Spain evicts illegal migrants from tiny island

September 04, 2012

MADRID (AP) — Spanish authorities say police have evicted more than 80 illegal migrants that had occupied a tiny island off Africa's Mediterranean coast.

Abdelmalik El Barkani, the Interior Ministry's representative on Spain's North African enclave of Melilla, said the eviction, which began in the early hours of Tuesday morning, had been "peaceful." El Barkani said 73 people were handed over to Moroccan authorities, while two women and eight children were taken to Spain to receive hospital care.

Many migrants from Africa try dangerous crossings to reach Spanish territory illegally in the hope of gaining work and forging a better life.

Arab-Muslim to join 'Green Lantern' comic series

September 04, 2012

DETROIT (AP) — When DC Comics decided to blow up its fabled universe and create a brave, diverse future, Geoff Johns drew from the past for a new character: his own background as an Arab-American.

The company's chief creative officer and writer of the relaunched "Green Lantern" series dreamed up Simon Baz, DC's most prominent Arab-American superhero and the first to wear a Green Lantern ring. The character and creator share Lebanese ancestry and hail from the Detroit area, which boasts one of the largest and oldest Arab communities in the United States.

"I thought a lot about it — I thought back to what was familiar to me," Johns, 39, told The Associated Press by phone last week from Los Angeles, where he now lives. "This is such a personal story." Baz's story begins in a standalone "zero issue" available Wednesday that's part of a companywide effort to fill in the gaps or tell the origins of a character or team. Johns has no plans for Baz to fade into the background — the character in February is bound for the Justice League of America, one of DC's premier super team books, to fight alongside Green Arrow, Catwoman and Hawkman.

Johns said he took economic as well as ethnic cues for the character from his native Detroit area, with Baz resorting to stealing cars after being laid off from his automotive engineering job. He steals the wrong car, which inadvertently steers him into a terrorism probe and, eventually, an unexpected call to join the universe's galactic police force.

The olive-skinned, burly Baz hails from Dearborn, the hometown of Henry Ford and the capital of Arab America, in the U.S. state of Michigan. His story begins at 10 years old, when he and the rest of his Muslim family watch their television in horror as airplanes fly into the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. Events unfold from there as U.S. Arabs and Muslims find themselves falling under intense suspicion and ostracism in the days, months and years following the attacks.

"Obviously, it's affecting everybody," said Johns, who grew up in nearby suburbs in a Lebanese Christian household and got into comics when he discovered his uncle's old collection in his Arabic grandmother's attic. "One of the things I really wanted to show was its effect on Simon and his family in a very negative way."

Baz is not the first Arab or Muslim character to grace — or menace, as has historically been the case — the comic world. Marvel Comics has Dust, a young Afghan woman whose mutant ability to manipulate sand and dust has been part of the popular X-Men books. DC Comics in late 2010 introduced Nightrunner, a young Muslim hero of Algerian descent reared in Paris. He is part of the global network of crime fighters set up by Batman alter-ego Bruce Wayne.

Frank Miller, whose dark and moody take on Batman in "The Dark Knight Returns" in 1986 energized the character, took a different tack in his recent book, "Holy Terror," which tells the story of The Fixer and his efforts to stamp out Islamic terrorists. The graphic novel initially took root as a look at Batman's efforts to fight terrorism, which grew out of Miller's experiences of being in New York on 9/11.

A broader mission to bring Islamic heroes and principles to the comic world comes from Naif Al-Mutawa, creator of "The 99." The U.S. educated psychologist from Kuwait has been gaining followers across the globe since the 2006 debut of the comic book that spawned a TV series. "The 99" is named after the number of qualities the Quran attributes to God: strength, courage, wisdom and mercy among them.

The series gained a wide audience in 2010, when it worked with DC on a six-issue crossover that teamed the "The 99" with The Justice League of America. Johns, who also has written stories starring Superman, The Flash and Teen Titans, said going diverse only works if there's a good story, and he believes he found that with Baz. But don't mistake him for a hero in the beginning: Baz disappoints both devout Muslims — his forearm tattoo that reads "courage" in Arabic is considered "haram," or religiously forbidden — and broader society by turning to a life of crime.

