Iran's Ahmadinejad issues condolence message on Hakim's death

Tehran - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has issued a condolence message on the death of Abdulaziz al-Hakim, leader of one of Iraq's most powerful Shiite political groups, state media reported Thursday. In his message, carried by the IRNA news agency, Ahmadinejad said al-Hakim's death was a big loss for the Iraqi nation as he dedicated his life to promote Islam and justice in Iraq.

Al-Hakim died on Wednesday at a Tehran hospital after a battle with lung cancer.

A special mourning ceremony was held on Thursday in front of the Iraqi embassy in Tehran before his body was transferred to Najaf in southern Iraq.

Auschwitz blueprints given to Israeli PM

By DAVID RISING, Associated Press Writer



BERLIN – Architectural plans for the Auschwitz death camp that were discovered in Berlin last year were given to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday for display at his country's official Holocaust memorial.

The 29 sketches of the death camp that was built in Nazi-occupied Poland date back as far as 1941, and include detailed blueprints for living barracks, delousing facilities and crematoria, including gas chambers. The sketches are considered important to helping understand the genesis of the Nazi genocide.

They are initialed by the head of the SS, Heinrich Himmler, and Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Hoess.

They turned up in an apartment in Berlin in 2008; how they got there is not clear, but their authenticity has been verified by Germany's federal archive.

While they are not the only original Auschwitz blueprints that still exist — others were captured by the Soviet Red Army and brought back to Moscow — they will be the first for Israel's Yad Vashem memorial, its chairman told The Associated Press in an interview.

"This set is a very early one, which was found here in Berlin, from the autumn of '41," Yad Vashem chairman Avner Shalev said.

"It brings a better understanding of the whole process, and the intention of the planners of the complex, and from this perspective it is important."

The blueprints were purchased from the unidentified finder by Germany's Axel Springer Verlag, the publisher of top-selling Bild newspaper among others, and put on display in the company's Berlin headquarters.

The publisher is now giving them to Yad Vashem for its permanent collection.

Shalev said they will be put on display at Yad Vashem on Jan. 27, 2010, as part of a special exhibit opening to mark the 65th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.

The blueprints include general plans for the original Auschwitz camp, and also the expansion Auschwitz-Birkenau camp where most of the killings were carried out.

More than 1 million people, mostly Jews, died in the gas chambers or through forced labor, disease or starvation at the camp, which the Nazis built after occupying Poland.

Netanyahu is in Berlin for meetings with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, and other officials.

Later, the Israeli leader is scheduled to visit a house on Berlin's Wannsee lake that was the site of the Jan. 20, 1942, "Wannsee Conference" — a watershed in Nazi policy against Europe's Jews.

The building now houses a museum documenting the Holocaust and the notorious meeting, which was once thought to be the point at which the Nazis decided to stop deporting and randomly killing Jews and instead to industrialize their murder.

Though debate continues, most historians now agree that the decision was made some months earlier — by Adolf Hitler himself, even though no written order from him has ever been found.

Hundreds of thousands of Jews had already been murdered by the time the 15 civil servants, SS and party officials met at Wannsee. It is now believed by many that Reinhard Heydrich, the Nazi Security Service and Security Police head, called the meeting to make sure everybody knew what Hitler wanted done and to establish SS oversight of the process.

Shalev said the blueprints showing that the construction of Auschwitz was already being planned in 1941 help to reinforce that argument.

"The Wannsee conference ... was a kind of coordination," Shalev said. "The process of the Final Solution started to be implemented a few months before it, so the plans that were found from late '41 are more evidence."

A large yellowed plan, dated April 30, 1942 and titled "general building plan concentration camp Auschwitz" provides a wider view, showing the barracks but also roads, other buildings, and the outlying area.

Another drawing dated Oct. 14, 1941, shows the plans for construction of a "Waffen SS prisoner of war camp" with rows of what appear to be barracks. A notation in the bottom right says it was drafted by a prisoner, "Nr. 471."

Clash kills 4 Pakistani soldiers, 9 militants

By MUNIR AHMAD, Associated Press Writer

ISLAMABAD – Militants ambushed troops on a dusty road in a volatile tribal region of Pakistan, triggering an intense firefight that killed at least nine attackers and four soldiers, two officials said Thursday.

