Pakistan cuts NATO supply line after border firing

By HUSSAIN AFZAL and DEB RIECHMANN, Associated Press Writers

PARACHINAR, Pakistan – Pakistan blocked a vital supply route for U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan on Thursday in apparent retaliation for an alleged cross-border helicopter strike by the coalition that killed three Pakistani frontier troops.

The blockade appeared to be a major escalation in tensions between Pakistan and the United States.

A permanent stoppage of supply trucks would place massive strains on the relationship between the two countries and hurt the Afghan war effort. Even a short halt is a reminder of the leverage Pakistan has over the United States at a crucial time in the 9-year-old war.

By midmorning, a line of around 100 NATO vehicles was waiting to cross the border into Afghanistan, officials said.

"We will have to see whether we are allies or enemies," Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik said of the border incident, without mentioning the blockade.

NATO said it was investigating Pakistani reports that coalition aircraft had mistakenly attacked its forces. The coalition has on at least one other occasion acknowledged mistakenly killing Pakistani security forces stationed close to the border.

Over the weekend, NATO helicopters fired on targets in Pakistan at least two times, killing several suspected insurgents they had pursued over the border from Afghanistan. Pakistan's government protested the attacks, which came in a month during which there have been an unprecedented number of U.S. drone missile strikes in the northwest, inflaming already pervasive anti-American sentiment among Pakistanis.

The surge in attacks and apparent increased willingness by NATO to attack targets on the border, or just inside Pakistan, could be a sign the coalition is losing patience with Pakistan, which has long been accused of harboring militants in its lawless tribal regions.

Pakistani security officials said Thursday's deadly airstrike took place on a checkpoint in the Upper Kurram region.

The dead men were from a paramilitary force tasked with safeguarding the border, the security officials said. Their bodies were taken to Parachinar, the region's largest town, one official said. Three troops also were wounded.

Several hours later, officials reported another rocket strike by NATO helicopters about nine miles (15 kilometers) from the first one. There were no injuries.

The security officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation and because in some cases they were not authorized to release the information to the media.

The border between Pakistan and Afghanistan is unmarked. Border troops wear uniforms that resemble the traditional Pakistani dress of a long shirt and baggy trousers, which could make it hard to distinguish them from ordinary citizens or insurgents.

U.S. officials have complained in the past that Pakistani security forces do little to stop the movement of militants seeking to cross over into Afghanistan and attack foreign troops there.

Lt. Col. John Dorrian, a spokesman for intelligence and special operations at NATO headquarters in Kabul, said coalition forces observed early Thursday what they believed were insurgents firing mortars at a coalition base in Dand Wa Patan district of Paktia, which is next to Upper Kurram.

"A coalition air weapons team called for fire support and engaged the insurgents," he said. "The air weapons team reported that it did not cross into Pakistani air space and believed the insurgents were located on the Afghan side of the border."

Dorrian said Pakistani military officials had informed the NATO military coalition that members of their border forces had been struck by coalition aircraft. He said the coalition was reviewing the reports to see if the operation in Paktia was related to those reports.

Hours after the incident, Pakistani authorities were ordered to stop NATO supply trucks from crossing into Afghanistan at the Torkham border post, a major entryway for NATO materials at the edge of the Khyber tribal region, two government officials said.

No reason was given, but earlier this week Pakistan threatened to stop providing protection to NATO convoys if the alliance's helicopters attacked targets inside Pakistan again.

The other main route into Afghanistan in southeastern Pakistan had received no orders to stop NATO trucks from crossing, which they were doing as normal, said Syed Mohammed Agha, a spokesman for the Pashin Scouts border guards.

Some 80 percent of non-lethal supplies for foreign forces fighting in landlocked Afghanistan are transported over Pakistani soil after being unloaded at docks in Karachi, a port city in the south. While NATO and the United States have alternative supply routes, the Pakistani ones are the cheapest and most convenient.

In June 2008, a U.S. airstrike killed 11 Pakistani troops and frayed ties between the two nations. Pakistan said the soldiers died when U.S. aircraft bombed their border post in the Mohmand tribal region. U.S. officials said coalition aircraft dropped bombs during a clash with militants. They expressed regret over the deaths, but said the attack was justified.

Pakistan and the U.S. have a complicated, but vital, relationship, with distrust on both sides.

Polls show many Pakistanis regard the United States as an enemy, and conspiracy theories abound of U.S. troops wanting to attack Pakistan and take over its nuclear weapons. The Pakistani government has to balance its support for the U.S. war in Afghanistan — and its need for billions of dollars in American aid — with maintaining support from its own population.

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Riechmann reported from Kabul, Afghanistan. Associated Press writers Munir Ahmed in Islamabad, Riaz Khan in Peshawar and Matiullah Achakzai in Chaman contributed to this report.

Palestinians say no talks without settlement halt

By MOHAMMED DARAGHMEH, Associated Press Writer

RAMALLAH, West Bank – An adviser to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Thursday that peace talks cannot continue without an Israeli settlement freeze but there has been no progress in breaking a deadlock on that issue yet.

The aide, Nabil Shaath, spoke ahead of a crucial meeting between Abbas and U.S. Mideast envoy George Mitchell. The Obama administration dispatched Mitchell on an emergency mission to try to salvage the U.S.-sponsored negotiations that began only a month ago, concerned that Palestinians might quit after Israel refused to extend a 10-month moratorium on housing starts in West Bank settlements.

Abbas has said he will quit the talks without an extension of the freeze.

"Unless the settlement activities stop completely, there is no use in continuing these negotiations," Shaath told The Associated Press.

"There is no progress on this issue," he added. "Apparently the Israelis are determined to swallow and steal the land and consider that much more important than peace."

Mitchell is shuttling between Israelis and Palestinians to try to break the deadlock over settlements.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says renewing the settlement curb could fracture his pro-settlement coalition. The Palestinians argue that there is no point negotiating as long as settlements gobble up land they want for a future state.

