Top Afghan official threatens to quit after attack

By RAHIM FAIEZ, Associated Press Writer

KABUL – A powerful member of President Hamid Karzai's Cabinet threatened to quit after a suicide car bomb attack targeted him Sunday, killing five people, in the latest Taliban attempt to destabilize Afghanistan's struggling government. Two Americans were among six NATO troop deaths elsewhere.

Shortly after the bombing in the western city of Herat, Energy Minister Ismail Khan railed against the dramatic rise in violence in Afghanistan, saying that thousands of new refugees are seeking shelter in Herat because of militant attacks in outlying districts. Five civilians died in the failed assassination attempt, police said.

Two days ago, Khan said, a young man was hanged by militants only a couple miles (kilometers) outside a NATO base and Afghan government center. Kidnappings of wealthy family members are on the rise, including the abduction of girls, he said.

Khan said government security agents had warned him that insurgents planned to target him. Two earlier assassination attempts had been foiled, he said.

"Very clearly I want to say that if the government does not form a clear strategy to bring peace and security, and the situation continues like this, I will not participate in the Cabinet anymore," Khan said.

Taliban assassination attempts against Afghan officials have intensified this year, with more than 100 officials and pro-government tribal elders attacked — half of them fatally. Echoing a strategy of insurgents in Iraq, the targeted violence undermines the weak government and drives educated and competent Afghans away from official posts.

The convoy carrying Khan, a powerbroker in Herat and former governor of that western province, was headed to the airport when a suicide car bomb exploded outside a high school, said Raouf Ahmadi, a police spokesman. Khan said five civilians died and 17 people were wounded, including four of Khan's bodyguards.

A Taliban spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, claimed responsibility and said the target was Khan.

The Taliban assassination campaign is a strong sign of deteriorating security in the country, where a record number of U.S. and NATO troops have also died this year. The Obama administration is now debating whether to send more American troops to Afghanistan as its government faces allegations of widespread fraud from the disputed Aug. 20 presidential election.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates issued a stern warning to critics of a continued troop presence in Afghanistan Sunday, saying the Islamic extremist Taliban and al-Qaida would perceive an early pullout as a victory similar to the Soviet Union's humiliating withdrawal in 1989 after a 10-year war.

"Taliban and al-Qaida, as far as they're concerned, defeated one superpower. For them to be seen to defeat a second, I think, would have catastrophic consequences in terms of energizing the extremist movement, al-Qaida recruitment, operations, fundraising, and so on. I think it would be a huge setback for the United States," Gates said in an interview broadcast Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union."

But many Americans are skeptical of sending more troops to support a government in the midst of recounting votes from a tainted presidential election. Karzai currently has about 54 percent of the vote. If enough questionable ballots get thrown out he could drop below the 50 percent threshold needed to avoid a runoff.

Karzai's main challenger, Abdullah Abdullah, said Sunday he was satisfied so far with the recount, which is using a sampling of votes to speed the process and meet a narrowing timeframe to hold a possible runoff before winter snows block much of the country.

"We will follow up that process step by step till, God willing, a government acceptable to you comes to power," he told a crowd in Kabul.

Two U.S. service members died Saturday in the country's south — one from a roadside bomb explosion and the other from an insurgent attack, the NATO-led force said Sunday. A British soldier died Sunday from a bomb explosion while patrolling in southern Afghanistan, Britain's Defense Ministry said.

Elsewhere, three French soldiers died in a violent storm in northeastern Afghanistan late Saturday. One soldier was struck by lightning, while two were swept away by a rain-swollen river during an operation in Kapisa province, said military spokesman Christophe Prazuck.

This year has been the deadliest of the eight-year war for U.S. and NATO troops. The six latest deaths bring to 64 the number of NATO troops killed this month.

An airstrike Saturday by international forces in Wardak province, bordering Kabul, killed three Afghan civilians, said Shahidullah Shahid, spokesman for the provincial governor. Civilian deaths in airstrikes have infuriated Afghans, and the top NATO commander, U.S. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, has made protecting innocent Afghans a top priority.

Conservative Merkel captures 2nd term in Germany

By GEIR MOULSON, Associated Press Writers

BERLIN – German voters handed conservative Chancellor Angela Merkel a second term and a chance to create new center-right government Sunday, while her center-left rivals suffered a historic defeat in the national election.

Merkel succeeded in ending her "grand coalition" with the center-left Social Democrats led by challenger Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the current foreign minister, according to television projections. She can now form a government with the pro-business Free Democrats, who performed very strongly.

"We have achieved something great," a beaming Merkel told supporters. "We have managed to achieve our election aim of a stable majority in Germany for a new government."

She vowed to hold "swift and decisive" coalition talks with the Free Democrats' leader, Guido Westerwelle, who has been widely tipped as Germany's next foreign minister.

Merkel has argued that a change of coalition was needed to ensure stronger economic growth as Germany emerges from a deep recession. In joining with the Free Democrats, she hopes to cut taxes and halt a plan to shut down Germany's nuclear power plants by 2021.

"I think that tonight we can really celebrate, but I would say that after that there is work waiting for us," Merkel told the crowd at her party's headquarters in Berlin, who chanted "Angie! Angie!"

"I would not tell anyone to remain sober, but we don't want to forget that there are many problems in our country to be solved," she added.

Projections by the nation's public broadcasters, based on early vote counts and exit polls, put support for Merkel's Christian Democrats at up to 33.8 percent of the vote and for the Social Democrats at 23 percent. The Free Democrats captured nearly 15 percent, the Left Party had more than 12 percent and the Greens were at 10 percent or more.

Both ARD and ZDF television channels said that would produce a stable center-right majority in parliament. It was a major shift from the 2005 election, in which Merkel's conservatives squeaked in with 35.2 percent of the vote to the Social Democrats' 34.2 percent.

Sunday's election was the worst showing since World War II for the Social Democrats — who head into opposition after 11 years in government.

"There is no talking around it: this is a bitter defeat," a subdued Steinmeier said at the party's Berlin headquarters.

He vowed to lead a strong opposition.

"Our job in the opposition will be to very carefully pay attention to whether they can do it," he said of the incoming government.

Merkel made clear that she wants to maintain the consensual approach that has made her popular over the past four years.

"My understanding was, and my understanding is, that I want to be the chancellor of all Germans," she said.

The Free Democrats have called for far deeper tax cuts than the modest middle-income tax relief Merkel has pledged. Neither has said a date for the proposed cuts, which Steinmeier's party has opposed — arguing that they were unrealistic, in view of big government debt run up to combat the global economic crisis.

The Free Democrats leader was eager to join the government.

"We are pleased with this exceptional result but we know that above all else, this means responsibility," Westerwelle told supporters.

"We are ready to take on this responsibility," he added. "We want to help govern Germany because we need to assure that there is a fair tax system, better chances for education and that citizens' rights will finally be respected again."

Germany's three opposition parties appeared to have gained in the past four years, with all of them headed for their best results ever. In 2005, all three parties scored less than 10 percent of the vote each.

While the outcome Sunday was particularly painful for the Social Democrats, Merkel's party also performed poorly. The result wasn't much better than their own worst postwar performance — 31 percent, in 1949.

Still, Merkel's conservatives were relaxed, seeing the surge in support for the Free Democrats as a vote for their own leader.

"Together, they're all Merkel votes," the chancellor's chief of staff, Thomas de Maiziere said of the center-right's support.

Twin tigons born in S China wildlife park

Rare twin tigons, the offspring of a male tiger and a female lion, have survived their first 28 days since being born in a wildlife park in south China's Hainan Province, a park official announced Sunday.

The cubs were born in the Hainan Tropical Wildlife Park and Botanical Garden on Sept. 1, after the 106-day pregnancy of an African lioness.

The first tigons born in the island province, they are the offspring of Sha Sha the lioness and 4-year-old Manchurian tiger Guo Guo.

Tigons have features of both tigers and lions, with their heads usually resembling the mother and the body the father.

The tigons each weighed more than 1.5 kilograms and stood almost 30 centimeters tall, said He Zailin, director of the park's animal management department. They weighed 500 grams and stood no more than 20 centimeters at birth.

Tigons had a survival rate close to 1 in 500,000, said He.

He told Xinhua that the tigon is much rarer than the liger, a hybrid of a male lion and a tigress. "Because it's more dangerous for a lioness to give birth to babies than tigress, and the survival rate of tigons are much lower."

The twins were very healthy and the zoo was considering asking the public to suggest names, he said.

In China, tigons can also be seen in zoos in Shenzhen, a city of the southern Guangdong province and Xiamen, a city of east China's Fujian province.

Polls; Merkel on track to win 2nd term in Germany

By GEIR MOULSON and MELISSA EDDY, Associated Press Writers

BERLIN – German Chancellor Angela Merkel looked set to romp into second term and form a new center-right government after Sunday's national election, while her center-left rival conceded that his party had suffered "a bitter defeat."

Merkel, a conservative, was seeking to end her "grand coalition" with the center-left Social Democrats of challenger Frank-Walter Steinmeier and form a government with the pro-business Free Democrats instead.

Both the ARD and ZDF television networks forecast that Merkel was on track to get her wish — helped by a very strong showing for the Free Democrats.

Projections for the two stations, based on early counting and exit polls, put support for Merkel's Christian Democrats at 33.5 percent of the vote and for the Social Democrats at around 23 percent. The projections also showed the Free Democrats at nearly 15 percent, the Left Party at more than 12 percent and the Greens at more than 10 percent.

If the projections are borne out, it would be the worst parliamentary election result for the Social Democrats since World War II.

Steinmeier swiftly conceded that his party was headed into opposition.

"There is no talking around it: this is a bitter defeat," a subdued Steinmeier told supporters at the party's Berlin headquarters, vowing to provide a strong opposition to Merkel's new government.

Merkel had argued that a change of coalition was needed to ensure stronger economic growth amid the global economic decline. In joining with the Free Democrats, she hopes to cut taxes and halt a plan to shut down Germany's nuclear power plants by 2021.

Volker Kauder, the conservatives' parliamentary leader, said a center-right majority appeared "reachable."

