SKorea troops on high alert after navy battle

By HYUNG-JIN KIM, Associated Press Writer

SEOUL, South Korea – South Korea's troops went on high alert Wednesday for possible retaliation by North Korea after one of its navy ships was nearly destroyed and an officer reportedly killed in a skirmish with the South, ahead of a visit by President Barack Obama.

The clash Tuesday along the disputed western sea border was the first such engagement in seven years, sending tensions soaring about a week before Obama travels to Seoul as part of his Asian tour.

The exchange of fire also occurred just hours before the State Department announced a senior U.S. diplomat will travel to North Korea before year's end to try to entice North Korea back into international negotiations on nuclear disarmament. The dispatch of envoy Stephen Bosworth would mark the first direct talks between Washington and Pyongyang since Obama took office in January.

South Korean officials said the North Korean ship was on fire and heavily damaged following a two-minute skirmish off the west coast — the scene of two bloody naval battles in 1999 and 2002. The South Korean ship was only lightly damaged and there were no South Korean causalities, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

South Korea's mass-circulation Chosun Ilbo newspaper and other media reported that one North Korean officer was believed killed and three other sailors wounded. President Lee Myung-bak ordered his Defense Minister Kim Tae-young to strengthen military readiness.

Late Tuesday, Kim said in parliament that he believed the North may take retaliatory action. "The president also has such concerns," Kim said.

South Korea's 680,000-strong military was on heightened alert but detected no unusual North Korean troop movements, an officer at the Joint Chiefs of Staff said.

Asked if U.S. troops in South Korea had raised their alert level, David Oten, a spokesman for the U.S. military in Seoul, said it does not comment on operational or security issues. The U.S. stations about 28,500 troops in South Korea to deter possible North Korean aggression.

The South Korean officer, speaking on condition of anonymity citing department policy, said the heightened posture meant having troops stay vigilant but that there were no additional deployments in border areas. South Korean ships did routine patrols along the sea border Wednesday, he said.

Presidential security adviser Kim Sung-hwan was quoted as saying by Yonhap news agency that signs of a North Korean retaliation have not been detected. Kim, however, said North Korea may take time before retaliating.

Yonhap also quoted an unidentified government official as saying that North Korea had also put its troops on high alert.

In Seoul, police estimated up to 400 South Korean protesters gathered to vent their anger at North Korea, burning two flags and pictures of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.

Despite the heightened tensions, hundreds of South Koreans crossed the land border to commute to a joint industrial complex in North Korea, according to Seoul's Unification Ministry.

Kim Seong-man, a retired South Korean vice admiral, said the North would take some retaliatory action, such as triggering another sea battle.

He said the U.S. dispatched an aircraft carrier to deter North Korean retaliation following a 1999 skirmish that was presumed to have killed 30 North Korean sailors and sank their vessel, while no South Korean soldiers were killed. In 2002, six South Korean sailors died and their ship was sunk after a surprise attack by the North. Its casualty count remains unknown.

The Koreas blamed each other Tuesday for causing the skirmish in the rich crab-fishing area, where both sides regularly accuse the other of border violations.

South Korea said North Korean ships have violated the sea border 22 times this year, while the North last month accused South Korean warships of broaching its territory and warned of a clash.

A North Korean patrol boat crossed the disputed sea border before noon on Tuesday, drawing warning shots from a South Korean navy vessel, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement. It said the North Korean boat then opened fire and the South's ship returned fire before the North's vessel sailed back toward its waters.

South Korean media reported that about four or five more South Korean ships were in the area and fired a total of about 200 rounds from their machines guns. South Korea's military said it could not confirm the reports.

South Korean Prime Minister Chung Un-chan said Tuesday the North Koreas may have been clamping down on Chinese fishing vessels in the area, and probably did not intend to violate the border.

But Shin Yul, a political scientist at Seoul's Myongji University, however, said that it was "an intentional provocation by North Korea to draw attention" ahead of Obama's two-day visit starting next Wednesday.

The two Koreas are still technically at war and the U.S., which fought as part of U.N. forces on South Korea's side, has never had diplomatic relations with North Korea.

Washington has consistently said that Pyongyang must abandon its nuclear arsenal for any peace treaty to be concluded. North Korea has conducted two underground nuclear tests since 2006 and is believed to have enough weaponized plutonium for half a dozen atomic weapons.