Various compromises had been considered, including limiting new construction to major settlement blocs, but Shaath said only a full settlement freeze will suffice.

Abbas was to announce his final decision at a meeting of Arab League foreign ministers, which had been set for Monday in Cairo. However, Arab diplomats say the meeting has now been put off until Wednesday.

Heightening the sense of urgency, Europe's top diplomat, Catherine Ashton, rushed to the region for talks with Abbas later Thursday and Netanyahu on Friday.

Ashton reiterated in a statement that she regrets Israel's decision not to extend the ban on settlement housing starts.

Officials: NATO chopper kills 3 Pakistani troops

By HUSSAIN AFZAL and DEB RIECHMANN, Associated Press Writers

PARACHINAR, Pakistan – A NATO helicopter attacked a Pakistani border post near Afghanistan on Thursday, killing three troops, security officials in Pakistan said. Later, government officials said they were ordered to stop trucks carrying supplies for international forces from entering Afghanistan at a major border crossing.

NATO said it was investigating the allegations and whether they were linked to an operation against insurgents in a nearby Afghan province.

The accusations and the fallout were likely to exacerbate tensions between Islamabad and Washington, which is struggling to beat back a resurgent Taliban movement in the 9-year-old Afghan war. Over the weekend, NATO choppers fired on targets in Pakistan, killing several alleged insurgents they had pursued over the border from Afghanistan.

Islamabad protested the intrusion into its territory that has inflamed already pervasive anti-American sentiments among Pakistanis.

On Thursday, two government officials told The Associated Press they were ordered to stop NATO supply trucks from crossing into Afghanistan at the Torkham border post, a major entryway for NATO materials at the edge of the Khyber tribal region. No reason was given for the blockage, but earlier this week Pakistan threatened to stop providing protection to NATO convoys if the military alliance's choppers attacked targets inside Pakistan again.

Pakistani security officials differed on the exact location of the deadly airstrike, saying it took place either in Upper Kurram or Upper Orakzai. The remote, mountainous tribal regions neighbor each other. The border between them, as well as the one with Afghanistan, is poorly marked.

Many of the border troops wear uniforms that resemble the traditional Pakistani dress of a long shirt and baggy trousers — which could make it hard to distinguish them from ordinary citizens or insurgents.

The dead men were from a paramilitary force tasked with safeguarding the border, the Pakistani security officials said. Their bodies were taken to the region's largest town of Parachinar, one official said. Three troops also were wounded.

The Pakistani officials all spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation and because in some cases they were not authorized to release the information to the media.

Lt. Col. John Dorrian, a spokesman for intelligence and special operations at NATO headquarters in Kabul, said coalition forces observed early Thursday what they believed were insurgents firing mortars at a coalition base in Dand Wa Patan district of Paktia province in eastern Afghanistan.

"A coalition air weapons team called for fire support and engaged the insurgents," he said. "The air weapons team reported that it did not cross into Pakistani air space and believed the insurgents were located on the Afghan side of the border."

Dorrian said NATO was reviewing the reports to see if the operation in Paktia was related to Pakistan's reports its forces were hit by NATO aircraft.

In June 2008, a U.S. airstrike killed 11 Pakistani troops and frayed the two nations' ties. Pakistan said the soldiers died when U.S. aircraft bombed their border post in the Mohmand tribal region. U.S. officials said their coalition's aircraft dropped bombs during a clash with militants. They expressed regret over the deaths, but said their attack was justified.

Pakistan and the U.S. have a complicated, but vital, relationship, with distrust on both sides.

Polls show many Pakistanis regard the United States as an enemy, and conspiracy theories abound of U.S. troops wanting to attack Pakistan and take over its nuclear weapons. The Pakistani government has to balance its support for the U.S. war in Afghanistan — and its need for billions in American aid — with maintaining the support from its own population.

The U.S. and NATO need Islamabad's cooperation in part because of their supply routes. Some 80 percent of non-lethal supplies for foreign forces fighting in landlocked Afghanistan cross Pakistani soil after being unloaded at docks in Karachi, a port city in the south.

Pakistani security forces provide security for the convoys, which are often attacked by militants and bandits as they travel north. While NATO and the United States have alternative supply routes, the Pakistani ones are the cheapest and most convenient.

The Pakistani government officials said about 250 vehicles of NATO supplies cross into Afghanistan daily at the Torkham border post.

There were more than 100 NATO vehicles blocked at the checkpoint by Thursday morning, they said.

____

Riechmann reported from Kabul, Afghanistan. Associated Press writers Munir Ahmed in Islamabad and Riaz Khan in Peshawar contributed to this report.

Could 'Goldilocks' planet be just right for life?

By SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer
Wed Sep 29

WASHINGTON – Astronomers say they have for the first time spotted a planet beyond our own in what is sometimes called the Goldilocks zone for life: Not too hot, not too cold. Juuuust right.

Not too far from its star, not too close. So it could contain liquid water. The planet itself is neither too big nor too small for the proper surface, gravity and atmosphere.

It's just right. Just like Earth.

"This really is the first Goldilocks planet," said co-discoverer R. Paul Butler of the Carnegie Institution of Washington.

The new planet sits smack in the middle of what astronomers refer to as the habitable zone, unlike any of the nearly 500 other planets astronomers have found outside our solar system. And it is in our galactic neighborhood, suggesting that plenty of Earth-like planets circle other stars.

Finding a planet that could potentially support life is a major step toward answering the timeless question: Are we alone?

Scientists have jumped the gun before on proclaiming that planets outside our solar system were habitable only to have them turn out to be not quite so conducive to life. But this one is so clearly in the right zone that five outside astronomers told The Associated Press it seems to be the real thing.

"This is the first one I'm truly excited about," said Penn State University's Jim Kasting. He said this planet is a "pretty prime candidate" for harboring life.

