11 killed in Somali armed rivalry

Mon Oct 5, 2009

Heavy fighting between al-Shabaab fighters and Hizbul-Islam forces on the outskirts of Kismayo, in Somalia, have left 11 civilians dead and scores injured.

The fighting erupted 60 kilometers southeast of Kismayo late on Sunday and is reportedly still ongoing in a region called Jiijo Mahaad, a Press TV correspondent reported.

The leader of al-Shabaab, Ahmed Godane, and his counterpart in Hizbul-Islam, Sheikh Hassan Dahir, met for a second time behind closed doors near the town of Afgoye to resolve the deadlock.

The two leaders departed the meeting without a compromise.

Al-AShabaab has given Hizbul-Islam seven days to leave Kismayo.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/107905.html.

UAE signs law to give up uranium enrichment

Mon Oct 5, 2009

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has passed a law which would turn the country into a potential permanent market for nuclear fuel suppliers.

The UAE president issued a decree Sunday to enforce the law which would ban any uranium enrichment activity in the country, AFP reported on Monday.

"The government of the UAE has made a commitment in its nuclear energy law to forgo domestic enrichment and reprocessing of nuclear materials," said Hamad al-Kaabi, the UAE envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

"The UAE believes that it can achieve the necessary degree of fuel security through reliance upon mature and diverse international fuel services market without resort to domestic enrichment or reprocessing."

The UAE has invited Western countries to construct the country's first nuclear power plant to reduce the nation's dependence on hydrocarbons. Under the new law, it has to rely on nuclear fuel suppliers to provide it with uranium required to run its future plants.

The UAE has already set up the Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation which oversees nuclear security related issue in the Persian Gulf country.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/107901.html.

Iran says gasoline embargo 'impossible'

The managing director of the National Iranian Oil Products Distribution Company (NIOPDC) says that it is impossible to cut off gasoline supplies to Iran, notwithstanding all US efforts.

"Given the 7 percent negative growth of the developed countries and the likelihood of the insolvency of many refinery companies, any discussion of imposing an embargo on the supply of gasoline to Iran on the global markets is futile,” Farid Ameri said Monday, Iran's energy news agency, SHANA, reported.

“There is at present a great surplus of refinery capacity, and, to avoid insolvency, refining companies must produce and sell refined products,” he added.

“We are not concerned about securing the country's needed gasoline, and very soon will be able to provide our needed gasoline, with high quality, by using the potentials of our petrochemical industries,” Ameri said.

According to the NIOPDC head, the average daily consumption of gasoline over the first 6 months of the current Iranian year (starting March 21) had shrunk by 2 million liters (528,344 US gallons) to 66.5 million liters (17.6 million US gallons).

He predicted that, as new CNG supply stations come on line, more motorists will use the cheaper, cleaner fuel in preference to gasoline.

With regards to the media reports of a deal to import gasoline from Venezuela, Ameri said that no actual contract had yet been signed.

“What has been signed with Venezuela regarding gasoline imports is a memorandum of understanding (MOU)."

Ameri also said that the country's gasoline reserves had risen by 50 percent since last year, which is the highest it has been for 15 years.

In a piece of extraterritorial legislation, the US House of Representatives approved a bill on October 1 that would seek to punish non-US companies from supplying gasoline to Iran.

Since the popular 1979 revolution that deposed the absolute monarchy of pro-US Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the US been ratcheting up its national and extraterritorial sanctions against Iran.

Al-Aqsa mosque under siege by Israeli police

Israel has deployed thousands of security forces in and around the Al-Aqsa mosque compound amid heightened tensions over the closure of the holy site in East Jerusalem Al-Quds.

Tensions were running high in the Holy City on Monday, as tens of thousands of Jews attended a religious ceremony in the compound--known to Muslims as Al-Haram Al-Sharif and to Jews as the Temple Mount, AFP reported.

An estimated 30,000 Jews prayed at the Western Wall, below Al-Aqsa, for the Priestly Blessing ceremony, a highlight of the Sukkot celebrations.

Israeli police restricted access to the mosque compound to Muslim men aged 50 and over, with no restrictions for women, after Sunday's clashes, in which seven Palestinian protesters were injured and three arrested.

"These measures were taken to avert new incidents on the compound and the Old City and to prevent stones being thrown at the Jewish faithful who come to pray at the Western Wall," Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld claimed.

Clashes broke out after more than 150 Palestinians protested the closure of the holy compound, following what the Israelis claimed to be calls by the Palestinian media to "come protect the Mount."

