Amid the ruins in Gaza, Palestinians wait for rebuilding to start

More than six months after the Israeli offensive, little rebuilding has begun. A blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt and slow aid delivery have made materials hard to find.

By Edmund Sanders
August 1, 2009

Reporting from Jabaliya, Gaza Strip -- Each morning, Thaeer Alsheikh sits beside the ruins of his family's two-story house, destroyed by Israeli forces in the final days of the 22-day Gaza Strip offensive in the winter.

He can't explain why he comes. He doesn't do anything while here. He says it just makes him feel better.

His extended family, now sharing a rented apartment nearby, recently gave the children a choice: spend the weekend at the beach or hang out next to the rubble. The kids opted for a picnic at the homestead, now a pile of broken concrete and twisted metal.

"I guess we like to return to the place where we grew up," said Alsheikh, 27, who has built a sitting area next to the ruins with a "sofa" of broken bricks covered by plastic sheeting held by columns salvaged from the second-story balcony.

"This is still my home," he said. "Someday we will rebuild, but so far there is no hope."

More than six months after a cease-fire ended the Israeli assault on this enclave controlled by the militant Islamic group Hamas, little rebuilding is underway for the approximately 6,300 homes destroyed or heavily damaged.

About 30,000 people remain affected, United Nations and nongovernmental aid groups estimate. Most have moved in with family members or into temporary rentals, but some are still living in tents and trailers with no water or electricity.

Only a fraction of the $4 billion in pledged international aid, including $900 million from the U.S., has been distributed, officials here say. That's partly because donors are reluctant to release the money as long as Hamas is in control. It's also because of the blockade by Israel and Egypt, which has restricted the borders and, Palestinians and aid groups say, is preventing the 1.5 million people in Gaza from receiving much beyond basic food and medical aid.

The blockade, which was designed to diminish Hamas' capacity to launch attacks against Israel, includes cement, glass, steel piping and other construction material, and also has prevented a variety of household goods and food items from passing Gaza's checkpoints, including coffee, tea, lightbulbs, crayons, blankets and hair conditioner.

U.N. agencies say that even though 80% of the population is dependent on their food and medical aid, they are helpless to assist in rebuilding. Only about 75 U.N. food trucks are permitted into the strip each day, compared with 400 before the blockade began, U.N. officials say.

The U.N. Relief and Works Agency, which assists the displaced Palestinians here, has earmarked nearly $1 billion to rebuild Gaza homes, including about $370 million for emergency repairs and renovations, said Chris Gunness, a U.N. spokesman.

International "donors have given us the money, but we're not able to do anything with it," he said.

On Tuesday, U.N. and other aid groups called on Israel to make an exception to the blockade for schools. They said nearly half of Gaza's schools had suffered damage -- including 18 that were destroyed -- but students are still having to crowd into the remaining classrooms or study in alternating morning and afternoon shifts.

Restrictions on Gaza have been in place since 2007, when Hamas seized control of the strip from its rival Palestinian party, Fatah. Members of Hamas, which refuses to recognize Israel's right to exist, won parliamentary elections in Gaza in 2006, after Israel unilaterally withdrew from the territory a year earlier.

But the blockade has become more painful in the aftermath of Israel's winter offensive, during which 13 Israelis and as many as 1,400 Palestinians were killed and much of Gaza's manufacturing base was destroyed.

Israel, alarmed by the Hamas takeover in Gaza, launched the attack in response to the repeated firing of rockets from the seaside strip targeting civilian neighborhoods of southern Israel.

The Israeli government also blames Hamas for the capture of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who has been held for three years.

Though Israelis this week said they planned to allow a limited amount of cement into Gaza to repair electricity or sewage plants, they say general restrictions on cement and steel pipes will remain because such materials can be used by Hamas to build bunkers, tunnels and bombs.

"The entry of 'dual-use' equipment -- equipment which while intended for use by civilian systems can be exploited by terrorists -- has been prevented, with the exception of special humanitarian cases," said Maj. Guy Inbar, an Israeli Defense Ministry spokesman.

He said exceptions are sometimes made for medicine, toys and hygiene products. But "gourmet items" are blocked because the Israeli government contends that they will not be consumed by average Palestinians, but "by the rich and corrupt leaders of Hamas."