"We have achieved our election aims and it is a good result for our country," Kauder told ARD.

Germany's three opposition parties appeared to have gained over the past four years, with all of them headed for their best results ever.

In 2005, all three parties scored less than 10 percent of the vote each. Merkel's conservatives squeaked in as the winners then, scoring 35.2 percent to the Social Democrats' 34.2 percent.

While the outcome was particularly painful for the Social Democrats, Merkel's party also performed poorly. The result was little better than their own worst postwar performance — 31 percent, in 1949.

However, Kauder argued that many votes for the Free Democrats were "Merkel votes."

Tulip Entered Europe Through Al-Andalus Five Centuries Earlier Than Believed

ScienceDaily (Apr. 21, 2009) — A new study carried out at the University of Cordoba and the School of Arabic Studies provides information on the arrival of the flower to Europe. Contrary to what was thought up until now, the first bulbs could have arrived to Holland, where today the tulip is the country symbol, through 11th century al-Andalus, five centuries before what was believed.

Researchers attempted to reconstruct the diversity of the flora present in the medieval period in al-Andalus (territory which today would be divided between Andalusia, Castilla la Mancha and areas of eastern Spain and southern Portugal) through the study of all known texts by Andalusian agronomists. This was when they discovered what appeared to be, for Esteban Hernández Bermejo and Expiración García, directors of research and researchers at the University of Cordoba and the School of Arabic Studies (Superior Council of Scientific Research), ¨the first historic reference to tulips¨.

In the Umda (Umdat al-tabib), a botanical work attributed to Abu I-Jayr and dated from between the 11th and 12th centuries, the ornamental use of this flower in the Iberian Peninsula's territories under Islamic domain is indicated. It is probable that a known 11th century agronomist from Toledo, Ibn Bassal (¨the onion-vendor's son¨) played a protagonist role in the introduction and the first cultivation of the tulip in Iberian territory.

The study, brought to light by the magazine Economic Botany, a publication promoted by the New York Botanical Garden, overthrows the traditionally accepted version that the tulip arrived to Holland from the Ottoman Empire, passing through central Europe.

According to the new theory, the ornamental origin of the flower is in Byzantium, and arrived to Europe by means of the Seljuq Turks, through what today is Andalusia. ¨We cannot be categorical with this, but we defend the proposed hypothesis and we give fairly solid arguments, ¨ explains Hernández Bermejo to SINC.

The groups directed by Hernández Bermejo and García Sánchez have spent more than 20 years ¨studying the texts and contributions of Andalusian agronomists and botanists to agriculture, the world of ornamental plants and medicinal plants, and the knowledge of our wild flora¨.

¨The existence of representations of tulips in the Temples of Konya (Turkey) which date from the 11th century, and the mention of al-Andalus in the Umda, point towards the introduction of tulips into the European ornamental world some 500 years before the references known up until today, ¨ indicates Hernández Bermejo to SINC. Previously, their expansion into Holland was situated at the end of the 16th century.

The tulip is the national flower in Iran and Turkey, in addition to the Netherlands, where its cultivation has been traditionally important for more than four centuries. But already by the 13th century, Turkish poet Mevlana Celaleddin Rumi defined the tulip as, ¨the most sad smile of them all¨.

Up until today, numerous theories have refuted the tulip's arrival to Europe from the Ottoman Empire by way of the Hapsburg Empire until reaching Holland. One of the more popular indicates that Ogier Ghislain of Busbecq, the ambassador of Ferdinand of Hapsburg I in Suleymán's court, was the first to alert the Western world as to the beauty of these bulbs, ¨which the Turks know as tulips¨, in 1554.

However, and in spite of the fact that Abu I-Jayr's agricultural document analyzed by Hernández Bermejo and García Sánchez precedes Busbecq's testimonies by various centuries, the tulip's Andalusian route has not been proven at this time. For the researchers, one of the reasons for this is that, ¨despite the feverish fad known as ´tulip mania´ which began in Holland in the 17th century; no testimony was gathered in our country¨.

The authors of the study examined the book Agricultura de Jardines (Agriculture of Gardens) without finding a trace of tulips, a manual written in 1604 by Gregorio de los Ríos, an expert gardener who Philip II later made Chaplain of the Casa de Campo. The monarch himself, affirm Hernández and García in their study, ¨was a connoisseur of botany and wrote about ornamental bulbs in the letters to his daughters, mentioning narcissuses, but not tulips¨.

The value of agricultural documents

The Umda, by Abu I-Jayr, is the most important contribution to the knowledge of wild flora in al-Andalus and the western Mediterranean, but it is not the only testimony gathered by the study to reinforce this new model of the history of tulips.

One century later, Ibn al-‘Awwam wrote his Kitab al-Filaba, one of the few Andalusian agricultural documents still conserved in its totality. The value of this encyclopedia on rural economy includes a multitude of citations from Andalusian and Oriental texts, which justifies its great historical and testimonial value.

About tulips, Ibn al-‘Awwam (who denominated the flower as a ¨Macedonian onion¨) says the following: ¨It is a type of yellow narcissus and comes from Macedonia, province of Alexandria. Its flower is yellow inside and pink outside, shaped like a cube. Another beautiful and aromatic flower is found in its interior. It grows in moist and mountainous places and is cultivated like the yellow narcissus¨.

At the beginning, the description of this ¨Macedonian onion with a cube-shaped flower¨ was confusing and did not allow scientists to identify it as the tulip. It was upon collating this text with the Umda -especially the morphological descriptions of the flower, its leaves, its roots and its flowering period- when the team realized that they were before the first historical evidence of the presence of tulips in Europe.

Now, the research team is about to complete, along with scientists such as Julia Carabaza from the University of Seville, a complete work on Andalusian Agricultural Flora.

Sweden agrees to accept camp refugees

Sweden and a dozen other European countries have agreed to accept Somali and Eritrean refugees from camps in Kenya and Sudan.

The refugees will be accepted into Sweden as part of quotas agreed with the UNHCR - the refugee organ of the United Nations.

"It feels good that Sweden can take part in such as large humanitarian operation," Dan Eliasson, the director-general of the Swedish Migration Board, told Sveriges Radio's news program Ekot.

Three further camps on Iraq's border with Syria will also be emptied in cooperation with the USA. The camps currently house mostly stateless Palestinian refugees.

"These camps are in the some of the most difficult places on Earth where the living conditions are dreadful. Now we can help to ensure...that these people that live there can come to Europe and the USA," Eliasson said.

Sweden is set to accept a couple of hundred refugees of the total of almost 3,000, according to Ekot.

Sweden has been a driving force within the EU to push member states to accept more of the so-called quota refugees. Sweden is the EU country that accepts the most, with a total of 1,900 last year, of the 4,800 that arrived in Europe.

Jordan, Syria seek greater integration

(MENAFN - Jordan Times) In preparation for the meetings of the Joint Jordanian-Syrian Higher Committee, members of the two countries' technical committee resumed their discussions on Friday, addressing means to increase cooperation in the fields of agriculture, education, electricity, energy, water and irrigation.

Co-chaired by Industry and Trade Ministry Secretary General Muntasir Oqla and Director General of the Syrian Prime Minister's Office Tayseer Zoubi, the technical committee meetings began on Thursday, amid hopes of increasing economic integration, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported from Damascus.

During the meetings, the two sides examined the commercial exchange volume and obstacles impeding the flow of goods between the two countries.

Oqla emphasized the need for reviewing the implementation of earlier agreements to take steps to increase the joint commercial exchange volume, which reached $570 million in 2008 and $313 million during the first seven months of this year.

To enhance cooperation, Zoubi said the committee members will draw up executive plans for the accords that have already been signed between the two sides to outline a time frame and streamline their implementation.

The Syrian official also called for increasing economic cooperation between Jordanian and Syrian businessmen as well as between economic entities to set up joint investment ventures, starting with the development of transport services.

Zoubi highlighted the importance of reaching a twinning agreement between the port of Aqaba and Syrian ports to link the Mediterranean and the Red Seas.

To facilitate their work, the delegates were separated into two specialized committees to review bilateral agreements and memoranda of understanding.

The economic committee will tackle financial, industrial, commercial banking and agricultural issues while the service committee will deal with issues of communication, education, culture, labor, tourism, energy and media cooperation.

Jordan and Syria were scheduled to begin talks on Thursday on issues of common interest, with the sharing of water from the Yarmouk River Basin topping the agenda, a government official said on Wednesday.

Jordan Valley Authority Secretary General Musa Jamaani, who heads the Jordanian side at the Jordanian-Syrian Committee of the Yarmouk River Basin, said that during the meetings, several issues will be discussed, mainly the Yarmouk River Basin hydrogeological study and how to end Syrian violations on the Yarmouk River.

The study, which will be carried out jointly by Jordan and Syria, seeks to evaluate the quantity and quality of water resources in the Yarmouk River Basin, identify the causes of their depletion, and propose means to protect the basin from pollution and arbitrary pumping.

Jordan urged Syria several times to stop the cultivation of crops upstream and downstream on the Yarmouk River as the farming activity slows the river's water flow and reduces storage at the Wihdeh Dam.

PNA, Hamas warn of worldwide tension over Jerusalem standoff

The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) and Islamic Hamas movement on Sunday warned that "Israeli attacks on holy places" could spark tension across the world.

The warning was made after tens of Palestinians were wounded by Israeli riot police in the Old City of Jerusalem.

Witnesses said that some 150 Palestinian prayers and a group of Jews clashed in the campus which contains al-Aqsa mosque and the Western Wall, they are Muslim and Jewish holy cites.

The Israeli police, which accompanied by the Jewish worshipers, fired tear gas and sonic blasters at the Muslim crowds and beat them with sticks, witnesses said.

"This is a new Israeli aggression on a pure part of the Muslims' belief and this alerts of unfavorable consequences, not only on the Palestinian people, but also on the entire world, including Israel," said Mahmoud al-Habbash, Palestinian minister of religious affairs.

He accused Israel of using excessive force "to blow up the peace process, evade from the political obligations and gets its government out from impasse after the international community knew that government's intentions against peace and stability in the region."

