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Wednesday, September 19, 2012

France to ban new prophet film protest

September 19, 2012

PARIS (AP) — France's leadership is barring a planned protest by people angry over a film produced in the United States that insults the Prophet Muhammad, but are defending a newspaper's right to publish caricatures of the prophet.

France's foreign minister said security is being stepped up at some French embassies amid tensions in France and elsewhere around the film "The Innocence of Muslims." French authorities and Muslim leaders urged calm in the country with western Europe's largest Muslim population.

Riot police took up positions outside the Paris offices of a satirical French weekly that published crude caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad on Wednesday that ridicule the film and the furor surrounding it. The provocative weekly, Charlie Hebdo, was firebombed last year after it released a special edition that was "guest edited" by the Prophet Muhammad and took aim at radical Islam. The investigation into that attack is still under way.

Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said that organizers of the planned demonstration Saturday against the film "Innocence of Muslims" won't receive police authorization for the protest. Ayrault told French radio RTL on Wednesday that "there's no reason for us to let a conflict that doesn't concern France come into our country. We are a republic that has no intention of being intimidated by anyone."

A wave of protest has swept some Muslim countries over the amateurish video posted online. The total number of deaths linked to unrest over the film is at least 28. In Paris, prosecutors have opened an investigation into an unauthorized protest last Saturday around the American Embassy that drew about 150 people and led to scores of arrests.

The tensions around the film in France provoked debate about the limits of free speech. Ayrault emphasized that the freedom of expression was guaranteed in France, but said it "should be exercised with responsibility and respect."

Satirical, small-circulation weekly Charlie Hebdo often draws attention for ridiculing sensitivity around the Prophet Muhammad. Its website was down Wednesday, but it was unclear why. Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, speaking on France Inter radio, said Wednesday, "In France we have freedom of expression, very well, this principle must not be infringed." But he added, "Is it pertinent, intelligent, in this context to pour oil on the fire? The answer is no."

He said that he had "sent instructions to all countries where this could pose problems, we are taking specific security measures." An umbrella group for French Muslims, the CFCM, issued a statement expressing its "deep concern" over the latest Charlie Hebdo caricatures and warned that "in a very tense context, it risks exacerbating tensions and provoking reactions."

It urged French Muslims to "not cede to provocation and ... express their indignation in peace via legal means."

Orthodox Russian deacon stands up for Pussy Riot

September 18, 2012

TAMBOV, Russia (AP) — Sergei Baranov keeps his clerical robes hanging neatly in his closet, but he believes he will never again wear them inside a Russian Orthodox Church.

Baranov, who had led a quiet life as a deacon in the small city of Tambov, became an Internet celebrity last month when he asked to be defrocked in an open letter to the Moscow patriarchate, saying he was outraged by the church's stance against three members of the punk band Pussy Riot.

The feminist rockers were sentenced to two years in prison after singing a "punk prayer" against President Vladimir Putin in Moscow's main cathedral, a stunt that divided Russians. Even some of the devout who did not approve of the women's high kicks at the cathedral's pulpit in February spoke out against the trial and what appeared to be the church's heavy-handed involvement. Baranov gave them a strong public voice — and gave up his calling in order to back up his beliefs.

Baranov told The Associated Press on Tuesday that he supports the band's stunt and does not regret his resignation. "Everyone prays as they can," Baranov said of the Pussy Riot members. "And with their act they exposed the ills and blisters of society. We should have done that a long time ago."

The Pussy Riot trial had given courage to Baranov, who said he had long been critical of the church's stance but that the girls' actions had shown him that the church is ripe, if not overdue, for serious reform.

Baranov was far away from the discontent still simmering in Moscow after the trial. But he managed to further ripple the waters with the help of Facebook, as his letter accumulated over 4,000 likes and almost 2,000 re-posts within several days.

The Internet has mobilized countless opposition voices like Baranov's throughout Russia, this time helping a little known cleric draw attention to what he sees as the ills of the Orthodox Church, its conservatism and its open support for Putin.

The Pussy Riot case demonstrated that the church is more attentive to the government than to the needs of its believers, and it is time for a change in the clergy hierarchy, he argued. Anger with the church began to boil at the time of Putin's re-election to a third presidential term in March, when Patriarch Kirill strongly backed his bid, calling the 12-year Putin rule a "miracle of God." Putin, who was facing massive street protests in Moscow against his rule, was eager to have a helping hand by the church in swaying more devout voters in his direction.