Gazans say that without enough cement and steel to rebuild, they'll never be able to resume normal lives.

"I lived through the 1967 [Middle East] war, but I've never seen days like this before," said Souad Abdrabo, 53, who said her home was destroyed in the winter by Israeli bulldozers. Now she and her husband are sleeping under a canopy on foam mattresses next to the rubble because they say they can't find an apartment.

Like many here, the couple received more than $5,000 cash for emergency aid from U.N. and other groups. They also own a plot of vacant land they could use to rebuild. But without materials and supplies, they can only wait.

"We're being wiped out in front of the eyes of the world and nobody cares," she said.

She and others say Hamas shares the blame for failing to protect and support the population. She said she recently shooed away Hamas fighters from her neighborhood because she feared they would attract the attention of Israelis, who accuse Hamas of hiding its military branch in civilian neighborhoods. Hamas assistance for those affected by the war, some say, has been focused on the group's members. "They only help their own," said one homeowner.

A Hamas spokesman did not return phone calls for comment.

Some families are so desperate to rebuild that they've starting making bricks from mud and clay, a practice not seen here in half a century.

"Mud is no solution," Alsheikh said. "Are we supposed to go back 50 years?"

The blockade has fueled a thriving black market of goods smuggled from Egypt through a long-standing network of tunnels. As a result, some signs of normality have returned. In Gaza City, cafes serve espresso and pastries. Ice cream vendors are open along the shores. Fruits and vegetables are available.

But prices are out of reach for many families in the Gaza Strip, where most live below the poverty line. A smuggled bag of cement, for example, costs 10 times the usual price, residents said.

Some activists say the blockade is doing little to improve security or hurt Hamas, which is using the tunnels to resupply itself with arms and building materials. Instead, they say, the restrictions inflict a collective punishment.

"This isn't about security," said Sari Bashi, director of Gisha, an Israeli group that focuses on Palestinian rights. "This is about imposing pressure on the Hamas regime and trying to promote policy goals on the backs of 1.5 million civilians."

She and others warned that pushing Gaza into deeper economic turmoil and depriving people of education and livelihoods could backfire by deepening animosity toward Israel.

"Having 1.5 million increasingly desperate people in Gaza is not in the interest of long-term peace," U.N. spokesman Gunness said.

An Israeli defense official said Palestinians in Gaza bear responsibility for having elected Hamas. "They are the ones who decided to let Hamas take over and continue the violence," said the official, who was not authorized to speak publicly.

Business leaders in Gaza say the blockade and recent fighting have wiped out Gaza's industrial sector and eliminated their ability to help in the recovery. On the outskirts of Gaza City, most cement factories and other plants lay in ruins from the conflict.

"Industry is completely dead in Gaza, and it will take years to rebuild," said Wadie el Masri, general manager of Gaza Industrial Estate, a now-vacant industrial park that once employed 3,000 people. "I'm really not optimistic. In the past, Israel would squeeze a little and then let go. This time they are squeezing and squeezing and squeezing."

Iran begins trial of postelection 'rioters'

By ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press Writer

TEHRAN, Iran – Opposition political activists and protesters stood trial in Tehran Saturday on charges of rioting and conspiring against the ruling system in the country's first trial following the disputed presidential election, Iran's state media reported.

The official IRNA news agency said the charges against the defendants included attacking military and government buildings, having links with armed opposition groups and conspiring against the ruling system.

The semiofficial Fars news agency said there are more than 100 defendants at the court.

Among the defendants are several prominent reformist opposition activists including former vice president Mohammat Ali Abtahi, former government spokesman Abdollah Ramezanzadeh, former vice speaker of parliament Behzad Nabavi, former deputy foreign minister Mohsen Aminzadeh and leader of the biggest reformist party, the Islamic Iran Participation Front, Mohsen Mirdamadi.

Pictures from the courtroom showed a thin-looking Abtahi and a grim Mirdamadi in prison uniform sitting in the front row. More than a hundred defendants could be seen sitting in the packed courtroom, many of them handcuffed but without prison uniforms.