Israel occupied East Jerusalem Al-Quds during a 1967 aggression and later annexed it. The status of the city is among the thorniest issues of the peace process with the Palestinians, underscoring the reality that any Palestinian state should include the city as its capital.

Iranian film gets 3 awards in Russian filmfest

Iranian filmmaker Panahbarkhoda Rezaei's A Light in the Fog has won three awards at Russia's Golden Minbar Muslim Film Festival.

The 76-minute film won the event's best director award for Rezaei, best cinematography award for Ali-Mohammad Qasemi, and the best actress award for Parivash Nazariyyeh, ISNA reported.

A Light in the Fog recounts a story of a widow and her ailing father, who make a living by mending oil lamps and making charcoal.

An Iranian-sponsored film, Snow, directed by Bosnian filmmaker Aida Begic, also won the festival's best screenplay award for a fiction film, as well as the Guild of Film Critics' award for a gentle, but accurate account of the lives of Bosnian women who had survived the Serbian aggression.

The festival's prize for the best non-fiction film went to Hungarian filmmaker Ferenk Moldovanu for Another Planet. The film, Daughter of Maryam, from the United Arab Emirates, was selected as the best short film.

The fifth edition of the Golden Minbar International Muslim Film Festival was held from September 30 to October 4 in Tatarstan's capital of Kazan.

South Sudan slams government for violence

Mon Oct 5, 2009

Sudan's semi-autonomous region in the south has blasted the central government for what it describes as the escalation of violence in the country.

The United Nations records suggest that the tribal cattle raids in the south are increasingly taking the form of organized crimes claiming 1,200 lives only this year.

The past three days have seen the killing of at least 23 people in the marshy Jonglei state in the south.

"President Salva Kiir held a press conference and blamed the Sudanese army for that action in Jonglei by forming militia groups and giving them orders to attack citizens," said Atem Simon, a communications officer for Kiir's Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) party that has claimed autonomy in the south.

"He said ... there is no doubt that these arms are coming from the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF)," Simon told Reuters.

Sudan's central government denies claims by the south that it is provoking violence between the north and south.

Sudan blames the violence on the rebels that declared war on the country on December 23.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/107892.html.

Rezaei to publish a new newspaper

Iranian defeated presidential candidate Mohsen Rezaei has been granted the right to publish a newspaper, named Mellat-e-Ma, meaning 'Our Nation.'

The Press Supervisory Committee agreed with the publication of Mellat-e-Ma along with another newspaper, three monthlies, and 11 seasonal magazines in a Monday session.

Rezaei was one of the four candidates in Iran's June 12 presidential election, which saw the incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad re-elected by a landslide.

Rezaei, Secretary of Iran's Expediency Council, is reportedly associated with the news website, 'tabnak.ir,' as well.

Israeli minister encourages Spain to up diplomacy in Mideast

Madrid - Spain's healthy relations with both Israel and the Arab world put it in an excellent position to help promote peace efforts in the Middle East, Israeli Education Minister Guidon Saar said Monday during a visit to Spain. Israel might start new talks with the Palestinians "in some weeks," if the Palestinians solved their internal divisions and political problems, the minister said.

Israel and Spain were due to sign cooperation agreements in areas including research during the visit of Saar, who held talks with Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos on Sunday.

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, whose country holds the rotating European Union presidency in the first half of 2010, is scheduled to visit Israel on October 14.

Damascus shuns Abbas over Goldstone's Gaza report delay

Damascus- Syrian officials have postponed a scheduled visit by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in apparent protest at his backing of a delay on a vote endorsing the UN war crimes report into the conflict in Gaza, local media reported Monday. The report, by Justice Richard Goldstone, criticized both Israel and the Palestinians for the war in January 2008. Last week the Palestinian delegation to the UN Human Rights Council dropped its support for an immediate vote on the report.

"The Syrian leadership decided to cancel the visit by the head of the Palestinian Authority (PA) which was scheduled tonight in respect of the blood of the martyrs of Gaza which Israel raided for 23 days," al-Watan semi-official newspaper quoted an unnamed diplomatic source as saying.

Last Friday, the Geneva-based body had been expected to vote on a draft resolution that would have condemned Israel for not cooperating with the fact finding mission.

The resolution would have also endorsed Goldstone's call for the UN General Assembly or Security Council to follow up on the investigations into alleged violations.

The report accused both Hamas and Israel of committing war crimes in the three-week conflict in the Gaza Strip that began in late December.

Following the decision, the PA came under fire from Hamas and Palestinian human rights groups who accused it of blocking the resolution after heeding pressure from the United States and Israel.