"When Hitler and Stalin created their powerful totalitarian regimes, they made use of powerful ideologies," said Father Gleb Yakunin, a former Russian Orthodox Church priest who was defrocked in the 1990s. "Putin seems to be a good administrator, but (he's) a weak ideologist, so he decided to use something that already exists."

After Baranov posted his open letter online, the Tambov regional clergy issued a press release on their website in which they accused him of "rakish behavior" and alcohol abuse, saying that he was using the current political climate and the trial of Pussy Riot as an excuse to leave the church.

The former deacon was subsequently defrocked, although an official defrocking requires confirmation by the patriarch, who is likely to sign the mandate within a few weeks. Officials at Moscow Patriarchate wouldn't comment on Baranov's case.

According to Baranov, local politicians were also rattled by his letter, and he said he had been approached by a deputy governor and security officials, who asked him about the political motives behind his statements.

On a sunny Tuesday morning in Tambov, a city about 400 kilometers (250 miles) south of Moscow best known for its delicious potatoes, locals were far from providing support for the defrocked deacon. Several members of the Pokrovsky Cathedral, the church where Baranov served, said they believe that a priest should respect his religious order, and that respect for the church should come before freedom of speech.

"It wasn't correct for him to write in support (of the Pussy Riot girls)," said Larisa Krasnova, a retired military sergeant who had been visiting the church with her grandson. "I approve of the fact that they were tried because it's blasphemy and because it's unforgivable."

Baranov said he doesn't expect the support of local churchgoers. He is afraid, however, that the church is preparing to further purge him, ensuring that he will no longer be able to take part in the services that he fell in love with when he was 13 years old.

"When the media furor dies down, they will simply excommunicate me from church," Baranov said. "Once this happens, I won't have the right to enter a church, I will lose the right to communion." The church has not yet requested Baranov's excommunication, although it has not denied that such action may take place.

Excommunication is a quite rare punishment in the Orthodox Church. Most famously, novelist Leo Tolstoy was excommunicated, and others who are unrepentant, like Yakunin, have suffered a similar fate.

Large anti-austerity protests in Spain, Portugal

September 15, 2012

MADRID (AP) — Tens of thousands of people from all over Spain rallied in the capital Saturday against punishing austerity measures enacted by the government, which is trying to save the country from financial collapse.

Large anti-austerity protests also took place in neighboring Portugal. Demonstrators in Lisbon threw tomatoes and fireworks at the Portuguese headquarters of the International Monetary Fund. Two protesters were arrested, but otherwise the rally was peaceful.

Spain is stuck in a double-dip recession with unemployment close to 25 percent. The conservative government of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has introduced stinging cuts and raised taxes in a bid to reduce the deficit and to reassure investors and officials from the 17-nation eurozone.

The marchers in Madrid unfurled banners with slogans such as "Let's go! They are ruining the country and we have to stop them." "This government's policies are causing too much pain," union chief Ignacio Fernandez Toxo said. "It's a lie that there isn't another way to restore the economy."

The situation looks set to get worse in coming weeks. At a meeting of eurozone finance ministers in Cyprus on Friday, Spain revealed it would present a new set of economic reforms by the end of the month. It's a move that raises expectations that Spain might soon ask for financial help.

The economic reform plan will be unveiled by Sept. 27. It is expected to be the launch-pad to Spain's tapping of a new European Central Bank bond-buying plan. Just before Saturday's march began, buses transporting protesters blocked several major roads in the Spanish capital. The main organizers were Social Summit, an association of more than 150 organizations, and the Workers' Commissions and General Workers trade unions.

The Interior Ministry's regional office said it had expected more than 500,000 people to reach a central Madrid square, but later said 65,000 had attended to listen to speeches made by protest leaders.

Toxo called for a referendum on the government's austerity and bailout plans, saying the measures were so different from the ruling Popular Party's election pledges that Spaniards should have the right to express an opinion on them.

Rajoy was swept to power with a large majority in November elections, having said "I have no plans to raise taxes." The Madrid protest comes four days after another anti-government gathering in the northeastern city of Barcelona that attracted about 1.5 million demonstrators, according to police estimates.

"We've had our pay cut. We don't get the firefighting training and equipment we need. There are more students and fewer teachers in our children's classrooms, and health care is also being cut," firefighter Carlos Melgaves said, while marching in a group of about 50 firefighters. "We can't take it anymore."

Spain's economy minister, Luis de Guindos, said his government is aware it is asking citizens to make sacrifices. They "are absolutely unavoidable if we are to correct the difficult economic climate we are experiencing," he said in Cyprus, where Europe's finance ministers were meeting Saturday. "We are laying the foundations for a recovery."

