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Sunday, October 11, 2009

5 Jordanian officers killed in Haiti plane crash

(MENAFN - Jordan Times) The Jordan Armed Forces (JAF) on Saturday released the names of five officers who were killed a day earlier in a plane crash in Haiti, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Colonel Obeidallah Mawajdeh, Lieutenant Colonel Jihad Mheirat, First Lieutenant Bilal Abu Hjeileh, First Warrant Officer Amer Rawashdeh and Major Mohammad Shorman, who were serving as part of a UN peacekeeping mission in the Caribbean nation, died Friday along with six Uruguayan peers when their surveillance plane crashed into a mountain

The JAF attributed the crash to a technical malfunction, according to Petra.

All on board died after the CASA C-212 twin engine turboprop aircraft went down Friday afternoon near the border with the Dominican Republic, about 45 kilometres from the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince, the Associated Press reported.

Two UN helicopters were able to land near the site Saturday morning and peacekeepers began the process of bringing bodies back to Port-au-Prince, mission spokesman David Wimhurst told the AP.

The victims were serving with the 9,000-strong UN peacekeeping force that has been in Haiti since a 2004 rebellion ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

Six Uruguayan soldiers were killed in the crash, including the pilot and co-pilot, Uruguay's minister of defense told local media.

Wimhurst would not speculate on when results of an investigation into the cause of the crash would become available.

"The investigation will take some time... Any air crash requires experts to analyze it," he said.

The mountainous border area between Haiti and the Dominican Republic, where the Uruguayan plane was flying, is rife with drug and human smuggling.

The UN peacekeeping mission, which is expected to be renewed for a sixth year when its mandate expires October 15, has been shifting its focus to the border region in recent years. The international community has also been helping to rebuild the Haitian national police force to strengthen its presence there.

A UN statement said the aircraft was on "a regular reconnaissance flight". It was unclear why the plane was doing surveillance near the border or how often such flights take place.

Through a spokesperson, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon extended "his heartfelt condolences to the family members, friends and colleagues of these brave peacekeepers".

With no roads near the crash site, rescuers initially had to clamber overland to reach it and confirm there were no survivors.

The area is a regular transit point for South American cocaine passing through Haiti and the Dominican Republic on its way to Europe and North America.

Haitian migrants are brought across the porous border, often illegally, to work in Dominican construction, tourism and agriculture.

Erdogan: Have at least 3 children

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has urged Turkish families to have at least three children, saying a greater population will increase Turkey's power.

Erdogan, who was addressing a congress held by the National Association for Gerontology, said the decrease in the birth rate is rapidly increasing average age of the global population to above 60 years.

He noted that even two children in each family would not stop the regressive demographic trend.

"The more our population increases, the more we will be powerful," Aksam newspaper quoted Erdogan as saying.

He warned that Turkey could turn into an aging country by 2030, if the Turkish families failed to have at least three children.

Erdogan stressed that the Turkish families should not worry about their livelihood, pointing to India and China that have high populations and are turning into the richest countries of the world.

Kuwait: Israel obstacle to nukes free Mideast

Kuwait has complained against Israel's 'adamant' refusal to sign the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), saying such a stance could launch a nuclear arms race.

“Israel has remained the sole state that adamantly rejects the NPT and international inspection of its nuclear facilities,” the head of the permanent Kuwaiti mission at the United Nations, the First Secretary, Salah Hamdan Al-Seif, said in a statement addressed to the arms disarmament and security commission of the UN General Assembly.

Israel's intransigence in this respect constitutes a major obstacle in the face of the efforts "to internationalize" the treaty, Kuwait Times quoted Al-Seif as saying on Sunday.

He added that Israel does not allow the international inspectors to visit its nuclear sites, compelling other nations to stockpile or manufacture these lethal arms.

The unwavering Israeli stance is a source of concern because it obstructs the efforts to render the Middle East free of the nuclear arms, the Kuwaiti official noted.

Most experts estimate that Israel has between 100 and 200 nuclear warheads, largely based on information leaked to the Sunday Times newspaper in the 1980s by Mordechai Vanunu, a former worker at the country's Dimona nuclear reactor.

Israel which has initiated several wars in the region in its 60-year-old history of occupation maintains a policy of deliberate ambiguity over its nuclear weapons program.

Meanwhile a report by The Washington Times on October 2 revealed that US President Barack Obama assured Tel Aviv of not pressuring the regime into accounting for its alleged nuclear arsenal or signing the NPT.

In a meeting with, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu obtained President Obama's guarantee that the White House would continue a 4-decade-old secret deal to allow Israel keep a nuclear arsenal without opening it to international inspections, The Washington Times reported on Friday quoting officials familiar with the matter.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=108364§ionid=351020205.