Life on other planets doesn't mean E.T. Even a simple single-cell bacteria or the equivalent of shower mold would shake perceptions about the uniqueness of life on Earth.

But there are still many unanswered questions about this strange planet. It is about three times the mass of Earth, slightly larger in width and much closer to its star — 14 million miles away versus 93 million. It's so close to its version of the sun that it orbits every 37 days. And it doesn't rotate much, so one side is almost always bright, the other dark.

Temperatures can be as hot as 160 degrees or as frigid as 25 degrees below zero, but in between — in the land of constant sunrise — it would be "shirt-sleeve weather," said co-discoverer Steven Vogt of the University of California at Santa Cruz.

It's unknown whether water actually exists on the planet, and what kind of atmosphere it has. But because conditions are ideal for liquid water, and because there always seems to be life on Earth where there is water, Vogt believes "that chances for life on this planet are 100 percent."

The astronomers' findings are being published in Astrophysical Journal and were announced by the National Science Foundation on Wednesday.

The planet circles a star called Gliese 581. It's about 120 trillion miles away, so it would take several generations for a spaceship to get there. It may seem like a long distance, but in the scheme of the vast universe, this planet is "like right in our face, right next door to us," Vogt said in an interview.

That close proximity and the way it was found so early in astronomers' search for habitable planets hints to scientists that planets like Earth are probably not that rare.

Vogt and Butler ran some calculations, with giant fudge factors built in, and figured that as much as one out of five to 10 stars in the universe have planets that are Earth-sized and in the habitable zone.

With an estimated 200 billion stars in the universe, that means maybe 40 billion planets that have the potential for life, Vogt said. However, Ohio State University's Scott Gaudi cautioned that is too speculative about how common these planets are.

Vogt and Butler used ground-based telescopes to track the star's precise movements over 11 years and watch for wobbles that indicate planets are circling it. The newly discovered planet is actually the sixth found circling Gliese 581. Two looked promising for habitability for a while, another turned out to be too hot and the fifth is likely too cold. This sixth one bracketed right in the sweet spot in between, Vogt said.

With the star designated "a," its sixth planet is called Gliese 581g.

"It's not a very interesting name and it's a beautiful planet," Vogt said. Unofficially, he's named it after his wife: "I call it Zarmina's World."

The star Gliese 581 is a dwarf, about one-third the strength of our sun. Because of that, it can't be seen without a telescope from Earth, although it is in the Libra constellation, Vogt said.

But if you were standing on this new planet, you could easily see our sun, Butler said.

The low-energy dwarf star will live on for billions of years, much longer than our sun, he said. And that just increases the likelihood of life developing on the planet, the discoverers said.

"It's pretty hard to stop life once you give it the right conditions," Vogt said.

Taliban kill Afghan district governor, provincial official says

Tue, 07 Sep 2010

Kabul - Taliban insurgents killed a district governor and his bodyguard in an attack in northern Afghanistan, an official said Tuesday.

Ahmad Seroor, the governor of Nahrin district in Baghlan province, was traveling through Baghlan-e-Markazi district on Monday night when Taliban insurgents ambushed his vehicle.

"The district chief and his bodyguard were killed in the attack," Munshi Abdul Majeed, the provincial governor, told the German Press Agency dpa.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid, speaking by phone from an undisclosed location, took responsibility for the attack.

Taliban militants are active in Baghlan and the neighboring province of Kunduz, where they have increased their insurgency in recent years after the fall of their regime in late 2001.

The northern region is relatively peaceful compared to southern and eastern provinces, the main power base for the militants.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/343024,governor-provincial-official-says.html.

Top US commander: Burning Quran endangers troops

By KIMBERLY DOZIER, Associated Press Writer

KABUL, Afghanistan – The top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan warned Tuesday an American church's threat to burn copies of the Muslim holy book could endanger U.S. troops in the country and Americans worldwide.

"Images of the burning of a Quran would undoubtedly be used by extremists in Afghanistan — and around the world — to inflame public opinion and incite violence," Gen. David Petraeus said in an e-mail to The Associated Press.

His comments followed a protest Monday by hundreds of Afghans over the plans by Gainesville, Florida-based Dove World Outreach Center — a small, evangelical Christian church that espouses anti-Islam philosophy — to burn copies of the Quran on church grounds to mark the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States that provoked the Afghan war.

Muslims consider the Quran to be the word of God and insist it be treated with the utmost respect, along with any printed material containing its verses or the name of Allah or the Prophet Muhammad. Any intentional damage or show of disrespect to the Quran is deeply offensive.
In 2005, 15 people died and scores were wounded in riots in Afghanistan sparked by a story in Newsweek magazine alleging interrogators at the U.S. detention center in Guantanamo Bay placed copies of the Quran in washrooms and flushed one down the toilet to get inmates to talk. Newsweek later retracted the story.

At Monday's protest, several hundred Afghans rallied outside a Kabul mosque, burning American flags and an effigy of Dove World's pastor and chanting "death to America." Members of the crowd briefly pelted a passing U.S. military convoy with stones, but were ordered to stop by rally organizers.

Two days earlier, thousands of Indonesian Muslims rallied outside the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta and in five other cities to protest the church's plans.

Petraeus warned images of burning Qurans could be used to incite anti-American sentiment similar to the pictures of prisoner abuse at Iraq's Abu Graib prison.

"I am very concerned by the potential repercussions of the possible (Quran) burning. Even the rumor that it might take place has sparked demonstrations such as the one that took place in Kabul yesterday," Petraeus said in his message. "Were the actual burning to take place, the safety of our soldiers and civilians would be put in jeopardy and accomplishment of the mission would be made more difficult."

The U.S. Embassy in Kabul also issued a statement condemning the church's plans, saying Washington was "deeply concerned about deliberate attempts to offend members of religious or ethnic groups."