Rajoy has accepted a loan of up to €100 billion ($127billion) to help ailing banks reeling from a collapse of the country's real estate and construction industries. His government also has faced punishingly high interest rates while raising money on bond markets to keep the economy in liquidity.

The country is widely expected to ask to sell its bonds to the European Central Bank, but the conditions attached have been the subject of ongoing negotiations. In Portugal, another package of recently announced government austerity measures could turn the nation's sullen acceptance of belt-tightening into an explosion of anger similar to that seen in Greece over the past two years.

More than 50,000 people said on Facebook they would attend a large protest in Lisbon and organizers called smaller demonstrations in 40 other Portuguese cities. Last week, Portuguese Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho announced an increase in workers' social security contributions to 18 percent of their monthly salary from 11 percent. The cut is equivalent to a net monthly wage.

Portuguese Finance Minister Vitor Gaspar said income taxes will go up next year and public employees will lose either their Christmas or vacation bonus, roughly equivalent to a month's income. Many pensioners will lose both.

Protester Magda Alves said the austerity measures being applied to overcome the eurozone financial crisis were not working. "What is being done in Portugal now was done in Greece, it is being done in Spain, and was also applied in other countries on other continents," Alves said. "The result was always the same: disaster."

Associated Press writers Barry Hatton and Yesica Fisch in Lisbon, Portugal, and Alan Clendenning in Madrid, contributed to this report.

Anti-Putin lawmaker ousted in Russia; who's next?

September 14, 2012

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia's parliament on Friday expelled a former Kremlin loyalist who joined the growing opposition movement, propelling President Vladimir Putin's crackdown on political dissent into the halls of power.

By punishing Gennady Gudkov, a fellow former KGB officer, Putin signaled his zero tolerance for any type of revolt within the political system. Gudkov's expulsion from the State Duma also means he loses his immunity from prosecution, and his supporters fear he could face arrest.

"We have come very close to the brink that separates an authoritarian regime from a dictatorship," said Gudkov, who was ostensibly ousted for running a business in violation of parliament rules, an allegation he denies.

The 293-150 vote to expel Gudkov came a day before the first major opposition rally since June, and it could help fan the flames of protest after the summer lull. Many activists already are angry over the two-year prison sentences handed down in August to three members of the punk band Pussy Riot for performing an irreverent anti-Putin song inside Moscow's main cathedral.

Since returning to the presidency in May after four years as prime minister, Putin has tightened the screws on a protest movement that drew tens of thousands to the streets over the winter. New laws have been passed to deter people from joining protests, and opposition leaders have faced searches and criminal investigations.

Gleb Pavlovsky, a former Kremlin political consultant, said Gudkov was targeted out of fears that his example might encourage other members of the political elite to join the opposition. Gudkov's behavior was like "a specter of the split in the elite that the Kremlin is so afraid of," Pavlovsky said. "It scared them a lot."

For most of the past decade, the State Duma — the lower house of parliament — has obediently rubber-stamped Kremlin bills. Moderate criticism was tolerated because a solid pro-Kremlin majority could ensure the safe passage of any legislation.

Gudkov, 56, was long part of that majority. He worked at the KGB, the Soviet secret police and intelligence agency, from 1981 until 1992, and then continued his career in its main successor agency before becoming a lawmaker in 2001.

He initially joined United Russia, the dominant Kremlin party, before moving in 2007 to Fair Russia, another Kremlin-created party that in recent years has begun to lean more toward the opposition. Gudkov was deputy chairman of the Duma's security committee and enjoyed good relations with many senior officials in security agencies.

But he had become increasingly critical of Kremlin policies in recent years, denouncing the government's inefficiency and corruption in official ranks. A decisive moment came last winter when he surprisingly emerged at a giant opposition rally. The stout, mustachioed man cut a striking figure among young activists as he chanted "Putin, resign!" from the stage.

The backlash began after a May 6 rally on the eve of Putin's inauguration for his third term as president. The protest ended in clashes between protesters and police. Authorities soon began inspections of a private security firm that Gudkov had set up and revoked its license, citing purported irregularities. Then investigators and prosecutors sent petitions to parliament claiming that Gudkov was running a separate business — a street market for construction materials — in violation of Duma regulations.

"For many years, Gudkov has been integrated in Putin's system of government and Putin's system of business," political analyst Stanislav Belkovsky said on Ekho Moskvy radio. "Putin does not forgive treachery."

