UK, Scotland to set out terms of independence vote

October 14, 2012

EDINBURGH, Scotland (AP) — It's not a meeting David Cameron is likely to enjoy.

The British prime minister is due to visit the leader of Scotland's separatist administration on Monday to agree the terms of a referendum that could break up the United Kingdom — the country Cameron leads.

Cameron does not want to be the leader who presides over the demise of the 300-year-old political union between England and its northern neighbor. But, practically, there is little he can do to stop politicians in semiautonomous Scotland asking voters whether they want to break free.

With Scotland, like much of Europe, facing recession and economic uncertainty, the answer is hard to predict. "I can't find a job and my prospects are slim," said Sally Murray, an unemployed office worker in Edinburgh. "I've got nothing to lose. Perhaps my prospects would improve by going independent."

Officials from London and Edinburgh have been meeting for weeks to hammer out details of a vote. Sticking points included the date and the wording of the question. On Friday the two sides said they had reached a deal, which is expected to be approved Monday by Cameron and Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond.

It is likely to call for a referendum in October 2014, as Salmond's nationalists had desired. Cameron and other pro-union politicians had pressed for the vote to be held earlier, because opinion polls show that only between a quarter and a third of Scots favor splitting the nation.

The referendum will involve a single yes-no question on leaving the United Kingdom, as Cameron's government wished. Salmond's Scottish Nationalist Party favored including a third option of greater autonomy short of full independence.

The deal is likely to give 16- and 17-year-olds votes, another proposal backed by the Scottish nationalists. The voting age in other British elections is 18. Scotland and England have a complex relationship. They fought one another for centuries, and Scottish children are still raised on tales of Robert the Bruce and William "Braveheart" Wallace. The latter's story was told, with Hollywood artistic license, in the Mel Gibson film "Braveheart." Many Scots are also brought up in the Unionist tradition and have a strong affinity with England and the monarchy.

The two countries united in 1707 to form Great Britain, with a common monarch, currency and London-based government. (Wales is also part of Great Britain which, along with Northern Ireland, constitutes the state known as the United Kingdom).

Scotland gained significant autonomy after voting in 1997 to set up a Scottish Parliament with substantial powers. But Salmond's party, which has a majority in the Edinburgh legislature, wants to go further and make the nation of 5 million people an independent country within the European Union.

Salmond has successfully marketed a kind of aspirational nationalism — a sort of Scottish Scandinavia — that accentuates building a cozy social safety net and welcomes Scots of all races and creeds. He insists independence will bring greater prosperity, allowing Scotland to better exploit its oil, gas and other energy resources.

But the European economic crisis has forced him to alter some of his pitch. He once said an independent Scotland would join the euro single currency. Now he says it would retain the pound, though it's unclear whether London would agree to that.

There are many more thorny questions raised by the prospect of separation, including the future of Scotland's nuclear submarine base and British Army regiments, and its European Union membership. As in many divorces, there is also likely to be a battle over assets and liabilities.

The SNP says independent Scotland would be entitled to 90 percent of revenue from North Sea oil and gas — which stood at 6.5 billion pounds ($10.4 billion) in 2009-2010 — but only liable for 8 percent of 1 trillion pound ($1.67 trillion) national debt, based on Scotland's share of the U.K. population. The British government disputes that breakdown.

Pro-union politicians also claim Scotland lacks the economic clout to go it alone, pointing out that its two biggest financial institutions, the Royal Bank of Scotland and the Bank of Scotland, are now largely owned by British taxpayers after nearing collapse during the 2008 global banking crisis.

Then there are factors beyond the U.K.'s borders. Europe's crisis is boosting breakaway movements across the continent, from Belgium's Dutch-speaking Flanders to the Spanish region of Catalonia, whose regional parliament has voted to hold a referendum on self-determination.

"I don't want independence and I am concerned that people will think if Catalonia can do it, so can we," said David Mackenzie, an insurance salesman from Edinburgh. For now, the "Yes" campaign — a loose coalition that includes Greens and Salmond's SNP — has the momentum. Its slick campaign effectively uses social media such as Facebook and Twitter to mobilize support.

