe ended on May 8, 1945, with Germany's unconditional surrender.

Around 20 European leaders and officials including French Premier Francois Fillon and British Foreign Secretary David Miliband will join Merkel and Putin for the ceremonies.

The U.S. will be represented by National Security Adviser James Jones. The delegation, which is lower-ranking that of most European nations, has disappointed some in Poland who view Washington as a close and historic ally.

U.S. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said, however, that it was no indication of a chill in relations between the two nations.

"There are very deep and extensive ties between the U.S. and Poland. We are bound by, by not only ethnic and cultural ties, but also by our membership in NATO," he said.

"We appreciate the, the tremendous sacrifice that the people of Poland made in World War II."

But the presence of Merkel and Putin has sparked the most interest in Poland.

Warsaw enjoys generally warm ties with Germany, and Merkel welcomed her invitation to the events, pointing to it a "signal of reconciliation" between the two countries. Both are members of the European Union.

She said Sept. 1 is "a day of mourning for the suffering" that Nazi Germany brought on Europe and of "remembrance of the guilt Germany brought upon itself" by starting the war.

Poland's relations with Russia, meanwhile, remain tense.

But in a letter to Poles published in the Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza on the eve of the anniversary, Putin called for "joint grief and forgiveness" in the hope that "Russian-Polish relations will sooner or later reach such a high level of true partnership," as Russian-German ties.

Mexico tries to evacuate thousands ahead of Jimena

By MARK STEVENSON, Associated Press Writer

LOS CABOS, Mexico – Emergency workers struggled to evacuate thousands of reluctant slum dwellers as extremely dangerous Hurricane Jimena approached Mexico's resort-studded Baja California Peninsula on Tuesday.

Jimena, just short of Category 5 status with winds of near 155 mph (250 kph), could rake the harsh desert region fringed with picturesque beaches and fishing villages as a major storm by Tuesday evening

Police, firefighters and navy personnel drove through shantytowns, trying to persuade some 10,000 people to evacuate shacks made of plastic sheeting, wood, reeds and even blankets.

"For the safety of you and your family, board a vehicle or head to the nearest shelter," firefighter Ricardo Villalobos bellowed over a loudspeaker as his fire truck wound its way through the sand streets of Colonia Obrera, a slum built along a stream bed that regularly springs to life when a hurricane hits.

Asked how many people were paying attention, he noted wryly, "not many."

Many residents feared that their few possessions — a TV, radio or refrigerator — would be stolen if they left.

Jose Miguel Leyva, a cab driver, nailed another plastic sheet to his rickety wood framed shack, vowing to stick it out as long as he could.

"We're putting all we can into the house," Leyva said. "They told us to go to a shelter. If it gets bad maybe we will. We can go in my car."

Roberto Hernandez, a community organizer, said he and other activists had formed a security brigade to ride out the storm and watch over their neighbors' possessions. "A lot of times, people steal their furniture, or whatever they can find," Hernandez said.

But Miguel Angel Juarez, an unemployed iron worker, packed clothing and his countertop gas grill into the trunk of his car before taking his family to a shelter.

"I'm not staying here," he said, eying the streambed that runs a few feet from his front door. "They say that when it rains here, this becomes a river."

The government warned that those who refuse to evacuate would be forced to do so.

"We are going to start by inviting people to leave ... the moment will come when we will have to make it obligatory," said Garibaldo Romero, interior secretary for the municipal government.

After official hurricane warnings were broadcast, organizers of an international financial meeting scheduled for Cabo San Lucas this week decided to move their conference — including more than 170 representatives from 54 countries — to Mexico City.

"The meeting has been planned for two months and the meteorological conditions, by their very nature, are unpredictable," said Anthony Gooch, spokesman for the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information, sponsored by the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Many tourists rushed to leave, leaving hotels with a 25 percent occupancy rate, according to the local hotel association. The group estimated 7,000 tourists were left in Los Cabos.

But on Cabos' famous beaches, some tourists were doing just the opposite, jumping into the Pacific to play in the hurricane's big waves.

Although city officials shut down the port, lifeguard Roman Dominguez with the Cabo San Lucas Fire Department said there's no feasible way to close a beach.

"We struggle a lot with surfers," he said. "They're looking for waves."

Lifeguards perched in a tower looked on Monday as two women, one with her boogie board, another on a surf board, paddled into pounding surf under cloudy skies.

Clay Hurst, 52, a fencing contractor from Malibu, Calif., and Ben Saltzman, 28, an emergency medical technician from Pacific Palisades, Calif., emerged from a swim in the 10-to-12-foot (3-to-4-meter) waves and pounding surf.

"We are waiting anxiously, wanting to be right in the middle of it," said Hurst, who said he has never seen a hurricane as powerful as Jimena.

"We were advised to leave, but we want to be here," he said. "I've always wanted to be in one ... a real bad one."

Saltzman echoed his friend's enthusiasm: "It's an adrenaline rush," he said.