Gudkov and his son, also a parliament member, struck back by releasing documents showing property and businesses owned by United Russia members. In his final remarks before Friday's vote, Gudkov said the stifling of dissent would lead only to greater protest.

"You are trying to muzzle critics with repression," he said. "You won't succeed. People can't be driven back to their kitchens. They will come out and demand honest elections and an honest life." The expulsion sent a chill through other legislators. Communist deputy Vladimir Pozdnyakov said before the vote that it would put pressure on all lawmakers, adding, "We have no guarantee now that any other deputy will not end up in this meat grinder."

Vladimir Isachenkov contributed to this report.

Latest cutbacks in Portugal bring explosive mood

September 14, 2012

LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Nationwide protests are expected to draw tens of thousands, with police bracing for possible clashes. The prime minister's Facebook page has been swamped with irate messages such as "Get lost, thief." Even prominent members of the governing coalition are joining the chorus of rage.

New Portuguese austerity measures announced in recent days may be the tipping point that transforms the nation's sullen acceptance of belt-tightening into an explosion of anger like that seen in Greece over the past two years. It threatens to wreck Portugal's plans for taming its debt woes and spawn another hotspot in Europe's financial crisis, just as the continent was feeling cautious optimism about saving the joint currency zone.

The five days that radically soured the Portuguese mood began last week when Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho announced an increase in workers' social security contributions to 18 percent of their monthly salary from 11 percent. The cut is equivalent to a net monthly wage.

Then it was the finance minister's turn to convey bad news. Income taxes will go up next year, Vitor Gaspar said. Public employees will lose either their Christmas or vacation bonus, each roughly equivalent to a month's income, and many pensioners will lose both. More public employees will join the dole queue.

Last year was tough enough, especially for public employees, whose salaries were cut by up to 10 percent as they lost their two bonuses. Meanwhile, property and sales taxes went up, and tax deductions and welfare entitlements went down for everyone.

To top it off, the recession, which the government predicted would bottom out this year, will continue into next. Suddenly, resignation over austerity has given way to fury. Workers and business leaders, opposition parties and government stalwarts — all have joined in sending Passos Coelho the message that Portugal can no longer stand the pain.

In addition to Saturday's mass protests, the Portuguese are due to voice their anger in a series of strikes and other demonstrations over the next few weeks. Social networks have also provided a sounding board for discontent.

In a post on his Facebook page last weekend, the prime minister wrote that the latest austerity announcement was one of the hardest speeches he had ever made. He addressed the message to the Portuguese people, calling them "amigos," and signed it "Pedro." Within a week, the post had more than 56,000 comments — most of them sharply critical, some insulting — and only about 9,400 "likes."

"You've let me down, a lot. Next time I won't vote for you," said one of the milder comments, posted by Natercia Abreu. The suddenly hostile climate could push Portugal along a path similar to Greece, where public defiance has frustrated efforts to lay out a clear path to recovery, damaging Europe's efforts to contain the financial crisis.

Lisbon University professor Jorge Freitas Branco said the Portuguese are feeling "very frustrated" with the economic hardship. "These protests act as a lightning rod, they let people get things off their chest," he said. "The government is going to be under a lot of pressure."

Portugal has won praise from the other 16 countries using the shared euro currency for complying with the terms of the €78 billion bailout agreement it signed in May last year after a decade of paltry growth and mounting debts. The 34-page agreement set out a list of targets Portugal must meet, including spending cuts and economic reforms, by 2014. All three main parties gave their blessing to the strategy in a display of national unity that encouraged foreign lenders.

That has abruptly changed. A third recession in four years has denied the government anticipated tax revenue, and record unemployment of 15.7 percent has drained Treasury funds. That has forced the government to cut deeper.

"I'm angry. Of course I am," said Silvio Alves, a surgeon at a Lisbon public hospital who is close to retirement. Alves belongs to the Portuguese middle-class which has felt the brunt of the cutbacks. He reckons he lost more than €20,000 in income last year.

That meant the family vacation this summer was spent at the homes of friends and family because the usual foreign travel became unaffordable. Alves reports "zero luxuries" at home — a sharp lifestyle change for a surgeon. His wife, whose chain of clothes shops went bust in the recession, keeps a list of what products are cheapest at which supermarkets. They're eating into their savings to support their teenage son's ambitions to find work abroad.