Dove World Outreach Center, which made headlines last year after distributing T-shirts that said "Islam is of the Devil," has been denied a permit to set a bonfire but has vowed to proceed with the burning. The congregation's website estimates it has about 50 members, but the church has leveraged the Internet with a Facebook page and blog devoted to its Quran-burning plans.

A surge in troop deployments has brought the number of U.S. forces battling the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan to about 100,000 and Petraeus is asking for 2,000 more soldiers to join the 140,000-strong international force here, NATO officials said Monday. It was unclear how many would be Americans.

Coalition officials said nearly half will be trainers for the rapidly expanding Afghan security forces and will include troops trained to neutralize roadside bombs that have been responsible for about 60 percent of the 2,000 allied deaths in the nearly nine-year war.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not supposed to talk about the issue with media, said the NATO-led command had been asking for the troops even before Petraeus assumed command here in July.

Petraeus recently renewed that request with the NATO command in Brussels. The alliance has had trouble raising more troops for the war effort, with at least 450 training slots still unfilled after more than a year.

With casualties rising, the war has become deeply unpopular in many of NATO's 28 member countries, suggesting the additional forces will have to come from the United States.

Also Tuesday, authorities confirmed the ambush killing of a district chief by suspected insurgents in the northern province of Baghlan on Monday afternoon. Nahrin district chief Rahmad Sror Joshan Pool was on his way home after a memorial service for slain anti-Soviet guerrilla leader Ahmad Shah Massoud when rocket-propelled grenades hit his vehicle, setting it on fire, said provincial spokesman Mahmood Haqmal.

Pool's bodyguard was also killed in the attack, and one militant died and two were wounded in the ensuing fire fight with police, Haqmal said.

Five children were killed and five wounded in Yaya Khil district in the southern province of Paktika when an insurgent rocket fired at an Afghan army base hit a home Monday evening, provincial government spokesman Mokhlais Afghan said.

Kidnappers also seized two electoral workers and their two drivers in the western province of Ghor, according to deputy provincial police chief Ahmad Khan Bashir.

Insurgents have waged a campaign of violence and intimidation to prevent Afghans from voting, especially in rural areas, while some pre-election violence has also been blamed on rivalries among the candidates.
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Associated Press writers Slobodan Lekic in Brussels and Amir Shah in Kabul contributed to this report.

US expects to spend big in Afghanistan for years

By DESMOND BUTLER, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON – The U.S. government's financial commitment to Afghanistan is likely to linger and reach into the billions long after it pulls combat troops from the country, newly disclosed spending estimates show.

The United States expects to spend about $6 billion a year training and supporting Afghan troops and police after it begins withdrawing its own combat troops in 2011.

The estimates of U.S. spending through 2015, detailed in a NATO training mission document, are an acknowledgment that Afghanistan will remain largely dependent on the United States for its security.

That reality could become problematic for the Obama administration as it continues to seek money for Afghanistan from Congress in a time of increasingly tight budgets.

In Brussels, a NATO official said Monday that alliance commander Gen. David Petraeus had asked for 2,000 more soldiers, with nearly half to be trainers for the rapidly expanding Afghan security forces. The NATO official requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the subject.

The training mission document outlines large-scale infrastructure projects, including a military hospital and military and police academies, aimed at "establishing enduring institutions" and "creating irreversible momentum."

Spending for training is projected to taper off from $11.6 billion next year to an average of $6.2 billion over the following four years. Much of the reduction reflects reduced spending on infrastructure.

The Obama administration recently announced that it intends to ramp up the total Afghan army and police force from nearly 250,000 today to more than 300,000 by late next year. The mission will be largely paid for by the United States, with smaller contributions from NATO allies. The projected multibillion-dollar cost of maintaining those forces would be inconceivable for Afghanistan's small economy without foreign aid.

One of the arguments against dramatically increasing the size of Afghan security forces, even during George W. Bush's administration, was that the Afghan government would be unable to pay for them for the foreseeable future. The NATO document shows that the U.S. will end up footing most of the bill.

The Obama administration has boosted the training mission in preparation for next year's drawdown. The United States spent over $20 billion on training between 2003 and 2009 and expects to spend about the same this year and next alone.

The head of the NATO training mission, U.S. Lt. Gen. Bill Caldwell, said bolstering Afghanistan's security forces is cost-efficient.

"It will always be more expensive to have a coalition force doing something than an Afghan counterpart," Caldwell said in a written response to questions from The Associated Press.
Caldwell said he is sensitive to the concern that the United States is creating dependence and is looking for ways of cutting costs.

"This dependency is something that we think about all the time," he said. "We know the sooner the Afghan systems are up and running the sooner coalition forces can transition responsibilities to the sovereign government."

Todd Harrison, an analyst with the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, said it will be difficult to wean the Afghan security forces quickly.

"We really do have a long way to go before this winds down," he said.

Caldwell has said he aims to have Afghan security forces at sufficient numbers to begin a U.S. withdrawal by October 2011. The mission has had to deal with illiteracy, corruption and desertion among Afghan forces.

With much skepticism in Congress, the levels of financing outlined in the document are not guaranteed. While the roughly $6 billion annual cost would not be an enormous line in the defense budget, the administration is facing pressure to shrink the federal deficit.

Even Caldwell has predicted that desertion and injury rates are so high among Afghan forces that NATO will have to recruit and train 141,000 people to ensure it has the 56,000 additional personnel needed next fall.

As money for infrastructure tapers off, most of the projected spending is to retain forces by paying salaries, food and housing.
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Associated Press writer Slobodan Lekic contributed to this report from Brussels.

Indonesian volcano erupts again; strongest yet

By BINSAR BAKKARA, Associated Press Writer

TANAH KARO, Indonesia – An Indonesian volcano shot a towering cloud of black ash high into the air Tuesday, dusting villages 15 miles (25 kilometers) away in its most powerful eruption since awakening last week from four centuries of dormancy.