Early Tuesday, Jimena was a Category 4 storm with maximum sustained winds near 155 mph (250 kph) and was moving north-northwest near 12 mph (19 kph), the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami reported. It was centered about 185 miles (300 kilometers) south of Cabo San Lucas.

Hurricanes reach Category 5 at 156 mph (250 kph).

Farther out in the Pacific, Tropical Depression Kevin had top winds of 35 mph (55 kph) and was expected to weaken to a remnant low later in the day or Monday night. It was centered 830 miles (1335 kilometers) west-southwest of the Baja peninsula's southern tip.

Calif. residents return to rubble as fires spread

By RAQUEL MARIA DILLON, Associated Press Writer

LOS ANGELES – Bert Voorhees and his son fetched several cases of wine from the brackish water of their backyard swimming pool, about all he salvaged from his home in deadly fires that have swept Southern California.

"You're going to be living in a lunar landscape for at least a couple of years, and these trees might not come back," said Voorhees, 53. "Are enough of our neighbors going to rebuild?"

Residents began to return to the ashes of their homes on Monday and ponder what's next even as the blazes fanned out, destroying 53 homes and threatening 12,000 others. Lack of wind has kept the flames from driving into the hearts of the dense suburbs northeast of Los Angeles.

"This is a very angry fire that we're fighting right now," U.S. Forest Service Cmdr. Mike Dietrich said Monday night. "I'm not overly optimistic but yet at the same time, our firefighters are going to be taking every action to keep this fire from burning more destruction."

Beth Halaas, who lives next door to Voorhees, knew her creekside home in Big Tujunga Canyon was gone when she saw her favorite Norwegian dishware on television news, but she was desperate to see for herself and cajoled fire officials to escort her through barricaded roads Monday.

"It's just stuff," she murmured, as her 5-year-old son Robert kicked at a deflated soccer ball in his sandbox. She raked ceramic cups from the ashes.

T.J. Lynch and his wife, Maggie, left for an evacuation center late Monday after the eerie orange glow on the horizon turned into flames cresting the hill near their Tujunga home.

"It's pretty surreal, pretty humbling, how your life is represented in these objects that you collect and then you have to whittle them down," he said, describing the difficulty of choosing what to bring with them.

He said his wife would miss the 1965 Mustang that she has owned since she was a teenager. He would miss the antiques that decorate their home.

"It's a beautiful place — is? Was? I don't know anymore," he said of their home.

The fire has killed two firefighters — Capt. Tedmund Hall, 47, of San Bernardino County, and firefighter Specialist Arnaldo "Arnie" Quinones, 35, of Palmdale — and charred 164 square miles of brush.

The 53 homes destroyed included some forest cabins, said U.S. Forest Service spokesman Dennis Cross. He did not know how many were full-time residences.

Fire crews set backfires and sprayed fire retardant at Mount Wilson, home to at least 20 television transmission towers, radio and cell phone antennas, and the century-old Mount Wilson Observatory. It also houses two giant telescopes and several multimillion-dollar university programs in its role as both a landmark for its historic discoveries and a thriving modern center for astronomy.

If the flames hit the mountain, cell phone service and TV and radio transmissions would be disrupted, but the extent was unclear.

The blaze in the Los Angeles foothills was the biggest but not most destructive of California's wildfires. Northeast of Sacramento, a wind-driven fire destroyed 60 structures over the weekend, many of them homes in the town of Auburn.

The 340-acre blaze wiped out an entire cul-de-sac, leaving only smoldering ruins, a handful of chimneys and burned cars.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Monday toured the Auburn area, where only charred remnants of some homes remained. At some houses, the only things left on the foundation are metal cabinets and washers and dryers.

East of Los Angeles, a 1,000-acre fire damaged one home, threatened 2,000 others and forced the evacuation of a scenic community of apple orchards in an oak-studded area of San Bernardino County. Brush in the area had not burned for a century, fire officials said. Flames burning like huge candles erupted between rocky slopes of the San Bernardino Mountains and the neat farmhouses below. A few miles away, a 300-acre wildfire that erupted on the edge of Yucaipa forced the evacuation of 200 homes.

With highs topping 100 degrees in some areas and humidity remaining low, the central and Southern California mountains were under a weekend warning of extreme fire conditions, the National Weather Service said.

Algerian women choose poetry over sitcoms in Ramadan tradition

By Hayam El Hadi for Magharebia in Algiers — 31/08/09

Sitting in a circle, women recite poems handed down by their ancestors from mother to daughter. They make wishes and look for clues to their future in the poems. Just as their elders did, they are playing bouqala, a women's rite practiced in Algeria mainly during Ramadan.

According to tradition, women gather after iftar, once their husbands have gone out. They meet at one of their houses, on a rooftop terrace if possible, to play bouqala.

The game involves sitting around a bowl (bocal in French, hence the name bouqala) filled with water from seven springs or seven taps. Each of the women puts in a jewel, ring, earring or brooch.