The Palestinian Authority denies that was the reason behind the decision.

Afghan election recount begins; 2 more NATO deaths

By RAHIM FAIEZ, Associated Press Writer

KABUL – Election workers began recounting ballots from the disputed Aug. 20 presidential election Monday, and a senior official said he expected to announce late next week whether President Hamid Karzai had won or would face a runoff with his main rival.

A U.N.-backed commission ordered a partial recount from about 10 percent of the country's polling stations after allegations of widespread fraud in the vote, which was supposed to install a legitimate government to confront the growing Taliban threat.

However, vote-rigging allegations have plunged Afghanistan into an electoral crisis at a time when Taliban militants are expanding from their southern strongholds into the north and west of the country.

In a sign of the growing threat, hundreds of militants launched fierce attacks Saturday against two isolated outposts in Nuristan province, killing eight American soldiers in the biggest loss of U.S. life in a single battle in more than a year.

Afghan officials said U.S. and Afghan forces had sealed off an area Monday where the assailants were believed hiding.

In Kabul, election officials said the recount began Monday morning with ballots from 274 of the country's 3,498 polling stations. Ballots from about 84 more locations were expected shortly, according to the deputy director of the election commission, Zekria Barakzai.

Barakzai said the count should take about three days to complete and that the commission would be able to announce the final results "by the end of next week."

Preliminary results released last month showed Karzai won the August balloting with 54.6 percent, enough to avoid a runoff with second place finisher Abdullah Abdullah. A recount could push down Karzai's numbers down below the 50 percent mark and force a runoff with Abdullah, a former foreign minister.

If a runoff were required, Barakzai said it must be held within two to three weeks of the announcement of the final results. Winter snows typically start in mid-November, making much of the country impassable.

Waiting for spring to hold the poll could create a power vacuum in a country already destabilized by the resurgent Taliban and delay both government projects and military operations.

Bolstering Afghanistan's weak and corruption-ridden government is considered key to President Barack Obama's strategy for curbing the Taliban insurgency so that U.S. and other international troops can go home.

However, fraud allegations threatened to undermine those plans at a time when the Taliban was proving to be a skillful and determined adversary.

The Obama administration is also divided over a request by the top military commander here, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, to send up to 40,000 more U.S. soldiers to Afghanistan. Obama is considering a range of ideas for changing course in Afghanistan, including scaling back, staying put or sending more troops to fight the insurgency.

U.S. officials also are waiting for the results of the Afghan elections, as disturbing reports of fraud grow.

As the debate rages in Washington, the NATO command reported that two more international soldiers, including one American, were killed in recent fighting. A statement from the alliance said a U.S. soldier died of wounds suffered in a bombing Sunday in southern Afghanistan.

The statement said a second service member died of wounds in a roadside bombing Monday, also in the south, but the victim's nationality was not released.

At least 16 U.S. service members have been killed in Afghanistan so far this month — matching the American death toll for all of October in 2008.

The latest deaths followed the fierce weekend assault against the Nuristan outposts, located about 20 miles (30 kilometers) from the border with Pakistan. About 20 Afghan security troopers were captured, officials said.

Nuristan Gov. Jamaludin Badar told The Associated Press that U.S. and Afghan forces had surrounded the assailants but there was no major fighting Monday.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack. NATO spokesman Brig. Gen. Eric Tremblay said the assailants included a mix of "tribal militias," Taliban and fighters loyal to Sirajuddin Haqqani, an al-Qaida-linked militant based in sanctuaries in the tribal areas of Pakistan near the Afghan border.

McChrystal had planned to shift U.S. troops away from remote outposts that are difficult to defend and move them into more heavily populated areas as part of his new strategy to focus on protecting Afghan civilians.

UN closes offices in Pakistan after attack

ISLAMABAD – The United Nations says it has temporarily closed its offices in Pakistan following the attack on the World Food Program office in the capital of Islamabad.

UN spokesman Ishrat Rizvi said no specific threat had been received and the move was a precaution following Monday's attack that killed three people.

Landmine explosion kills 2 civilians in Turkey

Two Kurdish civilians have been killed when a bus hit a landmine in southeastern Sirnak Province, a security source says.

Local authorities blamed the Sunday night blast at Beytussebap on the separatist Workers' Party (PKK), AFP reported on Monday.

Kurdish rebels often plant home-made explosive devices on roads used by the army.

The bus was taking supplies to a military base when it struck the mine.

The bus driver and a passenger were killed on the spot, the source said.

