Mexico launches federal probe of migrant massacre AP

MEXICO CITY Federal authorities said Saturday they will take over the investigation into the massacre of 72 migrants at a ranch in northern Mexico because evidence suggests drug traffickers were responsible.

They also said an Ecuadorean migrant who was the lone survivor has refused Mexicos offer of a humanitarian visa and will return to his native country.

Government security spokesman Alejandro Poire said drug cartel involvement would make the killings a federal crime.

The government "will continue its frontal assault against these organizations so that terrible events like those that occurred this week will not be repeated," Poire said. One suspect, who claimed to be 16, was captured at the scene of the massacre and is in custody. Three other suspects and a marine were killed during a raid on the ranch.

Federal authorities said they will wait for survivor Luis Freddy Lala Pomavilla to recover from a gunshot wound in the neck and then help him leave Mexico.

Lala, who is under heavy guard, told investigators Monday that about 10 men who identified themselves as members of the Zetas drug gang traveling in five vehicles intercepted the migrants on a highway in Tamaulipas, a Gulf coast state bordering Texas.

They tied up the migrants, took them to the ranch and demanded they work for the gang, Lala told investigators. When most refused, they were blindfolded, ordered to lie down and shot.

Immigration Commissioner Cecilia Romero said Friday that Lala had been offered a humanitarian visa to stay in Mexico, but his mother said the 18-year-old begged her to arrange him to come to the United States, where she lives. The AP is not using the womans name or her location to avoid putting her in potential danger.

The mother said she has been in contact with the Ecuadorean consulate, but officials there said they could only help him return to Ecuador.

Investigators have so far identified 34 of the dead: 16 Hondurans, 12 Salvadorans, five Guatemalans and a Brazilian.

Only some had ID on them; investigators were collecting DNA from the rest in hopes of being able to make positive identifications.

In Honduras, worried relatives visited the Foreign Ministry seeking news on relatives believed to be in Mexico.

Maria Cruz was looking for word about her son, Denis Moreno, 34, who last contacted her from a city along the U.S.-Mexico border.

"I hope he is not on the list," she told a Honduran television station, sobbing. "I hope not."

Fabiana Carcamo told local media she had been notified that her 40-year-old brother, Miguel Angel Carcamo, died in the massacre. She said he left Honduras Aug. 3 and after some difficulties made it to Mexico. His plan was to reach the United States.

Carcamo left behind four children between the ages of 4 and 15 in his hometown of El Guante, about 35 miles 60 kilometers north of the capital, Tegucigalpa.

"I talked with Miguel Angel on Aug. 3. He told me not to cry, that he would call me when he got there and that he would help me," said another sister, Ana Cristina.

Migrants frequently send money to support relatives back home.

Gangs have long kidnapped migrants and demanded payment to cross their territory. But the Mexican government says the cartels are increasingly trying to force vulnerable migrants into drug trafficking, a concern also expressed by U.S. politicians demanding more security at the border.

Mexican agents have rescued 2,750 migrants this year, some stranded in deserts and others held captive by criminal gangs, said Romero, the immigration commissioner.

In Tamaulipas alone, 812 migrants kidnapped by drug gangs have been rescued, she said. Many told authorities the cartels tried force them into drug trafficking.

The escalating danger has scared off many would-be migrants, resulting in a sharp drop in the number of people from Central America and elsewhere traveling through Mexico trying to reach U.S. soil, according to Romero.

The Zetas were founded by former Mexican army special forces soldiers and have become a lethal drug gang that has taken to extorting migrants.

The cartel controls much of Tamaulipas, a cattle-ranching state that is the last leg for migrants running the gauntlet up the Gulf coast to Texas.

Drug violence has spread throughout Mexico. On Saturday, police in the southern Pacific coast state of Guerrero found a mans dismembered body on the trunk of a car and his head on the roof.

The body was found near the state capital of Chilpancingo, along with a handwritten message. The area has witnessed a turf battle between several drug gangs that often leave notes at murder scenes that threaten rivals or officials.

On Friday, police found a total of 15 bodies throughout Guerrero state.

Full Text RSS Feeds | WordPress Auto Translator

W.Va. Gov. Manchin wins Dem primary for US Senate AP

CHARLESTON, W.Va. Popular Gov. Joe Manchin easily won the Democratic nomination Saturday in the race to fill the Senate seat vacated by the late Robert C. Byrd. A crowded field of 10 Republicans were vying for the chance to take on Manchin in November, with a wealthy businessman and a former U.S. House candidate among the best-known GOP contenders.

In Louisiana, meanwhile, scandal-tainted Republican U.S. Sen. David Vitter appeared poised for an easy primary victory over two little-known challengers. He has already been more focused on his likely November matchup with Democratic U.S. Rep. Charlie Melancon, who also had two primary opponents.

In West Virginia, the hastily called primary for the remaining two years of Byrds term attracted a crowded field of Republicans, three Democrats and a Mountain Party hopeful. Manchin appointed a former top aide, Carte Goodwin, to hold the seat until after the November election.

Byrd, a 92-year-old Democrat elected to a record ninth term in 2006, died June 28. The state Legislature decided on a primary date about two weeks later and gave candidates just four days to register and about a month to campaign.

Manchins support from coal and utility industries � which have provided more than a quarter of the $1.2 million he has raised since declaring his candidacy last month � may help him overcome national GOP attempts to paint him as a liberal who will side with President Barack Obamas administration.

Obama lost West Virginia in 2008, and his energy and environmental policies are deemed anti-coal in the nations second-largest coal producing state.

On the Republican side, replacing Byrd has become part of the GOP quest to dismantle the Democratic Senate majority, which Democrats are clinging to as high unemployment and the slow economic recovery take a toll on their political prospects this fall. They desperately need to hold the Senate seat in West Virginia, a state that Republican nominee John McCain won handily in 2008 with 56 percent of the vote.

Wealthy businessman John Raese and recent U.S. House candidate Mac Warner are the best known of the GO P hopefuls. The 60-year-old Raese, who lost to Byrd in 2006, has been pumping money into a television and radio ad campaign to bolster his name recognition and to declare he wont be a rubber stamp for Obamas agenda.

Raese and Warner were competing with a pool of unknowns including a cement contractor, a certified public accountant, a substitute teachers aide, a gas company supervisor, a lawyer and a few retirees.

In Louisiana, Vitter has already survived a 2007 prostitution scandal. He admitted an unspecified "serious sin" after his phone number appeared in the records of a Washington prostitution ring.

He has also shrugged off fresh questions about his judgment in allowing an aide to remain on his staff for more than two years after a violent attack on a woman police identified as his ex-girlfriend. With little competition from his own party, he and Melancon are engaged in a war of attack ads.

The campaign manager for Vitters best-known primary opponent, retired state Supreme Court Justice Chet Traylor, says Republicans encouraged Traylor to get into the race because they feared another scandal was lurking. But Vitter appeared strong against him and little-known Republican Nick Accardo.

___

Associated Press Writer Kevin McGill in New Orleans contributed to this report.

Full Text RSS Feeds | WordPress Auto Translator

Afghan militants in US uniforms storm 2 NATO bases AP

KABUL, Afghanistan U.S. and Afghan troops repelled attackers wearing American uniforms and suicide vests in a pair of simultaneous assaults on NATO bases near the Pakistani border, including one where seven CIA employees died in a suicide attack last year.

The raids before dawn Saturday appear part of an insurgent strategy to step up attacks in widely scattered parts of the country as the U.S. focuses its resources on the battle around the Talibans southern birthplace of Kandahar.

Also Saturday, three more American service members were killed � two in a bombing in the south and the third in fighting in eastern Afghanistan, the U.S. command said. That brought to 38 the number of U.S. troops killed this month � well below last months figure of 66.

The militant assault in the border province of Khost began about 4 a.m. when dozens of insurgents stormed Forward Operating Base Salerno and nearby Camp Chapman with mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons, according to NATO and Afghan police.

Two attackers managed to breach the wire protecting Salerno but were killed before they could advance far onto the base, NATO said. Twenty-one attackers were killed � 15 at Salerno and six at Chapman � and five were captured, it said.

Three more insurgents, including a commander, were killed in an airstrike as they fled the area, NATO said.

The Afghan Defense Ministry said two Afghan soldiers were killed and three wounded in the fighting. Four U.S. troops were wounded, NATO officials said.

U.S. and Afghan officials blamed the attack on the Haqqani network, a Pakistan-based faction of the Taliban with close ties to al-Qaida. Camp Chapman was the scene of the Dec. 30 suicide attack that killed the seven CIA employees.

Afghan police said about 50 insurgents took part in the twin assaults. After being driven away from the bases, the insurgents approached the nearby offices of the governor and provincial police headquarters but were scattered, said Khost provincial police Chief Abdul Hakim Ishaqzai.

"Given the size of the enemys force, this could have been a major catastrophe for Khost. Luckily we prevented it," he said.