"We're feeling it in our bones," Alves says of the austerity. Maria Jose Rego, a 45-year-old restaurant owner, says tax hikes are killing her business. Last year, the government increased sales tax on meals to 23 percent from 13 percent, pushing up menu prices. A hike in taxes on gas and electricity to 23 percent from 6 percent, meanwhile, drove up costs. Rego and her husband have already closed three of their five restaurants over the past 18 months, laying off about 100 staff. Due to the new measures, they expect to shut the remaining two by the end of the year.

"We're just getting poorer and poorer and it's harder and harder to get by in this country," she said at a protest outside Parliament last week. "People are getting more and more riled. It's time to stand up and fight."

Business leaders are also chafing at the new tax hikes. The measures will bring another crunch in private consumption, which already fell 6 percent in the first half of the year, said Antonio Saraiva, president of the Confederation of Portuguese Industry. What businesses need are steps to get people spending again and generate company growth and new hiring, he said.

Meanwhile, the General Confederation of Portuguese Workers and the General Workers' Union — the two main groups, representing more than 1 million workers — announced a street demonstration later this month and are mulling a general strike.

Antonio Jose Seguro, the leader of the main opposition Socialist Party which endorsed earlier cuts, said the government had gone too far this time and vowed to vote against the 2013 state budget. The government has enough votes to approve the 2013 spending plans anyway.

Signs of strain have also emerged within the coalition government. Powerful members of the Social Democratic Party, the coalition's senior member, expressed dismay at the prime minister's strategy. Former party leader and ex-finance minister Manuela Ferreira Leite described the latest cuts as "surreal."

The Popular Party, the junior member of the coalition, meanwhile, had previously ruled out any more tax hikes. Its senior leaders were due to meet at the weekend amid reports of dissent among its members.

Tens of thousands of people are expected to attend street protests in Lisbon and 20 other cities on Saturday. The demonstrations, organized via a Facebook page by a group of local intellectuals, were called to contest the cutbacks and were to take place under the slogan, "We want our lives back!"

Previous protests have been peaceful, but police this time are watching out for signs of trouble. "For the first time in my life," said Alves, the Lisbon surgeon, "I feel like going to a street protest."

Syrian rebels seize control of a border crossing

September 19, 2012

AKCAKALE, Turkey (AP) — Syrian rebels have seized control of a border crossing on the frontier with Turkey and pulled down the Syrian flag.

An Associated Press reporter at the scene Wednesday says Syrians on the Turkish side of the border are celebrating and yelling, "I am a free Syrian!" People are moving freely across the border, crawling under barbed wire.

There were fierce clashes Tuesday as rebels and regime forces fought for control of the Tal Abyad crossing. Syria's rebels control several other border crossings into Turkey but it is believed to be the first time they have tried to take the border area in the northern province of Raqqa.

Taking control of border crossings helps the opposition ferry supplies into Syria and carve out an area of control.

Syrian forces, rebels clash near Turkey

September 19, 2012

BEIRUT (AP) — Fierce clashes broke out Tuesday between Syrian rebels and regime forces battling for control of a border crossing on the frontier with Turkey, and Turkish authorities told residents to evacuate the area.

The violence along the border with Turkey, which is a strong supporter of the rebels trying to oust President Bashar Assad, underlines the regional danger as the Syrian civil war increasingly draws in neighboring countries.

On the diplomatic front, a spokesman for Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi said the Egyptian leader told Iran's foreign minister in a meeting Tuesday in Cairo that relations between the two countries were being hindered by Tehran's support for Syria's regime.

Spokesman Yasser Ali said Morsi told the Iranian minister, Ali Akbar Salehi, that as president he cannot ignore the fact that public opinion in Egypt is overwhelmingly against the Syrian regime, which he said "uses harsh language and violence against people."

The two were meeting as part of a Morsi-sponsored Syria peace initiative dubbed the "Islamic Quartet," bringing together Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Egypt — all supporters of the Syrian rebellion — with Iran.

Salehi, whose country is a crucial ally to the Assad regime, is traveling to Syria on Wednesday, where he will meet with Assad and other Syrian officials. Iran has provided strong backing to the Syrian leadership since the uprising began in March 2011.

The Turkish official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government rules, said Tuesday that government forces and rebels were engaged "in very fierce" battles near the border crossing of Tal Abyad.

One woman was hit by a stray bullet and hospitalized in the Turkish border town of Akcakale. The Turkish state-run Anadolu Agency said six Syrians were injured in the clashes and brought across the border for treatment. Akcakale authorities told residents living close to the frontier to evacuate the area.