The Kurdish rebels took up arms in 1984 to fight for independence and the conflict has killed some 45,000 people.

The PKK is considered a terrorist group by Turkey, the US and the European Union.

Israeli official cancels UK visit on fears of arrest

Israeli vice Prime Minister Moshe Ya'alon has canceled a planned trip to Britain over fears of being arrested there, Israeli sources have said.

Ya'alon was invited to London to attend a fund-raising dinner for Benji's Home, a group home for soldiers with no family in Israel.

The British branch of the Jewish National Fund had invited Ya'alon to attend the dinner.

He had said he would travel to Britain if the Foreign Ministry's legal department approved it.

According to a report by the Israeli website, Ha'aretz Ya'alon, as chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces from 2002-2005, is one of several current and former senior officers whom Human Rights activists have sought to bring to trial for the 2002 assassination of senior Hamas member, Salah Shehadeh.

The report added that the attack also killed 14 civilians.

When Ya'alon consulted the Foreign Ministry's legal team, they warned him that the groups might ask a British court to order his arrest should he visit Britain.

As a result, Ya'alon informed JNF Britain that he would not be able to attend the dinner.

When Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak visited London last week, Human Rights groups sought his arrest for alleged war crimes during January's 'Operation Cast Lead' in Gaza. However, the court ultimately decided not to hear the request immediately, enabling Barak to leave the UK.

Ahmadinejad: Enemies can't harm Iraq

Mon Oct 5, 2009

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says the Iraqi nation will finally persevere despite all the problems that have been created for the country.

"With fine qualities such as theirs, the Iraqi nation has a bright future ahead of it. It will undoubtedly stop its enemies in their tracks and take up its responsibilities with the understanding and foresight that it has," Ahmadinejad said in Tehran on Monday.

"The region will benefit from a strong and united Iraq, a point which creates great fear for enemies, but something they can do nothing about," he added.

The Iranian president, who was in a meeting with the visiting Iraqi politician Ibrahim al-Jaafari, also commented on the global status and said that "liberal democracy", had started to fall apart around the world.

"The new global condition gives Muslims and independent nations a historic opportunity to reconstruct and propagate Islamic and humanitarian ideas," he said.

Jaafari, for his part, congratulated the Iranian president on his election victory and said Ahmadinejad's success was not simply the victory of an individual, but the victory of the Islamic Republic's system of government.

The Iraqi politician said Iran's presidential elections were a great achievement for the Islamic world and mankind in general, adding that Ahmadinejad would be remembered in history, even after his term was over, as a figure that served the Muslim community.

The Iraqi politician also pointed out that the Islamic Republic of Iran was a great regional power, which derived its strength from its religious establishment.

Ibrahim al-Jaafari served as Iraq's prime minister between 2005 and 2006. He currently leads the National Reform party.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/107880.html.

UN: Russia must adapt to shrinking population

By DOUGLAS BIRCH, Associated Press Writer

MOSCOW – Russia's population has fallen by 6.6 million since 1993, despite the influx of millions of immigrants, a United Nations report said Monday, and by 2025 the country could lose a further 11 million people.

The result could be labor shortages, an aging population and slower economic growth, the U.N. said.

Recent Kremlin efforts to reward women for having more babies have caused a surge in the birth rate, the report said, but won't make much difference in the long term.

It urged Russia to reduce its high mortality rate — similar to that in parts of sub-Saharan Africa — through reform of its public health system and by encouraging lifestyle changes — especially a reduction in alcohol consumption.

The United Nations Development Program report, titled "Russia Facing Demographic Challenges," predicted that Russia will be forced to adapt to a smaller population and work force.

"Efforts to resist the unfavorable trends must be combined with efforts to adapt to what cannot be resisted," the report says.

Population levels in many developed countries have stagnated and are expected to fall by 2025, but Russia's population, currently around 142 million, has been in retreat since 1992. Russia's mortality rate is among the highest in the developed world, with average life expectancy for males at barely 60 years.

For reasons that are not fully understood, Russians suffer very high levels of cardiovascular disease. But most experts blame the country's overall high death rate on one factor, alcohol. It has been linked to everything from liver disease to Russia's high number of murders, suicides and fatal accidents.

According to a 2007 U.N. report, in 1950 what is now the Russian Federation had the world's fourth-largest population. By 2007, the report said, Russia ranked ninth globally, behind Bangladesh and Nigeria. By 2050, the U.N. estimates, Russia will rank 15th, with a population smaller than that of Vietnam.

Monday's report notes that population decline in general reduces a country's "strength and dynamism." The report adds that the effects of depopulation will be magnified in Russia because of its huge territory.