The pro-union "Better Together" campaign, which includes both Cameron's Conservative Party and its arch-rival Labour, has had a lackluster start. Political commentator and former Labour spin doctor Simon Pia said the pro-union side needed to raise its game.

"The SNP has stolen a march with its campaign which is very savvy and concentrates on positive reasons to split," he said. He said pro-union forces "need to offer a vision of positive and emotional alternative to independence and not just focus on the negatives of the impact of separation."

Lawless reported from London.

Muhammad Yunus announces financing in Haiti

October 13, 2012

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Nobel peace laureate Mohammad Yunus announced Saturday that his pro-business development group is financing several endeavors through a mix of loans and equity.

The projects that incorporate Yunus' development philosophy of "social business" include two poultry farms, a bakery and a plantation of jatropha plants that can be used for biodiesel, offering an alternative energy source while creating jobs for 200 farmers.

The amount invested in each will range from $80,000 to $500,000, and feature loans with interest rates ranging from 6-10 percent. Such "social businesses" must each have a social mission like a non-governmental organization, but also generate revenues to cover costs like a profit-making business.

Yunus, an international development expert, made the announcement on the first of a three-day trip to Haiti that includes field visits and a conference examining ways to use his development philosophy to ease poverty in Haiti.

It was the second time Yunus had come to Haiti since visiting a year ago to introduce his "social business" philosophy to the impoverished Caribbean nation. The country is still recovering from a January 2010 earthquake that toppled thousands of buildings and displaced more than 1 million people.

The Germany-based Yunus Social Business Fund, formerly the Grameen Creative Lab, opened an office in Haiti after the temblor. Yunus is a Bangladeshi banker known for developing a microcredit program for entrepreneurs who were too poor to qualify for traditional bank loans.

He sits on a board of more than 30 philanthropists, former government leaders and executives that advise Haitian President Michel Martelly on economic matters. Former President Clinton, also the United Nations special envoy to Haiti, is a co-chairman.

Yunus also plans to launch a nationwide social business competition for university students before leaving Haiti on Monday.

Putin loyalists likely to win Russia local votes

October 14, 2012

KHIMKI, Russia (AP) — President Vladimir Putin's loyalists appeared likely Sunday to retain their hold in thousands of local elections that offered slightly more room for competition, but were marred by opposition claims of widespread vote fraud.

The Kremlin eased stiff election laws in response to major protests against Putin's rule last winter, but introduced new restrictions after the demonstrations abated. Kremlin-approved governors and most of the incumbent mayors appeared poised to preserve their seats and the Kremlin's main United Russia party will likely keep dominating local legislatures and municipal councils.

In one of the most visible races Sunday, opposition activist Yevgeniya Chirikova was challenging the government-backed acting mayor of Khimki, a town just outside Moscow. Chirikova, a 35-year-old mother of two who helped organize the anti-Putin protests in Moscow, filed two petitions — alleging her rival broke campaign rules and that election officials manipulated voter lists. Authorities rejected her complaints, and it was unclear when a court could issue its verdict.

"If the elections were fair, then I'd have some kind of chance," Chirikova said Sunday. "But since the elections in this country are what they are, then my chances are different." With 30 percent of precincts counted, Khimki acting Mayor Oleg Shakhov was winning the race with 47 percent of the vote, while Chirikova was trailing him with 20 percent. Full preliminary results are expected Monday.

Local authorities repeatedly denied Chirikova a public space to hold a rally; when she and Ksenia Sobchak, a glamorous TV host who became a face of Moscow protests, leafleted a tram this week, an obviously nervous conductor announced the vehicle was broken down and forced all passengers off, after which it drove away, apparently without any problem.

Chirikova's supporters allege that her Kremlin-backed rival is prepared to go to any lengths to prevent her winning, citing alleged ballot irregularities and even threats of violence to observers. "I'm convinced they decided to do everything with pen and paper after the polls close," Nikolai Lyaskin, Chirikova's campaign manager, said. Observers reported seeing "carousel" voters being ferried on buses between polling stations to vote multiple times, a practice applied frequently in the fraud-tainted parliamentary elections in December that triggered anti-Putin protests.