Turkish state TV TRT also said some rebels fled to Akcakale to escape attacks. Syrian opposition groups confirmed the fighting but had no immediate word on whether rebels succeeded in gaining control of the crossing. It is believed to be the first time Syrian rebels have tried to seize the border area in the northern Raqqa province, most of which is controlled by Assad's forces. Rebels control several other border crossings into Turkey.

Meanwhile, Iraqi officials reopened the western Qaim border crossing with Syria to a limited number of Syrian women and children fleeing the escalating civil war. The mayor of Qaim, Farhan Fitkhan Farhan said that 100 Syrian refugees entered Iraq through the border crossing Tuesday and more would be let in on daily basis. But he said only women and children would be allowed, while young men would be denied entry for security reasons.

The crossing was closed last month following of fierce fighting between Syrian government forces and rebels on the Syrian side of the borders. In Jordan, Syrian refugees at a Jordanian camp pelted the U.N.-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi's convoy with stones during a protest over the international community's failure to stop the bloodshed.

Brahimi, who visited another camp in Turkey the same day, has himself called his task "nearly impossible." But some in Jordan's Zaatari camp shouted slogans implying that his initiative, which involves meetings with Assad, only legitimizes the Damascus regime.

"Leave our camp. By seeing Bashar, you've extended his life," some 200 refugees chanted. Teenagers threw rocks at the vehicles of officials as they departed, according to an Associated Press reporter at the camp. U.N. refugee agency spokesman Ali Bebe confirmed the protest but said he did not see stones thrown.

Jordan hosts more than 200,000 displaced Syrians — the largest number in the region. The 31,000 residents of the Zaatari camp have frequently protested against conditions in their settlement, located on a plain in the northern desert. Jordan says the huge influx of Syrians has put pressure on its infrastructure and social services.

Brahimi also toured a camp in the Turkish border province of Hatay. Dozens of Syrian refugees demonstrated outside the camp, waving a rebel flag and denouncing Assad. Some 83,000 refugees have found shelter in 12 camps along the Turkish border with Syria.

Brahimi said it appeared refugees were being treated well in Turkey and that he hoped for an end to the violence. "We hope that their country finds peace again and they can return to their country as early as possible," he said.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon spoke to Brahimi on Tuesday and will meet him this weekend after he arrives in New York, U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said Tuesday. Germany's U.N. Ambassador Peter Wittig, the current Security Council president, said Brahimi would meet informally with members on Monday.

Also Tuesday, Turkey's Foreign Ministry brushed off Syrian accusations that it was allowing thousands of Muslim extremists to cross into its territory. Foreign Ministry Spokesman Selcuk Unal told reporters that Turkey may not even respond to letters Syria sent to the U.N. Security Council and Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon accusing Turkey of allowing thousands of terrorists access to the country.

"Instead of leveling complaints and making false accusations against various countries, including ours, Syria should look at the situation inside the country and take the necessary steps to correct the situation," Unal said.

Associated Press writers Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Umut Colak in Hatay, Sameer N. Yacoub in Baghdad and Dale Gavlak in Amman contributed to this report.

Lebanon demands explanation from Iran over troops

September 17, 2012

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanese President Michel Suleiman has asked for official clarifications from Iran over statements by a senior commander that they have military advisers in Lebanon.

A statement released by Suleiman's office says the president made his comments Monday while receiving Iran's ambassador to Lebanon Ghazanfar Roknabadi. The top commander of Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard said Sunday that his force has high-level advisers in Lebanon and Syria. Gen. Mohammed Ali Jafari's comments marked the clearest indication of Iran's direct assistance to its main Arab allies, Damascus and Lebanon's Hezbollah.

He told reporters that the Guard's Quds force have been in Syria and Lebanon as advisers for a long time, but was not more specific. The statement said Ambassador Roknabadi denied there were advisers in Lebanon.

Turkey seeks to relocate some Syrian refugees

September 16, 2012

ANTAKYA, Turkey (AP) — Already host to 80,000 Syrians in refugee camps, Turkey is now seeking to relocate some of the tens of thousands of others living outside the shelters to relieve pressure on local communities and better handle security in its tense border area.

Many Syrians who have fled violence in their country are living near the border but outside the dozen camps, either staying with relatives or renting apartments, a large number of them in Antakya, the largest city in Turkey's southeast Hatay province. The influx since the uprising against Syrian President Bashar Assad began 18 months ago has strained municipal resources and tested the ability of the Turkish government to monitor cross-border traffic amid concerns about sectarian tension and militant activity in the region.