An influx of immigrants over the past 16 years has helped soften the impact of Russians dying young and having fewer children. But the report says that many of these immigrants were ethnic Russians returning to their homeland from other former Soviet states, and this is mostly over.

Meanwhile, many skilled Russians could be lured abroad in the coming decades, the report says, as labor shortages develop in Western Europe, where a shrinking pool of working-age people is expected to drive up wages for the highly educated.

To cope with this demographic crisis, the U.N. report recommends that the government overhaul the health system to provide more efficient care, while encouraging lifestyle changes to reduce the number of deaths related to alcohol consumption.

A study published in June in The Lancet medical journal found that drinking has caused more than half of deaths among Russians aged 15 to 54 since the 1991 Soviet collapse.

President Dmitry Medvedev began an effort to restrict beer sales in early September, citing the effect of alcohol on public health.

But the move is politically risky, especially in a country where alcohol in general and vodka in particular plays such an important cultural role. Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev's efforts to restrict alcohol sales were deeply unpopular.

Russia can help compensate for fewer births and high death rates, the report said, by encouraging immigration. It estimated that the country will need to attract about 15 million migrants by 2025 to fill vacant jobs.

But the report notes that migration can also lead to tensions. It says the country will have to make a major effort to assimilate migrants, who today face discrimination, exploitation and sometimes violence.

In order to ensure that Russia's shrinking work force does not slow economic development, the report said, efforts should be made to raise labor productivity.

In part, that means cutting employment in many faltering industries where Soviet-era labor practices linger and encouraging people to move to more productive jobs in modern high-tech industries.

The report also predicts that the number of students entering Russian institutions of higher education will fall by half in the coming decades, forcing universities and technical schools to compete for students in order to survive. The report predicts this trend could lower the quality of education and professional training, handicapping economic development efforts.

Indonesia calls off search for missing survivors

By ERIC TALMADGE and IRWAN FIRDAUS, Associated Press Writers

PADANG, Indonesia – Rescue workers called off the search Monday for life under the rubble left by a massive earthquake, focusing instead on bringing aid to survivors in the towns and hills of western Indonesia, despite being hampered by torrential rains.

"After all this time I consider, from various experiences, it will be difficult to find more people alive," Ignacio Leon, the head of the U.N.'s humanitarian agency in Indonesia, told The Associated Press.

"I don't want to cut the hope of the people, but the focus will shift and we are supporting the government now more in the relief side," he said.

The death toll from Wednesday's temblor in Sumatra island is expected to be in the thousands once the missing people are declared dead. The U.N. has said 1,100 people died, while the government puts the toll at 603.

Leon would not categorically say the search and rescue operation was called off, but other teams confirmed that was the case.

Hiroaki Sano, head of the Japan Disaster Rescue Team, told the AP that officials of the U.N. and the Indonesian government discussed international assistance and "agreed no further assistance is needed for search and rescues."

"We got here quickly but we haven't found any survivors. The first 100 hours are crucial," he said.

International search and rescue teams were winding up operations and preparing to go back home as there was little hope of finding any survivors, he said.

"They believe we should switch from emergency searches to the rebuilding stage," Sano said. International aid teams will continue to provide food and other humanitarian assistance, he said.

Government minister Aburizal Bakrie told reporters that $600 million was needed to repair homes, schools, mosques, roads and other basic infrastructure damaged by the magnitude 7.6 earthquake.

It had initially said $400 million was needed, but raised the estimate after the scale of the disaster became clear.

The undersea quake devastated 10 districts in the Western Sumatra province including the capital, Padang, a city of 900,000 people where scores of tall buildings, including hotels, a mall, mosques and schools came down crashing. In addition, the quake triggered huge landslides in the hills of Pariaman district where entire villages were wiped out.

Little aid has reached the remote communities as many roads and bridges were destroyed. Landslides also blocked many of the roads leading to villages and an AP crew saw aid workers scrambling to clear the road of dirt, boulders and trees.

One road ended at Kampung Dalam village. The rest of the way had caved in, forcing rescue teams from South Korea, France and Germany to camp there. Villages further up the road were now accessible only by foot.

Heavy rain since Sunday night threatened to trigger more landslides and hamper delivery of aid as most aid teams were forced to stay put in Padang.

Sano said the rain hasn't affected the operations too much in the city but was more of a factor in the surrounding areas.

"If it continues it would definitely affect the lives of the victims and make it for the Indonesians to conduct operations," he said.