"He's not a perfect character. He's obviously made some mistakes in his life, but that makes him more compelling and relatable," Johns said. "Hopefully (it's) a compelling character regardless of culture or ethnic background. ... But I think it's great to have an Arab American superhero. This was opportunity and a chance to really go for it."

Of course, Johns hopes Green Lantern fans accept Baz, who joins other humans who have been "chosen," including Hal Jordan, John Stewart, Guy Gardner and Kyle Rayner. The overall relaunch has been good for DC, which has seen a solid gain in sales and critical reception — as well as some expected grumbling — since coming out with the "New 52" last year.

Johns also sees the debut of Baz as a chance to reconnect with people in his home state: He's scheduled to visit Dearborn this weekend for events related to the release that include a signing Saturday at a comic book store and a free presentation Sunday on his career and characters at the Arab American National Museum. He worked with museum staff to make sure he got certain details right about his character and the Arab-Muslim community.

"It doesn't completely define the character but it shapes the character," he said. "My biggest hope is that people embrace it and understand what we're trying to do."

Associated Press Writer Matt Moore contributed to this report from Philadelphia.

Lufthansa flight attendants strike at 3 airports

September 04, 2012

BERLIN (AP) — Lufthansa flight attendants escalated their bitter pay dispute on Tuesday, going out on strike at three German airports — including the two biggest, Frankfurt and Munich — in a showdown with an airline determined to bring down costs.

Lufthansa scrapped around 300 flights Tuesday. Most of the cancelled services were on short- and medium-haul routes but about a third of intercontinental flights — including services to and from Los Angeles, Houston, Chicago, Beijing and Mexico City — were also axed.

The flight attendants' UFO union called on Berlin-based members to walk out for eight hours starting at 5 a.m. (0300 GMT), and their counterparts at Frankfurt, Germany's busiest airport and Lufthansa's main hub, to follow at 6 a.m. (0400 GMT).

UFO also planned to hit Germany's second-busiest airport, Munich, with an 11-hour walkout starting at 1 p.m. (1100 GMT). The union opened its strike campaign last Friday with an eight-hour walkout in Frankfurt and warned of more to come if Lufthansa didn't give ground. It has given only a few hours' notice of where and when it plans to strike.

UFO is seeking a 5 percent pay raise for the airline's more than 18,000 cabin crew workers after they did without increases in recent years. Lufthansa has said it is offering a 3.5 percent raise, and is calling for a slight increase in working hours.

The union objects to what it says would be only gradual increases and lower wages for new employees. The airline and the union also have been at odds over issues such as the possibility of Lufthansa transferring flight attendants to its partner budget airlines with cheaper contracts as part of a cost-saving program, though the walkouts are focused squarely on the pay issue.

"I have the impression both parties want to take it out on the back of the passengers to show their power, and it's a shame, because it is not our fault if employer and employees cannot agree," Olaf Terbeznik, a 38-year-old IT project manager from Berlin, said at the capital's Tegel airport.

Lufthansa is trying to cut costs amid tough competition from budget carriers in Europe and from aggressively expanding government-owned Gulf airlines. Their rise has hurt traditional big airlines such as Lufthansa.

The airline blamed high fuel costs and new taxes on air travel in Germany and Austria for a 24 percent decline in second-quarter earnings compared with a year earlier to €229 million ($288 million). Lufthansa announced in May that it will shed 3,500 office jobs over the coming years to cut costs and boost lagging profits.

The cuts are part of a cost-reduction program that started at the beginning of the year and aims to improve the company's operating profit by €1.5 billion compared to 2011 by the end of 2014. Both UFO, one of several single-profession unions in Germany that tend to be more militant than the country's traditional large umbrella unions and have caused disruption over recent years, and the airline appear in uncompromising mood.

The chairman of Lufthansa's board of directors, Juergen Weber, was quoted last month as telling the weekly Die Zeit: "It is better to let it come to a big bang before the company catapults itself out of competition."