"If the international community did not intervene, everyone will repent," al-Habbash, who is also an aide to president Mahmoud Abbas, told Xinhua.

Meanwhile, Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, said that "the continuation of attacks on Islamic sacred places may open a round of confrontation against the Israeli occupation."

Ismail Radwam, a Hamas spokesman, told Xinhua that the consequences of the Israeli measures in Jerusalem "would be reflected in the Palestinian, Arab and Islamic nations."

On Sept. 28, 2000, former Israeli premier Ariel Sharon, an opposition leader then, broke into the complex of al-Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the Rock, fueling the outbreak of the second Palestinian uprising which is still glowing.

Radwan accused the PNA, which holds sway in the West Bank, of cracking down against the Palestinian militant groups in the West Bank, adding that "the Israeli occupation would never have dared to carry out such an aggression if the PNA were not uprooting the resistance."

Abbas has finally met Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York this week, in protest against the continued Jewish settlement in the West Bank.

Most of the Palestinian factions slammed the U.S.-sponsored Israeli-Palestinian meetings in New York, saying they annulled the PNA's stances not to resume the peace negotiations before the settlement stops.

Hamas leader to give unity reply

By Christian Fraser
BBC News, Cairo

Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal is going to Cairo to give a "final response" to Egyptian proposals of reconciliation with Palestinian rivals, Fatah.

Fatah, headed by the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and Hamas have been bitterly divided since Hamas took control of Gaza in May 2007.

So far there have seven rounds of dialogue, with no breakthrough.

The Egyptians have twice postponed the scheduled date for a signature as the row between the factions has festered.

But Khaled Mashaal's latest visit to Cairo is thought to be significant.

The Syrian-based Hamas leader is coming to give his side's response to a written Egyptian proposal on how they might finally come to an agreement.

Prisoner issue

The initiative calls on the two factions to form a joint committee to co-ordinate between Hamas-ruled Gaza and the West Bank run by the Mr Abbas and his Fatah party.

It sets out the deployment of a 3,000-strong security force in the Gaza Strip, and plans for general presidential and legislative elections in June 2010.

Fatah has accepted the initiative in principle, but other factions have since expressed reservations.

One of the main stumbling blocks is the issue of prisoners.

In the past both sides have accused the other of targeting their respective supporters.

Now each faction will be required under the agreement to supply a list of prisoners it is currently holding with a view to most of them being released when a pact is signed.

Gates: Mistake to set Afghan withdrawal timelines

By JIM KUHNHENN, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON – Defense Secretary Robert Gates is pushing back against liberal calls for withdrawal timelines from Afghanistan, saying it's a mistake to set a deadline to end U.S. military action and a defeat would be disastrous for the U.S.

In a stern warning to critics of a continued troop presence in Afghanistan, Gates said the Islamic extremist Taliban and al-Qaida would perceive an early pullout as a victory over the United States as similar to the Soviet Union's humiliating withdrawal in 1989 after a 10-year war.

"The notion of timelines and exit strategies and so on, frankly, I think would all be a strategic mistake. The reality is, failure in Afghanistan would be a huge setback for the United States," Gates said in an interview broadcast Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union."

"Taliban and al-Qaida, as far as they're concerned, defeated one superpower. For them to be seen to defeat a second, I think, would have catastrophic consequences in terms of energizing the extremist movement, al-Qaida recruitment, operations, fundraising, and so on. I think it would be a huge setback for the United States."

Gates' pointed remarks came as President Barack Obama re-examines his administration's strategy in Afghanistan and as the Pentagon sits on a request for additional troops from Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton suggested Obama's decisions will come after the election in Afghanistan is sorted out.

"This is not like an election in Western Europe or the United States, to carry out an election in these circumstances was going to be difficult under any conditions. It's not over yet," Clinton told CBS' "Face the Nation."

"We have to wait until it is resolved, hopefully very soon. Then make a new commitment on how to meet our strategic goals. And it's going to be up to the president to determine how best to achieve that."

Gates said Obama has made no decision on whether to send additional troops. He said if Obama were to choose to increase combat forces, they would not be able to mobilize until January.

The prospect of sending additional soldiers has created a backlash among some Democrats in Congress and has angered anti-war activists on the left who rallied behind Obama's presidential candidacy last year.

Sen. Russ Feingold of Wisconsin has said the administration should set a "flexible timeline" to draw down troops. Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, who heads the Senate Intelligence Committee, has called for a specific date for the withdrawal of U.S. forces.

"I do not believe the American people want to be in Afghanistan for the next 10 years, effectively nation building," she told "Fox News Sunday."

Others, such as Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin of Michigan, have not gone as far, but have urged Obama not to escalate the war.

Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the ranking Republican on the Armed Services Committee, said he hopes Obama will decide to commit the necessary troops.

"I think you will see signs of success in a year to 18 months, if we implement the strategy right away," McCain said on ABC's "This Week."

Obama sent 21,000 additional troops to Afghanistan earlier this year. But in a tough assessment of conditions on the ground, McChrystal warned that without more troops the United States could lose the war against the Taliban and its allies. Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen also has endorsed more troops, telling Congress this month Afghan forces aren't ready to fight the insurgency and protect the population on their own.

Gates rejected suggestions of a split over troop levels between the Pentagon's uniformed leadership on one side and Gates and Obama on the other.

"Having the wrong strategy would put even more soldiers at risk," he told ABC. "So I think it's important to get the strategy right and then we can make the resources decision."

He said the strategy review would be "a matter of weeks," but he said he would not submit McChrystal's request for troops to the president "until I think — or the president thinks — it's appropriate to bring that into the discussion of the national security principles."

In veiled criticism of the Bush administration, which he also served as defense secretary, Gates said the United States was too preoccupied with Iraq to have a comprehensive strategy for Afghanistan.

"The strategy that the president put forward in late March is the first real strategy we have had for Afghanistan since the early 1980s," he said.

24 wounded in clashes at al-Aqsa Mosque

At least 24 people have been wounded when clashes erupted between Israeli police and Palestinians in al-Aqsa Mosque in the occupied Jerusalem.

The clashes erupted on Sunday during a visit by a Jewish group to the site, also known to Jews as the Temple Mount in Jerusalem's Old City, Haaretz reported.

Fifteen Palestinian youths and nine policemen were wounded in the clashes.

Following the riots, the police arrested eight Palestinians and prevented worshipers from entering the compound.

It was not immediately clear what sparked the violence.

Israel occupied East Jerusalem during the 1967 Middle East war and later annexed it. The status of the city is among the thorny issues of the peace process with the Palestinians reiterating that any Palestinian state should include the city as its capital.

Yemen Welcomes U.S. Transfer of Guantanamo Inmate, Expects More

By Henry Meyer

Sept. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Yemen, which has about 100 citizens detained at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, welcomed the U.S. decision to send one of them home.

Mohammed al-Basha, a spokesman at Yemen’s embassy in Washington, praised the release of Alla Ali Bin Ali Ahmed, whose return to Yemen was announced by the U.S. Justice Department yesterday, the official Saba news service said today.

President Ali Abdullah Saleh has urged the U.S. to hand over all the detainees from Yemen, promising to prosecute any of them proven to have plotted attacks against U.S. interests, Saba said. Yemen earlier this year rejected a U.S. proposal to send some or all of the inmates to Saudi Arabia ahead of Guantanamo’s closure.

Yemen, the poorest Arab nation and the ancestral homeland of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, has become a safe haven for al-Qaeda members from Saudi Arabia, which launched a crackdown on the terrorist organization after a series of attacks in 2004.

U.S. officials doubt that Yemen can keep the Guantanamo prisoners from returning to terrorism, said Christopher Boucek, a regional security expert from the Washington-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Ahmed, 27, who was released after intensive negotiations with top U.S. officials, was ruled an enemy combatant by a military tribunal in 2004. His lawyers said he was an Islamic studies student with no connection to terror groups when he was abducted in Pakistan in 2002.

Al-Qaeda Bases

Yemen has a largely desert and mountainous landscape that government forces control only partially. Al-Qaeda has bases concentrated in the northeast of the country close to the border with Saudi Arabia, according to Saeed Obaid al-Jemni, a Yemeni expert on al-Qaeda and author of the 2007 book, “The Al-Qaeda Organization.”

Al-Qaeda twice targeted the U.S. embassy in Yemen’s capital Sana’a last year. The latest attack was a twin suicide car bombing in September 2008 that left 17 people dead, including six security guards and seven assailants.

Al-Qaeda’s Yemen-based organization threatened last week to launch more attacks inside Saudi Arabia, after attempting last month to kill the kingdom’s top anti-terrorist official, according to SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors militant Web sites.

President Barack Obama promised this month to provide U.S. support to Yemen’s government to bolster security. In a letter to President Saleh, Obama said the U.S. will soon present an initiative to provide more aid for Yemen through the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and Gulf countries, the Yemeni presidency said.

Yemeni forces urgently need helicopters and all-terrain armored personnel carriers for counter-terrorism operations, and high-tech surveillance equipment to monitor the 1,500-kilometer (930-mile) border with Saudi Arabia, al-Basha said in a phone interview Sept. 25.

Yemen is also battling a Shiite Muslim insurgency in the northwest on the Saudi border and a secessionist movement in the south.

Three detainees released from Guantanamo

WASHINGTON, Sept. 27 (UPI) -- Three detainees at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, prison camp have been freed -- one to Yemen and two to Ireland, the Obama administration said.

The transfer reduced the camp's prison population to 223, including an estimated 75 men the Obama administration has approved for future release, The Miami Herald reported Sunday.

The weekend transfer included Yemeni Alla Ali Bin Ali Ahmed, 26, who was sent home in compliance with a federal court order that said the U.S. government lacked evidence to indefinitely detain him on grounds he fought with the Taliban in Afghanistan or conspired with al-Qaida in Pakistan.

In March 2002, Ahmed was captured in a raid in Pakistan along with alleged terrorist Abu Zubaydah, who remains at Guantanamo.

The two detainees transferred to Ireland were citizens of Uzbekistan who feared persecution if they returned home, Irish authorities said. One of the men is believed to be Oybek Jabbarov, 31, said through his lawyer he wanted to work as a shepherd in Ireland, the Herald reported.