Small-arms fire continued through the morning, while NATO helicopters patrolled overhead. The dead were wearing U.S. Army uniforms, which can be easily purchased in shops in Kabul and other cities, possibly pilfered from military warehouses.

The twin attacks appeared to be part of a growing pattern of insurgent assaults far from the southern battlefields of Kandahar and Helmand provinces, which have been the main focus of the U.S. military campaign. Last December, President Barack Obama ordered 30,000 reinforcements to Afghanistan, most to the Kandahar area where the Islamist movement was organized in the mid-1990s.

On Saturday, a candidate running for a seat in parliament from Herat province in northwestern Afghanistan was shot and killed on his way to a mosque, said Lal Mohammad Omarzai, deputy governor of Shindand district. He said two men on a motorbike opened fire on Abdul Manan, a candidate in the September balloting. He later died of his wounds.

Late Friday, insurgents stormed a police checkpoint in Takhar province near the northern border with Tajikistan. The Interior Ministry said nine insurgents were killed and 12 wounded with no losses on the government side. The day before, Taliban fighters killed eight Afghan policemen in a raid on a checkpoint outside the northern city of Kunduz.

And on Wednesday, an Afghan police driver with family links to the Taliban killed three Spaniards � two police trainers and their interpreter � at a training center in the northern province of Badghis.

A joint NATO-Afghan investigative team found the shooter, whose brother-in-law is a Taliban commander, had been arrested and disarmed a year ago for links to insurgents but was reinstated after two local elders vouched for him, NATO said in a statement Saturday.

Although the Afghan capital is relatively secure, incidents apparently directed at female students have raised concern about Taliban intimidation within the city.

The Health Ministry said 48 pupils and teachers at the Zabihullah Esmati High School were rushed to hospitals Saturday after falling ill with breathing problems and nausea. All but nine were treated and released after blood samples were taken to try to determine the cause.

On Wednesday, dozens of students and teachers at another Kabul girls school became sick when an unknown gas spread through classrooms, education officials said. The cause of that incident has not been determined, but officials fear the apparent poisonings could be part of an insurgent campaign to frighten girls from attending school.

Also Saturday, the government criticized U.S. media reports that alleged numerous Afghan officials had received payments from the CIA. A presidential office statement did not address or deny any specific allegations, but called the reports an insult to the government and an attempt to defame people within it.

The New York Times reported Thursday that the CIA had been paying Mohammed Zia Salehi, the chief of administration for Afghanistans National Security Council, who was arrested last month as part of an investigation into corruption. The Washington Post reported the next day the agency was making payments to a large number of officials in President Hamid Karzais administration.

"Afghanistan believes that making such allegations will not strengthen the alliance against terrorism and will not strengthen an Afghanistan based on the law and rules, but will have negative effects in those areas," the statement by Karzais office said, without commenting on the substance of the reports.

"We strongly condemn such irresponsible allegations which just create doubt and defame responsible people of this country," it said.

Meanwhile, NATO issued a statement saying coalition helicopter pilots were not responsible for the deaths of three Afghan policemen killed Aug. 20 in what had been considered a friendly fire incident in Jowzjan provinces Darzab district.

It said the helicopters showed up hours after fighting began and it was possible the three had been killed earlier.

All Afghan forces had also been ordered to remain inside compounds at the time the two helicopters fired a missile and 80 30-millimeter rounds at an insurgent firing position, NATO said.

Full Text RSS Feeds | WordPress Auto Translator

Beck: Help us restore traditional American values AP

WASHINGTON Conservative commentator Glenn Beck and tea party champion Sarah Palin appealed Saturday to a vast, predominantly white crowd on the National Mall to help restore traditional American values and honor Martin Luther Kings message. Civil rights leaders who accused the group of hijacking Kings legacy held their own rally and march.

While Beck billed his event as nonpolitical, conservative activists said their show of strength was a clear sign that they can swing elections because much of the country is angry with what many voters call an out-of-touch Washington.

Palin told the tens of thousands who stretched from the marble steps of the Lincoln Memorial to the grass of the Washington Monument that calls to transform the country werent enough. "We must restore America and restore her honor," said the former Alaska governor, echoing the name of the rally, "Restoring Honor."

Palin, the GOP vice presidential nominee in 2008 and a potential White House contender in 2012, and Beck repeatedly cited King and made references to the Founding Fathers. Beck put a heavy religious cast on nearly all his remarks, sounding at times like an evangelical preacher.

"Something beyond imagination is happening," he said. "America today begins to turn back to God."

Beck exhorted the crowd to "recognize your place to the creator. Realize that he is our king. He is the one who guides and directs our life and protects us." He asked his audience to pray more. "I ask, not only if you would pray on your knees, but pray on your knees but with your door open for your children to see," he said.

A group of civil rights activists organized by the Rev. Al Sharpton held a counter rally at a high school, then embarked on a three-mile march to the site of a planned monument honoring King. The site, bordering the Tidal Basin, was not far from the Lincoln Memorial where Beck and the others spoke about two hours earlier.

Sharpton and the several thousand marching with him crossed paths with some of the crowds leaving Becks rally. People wearing "Restoring Honor" and tea party T-shirts looked on as Sharptons group chanted "reclaim the dream" and "MLK, MLK." Both sides were generally restrained, although there was some mutual taunting.

One woman from the Beck rally shouted to the Sharpton marchers: "Go to church. Restore America with peace." Some civil rights marchers chanted "dont drink the tea" to people leaving Becks rally.

Sharpton told his rally it was important to keep Kings dream alive and that despite progress more needs to be done. "Dont mistake progress for arrival," he said.

He poked fun at the Beck-organized rally, saying some participants were the same ones who used to call civil rights leaders troublemakers. "The folks who used to criticize us for marching are trying to have a march themselves," he said. He urged his group to be peaceful and not confrontational. "If people start heckling, smile at them," Sharpton said.

Eleanor Holmes Norton, the District of Columbias delegate to Congress, said she remembers being at Kings march on Washington in 1963. "Glenn Becks march will change nothing. But you cant blame Glenn Beck for his March-on-Washington envy," she said.

Beck has said he did not intend to choose the King anniversary for his rally but had since decided it was "divine providence." He portrayed King as an American hero.

Sharpton and other critics have noted that, while Beck has long sprouted anti-government themes, Kings famous march included an appeal to the federal government to do more to protect Americans civil rights.

The crowd � organizers had a permit for 300,000 � was a sea of people standing shoulder to shoulder across large expanses of the Mall. The National Park Service stopped doing crowd counts in 1997 after the agency was accused of underestimating numbers for the 1995 Million Man March.

It was not clear how many tea party activists were in the crowd, but the sheer size of the turnout helped demonstrate the size and potential national influence of the movement.

Tea party activism and widespread voter discontent with government already have effected primary elections and could be an important factor in Novembers congressional, gubernatorial and state legislative races.

Lisa Horn, 28, an accountant from Houston, said she identifies with the tea party movement, although she said the rally was not about either the tea party or politics. "I think this says that the people are uniting. We know we are not the only ones," she said. "We feel like we can make a difference."

Ken Ratliff, 55, of Rochester, N.Y., who served as a Marine in the Vietnam War, said he is moving more in the tea party direction. "Theres got to be a change, man," he said.

Palin told the crowd she wasnt speaking as a politician. "Ive been asked to speak as the mother of a soldier and I am proud of that distinction. Say what you want to say about me, but I raised a combat vet and you cant take that away from me." It was a reference to her son, Track, 20, who served a yearlong deployment in Iraq.

Palin likened the rally participants to the civil rights activists from 1963. She said the same spirit that helped them overcome oppression, discrimination and violence would help this group as well.

"We are worried about what we face. Sometimes, our challenges seem insurmountable," Palin said. "Look around you. Youre not alone."

Beck paced on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and spoke through a wireless microphone headset. "For too long, this country has wandered in darkness. ... Today we are going to concentrate on the good things in America, the things that we have accomplished � and the things that we can do tomorrow."

In one of his many references to King, Beck noted that he had spent the night before in the same Washington hotel where King had put the finishing touches on his "I Have a Dream" speech.

Clarence B. Jones, who served as Kings personal attorney and his speechwriter, said he believes King would not be offended by Becks rally but "pleased and honored" that a diverse group of people would come together, almost five decades later, to discuss the future of America.

Jones, now a visiting professor at Stanford University, said the Beck rally seemed to be tasteful and did not appear to distort Kings message, which included a recommitment to religious values.

Both groups heard from members of the King family.

Alveda King, a niece of the civil rights leader, appealed to Beck rally participants to "focus not on elections or on political causes but on honor, on character ... not the color of our skin."

Martin Luther King III said at the site of the planned memorial that his father in 1967 and 1968 "was focused on economic empowerment. He did not live to see that come to fruition." King added, "We have made great strides, but somehow weve got to create a climate so that everybody can do well, not just some."