With turnout low at 28 percent and antipathy towards Chirikova from pension-age voters high, few expected she had much chance of winning in the first place. Chirikova won fame a few years ago by conducting a fiery campaign to save a local forest from being chopped down to build a highway. She lost that battle to powerful commercial interests, but has since become a prominent opposition figure.

Khimki resident Evgeny Orekhov said he voted for Chirikova "because she is part of the opposition" and "with representatives of the opposition, you want to see how the government will begin to act." But another voter, Alexandra Zlotnikova, said she did not support Chirikova because she lacked executive experience. "I don't see her as a mayor. The girl is young, she only has thoughts about the forest, the forest, the forest."

Chirikova's campaign reflected challenges also faced by other opposition candidates in nearly 5,000 local elections held Sunday in 77 of Russia's 83 regions. The opposition Just Russia and Yabloko parties, and Russia's only independent election monitoring group, Golos, pointed at activists' reports on "carousel" voting in many regions of Russia and said that authorities at some polling stations failed to allow observers to verify that ballot boxes were properly sealed. Monitors also witnessed evidence of ballot stuffing and were often denied permission to check voter lists.

Opposition politician Vladimir Ryzhkov said violations in Sunday's vote appeared to be even more blatant and widespread than in December's parliamentary elections. In western Russia's Tula region, an observer from Yabloko had her finger broken in a scuffle with group of people who tried to stuff a ballot box.

"This kind of open impudence looks scary," Grigory Melkonyants, Golos deputy head, said of the vote violations registered by the group on Sunday. Responding to protests that drew up to 100,000 people in Moscow, the Kremlin had restored direct elections of provincial governors, which had been abolished by Putin nearly eight years ago. But after Putin's inauguration for a third presidential term in May, he struck back at his foes with repressive bills, and the government put forward new requirements for the gubernatorial vote to retain control.

For instance, the Kremlin introduced "municipal filters," which obliged would-be gubernatorial candidates to get approval for their bid from 5-10 percent of members of local legislatures. With most local legislators heeding Kremlin orders, the requirement made it hard for many opposition candidates to enter races.

As a result, incumbents faced only token competition in gubernatorial races held Sunday in five provinces and were poised to win the vote, according to early returns. The governor's race in the Ryazan region at one point seemed less sedate than others, with Gov. Oleg Kovalyov facing a rival backed by another pro-government party. But challenger Igor Morozov eventually threw his support behind the incumbent in exchange for a promised seat in the upper house of the federal parliament.

In some of the regions where opposition candidates managed to get registered, they were later barred from the race by courts for various technical reasons. Earlier this year, the Kremlin also sought to quell public anger by simplifying registration rules for political parties. Sunday's ballot saw dozens of new parties, but only few of them were genuine opposition while most others were loyal to the government or were created as spoilers to steal votes from Kremlin critics.

The Kremlin's United Russia party was leading in the early count from far eastern regions where the vote ended, appearing to retain a majority of seats in the city council of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky and the regional legislature on the Sakhalin Island.

Observers still expected a few leading opposition parties to make headway in elections of city councils in big industrialized cities, where they have the strongest support. The lack of real competition in many regions has contributed to public apathy, and voter turnout often was low. On the far eastern Kamchatka Peninsula, less than 15 percent of eligible voters turned out Sunday for a local city council election — the lowest turnout in 15 years.

"Political reform has been conducted in the interests of the ruling party," Communist Party chief Gennady Zyuganov said after the vote ended. "People are reluctant to vote because they realize that."

Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow contributed to this report.

Big separatist gains in local Belgian elections

October 14, 2012

BRUSSELS (AP) — The leader of a separatist party won the race to become mayor of Antwerp, Europe's second biggest port city, and vowed Sunday to use the power base to seek wider autonomy for Belgium's wealthy Dutch-speaking region of Flanders.

Bart De Wever's NV-A party made sweeping gains throughout northern Flanders and immediately called on French-speaking Belgian Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo to give more rights of self-rule to Flanders. De Wever said "we want to give Flemings the government they want at all levels. That is why I call on Elio Di Rupo and the Francophone politicians. Take up your responsibility" and work for more regional autonomy.