Palestinian fishers in Gaza Strip demonstrating for right to earn living without daily harassment

Maher Ibrahim

September 26, 2009

Gaza PNN – Fishers in the Gaza Strip are asking the international community for protection against daily Israeli aggression both at sea and on the shore.

The fishing industry has been effectively destroyed, Rami Abdo said today, by the Israeli war on the Strip and the continuation of aggression and harassment. Fishing boats and nets are often confiscated and destroyed, fishers are arrested.

Abdo, a spokesperson for the Popular Committee against the Siege said that the direct loss in revenue for each day of closure of the sea is up to 70,000 USD. Other losses are estimated at 30,000 USD per day.

Some 3,500 Palestinians fish in the Gaza Strip with about 700 boats. Engineer Salah Al Jihad from the Department of Fisheries in Gaza’s Ministry of Agriculture, said that 70,000 people live off the sea, and hundreds of those who fish with small boats are not registered with the Ministry. These are concentrated in the northern Gaza Strip where Israeli forces have killed three since the end of the major attacks in January and wounded 22 others. The Ministry has recorded 166 files of complaints of partial and total damage to boats.

The reign for boats along the Gaza beach which runs about 40 kilometers is down from more than 20 nautical miles to only five kilometers, and in some areas that number shrinks to three.

The Ministry of Palestinian Agriculture said today that if a fisher exceeds the boundary, he is subject to being shot, his boat destroyed and his fishing nets cut. Prison, interrogation and heavy fines are also possibilities.

Recently the Palestinian fishing industry was paralyzed to the point that demonstrations became routine in front of offices of international agencies and representatives. Demands include that the United Nations, European Union and the international community at large intervene to lift the naval blockade, and to demand a ceasing of fire and an end to the repeated violations of the right to fish.

Human rights monitoring organizations report that Israeli violations and aggressions against fishers are contrary to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of 1966.

Head of the Union of Fishermen in the Gaza Strip, Nizar Ayash, said, "The Israeli targeting of fishermen is part of the ring of closure. The marine problem includes fishermen being detained and violently beaten, both in the sea or near the beach in Gaza, Khan Younis, Rafah, and the central and northern Gaza Strip."

JK govt assures relief to Kashmiri migrants

Jammu, Sept 27 (PTI) Kashmiri migrants will be provided all possible facilities for return and rehabilitation in the valley, including Rs 7.50 lakhs per family to reconstruct their houses, the Jammu and Kashmir government said today.

"The state government is committed to provide better accommodation facilities to Kashmiri migrants in the valley and all efforts are being made to implement Prime Minister's package of Rs 1618.40 crore for this purpose," J&K Minister for Revenue, Relief and Rehabilitation Raman Bhalla said here.

As per the package, Rs 7.50 lakh financial assistance will be provided to the migrant families who want to renovate or reconstruct their houses located in the valley, he said.

They will also be provided accommodation by the government till they complete the reconstruction work, he said, adding the families who have sold their houses to form cooperative societies will be given financial assistance of Rs 7.

The Afghans Are Approaching the Day of their Real Eid

Afghan Resistance Statement
The Afghans Are Approaching the Day of their Real Eid
Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan

Shawwal 05, 1430 A.H, September 25, 2009

In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate

The Afghans are celebrating Eidul-fitre in circumstances that their country is under occupation of brutal invaders and mercenaries of the world who have turned the whole country, Afghanistan, into a prison and a torture cell because of their anti-Islamic and anti human policies and the hatred that they are nurturing. The miserable Afghans are grappling with threats, casualties, injuries and other various hardships at the hand of the invading troops.

Neither the Afghan farmers are able to cultivate their land with a peace of mind and relief nor Afghan shop keepers, businessmen, buyers and seller are able to commute between their homes and the market without fear. They are overwhelmed with the apprehension that the Mujahideen may ambush the foreign invaders convoy and the invaders would certainly retaliate by taking revenge on the civilians. They also have fear that they may become stuck among the vehicles of the foreign convoy and the invaders will ram one of their tanks into their vehicle.

The Afghans worshipers have their own concern. They hesitate whether to go to the mosque to pray there collectively or offer prayer at home because they fear that they might be ambushed by mobile or foot patrol of the invaders. Similarly, parents are worrying about their children until they return home from schools. They think, the invaders’ tanks might raid them or bomb their schools and seminaries under the pretext of being training centers of the armed opposition and they will come home bloodstained.

In short, the Afghans are not free from worries because of suppressions, atrocities and crimes of the invaders. They find no opportunity to take a breath of relief. Their functions of joys, festivities, mourning services and family relations are all suffering from the threats of the invaders.

On the other hand, the Afghan Mujahideen and the self-sacrificing heroes have turned the Afghan land into a field of fire and flames for the retreating and morale sagging troops under the leadership of USA. The invaders think that every mountain, valley, desert, gorge and village is a stronghold that may cause death and injury to them and they think that they will surely be ambushed and attacked from these places, or at least a mine explosion will certainly occur. They suppose every Afghan to be planning to attack them.

Pious country men!

We can assure you that in the near future, we will have festivities of the real victory of the Afghans, considering the vastness of the jihadic movement and the popular upheaval. The bulwark of the enemy is on the verge of breaking down. Some members of this alliance do not try to conceal that they are facing defeat in Afghanistan and that they have decided to pull out of Afghanistan.

In this historic confrontation with the invading coalition, the sacred sacrifices and blood of the Afghans will bear fruit and we pray to the Almighty Allah to bestow solace and comfort on the souls of the martyrs by establishing and stabilizing an Islamic system in the country.

Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan

Merkel centre-right hopes at risk as Germans vote

By Alexandra Hudson

BERLIN (Reuters) – Germans voted on Sunday in a federal election that looks likely to return Chancellor Angela Merkel to power but may deny her the center-right government she says is needed to revive Europe's largest economy.

Four years after taking office to lead an awkward "grand coalition" with the Social Democrats (SPD), Merkel enjoys high popularity ratings, and opinion polls give her conservatives a healthy 8-11 point advantage over their center-left rivals.

But after running a cautious campaign that was criticized for lacking passion and substance, support for Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) has slipped and she can no longer count on her coalition of choice with the business-friendly Free Democrats (FDP).

Should she fail to win enough support to team up with the FDP, she will probably be forced into the same uneasy right-left partnership she has presided over since 2005, dooming her plans to cut taxes and extend the lifespan of German nuclear plants.

Polling stations for Germany's 62 million eligible voters opened at 8 a.m. (2 a.m. EDT) and first exit polls are due at 6 p.m. (12 p.m. EDT).

On a sunny autumn day, early voter turnout was lower than at the last election, according to the electoral commissioner. By 2 p.m., 36.1 percent of voters had cast their ballots, down from 41.9 percent at the same time in 2005.

It may take hours to become clear whether Merkel's CDU has benefited from a quirk in German election rules that pollsters say could give them 20 extra "overhang" seats in parliament -- gains that could tip the scales toward a center-right majority.

An estimated one in five voters were still undecided on the eve of the vote, increasing the chances of a surprise.

"It was difficult to decide who to vote for, but I know who I don't want in government, so that helped me," said Katrin Rivier, a 49 year-old nurse voting in Berlin.

"I think it will be a very tight race today but I'm hoping we don't get a center-right coalition."

DEEPEST RECESSION

Merkel's SPD challenger Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who has been her foreign minister for the past four years, also cast his vote in Berlin. His party risks scoring under the post-war low of 28.8 percent it received in 1953, but he voiced confidence.

"I've felt a great amount of support and a lot of interest in our cause. And that's why I'm very, very confident about today," he told reporters.

The vote was taking place amid heightened security. Authorities have placed heavily armed police at airports and train stations after several al Qaeda videos last week threatened Germany with a "rude awakening" if voters back a government that keeps troops in Afghanistan.

Some 4,200 German soldiers are stationed there as part of a NATO-led force and all the main parties support the deployment, except the far-left "Linke," or Left party.

The election also comes at a crucial time for the German economy, which is just emerging from its deepest recession of the post-war era.

The next government will have to get a soaring budget deficit under control and cope with rising unemployment as the impact of 81 billion euros ($119 billion) in government stimulus spending fades.

Germany's fragile banks have reined in lending, sparking fears of a credit crunch. Longer-term, Berlin must find solutions to an aging population that threatens to send public pension and healthcare costs soaring over the coming decades.

NO RADICAL CHANGE

In spite of these challenges, the German vote is not seen as marking a turning point, and the next government is unlikely to push for radical new policies, regardless of its make-up.

Unlike voters in the United States and Japan, Germans do not seem keen for change. Many are content with the steady "small steps" leadership of Merkel, Germany's first woman chancellor and the only one to have grown up in the former communist east.

In her first term, she patched up relations with Washington after the strains of the Iraq war and won respect for brokering deals on climate change during Germany's dual presidencies of the European Union and Group of Eight in 2007.

At home, Merkel shelved economic reform plans she had advocated in the 2005 campaign and focused on traditional themes of the left, like family policy and the environment.

Last year, her government was slow in recognizing the significance of the financial crisis, but it then pushed through two stimulus packages, including a car-scrapping scheme that shored up automakers and was later copied by the United States.

Some analysts fear a new grand coalition would be less stable and harmonious than the first, possibly not surviving a four-year term.

"A revival of the grand coalition would be no more than a marriage of convenience, bound to fracture quickly," said Carsten Brzeski, senior economist at ING.

Turkey: UNSC should probe Israeli war crimes

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has called for a report on the alleged war crimes in the Gaza Strip to be reviewed by the UN Security Council.

A UN fact-finding mission led by South African jurist Richard Goldstone issued a report last week that said both the Israeli army and Palestinian militants had committed war crimes during the December-January war in the Gaza Strip.

Turkey, which is a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, could annoy the US by its call for taking the report to the Security Council.

The US has said the report should be discussed by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, not the Security Council.

"We will definitely take the position to discuss this issue on the Security Council," Erdogan told reporters in New York on Saturday.