The U.S. will send Bosworth to North Korea in part of its efforts to get the North to return stalled six-nation nuclear talks involving the two Koreas, the U.S., China, Russia and China.

Philippines' Mayon volcano spews ash, could erupt

By HRVOJE HRANJSKI, Associated Press Writer

MANILA, Philippines – The cone-shaped Mayon volcano in the central Philippines, which killed scores in an eruption 16 years ago, shot up an ash plume Wednesday — prompting hundreds of nearby residents to evacuate in case it blows again.

Chief state volcanologist Renato Solidum said the alert level remains the same at Mayon, the country's most active volcano, but that if magma continues to rise below the glowing crater there could be another eruption within weeks.

In Daraga township on the southern slope of the mountain, Mayor Cicero Triunfante ordered the early evacuation of more than 300 residents in the village of Matnog on fears that it might be in the path of superheated volcanic debris called pyroclastic flow.

Elsewhere, officials distributed wireless public address systems to more than 700 village and town officials to help them make emergency evacuation announcements if necessary, said provincial disaster officer Cedric Daep.

He said mass evacuations would be ordered once the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology raises the alert to the next higher level. About 30,000 people were evacuated when it last erupted in 2006.

Officials repeated warnings over radio stations early Wednesday against mountain climbing, gathering orchids, farming and other "human activities" on the slopes of the 8,070-foot (2,460-meter) volcano, Daep said.

Resident volcanologist Ed Laguerta said ground measurements showed that the upper slopes of Mayon were slightly inflated, indicating the presence of rising magma, and that minor ash explosions are to be expected. Hourly measurements were being taken, he added.

Two explosions early Wednesday sent ash and rocks more than half a mile (a kilometer) into the air. A thin layer of ash fell on the nearby towns of Camalig, Guinobatan and Ligao on Mayon's southwestern foothills.

Mayon's most violent eruption, in 1814, killed more than 1,200 people and buried a town in mud. A 1993 eruption killed 79 people.

Typhoon-triggered mudslides near the mountain in 2006 buried entire villages, killing more than 1,000 people.

The Philippines is in the Pacific "Ring of Fire," where volcanic activity and earthquakes are common.

White House: Obama weighs 4 options in Afghanistan

By ANNE GEARAN and STEVEN R. HURST, Associated Press Writers

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama is considering four options for realigning U.S. strategy in Afghanistan, his spokesman said Tuesday, while military officials said the choices involve several ways the president could employ additional U.S. forces next year.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Obama will discuss the four scenarios with his national security team on Wednesday. Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One en route to Fort Hood, Texas, Gibbs would not offer details about those options. He insisted that Obama has not made a decision about troop deployments.

Gibbs said that anybody who says Obama has made a decision "doesn't have in all honesty the slightest idea what they're talking about. The president's yet to make a decision" about troop levels or other aspects of the revised U.S. strategy in Afghanistan.

Obama and first lady Michelle Obama traveled to Killeen, Texas, Tuesday, where the president spoke at a memorial service for those killed in a shooting rampage at Fort Hood.

Military officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because the decision is pending, said the military services are developing presentations to explain how various force levels could be used in Afghanistan and how various deployment schedules could work, given recent promises to give soldiers more rest time at home.

Military officials have said Obama is nearing a decision to add tens of thousands more forces to Afghanistan, though probably not quite the 40,000 sought by his top general there.

Republican senators planned to send a letter to Obama Wednesday urging him to move quickly to fully answer Gen. Stanley McChrystal's request for additional troops and resources. Officials have told The Associated Press that McChrystal prefers an addition of about 40,000 troops next year.

In their letter, the Republican senators reminded Obama that they have supported his moves on Afghanistan so far but are concerned about the stress on the current U.S. force of 68,000.

"We urge you to move now to fully support Gen. McChrystal's call for resources and troops," the letter reads.

A copy of the letter was provided to the AP.

Gibbs said Tuesday that a decision still is weeks away. He had earlier said no announcement is expected until late this month, when the president returns from an extended diplomatic trip to Asia.

An Army brigade that had been training for deployment to Iraq that month may be at or near the vanguard. The brigade, based at Fort Drum in upstate New York, has been told it will not go to Iraq as planned but has been given no new mission yet.

Military officials said Obama will have choices that include a phased addition of up to 40,000 forces over some six months or more next year, based on security conditions and the decisions of NATO allies.