Turkey cancels joint drill over Israel's Gaza crimes

Turkey has canceled a planned joint military drill with Israel to protest against Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip earlier this year.

Turkey informed Israel of cancellation of the Anatolian Eagle exercise last week, Jerusalem Post reported on Sunday.

The US, Italy and NATO air forces were also to participate in the air force drill, which was to be held this week.

Turkey has declared that it has canceled the drill because the planes that Israel was going to send were, in all likelihood, the very same ones that bombed the Gaza Strip during Operation Cast Lead, the report said.

"The exercise was postponed due to a Turkish decision to change the composition of the participants and not allow the Israel Air Force to participate, a decision we were informed of only several days ago," the Israeli Defense Force Spokesman's Office said in a statement.

"Ties between the countries are still tense," explained an Israeli military official. "The announcement about the cancellation was sudden and unexpected.”

Anatolian Eagle was first held in 2001, with Turkish, Israeli and American participation. The drill lasted almost two weeks and included Israeli F-16's, helicopters and refueling tankers.

Israel last participated in the exercise in September 2008, but has not flown its military aircraft in Turkey since Operation Cast Lead, due to the increase in tensions.

The military exercises were scheduled to take place later this month at an air base in Konya city located in central Turkey and the heart of the Anatolian plateau.

Turkish public had earlier called on Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan not to allow Israeli warplanes, which bombed Palestinian homes, to participate in military drills over Turkey's airspace.

25 lawmakers still held in Israeli prisons

The Palestinian ministry for prisoners' affairs says at least 25 lawmakers along with two former ministers are still being held in Israeli prisons under appalling conditions.

According to a press release published on Saturday, the highest number of detainees were from al-Khalil, 10, followed by Ramallah, 6, Al-Quds, 4, Bethlehem, 3, and one prisoner from the occupied West Bank towns of Nablus and Ariha (Jericho) each.

The ministry, meanwhile, lashed out at the Palestinian Authority (PA), and the Arab and western parliaments for not doing enough to stop the trend.

"There is no real action on the part of all those parties toward resolving this issue and releasing the MPs," the prisoners' affairs ministry said in a statement.

The Israeli army regularly arrests Palestinians during overnight operations in West Bank towns. The detentions are in flagrant violation of a security agreement with the Palestinian National Authority.

More than 11,500 Palestinians, including women and children, are currently imprisoned in Israeli detention facilities, suffering harsh and life-threatening conditions.

In Pakistan, hostages killed during rescue mission

Four militants and three hostages have been killed as Pakistani commandos stormed a building to end an almost 20-hour siege outside army headquarters near Islamabad.

The operation was launched at 6:00 a.m. local time (0000 GMT) on Sunday.

Military sources said that most of the hostages held by suspected pro-Taliban gunmen were rescued during the operation.

"Twenty five hostages have been freed. Three hostages and four terrorists were killed in the rescue operation," military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas was quoted by AFP as saying.

At least six troops and four insurgents were killed in the initial assault, which sent immediate shock waves across the nuclear-armed country.

Hezbollah hails Saudi-Syrian rapprochement

Hezbollah has lauded the Saudi-Syrian rapprochement, which laid special emphasis on unity as an important element for the Arab world.

In a statement released on Saturday, Lebanon's resistance movement underlined the importance of the move and expressed hope that it would help clear the atmosphere among Arabs and foster rapprochement.

The move would bring about new horizons of common action that serve the causes of Arabs and Muslims and reflect positively on the future of Lebanon, it added.

Hezbollah, meanwhile, described the Saudi-Syrian summit as one of 'exceptional importance' due to its positive effects on Arab causes at present, particularly in light of the massive challenges facing the Arab and Muslim world, such as the Israeli aggression against Lebanon and Palestine, and the escalating violation of the sanctity of the Al-Aqsa Mosque by Israel.

Moreover, the movement stated that the only practical approach to confront Israeli threats is to bolster elements of unity and Arab solidarity through supporting the peoples' rights and defending their land.

Saudi King Abdullah Bin Abdullaziz paid a two-day official visit to Damascus last week and held ground-breaking talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in an attempt to open a new chapter in bilateral relations.

The two sides had severed ties following the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq al-Hariri.

Hariri was assassinated on February 14, 2005, when explosives equivalent to around 1,000 kg (2,205 lb) of TNT were detonated as his motorcade drove past the St. George Hotel in the Lebanese capital, Beirut. Riyadh accused Syria of involvement in the terrorist act, while Damascus vehemently dismissed the unfounded allegations.