The Turkish prime minister said through an interpreter that there should be "accountability" for anyone guilty of war crimes in Gaza.

"We're in favor of opening discussions on the Goldstone report. The guilty party should be identified and face the necessary sanctions," Reuters quoted Erdogan as saying.

Even if the Gaza war crimes case is taken to the Security Council, taking any measure against Israel is highly unlikely, because the US has traditionally used its power of veto to rule out any move against its main ally in the Middle East.

Gazans are still struggling to resume ordinary life months after Israel's "Operation Cast Lead" which resulted in the death of over 1,500 Palestinians and the injury of about 5,450.

Palestinian officials have warned about the spike in the number of birth defects in babies born in Gaza following the Israeli offensive on the coastal strip.

Eight months the Israeli offensive on the coastal strip, the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza on Friday warned about the spike in the number of birth defects in babies born in Gaza.

While West whinges, neighbors back Iran N program

Sun Sep 27, 2009

Amid Western hue and cry over Iran's newly-disclosed nuclear enrichment facility, two of the country's neighbors have voiced support for Tehran's nuclear energy program.

Iraq and Turkey have cautioned the West against imposing any new sanctions and urged guarantee of Tehran's right to the peaceful use of nuclear energy.

Iraqi president Jalal Talabani said that Western sanctions against Iran would not work and that only a real negotiation would help resolve the issue.

He also warned that his country will never allow Israel or any other country to use its airspace to carry out attacks against Tehran's nuclear facilities.

Iran's northwestern neighbor, Turkey has also urged caution over new sanctions, saying they will not be useful.

The Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is due to visit Tehran next month to discuss Iran's nuclear program with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Erdogan ruled out any attempts to impose sanctions on Tehran's gas industry, saying sanctions would be especially problematic for its neighbor Turkey.

The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, to which Iran is a signatory, gives the country the right to the full nuclear fuel cycle if used for peaceful purposes.

In line with its guarantee to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for clarity on its nuclear activities, Iran has informed the agency that it is constructing a second plant for uranium enrichment.

Tehran has denied seeking nuclear weapons and called for the removal of all weapons of mass destruction across the globe.

The UN nuclear watchdog in its previous reports had confirmed that Iran -- in its first enrichment facility in Natanz -- only managed to enrich uranium-235 to a level of "less than 5 percent."

Uranium, which fuels a nuclear power plant, can be used for military purposes only if enriched to high levels of above 90 percent.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/107222.html.

Iran successfully tests multi-missile launching system

The Islamic republic of Iran has successfully tested a multi-missile launching system in a military drill dubbed The Great Prophet IV in a bid to bolster its defense capabilities, Press TV has learned.

The system which is capable of launching several home made Zelzal rockets simultaneously has successfully been tested for the first time, Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Air Force Commander Brigadier General Hossein Salami told Press TV on Sunday.

A number of missiles including home-made Fateh-110, a short-range ground-to-ground missile and Tondar-69, a short-range naval missile, were also launched consecutively at mock targets across the country.

The Great Prophet IV maneuver, which is a sequel to The Great Prophet III carried out last year by the IRGC naval and ground forces in the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz region, started on Sunday and is expected to continue for several days in two phases.

The IRGC commander said the main objective of today's demonstration is to "evaluate the technical developments that Iran has achieved just recently in its surface-to-surface missiles," noting that long-range Shahab missile will be fired tomorrow.

He also added that medium range Shahab-2 missiles will be tested tonight.

Iran: US, UK, France deceiving world on their nukes

Iran's ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency has accused the US, Britain, and France of deceiving the international community over their nuclear programs.

In an exclusive interview with Press TV, Ali Asghar Soltaniyeh rejected remarks by President Barack Obama of US, British Premier Gordon Brown, and Nicolas Sarkozy of France over Iran's nuclear program.

The three leaders earlier attacked the Islamic Republic over its second under-construction enrichment facility, located 100 kilometers south of Tehran, calling it a "deception."

"I categorically reject that there have been any concealment or any deception," Soltaniyeh said on Saturday.

IAEA Safeguards Agreements declared that Iran is only obliged to inform the UN nuclear watchdog of the existence of enrichment plants 180 days before the introduction of nuclear materials into the facility.

The Iranian envoy noted that he gave a letter to the agency on September 21 and informed the deputy general, elaborating that its new plant would be operational in about 540 days.

He added that there were no obligations to inform the IAEA sooner, according to the agency's document 153.

"It is a pity that none of these three leaders have legal advisers to inform them that according to comprehensive safeguards we are only obliged to inform six months before we put nuclear material."

"This site does not have any nuclear material at all now," according to Iran's representative to the IAEA.

"The problem is that we are the victim of negligence of those who claim that they know in fact the international law. They are talking in the UN but they are not aware of the very principles of the Statue of the IAEA."

Soltaniyeh also clarified that Washington, London, and Paris deceive the people around the world by violating the Non-Proliferation Treaty articles.

"Those three countries in fact have violated for the last 40 years NPT articles."

"The United Kingdom has under secret program of the nuclear submarines so-called trident with over 30 billion pounds and the people of the world and even the British people are not well aware of that. This is a real deception that Mr. Brown has to answer the international community because this is a shocking threat to the international peace and security.

"France is also working on the nuclear weapon programs continuously."

"Americans are working hard on the nuclear weapon posture review. These are all deceptions and concealment."

The western countries have a "long-term strategy" and a "hidden agenda" to "destroy and jeopardize the spirit of cooperation between Iran and the IAEA in order to find an excuse and pretext for sanctions and other measures," Soltaniyeh concluded.

West Bank Closing in Effect for Jewish Holy Day

The routine closing of the West Bank through the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur is in effect and will remain so until midnight on Monday. The closure of Israel’s borders with the Palestinian territories is standard practice to prevent terrorist attacks during the holidays when the population comes together in synagogues, presenting tempting targets for terrorists, according to security officials. Public transportation, broadcast communications, ports, airports and entertainment facilities all close down for the 24-hour period during which Yom Kippur is observed.

Chavez, Qaddafi Call for African-South American NATO at Summit

By Matthew Walter and Daniel Cancel

Sept. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi called for the creation of a southern hemisphere alliance mirroring the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, to counteract the influence of the U.S. and Europe.

They spoke yesterday at the second South America-Africa Summit in Venezuela, where Chavez brought together 30 heads of state including Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil, Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe and Algeria’s long-time leader Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

“For African countries it’s closer to visit our brothers in South America and we share the same interests of liberation and revolutionary ideals,” Qaddafi said. “Colonialism humiliated us, insulted us and robbed us of our riches.”

Hosting the summit plays into Chavez’s goal of diminishing what he calls “imperial” influences and boosting ties with allies including members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries Angola and Nigeria.

The more than 60 delegations planned to sign accords on trade, energy, mining and agriculture, Venezuela’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

“A new world has already emerged, and it’s a new world that’s marching toward multipolarity,” Chavez told reporters at the United Nations on Sept. 23. “We have great expectations.”

Qaddafi, who travels with an extensive delegation, pitched his trademark tent next to the pool at the Hilton Hotel on the Caribbean tourist island of Margarita, where the summit is taking place.

Chavez, Qaddafi Met

Chavez met with Qaddafi on the night of Sept. 25 inside the tent which is decorated with images of palm trees and camels, according to images broadcast on state television.

Invitees included Sudanese President Umar Al-Bashir, who has been accused of war crimes in Darfur. Chavez in March called the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant for Al-Bashir a “mockery,” and said former U.S. President George W. Bush should be arrested instead.

Brazil’s Lula, who attended the summit ahead of a quarterly meeting with Chavez, is also seeking closer ties with Africa. Lula has built factories to produce anti-viral drugs in Africa, sent missions to teach irrigation farming on the continent and opened 17 African embassies since taking office in 2003.

Lula and Chavez are competing for popularity and influence across Latin America, and the contest has extended to other parts of the world including Africa, said Riordan Roett, director of western hemisphere studies at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University.

‘Quiet Diplomacy’

“Chavez’s approach is of the moment, to capture headlines,” Roett said in a telephone interview. “Brazil has been engaging in pragmatic ties, through quiet diplomacy.”

The South America-Africa Summit was the second of its kind. The first was held in 2006 in Abuja, Nigeria.

Chavez has used regional summits to make rhetorical arguments about increased “south-south” cooperation, Roett said. The summit isn’t likely to cause concern for the U.S., he said.

Chavez said Sept. 26 the final declaration of the summit will seek to set a concrete agenda of cooperation to follow during the next 10 years.

Rafael Ramirez, Venezuela’s oil and energy minister, said the delegations would discuss energy cooperation and that Venezuela is still studying the possibility of building a refinery in Mauritania.

“We’re working on agreements to develop refineries, boost storage capacity and cooperation on joint projects,” Ramirez told reporters. “Africa and South America have 24 percent of the hydrocarbons in the world.”

Iran test fires short-range missiles

By NASSER KARIMI, Associated Press Writer

TEHRAN – Iran said it successfully test fired short-range missiles during drills Sunday by the elite Revolutionary Guard, a show of force days after the U.S. and its allies condemned Tehran over a newly revealed underground nuclear facility that was being constructed secretly.

English-language Press TV reported that the solid-fuel Fateh-110, Tondar-69 and Zelzal missiles were test fired, but did not give specifics on range or other details. Both are short-range, surface-to-surface missiles.

Gen. Hossein Salami, head of the Revolutionary Guard Air Force, told reporters Iran tested for the first time a multiple missile launcher. Press TV showed pictures of at least two missiles being fired simultaneously and said they were from the latest drill.

Salami said the missile tests and military drills were meant to show Iran's strong resolve to defend its national values. The Revolutionary Guard controls Iran's missile program.

The tests came two days after Western intelligence officials and diplomats disclosed that Iran had been secretly developing a previously unknown underground uranium enrichment facility. The site in the arid mountains near the holy city of Qom is believed to be inside a heavily guarded, underground facility belonging to the Revolutionary Guard, according to a document sent by President Barack Obama's administration to lawmakers.

After strong condemnations from the U.S. and its allies, and a demand to open the site to international scrutiny, Iran said Saturday it will allow U.N. nuclear inspectors to examine the site.