Beck had appealed to those attending not to bring signs with them. But Mike Cash, a 56-year-old Atlanta businessman, found a way around that. Over his polo shirt, he wore a T-shirt that read "Treat Obama like a used tea bag, toss him out now"

"I wouldnt have missed it the rally for anything," said Cash, who drove up with his family. "We are here kind of protesting about our government, too. Im a businessman and Im worried about taxes going up."

Many in the crowd watched the proceedings on large television screens. On the edges of the Mall, vendors sold "Dont Tread on Me" flags, popular with tea party activists. Other activists distributed fliers urging voters "dump Obama." The pamphlet included a picture of the president with a Hitler-style mustache.

LaVert Seabron, 80, a retired federal public health officer who lives in northwest Washington, said he was at the 1963 march and made it a point to attend Saturdays rally. He recalled King as a "great orator" and said "because of what he did were here." Seabron, whos black, said he was heartened to see many young people at Saturdays event.

"Its good to see the next generation is still participating," he said. "Weve been through this. Its good to see so many young people, because theyll have to pick up the torch and carry it to the next generation."

Regarding the Beck rally, Seabron said: "Thats part of a democracy � everybody gets a chance to say what they want."

___

Associated Press writers Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Hope Yen and Tom Raum contributed to this report.

___

Online:

Beck rally: http://ping.fm/p3OEc

Sharpton rally: http://ping.fm/Plcwp

Martin Luther King memorial: http://ping.fm/BGUpe

Full Text RSS Feeds | WordPress Auto Translator

Chile, divided by quake, unites around miners AP

SAN JOSE MINE, Chile Just six months ago, one of the largest earthquakes in a century tore Chile apart, physically ripping the ground, triggering a deadly tsunami and leaving in the wreckage a divided society and government trying to decide whom to blame.

Now, with Chile confronting a new disaster � 33 men trapped in a mine below the Atacama Desert since Aug. 5 � the nation is unified by the drama playing out in slow motion.

Sitting alone on a hill above the mine where his brother, Juan, is buried alive, Oscar Illanes, 51, quietly fidgets with pebbles in his right hand and contemplates how his personal tragedy has also become that of his countrymen.

"This accident has crossed all borders. Everyone in Chile, rich or poor, a mining family or not, is sending a positive force that sustains us," he said. "The will to survive started with the 33 miners alone under the ground. It soon became 150 as the families arrived here. Now it is an entire nation, all working with the same spirit to free the men."

This time, Chileans are less interested in the blame game and more concentrated on getting the men out of the ground alive, even adopting the one can-do symbol from the quake that killed 500.

A tattered Chilean flag flies above Illanes head on the hill overlooking the mine and the makeshift camp where the families of those trapped await their return.

Once just a piece of cloth, it was transformed into a sacred symbol of Chilean resilience when a young man was photographed by The Associated Press pulling it from the wreckage of the Feb. 27 earthquake.

In the aftermath of the earthquake, Chiles navy and emergency management office were criticized for failing to issue an alert that might have saved hundreds from the tsunami that caused the quakes largest death toll.

Chileans were also angered by a massive wave of looting, as thousands of people from grandmothers to small children took everything from mattresses to refrigerators and flat-screen TVs. Then-President Michelle Bachelet said it reflected "the moral damage of the people" in a nation that considers itself by far the most advanced in Latin America.

Many see the united effort and support for the miners as a way to move past the darker episodes surrounding the quake and to demonstrate the better side of Chileans in the face of adversity.

There has been some finger pointing in the days since the miners were trapped � and it will certainly increase if they are not rescued.

The San Esteban mining company has taken the brunt of the criticism for lacking safety standards that could have prevented the event or allowed the miners to escape.

President Sebastian Pinera fired top regulators and created a commission to investigate the accident. Mining Minister Laurence Golborne said the governments mine regulatory agency � which has only 18 inspectors for several hundred mines � would be overhauled and receive more resources.

But a positive energy floods the town of Copiapo near the mine.

"Those 33 men are the focus of every Chileans attention. We cannot fail to bring them out, that would be unthinkable," said Luis Arancilia, 68, who sat in the main plaza reading the latest news of the accident. "All efforts, all energy must be focused on bringing them up."

On lightpoles around the plaza where Arancilia spoke, posters advertised a music festival to be held Saturday, with all proceeds going to the miners.

At the San Jose mine, the city government constructed large white tents where the miners families eat, sleep and seek respite from the questions and cameras of scores of journalists from around the world who have arrived at the remote spot � though others have their own tents and prefer to camp outside the protected area.

The federal and local governments are working together to even bring entertainment to the family members, who say they will wait at the camp during the rescue effort, which authorities warn could take four months.

Each morning, a government worker organizes and supervises games for the children in the camp, giving weary parents a few hours of rest from caring for them. There are concerts some nights, and television shows projected on the side of one of the tents. Clowns meander through the crowds, and policeman put on puppet shows.

Back on the hill overlooking the mine, Illanes said he hopes one day his only feeling about the horrible accident will be "what can be accomplished when we work together in a positive way."

"When those of us in the camp have been cold at night, there has always been someone from the local government to hand out tents. When we were hungry, they have given us food," he said. "This has become a little model community, this camp, with all working together. I hope everyone can take a lesson from that."

Full Text RSS Feeds | WordPress Auto Translator

Afghan militants in US uniforms storm 2 NATO bases AP

KABUL, Afghanistan U.S. and Afghan troops repelled attackers wearing American uniforms and suicide vests in a pair of simultaneous assaults on NATO bases near the Pakistani border, including one where seven CIA employees died in a suicide attack last year.

The raids before dawn Saturday appear part of an insurgent strategy to step up attacks in widely scattered parts of the country as the U.S. focuses its resources on the battle around the Talibans southern birthplace of Kandahar.

Also Saturday, three more American service members were killed � two in a bombing in the south and the third in fighting in eastern Afghanistan, the U.S. command said. That brought to 38 the number of U.S. troops killed this month � well below last months figure of 66.

The militant assault in the border province of Khost began about 4 a.m. when dozens of insurgents stormed Forward Operating Base Salerno and nearby Camp Chapman with mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons, according to NATO and Afghan police.

Two attackers managed to breach the wire protecting Salerno but were killed before they could advance far onto the base, NATO said. Twenty-one attackers were killed � 15 at Salerno and six at Chapman � and five were captured, it said.

Three more insurgents, including a commander, were killed in an airstrike as they fled the area, NATO said.

The Afghan Defense Ministry said two Afghan soldiers were killed and three wounded in the fighting. Four U.S. troops were wounded, NATO officials said.

U.S. and Afghan officials blamed the attack on the Haqqani network, a Pakistan-based faction of the Taliban with close ties to al-Qaida. Camp Chapman was the scene of the Dec. 30 suicide attack that killed the seven CIA employees.

Afghan police said about 50 insurgents took part in the twin assaults. After being driven away from the bases, the insurgents approached the nearby offices of the governor and provincial police headquarters but were scattered, said Khost provincial police Chief Abdul Hakim Ishaqzai.

"Given the size of the enemys force, this could have been a major catastrophe for Khost. Luckily we prevented it," he said.

Small-arms fire continued through the morning, while NATO helicopters patrolled overhead. The dead were wearing U.S. Army uniforms, which can be easily purchased in shops in Kabul and other cities, possibly pilfered from military warehouses.

The twin attacks appeared to be part of a growing pattern of insurgent assaults far from the southern battlefields of Kandahar and Helmand provinces, which have been the main focus of the U.S. military campaign. Last December, President Barack Obama ordered 30,000 reinforcements to Afghanistan, most to the Kandahar area where the Islamist movement was organized in the mid-1990s.

On Saturday, a candidate running for a seat in parliament from Herat province in northwestern Afghanistan was shot and killed on his way to a mosque, said Lal Mohammad Omarzai, deputy governor of Shindand district. He said two men on a motorbike opened fire on Abdul Manan, a candidate in the September balloting. He later died of his wounds.

Late Friday, insurgents stormed a police checkpoint in Takhar province near the northern border with Tajikistan. The Interior Ministry said nine insurgents were killed and 12 wounded with no losses on the government side. The day before, Taliban fighters killed eight Afghan policemen in a raid on a checkpoint outside the northern city of Kunduz.

And on Wednesday, an Afghan police driver with family links to the Taliban killed three Spaniards � two police trainers and their interpreter � at a training center in the northern province of Badghis.

A joint NATO-Afghan investigative team found the shooter, whose brother-in-law is a Taliban commander, had been arrested and disarmed a year ago for links to insurgents but was reinstated after two local elders vouched for him, NATO said in a statement Saturday.

Although the Afghan capital is relatively secure, incidents apparently directed at female students have raised concern about Taliban intimidation within the city.

The Health Ministry said 48 pupils and teachers at the Zabihullah Esmati High School were rushed to hospitals Saturday after falling ill with breathing problems and nausea. All but nine were treated and released after blood samples were taken to try to determine the cause.