New date proposed for Palestinian unity deal

After Hamas put off signing a reconciliation pact with Fatah over Mahmoud Abbas' withdrawal of support for an anti-Israeli UN report, Egypt has made a new proposal.

Egyptian officials offered a fresh proposal for the signing of a Palestinian reconciliation pact to the visiting Islamic Resistance movement (Hamas) delegates.

"Egypt handed Hamas delegation the new proposal that overcomes the dispute over the scheduled date for signing the unity deal. Hamas would give Egypt its answer soon after studying the proposal," Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said on Saturday.

A Hamas delegation, led by the Deputy Chief of Hamas Political Bureau, Musa Abu Marzouq, held talks with Egypt's intelligence chief, Omar Suleiman on Saturday. The two discussed a new, appropriate date for a new session of Cairo-based inter-Palestinian dialogue.

On Wednesday, Hamas had asked Egypt to postpone the earlier announced date of October 26. The postponement was requested because of a decision by the Palestinian Authority (PA) delegation at the UN Human Rights Council to drop its backing for an immediate vote on a report on the Gaza war.

A United Nations inquiry, led by former South African Judge Richard Goldstone, detailed what investigators called Israeli actions "amounting to war crimes, possibly crimes against humanity," during Israel's winter offensive against the Hamas-ruled Gaza.

More than 1,500 Palestinians were killed during three weeks of Israel's land, sea and air assault, dubbed Operation Cast Lead, in the impoverished coastal sliver. The offensive also inflicted USD 1.6 billion of damage upon the Gaza economy.

The opponent Palestinian factions, Hamas and Fatah, have long been wrangling with each other over substantial discords, which have caused real bottlenecks to mend fences and repair the internal Palestinian divisions.

In early September, Cairo put forward a document to reconcile the two major Palestinian factions. The six previous rounds of unity talks have so far failed to bring about reconciliation.

Germany qualifies for 2010 World Cup

After Netherlands, England, and Spain qualified for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, Germany becomes the fourth team from the Europe Zone.

During Saturday's qualifying match, Germany's first-half goal against Russia was enough to book a place for the Germans in South Africa.

Miroslav Klose scored in the 34th minute at the Luzhniki stadium in Moscow for the 10-man Germans.

The striker fired into an empty net to put his team ahead after a clever pass by Mesut Ozil left Russian goalkeeper Igor Akenfeyev off his line. It was Klose's 50th goal for Germany.

Defender Jerome Boateng was shown the second yellow card in the 69th minute.

Joachim Loew's side safely saw out the game to leave Moscow with the three points.

Germany, with 25 points from nine games, will finish at the top of the group. Second-placed Russia, on 21 points, still has the chance to qualify for the World Cup in the playoffs.

Iran's navy launches supersonic fighter jets

Iran's Navy has employed two home-made supersonic fighter jets named Saeqeh and two gunships named Tiztak in a bid to bolster its defense naval capabilities.

The fighter jets and gunships were officially launched on Saturday in a ceremony attended by Iran's Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi and the Commander of the Iranian Army, Major General Ataollah Salehi.

The highly advanced Saeqeh (thunderbolt) fighter jet has been designed and built by experts of Iran's Defense Ministry, in cooperation with Iran's army, Vahidi said.

"Iran's defense doctrine is based on an effective deterrent. The Islamic Republic pursues no aim, but to establish sustainable peace and security in the region," he added.

Iran test flied the first generation of the home-manufactured Saeqeh fighter jets in September 2007.

The country moves to upgrade its national defense capabilities through home-made production.

Chaosistan

By Mark Hosenball | NEWSWEEK

In his widely reported London speech earlier this month, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the U.S. commander in Afghanistan, described how people constantly offer him ideas for fixing that country's problems. One of the more unusual recommendations, he suggested, came from a paper that advocated using a "plan called 'Chaosistan.' " McChrystal said it advised letting Afghanistan become a "Somalia-like haven of chaos that we simply manage from outside," but there was no further explanation of its origins.

When journalists from NEWSWEEK and other media outlets asked McChrystal's entourage about where the paper came from, they were directed to an obscure Web posting—an October 1998 speech headlined "What is Chaostan [sic]?" delivered by investment adviser Richard Maybury at a New Orleans conference for gold enthusiasts. Maybury predicted that 24 wars in "Chaostan"—a vast region stretching from Poland to North Africa to China, Vietnam, and Indonesia—would eventually merge into World War III. From an investor's point of view, Maybury wrote, this will be "great for weapons stocks and security--equipment stocks…and non-Chaostan oil investments." Was this really what McChrystal was referring to?