The eldest woman holds the bowl above a kanoun (earthenware container filled with embers and incense). She recites a bouqala – a poem from oral tradition that tells a story of love, sadness, marriage or long journeys. The women then take turns thinking of a particular person and dedicate the bouqala to them.

Depending on the poem, the women try to explain what the future holds: an encounter, a separation or a long journey.

Meriem, who has taken part in the ritual with her grandmother since she was very young, is doing all she can to ensure the tradition survives.

"Once a week during Ramadan, I invite over my cousins," she said. "We meet at my house to play bouqala."

"I used to play it with my mother and grandmother," said Meriem, who is now the mother of two girls. "We lived in the casbah. The women met on the terrace and stayed there late into the night. Each one would take her turn and the game would carry on until the men got back."

"It's a game that's just for women," she added. "It's an opportunity for women to have fun, but most importantly, to bring a bit of poetry and dreaming into their lives."

To ensure that tradition is not bypassed as a result of the modern lifestyle that Algerians now lead, many families would rather take part in this ritual than watch television every evening. Both seniors and young people have a role in maintaining the tradition.

"In my day, there was no television or Internet," El Hadja Fatma recalled. "The evenings were long and so we used to play bouqala to entertain ourselves. We used to spend many enjoyable times playing it."

"Even though we knew it had no powers of prediction, we believed the messages that the bouqala gave us," said the elder woman, as her daughter Hind listened attentively. "We were young dreamers, and when a bouqala told us we were going to meet a handsome man, we wanted to believe it."

For her part, Hind keeps a booklet in which she has written down all the poems that her grandmother knows.

"I think this heritage shouldn't be lost," said Hind. "It has survived for all these years because women have jealously guarded it. That's what I'm trying to do now by noting down all the poems."

"I've even recorded several cassettes," she added. "I keep these audio tapes and listen to them constantly. This is my favorite one:


The almond tree blossoms in the spring,


The Moon discovers its light,


Cheeks blush with modesty


Before the lover who gives himself away."

Source: Magharebia.
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2009/08/31/feature-03.

Ramadan traditions ease Algerian kids into their first fast

By Hayam El Hadi for Magharebia in Algiers – 28/08/09

Observing a child's first Ramadan fast is a special event that Algerian families celebrate with time-honored customs. The family centers activities around the child, especially during parties and celebrations held at the end of the fasting day.

In central Algeria, and to the east and west of the country, all of the child's family and friends gather together to help the youngster get through the first day-long fast. And although they begin preparing the boys and girls several days in advance, it is the child who decides when he or she is ready to fast.

"Children aren't forced to fast," said El Hadja Malika, who has more than a dozen grandchildren. "They do it when they feel properly ready, and on top of this, the knowledge that there will be a special party just for them is extra motivation."

When the first day of the fast arrives, usually on a Friday, the fasting children sleep late. As soon as they wake up, they are allowed to go for a walk to help pass the time. Fathers usually take their children shopping. They wander through the markets, and, money permitting, they buy their children anything they like. Once at home again, the youngsters take an afternoon nap, or watch television.

This is the moment when mothers start to prepare that evening's iftar. For the occasion of their child's first day of fasting, mothers usually prepare the child's favorite foods. Just this once, the child is allowed to sit at the grown-ups' table, enjoying food served on the best china.

Family and friends are invited to share in the iftar. Mothers prepare large quantities of sherbet, a drink made with sugar, cinnamon and orange flower water. Children break their fast with this drink.

Just before the Adhan, little girls put on traditional dresses, and are made up like brides with lots of jewelery. Boys breaking the fast wear an abaya or suit, and wait patiently for the iftar. Mothers shout for joy when children drink their first mouthful of sherbet, celebrating their offspring's first full day of fasting. It is an important moment, intended to help children associate fasting with happy times.

Radia, 10, told Magharebia about her first day of fasting.

"I fasted for the first time in my life," she said. "It was really difficult with the heat, but everyone helped me have a wonderful day."

"I went shopping and I even helped Mum get the iftar ready," she continued. "I wore a traditional karakou dress and some really beautiful jewels."

"My parents were very proud of me and I was very happy about being a grown-up," concluded Radia. "I'll never forget that moment."

Her mother, Saliha, made no secret of her pride. "Traditions absolutely must be preserved," she said. "I myself remember when my mother introduced this tradition to me."

"I'm keen to do it for my children," she added. "This is the way they should be introduced to Ramadan, and not think of it as a chore. It's a way of easing them into adult life."

Mothers are not the only ones intent on maintaining Algeria's Ramadan traditions.

"We try to keep up our traditions," said Radia's father. "Our children must remember this moment as having a certain magic. They are kings for a day."

"Our parents did that for us, we do it for our children, and we hope that they, too, will be able to continue the tradition," he added.

Source: Magharebia.
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2009/08/28/feature-02.