He says he will work for even bigger gains for separatists at the 2014 national elections. De Wever has been at odds with Belgium's economically ailing French-speaking Wallonia for years, saying he is fighting over the fate of the 6 million Flemings in the kingdom of 11 million.

With all but 2 percent of votes counted, De Wever was leading Antwerp's incumbent Socialist mayor Patrick Janssens 37.7 percent to 28.6 percent. De Wever has made it no secret he is looking for national impact during the municipal elections. He has criticized French-speaking Socialist Di Rupo over tax policies he says tap too much money from Flanders.

"Your taxation government without a majority in Flanders is not backed by Flemings. Let us work together on a reform that gives Flemings and francophones the government that they deserve," De Wever said in his victory speech.

Di Rupo immediately dismissed the suggestion, saying there was no reason to change national policy. "These are municipal elections. Each is free to declare what he wants on an election night." In municipal elections six years ago, the NV-A was a nascent party with few votes across northern Flanders, but by 2010 national elections it had become the biggest party in the region. Sunday's elections confirmed it.

"We not only do as well as our monster score of 2010," De Wever said. "We do even better, and no one could have expected this. It is incredible. It is a black-yellow Sunday," he said, referring to the colors of the Flemish flag.

Because of the fragmented nature of municipal elections, precise voter percentages were still hard to come by late Sunday, but the sweeping victory of NV-A was beyond doubt. Di Rupo's socialists also had strong results in several Francophone cities, including his home bastion of Mons.

After the 2010 elections, De Wever was the main reason that Belgium had the longest period without a government on record — at 541 days — because he sought extensive concessions for Flemish autonomy. He failed and ended up in opposition against Di Rupo, a staunch defender of the Belgian nation-state.

While De Wever's NV-A surged on Sunday, the extremist anti-foreigner Flemish Interest party crashed. "We saw our voters flee to the NV-A," Flemish Interest lawmaker Gerolf Annemans said. "Our city was the European base of the radical right wing for two decades. This era ends today," a triumphant De Wever said.

Moves toward separatism in the European Union have been getting a bigger stage during the continent's economic crisis. Spain's Catalonia is grousing that it has to pay for others in its crisis-hit country, and Scotland is seeking a referendum on breaking away from the United Kingdom.

Opposition expected to gain in Lithuanian ballot

October 14, 2012

VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — Lithuanians are expected to deal a double-blow to the incumbent conservative government in national elections Sunday by handing a victory to opposition leftists and populists and saying no to a new nuclear power plant that supporters claim would boost the country's energy independence.

Exhausted after years of budget cuts, high unemployment, and declining living standards, Lithuanians were likely to opt for either the Social Democrats or Order and Justice, a populist party led by a former president impeached eight years ago, according to pre-election polls.

The government of Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius took over at the end of 2008 and was immediately forced to cut spending and raise taxes to fend off a crushing economic decline that followed years of robust growth. Though Lithuania has avoided defaulting on its debts, its citizens have felt the financial pinch and seen their standard of living fall sharply.

Despite an uptick in economic activity last year, unemployment was 13.3 percent in the second quarter. Tens of thousands of people have fled the country to seek jobs elsewhere in the European Union, leading to one of the sharpest demographic declines in all of Europe.

"Some call it austerity measures, but Kubilius' methods seem like genocide to me. What they did to our country will take years to restore. The tax system is crazy...people are fleeing the country. This must stop before it's too late," said Vytautas Klimka, 65, outside a voting station in downtown Vilnius.

Though 141 seats are up for grabs, only half are determined by party lists, while the others are single-mandate districts that, in the absence of a majority winner, will require a run-off vote between the top two finalists on Oct. 28. Only then will a clear picture emerge as to what the next coalition could look like.

Lithuanians will also express their opinion on whether the next government should proceed with plans to build a new nuclear power plant, one that would replace a Soviet-era facility that closed in 2009.