Some witnesses at the foot of Mount Sinabung reported seeing an orange glow — presumably magma — in cracks along the volcano's slopes for the first time.

"There was a huge, thunderous sound. It sounded like hundreds of bombs going off at one," said Ita Sitepu, 29, who was among thousands of people staying in crowded emergency shelters well away from the base. "Then everything starting shaking. I've never experienced anything like it."

Mount Sinabung's first eruption last week caught many scientists off guard. With more than 129 active volcanoes to watch in this vast archipelago, local vulcanologists had failed to monitor the long-quiet mountain for rising magma, slight uplifts in land and other signs of seismic activity.

Indonesia is a seismically charged region because of its location on the so-called "Ring of Fire" — a series of fault lines stretching from the Western Hemisphere through Japan and Southeast Asia.

There are fears that current activity could foreshadow a much more destructive explosion in the coming weeks or months, though it is possible, too, that Singabung will go back to sleep after letting off steam.

More than 30,000 people living along the volcano's fertile slopes have been relocated to cramped refugee camps, mosques and churches in nearby villages.

But some have insisted on returning to the danger zone to check on their homes and their dust-covered crops.

The government sent dozens of trucks to the mountain to help carry them back before Tuesday's eruption, which sent ash and debris shooting three miles (5,000 meters) into the air, said Surono, who heads the nation's volcano alert center.

"It was really terrifying," said Anissa Siregar, 30, as she and her two children arrived at one of the makeshift camps, adding that the mountain shook violently for at least three minutes. "It just keeps getting worse."

Local media said ash had reached as far as Berastagi, a district 15 miles (25 kilometers) from the base of the mountain.

Surono, who, like many Indonesians, uses only one name, said activity was definitely on the rise: There were more than 80 volcanic earthquakes in the 24-hour lead-up to the blast, compared to 50 on Friday, when ash and debris shot nearly two miles (3,000 meters).

The eruption early Tuesday occurred just after midnight during a torrential downpour. Witnesses said volcanic ash and mud oozed down the mountain's slopes, flooding into abandoned homes. Others said saw bursts of fire and hot ash.

The force of the explosion could be felt five miles (eight kilometers) away.

Indonesia has recorded some of the largest eruptions in history.

The 1815 explosion of Mount Tambora buried the inhabitants of Sumbawa Island under searing ash, gas and rock, killing an estimated 88,000 people.

The 1883 eruption of Krakatoa could be heard 2,000 miles (3,200 kilometers) away and blackened skies region-wide for months. At least 36,000 people were killed in the blast and the tsunami that followed.
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Associated Press writer Niniek Karmini contributed to this report from Jakarta.

Ahmadinejad predicts failure of Mideast talks, Israel - Summary

Fri, 03 Sep 2010

Tehran - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Friday that this week's Mideast peace talks as well as Israel itself were "doomed to collapse" as millions of Iranians were expected to turn out for state-organized anti-Israel rallies.

Iran marks the last Friday of the fasting month of Ramadan as Quds (Jerusalem) Day, during which the nationwide rallies are held. This year's rallies coincided with the first direct Middle East peace talks in almost two years, which were held in Washington.

The highlight of Quds Day was Friday prayers at Tehran University, where Ahmadinejad held the first sermon.

The president told the worshippers that the future of the Palestinian territories would be determined by the Palestinians themselves "and not in Washington, London or Paris."

"These talks are doomed to fail as the agenda of the talks is irrelevant and not focusing on the main issue, which is the withdrawal of Zionists from Palestinian lands," Ahmadinejad said.

"But more important is that the Zionist regime itself is doomed to collapse anyway," said the president, who in the past has provoked international condemnation for calling for Israel to be eradicated from the Middle East map and questioning the Holocaust.

Iran does not recognize Israel's sovereignty and said the only pragmatic option to resolve the Middle East conflict would be a referendum for all Palestinians, including the millions of refugees, to determine their fate.

According to Iranian state media, millions of people were expected to attend Friday's rallies.
During the demonstrations, the pro-government Basij militia group was to distribute two videogames to reach out to the younger generation and expose "Zionists' crimes and atrocities in Palestine," state television reported.

One of the games was based on the May 31 Israeli commando raid on an aid flotilla trying to break the blockade of the Gaza Strip. It killed nine activists.

The Quds Day rallies were held after US President Barack Obama hosted Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Thursday for peace talks.

Abbas and Netanyahu pledged to reach a peace agreement in a year's time, hold a second round of talks September 14-15 in the Middle East and meet every two weeks thereafter.

Iranian leaders, however, downplayed the importance of the negotiations.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast on Friday described the Washington meeting as "futile compromise talks" and told the ISNA news agency that "the Palestinians were smarter than being deceived by this kind of theatre."

Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani told state television Friday that "the dilemma could not be settled by theatrics staged in Washington as the Palestinian issue was not a toy but a very serious matter which solely had one solution: giving Palestinians back their rights."

At prayers, Ahmadinejad called on the West to drop its support of Israel to gain more trust in the Middle East.

"If you do not stop supporting the Zionists, then you would be regarded as accomplices of the Zionist crimes and forced to face the consequences accordingly," Ahmadinejad warned at the university, which was the object of a heavy security deployment Friday.

In a change from last year's rallies, no opposition protests were observed by journalists or reported on opposition websites.

The opposition accused the government of fraud in last year's presidential vote, which led to Ahmadinejad's re-election. It organized a series of demonstrations, and the government responded with deadly crackdowns. There have been no street protests since December.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/342498,talks-israel-summary.html.

Nuclear talks with EU futile, Iran's chief of staff says

Wed, 04 Aug 2010

Berlin - Iran's chief of staff said Wednesday that nuclear talks with the European Union would be a waste of time, ISNA news agency reported.

"We have realized that holding nuclear talks with the EU is futile as the Europeans have nothing to say (in world politics)," Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, widely regarded as President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's closest advisor, said.