Hundreds of thousands of Iranians marched in days of street protests after the June 12 election, denouncing official results that declared President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the winner.

Iran's opposition maintains that Ahmadinejad stole the vote from opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi by engaging in massive fraud, but its demonstrations have been ruthlessly suppressed leaving hundreds, possibly more, in prison.

State media didn't provide further details about the trial, and there was no information on when it would end or when a verdict would be expected.

Iran's hard-liners have drawn parallels between Mousavi's campaign and the "velvet revolution" — an allusion to the peaceful overthrow of the communist government in the former Czechoslovakia.

Kuwait alarmed by Iraqi failure to pay reparations

By DIANA ELIAS, Associated Press Writer

KUWAIT CITY – Iraq's recent efforts to avoid paying Kuwait some $25 billion in U.N.-mandated reparations for Saddam Hussein's 1990 invasion have alarmed Kuwaitis and strained relations that have slowly improved since the fall of the Iraqi dictator.

Many Kuwaitis doubt Iraq will make good on its obligations without outside pressure, and the country has sent envoys to both Washington and the U.N. in recent months to seek help.

"Iraq will not cooperate if things are left to bilateral ties," said Fayez al-Enezi, a member of a search team tasked with finding hundreds of Kuwaitis who went missing during the Iraqi occupation.

But Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has waged his own offensive, pressing key U.N. members during a visit to the U.S. in late July to drop all binding resolutions against his country stemming from Saddam's seven-month occupation of Kuwait.

President Barack Obama has expressed support for lifting U.N. sanctions, among them a requirement that Iraq pay 5 percent of its oil revenues to Kuwait as reparations. However, he said Iraq's U.N. status should only be changed after the country resolves disputes with its neighbors — something Kuwaitis have been seeking for almost two decades.

The U.N. has approved $52.4 billion in compensation for individuals, companies and organizations, most of them Kuwaiti, that incurred losses in the war that followed Saddam's invasion. Around $27 billion has already been paid out from Iraqi oil revenues, leaving an outstanding balance of about $25.4 billion.

Money isn't the only thing at stake. The U.N. resolutions place a number of other obligations on Iraq, ranging from helping search for missing Kuwaitis to returning looted possessions. But Kuwaitis complain Iraq has provided little cooperation.

El-Enezi said the search for missing people has gone extremely slowly and 369 people are still unaccounted for. His team has found the remains of 236 people in mass graves in Iraq who were shot in the back of the head.

"We will never trust them," said civil servant Talal al-Otaibi, while sipping coffee in one of Kuwait City's busiest malls. "Iraq will never leave us alone. ... Iraqis still believe Kuwait is part of Iraq."

Iraq has made territorial claims on Kuwait ever since the country gained independence from Britain in 1961. Baghdad grudgingly approved a U.N. demarcation of their shared border in 1994 that placed 11 oil wells on the Kuwaiti side of the desert frontier. The two governments are still negotiating an agreement to drill joint border fields.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said his government's efforts to shake off the U.N. resolutions were not aimed at compromising its smaller neighbor's sovereignty.

"We in Iraq need to make some ... real initiatives to dissipate those fears," he told the official Kuwait News Agency, promising to intensify the search for missing Kuwaitis.

Sami al-Faraj, who heads the independent Kuwait Center for Strategic Studies, said Iraq could generate some goodwill by returning Kuwait's national archives that were taken during Saddam's invasion.

"We're talking about historic documents, about proof we are not Iraqis, and (returning them) will not cost them billions," he said.

Kuwait looked forward to improved ties after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam. The country reopened its diplomatic mission that it had closed after Saddam's invasion and appointed an ambassador. But it is still waiting for Iraq to reciprocate. The Iraqi Embassy in Kuwait is headed by a charge d'affaires.

"In 2003, after the fall of Saddam's regime, we had high hopes," said political analyst Ayed al-Mannah. "Now we hear the same old language ... all over again."

Hajji al-Jasser, a 58-year-old businessman who was abroad when Iraqi tanks rolled into his country, said Kuwaitis do not hate Iraqis but are afraid of their "reckless" politicians. He said Kuwaitis should not give up a penny to make the point that Iraq's past behavior should be punished and not repeated.