Turkish authorities, who support the Syrian opposition in its war with Assad's regime, now want the refugees living outside the camps to either enter them or move to other provinces. Up to 40,000 Syrians are living in Turkey outside the shelters, according to some estimates, while the U.N. refugee agency puts the number at up to 60,000. Hundreds of thousands of other Syrians have also fled to neighboring countries, including Jordan, Iraq and Lebanon.

"A few days ago, the police came and told us we had a week to leave Antakya. They gave us the names of three or four places we could go," said 35-year-old Syrian refugee, Mahmoud Mohammed. He, his wife, their 2-year-old son and his brother's family are living in a two-room apartment for $150 (€116) a month.

Samar Mohammed, Mahmoud's wife, said they had tried to live in a refugee camp but found the conditions difficult. "My son has bronchitis and suffers from complications. He needs special food and a clean environment," she said. "Our needs weren't met in the camp and his condition got worse. We've been living in this apartment for two months and it would be very hard to go back to the camps."

Antonio Guterres, the U.N. high commissioner for refugees, and Hollywood star Angelina Jolie, a special envoy for the U.N. refugee agency, visited camps near the Syrian border this past week and thanked Turkey for welcoming and providing for Syrians who had fled their homes, while urging donor countries to do more to help. Turkey has pressed in vain for the United Nations to set up "safe zones" inside Syria where civilians can shelter, but divisions within the international community and the security risks of such a project preclude any move to implement it for now.

Antakya's mayor, Lutfu Savas, said there are sectarian tensions along the Syrian-Turkish border, and security concerns and potential discord were the main reasons for plans to relocate refugees who are outside the camps. Many Turks in Hatay province belong to a minority sect that is linked to the Alawites, an offshoot of Shiite Islam that dominates the Syrian regime and is fighting an insurgency comprised largely of Sunni Muslims. Turkey is concerned that the sectarian tone of the conflict could exacerbate tension in its own communities.

"In the interest of maintaining order and protecting everyone here, our government wants our (Syrian) brethren to move and live somewhere else," Savas said. "First and foremost, they're being asked to move into the refugee camps. But if they have the means and if they entered (Turkey) using their passports, they're being asked to move out of Hatay. I think it's a valid argument."

A Turkish government official, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with policy, said Turkey was doing everything it can to help Syrians seeking refuge in Turkey. "Every country has the right to regulate or arrange the accommodation or duration of the stay of foreigners, including Syrians," the official said.

Sali Al-Bounni, a Syrian teacher and assistant principal at a school in Antakya that taught 800 Syrian children, said it was recently closed because of the government's decision to move refugees out of Hatay province.

"The day we closed the school, everyone — students, teachers — was crying," he said. "Now the families are calling us and asking where we'll be relocating because they want to move to where the school will be. But we have no idea where to go."

Chris Torchia reported from Istanbul.

Nationalism may rise under Japan's next gov't

September 19, 2012

TOKYO (AP) — One is a former prime minister known for his nationalistic views. A second is a hawkish former defense chief. And a third is the son of Tokyo's outspoken governor whose proposal to buy and develop a cluster of uninhabited islands claimed by both China and Japan has set off a territorial furor between the two countries.

A look at the top candidates to lead Japan's main opposition party — and potentially to become Japan's next prime minister — suggests that Japan may soon get a more nationalist government. That could ratchet up already tense relations with China and South Korea over territorial disputes that have flared in recent weeks and brought anti-Japanese demonstrations to dozens of Chinese cities.

There is little sign that Japanese have grown more nationalistic, but the ruling Democratic Party of Japan is expected to get clobbered in elections that Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda says he will call soon. Voters are angry over Noda's push to double the sales tax and his party's failure to bring promised change to Japan's stodgy politics.

That leaves the opposition Liberal Democratic Party poised to regain the power it lost three years ago after decades of being Japan's dominant political force. Polls suggest the LDP would win the most seats in the more powerful lower house of parliament, although probably not a majority, so it would need to forge a governing coalition to rule.

If the LDP regains power, its new leader, to be chosen in a Sept. 26 party vote, would almost certainly become the next prime minister. The LDP is a conservative, pro-U.S. party with a traditional suspicion of China. The five candidates running for its top job, including former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba, have been taking turns calling on Japan to get tough with Beijing in the escalating dispute over the rocky outcroppings in the East China Sea called Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyu in Chinese. The islands, near key shipping lanes and surrounded by rich fishing grounds and untapped natural resources, are controlled by Japan but also claimed by China and Taiwan.

"Losing a piece of our territory eventually means losing the whole country," declared Ishiba, a security and national defense expert who is considered a hawk, a press conference Wednesday. He has said he would be in favor of developing the islands — a move that would surely anger China.