The Army would contribute the vast bulk of any new commitment, along with a large Marine Corps infusion. Both services are counting on plans for a large withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from Iraq to take place as scheduled next spring.

Even so, it is not clear that large numbers of new forces could go to Afghanistan before March. Administration officials have told the AP that some of the expected deployment would probably begin in January with a mission to stiffen the defense of 10 key cities and towns.

Several officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because the decision has not been made also said Obama's announcement will be much broader than the mathematics of troop numbers, which have dominated the U.S. debate.

It soon will be three months since Afghan commander McChrystal reported to Obama that the U.S. mission was headed for failure without the addition of about 40,000 troops.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because final plans have not been disclosed, dubbed the likely troop increase as "McChrystal Light" because it would fall short of his request. They also said additional small infusions of troops could be dispatched next spring and summer.

The more gradual buildup, the officials said, would allow time to construct needed housing and add equipment needed for transporting the expanded force.

Besides being sent to cities and towns, the new forces would be stationed to protect important roads and other key infrastructure.

As he makes his decision, Obama told ABC News that he wanted to make sure "that if we are sending additional troops that the prospects of a functioning Afghan government are enhanced, that the prospects of al-Qaida being able to attack the U.S. homeland are reduced."

Chavez Allies May Meet on Threat From Colombia, Morales Says

By Helen Murphy and Jonathan J. Levin

Nov. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Latin American countries aligned with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez may hold an emergency meeting after Chavez told his military and civil militias to prepare for an invasion by Colombia.

“It’s an obligation to defend the sovereignty of the Latin American people,” Bolivian President Evo Morales said today in Cochabamba, Bolivia, urging that the Alba bloc of nine Latin American countries meet to discuss the situation.

Chavez said yesterday that Colombia may be plotting to invade Venezuela and ordered his armed forces to prepare for an attack. The Venezuelan president, who didn’t provide any evidence of a Colombian plot, has been feuding with President Alvaro Uribe over his plan to allow the U.S. to use seven military bases for anti-drug operations.

Morales said the meeting would aim to advance military and security cooperation among Alba’s member countries, including Cuba, Ecuador and Nicaragua. The Bolivian president also repeated his proposal for a continent-wide referendum on the increased U.S. military presence in Colombia.

Relations between Venezuela and neighboring Colombia have deteriorated this year after Uribe accused Chavez of financing and supplying Colombian rebels. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said last week that he would try to bring Chavez and Uribe together later this month to defuse tensions.

‘Avoid a War’

“Generals of the armed forces, the best way to avoid a war is to prepare for one,” Chavez said yesterday on state television as he accused Colombia of handing over its sovereignty to the U.S. “Don’t make the mistake of attacking,” he warned Colombia, “Venezuela is willing to do anything.”

Colombia’s government has denied any intention of attacking Venezuela and says the U.S. accord is only to help combat drug trafficking and terrorism. The president’s office said it will file a complaint about Chavez’s comments with the Organization of American States and the United Nations Security Council.

Colombia called for a “frank” dialogue with Venezuela.

“Colombia hasn’t and won’t make a single gesture of war to the international community, and even less so to a brother country,” Uribe’s office said in a statement on the Foreign Ministry’s Web site. “The only thing we are interested in is overcoming the narco-terrorism” that has affected Colombians for many years.

Tensions

Venezuela remains open to discussing tensions with Colombia at the defense council of the Union of South American Nations, or in any other multilateral setting, the country’s foreign ministry said via an e-mailed statement.

The U.S. military accord is part of an effort to “strengthen and increase ties with countries in the region,” Robin Holzhauer, spokeswoman for the U.S. Embassy in Caracas, said by telephone yesterday. Plan Colombia, a U.S. assistance plan, has provided $6 billion in mostly military aid to Colombia since 2000.

Chavez’s comments shouldn’t be interpreted as a sign that war is imminent and may be designed to distract Venezuelans from domestic problems before elections scheduled for next year, said Adam Isacson, director at the Center for International Policy in Washington.

“It’s hard to imagine a real war scenario, but a border skirmish is conceivable,” Isacson said. “So much of this is defensive and domestic rhetoric.”