It seems unlikely. Two U.S. intelligence officials, who asked for anonymity when discussing a sensitive matter, say that the reference almost certainly comes from a recently published, and secret, CIA analysis titled "Chaosistan" (not "Chaostan"). Prepared by a "red team" of CIA analysts, the document, says one official, picks apart conventional analyses of the war and explains how forces inside Afghanistan—from hostile ethnic groups to intrusive neighbors to societal damage caused by past Taliban rule—work against the notions of a central Afghan government. The paper is not quite the policy proposal McChrystal implied it was, say the officials, since intelligence analysts don't generally recommend policy options.

After NEWSWEEK pointed out the existence of the CIA document to McChrystal's office, an assistant to the general admitted that he had originally provided information about the Maybury Web posting following a Google search—but later determined it was more likely that the general "used an unclassified term from an official paper." While declining to confirm the existence of the classified CIA paper, Paul Gimigliano, a CIA spokesman, says: "One function of intelligence agencies, including the CIA, is to provoke thought by laying out contrary views and alternative scenarios."

Azerbaijan slams Armenia-Turkey deal

Azerbaijan on Sunday slammed its ally Turkey for agreeing to normalize ties with Armenia and warned that the opening of the Armenian-Turkish border could cause instability in the volatile South Caucasus.

"The normalization of relations between Turkey and Armenia before the withdrawal of Armenian forces from occupied Azerbaijani territory is in direct contradiction with the interests of Azerbaijan and casts a shadow over the spirit of brotherly relations between Azerbaijan and Turkey, built on deep historical roots," the Azerbaijani foreign ministry said in a statement.

"Azerbaijan believes that the unilateral opening of the Turkish-Armenian border calls into question the architecture of peace and stability in the region," it added.

Armenian Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian and his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu on Saturday signed landmark pacts to normalize their two countries' relations and open their shared border.

The deals, which must still be ratified by the two countries' parliaments, are a first step to reconciliation after nearly a century of bitterness over World War I-era massacres of Armenians under Ottoman rule.

Azerbaijan has strongly objected to Turkey normalizing ties with Armenia and opening the border before the resolution of Baku's conflict with Armenia over the disputed Nagorny Karabakh region.

Backed by Yerevan, ethnic Armenian separatists seized control of Nagorny Karabakh and seven surrounding districts from Azerbaijan in the early 1990s, in a war that claimed an estimated 30,000 lives.

Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 in solidarity with Azerbaijan over the conflict.

Armenia has rejected any linkage between the conflict and its reconciliation efforts with Turkey.

Armenia and Azerbaijan have cut direct economic and transport links and failed to negotiate a settlement on the status of Nagorny Karabakh despite years of talks.

Armenian and Azerbaijani forces are spread across a ceasefire line in and around Nagorny Karabakh, often facing each other at close range, and shootings are common.

Iraq holy Shiite city of Najaf bans alcohol

NAJAF, Oct 10, 2009 (AFP) - Councilors in Iraq's most revered holy Shiite city of Najaf on Saturday banned the sale and consumption of alcohol throughout the province, saying its use was incompatible with Islam.

"Due to the specific character of Najaf as a holy city, the provincial council decided unanimously to ban the drinking, selling and transit of alcohol of any kind, regardless of quantity," said a statement confirming the decision with immediate effect.

"Those who contravene the law will be referred to the courts," it said, adding advertising of alcoholic goods was also being banned under the law which will apply in Najaf city and all areas of the eponymous province.

Najaf, located 150 kilometers (90 miles) south of Baghdad, is home to the mausoleum of Imam Ali, the son-in-law and cousin of the Prophet Muhammad, and which attracts Shiites from around the world, particularly neighboring Iran.

However, there is a known culture of secret late-night drinking in the city, which its political leaders want to clamp down on.

Although alcohol is considered contrary to strict Islam, it is sold openly from shops in Baghdad and other Iraqi cities.

The Najaf provincial council's decision follows an alcohol ban in the Shiite port city of Basra in August, which triggered concerns about the role of religion in people's private lives.

Basra deputy governor Ahmad al-Sulaiti said the law was implemented because Iraq's constitution "bans anything that violates the principles of Islam," the state religion and "fundamental source of legislation."

However the move raised concerns among alcohol vendors in Basra's shrinking Christian community that they would be targeted if they refused to close their shops.

Source: Zawya.
Link: http://www.zawya.com/Story.cfm/sidANA20091010T144757ZGIM06/Iraq%20holy%20Shiite%20city%20of%20Najaf%20bans%20alcohol.

Russian spacecraft with circus tycoon lands safely

By DOUGLAS BIRCH, Associated Press Writer

MOSCOW – The Russian Soyuz capsule carrying Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberte and two other space travelers landed safely in Kazakhstan on Sunday, ending the entertainment tycoon's mirthful space odyssey.