The clash took place Wednesday in the stronghold of a senior Taliban commander, Waliur Rehman, in the South Waziristan tribal region near the Afghan border. Troops backed by helicopter gunships targeted militant hide-outs in the region, an intelligence official and an army officer said.

The officials, who spoke Thursday on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media, provided no further details of the fighting, but said troops were still hunting for the attackers.

The incident came two days after two Taliban commanders acknowledged their chief, Baitullah Mehsud, died following an Aug. 5 U.S. missile strike in the North Waziristan tribal region.

Taliban members say they selected Hakimullah Mehsud as the group's new leader, while Rehman was appointed Taliban leader in South Waziristan, where most of the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan's fighters — believed to number as many as 25,000 — are based.

Pakistan has deployed more than 100,000 troops to the regions near the Afghan border since the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.

Wednesday's ambush was the first by militants since Rehman's appointment as the insurgent leader in South Waziristan, a region that has witnessed scores of military operations.

Troops and police imposed a curfew throughout Thursday and launched an operation in the northwestern city of Dera Ismail Khan to recover illegal weapons, said police chief Saeedullah Marwat.

The operation follows sporadic clashes over the past few months between majority Sunni and minority Shiite Muslims in the area, Marwat said. He did not have further details, beyond saying some weapons had been handed in voluntarily.

Separately, the army said security forces in the Swat Valley in northern Pakistan seized a vehicle that was being prepared for a suicide attack and arrested nine militants.

The military still clashes sporadically with Taliban fighters in Swat, where it fought a near three-month offensive to clear insurgents from the area. Search operations in various parts of Swat led to the arrest of another 22 suspected militants, while 14 turned themselves in to security forces, the army said in a statement Thursday.

Hariri: Hezbollah part of Lebanese cabinet

Premier-elect Saad Hariri rebuffs interventions in Lebanon's cabinet formation, stressing Hezbollah will be part of the new government even if Israel does not like it.

Speaking at an Iftar reception on Tuesday night, Hariri highlighted the significance of involving all Lebanese factions in the new cabinet as Lebanon's national interests required so.

"The national unity government will include the (ruling) March 14 alliance, and I also want to assure the Israeli enemy that Hezbollah will be in this government whether it (Israel) likes it," he said.

The comments come amid weeks-long delays in the formation of the new cabinet in the wake of internal divisions within the ruling party and Israeli threats against the inclusion of Hezbollah in the national unity government.

Earlier this month, Israeli Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that the Lebanese government as a whole would be responsible for any attack from its territory if the Islamic resistance group were part of the new government.

Hariri was elected prime minister on June 27, but stopped short of naming a cabinet after the Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) withdrew from the ruling alliance, causing the bloc to lose its parliamentary majority.

PSP leader Walid Jumblatt, however, later called for a consensus among the Lebanese parties, saying the delay in its establishment was due to a misunderstanding of his stand.

After weeks of negotiations on the arrangement of Lebanon's 30-seat cabinet, Hariri's ruling alliance will have 15 portfolios in the new government, with 10 ministries going to the Hezbollah-led opposition. President Michel Suleiman is to appoint the remaining five portfolios.

Key posts such as the ministers of foreign affairs, finance, interior and telecommunications are still in the center of ongoing dispute.

Taiwan's government approves visit by Dalai Lama

By ANNIE HUANG, Associated Press Writer

TAIPEI, Taiwan – Taiwan's president risked angering China with his surprise announcement Thursday that he has agreed to let the Dalai Lama visit the island to comfort survivors of a devastating typhoon.

President Ma Ying-jeou's move was unexpected because he has made a priority of seeking better relations with China, and just last December nixed plans for a visit by the Buddhist spiritual leader in what was deemed a move to placate Beijing.

But his government has come under fire over its slow response to Typhoon Morakot, which claimed 670 lives when it hit Aug. 8-9, and opposition politicians in the storm zone pointedly invited the Tibetan spiritual leader to the island to console survivors.

The invitation put Ma into a bind — either risk angering China, or give further ammunition to the opposition, which accuses him of hewing Beijing's line. On Thursday, Ma gave his answer while visiting a school in Nantou County that was destroyed in mudslides triggered by the storm.