On Wednesday, dozens of students and teachers at another Kabul girls school became sick when an unknown gas spread through classrooms, education officials said. The cause of that incident has not been determined, but officials fear the apparent poisonings could be part of an insurgent campaign to frighten girls from attending school.

Also Saturday, the government criticized U.S. media reports that alleged numerous Afghan officials had received payments from the CIA. A presidential office statement did not address or deny any specific allegations, but called the reports an insult to the government and an attempt to defame people within it.

The New York Times reported Thursday that the CIA had been paying Mohammed Zia Salehi, the chief of administration for Afghanistans National Security Council, who was arrested last month as part of an investigation into corruption. The Washington Post reported the next day the agency was making payments to a large number of officials in President Hamid Karzais administration.

"Afghanistan believes that making such allegations will not strengthen the alliance against terrorism and will not strengthen an Afghanistan based on the law and rules, but will have negative effects in those areas," the statement by Karzais office said, without commenting on the substance of the reports.

"We strongly condemn such irresponsible allegations which just create doubt and defame responsible people of this country," it said.

Meanwhile, NATO issued a statement saying coalition helicopter pilots were not responsible for the deaths of three Afghan policemen killed Aug. 20 in what had been considered a friendly fire incident in Jowzjan provinces Darzab district.

It said the helicopters showed up hours after fighting began and it was possible the three had been killed earlier.

All Afghan forces had also been ordered to remain inside compounds at the time the two helicopters fired a missile and 80 30-millimeter rounds at an insurgent firing position, NATO said.

Full Text RSS Feeds | WordPress Auto Translator

Venezuelans protest against unchecked violence AP

CARACAS, Venezuela Opponents of President Hugo Chavez marched through Caracas on Saturday to protest rampant violence that claims thousands of lives each year in Venezuela and has been worsening in the past decade.

Protesters beat on drums and held signs with images of skulls and crossbones and slogans such as "Enough" and "No more deaths."

Journalists estimated the crowd that marched through scattered rains at roughly 1,500. A hearse rolled past with a sign saying, "You could be next."

Nurse Gladys Perez said she is flabbergasted by the steady stream of people with gunshot wounds who are brought to the emergency room at the hospital where she works.

"Weve had up to 60 wounded people in a weekend," said Perez, 55, adding that in her three decades as a nurse she has never seen so much bloodshed.

"Theres an undeclared war here. I dont know what to call it," she said.

Venezuela has one of Latin Americas highest murder rates. The government has not released complete annual statistics recently, but last year authorities said there were more than 12,000 homicides nationwide in the first 11 months of 2009.

The Venezuelan Violence Observatory, an organization dedicated to crime research, has estimated more than 16,000 homicides last year in the country of 28 million people � up from less than 6,000 in 1999 when Chavez took office.

Those figures would give Venezuela a homicide rate of 56 per 100,000 people in 2009 � far higher than the 14 per 100,000 rate last year in Mexico, which is beset by rising drug violence. But its lower than the rate in El Salvador, which is home to ruthless street gangs and recorded 71 homicides per 100,000 people in 2009.

A government study obtained by local media suggests the violence could be even worse. The survey was based on more than 16,000 interviews last year and estimated more than 21,000 homicides in the previous 12 months, as well as more than 26,000 kidnappings.

National Statistics Institute president Elias Eljuri confirmed that the agency was involved in the survey. But he said the results described in the document were preliminary and it was being analyzed by other agencies.

"It is not a definitive document," Eljuri told The Associated Press.

In any case, the bullet-ridden bodies of victims fill the morgue in Caracas on weekends, and the vast majority of murder cases go unsolved. Many at Saturdays protest said Chavez has failed to take significant action on crime in his more than 11 years in office.

Chavez dismissed that criticism in a televised speech.

"They want to attribute the violence to me," Chavez said. "Violence is one of the visible and terrible effects of social injustice, of capitalism, of the model the bourgeoisie imposed on us."

He said for one thing, violent TV shows, video games and toys have a damaging effect on children.

"Thats capitalism," said Chavez, who says he aims to lead Venezuela toward socialism.

Chavez has accused opponents of playing politics with violence. In the past year, he has established a new national police force.

Some opposition candidates running for the National Assembly in Sept. 26 elections joined the protesters, marching behind trucks with music blaring from speakers and saying they back measures to crack down on gun violence.

Several protesters said they are particularly incensed about one of the latest victims: a 5-year-old girl slain by a stray bullet. Her family said she died during a shootout Thursday between criminals and National Guard troops, and her killing ran atop front pages of newspapers.

Perez said she has seven grandchildren, and "I worry about their future."

Full Text RSS Feeds | WordPress Auto Translator

Iraq on highest alert for terror attacks AP

BAGHDAD Iraqs prime minister put his nation on its highest level of alert for terror attacks, warning of plots to sow fear and chaos as the U.S. combat mission in the country formally ends on Tuesday.

The Iraqi security forces who will be left in charge have been hammered by bomb attacks, prompting fears of a new insurgent offensive and criticism of the governments preparedness to protect its people. Still, President Barack Obama left no doubt Saturday in his weekly radio address that the U.S. is sticking to its promise to pull out of Iraq despite the uptick in violence.

In a statement to state-run television, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Iraqi intelligence indicated an al-Qaida front group and members of Saddam Husseins outlawed Baath party are collaborating to launch attacks "to create fear and chaos and kill more innocents."

"We direct the Iraqi forces, police and army and other security forces, to take the highest alert and precautionary measures to foil this criminal planning," al-Maliki said in the statement issued late Friday.

A senior Iraqi intelligence official on Saturday said security forces believe suicide bombers have entered the country with plans to strike unspecified targets in Baghdad by months end. The official did not know how many bombers or where they would attack, and spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

Obama, meanwhile, used his weekly radio address to reaffirm his campaign promise to end the war in Iraq and refocus on Afghanistan as home to the top threats against America.

"The bottom line is this: the war is ending," Obama said from the Massachusetts island retreat of Marthas Vineyard, where he was on vacation. "Like any sovereign, independent nation, Iraq is free to chart its own course."

Al-Maliki said insurgents would try to exploit widespread frustration with years of frequent power outages and problems with other public services by staging riots and attacks on government offices.

Hours after his remarks, the al-Qaida-linked Islamic State of Iraq claimed responsibility for more than two dozen bombings and shootings across the nation this week that killed 56 people � more than half of them Iraqi soldiers and policemen.

In a statement posted on a militant website Saturday, the group said the coordinated attacks targeted the "headquarters and centers and security barriers for the army and the apostate police."

The prime minister seemed to recognize that security forces alone would not be able to stop the attacks, and he appealed to citizens to be vigilant.

"We call on the nation to have open eyes to monitor the movements of those terrorists and keep such criminal gangs from halting the progress of our nation."

But Iraqis interviewed Saturday, weary of the persistent attacks, almost uniformly sneered at al-Malikis efforts to thwart threats.

"If he asks us to take the precautionary measures, then he has to give us weapons to protect ourselves," said Atheer Hadi, whose car was pulled over and searched at a Baghdad checkpoint Saturday afternoon. "If you cant protect us, then allow us to protect ourselves. You destroyed us and we are fed up."

Insurgents have intensified attacks on Iraqi police and soldiers, making August the deadliest month for Iraqi security personnel in two years.

U.S. and Iraqi officials have long feared that political instability would lead to widespread violence in Iraq, and a stalled power-sharing agreement among competing leaders vying to run the government has only increased the angst.

Al-Maliki, a Shiite, is struggling to keep his job after his political coalition narrowly came in second place to a Sunni-dominated alliance in March parliamentary elections. Nearly six months later, Iraqs political future is no clearer, and Sunnis already are bracing for the possibility of being shut out of key government posts if al-Maliki remains.

Such uncertainty has in part prompted insurgents to stoke the simmering frustrations with attacks, Iraqi military spokesman Maj. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi said Saturday.

"The terrorist groups are intending to escalate their terrorist operations during the coming days to influence the process of the American withdrawal, to cast doubt on the ability of the Iraqi forces taking charge of the security and to take advantage of political instability," al-Moussawi said.

___

Associated Press Writers Qassim Abdul-Zahra, Bushra Juhi and Sinan Salaheddin contributed to this report.

Full Text RSS Feeds | WordPress Auto Translator

W.Va., La. voters go to polls for Senate primaries AP

CHARLESTON, W.Va. Fourteen candidates sought a shot at the late Robert C. Byrds Senate seat, with popular Gov. Joe Manchin the front-runner on the Democratic side and a wealthy businessman and a former U.S. House candidate the best-known of the GOP contenders in Saturdays primary.

In Louisiana, meanwhile, scandal-tainted Republican U.S. Sen. David Vitter appeared poised for an easy primary victory over two little-known challengers. He has already been more focused on his likely November matchup with Democratic U.S. Rep. Charlie Melancon, who also had two primary opponents.