"Our beautiful countryside and ocean are under threat," Abe, perhaps the most right-wing of the five, has said from the campaign trail. Abe riled Asian neighbors when he was prime minister in 2006-07 by saying there was no proof Japan's military had coerced Chinese, Korean and other women into prostitution in military brothels during World War II. He later apologized, but lately he has been suggesting that a landmark 1993 apology for sex slavery may need revising.

Abe also has recently said he regrets not visiting the Yasukuni Shrine, which honors Japan's war dead, including executed war criminals, during his time as prime minister. This issue is important: Former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's repeated visits to Yasukuni in the early 2000s put relations with China into a deep freeze.

Another front-runner in the LDP race is Nobuteru Ishihara, son of the Tokyo's stridently nationalistic governor Shintaro Ishihara. The elder Ishihara set off the East China Sea flare-up by proposing in April that Tokyo's metropolitan government buy the islands from their private Japanese owners and build fishing facilities on them. That compelled the central government to buy the islands themselves to prevent efforts to build on them that could have escalated the dispute.

China still responded angrily, sending surveillance ships into waters near the islands and allowing protests that have raged for days. Japanese have been alarmed by footage of Chinese rioters attacking Japanese-owned companies in China.

While the younger Ishihara is less outspoken than his father, his blood ties would be a major obstacle for Beijing in particular. "It's going to be very difficult for him to disassociate himself from his father," said Jeff Kingston, director of Asian studies at Temple University in Tokyo. "If you do have a nationalist in charge in Japan, they could make things worse. They certainly could throw oil on the fire."

China is not the only country clashing with Japan over land. Tensions with South Korea spiked after President Lee Myung-bak visited an island cluster called Dokdo by South Korea and Takeshima by Japan that is claimed by both countries but controlled by Seoul.

Japanese voters, however, may not share nationalist politicians' aggressive stance. The general population appears more deeply concerned about the stagnant economy, social security and overhauling energy policy in the wake of last year's nuclear disaster at Fukushima.

Aside from the usual small protests outside the Chinese Embassy, by far right-wing demonstrators in black trucks blaring martial music, there have been virtually no public demonstrations in Japan over the East China Sea islands, while thousands gather regularly in front of the prime minister's residence to demand the end of nuclear power.

While some Japanese want a tough leader who can stand up to China, others are worried that if Abe, Ishiba or Ishihara become prime minister, ties with China and other neighbors will worsen. "I'm worried this dispute could lead to war if any of these men become our leader," said Kaoru Hara, a 22-year-old advertising agency employee. "We need someone who can express Japan's position but also someone who can listen to China's side."

Still, China's rise and North Korea's attempts to fire a rocket near Japan earlier this year create an opportunity for some politicians to exploit. "I don't think the country is moving to the right, but I think there's more room today to whip up more nationalist fervor because people are feeling a bit more vulnerable," said Sheila Smith, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington.

Ishiba, who twice has held the top post in the nation's military, is the most popular choice among LDP supporters, according to a Kyodo News agency poll. He has a reputation for being sharp and a bit of a military geek. He has also suggested that one reason Japan should maintain its nuclear energy program is to keep open the option of developing a nuclear warhead — although Japan currently has no such plans.

Ishihara, a former TV political reporter, has stressed the importance of dialogue with China. But last week, he said he believed it was important that the emperor be able to visit and pray at Yasukuni Shrine, which would surely upset China.

Two other candidates for the LDP's presidency, former economic and fiscal policy minister Yoshimasa Hayashi and former foreign minister Nobutaka Machimura, are both less nationalistic but seen as having little chance of winning.

Abe's track record as prime minister was that of a nationalist ideologue: He urged a revision of Japan's pacifist constitution, pressed for patriotic education, upgraded the defense agency to ministry status and pushed for Japan to have a greater international peacekeeping role.

He has also reached out to the brash, young mayor of Osaka, Toru Hashimoto, a rising star who wants to slash the number of seats in parliament and has espoused nationalistic views. He recently formed his own national political party that analysts predict could win a chunk of seats in elections and be a part of an LDP-led coalition.

Abe blasted China over the anti-Japanese protests Wednesday, saying that if Beijing can't protect Japanese living in China, it "should not enjoy membership in the international community." "In Japan," he said, "there is no flag-burning, there is no harm to Chinese nationals in this country, and we should be proud of that."

Associated Press Writers Yuri Kageyama and Mari Yamaguchi contributed to this report.