Laliberte, who wore a bulbous clown nose during his stay aboard the International Space Station, was extracted from the cramped Soyuz capsule Sunday morning following its landing in the steppes of northern Kazakhstan.

After the landing, he was carried from the capsule wearing the round red nose.

Laliberte returned with Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka and NASA astronaut Michael Barratt, re-entering the Earth's atmosphere several hours after their capsule left the International Space Station.

Valery Lyndin, spokesman for Russian mission control, said the capsule drifted by parachute to Earth at 10:32 a.m. local time.

Russian television showed pictures of Padalka sitting outside the spacecraft, scorched by the searing heat of re-entry, eating an apple and drinking tea as ground crew extracted the other space travelers from the capsule. All of the world's apple trees are descended from those that first grew in Kazakhstan.

Laliberte emerged later, wearing his red clown nose as he reclined in a chair set up near the Soyuz capsule. Returning astronauts must rest after Soyuz landings in order to reacclimate to the Earth's gravity.

In another tradition, a Russian Orthodox priest was present for the landing.

Later, the space travelers were taken to an orange medical tent, Russian TV showed. Vitaly Davydov, deputy chief of Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, said all three of the space travelers were in good health "and even better spirits," the Interfax news agency reported.

The three Soyuz crew members were expected to return by air to the cosmonaut training facility at Star City near Moscow shortly after 1:30 p.m. local time (0930GMT) Sunday.

While in space, Laliberte hosted an Oct. 9 global Web broadcast to promote his One Drop Foundation's crusade to preserve the world's water resources.

Former U.S. vice president Al Gore, U2 and Shakira were among the entertainers and activists who participated in the broadcast back on Earth, with participants appearing in 14 cities on five continents.

Laliberte paid US$35 million (euro23.7 million) for his 10-day visit to the orbiting laboratory, becoming Canada's first space tourist.

The 50-year-old entrepreneur, born in Quebec, worked as an accordionist, stilt-walker and fire-breather before founding Cirque du Soleil in 1984, and is popularly known as the first clown in space.

Both Padalka and Barratt spent six months aboard the space station. A six-member crew remain aboard.

Ireland's Green Party votes to stay in government

By SHAWN POGATCHNIK, Associated Press Writer

DUBLIN – Members of Ireland's environmentalist Green Party voted overwhelmingly on Saturday to stay in Prime Minister Brian Cowen's coalition government as it battles a runaway deficit, surging unemployment and crippled banks.

Defeat for the Green leaders' pro-government motion at a special party conference would have torpedoed Cowen's 2-year-old coalition and forced Ireland into an early parliamentary election.

But grass-roots Green members voted 523-99 to support a package of revised government policies and goals. That surpassed the two-thirds "yes" that the party required for the 43-page document, which was negotiated over nine days and completed Friday night — barely in time for the Green gathering.

Green Party leader John Gormley, who also is Ireland's environment minister, said the government faced painful choices in coming weeks to cut spending, raise taxes and commit tens of billions to bailing out the nation's major banks.

"We have no illusions. Some very hard decisions have to be made," Gormley said.

Had Green leaders failed to persuade their members, the party's lawmakers would have been obliged to withdraw their pivotal parliamentary support from Cowen, leader of the rival Fianna Fail party, leaving him unable to pass critical legislation.

Unique among Irish parties, the Greens require strong, formal backing from members before they can change their policies.

Overshadowing Saturday's debate and vote was the likelihood that, if the Greens triggered an election, they would suffer humiliating losses. All recent polls rate both Fianna Fail and the Greens at record-low popularity levels as Ireland endures its worst economic crisis since the 1930s.

Cowen welcomed the Greens' vote in favor of the new policy document and forecast that the coalition would run its full five-year term to 2012.

He said Fianna Fail and the Greens "have a good relationship based on trust, pragmatism and a shared desire to do what is best for the country in economic, social and environmental terms."

The Green vote improves the chances that Cowen's government will be able to pass two crucial, bitterly disputed pieces of legislation in coming weeks.

A bill to create a "bad bank" would transfer ownership of nearly euro80 billion ($115 billion) in dud property loans from Ireland's banks to a new state-run National Assets Management Agency. That would be followed by passage of an emergency December budget slashing spending and raising taxes in hope of pruning euro4 billion annually from Ireland's deficit.

During debate before the vote, Green lawmakers who helped negotiate the new coalition terms with Fianna Fail told delegates they must stay the course despite the government's deep unpopularity. They said the new policy agreement would allow the Greens to achieve many environmental, educational and ethical goals, whereas voting against it would consign their ideals to political oblivion.

The new Fianna Fail-Green program for government does commit to key Green goals, including hiring more teachers, blocking plans to introduce fees for university education, and requiring greater accountability in politicians' fundraising and expenses.