In West Virginia, the hastily called primary for the remaining two years of Byrds term attracted a crowded field of 10 Republicans, three Democrats and a Mountain Party hopeful. Manchin has appointed a former top aide, Carte Goodwin, to hold the seat until after the November election.

Byrd, a 92-year-old Democrat elected to a record ninth term in 2006, died June 28. It took the state Legislature until mid-July to set up the primary, giving candidates just four days to register and about a month to campaign.

Manchins opponents include Democrat Ken Hechler, a 95-year-old former congressmen who represented West Virginia between 1959 and 1976 and also served in the Truman administration.

Hechler turns 96 next month and sees the race as a referendum on the efficient and highly destructive form of coal mining known as mountaintop removal.

Manchins support from coal and utility industries � which have provided more than a quarter of the $1.2 million he has raised since declaring his candidacy last month � may help him overcome national GOP attempts to paint him as a liberal who will side with President Barack Obamas administration.

Obama did not carry West Virginia in 2008, and his energy and environmental policies are deemed anti-coal in the nations second-largest coal producing state.

On the Republican side, replacing Byrd has become part of the GOP quest to dismantle the Democratic Senate majority, which Democrats are clinging to as high unemployment and the slow economic recovery take a toll on their political prospects this fall. They desperately need to hold the Senate seat in West Virginia, a state that Republican nominee John McCain won handily in 2008 with 56 percent of the vote.

Wealthy businessman John Raese and recent U.S. House candidate Mac Warner are the best known of the GOP hopefuls. The 60-year-old Raese, who lost to Byrd in 2006, has been pumping money into a television and radio ad campaign to bolster his name recognition and to declare he wont be a rubber stamp for Obamas agenda.

Raese and Warner are competing with a pool of unknowns including a cement contractor, a certified public accountant, a substitute teachers aide, a gas company supervisor, a lawyer and a few retirees.

In Louisiana, Vitter survived a 2007 prostitution scandal and has shrugged off fresh questions about his judgment in allowing an aide to remain on his staff for more than two years after a violent attack on a woman police identified as his ex-girlfriend. With little competition from his own party, he has focused on Melancon, and the two are engaged in a war of attack ads.

The campaign manager for Vitters best-known primary opponent, retired state Supreme Court Justice Chet Traylor, says Republicans encouraged Traylor to get into the race because they feared another scandal was lurking. But Vitter appeared strong against him and little-known Republican Nick Accardo.

___

Associated Press Writer Kevin McGill in New Orleans contributed to this report.

Full Text RSS Feeds | WordPress Auto Translator

Israel PM wants regular meetings with Palestinians AP

JERUSALEM Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants to meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas every two weeks once direct peace talks resume next week, Israeli officials said Saturday.

Netanyahu will propose the biweekly meetings with the Palestinian leader when the U.S.-brokered negotiations formally resume on Thursday in Washington after a nearly two-year break, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the media.

The Israeli leaders proposal appears to indicate that he is serious about the talks and wont allow them to fizzle out after next weeks meeting in the U.S.

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said he hadnt heard about the proposal but would be open to the idea. "We are not against this in principle, its just premature to talk about this now," Erekat told The Associated Press.

The last round of Mideast peace talks broke down in late 2008 after Israel launched a three-week military offensive against Islamic militants in the Gaza Strip to stop near-daily rocket attacks on southern Israel. Officials close to the talks said at the time that the sides were close to an agreement.

During those negotiations, Israeli and Palestinian leaders met on a regular basis.

The resumption of talks comes after months of diplomatic efforts by Washington to coax the sides back to the negotiating table. U.S. special envoy George Mitchell shuttled back and forth between the sides for the past few months, urging them to agree to resume negotiations.

Netanyahu has been calling for direct talks to resume without preconditions soon after he took office last year.

The Palestinians, however, have been reluctant to return to the negotiating table, fearing that they will be blamed if the talks collapse. That has left them hesitant to commit to new negotiations without Israel first agreeing to preconditions, such was a freeze on settlement construction in the West Bank.

A 10-month moratorium on West Bank settlement construction will expire at the end of September, and the government is divided over whether to extend it. Netanyahu ordered the building freeze in an effort to get talks with the Palestinians back on track.

The Palestinians have already announced they will withdraw from peace talks if building is renewed.

Israel captured the West Bank from Jordan in the 1967 war and began building settlements there soon after.

There are more than 100 of them in the West Bank today, territory the Palestinians envision for their future state along with the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem. The international community at large does not recognize the settlements as legally part of Israel.

The fate of east Jerusalem, meanwhile, lies at the heart of the settlement dispute. Israel considers all of Jerusalem its eternal capital, while the Palestinians want east Jerusalem as the capital of a future state.

The Palestinian Authority is split between the Western-backed Fatah party in the West Bank and the Islamic militant group Hamas that has controlled Gaza since it ousted Fatah in street battles in 2007.

Hamas leader in Gaza Ismail Haniyeh condemned the renewal of talks late Friday and demanded a boycott.

Also Saturday, the European Union said it will not participate in the talks. The bloc said foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton will be in Beijing at the time.

Full Text RSS Feeds | WordPress Auto Translator

As US military bases close, Iraqis left behind AP

AL-FARIS, Iraq Just about every man from the village of al-Faris has worked at the nearby Taji military base. The American money and influence is seen in the new cars, the additions to houses, even the billiards hall with a guitar from an American soldier.

But now, as the American military winds down its time in Iraq, the Iraqis who once worked so closely with U.S. forces are starting to wonder what will happen to them.

"The military is starting to withdraw and its influence is being felt," said Sheikh Lukman Rahman Hama, the villages senior administrator. "We were lucky because the Americans offered us jobs. The Iraqi government did not offer us jobs."

For the vast majority of Iraqis, their closest contact with Americans has been with troops hidden behind layers of body armor, wearing tinted glasses and riding in armored Humvees that used to run Iraqi vehicles off the road.

But there has always been a relatively small group of Iraqis who have worked with Americans over the years. According to U.S. military figures, a little more than 13,000 Iraqis now work for contractors hired by the American military as translators or in other jobs such as laundry or maintenance. Thats down from a high of more than 43,000 in January 2009, reflecting the drawdown as the U.S. went from about 170,000 troops to just under 50,000.

Additionally, a small percentage of Iraqis not included in those numbers operate businesses on bases.

The drop is also being seen at al-Faris, where the number of Iraqis from the village working at U.S. military facilities has plummeted from 800 to 100. Those who have lost their jobs clutch recommendations given to them by their former employers testifying to their dedication and professional manner, in hopes that the words of a former staff sergeant or colonel will help them find a new job.

With unofficial estimates on unemployment in Iraq ranging as high as 30 percent, its a challenging task. Currently, 1,168 Iraqis work on the Taji base, which is home to about 7,000 people � 2,500 of whom are U.S. troops. Thats down from a one-time high of about 10,000 U.S. troops.

A few of the workers have heard of American asylum programs for Iraqis.

"I do not know what to do when they leave," said Riyadh Mohammed Ahmed. "Ive heard that if I go to the American embassy, they would help me to get out of Iraq."

For the few Iraqis who do work on U.S. bases, it has been a window into American values and culture that will leave a lasting impression long after the last American soldier leaves. Iraqis coming from a culture with few regulations have come face-to-face with a regimented American military culture where even cigarette butts are supposed to be thrown in a trash can and not on the ground.

When asked what they learned or noticed while working with Americans, the word "order" is repeated over and over.

"They give us safety plastic helmets, uniforms and shoes. If an American inspector from the firm came and saw us not wearing any of these safety tools, she would fire our boss, not us, because he is in charge of us," said Riyadh Mohammed Ahmed, 43, who works as a carpenter on the base. "It is good to see order applied on all. Order is good."

Not all of the comments are complimentary, of course. One Iraqi discusses how the Americans have taught him how to curse. Another complains that other non-Iraqi contractors dont bother to learn their names.

Being associated with Americans has only in recent years become relatively safe. Sheikh Hamas father was killed, he said, by members of Muqtada al-Sadrs Mahdi Army, which violently opposed Americas military presence in Iraq. His then 5-year-old son was also shot, but survived.

One employee remembers a time when workers were escorted to the bus station by American Humvees as helicopters buzzed overhead.

A suicide bomb attack on the dining facility at a base in Mosul in December 2004 that killed 22 people was considered a turning point in how commanders viewed the employment of local Iraqis, said Col. Barry Johnson.

"Every command took notice of this and reviewed all their force protection measures, to include who we were employing from the local population on bases and what access they were being given," he said.

Later, many American military facilities made a concerted effort to boost the number of Iraqis working for them. Officials at Taji say they have made it a priority in recent years to hire as much Iraqi labor as possible and pressed their contractors to employ locally as well.