The Meteorological and Geophysics Agency warned the region could see strong winds and storms for the next two days.

"People who live around the hills should remain alert for potential landslides, due to the high intensity of rain," said the agency's spokesman, Hari Tirto.

It was unclear precisely how many people were without shelter Monday, but more than 88,000 houses and 285 schools were flattened in 10 affected districts, according to the U.N. and Indonesia's Disaster Management Agency.

Another 100,000 public buildings and 20 miles (31 kilometers) of road were damaged.

In Padang, hundreds of children went back to class Monday in schools set up in tents as authorities tried to restore normalcy. UNICEF provided tents and basic supplies for schools in three of 10 affected districts.

The resumption of classes was largely symbolic, giving just a few hundred children an opportunity to meet with teachers and receive counseling to process the trauma of recent days, including the deaths of relatives and being made homeless.

"The government has called for classes to resume as soon as possible so they can create some normalcy," said Amson Simbolon, a UNICEF education officer, as math classes began for around 300 students at one badly damaged school in Padang.

The agency has provided 15 tents, each with room for 50 to 60 children, and is shipping another 220 by boat from the capital of Jakarta, he said.

Pakistan Taliban head talks to reporters

By ISHTIAQ MAHSUD, Associated Press Writer

SARAROGHA, Pakistan – The Pakistani Taliban's new leader met with reporters in the country's tribal areas for the first time since winning control of the militants and vowed to retaliate against the U.S. and Pakistan for drone attacks along the Afghan border.

The appearance by Hakimullah Mehsud ended any speculation that he was killed in a leadership battle within the militant group sparked by the August slaying of his predecessor Baitullah Mehsud in a missile strike.

Mehsud, flanked by other Taliban commanders in a show of unity, spoke to a small group of reporters Sunday on condition the interview only be published Monday.

Mehsud said his group would avenge the killing of Baitullah Mehsud and strike back at Pakistan and the U.S. for the increasing number of drone attacks in the tribal areas along the border with Afghanistan.

Unmanned drones have carried out more than 70 missile strikes in northwestern Pakistan over the last year in a covert program, killing several top militant commanders along with sympathizers and civilians. The Pakistani government publicly protests the attacks but is widely believed to sanction them and provide intelligence for at least some.

American officials have said they are considering a strategy of intensified drone attacks combined with the deployment of special operations forces against al-Qaida and Taliban targets on the Pakistani side of the border — part of an alternative to sending more troops to Afghanistan in what is an increasingly unpopular war.

As part of the offensive against the Taliban leadership, Mehsud's brother, Kalimullah, was killed last month. Analysts say the group is struggling to regroup from the attacks on its leaders. Pakistani officials had speculated that Hakimullah had been killed in a recent shootout.

Mehsud accused Pakistan of doing the bidding of the West and pledged to bring Islamic rule to the country.

Socialists trounce conservatives in Greek election

By ELENA BECATOROS, Associated Press Writer

ATHENS, Greece – Greece's Socialists trounced the governing conservatives in a landslide election Sunday, with voters angered by scandals and a faltering economy ousting Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis halfway through his second term.

Humbled by his New Democracy party's worst electoral performance ever, Karamanlis, 53, resigned as its leader and said a new chief is needed for the party founded by his late uncle Constantine Karamanlis 35 years ago.

George Papandreou, 57, now follows in the footsteps of his father, Andreas Papandreou — who founded his Panhellenic Socialist Movement party, or PASOK — and grandfather and namesake George Papandreou, both of whom served several terms as prime ministers.

"We bear a great responsibility to change the course of the country. ... We know that we can make it," Papandreou, a former foreign minister, told jubilant supporters lighting flares and waving PASOK flags depicting the party's symbol of a green rising sun outside his party headquarters in central Athens.

"I know the potential of the country very well, a potential being drowned by corruption, favoritism, lawlessness and waste," Papandreou said.

"We must all believe again we can succeed ... we cannot waste a single day."

Results from 87.65 percent of votes counted showed PASOK winning with 43.93 percent, compared to 34.03 percent for New Democracy. Turnout was at 70.44 percent. Voting is compulsory in Greece, although penalties for failing to vote are no longer enforced.

The result gives PASOK a solid majority of 160 seats in the 300-member parliament, bringing the party back to power after five years of conservative governance.

Papandreou's victory, along with a recent election win by socialists in Portugal, bucks a European trend that has seen a conservative surge in the continent's powerhouse economies, including most recently in Germany, where Chancellor Angela Merkel won re-election last week.