Kuwait has taken a similarly hard line, refusing to cave to pressure from Washington to forgive $15 billion of Saddam-era debts.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged Iraq and Kuwait on Monday to discuss alternative ways to settle outstanding war reparations, suggesting the possibility of converting them into investments to help Iraq's reconstruction.

Iraq has already proposed the idea to Kuwait, which has not officially responded. However, Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheik Mohammed Al Sabah said Wednesday his country has its own proposals and was prepared to discuss them with Baghdad "under a U.N. umbrella."

Some Kuwaitis believe taking a middle road would be in the country's best interests.

"Opening the door wide for cooperation ... with Iraq is an investment for Kuwait in security and stability," the editor-in-chief of Alrai newspaper, Jassem Budai, wrote in an editorial. "Kuwaitis won't sleep soundly if their neighbors are hungry."

Pakistan court rules Musharraf's emergency illegal

By ASIF SHAHZAD and NAHAL TOOSI, Associated Press Writers

ISLAMABAD – Pakistan's Supreme Court ruled Friday that the state of emergency former President Pervez Musharraf imposed in 2007 was unconstitutional and declared invalid the appointments of judges he made during that period.

The decision could lay the groundwork for treason charges against the ex-army chief, and some fear it could cause political turmoil at a time when Pakistan is battling a Taliban insurgency. But the court said the ruling — the most severe against a former military leader — would strengthen democracy in a country plagued by repeated military dictatorships.

The 14-member bench that delivered the ruling was headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry, whose attempted ouster by Musharraf spurred much of the political turmoil that ultimately led to the strongman's downfall.

"The constitution is supreme, and this decision will strengthen democracy and democratic institutions," Chaudhry said.

The court added that rulings made by the judges who were improperly appointed could still stand, and told Parliament to decide which of the laws that Musharraf pushed through during the unconstitutional emergency could remain on the books.

Musharraf declared the emergency when it appeared the Supreme Court might challenge his eligibility for office. The measures — which were accompanied by mass detentions and harsh media restrictions — enraged an already emboldened opposition.

Eventually, under domestic and international pressure, Musharraf allowed elections that brought his foes to power in February 2008. Under threat of impeachment, he stepped down in August 2008.

Ever since, many opponents have demanded that he be held accountable.

Musharraf, who is living in London, ignored a summons to appear before the court or send a lawyer this week to explain his actions.

A man who answered the phone at a number for Musharraf in Britain said the retired general had no comment.

"He's not commenting; he was not represented at the court," the man said. He declined to give his name and hung up when asked what Musharraf's plans were.

The court decision was eagerly awaited by many Pakistanis, especially lawyers who led a movement that helped push Musharraf from office. Many gathered across the country, dancing in the streets and cheering when the verdict was announced.

"Today we have to a great extent achieved our goal, that is independence of judiciary," Hamid Khan, one of the petitioners who brought the case to court, told The Associated Press. "The purpose of this whole exercise is to block military dictators' intervention in future which we have been seeing again and again in past."

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani welcomed the decision, describing as a good omen for the future of democracy in Pakistan, which has been run by the army for about half of its nearly 62-year existence.

Farahnaz Ispahani, a spokeswoman for President Asif Ali Zardari, also hailed the decision, describing it as "the last nail in the coffin of dictatorship."

Because of a legal twist, one measure that could come up for review is an ordinance — signed by Musharraf before the emergency — that granted amnesty in corruption cases to Zardari and his wife, slain former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.

Zardari succeeded Bhutto as leader of the Pakistan People's Party after she was assassinated in December 2007. As president, he enjoys broad legal immunity for the duration of his term, even if Parliament overturns the amnesty deal.

But prominent lawyer Athar MinAllah said the case paved the way for trying Musharraf on treason charges, which could carry the death penalty.

"It has made basis stronger to proceed against him if somebody wants to," he said, but noted that such charges can only be filed by the federal government.

Musharraf seized power in a 1999 military coup and became a key ally in the U.S.-led war against al-Qaida following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that sparked the American-led invasion of neighboring Afghanistan.

In early 2007, he dismissed Chaudhry as the court was about to rule on the validity of Musharraf's holding two offices — that of president and chief of army staff. Chaudhry's removal triggered mass lawyer-led protests that damaged Musharraf's popularity.