But its unclear what will happen to those jobs as the base transitions from U.S. to Iraqi control. First Lt. Shawn S. Tyrie said the military is trying to find out which businesses on the base may want to work with the Iraqi army as it takes over. But some Iraqis consider the Iraqi army so corrupt that only those with connections or bribes can get jobs and contracts.

Few in al-Faris, a village of about 4,000 people, seem to feel their past American work experience will make it harder for them.

"Absolutely I should tell people that I worked for the Americans when I apply for a new job. This might help and give me a push forward although it has some danger," said Mohammed Orahman Haman Rahim, the billiard shop owner.

When he lost his job at the Taji base in 2007, Rahim decided to buy the two billiards tables and open up a business. But now even his billiards hall, plastered with pictures of famous soccer stars from Europe and featuring a guitar he was given by an American soldier, is suffering the effects of the drawdown.

Rahim picks up a book where he keeps tabs on everyone who owes him money. He leafs through the pages of people who cant afford the 500 Iraqi dinars � less than 50 cents � to play one game of pool.

Many of his customers have lost their jobs.

Full Text RSS Feeds | WordPress Auto Translator

Rwanda threatens to withdraw peacekeepers AP

JOHANNESBURG Rwanda has threatened to withdraw its troops from United Nations peacekeeping operations if the world body publishes a report accusing the Rwandan army of committing possible genocide in Congo in the 1990s, Rwandas foreign minister says in a letter sent to the U.N.

Addressed to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the letter from Foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo describes the report from the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights as "fatally flawed" and "incredibly irresponsible." The letter is dated Aug. 3 and was obtained by The Associated Press on Saturday.

A draft of the report leaked this week accuses Rwandan troops and rebel allies tied to the current Congolese president of slaughtering tens of thousands of Hutus in Congo. The attacks allegedly came two years after those same troops stopped Rwandas 1994 genocide that killed more than half a million Tutsis and some moderate Hutus.

"The reports allegations � of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity � are extremely serious. However, the methodology, sourcing and standard of proof used to arrive at them most certainly are not," Mushikiwabos letter says.

The letter asks why the investigators spent six weeks in Congo but never came to Rwanda or asked for meetings with Rwandan officials, who were given the 545-page draft two months ago.

Investigators say they required two independent sources for each of the 600 incidents documented.

The draft says the systematic and widespread attacks "could be classified as crimes of genocide" by a competent court.

In the letter, Mushikiwabo criticizes investigators for not seeking evidence that would stand up in court. She says the reports weakness is that its goal was "not of being satisfied beyond all reasonable doubt that a violation was committed but rather having reasonable suspicion that the incident did occur."

This, her letter says means "U.N. investigators employed the lowest evidentiary standard" in making such serious allegations.

She suggests that the timing of the report is being driven by people within the U.N. who seek to damage recently renewed diplomatic ties between Congo and Rwanda. The rapprochement between the neighboring countries has contributed to greater stability in Central Africa.

"The timing of the report only heightens these suspicions as it is being circulated on the eve of Rwandas presidential election and at a time when Congolese officials are calling for the U.N. Mission in Congo to close up shop," the letter says.

Congo, which also has denied the allegations, also questioned the timing of the report, but suggested it was being used to deflect attention from U.N. peacekeepers failure to protect civilians in a recent mass gang-rape atrocity.

The Rwandan letter says "attempts to take action on this report � either through its release or leaks to the media � will force us to withdraw from Rwandas various commitments to the United Nations, especially in the area of peacekeeping."

Rwanda contributes thousands of troops to peacekeeping missions in Chad, Haiti, Liberia and Sudan.

Mushikiwabos letter was written before the reports leak this week. She could not be reached for comment despite numerous calls to her cell phone on Friday and Saturday and an e-mail message.

The draft report says the Rwandan troops and their Congolese rebel allies targeted Hutus and killed tens of thousands over months, the majority of whom were women, children, the sick and the elderly who posed no threat. Most were bludgeoned to death with hoes, axes and hammers.

"Upon entering a locality, they ordered the people to gather together ... Once they were assembled, the civilians were bound and killed by blows of hammers or hoes to the head," it says.

Rwanda invaded Congo in 1996, saying it was going after those who committed the genocide. Many were in refugee camps in Congo, which they used as a base for attacks on Tutsis in Congo and for cross-border raids into Rwanda. Rwandan rebels remain in Congo and have been terrorizing the population ever since.

Full Text RSS Feeds | WordPress Auto Translator

Missing rafters found after accident in Austria AP

VIENNA Over two dozen people were tossed into a raging Alpine river in western Austria after their rafts capsized Saturday, but all were found after an intensive rescue operation, authorities said.

Scores of rescue workers used boats and helicopters to scour the banks of the Bregenzerach River in Austrias western province of Vorarlberg for three hours after police reported at least 10 rafters were missing.

Red Cross spokesman Michael Osti said 12 rafters had to be rescued after being stranded on the rivers banks.

A group of 74 rafters had started their trip in three German boats and two Austrian ones around noon. Turbulence and high water caused some rafts to capsize, sending over two dozen rafters overboard, but 15 were immediately rescued, police spokesman Egon Voegel told national broadcaster ORF.

The accident occurred near Doren, a village 13 miles 20 kilometers east of the provincial capital of Bregenz.

Eight of those pulled from the river were hospitalized, fire brigade spokesman Werner Blum told ORF. Others were treated for minor injuries.

Summer rafting is a popular tourist activity in Austria, but in the last month eastern Europe has been hit by heavy rains.

Full Text RSS Feeds | WordPress Auto Translator

Pakistan floods just one of its water woes AP

SHIKARPUR, Pakistan Thousands of farmers have crowded this once-quiet Pakistani town. They live on the hospitals lawn, they camp on overpasses. Their fields are destroyed, covered by billions of gallons of brown soupy floodwater.

But ask those farmers about their water troubles and theyll tell you flooding is just the most recent chapter.

"There is not enough water. We dont have enough for the crops," said Zubair Ahmed, a tenant farmer who came here after floods swept through his village and destroyed his fields. "Except for this year," he added, without any irony. "This year it is different."

This country, with its network of rivers that flow into the mighty Indus, struggles daily with water issues � too little, too much, in the wrong place � and rain is important to more than just farmers.

Around here, rainfall has long been reflected in economics, politics, diplomacy and social stability � and even Pakistan admits it wasnt as prepared as it could have been for the flooding.

"We are the victims of both extremes," said Shams ul Mulk, the former head of Pakistans Ministry of Water and Power. "We are the victims of scarcity and we are the victims of surpluses."

A month into the worst floods in the countrys history, there was no respite Saturday.

The swollen Indus River smashed another break early Saturday in the levees that protect the southern city of Thatta and numerous nearby villages. That sent thousands more people fleeing for high ground, crowding the roads and leaving the city of 175,000 nearly empty.

Thousands of flood victims sought shelter on the high ground of a sprawling centuries-old cemetery outside Thatta. Many were furious at the shortage of help, and how aid came in the form of bags of food being tossed from trucks.

"The people who come here to give us food treat us like beggars. They just throw the food. It is humiliating," said 80-year-old Karima, who uses only one name, and who was living in the graveyard with more than two dozen relatives.

Almost 17.2 million people have been significantly affected by the floods and about 1.2 million homes have been destroyed or badly damaged, the U.N. has said. About 1,500 people have died. At one point, an area the size of Italy was believed to be underwater, much of it farmland.

The scale of the crisis quickly overwhelmed authorities, with the governments painfully slow response leading to fears of unrest. While there has been no widespread violence, flood victims have repeatedly blocked roads through the flooded regions demanding more help.

The countrys finances, though, will take a major blow: Farming is a pillar of the Pakistani economy, making up some 23 percent of the gross domestic product and supporting millions of families. Officials expect the agricultural costs from the floods to reach into the billions of dollars.

The floods effects also will go far beyond the time when the waters recede.

Even Islamabad acknowledges it needs massive repairs to its enormous water irrigation network, which stretches across thousands of miles kilometers. About 80 percent of the countrys farmers are dependent on irrigation to nourish their crops.

Experts say only about one-third of the water that flows through the countrys irrigation system actually reaches the crops.

"Its just dirt ditches most of the time," said Dr. Daanish Mustafa, a geographer at Kings College, London who has studied Pakistans water use and said simply lining the irrigation channels to decrease leakage could result in enormous water savings.

"It doesnt need billions of dollars, it doesnt need armies of laborers," said Mustafa.

He noted Pakistan also faces a special challenge with the Indus River, the heart of its water network. With 80 percent of precipitation coming in just two months during the annual monsoons, and a heavy silt content, the river can quickly overrun its banks.

"Pakistans misfortune is they are dealing with a freak of a river," he said.

For years, foreign donors have been trying to help Pakistan tame that freak.

The United States has said improving the countrys water management will be a key plank of its $7.5 billion assistance package to the country over the next five years. Before the floods, it was planning a raft of projects to improve irrigation.