"The Dalai Lama could come to Taiwan to help rest the souls of the dead and also pray for the well-being of the survivors," he said.

There was no immediate comment from either China's Taiwan Affairs Office or Foreign Ministry.

Beijing considers the Dalai Lama a "splittist" for promoting autonomy in the Chinese region of Tibet, and opposes visits to foreign countries that raise his profile. Allowing him to visit Taiwan could undermine the rapidly improving relations between Beijing and Taipei, longtime rivals which are developing close business ties after decades of enmity.

China claims self-governing Taiwan as part of its territory, though they split amid civil war in 1949.

On Wednesday, leaders of seven municipalities hit by Morakot issued a joint statement inviting the Dalai Lama to visit storm victims from Aug. 31 to Sept. 4. The invitation from the leaders — all from the opposition Democratic Progressive Party — came as Ma faced criticism that he botched the government's response to the island's deadliest storm in 50 years.

The Dalai Lama — who has made three visits to the island over the past 12 years — has accepted the invitation "in principle," his spokesman Tenzin Takhla said Wednesday from Dharmsala, India, home to the Tibetan government-in-exile.

Since becoming president 15 months ago, Ma has reversed many of his predecessor's anti-China policies, tightening economic links across the 100-mile (160-kilometer) -wide Taiwan Strait and even speaking of a peace treaty with Beijing.

Presidential spokesman Wang Yu-chi said the Dalai Lama's upcoming visit would be strictly religious, with no political overtones.

"We welcome the Dalai Lama to come to Taiwan to take part in mass prayers," Wang told reporters. He said the visit was approved "for humanitarian and religious considerations ... and we believe it will not harm cross-Strait relations."

Wang declined to say if Ma would meet the Dalai Lama during his stay in Taiwan.

Ma's policy of seeking better relations with China contrasts sharply with the opposition DPP's strong support for formal independence for the island of 23 million people.

That stance infuriates Beijing, which has repeatedly warned that any move to make the Taiwan-China split permanent would lead to war.

Taiwan and Tibet share similar histories. Both are territories that Beijing believes should be under its rule. Despite a failed 1959 uprising that sent the Dalai Lama into exile, China controls Tibet and has refused the Tibetan religious leader's request for greater autonomy.

August tied for deadliest month in Afghanistan

By AMIR SHAH, Associated Press Writer

KABUL – NATO says a U.S. service member has been killed in a militant attack involving a roadside bomb and gunfire.

The death brings to 44 the number of U.S. troops who have died in Afghanistan this month, tying August with July for the deadliest month of the eight-year war.

NATO says the American died in southern Afghanistan on Thursday when the troop's patrol responded to the gunfire attack.

With four days left in the month, August is likely to become the deadliest of the war. More than 60,000 U.S. troops are now in the country — a record number — to combat rising insurgent violence.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

KABUL (AP) — U.S. and Afghan forces attacked a clinic in eastern Afghanistan after a wounded Taliban commander sought treatment, and a U.S. helicopter gunship fired on the medical center after militants put up resistance, officials said Thursday.

Reports of the militant death toll from Wednesday's firefight varied widely. The spokesman for the governor of Paktika province said 12 militants died, while police said two were killed. The U.S. military did not report any deaths. It wasn't clear why the tolls differed.

The fighting began after a wounded Taliban commander sought treatment at a clinic in the Sar Hawza district of Paktika. As U.S. said Afghan forces moved toward the center, militants began firing from inside.

Hamidullah Zhwak, the governor's spokesman, said the Taliban commander was wounded Aug. 20, the day of the country's presidential election.

Militants brought him and three other wounded Taliban to the clinic at noon Wednesday. U.S. and Afghan forces were tipped off to their presence and soon arrived at the scene, he said.

Insurgent snipers fired from a tower near the clinic, and troops called in an airstrike, Zhwak said. Fighting between some 20 militants and Afghan and U.S. forces lasted about five hours, and 12 Taliban were killed in the clash, he said.

"After ensuring the clinic was cleared of civilians, an AH-64 Apache helicopter fired rounds at the building ending the direct threat and injuring the targeted insurgent in the building," a U.S. military statement said.

Seven insurgents — including the wounded commander — had been detained, the U.S. statement said.

Gen. Dawlat Khan, the provincial police chief, said two militants died in the encounter.