The court managed to bring Chaudhry back, but faced with growing rancor and fearing he could be ousted, Musharraf declared the emergency, tossing out Chaudhry again along with around 60 other judges.

The move deepened anger against Musharraf, who eventually lifted the emergency. He stepped down as army chief and allowed parliamentary elections the following February that brought his political foes to power. But even after his resignation, the fate of the judges caused fissures among those who came to power.

A coalition government of Zardari's PPP and Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-N fell apart over the slow pace of reinstating the jurists.

Ultimately, facing escalating lawyer-led protests, Zardari agreed to reinstate Chaudhry in March. Ever since, there have been rumblings about whether Musharraf would have to answer in court for his actions.

Some argue that holding him accountable would deter military strongmen from trying to seize power in the future. Others fear pursuing Musharraf could shake the political establishment and reopen old wounds at a time when Pakistan is already saddled with reviving its economy and battling a Taliban militancy.

Pakistan's army is winding down a three-month-old offensive against the Taliban in the northwestern Swat Valley, but sporadic violence continues.

Six militants died in a recent clash, the military said in a statement Friday afternoon that covered the previous 24 hours. In Baluchistan to the southwest, police officials said a grenade attack against a paramilitary vehicle killed two paramilitary soldiers and one bystander.

Schools reopen in Pakistan's Swat Valley

By NAHAL TOOSI and ZARAR KHAN, Associated Press Writers

MINGORA, Pakistan – Scores of eager children headed back to school in northern Pakistan's battle-scarred Swat Valley on Saturday, many taking classes in buildings damaged during recent fighting between Taliban militants and security forces.

But attendance on the first day of the new academic year was low, with hundreds of students staying away. Many families have still not returned home to the valley's main town of Mingora, where the Taliban once held sway.

Reopening schools in Swat, a former tourist haven, is just one piece of the puzzle for authorities trying to rehabilitate the valley, but it may be the most symbolic and psychologically important step yet, as destroying schools — particularly those teaching girls — was a key part of the Taliban's reign in the valley.

In one girls' school in the Haji Baba neighborhood of Mingora, only about 30 of the usual 700 students were back on Saturday. But those who were said they were glad to be able to learn again without fear of the Taliban.

"I'm happy. I like school, I like to study," 12-year-old Saima Abdul Wahab said as she stood in a tiny courtyard outside her dusty classroom, piles of new exercise books stacked against the walls waiting to be given out.

Saima said she, like many others, had been too afraid to study when the Taliban controlled the town.

"I was scared and stopped coming to school. The Taliban were slaughtering people. I was scared of being slaughtered," she said. But now, "I'm not afraid of them coming back. They're gone."

At one point, the Taliban had announced they were banning female education completely, in a move echoing their militant brethren in neighboring Afghanistan who forbade girls from going to school when they were in charge.

Nearly 200 schools in Swat and surrounding the area were destroyed, and hundreds more were damaged — most of them girls' institutions.

The havoc threatened to set back literacy and other educational achievements in the valley that — relative to other parts of the conservative northwest — had made strides in education over the past century, including when it was a princely state with its own ruler.

School has been out in Swat since May, leaving large gaps in children's education, teachers say.

"We will have extra classes, put in extra time, forego our vacations, but we will catch up," vowed Noor ul Akbar, who teaches Quran recitation at a nearby boys' school.

About 150 of the school's usual 1,500 boys lined up in the warm early morning sun for assembly that began with a prayer before starting lessons in their bomb-damaged building. The school was struck by an explosion in a shop across the street that had been run by a suspected Taliban militant.

Akbar said at one point, several Taliban had taken over a few rooms in the school. He said teachers had pleaded with them to leave, telling them their guns were scaring the children. The militants had replied that they would only target passing military convoys, he said.

Although Swat's main city is slowly coming back to life, it is nowhere near normal.

Basic amenities such as electricity, gas and running water have been restored, and hospitals are open, but government offices are barely functioning, the courts are shut, and curfews still hamper people's movement.

A small number of traders have returned, but many are still cautiously watching the situation and trying to assess their costs, Abdul Rahim Khan, president of the Swat Traders Association, said earlier this week.