Those plans are even more relevant now, said Rajiv Shah, administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development. "They need a system that can manage" both flooding and low rainfall, he said.

The floods also raised worries in Pakistan that India � this countrys chief rival � could worsen the problem by draining its rain-swollen rivers into Pakistan.

Normally, the situation is reversed, with Pakistan complaining that India is withholding water.

Under a 1960 agreement, the two countries are supposed to share the use of the six rivers that irrigate the Pakistani agricultural heartland. India, though, controls the source of those rivers, leading to regular cross-border accusations, as Islamabad charges that New Delhi is taking more than its share, and New Delhi alleging Pakistans poor infrastructure leads to massive water waste.

___

Associated Press writer Nahal Toosi in Islamabad contributed to this report.

Full Text RSS Feeds | WordPress Auto Translator

NKorean leader appears to be headed home AP

CHANGCHUN, China North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il apparently headed home Saturday after a secretive and surprise trip that reportedly included a meeting with Chinas top leader to appeal for diplomatic and financial support for a succession plan involving his youngest son.

Reporters have followed a motorcade � apparently used by the reclusive Kim � around several cities in northeast China. The 35-vehicle convoy accompanied by police cars with flashing lights was seen headed to the train station in Changchun.

Kim rarely leaves North Korea and when he does he travels by special train. South Koreas Yonhap news agency reported the train left the station, although it did not give a destination.

North Korea does not announce Kims trips until he returns home, and China has refused to say if he is in the country, even though a Japanese television station had a grainy picture of him.

Kim was reportedly accompanied by his son, Kim Jong Un, believed to be in his 20s. Many North Korea watchers predict the son will be appointed to a key party position at a ruling Workers Party meeting early next month � the first such gathering in decades.

To pull off the event with sufficient fanfare, North Korea will need Chinese aid, particularly following the devastating floods that battered the countrys northwest this month, analysts said.

"The convention needs to be festive with the party giving out food or normalizing day-to-day life for its people, but with the recent flood damages they are not able to," said Cheong Seong-chang, a senior fellow at the Sejong Institute think tank outside Seoul.

"The most important thing on Kims agenda is scoring Chinese aid, which will ensure that the meeting will be well received by the people."

Asked whether Kim was visiting China, a duty officer with the press office of the Chinese Foreign Ministry said: "China and North Korea consistently maintain high-level contacts. We will release the relevant information in good time."

South Koreas Chosun Ilbo newspaper and Yonhap both reported that Kim was believed to have met Chinese President Hu Jintao in Changchun on Friday.

The Dong-a Ilbo newspaper carried a similar report, saying the two are believed to have discussed the Norths succession, the resumption of six-nation talks on North Koreas nuclear program, and ways to strengthen bilateral economic cooperation.

China, as North Koreas biggest diplomatic ally and a major source of food aid and oil, would expect to be kept in the loop about major political transitions in the North, but the Beijing leadership is not likely to be enthusiastic about the prospect of another dynastic succession next door, said Zhu Feng, director of Peking Universitys Center for International and Strategic Studies.

Kim also badly needs Chinese aid because of flooding earlier this month that damaged or destroyed more than 7,000 homes, and inundated 17,800 acres 7,200 hectares of farmland close to the border with China, the Norths official Korean Central News Agency reported this week.

KCNA said China has already agreed to deliver some aid to help North Korea cope with the disaster but didnt give specifics.

The North faces chronic food shortages and has relied on outside aid to feed much of its 24 million people since a famine that is believed to have killed as many as 2 million people in the 1990s.

In an attempt to improve its meager economy, it has experimented with limited market reforms and sought foreign investment, mostly from China and South Korea. But tensions with the South have caused trade and joint economic projects with the South to wither and raised the importance of Pyongyangs ties to Beijing.

___

Associated Press writers Hyung-jin Kim in Seoul, South Korea, and Scott McDonald in Beijing contributed to this report.

Full Text RSS Feeds | WordPress Auto Translator

Nigeria: Fire strikes ruling party headquarters AP

ABUJA, Nigeria Officials say a fire broke out at the headquarters of Nigerias ruling party, just months before a presidential election in the West African nation.

Officials say the fire started Saturday at the three-story building used by the Peoples Democratic Party in Abuja, the capital. The fire burned documents and furniture around the buildings conference room. No one was injured.

Party spokesman Rufai Ahmed Alkali said a faulty air conditioner caused the blaze.

The Peoples Democratic Party has held the presidency since Nigeria embraced democracy in 1999 after a string of military dictatorships and coups. Its operatives wield the political muscle necessary to manipulate the countrys unruly and corrupt electoral system.

Full Text RSS Feeds | WordPress Auto Translator

Israel PM wants regular meetings with Palestinians AP

JERUSALEM Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants to meet with Palestinian leaders regularly after peace talks resume next week.

Israeli officials said Saturday that Netanyahu wants biweekly meetings. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Peace talks will restart Sept. 2 in Washington.

The last round of talks ended in late 2008. Before then, Israeli and Palestinian leaders would meet on a regular basis.

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said he hadnt heard about the proposal but would be open to the idea.

Also Sunday, the European Union said it will not participate in the talks. The bloc said foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton will be in Beijing at the time.

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

BRUSSELS AP � The European Union says it will not participate in the U.S.-backed peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority due to start on Thursday in Washington.

A spokesman for the blocs foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton says she will be in Beijing meeting with Chinese leaders at that time. Spokesman Darren Ennis also said "for the EU as a whole, the focus is on a successful outcome of the talks and not on the choreography or who goes to Washington."

Ennis was responding to a statement Friday by French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, who said it would be "too bad" if the EU were locked out of the peace process.

Ennis said Saturday that "the spotlight should be firmly focused on the talks themselves."

Full Text RSS Feeds | WordPress Auto Translator

EUs Ashton to skip restarted Mideast peace talks AP

BRUSSELS The European Union says it will not participate in the U.S.-backed peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority due to start on Thursday in Washington.

A spokesman for the blocs foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton says she will be in Beijing meeting with Chinese leaders at that time. Spokesman Darren Ennis also said "for the EU as a whole, the focus is on a successful outcome of the talks and not on the choreography or who goes to Washington."

Ennis was responding to a statement Friday by French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, who said it would be "too bad" if the EU were locked out of the peace process.

Ennis said Saturday that "the spotlight should be firmly focused on the talks themselves."

Full Text RSS Feeds | WordPress Auto Translator

Iraq goes on highest alert for terror attacks AP

BAGHDAD Iraqs prime minister put his nation on its highest level of alert for terror attacks, warning of plots to sow fear and chaos as the U.S. combat mission in the country formally ends on Tuesday.

The Iraqi security forces who will be left in charge have been hammered by bomb attacks, prompting fears of a new insurgent offensive and criticism of the governments preparedness for the American troop drawdown.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Friday that Iraqi intelligence indicated an al-Qaida front group and members of Saddam Husseins outlawed Baath party are collaborating to launch attacks "to create fear and chaos and kill more innocents."

"We direct the Iraqi forces, police and army and other security forces, to take the highest alert and precautionary measures to foil this criminal planning," al-Maliki said in a statement to state-run television.

A senior Iraqi intelligence official said security forces believe suicide bombers have entered the country with plans to strike unspecified targets in Baghdad by months end. The official did not know how many bombers or where they would attack, and spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

President Barack Obama, meanwhile, used his weekly radio address to reaffirm his campaign promise to end the war in Iraq and refocus on Afghanistan as home to the top threats against America.

"The bottom line is this: the war is ending," Obama said from the Massachusetts island retreat of Marthas Vineyard, where he was on vacation. "Like any sovereign, independent nation, Iraq is free to chart its own course."

Al-Maliki said insurgents would try to exploit widespread frustration with years of frequent power outages and problems with other public services by staging riots and attacks on government offices.

"They will also work on taking advantage of some of the crises of services ... to spread chaos," he said.

Hours after his remarks, the al-Qaida-linked Islamic State of Iraq claimed responsibility for more than two dozen bombings and shootings across the nation this week that killed 56 people � more than half of them Iraqi soldiers and policemen.

In a statement posted on a militant website Saturday, the group said the coordinated attacks targeted the "headquarters and centers and security barriers for the army and the apostate police."

Insurgents have intensified attacks on Iraqi police and soldiers, making August the deadliest month for Iraqi security personnel in two years: On average, five were killed each day.

Under a security agreement between Washington and Baghdad, all U.S. troops are to be out of Iraq by the end of 2011. Last year, as a benchmark toward that deadline, Obama ordered the end of unilateral U.S. combat missions and the return of all but 50,000 troops by Aug. 31. After that, the U.S. military will focus on training and advising Iraqi troops, although Americans can still go on combat patrols with Iraqi soldiers and police if asked.

But the primary responsibility for protecting the nation is in the hands of an Iraqi security force that has largely failed to win the countrys confidence.