Lufthansa spokesman Klaus Walther said that "it is time for basic pay to be improved, but we must also (adapt) to changed conditions." Things have changed over the past five to 10 years, Walther told ZDF television. "The competition situation is completely different and the economic situation is completely different too."

Airlines such as Lufthansa generate a good share of their business by carrying partner airlines' passengers to onward destinations. However, three big government-owned Gulf carriers — Emirates, Qatar Airways and Etihad Airways — have all expanded aggressively, particularly in Europe, to eat in other airlines' long-haul traffic. So rather than transferring in Germany with Lufthansa, passengers from North America or Europe heading to Asia, Africa and Australia are increasingly transiting through the Gulf's gleaming airports.

The Gulf's fast-growing fleets are filled with some of the industry's newest planes, and usually boast generous in-flight meals and entertainment. Dubai-based Emirates has grown into the world's largest carrier if measured in terms of international passenger traffic. It last fiscal year pulled in $629 million in profit despite a big jump in fuel costs.

Abu Dhabi-based Etihad, which only started operations in 2003, posted its first annual profit of $14 million last year. Qatar Airways doesn't disclose its finances. All three carriers insist they operate on purely commercial terms and do not receive perks such as discounted jet fuel. None of them has a unionized work force, however, so they do not have to contend with strikes.

Etihad late last year when it bought nearly 30 percent of Germany's second-biggest carrier, Air Berlin PLC. It has since amassed stakes in three additional carriers and partnered with others elsewhere.

Dorothee Thiesing in Berlin and Business Writer Adam Schreck in Dubai, United Arab Emirates contributed to this report.

Azerbaijan pardons, frees convicted killer

August 31, 2012

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Armenia broke off diplomatic ties with Hungary after an Azerbaijani military officer sentenced to life in prison here for killing an Armenian officer was sent back to his homeland on Friday and, despite assurances, immediately pardoned and freed.

Lt. Ramil Safarov was given a life sentence in 2006 by the Budapest City Court after he confessed to killing Lt. Gurgen Markarian of Armenia while both were in Hungary for a 2004 NATO language course. Azerbaijan and Armenia are ex-Soviet neighbors who have been locked in a long-standing conflict over the mountainous territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.

In response to Safarov's release, Armenian President Serge Sarkisian said his country was cutting diplomatic ties with Hungary, while Hungarian state news agency MTI reported that protesters in the Armenian capital of Yerevan threw tomatoes at the building housing Hungary's honorary consulate and the tore down the Hungarian flag.

Sarkisian said Armenia was "halting diplomatic relations and all official ties with Hungary." The White House also criticized the decision to free Safarov. "President Obama is deeply concerned by today's announcement that the President of Azerbaijan has pardoned Ramil Safarov following his return from Hungary," said a statement from National Security Council Spokesman Tommy Vietor. "We are communicating to Azerbaijani authorities our disappointment about the decision to pardon Safarov. This action is contrary to ongoing efforts to reduce regional tensions and promote reconciliation."

Vietor added that Hungary was also being asked to explain its decision to send Safarov home. While Armenians were livid over Safarov's release, he is considered a hero by many in Azerbaijan for having killed an Armenian.

Hungary returned the 35-year-old Safarov to Azerbaijan only after receiving assurances from the Azerbaijani Justice Ministry that Safarov's sentence, which included the possibility of parole after 25 years, would be enforced.

"The Ministry of Justice of Azerbaijan has further informed the Ministry of Public Administration and Justice of Hungary that Ramil Sahib Safarov's sentence will not be modified but will immediately continue to be enforced, based on the Hungarian judgment," the Hungarian ministry said in a statement issued before the news of Safarov's release was known.

The ministry said it based its decision on the 1983 Strasbourg Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons. In a brief statement posted in English on his website, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev decreed Friday that Safarov "should be freed from the term of his punishment."

Hungary's Justice Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Safarov's release. Hungary, which depends on Russia for most of its energy imports, has been seeking to expand its economic relations with oil-rich Azerbaijan.

Laszlo Borbely, the deputy director of Hungary's Government Debt Management Agency last week told daily newspaper Magyar Nemzet that talks between the two countries about a possible purchase by Azerbaijan of up to 3 billion euros ($3.77 billion) in Hungarian bonds were only at an "exploratory phase" for now.