Analysts and opposition leaders expressed doubts over whether most of the document's ideals could ever be achieved, particularly given Ireland's dismal financial position.

"I will believe it when I see it. Practically everything (in the document) seems very vague and aspirational, and disconnected from our depressing economic realities," said Pat Rabbitte, a lawmaker in the opposition Labour Party.

Turkey, Armenia sign historic accord

By MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press Writer

ZURICH – Turkey and Armenia signed a landmark agreement Saturday to establish diplomatic relations and open their sealed border after a century of enmity, as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton helped the two sides clear a last-minute snag.

The contentious issue of whether the killing of up to 1.5 million Armenians during the final days of the Ottoman Empire amounted to genocide is only hinted at in the agreement.

"There were several times when I said to all of the parties involved that this is too important," Clinton said. "This has to be seen through. We have come too far. All of the work that has gone into the protocols should not be walked away from."

The Turkish and Armenian foreign ministers signed the accord in the Swiss city of Zurich after a dispute over the final statements they would make. In the end, the signing took place about three hours later than scheduled and there were no spoken statements.

Clinton and mediators from Switzerland intervened to help broker a solution, U.S. officials said on condition of anonymity, in keeping with State Department regulations. Better ties between Turkey, a regional heavyweight, and poor, landlocked Armenia have been a priority for President Barack Obama, and Clinton had flown to Switzerland to witness the signing, not help close the deal.

Clinton told reporters traveling later on the plane with her to London that both sides had problems with the other's prepared statement and that the Armenian foreign minister had to call his president several times.

She said it became important just to approve the accord and not have the sides make speeches that could be interpreted as putting legal conditions on the document. She told each country that could be done later, "but let the protocols be the statement because that was what we were there to sign."

The accord is expected to win ratification from both nations' parliaments and could lead to a reopening of their border within two months. It has been closed for 16 years.

But nationalists on both sides are still seeking to derail implementation of the deal.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called the signing a "historic decision" that "constitutes a milestone toward the establishment of good neighborly relations," spokeswoman Michele Montas said in New York.

American officials said Clinton; the top U.S. diplomat for Europe, Philip Gordon; and Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey were engaged in furious high-stakes shuttle diplomacy with the Turkish and Armenian delegations to resolve the differences.

Diplomats said the Armenians were concerned about wording in the Turkish statement that was to be made after the signing ceremony at University of Zurich and had expressed those concerns "at the last minute" before the scheduled signing ceremony.

Clinton had arrived at the ceremony venue after meeting separately with the Turks and Armenians at a hotel, but abruptly departed without leaving her car when the problem arose.

She returned to the hotel where she spoke by phone from the sedan in the parking lot, three times with the Armenians and four times with the Turks. At one point in the intervention, a Swiss police car, lights and siren blazing, brought a Turkish diplomat to the hotel from the university with a new draft of his country's statement.

After nearly two hours, Clinton and Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian met in person at the hotel and drove back to the university where negotiations continued. It was not clear if there would be a resolution.

In the end, the Turks and Armenians signed an accord establishing diplomatic ties that could reduce tensions in the troubled Caucasus region and facilitate its growing role as a corridor for energy supplies bound for the West.

The agreement faces nationalist opposition, and protests have been particularly vociferous among the Armenian diaspora.

"The success of Turkey in pressuring Armenia into accepting these humiliating, one-sided protocols proves, sadly, that genocide pays," said Ken Hachikian, chairman of the Armenian National Committee of America.

Major countries, however, expressed their support for the accord, with the foreign ministers of the United States, Russia, France and the European Union in the room to watch the much-delayed signing.

"No problem, they signed," quipped French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner.

In Turkey, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his country was showing "goodwill" to restore ties with Armenia. But he said Turkey was keen on seeing Armenian troops withdrawn from Nagorno-Karabakh, an Armenian-occupied enclave in Azerbaijan that has been a center of regional tensions.

"We are trying to boost our relations with Armenia in a way that will cause no hard feelings for Azerbaijan," Erdogan told reporters.

Armenian President Serge Sarkisian said his country was taking "responsible decisions" in normalizing relations with Turkey, despite what he called the unhealable wounds of genocide.

The agreement calls for a panel to discuss "the historical dimension" of the killing of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians during World War I. The discussion is to include "an impartial scientific examination of the historical records and archives to define existing problems and formulate recommendations."

That clause is viewed as a concession to Turkey, which denies genocide, contending the toll is inflated and that those killed were victims of civil war.

"There is no alternative to the establishment of the relations with Turkey without any precondition," said Sarkisian. "It is the dictate of the time."