Nuclear experts said the details that have emerged about the site and the fact it was being developed secretly are strong indications that Iran's nuclear program is not only for peaceful purposes, as the country has long maintained.

Iran has had the solid-fuel Fateh missile, with a range of 120 miles (193 kilometers), for several years. It also has the solid-fueled, Chinese-made CSS 8, also called the Tondar 69, according to the Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control, a private group that seeks to stop the spread of weapons of mass destruction. The Tondar has a range of about 93 miles (150 kilometers.)

Iran has previously tested the Zelzal missile, versions of which have a range of 130-185 miles (210-200 kilometers.

Water on Moon not of foreign origin: ISRO

MUMBAI: What’s the source of water molecules on the Moon? Have these originated from sources outside the Moon — the belief so far — or are these generated on the moon itself? According to Mylswamy Annadurai, Chandrayaan-1 project director, the water molecules came from the Moon surface — a major revelation made possible by the Indian mission.

Dispelling the age-old belief, Annadurai said: ‘‘The current thinking was that only other planetary bodies were the source of water molecules on the Moon. But, this mission has changed the thinking. The new theory is that the water molecules were not from an outside source, but are being generated then and there. This is now being analyzed.’’

Annadurai made this announcement on Saturday during a presentation at the SIES College where he honored a large number of student toppers.

Soon after NASA’s announcement that its Moon Minerology Mapper (M3) had discovered water molecules in the Moon’s polar regions, many space experts believed that the source of water molecules could have been anoutside source like comets or solar winds. They believed that these molecules could have been deposited several billion years ago and had remained there. Annadurai said these water molecules were found for the first time in the sunlight region of the Moon.

‘‘This is something new and we are also analyzing this phenomenon. The thinking was that these molecules could only exist in the shadowed regions of the Moon’s crater. ‘‘Chandrayaan-1 has revolutionized planetary science,’’ he added. According to him, the discovery of water molecules is only the tip of the iceberg. ‘‘It is only the starting point. More answers are coming,’’ he said.

Though Chandrayaan-1 was terminated on August 30 following a communication failure, it has obtained ‘‘reams of data”. ‘‘Chandrayaan-1 has shown that we can walk shoulder-to-shoulder with NASA. Chandrayaan-1 is truly a symbolic achievement and is set to cross greater historic milestones in the days ahead,’’ Annadurai stated.

He said one of the reasons why Chandrayaan-1 was able to complete its scientific goals within a year instead of two is because Isro obtained data from the mooncraft on a 24-hour basis instead of the earlier 12-hour schedule.

Israeli fire wounds 17 at Gaza funeral

Seventeen Palestinians were wounded Saturday when Israeli forces opened fire at mourners in northeastern Gaza City, medical sources said.

The sources said the Israeli forces, on the security fence between Gaza and Israel, targeted hundreds of mourners who were heading to a cemetery near the fence to bury three Islamic Jihad fighters killed in an earlier Israeli raid.

Islamic Jihad militants who accompanied the funeral responded to the Israeli fire, sparking fiercer Israeli reaction.

Ambulance crews and civilian cars took the wounded to the hospitals.

Prior to the shooting, senior Islamic Jihad leaders headed the angry participants across Gaza streets to mourn for the three fighters killed on late Friday when Israeli aircrafts targeted their car on a Gaza City road.

Israel said the three militants were involved in previous rocket attacks against its southern territories.

It is the first Israeli airstrike on Gaza militants' car since the 22-day Israeli large-scale military offensive on Gaza that ended on Jan. 18.

Dozens of masked militants also attended Saturday's funeral, firing small arm and machinegun-fire in the air despite a Hamas order banning public arms display.

Jihad movement responds to Egypt's reconciliation initiative

The Islamic Jihad movement on Saturday gave its response to an Egyptian initiative to achieve reconciliation and end the internal Palestinian feuds.

Dawood Shihab, spokesman of the less-influential Islamic group in the Palestinian Gaza Strip ruled by Hamas, told Xinhua that "our movement is in favor of reconciliation and all the efforts to end the feuds and bring unity to our people."

Egypt, which has been sponsoring the inter-Palestinian dialogue, presented in August an initiative to the leaders of the various Palestinian factions, aiming at ending the current split and achieving inter-reconciliation between rival Fatah and Hamas.

The initiative calls on the factions to reconcile and form a joint factional committee to coordinate between Hamas-ruled Gaza and the West Bank administrated by President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party.

It also calls for deploying a 3,000-men security force in the Gaza Strip, and prepare for general presidential and legislative elections on June 2010. Fatah accepted the initiative, but other factions expressed reservations.

"The elections are linked to having a national accordance among all parties, and security apparatuses had to be built up in accordance to national and professional principles," said Shihab.

He stressed that his movement also supports the release of the Palestinian prisoners in the West Bank and Gaza, adding "there are many Islamic Jihad prisoners in the West Bank and this issue has to be settled."

Egypt is scheduled to invited leaders of the two rival groups, Fatah and Hamas, soon to Cairo before holding a comprehensive round of dialogue in the first week of October.

Fatah's major rival Hamas will also respond to the initiative soon. Hamas bureau chief in exile Khaled Meshaal is scheduled to arrive in Cairo on Sunday for talks and to hand the Egyptians Hamas' response to the initiative.

The Palestinian feuds between rival Fatah and Hamas reached its climax after the latter seized control of the Gaza Strip and cracked down on Fatah movement and its establishments in mid-2007.

Man makes world's largest paintbrush

A Chinese artist has been recognized by the Guinness World Records organization for making the largest paintbrush on Earth.

He Wenjun claimed to have made the 12ft brush out of the hair from the tails of 300 horses and revealed that its 115lb weight almost doubles when it soaks up ink, Metroreports.

Wenjun said: "I am very proud to be the new Guinness record holder. It took me a year to make this brush, and nearly another year to learn how to control it."

The artist used the brush to draw traditional calligraphy at a special exhibition held in Nanchong, southern China.

Blast aimed at Afghan powerbroker kills 4 in west

By RAHIM FAIEZ, Associated Press Writer

KABUL – An explosion targeting Afghanistan's energy minister outside a girls school killed four civilians in the country's far west, police said. A Taliban official claimed responsibility for the Sunday morning blast.

Taliban assassination attempts against Afghan officials have intensified this year, with more than 100 officials and pro-government tribal elders attacked — half of them fatally.

The convoy carrying Energy Minister Ismail Khan, a powerbroker in the western region of Herat, was headed to the airport when the bomb exploded outside the high school, said Raouf Ahmadi, a police spokesman. Ahmadi said four civilians died and 17 people were wounded, including four of Khan's bodyguards.

He said Khan escaped unharmed and arrived safely at the airport.

A Taliban spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, claimed responsibility for what he said was a car bomb targeting Khan, who was once governor of Herat, a western province bordering Iran. He said Khan was among the dead, though Mujahid's claims often turn out to be false.

The Taliban assassination campaign is a strong sign of deteriorating security in the country, where a record number of U.S. and NATO troops have also died this year. The Obama administration is now debating whether to send more American troops to Afghanistan as its government faces allegations of widespread fraud from the disputed Aug. 20 presidential election.

US forces move into central Afghan city

By KEVIN MAURER, Associated Press Writer



NILI, Afghanistan – The soldiers hesitated as the mullah preached, unsure if they would be welcome at the celebration of one of Islam's highest holidays.

But when the sermon ended, the Afghans draped bright scarves over the soldiers' tanned necks. Then they pushed Chief Warrant Officer Chaka, a Puerto Rican with a thick black beard and a deep tan who could easily pass for Afghan, up front to speak. Chaka thanked the elders and showed them his hands stained orange for the Eid celebration.

"This is our home away from home," said Chaka. "We wanted to come over and be with our neighbors."

The event showed how these dozen Special Force soldiers have joined in the daily life of the town's 95,000 residents since they moved in a month ago. The team is among only a few U.S. troops to live in the midst of Afghans, but there will likely be more. The hope is to push Special Forces teams into villages throughout Afghanistan, giving them the mission of rebuilding and training Afghan police and soldiers.

For its part, the village of Nili, the provincial capital of Day Kundi in central Afghanistan, had built a living compound in hopes of attracting Western aid workers roaming Afghanistan in search of projects. It stood empty for two years, until Day Kundi's governor lobbied international forces for help. The request dovetailed with a plan by the top commander in Afghanistan, U.S. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, to forge closer ties between the U.S. military and Afghans.

"We are enthusiastic about this initiative and believe that it will go a long way to increasing security and enabling villagers to defend themselves," said Col. James E. Kraft, commander of the 7th Special Forces Group. "Everyday we are here, we are making our Afghan partners better. In the final analysis, the onus of security in Afghanistan will rest with its security forces. We want to work ourselves out of a job."

Day Kundi is one of Afghanistan's most peaceful regions, dominated by ethnic Hazaras with long-standing grievances against the mostly Pashtun Taliban. Nili sits in a sharp valley surrounded by towering peaks. Between the biscuit colored compounds and houses that make up the town are acres of almond trees, which the locals harvest. There is little industry and the province exports next to nothing.

Established in 2004 from several isolated northern districts in Uruzgan province, Day Kundi is dominated by ethnic Hazaras, who complain of persecution from their Pashtun neighbors. A Taliban saying about non-Pashtuns goes: "Tajiks to Tajikistan, Uzbeks to Uzbekistan, and Hazaras to goristan (graveyard)."

Day Kundi is a perfect testing ground in many ways, because it is so peaceful and progressive — it is home to one of Afghanistan's few female mayors — and so poor. Overlooked by development projects and the military alike, its streets are dirt, its schools are in shambles and it faces a shortage of water for crops. With winter fast approaching, any building projects will be difficult to complete until spring when the passes are clear.

The Special Forces soldiers spend their days in and around Nili meeting with local leaders, visiting schools and helping the doctors at the province's two hospitals. Everywhere they go, they bring soccer balls and backpacks for the children and radios and food for the adults. They never give out aid directly, relying instead on the elders or Afghan police.