Tehran insists that the main players in the nuclear dispute are the United States, Russia and China - and that the EU's presence in the negotiations has no major impact.

Ahmadinejad's also insists on direct contact with US President Barack Obama, and on Monday repeated a challenge to debate at the UN general assembly in New York in September, analysts said.

"The Americans should know that for solving the dilemmas in Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan, first they have to settle the nuclear dispute with Iran," Mashaei said.

Ahmadinejad's chief aide also said the US should start talking with Iran, and know that sanctions will not stop Tehran from pursuing its nuclear projects.

The UN has ordered economic sanctions against Iran for its uranium enrichment drive, and suspicions that it is secretly pursuing nuclear weapons, a charge Tehran denies.

Ahmadinejad said Iran was ready to resume nuclear talks with world powers in September, and also hold technical talks with the US, Russia and the International Atomic Energy Agency for a uranium swap.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/337902,irans-chief-staff-says.html.

Iran stages anti-Israel rallies amid peace talks in Washington

Fri, 03 Sep 2010

Tehran - Iran on Friday staged anti-Israeli rallies nationwide while direct peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians were under way in Washington.

The late supreme leader of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, grand ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, declared the last Friday of the fasting month of Ramadan as Quds (Jerusalem) Day and called for mass rallies against Israel and in support of the Palestinians.

The rallies this year coincided with the first direct Middle East peace talks in almost two years, in Washington, where US President Barack Obama was hosting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

According to Iranian state media, millions of people were expected to attend the state-run rallies throughout the country and voice their support for Palestinians and the "liberation of their lands from the Zionist regime's (Israel's) occupation."

"Today millions of people will shout out their will for liberation of the holy Quds from the devil's claw of Zionists," the Fars news agency reported.

Iran does not recognize Israel's sovereignty and said the only pragmatic option to resolve the Middle East conflict would be a referendum for all Palestinians, including the millions of refugees, to determine their fate.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday predicted that the talks in Washington would once again fail because the main demand of the Palestinian people, which is an end to the Israeli occupation, was once again not being considered.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast on Friday described the Washington meeting as "futile compromise talks" and told ISNA news agency that "the Palestinians were smarter than being deceived by this kind of theatre."

Iran's Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani told state television Friday that "the dilemma could not be settled by theatrics staged in Washington as the Palestinian issue was not a toy but a very serious matter which solely had one solution: giving Palestinians back their rights."

During the rallies, the pro-government Basij militia group was to distribute two video games as an effort to reach the younger generation and expose "Zionists' crimes and atrocities in Palestine," state TV reported.

The highlight of the Quds Day was scheduled to be the Friday prayers at Tehran University where Ahmadinejad planned to hold the first sermon and the hardline Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami the main sermon.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/342467,rallies-peace-talks-washington.html.

Iran says Middle East peace talks futile

Tue, 24 Aug 2010

Tehran - Iran on Tuesday said that the forthcoming Middle East peace talks between Israel and Palestine would be futile.

"As long as the main root of the problem is not solved, no peace talks will have any tangible results and be futile," Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said in a press briefing in Tehran.

The upcoming negotiations are to be the first direct peace talks between the Israelis and Palestinians in nearly two years.

The last round of direct negotiations was suspended in late 2008, as Israel entered the election campaign which ultimately brought Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to power.
"There can be no real settlement as long as Palestinians are forced out of their country and live as refugees while invaders from other countries live in their homeland," the Iranian spokesman said.

Iran does not recognise Israel's sovereignty and says the only pragmatic option would be a referendum for all Palestinians, including the millions of refugees, to determine their future fate.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/340726,east-peace-talks-futile.html.

Jordan, Syria call for Israeli pullout from all Arab lands - Summary

Mon, 06 Sep 2010

Amman - Jordanian King Abdullah II and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Monday stressed the need for Israel to pull out from all Arab territories it occupied in the 1967 war, if peace with the Palestinians is to be achieved.

Abdullah made a whirlwind visit to Damascus to brief the Syrian leader on the outcome of his talks in Washington last week with United States President Barack Obama, Egyptian President Hosny Mubarak, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a royal court statement said.

The monarch had attended the six-way meeting on the eve of direct talks between Israel and the Palestinians being relaunched Thursday.

Abdullah and al-Assad "emphasised that resolving the Palestinian- Israeli conflict on the basis of the two-state vision requires the regaining of all Arab rights in accordance with ... the Arab peace initiative," the statement said.

The Arab peace initiative offered Israel recognition by all Arab states if it pulled out from all Arab territories it occupied in the 1967 Middle East war, including East Jerusalem.

Turkish-brokered peace talks between Syria and Israel had faltered in 2008, reportedly after Damascus insisted on the restoration of the entire Golan Heights, one of the Arab territories the Jewish state captured in the 1967 war.

Abdullah and al-Assad also agreed to continue "coordination and consultation" on all bilateral and regional issues and discussed means of boosting pan-Arab action "to cope with common challenges".

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/342977,arab-lands-summary.html.

Two Spaniards killed in Afghan 'terrorist' shooting - Summary

Wed, 25 Aug 2010

Kabul/Madrid - An Afghan police driver shot dead two Spanish police trainers and an interpreter before being killed by NATO security forces inside a base in north-western Afghanistan, Spanish Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said Wednesday.

Rubalcaba described the killing as a premeditated terrorist attack. He said he was unable to confirm reports that the Taliban were behind it.

The driver fired at the police officers with an assault rifle when they were instructing their Afghan colleagues in the capital of Badghis province, Qala-I-Naw.

Rubalcaba identified the killer as the driver of one of the slain police officers. The interpreter who was also killed was identified as a Spaniard of Iranian origin.

The killer was gunned down by Spanish police officers who witnessed the shooting.

Deputy Governor Haji Abdul Qami Sabir confirmed that two Spanish soldiers were killed when an Afghan policeman opened fire on the troops.