Nagorno-Karabakh lies within Azerbaijan, but has remained under the control of Armenian troops and ethnic Armenian forces since the end of a six-year separatist war in 1994. Diplomatic efforts to settle the conflict have brought no result, and shootings on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border have been common.

During his trial in Budapest, Safarov claimed that the conflict was at the root of his actions and that he used an ax to kill Markarian while the victim was sleeping in a dormitory room after the Armenian repeatedly provoked and ridiculed him.

"My conscience was clouded as a result of the insults and humiliating and provoking behavior, and I lost all control," Safarov told the court in April 2006. Armenian-backed forces drove Azerbaijan's army out of the ethnic Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh in the early 1990s. A 1994 cease-fire ended the six-year war that killed 30,000 people and left about 1 million homeless and the enclave is now under the control of ethnic Armenians.

Safarov's lawyers said that his parents and relatives were exiled from Nagorno-Karabakh during the war and that two of his relatives were killed by ethnic Armenian separatists.

Aida Sultanova in Baku, Azerbaijan, contributed to this report.

Somalia's Marka port 'seized from Islamists'

Aug 27, 2012

MOGADISHU — African Union and Somali troops captured the key port of Marka from Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab insurgents on Monday, the latest in a string of bases to be wrested off the extremists, officials said.

"We have taken Marka, we entered alongside the Somali government forces this morning," said Colonel Ali Houmed, the spokesman for the African Union mission in Somalia (AMISOM).

"There was some fighting, but not so heavy, most of the Shebab had fled."

The loss of Marka, some 70 kilometers (45 miles) south of the capital Mogadishu, is another major blow for the insurgents, who have been on the back foot for several months.

AU and Somali troops have made significant gains in recent months against Shebab, although the Islamists remain a major security threat. Ethiopian troops are also battling the militants from the south and west.

The loss of Marka leaves the Shebab with two major ports in southern Somalia -- Barawe and the key rebel bastion of Kismayo -- although an international naval blockade has already greatly squeezed maritime access there.

The Shebab abandoned their last fixed bases in Mogadishu a year ago, where they have since reverted to guerrilla tactics, claiming a series of suicide attacks and roadside bombs.

Copyright © 2012 AFP. All rights reserved.

UN says 100,000 refugees fled Syria in August

September 04, 2012

GENEVA (AP) — Some 100,000 refugees fled Syria during August making it by far the highest monthly total since hostilities began, the U.N. refugee agency said Tuesday.

The tide in people fleeing the civil war, a figure that includes both refugees who are registered and those awaiting registration with the Geneva-based U.N. refugee agency, underscores the intensifying violence between the regime of Syria's president, Bashar Assad, and the armed anti-government groups.

The August total represents more than 40 percent of the 234,368 Syrian refugees who, as of the last count on September 2, had fled for surrounding countries since the uprising began 17 months ago. "If you do the math, it's quite an astonishing number," U.N. refugee agency spokesman Melissa Fleming told reporters Tuesday at the U.N.'s European headquarters in Geneva. "And it points to a significant escalation in refugee movement and people seeking asylum, and probably points to a very precarious and violent situation inside the country."

The refugee agency and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent are continuing to expand their operations to support displaced Syrians and appealing to all nations to take in Syrians who need asylum. There are now more than 80,000 Syrian refugees in Turkey, where the borders remain open, and there is a backlog of some 8,000 Syrians waiting to be processed at the border, Fleming said. Jordan has more than 77,000 Syrian refugees; Lebanon has more than 59,000; and Iraq nearly 18,700, according to the agency.

The U.N.'s World Food Program spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs told reporters that her agency is scaling up operations to provide food urgently needed by 1.5 million people this month, mainly in areas where there has been fighting and people made at least temporarily homeless.

Activists say some 5,000 people were killed in August, the highest toll in the 17-month-old uprising and more than three times the monthly average. The U.N. children's agency says 1,600 were killed last week alone, also the highest figure for the entire revolt.