"These guys have to learn how to do this," said Capt. Mark, a former enlisted Green Beret and helicopter pilot whose deep blue eyes draw immediate notice among Afghans. "That way when we are gone, the ideals are already in place." The Special Forces soldiers, who all have thick beards to blend in with Afghan culture, are only identified by their first names under rules for journalists embedded with them.

Last week, they surveyed a school south of Nili that was nothing more than a collection of torn white tents tacked into the mountainside. Dusty, threadbare rugs covered the dirt floors and there were no desks or school supplies for the 400 students.

"It has been nine years that these students have worked out of these tents," said Khanali, the school's 28-year-old principal.

Mark urged Khanali to get him plans for the new school so that he could send up a proposal for funding.

After a month, the Afghans are anxious for some of the building projects to start. Chief Mortaza, the provincial police chief who like many Afghans goes by only one name, said all people want is for the team to start fixing the schools and the mosque.

"If you put one stone on a building, we'll have a party," Mortaza told the soldiers. "Put one stone and the people will be trusting."

But the team is still in the assessment phase and is trying to figure out the needs of the province so they can target the best projects.

The soldiers joke that their Nili compound looks like a trailer park, surrounded by a head-high stone berm and razor wire. It lacks the guard towers and thick walls of the usual imposing Special Forces base. Supplied by helicopters and the occasional air drop from a cargo plane, the base is one of the most remote in Afghanistan.

Since its creation, Special Forces have trained foreign armies and toppled the Taliban by mentoring Northern Alliance fighters. But in the almost nine years since, Coalition units have focused much of their resources on raids. Mark, the team commander, said thousands of soldiers are attacking the "branches" of the insurgency in Afghanistan, but only living among Afghans will get to the root of the problem.

"We lost our way, but have found it again," he said.

Bolstering the strength and numbers of local security forces is also a historic Special Forces mission — and a central tenet of McChrystal's strategy. In Day Kundi, that means the Afghan National Police.

On Friday, a green Afghan police truck led the way over the mountains toward a makeshift range outside of Nili. It was a day off for the Afghan officers, but they were going to learn marksmanship.

"They don't just have to deal with shoplifters and car thieves, but the Taliban," said Staff Sgt. James, the team's 23-year-old weapons sergeant.

He set out targets — black silhouettes a few feet apart on plywood stands — and briefed the Afghans, then walked the line of nine officers to adjust their stances and get them to relax.

"Bend your knees," he said, his words translated by an interpreter. "Bring the gun to you, don't bend to it."

One police officer on the end of the firing line wasn't getting it. He became James' favorite student.

"Watch me," he said, showing the officer the proper movements.

By noon, the Afghans were catching on and firing full magazines, more accurately.

"They left better than when they came," James said.

Despite Day Kundi's poverty and isolation, the provincial governor — Sultan Ali Uruzgani — who appealed successfully for the Special Forces team — said he hopes it can be an example for Afghanistan's future.

"Day Kundi is a role model for the other provinces," he said. "The (Special Forces Team) is working very hard and the future of this province is very bright."

Philippine storm leaves 106 dead and missing

By JIM GOMEZ, Associated Press Writer

MANILA, Philippines – Rescuers plucked bodies from muddy floodwaters and saved drenched survivors from rooftops Sunday after a tropical storm tore through the northern Philippines and left at least 106 people dead and missing.

It was the region's worst flooding in more than four decades. The government declared a "state of calamity" in metropolitan Manila and 25 storm-hit provinces.

Tropical Storm Ketsana roared across the northern Philippines on Saturday, dumping more than a month's worth of rain in just 12 hours. The resulting landslides and flooding have left at least 83 people dead and 23 others missing, Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro said.

Many parts of the capital remained flooded Sunday, although waters were fast receding.

TV footage shot from military helicopter showed drenched survivors still marooned on top of half-submerged passenger buses and rooftops in the suburbs of Manila. Some dangerously clung on high-voltage power lines while others plodded through waist-high flood waters.

Authorities deployed rescue teams on boats to save survivors sighted during the aerial check.

More than 330,000 people were affected by storm, including some 59,000 people who were brought to about 100 schools, churches and other evacuation shelters, officials said.

The "state of calamity" declaration allowed officials to utilize emergency funds for relief and rescue.

Teodoro said that so far, army troops, police and civilian volunteers have rescued more than 5,100 people.

Many residents lost all their belongings in the storm, but were thankful they were alive.

"We're back to zero," said Marikina resident Ronald Manlangit. Still he expressed relief that he managed to move all his children to the second floor of his house Saturday as floodwaters engulfed the ground floor.

Mud covered everything — cars, the road and vegetables in a public market near Manlangit's house.

Governor Joselito Mendoza of Bulacan province, north of the capital, said it was tragic that "people drowned in their own houses" as the storm raged.

The most recently reported fatalities included nine people in Bulacan, most of them drowned. A landslide in northern Pampanga province killed 12 villagers. An army soldier and four militiamen drowned while trying to rescue villagers in southern Laguna province.

In the city of Marikina near Manila, a rescuer gingerly lifted the mud-covered body of a child from a boat. Rescuers carried away four other bodies, including that of a woman found in a church, after a search in a flooded neighborhood, an AP photographer saw.

Distress calls and e-mails from thousands of residents in metropolitan Manila and their worried relatives flooded TV and radio stations overnight. Ketsana swamped entire towns, set off landslides and shut down Manila's airport for several hours.

"My son is sick and alone. He has no food and he may be waiting on the roof of his house. Please get somebody to save him," a weeping housewife, Mary Coloma, told radio DZBB.

The sun shone briefly in Manila on Sunday and showed the extent of devastation in many neighborhoods — destroyed houses, overturned vans and cars, and streets and highways covered in debris and mud.

The 16.7 inches (42.4 centimeters) of rain that swamped metropolitan Manila in just 12 hours on Saturday exceeded the 15.4-inch (39.2-centimeter) average for all of September, chief government weather forecaster Nathaniel Cruz said, adding that the rainfall broke the previous record of 13.2 inches (33.4 centimeters) in a 24-hour period in June 1967.

Garbage-choked drains and waterways, along with high tide, compounded the problem, officials said.

Ketsana, which packed winds of 53 mph (85 kph) with gusts of up to 63 mph (100 kph), hit land early Saturday then roared across the main northern Luzon island toward the South China Sea.

The View from Khabarovsk: Russia's End

By PETER SAVODNIK / KHABAROVSK

Russians perennially fear that Russia will fall apart. The country is so big and so unwieldy that it seems always on the verge of implosion - like a bolshaya deryevna, or big village, riddled with ethnic fissures and political upheavals, always teetering between calm and chaos. Hence the appeal of the strongman - say, Josef Stalin. Someone to keep everyone else in check.

So the Kremlin and its clients held an Anti-Crisis Economic Forum earlier this month in the city of Khabarovsk, seven time zones east of Moscow in the Russian far east. Whether anything of substance emerged from the forum is unlikely. (Vyacheslav Shport, the governor of the Khabarovsk region, sounded like any old congressman when he suggested the key to economic recovery was more cash for a local Air Force base. "This is an excellent Far East project for the creation of high-tech innovation that could attract investment and defend industries from crisis events," he said.) Of course, substance wasn't the Kremlin's goal. The goal was to send a message to the locals (and especially local officials): You are part of Russia. You are being taken care of. We are one.

Fears of spontaneous disintegration have grown in recent years. First, much of the country did, in fact, disappear after the 1991 communist collapse, only to reappear in the form of 14 independent, post-Soviet republics. Then came the Yeltsin era, with its newfound freedoms and widespread sense of dislocation. Then, in 2000, came the Putin era, in which state-orchestrated television stoked fears of a return to the Yeltsin era (lest the masses not entrust their president with lots of power). Then, in May 2008, came Dmitry Medvedev, causing many to fret that the new president would not be as tough or undemocratic as his predecessor. Then came last September's Lehman Brothers collapse, triggering a global financial meltdown; the downturn fueled fears in Russia that the country was facing another crisis a la 1998, when tens of millions saw their pensions wiped out by inflation and Russia did indeed look to be unraveling.

All these developments - coupled with a population decline of as much as 750,000 yearly and longstanding, sometimes-legitimate - sometimes-not-so-legitimate - nightmares involving a Chinese invasion of Siberia - have prompted Russian leaders to reassert their authority over the whole of Russia

So they flocked to Khabarovsk.

You could tell something important was happening. The business class cabin in the seven-and-a-half-hour Aeroflot flight from Moscow to Khabarovsk on the Friday night prior to the summit was peppered with Kremlin officials and their bodyguards. A cavalcade of black SUV's, with tinted windows and the blue lights that signal someone important is inside, was waiting on the tarmac in Khabarovsk.

At the Parus Hotel, the only hotel in town that's (sort of) equipped to handle a delegation of Moscow bigwigs, there were hordes of militia and security-service agents hanging out in the lobby and outside the hotel. (Wi-fi, fine dining and down comforters, among other amenities, are not common in Russia outside Moscow and St. Petersburg.) At night, the almighty descended on the bar in the first floor of the Parus for a spot of vodka or black tea. The bartender, who declined to give his name for fear of losing his job, quipped: "They ate, they drank, they did nothing."

There's another, much more invidious force contributing to the whole disintegration hubbub: Russian markets' growing integration into the international economy - "not only with regard to oil prices but also when it comes to financial markets," says Alexei Moisseev, an analyst at Renaissance Capital, in Moscow. "Nobody expected the extent to which the financial crisis would hit Russia."

Moisseev noted that a plane ticket from Moscow to the Russian port of Vladivostok on the Sea of Japan is four times as costly as a ticket connecting Vladivostok and any major city in China or Japan. It takes just hours by train for anyone in Vladivostok or Khabarovsk, separated by China by the Amur River, to reach Chinese commercial hubs like Jixi and Shuangyashan. It takes nearly a week to get to Moscow. In Khabarovsk, the Lada, the boxy, no-frills Soviet compact ubiquitous in European Russia, is vastly outnumbered by Toyotas, Nissans and Hyundais on the highway connecting Irkutsk, on the eastern fringe of Siberia, with Vladivostok. "They call the Far East the Land of the White Toyotas," Moisseev says. He added that First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov had been spending a great deal of time in the Far East; in March, Shuvalov had taken part in another anti-crisis forum in Khabarovsk.