"A lot of damage has been caused to business places and trading offices during the fighting and after that, so the government should quickly compensate their losses," he said.

Tourism, once a key economic engine for the picturesque valley, is still hobbled. A few hotels have reopened — largely to cater to visiting journalists and officials.

Bakhtiar Khan, an official of the tourism department, struck a hopeful note.

"We expect those who have been here before will definitely come back to see how this place changed or destroyed — we are expecting adventure tourists," he said.

The Taliban's top leadership remains at large, and violence persists. On Tuesday, the decapitated body of a police constable was found in Swat's town of Sangota, not far from Mingora. It was a clear sign that the militants have not given up the fight, even though the army says it has killed at least 1,800 suspected insurgents.

Residents say while they have not seen any Taliban in Mingora, relatives in other parts of the valley report militants are still active at night. Many Taliban are believed to have melted into the rural parts of the mountainous valley, and access to the northern half is still restricted.

Philippines mourns Corazon Aquino, dead at 76

By OLIVER TEVES, Associated Press Writer

MANILA, Philippines – Filipinos mourned former President Corazon Aquino by displaying yellow ribbons and holding Masses as the nation prepared to bid farewell to the beloved democracy icon who swept away a dictator and fought off seven coup attempts.

Aquino, 76, died early Saturday after a yearlong battle with colon cancer, which had spread to other organs and left her bedridden since late June, her son, Sen. Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III, said.

Each of Aquino's five children went to their mother's bedside where they "were told to say everything we wanted to say" before she was given morphine, which made her unresponsive, her only son said.

Aquino rose to power after the 1983 assassination of her husband, opposition leader Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr. The uprising she led in 1986 ended the repressive 20-year regime of Ferdinand Marcos and inspired nonviolent protests across the globe, including those that ended communist rule in eastern Europe.

"She was headstrong and single-minded in one goal, and that was to remove all vestiges of an entrenched dictatorship," Raul C. Pangalangan, former dean of the College of Law at the University of the Philippines, said earlier this month. "We all owe her in a big way."

But Aquino struggled in office to meet high public expectations. Her land redistribution program fell short of ending economic domination by the landed elite, including her own family. Her leadership, especially in social and economic reform, was often indecisive, leaving many of her closest allies disillusioned by the end of her term.

Still, the bespectacled, smiling woman in her trademark yellow dress remained beloved in the Philippines, where she was affectionately referred to as "Tita (Auntie) Cory."

Aquino's supporters had been holding daily prayers for her in churches for the past month.

As the news of Aquino's death spread through a rainy and gloomy Manila, radio and TV stations broadcast documentaries and stories of her life, with music dating back to the "people power" revolt and a love song based on a poem written by her husband.

Catholic priests held requiem Masses, and ordinary people tied yellow ribbons on trees around their neighborhoods, on cars, lamp posts and house gates.

Others laid flowers and lit candles outside the Aquino family residence in Quezon city, while some gathered to pray at a shrine on Manila's EDSA highway, where hundreds of thousands of her supporters blocked Marcos' tanks in 1986.

"The nation lost its moral guiding light but she will forever remain as the inspiration of this impoverished nation," said Al Roy, one of Aquino's godsons.

The Aquino family opted for a private instead of a state funeral.

"She has for all intents and purposes been a private citizen after stepping down, and to a degree we also want to spend as much time as possible as a family with her," her son said.

Aquino's body will lie in state at the De La Salle Catholic school in Manila from Saturday evening to Monday morning. It will be moved to Manila Cathedral before she will be buried beside her husband at the Manila Memorial Park on Wednesday, he said.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who is on an official visit to the United States, remembered Aquino as a "national treasure" who helped lead "a revolution to restore democracy and the rule of law to our nation at a time of great peril.

The Philippines will observe 10 days of national mourning, she said. The Armed Forces of the Philippines said it would accord full military honors during the mourning period, including gun salutes and lowering flags to half-staff.

With teary eyes, former aides and friends recalled their moments with "Tita Cory" in radio and TV interviews. A former speechwriter, Rep. Teodoro Locsin Jr., broke down saying that her "purity, nobility never failed."