The Spanish victims were members of the paramilitary police force Civil Guard. Their names were given as captain Jose Maria Galera Cordoba and second lieutenant Abraham Leoncio Bravo Picayo. Both were 33 years old, according to Spanish government sources.

NATO confirmed the incident later on Wednesday, saying that an Afghan policeman, two international service members and a civilian had been killed.

The incident sparked angry reactions from hundreds of demonstrators who attempted to storm the Spanish-manned NATO camp, witness reports said.

The residents protested at the Provincial Reconstruction Team's base after allegations that foreign troops had shot and killed an Afghan policeman, Mohammed Rahim told the German Press Agency dpa.

"Firing is continuing in the city, everyone is escaping, and thousands of people are trying to attack the Spanish PRT base," he said.

Spanish government sources initially denied that the demonstrators tried to storm the base, but Rubalcaba said the Afghan army had repelled such an attempt.

The protestors wanted the body of the slain Afghan police officer, Spanish government sources said, explaining that an Afghan judge had entered the base in order to authorize the handover of the remains.

Spain has about 1,000 troops in Afghanistan as part of ISAF. Ninety-two Spaniards who were sent to Afghanistan have been killed, including 62 who died in a plane crash in Turkey in 2003.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/340973,terrorist-shooting-summary.html.

Spanish demonstrators arrested by Moroccan police in West Sahara

Sun, 29 Aug 2010

Madrid - A group of Spanish demonstrators were arrested in the West Saharan city of El-Aiun in an unauthorized protest demonstration, Spain's state broadcaster RNE reported Sunday.

The report said that Moroccan security forces moved in to break up the demonstration which was staged to protest against human rights violations in Morocco.

El-Aiun is the capital of the West Sahara, the former Spanish colony which Morocco annexed after Spain's pullout in 1975.

The RNE report said 11 Spaniards were arrested, while three others fled to a hotel. Later, the 14 demonstrators, members of a West Sahara initiative based on the Canary Islands, were being detained in a Spanish cultural centre in El-Aiun.

The group members charged that they were brutally mistreated by the Moroccan police.

A Spanish diplomat was en route to the West Sahara to gain their release and arrange for their return to Spain, the report said.

The incident threatened to add further to Spanish-Moroccan tensions after the recent dispute over border controls in Spain's exclave of Melilla. Morocco accused Spanish border guards of mistreating African travelers.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/341547,moroccan-police-west-sahara.html.

At least 3 Russian soldiers killed in Dagestan bombing - Summary

Sun, 05 Sep 2010

Moscow - At least three Russian soldiers were killed in a suicide bombing at a military base in restive Dagestan republic in the North Caucasus region early Sunday, media reports quoting the defence ministry said.

The ministry said five of the 32 people injured in the attack were in a critical condition, according to the Interfax news agency. The injured were flown to a hospital in the southern city Rostov-on-Don.

The suicide bomber drove an explosives-laden car into a gate at the base, located about 2 kilometres north-east of Buinaksk city. Reports said around 50 kilograms of the explosive TNT was used in the bombing.

Guards had reportedly prevented further fatalities by blocking the entrance. Another bomb exploded on the roadside when investigators arrived at the scene, without causing injuries, authorities said.

President Dmitry Medvedev, who had been informed of the incident by Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov, offered support to the victims and their families.

Authorities have stepped up security at military bases in southern Russia in the wake the attack.

The suicide bombing came a day after an attack on Dagestan's Minister National Policy, Foreign Relations and Information, Bekmurza Bemurzayev. The minister escaped with light injuries when a bomb that had been planted under his car exploded but his driver was killed. Two bodyguards were injured.

Meanwhile, Dagestan police found the body of a police officer who was abducted on Friday.
Elsewhere in the North Caucasus, in Karbardino-Balkaria, a man killed a police officer who had stopped him.

Islamist separatists in the region have been fighting forces loyal to the Kremlin, hoping to establish an independent emirate.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/342764,dagestan-bombing-summary.html.

Spanish parties reject ETA ceasefire as insufficient - Summary

Mon, 06 Sep 2010

Madrid - The Spanish government and the main political parties Monday rejected a ceasefire declared by the militant Basque separatist group ETA as insufficient, insisting that ETA must definitively lay down its arms.

ETA said Sunday it would carry out no more "offensive military actions," without giving the duration of the truce or other details.

ETA described the ceasefire as forming part of attempts to launch a "democratic process" involving negotiations so that the Basques could freely decide their future.

Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba described the truce as "insufficient," insisting that ETA "must leave violence completely and forever."

ETA was making a "technical pause" because it was no longer able to carry out attacks, and needed to rebuild its structure, Rubalcaba said.

The government would not change its hardline anti-terrorism policy "one iota," the minister vowed.

ETA, which has killed about 850 people in its campaign for a Basque homeland, had not carried out significant attacks in Spain for over a year.

Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega stressed the unity of the democratic forces in demanding a military surrender which was "the only way out" for ETA.

Infrastructure Minister Jose Blanco attributed the ceasefire to police and judicial pressure that had weakened ETA.

Jose Antonio Alonso, a spokesman for Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's Socialist Party, said the truce was probably a "purely tactical" move ahead of the 2011 municipal elections.

ETA's political wing Batasuna had called for a ceasefire in the hope that such a move would persuade Spanish courts to lift a 2003 ban on the party's activities which prevents it from contesting elections.

ETA's credibility was "zero" after the group broke its previous, nine-month ceasefire with a car bombing that killed two Ecuadorians at Madrid airport in December 2006, Alonso said.

That attack shattered an attempt at peace talks. Alonso said the government would not talk to ETA again.

Dolores de Cospedal from the main opposition conservative People's Party said the only move expected from ETA was surrender without getting any political concessions in return.

Even during previous attempts at negotiations, Spanish governments have refused to discuss ETA's key demand, a sovereign Basque state created out of northern Spain and southern France.