The Kremlin, always eager to stomp out political rivalry, nationalize industry and control the flow of gas and oil, may have its reservations about globalization, with all its inherent unpredictability. But the future of Khabarovsk - riddled with sushi bars, Internet cafes, boutique hotels and endless streams of Chinese and Korean tourists - is not in Moscow. For now, most of the Moscow nomenklatura don't seem to get this. That's why they keep having forums and talking about Air Force bases and throwing back shots of Ruskiy Standart at the Parus Hotel.

Gadhafi, Chavez promote Africa-South America ties

By IAN JAMES, Associated Press Writer

PORLAMAR, Venezuela – Moammar Gadhafi and Hugo Chavez urged nearly 30 leaders from throughout Africa and South America on Saturday to form a strong intercontinental alliance to make the two regions a new global power.

The Libyan leader, on his first visit to the Americas, called for the two regions to become a political and economic force, saying that together "we can transform the world."

Gadhafi proposed a defense alliance of South American and African nations, calling it "a NATO of the South" — an idea Chavez has raised with other allies in the past.

Seven South American leaders signed an agreement to create a regional development bank with $20 billion in startup capital, and Chavez offered to help create a "South-South bank" with African countries in the future.

The two-day meeting that began Saturday on Venezuela's Margarita Island addressed a wide range of concerns, from hunger in Africa to the economic crisis and demands for reforming the United Nations.

Chavez called it "a summit of great importance for the struggles of the South." Presidents discussed plans for joint projects in energy, mining, agriculture and other areas.

"Only united will we be free," Chavez said as he opened the summit.

The meeting gave Chavez an opportunity to attempt a greater leadership role outside Latin America while critiquing U.S. influence and promoting socialist-inspired policies. He said on Friday that by uniting, the two regions can confront a legacy of poverty left "by the empires of the North — by the empires of Europe, by the U.S. empire."

Gadhafi echoed some of Chavez's concerns about the world's economic powers in a wide-ranging speech Saturday, saying through an interpreter that "colonialism has stolen our riches."

Without naming any particular countries, Gadhafi also denounced what he called the "politics of the club" used by some nations against others.

Gadhafi made his first visit to Latin America after attending the U.N. General Assembly in New York, and met Chavez inside a trademark Bedouin tent next to the hotel's pool.

The Libyan leader said it was "humiliating" that his delegation had to travel 20 hours to reach New York, and held up a map while calling for more air routes between Southern Hemisphere nations.

In his U.N. speech, Gadhafi denounced the Security Council as the "Terror Council" for failing to prevent dozens of wars. He insisted on the need for U.N. reform as he addressed leaders in Venezuela.

"The situation we have in the Security Council is unsustainable," Gadhafi said, noting that one group "enjoys the right to a veto" while the rest "of us have no right."

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva agreed the Security Council has "lost relevance" and said "we should work together to reform it."

Gadhafi, who has ruled Libya since he seized power in a 1969 coup, has sought a greater leadership role internationally in recent years and is currently chairman of the African Union.

"South-South" cooperation was a buzzword at the summit, which brought together both the African Union and South America's fledgling Unasur group.

Argentine President Cristina Fernandez expressed hope that Africa will expand its potential to produce and export food and said her government is willing to provide technology and expertise to help.

African leaders including Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe and Algeria's Abdelaziz Bouteflika greeted Chavez warmly, some with handshakes and others with kisses on the cheeks. They were joined by South American presidents from Chile's Michelle Bachelet to Bolivia's Evo Morales.

Chavez called Gadhafi and Bouteflika the historic "liberators" of their countries and said socialism — both in Africa and in Latin America — will be "the path to the world's salvation."

He also said Venezuela is looking into energy projects in Africa.

Chavez has already announced that Venezuela may help build an oil refinery in Mauritania that could process 30,000 to 40,000 barrels per day and supply fuel to Mali, Niger and Gambia.

It is unclear how much the South American oil exporter is prepared to invest since it is coping with a sharp drop in its revenues due to lower crude prices.

Germans vote amid economic issues, Islamic threats

By MELISSA EDDY, Associated Press writer

BERLIN – Germans decide Sunday whether to return the nation's first woman chancellor to a second term in office following a lackluster campaign centered largely on economic issues and a rash of last-minute threats by Islamic extremists.

Chancellor Angela Merkel is hoping enough of the nation's 62.2 million eligible voters will support her conservative Christian Democratic Party to give them a solid enough standing to form a center-right coalition with their top partners, the Free Democrats.

In one of the final surveys before the polls were to open at 8:00 a.m. (0600GMT; 2 a.m. EDT) Sunday indicated the conservatives could capture 33 percent of the vote, while the Free Democrats were supported by 14 percent in the poll by the Forsa institute.

That would give them a razor-thin lead in parliament and allow Merkel to break with her partners of the past four years, Germany's other traditional main party, the left-center Social Democrats. In the Forsa survey they received only 25 percent support from the 2,001 people questioned. The poll gave a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.

Among the other parties currently represented in parliament, the Greens polled at 10 percent, just behind the Left party at 12 percent.

Despite their predicted status as third-strongest party, both the Christian and Social Democrats have ruled out a coalition with the Left, which burst onto the political spectrum in 2005 after the ex-Communists banded together with defectors from the Social Democrats, disenchanted by their party's swing to the center.

The Social Democrats, in power since 1998, are facing historical lows. Many analysts have argued they could benefit from a period in opposition that would let them regroup.

Security is tight across Germany, following a rash of threats by Islamic extremists apparently seeking to sway voters by threatening retaliation if they did not pull their 4,200 troops out of the NATO mission in Afghanistan.

Both Merkel, and her main challenger, Frank-Walter Steinmeier of the Social Democrats, ignored the threats in their parties' final rallies Saturday and instead focused on the key domestic issues of jobs and economic recovery.

Two videos surfaced Friday — one by al-Qaida and another by the Taliban — threatening retaliation for Germany's military presence in Afghanistan. The Taliban video showed top German landmarks like the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin and Munich's world-renowned Oktoberfest.

President Horst Koehler urged Germans go to the polls, recalling that the right to vote was not something to take for granted.

"People have died for the free, secret and equal right to vote. It's our democracy and we should not weaken it," Koehler said in a statement published in the Bild am Sonntag weekly.

Merkel ignores Islamic threats before German vote

By MELISSA EDDY, Associated Press Writer – Sat Sep 26

BERLIN – Ignoring threats by Islamic militants, Chancellor Angela Merkel and her main rival held their final political rallies Saturday before Germany's national election, focusing on the key domestic issues of jobs and economic recovery.

Two videos surfaced Friday — one by al-Qaida and another by the Taliban — threatening retaliation for Germany's military presence in Afghanistan. The Taliban video showed top German landmarks like the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin and Munich's world-renowned Oktoberfest.

In response, authorities on Saturday banned all flights over Oktoberfest until it ends on Oct. 4. The annual 16-day beer festival, which was targeted by a student bomber in 1980, draws some 6 million visitors from around the globe.

Security had been already tightened around the country after the first Islamic threats two weeks ago, with many more officers now visible at airports and train stations.

Merkel hopes to win a second four-year term in Sunday's national election and ditch her conservative party's "grand coalition" with her main rivals, the center-left Social Democrats, led by her foreign minister and challenger, Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

The 55-year-old chancellor wants to form a new center-right government with her preferred partners, the pro-business Free Democrats.

"Germany needs stability," Merkel told supporters on Saturday. "Stability is only possible with a strong (Christian Democratic) Union in a coalition with the FDP."

But a poll published Friday underlined how close Sunday's race could be, with Merkel's sound lead being whittled away in the past weeks.

The survey by the Forsa institute showed her Christian Democrats with only 33 percent of the vote, compared to 37 percent over the summer. The Social Democrats polled 25 percent and the Free Democrats had 14 percent, enough for a razor-thin lead with the Christian Democrats.

The Greens polled at 10 percent and the Left party at 12 percent. However, the two major parties have ruled out any coalition with the Leftists.

The survey of 2,001 people gave a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.

At his party's final rally in Dresden, Steinmeier accused Merkel of lacking the creativity to govern and warned that a victory for her party and the Free Democrats would benefit only the wealthy.

"Tomorrow's election is not just a decision for the next four years, but will decide (Germany's) direction for the coming decade," Steinmeier said.

Some 62.2 million Germans are eligible to vote. Germany is the world's second biggest exporter after China and the biggest economy in the 27-nation European Union. Despite pressure from other EU nations to back a bigger stimulus plan, Merkel has kept the country's unemployment rate hovering around 8 percent during the financial crisis using government-supported short-term contracts.

The role of Germany's more than 4,200 troops in Afghanistan has leapt into the spotlight after al-Qaida issued a string of threatening videos aimed at Germans.

Yet with both Merkel's conservatives and the Social Democrats supporting the Afghan mission, it is unlikely the threats will have a major impact on the election. Only the Left party supports an immediate withdrawal of German troops, and it remains a marginal force.

"At the moment, I am expecting that the terror alerts will generate no direct reaction of the voters at all, at least no reactions that could lead to a change of voting behavior," said Nils Diederich, a political scientist at Berlin's Free University.

In an audiotape that surfaced Friday, Osama bin Laden demanded that European countries pull their troops out of Afghanistan and threatened "retaliation" against them for their alliance with the United States in the war.

"Your operation here against Islam makes an attack on Germany tempting for us mujahedeen," a German-speaking Taliban fighter in Afghanistan identified as Ajjub said in a separate message released Friday by the Taliban.

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung reported Saturday that, given the recurring threats over the past two weeks, police have been closely monitoring terror suspects. The newspaper, citing unnamed security sources, said 19 apartments of German converts to Islam were searched in five different cities on Wednesday.

President Horst Koehler urged Germans go to the polls, saying the right to vote was not something to take for granted.

"People have died for the free, secret and equal right to vote. It's our democracy and we should not weaken it," Koehler said in a statement.