Former top Cabinet aide Franklin Drilon said "President Cory was the most sincere person I have known in my life. ... Part of me died this morning."

Deposed President Joseph Estrada, who was toppled in the country's second "people power" revolt — backed by Aquino — in 2001, said the Philippines had "lost the true mother of democracy."

Aquino's successor, Fidel Ramos, who was the military's vice chief of staff when he broke with Marcos and embraced Aquino, said the former leader "represented the best of the Filipino of the past and the future."

President Barack Obama was deeply saddened by Aquino's death, said White House press secretary Robert Gibbs.

"Ms. Aquino played a crucial role in Philippines history, moving the country to democratic rule through her nonviolent 'people power' movement over 20 years ago," Gibbs said. "Her courage, determination, and moral leadership are an inspiration to us all and exemplify the best in the Filipino nation."

Aquino's unlikely rise began in 1983 after her husband was gunned down at Manila's international airport moments after soldiers escorted him from a plane on his arrival from exile in the United States to challenge Marcos, his longtime adversary.

The killing enraged many Filipinos and unleashed a broad-based opposition movement that thrust Aquino into the role of national leader.

"I don't know anything about the presidency," she declared in 1985, a year before she agreed to run against Marcos, uniting the fractious opposition, the business community, and later the armed forces to drive the dictator out.

Maria Corazon Cojuangco was born on Jan. 25, 1933, into a wealthy, politically powerful family in Paniqui, about 75 miles (120 kilometers) north of Manila.

She attended private school in Manila and earned a degree in French from the College of Mount St. Vincent in New York. In 1954 she married Ninoy Aquino, the fiercely ambitious scion of another political family. He rose from provincial governor to senator and finally opposition leader.

Marcos, elected president in 1965, declared martial law in 1972 to avoid term limits. He abolished the Congress and jailed Aquino's husband and thousands of opponents, journalists and activists without charges. Aquino became her husband's political stand-in, confidant, message carrier and spokeswoman.

A military tribunal sentenced her husband to death for alleged links to communist rebels but, under pressure from U.S. President Jimmy Carter, Marcos allowed him to leave in May 1980 for heart surgery in the U.S., where the family stayed for the next three years.

Her husband decided to return to regroup the opposition but was shot as he descended the stairs from the plane.

The government blamed a suspected communist rebel, but subsequent investigations pointed to a soldier who was escorting him from the plane on Aug. 21, 1983.

Aquino heard of the assassination in a phone call from a Japanese journalist. She recalled gathering the children and, as a deeply religious woman, praying for strength.

"During Ninoy's incarceration and before my presidency, I used to ask why it had always to be us to make the sacrifice," she said in a 2007 interview with The Philippine Star newspaper. "And then, when Ninoy died, I would say, 'Why does it have to be me now?' It seemed like we were always the sacrificial lamb."

She returned to the Philippines and on Aug. 31, 1983, led the largest funeral procession Manila had seen. Crowd estimates ranged as high as 2 million.

With public opposition mounting against Marcos, he stunned the nation in November 1985 by calling a snap election in a bid to shore up his mandate. The opposition, including then Manila Archbishop Cardinal Jaime L. Sin, urged Aquino to run on Feb. 7, 1986.

With Marcos claiming victory and journalists, foreign observers and church leaders crying fraud, a group of military officers mutinied against Marcos on Feb. 22 and holed up with a small force in a military camp in Manila.

Over the following three days, hundreds of thousands of Filipinos responded to a call by Archbishop Sin to support the mutineers at the camp on EDSA highway.

On the third day, against the advice of her security detail, Aquino appeared at the rally. From a makeshift platform, she declared: "For the first time in the history of the world, a civilian population has been called to defend the military."

The military chiefs pledged their loyalty to Aquino and charged that Marcos had won the election by fraud.

On Feb. 25, Aquino was sworn in as the Philippines' first female leader and Marcos flew to exile in Hawaii, where he died three years later.

Over time, the euphoria fizzled as the public became impatient and Aquino more defensive as she struggled to navigate treacherous political waters and build alliances to push her agenda.

"People used to compare me to the ideal president, but he doesn't exist and never existed. He has never lived," she said in the 2007 Philippine Star interview.