Electricity Shortage

Venezuela will impose conservation measures for water and electricity because the El Nino weather pattern has reduced rainfall, affecting hydroelectric stations and drinking-water reservoirs, Chavez said last month. Power disruptions have become more common in recent years as growing energy use outstripped expansion in the nation’s generation and transmission network. Inflation is running at 29 percent, the highest among 78 major economies tracked by Bloomberg.

Elections to choose 167 lawmakers in the National Assembly will be held Sept. 26. The government has a near-absolute majority in the legislative body.

“The stakes are high because Chavez stands a good chance of losing his rubber stamp in the legislature,” Isacson said.

Chavez ordered an increase of troops along the 2,000- kilometer border between Venezuela and Colombia last week and said he may declare a state of emergency after two officials from the National Guard were shot and killed by unidentified Colombians.

Tanks, Jets

Venezuela has purchased billions of dollars of tanks, fighter jets and helicopters from Russia since 2003. Chavez says the purchases are necessary to modernize the armed forces and to protect the country’s natural resources from a possible invasion from the U.S.

Venezuela, a founding member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, is the largest oil producer in Latin America.

Venezuelan Interior and Justice Minister Tarek El-Aissami said last month that officers from Colombia’s domestic intelligence agency are operating clandestinely in his country to destabilize the government.

Colombian Foreign Minister Jaime Bermudez said that the military deal with the U.S. will help “end drug-trafficking and terrorism in Colombia” during the signing ceremony in Bogota on Oct. 30.

Colombia is the source of 80 percent of the cocaine sold in the U.S., according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Chavez said in July that he’d stop importing goods from Colombia due to the U.S. military pact. The two countries are each other’s second-largest trading partners after the U.S.

Colombian exports to Venezuela plunged 50 percent in Seotember from a year earlier, according to data Colombia’s statistics institute.

Lebanon gets new national unity government

Line-up includes 15 ministers from Hariri's bloc, 10 from opposition, 5 appointed by president.

BEIRUT - Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri formed a government of national unity on Monday, ending more than four months of tough negotiations with his Hezbollah-led rivals.

The winning alliance headed by Hariri won 71 seats in the 128-member parliament in the election against 57 for the opposition led by Hezbollah.

The Hezbollah opposition had actually secured the majority (52%) of the votes in Lebanon, but could not secure a majority of Parliamentary seats (it won 45%) because of the nature of the sectarian government system in the country.

"Finally, a government of national unity is born," Hariri told reporters after a presidential decree announcing the new cabinet line-up was announced. "We have turned a new page and there is no turning back."

"I want to be honest from the start: this government can be a chance to renew faith in the state and its institutions ... or it can turn into a replay of our failures."

The new line-up includes 15 ministers from Hariri's bloc and 10 from the opposition.

The remaining five ministers were appointed by President Michel Sleiman, including the holders of the key interior and defence portfolios.

Hezbollah has two ministers in the new cabinet.

The share-out means that no party will have veto power in the new government and that Sleiman will play the role of arbiter.

"I know previous experience is not encouraging and I know Lebanon has suffered more than its share of tragic events," Hariri said, referring to the political upheavals that have shaken Lebanon in recent years.

"I don't want to make empty promises," he added. "My only promise is to work hard with all parties and to pave the way for renewed faith in Lebanon."

Among the key issues facing the new government are Lebanon's mountainous national debt which is projected to top 50 billion dollars this year and Hezbollah's weapons stockpile.

Israel waged a bloody 34-day war on Lebanon in the summer of 2006 after Hezbollah fighters seized two Israeli soldiers in a deadly cross-border raid that aimed to free Lebanese soldiers from Israeli prisons. The bodies of the soldiers were returned in a prisoner swap.

The war claimed the lives of more than 1,200 people in Lebanon, most of them civilians, and more than 160 Israelis, most of them soldiers.

Hezbollah, originally a resistance group formed to counter an Israeli occupation of south Lebanon, had forced the Israeli military out of Lebanon in 2000. Israel, however, continues to occupy the Lebanese Shabaa Farms.

Israeli flights over Lebanon occur on an almost daily basis and are in breach of UN Security Council resolution 1710, which in August 2006 ended the war.

Hariri, 39, the son of murdered former prime minister Rafiq Hariri, was asked to form a cabinet after his alliance won a general election in June.

But his efforts to form a new unity government with the opposition stumbled because of bickering between the two sides on the distribution of portfolios and the choice of ministers.

Among the major bones of contention was a demand by Christian leader Michel Aoun, a Hezbollah ally, to retain the sensitive telecommunications ministry.