Although the referendum is non-binding, a large "no" vote could torpedo plans to build the plant along with neighbors Estonia and Latvia. Supporters say the new plant, which would be built by Japan's Hitachi, is needed to ensure the region's energy independence. But many Lithuanians fear that the project, which has an estimated 5 billion euro ($6 billion) price tag, will shackle the country of 3 million people with overbearing debt.

Others have safety concerns, especially in light of the earthquake and tsunami disaster at Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant last year. "I do not want my country to become a playground for Lithuanian and Japanese nuclear business games. Let them have their own Fukushimas. We had already had one of our own — a disaster in Chernobyl," Danute Cekanaviciene, a 52-year-old designer, said in reference to the 1986 Soviet nuclear accident.

Lithuania, an ex-Soviet state, relies predominantly on Russian gas for energy. Energy prices increased 20 percent earlier this year, and utilities have warned that this winter will be the most expensive yet.

The most recent poll, which was taken in May, showed that two-thirds of Lithuanians opposed building a new atomic power plant.

As EU basks in peace prize, separatists on rise

October 13, 2012

ANTWERP, Belgium (AP) — Historic world port and fashionista capital, Antwerp has always lived on the crest of the wave. Now, a separatist party heading into municipal elections Sunday wants to use the city as a base for breaking away from Belgium — putting it at the forefront of a European breakaway trend just as the EU celebrates winning the Nobel Peace Prize for fostering continental unity.

Moves toward separatism have been getting a bigger these past months as the economic crisis pushes people faster toward stark choices on nationhood and their future. It is no different in Spain's Catalonia, another wealthy region grousing that it has to pay for others in its crisis-hit country.

Scotland, too, is looking at the option of going its own way, making the United Kingdom a little less united. Two days after the European Union won the Peace Prize for bridging ties between former enemies, Belgium holds municipal elections in which separatists hope to pick up city halls across Dutch-speaking northern Flanders. Bart De Wever, the leader of a Flemish separatist party, is running for mayor of wealthy Antwerp and has been perennially at odds with ailing French-speaking Wallonia.

If elected, De Wever plans to use city hall as a platform for the 2014 national election and an even more ambitious program of separatism. By that time, he says, he will be counting on a "democratic revolt" at the polls.

De Wever's NV-A party already surged in the 2010 national elections, and was the main reason why Belgium had the longest period without a government on record — at 541 days. Coalition-building was paralyzed as the separatists sought concessions to give Flanders as much autonomy as possible.

It didn't work out and De Wever ended up in opposition facing French-speaking socialist Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo, a staunch defender of the Belgian nation-state. But De Wever is the frontrunner in Sunday's Antwerp vote, and his party is likely to surge across Flanders, polls have shown.

For De Wever, the municipal elections are not primarily about parking spots or ring-roads. They are about the fate of the 6 million Flemings in the kingdom of 11 million, and he chides Di Rupo for imposing too many taxes, sapping too much money from Flanders.

"Little by little, the Flemings don't take that anymore and they are worried about their wealth," De Wever said. The city is still dripping with exterior signs of wealth, though. The Antwerp fashion designers have turned the historic center into a magnet of conspicuous consumption, its gothic and baroque landmarks are examples of sumptuous renovation, its MAS museum an icon of contemporary design, and its famous port is still thriving.

Separatism is also rife in Spain — a country at the center of Europe's crisis with a youth unemployment rate of more than 50 percent. While De Wever was making reasoned arguments in a political debate last Sunday, the 98,000-capacity Camp Nou of FC Barcelona was already a scene of seething Catalan foment for the famed encounter against Real Madrid.

Real Madrid is still identified with the unified Spanish state and was met with a mosaic of color cards forming the red-and-yellow stripes of Catalonia's "la senyera" flag. At one stage during the match, incessant collective shouts of "Independence!" cascaded down the stands as fans waved the pro-independence "estelada" flag.

Last month, 1.5 million Catalans took to the streets in Barcelona to call for a separate state in the biggest march since the 1970s. Catalonia's regional government voted on Sept. 27 to hold a referendum on Catalonia's self-determination at a date still yet to be set. The Spanish government says this would be unconstitutional.

Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy said on Tuesday that those seeking independence for Spain are making "a mistake of colossal proportions." But Rajoy, like many of his fellow European leaders, is in a bind: National governments have had both to cede power to the supranational EU and to regions demanding greater autonomy and local accountability.

"People are anxious because the European Union seems far away," said Prof. Hendrik Vos, head of Ghent University's Center for EU Studies. "That is why there is this yearning to keep things close." And local control has become ever more important for rich pockets of Europe.

"Those regions say how hard they had to work for their wealth," Vos said, "and they don't want to throw it away or share with the rest of the EU."

Associated Press Writer Joseph Wilson contributed from Barcelona.

Occupy London activists stage St Paul's protest

October 14, 2012

LONDON (AP) — Several supporters of the anti-corporate Occupy movement chained themselves to the pulpit of St. Paul's Cathedral during a service Sunday in an action marking the anniversary of its now-dismantled protest camp outside the London landmark.

The Dean of St. Paul's, David Ison, said he was taking an evening prayer service when "four young women dressed in white" chained themselves to the structure. "It will be a long, cold night if they want to stay there," he said.

Photos showed the women, one of whom was in a wheelchair, around the pulpit with a note written on an umbrella urging "throw the money changers out of the temple." Other protesters unfurled a banner with a similar message outside the church.

Occupy said the women cut themselves free and left at around 10 p.m. (2100 GMT; 5 p.m. EDT), after police officers told them they faced arrest. Protesters against capitalist excess and social inequality set up camp outside Christopher Wren's domed landmark on Oct. 15, 2011, after they were stopped from demonstrating outside the nearby London Stock Exchange.

The tent city embroiled the historic church in a conflict between bank-bashing demonstrators — inspired by New York's Occupy Wall Street protesters — and the city's finance industry. Church authorities' position on the protesters shifted several times, and the cathedral's dean and a senior priest both resigned over the issue.

The camp was dismantled in February after the protesters lost a court battle with local authorities. A statement read by the protesters and posted online by Occupy accused cathedral authorities of neglecting their Christian duty by siding with the rich and powerful.

"In the fight for economic justice, Jesus threw the money changers out of the temple, but you invited them in and instead evicted us," it said. In a statement, the cathedral said it disagreed "with the way in which some protesters are continuing to pursue the agenda or conflict with St. Paul's, rather than consulting with us about how together we might better achieve the reforms which many people including Occupy are looking for."

Occupy London marks anniversary of St Paul's camp

October 13, 2012

LONDON (AP) — Supporters of Occupy have gathered outside St. Paul's Cathedral to mark the first anniversary of the anti-corporate movement's now-dismantled protest camp.

Hundreds of protesters against capitalist excess and social inequality set up camp outside Christopher Wren's famous landmark on Oct. 15, 2011, after they were stopped from demonstrating outside the nearby London Stock Exchange.

The tent city embroiled the historic church in a conflict between bank-bashing demonstrators and the city's finance industry. The church's position on the protesters shifted several times, and the cathedral's dean and a senior priest both resigned over the issue.

The camp was dismantled in February after the protesters lost a court battle with local authorities. Activist Ronan McNern said Saturday that the movement was still necessary because "the problem of inequality is not going away."

Turkish premier slams Security Council over Syria

October 14, 2012

ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkey's prime minister sharply criticized the U.N. Security Council on Saturday for its failure to agree on decisive steps to end Syria's civil war, as NATO ally Germany backed the Turkish interception of a Damascus-bound passenger jet earlier in the week.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan told an international conference in Istanbul that the world was witnessing a humanitarian tragedy in Syria. "If we wait for one or two of the permanent members ... then the future of Syria will be in danger," Erdogan said, according to an official interpreter.

Russia and China, two of the five permanent Security Council members, have vetoed resolutions that sought to put concerted pressure on Damascus to end the conflict and agree to a political transition.

Erdogan called for a reform of the Security Council, which he called an "unequal, unfair system" that didn't represent the will of most countries. He spoke as Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu met with Arab and European leaders amid growing tensions between Turkey and neighboring Syria.