Javier Solana, the EU's foreign policy chief, thanked Turkey, which is a candidate for European Union membership.

"This is an important cooperation, no doubt, of Turkey to solve one issue that pertains to a region which is in our neighborhood," Solana told AP Television News.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also was present for the ceremony in Switzerland, whose diplomats mediated six weeks of talks between Turkey and Armenia to reach the accord. The signing took place in Zurich University's Churchill room, where Winston Churchill gave a speech in 1946.

Swiss Foreign Ministry spokesman Lars Knuchel declined to comment on the contentious issue of speeches but said the important thing was that the accord was signed. He said Switzerland stood ready for further mediation, if both Armenia and Turkey request it as both sides seek to implement the accord and build on them.

A Turkish official, who was not authorized to speak and demanded anonymity, said all sides were happy to dispense with the statements and that the important thing was the signatures means the process can continue.

But Turkey's Ahmet Davutoglu appeared the far happier top envoy as he smiled broadly while posing for photographs and greeting the other foreign ministers in attendance. Armenia's Nalbandian, by contrast, only grudgingly smirked as he shook Davutoglu's hand.

Yilmaz Ates of Turkey's main opposition Republican People's Party said the country should avoid any concessions.

"If Armenia wants to repair relations ... then it should end occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh. That's it," Ates said Saturday.

About 10,000 protesters rallied Friday in Armenia's capital to oppose the signing, and a tour of Armenian communities by Sarkisian sparked protests in Lebanon and France, with demonstrators in Paris shouting "Traitor!"

On the Nagorno-Karabakh issue, Turks have close cultural and linguistic ties with Azerbaijan, which is pressing Turkey for help in recovering its land. Turkey shut its border with Armenia to protest the Armenian invasion of Nagorno-Karabakh in 1993.

Turkey wants Armenia to withdraw some troops from the enclave area to show goodwill and speed the opening of their joint border, but Armenia has yet to agree, said Omer Taspinar, Turkey project director at the Brookings Institution in Washington.

"We may end up in a kind of awkward situation where there are diplomatic relations, but the border is still closed," Taspinar said.

Iran sentences three to death over vote unrest

TEHRAN (Reuters) – A court has sentenced three people to death over street unrest that erupted after Iran's disputed election in June and links to exiled opposition groups, an Iranian news agency reported Saturday.

ISNA news agency, citing the head of the publication relations office of Tehran provincial court, did not identify those condemned, giving only their initials.

It was the first official statement of death sentences in connection with the presidential poll, which the opposition says was rigged to secure hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's re-election, and the huge opposition protests that followed.

The authorities have rejected vote fraud charges and portrayed the protests as a foreign-backed bid to undermine the Islamic Republic.

"The execution sentences were handed down because of involvement in post-election developments and affiliation with the Iran monarchical association and the PMOI," the official, Zahid Bashiri-Rad, said.

"These sentences are not final and can be appealed in a higher court," he said.

The People's Mujahideen Organization of Iran (PMOI) is an exiled opposition organization, seen by both Iran and the United States as a terrorist group.

One of the initials given by ISNA matches that of Mohammad-Reza Ali-Zamani, whom the reformist Mowjcamp website on Thursday said had been sentenced to death.

A semi-official news agency, Mehr, said in August he was accused of fighting against the Islamic establishment and active membership of a "terrorist" royalist association, and other crimes.

Amnesty International has urged Iran to rescind the death sentence against the 37-year-old, saying in a statement on Friday it feared it would "pave the way for more death sentences against those being tried on similar offences."

Ali-Zamani was among more than 100 opposition supporters, including senior reformist figures, who were accused in a series of mass trials that got under way in August of fomenting post-election street unrest.

Mowjcamp said Ali-Zamani had made "extensive confessions" during his trial. Reformist politicians have condemned the court sessions as "show trials."

Reformist former President Mohammad Khatami, who backed opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi in the election, has said confessions made at the trials were obtained under "extraordinary conditions" and were invalid.

Analysts see the mass trials as an attempt by the authorities to uproot the moderate opposition.

The June election plunged Iran into its deepest internal crisis since the 1979 Islamic revolution, when the U.S.-backed shah was toppled.

The opposition says more than 70 people were killed in the unrest, more than double the official estimate.

US troops help Philippines as storm toll tops 600

By JIM GOMEZ, Associated Press Writer

MANILA, Philippines – American military helicopters started ferrying tons of aid Sunday to a northern Philippine mountain region facing shortages of food, gasoline and coffins after back-to-back typhoons killed more than 600 in the country.

Four Marine CH-46 helicopters were flying to Baguio city, which along with nearby provinces was devastated by storm-triggered mudslides that have blocked three key access roads to the area, isolating the upland region.