Hariri initially rejected the demand but finally agreed to it in a bid to break the deadlock.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was eager to see the new government finalised before his departure for France later this week, Lebanese media reported.

Lebanon forms Cabinet with Hezbollah

BEIRUT — Prime Minister Saad Hariri formed a Cabinet on Monday that includes the militant group Hezbollah and its allies, ending a political deadlock that left the nation without a government for months and threatened to ignite violence. The 30-member Cabinet was unveiled after more than four months of tough bargaining with the Hezbollah-led coalition.

Navies of 2 Koreas exchange fire

By HYUNG-JIN KIM, Associated Press Writer

SEOUL, South Korea – The two Koreas briefly exchanged naval fire Tuesday along their disputed western sea border, with a North Korean ship suffering heavy damage before retreating, South Korean military officials said.

There were no South Korean casualties, the country's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement, and it was not immediately clear if there were any casualties on the North Korean side. Each side blamed the other for violating the sea border.

"It's a regrettable incident," South Korean Commodore Lee Ki-sik told reporters in Seoul. "We are sternly protesting to North Korea and urging it to prevent the recurrence of similar incidents."

North Korea's military issued a statement blaming South Korea for the clash, saying its ships crossed into North Korean territory. North Korea demanded an apology, according to a statement carried on the official Korean Central News Agency.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, who convened an emergency security meeting, ordered his defense minister to strengthen military readiness.

The clash — the first of its in kind in seven years — occurred as U.S. officials said President Barack Obama has decided to send a special envoy to Pyongyang for rare direct talks on the communist country's nuclear weapons program. No date has been set but it would be the first one-on-one talks since Obama took office in January. Obama is due in Seoul next week.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement that a North Korean patrol boat crossed the disputed western sea border around 11:27 a.m. (0227 GMT), drawing warning shots from a South Korean navy vessel. The North Korean boat then opened fire and the South's ship returned fire before the North's vessel sailed back toward its waters, the statement said.

The clash occurred near the South-held island of Daecheong, about 120 nautical miles (220 kilometers) off the port city of Incheon, west of Seoul, the statement said.

The North Korean ship was seriously damaged in the skirmish, a Joint Chiefs of Staff officer said on condition of anonymity, citing department policy.

Lee, the commodore, said the shooting lasted for about two minutes and that the South Korean ship was lightly damaged.

South Korean military officials did not say whether they believed the crossing by the North Korean ship was deliberate. The two sides regularly accuse each other of straying into their respective territories.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency, however, quoted Prime Minister Chung Un-chan as telling lawmakers that the clash was not intentional. "Today's skirmish was accidental," he said, without elaborating.

The two sides have fought deadly skirmishes along the western sea border in 1999 and 2002.

No South Korean sailors were killed in 1999, but six south Korean sailors died in 2002, according to the South Korean navy. It said exact North Korean causalities remain unclear.

The two Koreas have yet to agree on their sea border more than 50 years after the end of their 1950-53 civil war, which ended in an armistice and not a permanent peace treaty. Instead, they rely on a line that the then-commander of U.N. forces, which fought for the South, drew unilaterally at the end of the conflict.

North Korea last month accused South Korean warships of broaching its territory in waters off the west coast and warned of a clash in the zone, which is a rich crab fishing area.

The latest conflict comes after North Korea has reached out to Seoul and Washington following months of tension over its nuclear and missile programs.

North Korea launched a long-range rocket in April and carried out its second underground nuclear test in May. But it subsequently released South Korean and U.S. detainees, agreed to resume joint projects with South Korea and offered direct talks with Washington.

Two administration officials said Monday in Washington that Obama has decided, after months of deliberation, has decided to send a special envoy to Pyongyang for direct talks on nuclear issues.

Obama will send envoy Stephen Bosworth, although no date for his trip has been set, the officials said. The officials discussed the matter on condition of anonymity because the decision has not been publicly announced.

There were no signs of unusual tensions along the heavily fortified land border separating the two Koreas. The Joint Chiefs of Staff said that were no worrisome troop movements on the North Korean side of the land border.

At Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone, an Associated Press photographer said the situation was calm. A group of Chinese tourists was visiting on the North Korean side.

The area is where officers from North Korea hold meetings with their counterparts from South Korea, the United States and other members of the United Nations command.