The two major activist groups, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Local Coordination Committees, have raised their total death toll to between 23,000 and 26,000.

Riots after Kenyan backer of Somali Islamists killed

By Michael Richard (AFP)
Aug 27, 2012

MOMBASA, Kenya — Deadly riots broke out in Kenya's main port of Mombasa after the assassination of a radical cleric linked to Somalia's Al-Qaeda-allied Shebab militants.

At least one person was hacked to death as thousands of angry protesters took to the streets after Aboud Rogo Mohammed -- who was on US and UN sanction lists for allegedly supporting the Shebab -- was shot dead.

"A car behind us aimed at my husband, they shot him on the right side," said his widow Haniya Said, screaming in grief after the killing by unknown attackers.

"One person has been killed, he was slashed to death during the protests," said regional police chief Aggrey Adoli.

Cars were set on fire and two churches were looted in the city -- Kenya's main port and a key tourist hub -- according to an AFP reporter.

"There is chaos in town now, and our officers are on the ground dispersing the rioters to maintain peace," added Adoli. "They are demonstrating against the killing of Aboud Rogo, who was shot by unknown people."

Witnesses said that Mohammed's car was riddled with bullets, and a photograph released by his supporters showed his bloody corpse slumped behind the wheel of a car.

"He died as we rushed him to hospital. Why have they killed my dear husband?" his widow added, before she and her children were taken to the hospital.

Mohammed was placed on a US sanctions list in July for "engaging in acts that directly or indirectly threaten the peace, security or stability of Somalia", specifically for recruiting and fundraising for the hardline Shebab.

The United Nations Security Council placed a travel ban and asset freeze on the cleric in July, saying he had provided "financial, material, logistical or technical support to Al-Shebab".

He was the "main ideological leader" of Kenya's Al Hijra group, also known as the Muslim Youth Center (MYC), the UN said. The group is viewed as a close ally of the Shebab in Kenya.

Mohammed "used the extremist group as a pathway for radicalization and recruitment of principally Swahili-speaking Africans for carrying out violent militant activity in Somalia", the UN said.

MYC leader Sheikh Ahmad Iman Ali, in a message posted on Twitter, said: "We are on the right track when our leaders get shahadah (martyrdom)."

"He will remain in our hearts forever," the MYC added, while another message offered the grim warning that the "kuffar (infidels) will pay" for his death.

"The whole city is on fire, there are looters in the streets, cars have been damaged, some have been burnt," said Francis Auma, from the local organization Muslims for Human Rights.

"An imam in the mosque shouted through the speaker 'blood for blood', and immediately youths started stoning cars," said witness Dennis Odhiambo, whose car was damaged and who was forced to flee into a police station for safety.

Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga condemned Mohammed's "horrific" murder, adding the government was "committed to bringing whoever was responsible to justice".

"I appeal to our people not to use this sad act to inflict more pain and suffering on our country," he said in a statement.

The local Muslim Human Rights Forum also condemned the assassination, claiming it "mirrors" the recent killings or disappearance of others "on the country's terrorism watch list".

Mohammed "repeatedly called for the violent rejection of the Somali peace process", the US Treasury said, noting he had often advocated the use of violence against both the UN and the African Union force battling the Shebab in Somalia.

He "urged his audiences to travel to Somalia to join Al-Shebab's fight against the Kenyan government", the Treasury added.

Kenyan police arrested the preacher in January, seizing firearms; ammunition and detonators, but later released him on bail.

He was previously acquitted of the 2002 bombing of an Israeli-owned hotel near Mombasa which killed 15 people -- 12 Kenyans and three Israelis -- as well as three suicide bombers.

The cleric is also alleged to have introduced Fazul Abdullah Mohammed -- the late head of Al-Qaeda's east Africa cell, shot dead last year in Somalia's war-torn capital Mogadishu -- to at least one of the men who helped him carry out the twin US embassy bombings in 1998.

The bombings in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam killed 224 people.

Mohammed, born on Kenya's Lamu Island, was aged between 43 and 52, according to different aliases.

Copyright © 2012 AFP. All rights reserved.