"This is a historic victory for PASOK, which means great responsibility for us," senior party official and former minister Evangelos Venizelos said.

Papandreou will now have to deal with a faltering economy that is expected to contract in 2009 after years of strong growth, while the budget deficit will probably exceed 6 percent of economic output.

In contrast to Karamanlis, who advocated an austerity program of freezing state salaries, pensions and hiring, Papandreou has promised to inject up to euro3 billion ($4.4 billion) to jump-start the economy.

However, his government will likely have to borrow heavily just to service the ballooning debt — set to exceed 100 percent of GDP this year — and keep paying public sector wages and pensions. Papandreou has pledged to limit borrowing by reducing government waste and going after tax dodgers.

Thousands of cheering supporters mobbed a smiling Papandreou as he arrived at the central Athens headquarters while the results trickled in. Others drove through the city honking their horns.

Karamanlis, looking tired and downcast, congratulated his rival.

"From the depths of my heart, I wish to thank the voters who backed us in these elections. I wish to congratulate George Papandreou for his victory," he said in a brief speech in central Athens. "We hope he succeeds in the great challenge of facing the economic situation."

Karamanlis announced the early election just halfway through his second four-year term in an ultimately failed gamble to win a strong new mandate to tackle Greece's economic woes. But he had already been trailing in opinion polls when he called the election last month, sparking criticism from within his own party.

Karamanlis stormed to power in 2004 to become the youngest prime minister in modern Greek history after more than a decade of socialist rule. He was re-elected in 2007, but quickly saw his popularity eroded by several financial scandals, including a land-swap deal with a Greek Orthodox monastery that cost the state more than euro100 million ($145 million) and forced two of his close aides to resign.

Authorities' failure to contain widespread riots sparked by the fatal police shooting of a teenager in Athens in December also undermined the conservatives' position, which the global financial crisis finished off.

Many conservative voters were angered by rising crime and the riots, when anarchists rampaged through Greek cities, smashing shops and banks with little police intervention.

"What I believe is happening today is that Karamanlis is paying for his past mistakes, for the financial situation," voter Alexandros Panagiotakopoulos said outside New Democracy's headquarters watching the results on a giant outdoor screen.

The Greek Communist Party, far right-wing LAOS and the small Left Coalition are expected to retain their representation in Parliament, while the Ecologist-Greens were hovering on the fringe of the 3 percent threshold for entry.

"Mr. Karamanlis brought PASOK into power," said LAOS leader Giorgos Karatzaferis.

Soldier's troops plea to minister

A front-line UK soldier in Afghanistan has told the defense secretary "more troops on the ground" are needed.

Bob Ainsworth had asked Staff Sergeant Kim Hughes, a bomb disposal specialist, what was his "top desire from right here at the chalkface".

Mr Ainsworth, accompanied by Home Secretary Alan Johnson, told him troop reinforcements will be slow and cannot be delivered by the UK alone.

"We have got to try to get others to do their share," he said.

"You can throw money at this and it still takes time," he added.

His comments come after US General Stanley McChrystal called for more troops and the head of the British army told a Sunday newspaper he supported calls for reinforcements.

"If you put in more troops we can achieve the objectives laid upon us more quickly and with less casualties," General Sir David Richards told the Sunday Telegraph.

"We can start winning the psychological battle."

Mr Ainsworth and Mr Johnson toured mentoring schemes set up by British and US officers to support local forces.

After meeting the defence secretary, Staff Sgt Hughes, 30 - who is just days from returning home to his family in Shropshire after a six-month tour - said it had been a "ridiculously busy, ridiculously hard tour".

"We have lost two guys. Clearly more troops are needed on the ground - but then the same could be said for equipment," he added.

His commanding officer, Maj Eldon Millar, said: "Inevitably you feel you could do with a little more help.

"We are so stretched across Helmand because it is such a large area."

On Thursday, the number of British service personnel killed in Afghanistan since 2001 rose to 219 following the death of 24-year-old RAF serviceman Marcin Wojtak in Helmand province in the south of the country.

Hamas: PA trades in blood of Gaza children

The democratically-elected premier of Hamas government in Gaza has lambasted the Palestinian Authority over its decision to delay a vote on a report about the Israeli war crimes in Gaza.

Ismail Haniya also slammed as "reckless and irresponsible" the decision by the UN Human Rights Council to postpone consideration of the damning report.

"The decision taken by Ramallah to withdraw the Goldstone report was reckless and irresponsible," Haniya said, referring to the Western-backed government of the acting Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas.

The decision "trades in the blood of the children of Gaza." AFP quoted Haniya as saying on Sunday.