The ceasefire did not even meet the expectations of Batasuna, Basque regional Prime Minister Patxi Lopez said. Batasuna had said the truce needed to be permanent and under international supervision.

ETA's violence is opposed by the vast majority of Basques. The group had come under increasing pressure from its sympathizers to switch from a military to a purely political strategy in the quest for independence.

ETA is listed as a terrorist organization by the European Union and the United States.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/342941,ceasefire-insufficient-summary.html.

Al-Qaeda releases Spaniards after 'requests were met' - Summary

Tue, 24 Aug 2010

Madrid - Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb released two Spaniards who spent nearly nine months in captivity after "some of our requests" were met, the North African branch of the group said in a statement quoted by the Spanish daily El Pais on Tuesday.

Sources close to Burkina Faso negotiators who mediated in the deal earlier said Spain may have paid up to 7 million dollars for Albert Vilalta and Roque Pascual, who arrived in Barcelona overnight.

Some reports put the sum at 7 million euros instead of dollars (8.9 million dollars).

There was also speculation that the release of the Spaniards was linked to an alleged deal between Mali and Mauritania to free an al-Qaeda collaborator whom a Mauritanian court had sentenced to 12 years in prison for organizing the kidnapping.

Omar Ould Sidi Ould Hamma, known as Omar the Saharan, was extradited to Mali which freed him shortly before Vilalta and Pascual were released.

The two aid workers were abducted in Mauritania on November 29 with a woman, Alicia Gamez, and taken to northern Mali. Gamez was released in March.

The way Spain had dealt with the case of Pascual and Vilalta was "a lesson for the French secret services," al-Qaeda said in an apparent reference to French hostage Michel Germaneau, who was killed in July.

Al-Qaeda then announced it killed Germaneau in retaliation for a French-supported raid by the Mauritanian military in northern Mali.

Moustapha Shafi, a Mauritanian advisor to Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaore who mediated between Spain and al-Qaeda, told El Pais that the kidnappers "came close to killing" the Spanish hostages in the aftermath of the raid.

Shafi said he managed to convince al-Qaeda that Madrid opposed the raid, in which several terrorists were killed.

Spain had earlier promised Algeria that it would not pay a ransom for the hostages, the daily ABC said.

Unlike France and Britain, Spain had "given in to blackmail by fundamentalists," a commentator wrote in the daily El Mundo. Generally, however, there was little criticism of the fact that the government may have paid a ransom to save the lives of the hostages.

Pascual and Vilalta flew to Barcelona from the Burkina Faso capital Ouagadougou on board a Spanish air force plane.

Al-Qaeda treated its hostages well "within (the limits imposed by) the harsh conditions of the desert," said Vilalta, who walked with the help of a crutch after being injured by gunshots during his abduction.

The two Spaniards were the hostages held the longest so far by al-Qaeda in the Sahel region.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/340749,were-met-summary.html.

10 politicians among at least 42 dead in Mogadishu clashes

Tue, 24 Aug 2010

Nairobi/Mogadishu - At least 42 people, including ten lawmakers, have died in fighting in the Somali capital Mogadishu after Islamist insurgents declared "a final war" against African Union peacekeepers.

Radical Islamist group al-Shabaab is battling to oust the weak Western-backed government, which is penned into small enclaves in Mogadishu protected by around 6,000 AU peacekeepers from Uganda and Burundi.

On Tuesday, insurgents dressed in army fatigues entered a hotel popular with parliamentarians near the presidential palace and shot dead ten lawmakers.

"Three armed men stormed the hotel and killed 10 members of parliament," a police official told the German Press Agency dpa. "Our troops killed two of the attackers while another committed suicide."

Fighting broke out on Monday after an al-Shabaab spokesman said insurgent forces from across Somalia would take part in a drive to sweep the AU out of Mogadishu.

"I order all Somali Muslims and al-Shabaab forces to wage war and destroy the apostate troops and Christian soldiers in Mogadishu," Sheikh Ali Mohamoud Rage told reporters in Mogadishu late Monday.

Witnesses said the clashes were the heaviest in months as the two sides clashed with rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and automatic weapons.

"As we were coming back from the market in the evening, the battle intensified and a heavy shell slammed down ... five women died on the spot," Rowda Abdullahi Hersi, a shopkeeper in the insurgent stronghold Bakara Market told dpa.

The government accused al-Shabaab of firing mortars into heavily populated areas, saying the group showed a lack of respect for the holy month of Ramadan.

AU troops and government forces are regularly accused of causing heavy civilian casualties by firing at insurgent positions in civilian areas.

"The casualties are increasing minute by minute and the battle is intensifying," Ali Muse, head of Mogadishu's ambulance service, told dpa. "So far, we have collected 29 dead bodies and 97 injured."

The AU has also vowed to kick al-Shabaab out of Mogadishu with the help of several thousand reinforcements.

The AU's Deputy Special Representative for Somalia, Wafula Wamunyinyi, told journalists in the Kenyan capital Nairobi on Monday that an extra 2,000 troops recently pledged by East African grouping IGAD had begun arriving.

He said an unspecified number of additional troops from Uganda had already been deployed, and that Guinea and Burundi were expected to send more soldiers, although he refused to reveal a timescale of when the deployment would be complete.

Al-Shabaab, which claims links to the al-Qaeda network, recently carried out its first attack outside Somali soil, targeting the Ugandan capital Kampala with twin blasts that killed 76.
The insurgents said they carried out the bombing in retaliation for the actions of Ugandan peacekeepers in Mogadishu.

Somalia has been immersed in chaos since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.
The current insurgency, which has claimed more than 20,000 lives, kicked off in early 2007, following Ethiopia's invasion to oust the ruling Islamist regime.

The ongoing chaos has attracted militants from Afghanistan and Pakistan. There are now as many as 2,000 foreign fighters operating from bases in Somalia, training and financing local militants, Wamunyinyi said.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/340746,clashes-2nd-update.html.