The U.S. military was responding to a request from the Philippines to help deal with the nationwide aftermath of two major storms since Sept. 26. Tropical Depression Parma blew out of the country's mountainous north late Saturday, allowing U.S. troops to start airlifting food aid to Baguio.

Philippine officials asked U.S. troops, which were in the country for an annual war exercise, to help with relief operations. About 700 Marines and sailors were on hand to help out, said Marine Capt. Jorge Escatell, a U.S. military spokesman.

The helicopters flew to northern San Fernando township, where they picked up about 10 tons of food that will be delivered to Baguio, Escatell said.

The floods and landslides killed at least 53 people in Baguio, a summer tourist destination 130 miles (210 kilometers) north of Manila known for its cool climate. Rescuers continued to dig through a huge mound of mud in Crescencia village in search of more than 10 still-missing residents, Baguio city police chief Agrifino Javier said.

While the weather has cleared, the city of more than 300,000 people faced dwindling food and gasoline supplies. Repair crews scrambled to remove landslides blocking Kennon road to allow in fresh supplies. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo managed to fly in by helicopter Sunday to check the situation, officials said.

"There is nearly zero gasoline supply now, and we're running low on food," Javier told The Associated Press by telephone, adding many foreign tourists were among those stranded in the city.

In nearby Benguet province, police and volunteer gold miners pulled more bodies overnight from houses buried by mudslides late Thursday and early Friday, bringing the province-wide death toll from Parma to 158. At least 20 people remain missing, Benguet police chief Senior Supt. Loreto Espineli said.

Most of the dead were recovered in a mountainside community called Little Kibungan, where tons of mud and floodwaters buried or swept away houses as people slept late Thursday after a week of pounding rain, Espineli said.

Food supply was not a problem in Benguet, regarded as the country's "salad bowl" for its vegetable farms.

Gasoline, however, was already being rationed and the province has run out of coffins. Volunteers were busy making wooden coffins for six bodies found in Benguet's capital town of La Trinidad, he said.

Aside from delivering packs of sardines, bottled water and rice in Baguio, American and Filipino forces also fanned out in Pangasinan, a rice-producing province to its south, to help provide medical treatment. Nearly all of Pangasinan was inundated by flooding and water released from a major dam, but some areas struggled back to normalcy Sunday.

"I see people drying up rice crop on the roadside. It's pretty amazing to me and I think that's a good sign," Escatell told The AP.

Troops from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, based in Okinawa, Japan, had just finished rescue and cleanup work around Manila, which experienced the worst flooding in over 40 years after Tropical Storm Ketsana dumped record rains Sept. 26. That disaster displaced about 1 million people and killed 337 in the capital and surrounding provinces. More than 287,000 remain in evacuation centers.

Then Typhoon Parma struck Oct. 3 and lingered as a tropical depression for about a week, also over the main northern Philippine island of Luzon, before blowing away toward southern China. It has dumped more heavy rains, triggering floods and landslides that have killed at least 276 people. It has displaced about 170,000 people.

With large expanses of land still under water, officials say the natural disaster will have a major impact on agriculture.

Arroyo declared a state of emergency over the entire Luzon region, allowing officials to rapidly draw emergency funds for relief work. The United Nations has also appealed for international assistance to help the impoverished Southeast Asian nation recover from the disaster.

US, Afghan forces attack al-Qaida compound

By RAHIM FAIEZ and HEIDI VOGT, Associated Press Writers

KABUL – American and Afghan forces stormed a mountainside compound in eastern Afghanistan that had been used by an al-Qaida commander, killing more than a dozen militants in a gunbattle, the U.S. military said Sunday.

The clash comes amid a debate in the U.S. about whether to send more forces to Afghanistan to gain control of the country or to more narrowly target terrorists taking refuge in the mountainous region that straddles eastern Afghanistan and western Pakistan.

Al-Qaida's leadership is widely assumed to be hiding in Pakistan, though Afghan officials have said they believe foreign fighters are increasingly crossing into their country to bolster the Taliban insurgency.

Saturday's fighting started when the troops pushed into the compound in eastern Kunar province in the hopes of capturing those inside, said U.S. military spokeswoman Capt. Elizabeth Mathias. They quickly came under fire, sparking a clash in which more than 12 insurgents died, she said.

There were no casualties among the allied troops or civilians, Mathias added.

Provincial government spokesman Gen. Khalilullah Zaiyi said 18 insurgents were killed in the fighting in Mano Gai district, in the Pech valley.

Some militants were detained, Mathias said. She did not have information on whether any al-Qaida operatives were among those captured or killed, nor did she give the name of the terrorist commander believed to have used the compound.