Sixteen Palestinian human rights groups have also issued a statement condemning the decision made by the Palestinian Authority.

It "denies the Palestinian people's right to an effective judicial remedy and equal protection of the law," the statement said.

"It represents the triumph of politics over human rights. It is an insult to all victims and a rejection of their rights," the groups said.

The decision made by the Western-backed PA is widely seen as the result of pressure from the US, which had claimed that the report is biased against Israel.

The UN probe by the former international war crimes prosecutor Richard Goldstone had called for prosecution of Israeli authorities over their war crimes and possible crimes against humanity during the three-week war earlier this year.

Israel's nukes most serious threat to Middle East: ElBaradei

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Mohamed ElBaradei has said Israel's nuclear arsenal is the most serious threat to the region, Mehr news agency reported.

Tel Aviv has not granted IAEA inspectors access to its nuclear facilities for the past 30 years. Israel is the only country in the Middle East that possesses nuclear weapons, ElBaradei said at a joint press conference with Iran's Atomic Energy Organization director Ali-Akbar Salehi here Sunday.

"Iran's nuclear issue can be resolved through dialogue and diplomacy, and I have never seen such determination to resolve this issue," he told reporters.

He added that IAEA inspectors will visit Iran's new nuclear fuel enrichment facility October 25.

"It is important for us to send our inspectors to do a comprehensive verification of that facility, to assure ourselves that it is a facility that is built for peaceful purposes," he said.

ElBaradei called on Tehran to observe the terms of the additional protocol to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to address the world's concerns.

Western nations have accused Iran of developing nuclear weapons in the pretext of a civilian nuclear programme. However, Iran says its nuclear programme is to generate electricity.

ElBaradei said there is no evidence of diversion in Iran's nuclear activities and the IAEA cannot act based on allegations made by certain countries.

"As I have said many times and I continue to say today, the agency has no complete proof that there is an ongoing weapons programme in Iran," he added.

PM admits defeat, as Socialists win Greek vote

The New Democracy Party of Greece's Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis has conceded defeat in the general elections, handing power to the opposition Socialist party.

With 87 percent of votes counted, the PanHellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) party is leading with 44 percent of the ballot, compared with New Democracy's 34 percent, according to figures announced by the Interior Ministry late on Sunday.

The margin, which indicates a victory for PASOK, is the largest seen in a Greek vote in decades.

This could mean 160 seats for the Socialists in Greece's 300-seat Parliament, while the ruling party would receive only 93 seats, officials said, CNN reported.

PASOK's leader George Papandreou is set to become the next Greek Prime Minister promising to chart a new course for an economic comeback, while the country is on the brink of recession, a growing deficit and low budget revenues.

The 57-year-old political leader had promised a EUR 3 billion (USD 4.36 billion) stimulus package on a platform of raising taxes for the rich and easing them for the poor.

"On this course, nothing is going to be easy -- it will take work, hard work," Papandreou said in his victory address. "And I will always be honest with the Greek people so that we may better solve the problems of the state," CNN reported.

Premier Karamanlis, on the other hand, admitted defeat at the election center in central Athens and stepped down from his party's leadership.

"I want to congratulate George Papandreou for his victory," he was quoted by Reuters as saying. "Our government faced the storm of the most serious post-war crisis ... Citizens did not approve my plan."

Jordan slams Israel's closure of al-Aqsa Mosque

The Jordanian Foreign Ministry has taken diplomatic measures to protest Israel's closure of the al-Aqsa Mosque in al-Quds.

In a statement issued on Sunday, the foreign ministry called "all Israeli measures" in the holy city "illegal" and said they violated "Israel's commitments as an occupation power."

Under a peace treaty which Jordan concluded with Israel in 1994, Israel acknowledged the Hashemite Kingdom's right to look after the Muslim and Christian shrines in east al-Quds, which is still considered by the United Nations an occupied territory.

Jordan's Foreign Ministry also summoned ambassadors of Israel, Russia, the United States, China, France and Britain in protest to Israel's closure of the al-Aqsa mosque.

Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh handed a strongly-worded protest to Israel's ambassador in Amman to condemn "recurrent violations" in east al-Quds, which Israel captured from Jordan in the 1967 Middle East war, the official Petra news agency reported.

Jordan called for an "immediate halt" to Israeli violations and for the release of detainees, including the staff members of the Islamic Endowments Department in al-Quds.

Israeli police have put extra security measures in place for east al-Quds which will continue on Monday, when thousands of Jews are expected to congregate at the Western Wall before a religious holiday.