Aquino signed an agrarian reform bill that virtually exempted large plantations like her family's sugar estate from being distributed to landless farmers.

When farmers protested outside the Malacanang Presidential Palace on Jan. 22, 1987, troops opened fire, killing 13 and wounding 100.

The bloodshed scuttled talks with communist rebels, who had galvanized opposition to Marcos but weren't satisfied with Aquino either.

As recently as 2004, at least seven workers were killed in clashes with police and soldiers at the family's plantation, Hacienda Luisita, over its refusal to distribute its land.

Aquino also attempted to negotiate with Muslim separatists in the southern Philippines, but made little progress.

Behind the public image of the frail, vulnerable widow, Aquino was an iron-willed woman who dismissed criticism as the carping of jealous rivals. She knew she had to act tough to earn respect in the Philippines' macho culture.

"When I am just with a few close friends, I tell them, 'OK, you don't like me? Look at the alternatives,' and that shuts them up," she told America's NBC television in a 1987 interview.

Her term was punctuated by repeated coup attempts — most staged by the same clique of officers who had risen up against Marcos and felt they had been denied their fair share of power. The most serious attempt came in December 1989 when only a flyover by U.S. jets prevented mutinous troops from toppling her.

Leery of damaging relations with the United States, Aquino tried in vain to block a historic Senate vote to force the U.S. out of its two major bases in the Philippines.

In the end, the U.S. Air Force pulled out of Clark Air Base in 1991 after the eruption of Mount Pinatubo forced its evacuation and left it heavily damaged. The last American vessel left Subic Bay Naval Base in November 1992.

After stepping down in 1992, Aquino remained active in social and political causes.

Until diagnosed with colon cancer in March 2008, she joined rallies calling for the resignation of Arroyo over allegations of vote-rigging and corruption.

She kept her distance from another famous widow, flamboyant former first lady Imelda Marcos, who was allowed to return to the Philippines in 1991.

Marcos has called Aquino a usurper and dictator, though she later led prayers for Aquino in July 2009 when the latter was hospitalized. The two never made peace.

Report: 3 American hikers arrested in Iran

By YAHYA BARZANJI, Associated Press Writer

SULAIMANIYAH, Iraq – The U.S. State Department said Friday it was investigating reports that three American tourists have been detained by Iranians while hiking near Iran's border with the self-ruled Kurdish region in northern Iraq.

Two Kurdish officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to release the information, said the Americans apparently were arrested after entering Iranian territory without permission.

U.S. helicopters were buzzing overhead and many U.S. Humvees had moved into the Kurdish city of Halabja to search for the Americans, said a Kurdish border force official.

According to a security official, a fourth American who stayed behind at a hotel because he was sick said the missing Americans were tourists hiking near Halabja and the border town of Ahmed Awaa.

According to this account, the four had traveled to Turkey, then entered the Kurdish region Tuesday through the Ibrahim Al-Khalil border point in Zakho, the official said. They visited the Kurdish cities of Irbil and Sulaimaniyah on Wednesday. The next day, three of them took a taxi to Ahmed Awaa where they told their companion that they planned to stay at a nearby resort, the official said.

The three contacted their companion on Friday and told him "they had mistakenly entered Iranian territory and that troops surrounded them," the official said, adding "that was the last contact with them."

The mountainous border area is a popular hiking destination and well-known for its thick growth of pistachio trees.

The border force official said Iranian authorities apparently arrested the three Americans because they had entered the neighboring country without permission.

State Department spokesman Robert Wood said the U.S. Embassy "is aware of the report and is investigating. We are using all available means to determine the facts in this case."

Iranian officials made no immediate comment.

The self-ruled Kurdish region has been relatively free of the violence that plagues the rest of Iraq. Foreigners often feel freer to move around without security guards in the area.

Halabja, 150 miles (240 kilometers) northeast of Baghdad, was the site of a chemical weapons attack ordered by Saddam Hussein in 1988 as part of a scorched-earth campaign to crush a Kurdish rebellion. An estimated 5,600 were killed in the nerve and mustard gas attacks — the vast majority Kurds — and many still suffer the aftereffects.