Davutoglu held talks Saturday with Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle and U.N. envoy on Syria Lakhdar Brahimi. He told reporters after the meetings that Turkey was prepared to use force again if it was attacked, just as it did last week when a shell fired across the border from Syria killed five Turkish villagers.

"If a similar incident occurs again from the Syrian side, we will again take counter action," Davutoglu told reporters, while stressing that the border between Syria and Turkey is also the frontier of NATO.

One week after the shelling, Turkey intercepted a Syrian passenger plane en route from Moscow to Damascus and seized what it said was military equipment on board. Syria denounced the move as air piracy, while Russia said the cargo was radar parts that complied with international law.

The state-run Syrian news agency SANA reported late Saturday that Syria decided to ban Turkish Airlines flights from Syrian airspace. Germany's foreign minister backed Turkey on Saturday, saying Berlin would have acted the same way if it believed weapons were being transported to Syria over its airspace.

"It's not just about weapons. Weapons need to be steered. Weapons need to be delivered," Westerwelle said. "These are all things that don't need to be tolerated." But he cautioned the situation between Turkey and Syria could quickly escalate out of control.

"The danger of a 'wildfire' is very big," said Westerwelle, who also met briefly with Abdelbaset Sieda, head of the Syrian National Council opposition group. "If that happens, then this can become a devastating conflict for the whole region."

In Syria, activists said Saturday that army troops clashed with rebels on several fronts across the country, including in Aleppo, the largest city. Amateur video posted online Saturday shows the aftermath of what is described as an artillery attack on a neighborhood in Aleppo. The video shows a large cloud of gray smoke pushing through a narrow street lined by apartment blocks. Residents then converge on a damaged building. "Is anyone in there?" one of the men is heard calling out as others try to put out small flames with pieces of cloth.

Eventually, rescuers are seen pulling at least two bodies out of the building. One has a bloody face, and another is carried away on a stretcher, amid shouts of "Allahu Akbar," or "God is Great. The authenticity of such videos cannot be confirmed independently, since Syria imposes tight restrictions on foreign journalists.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an activist group, said at least two people were killed in the shelling. Another amateur video posted Saturday showed the scattered, burning wreckage of what appeared to be an aircraft. Several gunmen stood near the debris, as civilians rushed to the scene. The narrator said video was shot in the countryside west of Aleppo.

Rami Abdul-Rahman, the head of the Observatory, said he was told by local rebel fighters in the area that they had shot down the plane. The video showed flames shooting out of what appeared to be left of a wing or tail, and other wreckage a few dozen yards away.

The claim could not be verified independently. Opposition fighters have claimed to have shot down helicopters and warplanes in the past, although the regime blamed most of the problems on mechanical difficulties.

Over the past month, rebels overran two air defense bases, including one on Friday near Aleppo. This would give them access to heavy weapons, though experts questioned whether they would be able to make use of any missiles they may have spirited away.

More than 32,000 people have been killed in Syria since a revolt against President Bashar Assad erupted 19 months ago. Hundreds of thousands of Syrians have fled the fighting, which has devastated whole neighborhoods in Syria's cities and towns.

The Observatory, which relies on a network of activists on the ground, said regime forces were pounding the rebel stronghold of Homs in central Syria with mortar fire and artillery Saturday. The southern province of Daraa, the birthplace of the revolt, also sustained shelling by the Syrian army throughout Saturday. Fighting between army troops and rebels raged around Idlib province, in and around Aleppo and on the outskirts of the capital Damascus, the Observatory said.

Earlier, Syria's state-run news agency reported that Damascus supported a proposal by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to find a "mechanism of direct security communication between Syria and Turkey."

SANA reported that Syrian government officials and Russia's ambassador in Damascus discussed ways to establish a joint Syrian-Turkish security committee that would "control the security situation on both sides of the border in the framework of respecting the national sovereignty of the two countries."

Turkey has made no comment on the proposal, and it is unclear whether Moscow has presented it to the Turkish government yet.

Barbara Surk in Beirut and Albert Aji in Damascus, Syria, contributed to this report.