The Taliban have gained control of large segments of Afghanistan's south and east over the past few years, prompting the U.S. to send an additional 21,000 troops to the country this year.

The latest clash comes as the war-torn country awaits results from last week's election. The lengthy vote count, coupled with ongoing accusations of fraud, threatens to undermine hopes that Afghans can put together a united front against the insurgency.

Who will succeed Kennedy? Speculative list is long

By STEVE LeBLANC, Associated Press Writer

BOSTON – For the first time in nearly half a century, Massachusetts voters will be handed ballots for the U.S. Senate seat held by Sen. Edward Kennedy without his name on them.

The long list of potential candidates to replace him in the seat once held by President John F. Kennedy includes congressmen, former prosecutors and, perhaps, one of Edward Kennedy's nephews.

Kennedy's death leaves little mourning time for the dozen or more Senate hopefuls who face a five-month dash to election day.

State law requires a special election no sooner than 145 days and no later than 160 days after a vacancy occurs. The law bans an interim appointee. In this case, the election must be held either the last two weeks of January or the first week of February.

Primaries must be held six weeks before the special election, giving Democratic and Republican candidates little more than three months to campaign for their party's nomination.

"That is a very short period of time to be able to mount an attempt to garner one of these precious seats," said Paul Watanabe, a professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts-Boston. The tight window will favor candidates with name recognition and hefty campaign war chests, he added.

An open senate seat in Massachusetts is a rare political prize. Kennedy held his seat for 47 years. Fellow Democrat Sen. John Kerry was elected in 1984.

"No one will replace Ted Kennedy in their first year, but Democrats at least want someone who reflects his basic policy positions," said Julian Zelizer, professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University.

Despite speculation that Kennedy's wife, Vicki, could assume his Senate seat, family aides have said she is not interested in replacing her husband.

One of Kennedy's nephews, former Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy II, has also been suggested as a candidate. He heads Citizens Energy, a nonprofit that distributes discounted heating oil to the poor, and has been criticized in recent years for accepting oil from Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

Other potential Democratic contenders include state Attorney General Martha Coakley, who would be the first woman elected to the Senate from Massachusetts. She has a high profile and statewide recognition, but would need to raise money quickly.

Several congressmen have also been mentioned, including Reps. Stephen Lynch, Michael Capuano, Edward Markey, James McGovern and William Delahunt.

While each has a federal campaign account, they are better known in their districts and differ in ideology. Lynch from the South Boston neighborhood of Boston, is more socially conservative compared to Capuano, a liberal from the blue collar city of Somerville.

One former Democratic member of Congress, Martin Meehan, has also been named as a potential candidate. Now chancellor of the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, Meehan still has nearly $5 million in his federal account.

Republicans face an even tougher climb in a state that leans heavily Democratic.

Potential candidates include Cape Cod businessman Jeff Beatty, former Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey, former U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan, state Sen. Scott Brown, and Chris Egan, former U.S. ambassador to the Organization for Cooperation and Development.

In a recent letter to lawmakers, Kennedy said the special election law should be changed to allow the governor to appoint someone to serve in the Senate during the course of the election — provided that person pledges not to run for the seat.

"It is vital for this Commonwealth to have two voices speaking for the needs of its citizens and two votes in the Senate during the approximately five months between a vacancy and an election," Kennedy wrote.

Speaking to reporters Wednesday, Patrick called the proposal "a reasonable idea" and said he would sign the bill if it reached his desk.

"Right now, Massachusetts needs two voices in the U.S. Senate," Patrick said.

Senate President Therese Murray and House Speaker Robert DeLeo, both Democrats, haven't said whether they back the change. DeLeo said there would likely be a public hearing on the issue within the next month.

Without the change, Senate Democrats could fall one vote short on any health care overhaul legislation this fall. Health care had been Kennedy's core issue for decades.

Before Kennedy's death, Democrats held a potentially filibuster-proof margin in the Senate, but some moderate Democrats have been wavering. Another Democrat, Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia, has been seriously ill and often absent.

The succession law was changed in 2004, when Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., became his party's presidential nominee and Republican Mitt Romney was the state's governor. Democratic lawmakers changed the law to block Romney from installing a Republican to serve until the next general election.