In a major embarrassment this month for Iraqs U.S.-trained forces, a suicide bomber was able to walk up undetected to an army recruitment station crowded with hundreds of applicants and kill 61 people. The Aug. 17 attack was the single deadliest act of violence in the capital in months.

More than half of the 445 Iraqi security personnel killed this year � including soldiers, police, police recruits and bodyguards � died between June and August, according to an Associated Press count.

The prime minister seemed to recognize that security forces alone would not be able to stop the attacks, and he appealed to citizens to be vigilant.

"We call on the nation to have open eyes to monitor the movements of those terrorists and keep such criminal gangs from halting the progress of our nation."

Al-Maliki is locked in a power struggle to keep his job nearly six months after a parliamentary election that failed to produce a clear winner.

The political coalition led by al-Maliki, a Shiite, narrowly came in second place to a Sunni-backed alliance in the March 7 vote.

Iraqs political factions have been battling since to work out a power-sharing agreement. U.S. and Iraqi officials fear the political impasse could lead to increased violence.

Iraqi military spokesman Maj. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi said the prime ministers statement aimed to embolden security troops who "will face challenges after the withdrawal of the American combat forces."

"The terrorist groups are intending to escalate their terrorist operations during the coming days to influence the process of the American withdrawal, to cast doubt on the ability of the Iraqi forces taking charge of the security and to take advantage of political instability," al-Moussawi said.

___

Associated Press Writers Qassim Abdul-Zahra and Bushra Juhi contributed to this report.

Full Text RSS Feeds | WordPress Auto Translator

14 militants, 1 policeman killed in Russia AP

ROSTOV-ON-DON, Russia Russian police say at least 14 suspected militants and one police officer have been killed in three security raids in the countrys volitive North Caucasus region.

Police say nine militants were killed in two separate shootouts with police in the Kabardino-Balkariya republic late Friday evening. They said two of the militants were suspected of organizing a deadly bombing in the same area in May.

In the Caucasus republic of Dagestan, police said five militants and one police officer were killed in another shootout that same evening.

Russia has been fighting an insurgency in the southern region following two wars in Chechnya in the past 15 years. The militants seek an Islamic emirate across the North Caucasus.

Full Text RSS Feeds | WordPress Auto Translator

Putin visits site of Russias new launch center AP

MOSCOW Russia will launch its manned space missions from a new center in the Far East in 2018, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Saturday, as the country seeks greater independence for its space program.

Putin made the comments as he inaugurated the start of construction for the new cosmodrome in the town of Vostochny, some 3,600 miles 5800 kilometers east of Moscow, and a few hundred miles away from China.

Russia currently uses the Soviet-built Baikonur launch facility in Kazakhstan for all of its manned space missions and other commercial launches as well as a smaller center in northern Russia for military satellite launches.

Russia has a lease on Baikonur until 2050 and has paid around $115 million to Kazakhstan in rent since the agreement in 2004.

Putin stressed the "strategic" need for Moscow to have "an independent access to the space." Although Baikonur is located in a "friendly state," it is still owned by another country, he said.

Russias prime minister said on state-run Rossiya channel that Vostochny, will host all launches of Russian-manned spacecraft beginning in 2018. Launches of first unmanned spacecraft from the new center are expected in 2015.

Putin described the construction as "one of the biggest and ambitious projects of modern Russia" which "gives opportunity to thousands of young professionals to use their talent."

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Sergey Ivanov was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying that the first stage of the construction will take more than 24 billion rubles $779 million.

Like Baikonur in Kazakhstan, Russias Amur Region in the Far East, where the new center is being built, is sparsely populated. New technologies will allow the new launch pad to be ten times smaller compared to what Baikonur occupies in the Kazakh steppe, said Russias space agency chief Anatoly Perminov.

Windfall from oil revenues over the past years have allowed the Kremlin to spend more on Russias space program, which had suffered in the post-Soviet economic meltdown.

Full Text RSS Feeds | WordPress Auto Translator

Silks dark side: Uzbek kids made to grow cocoons AP

KOKAND, Uzbekistan For one month a year, from morning to night, Dilorom Nishanova grows silkworms, a painstaking and exhausting job. She has been doing it since she was 8.

Uzbekistans authoritarian government insists that it has banned child labor but Nishanova, now 15, hasnt heard about it. She and her siblings, aged 9 to 17, think its perfectly natural to be helping their father grow silkworms, as well as cotton and wheat.

"We just help our parents," she said, her braided dark hair covered with a traditional Muslim scarf. "Thats what children have to do, right?"

Not so, say Uzbek rights groups. They say children should not be laborers, especially in May, the silkworm breeding season, which happens to fall during school exams.

The silkworm business dates back centuries to the Silk Road that ran through this Central Asian country. Kokand, the town in the fertile Ferghana Valley where Diloroms family farms, is also the Uzbek word for "cocoon." Kokand was the destination of the first westbound Chinese caravan carrying silk in 121 B.C. that started the fabled trade route.

But its modern-day incarnation as a state monopoly has a dark side. Farmers say they are threatened with fines or loss of their land leases for missing quotas, and these quotas are so high that they have no choice but to draft their children into the work.

The use of child labor in Uzbek cotton-picking has been widely documented, and Walmart and several other U.S. chain stores wont stock it. But the silk industry has largely escaped international scrutiny.

Its annual revenues are tiny compared with the $1 billion cotton industry, but the government prizes silk as a link � and tourist draw � to the glory days of the Silk Road.

It also considers silk an export item that must be state-controlled � like the exports of cotton, gold, peregrine falcons and the pelts of newborn lambs.

Uzbekistans silk production accounts for less than 5 percent of the world total, and is dwarfed by Chinas. But proportionately its the worlds highest � almost a kilogram two pounds per head of a population of 27 million. Kakhhor Yavkashtiyev, head of the silk growing department at the Agriculture Ministry, says 90 percent of Uzbekistans 2 million farmers are involved in the annual harvest.

"Children are not involved, only adults are," he said in an interview.

Those assurances ring hollow on the countrys farms. Umurzak Kayumov, a 51-year-old farmer from the village of Naiman near the eastern city of Namangan, says his children and grandchildren all help during cocoon season.

"We suffer for 25 days, from 4 a.m. until midnight," he said.

In Kokand, the high-intensity job of raising silkworms becomes evident from talking to Dilorom and her family.

Her father, Adkham, a bony 42-year-old, farms four hectares 10 acres of loamy land. In early May, he said, an officials from a state-owned nursery handed him two 30-gram one-ounce boxes of silkworm eggs to be nurtured into some 100 kilograms 220 pounds of cocoons.

Within four weeks of hatching, silkworms grow 10,000 times their original, poppy-seed size. Their creamy stomachs turn greenish from their exclusive diet of mulberry leaves, and they need constant attention.

"Theyre as helpless as newborn babies," Dilorom said.

They feed seven times a day and die if their meal is an hour late. Dead ones must be removed promptly lest they infect the others swarming among the fresh mulberry twigs that Dilorom has risen at dawn to gather.

Sensitive to light, noise and breeze, the silkworms grow up in a humid barn next to the familys dilapidated adobe house. Their munching sounds like the patter of raindrops.

Speaking of this years season, Dilorom recalled: "We worked hard, had to miss some classes. Just like many other kids in school."

"In some schools, they raise silkworms as part of their home economics class," said Khaitboy Yakubov of Najot, a rights group in the western city of Urgench.

For the farmers and their children, "silk farming opens an annual cycle of forced labor and abuse by authorities," said Ganikhon Mamatkhonov, a rights activist who investigated numerous cases of abuse of Uzbek farmers.

The risks these advocates run are considerable. Months after Mamatkhonov spoke to the AP in May 2009, he was jailed for five years on bribery charges � one of dozens of government critics imprisoned in recent years. Mamatkhonovs colleagues say he was framed.

Underage labor is not limited to Uzbekistans silk industry � it has also been exposed in Indias silk industry. But this former Soviet republic seems unique in the lengths to which it goes to keep the silk spinning.

Yavkashtiyev of the Agriculture Ministry acknowledges that local authorities prescribe quotas based on farm size. A farmer with 50 to 60 hectares 120 to 150 acres "must harvest two or three tons of raw cocoons," he said.

Artificial substitutes such as viscose and nylon have greatly diminished demand for real silk, but it remains a material associated with luxury and style, and has medicinal and military uses such as parachutes.

The most recent available figures, from the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, put Uzbekistans silk earnings at $57 million in 2005 from 17,000 tons of raw cocoons.

This month, Uzbek media put the harvest at 25,200 metric tons.

Silk-growing nations such as South Korea and Japan have switched to less labor-intensive mulberry bushes and mechanized leaf harvest. But Uzbek authorities prefer to "follow the old school, where big mulberry trees are utilized for feeding silkworms," says Hisham Greiss, a Chicago-based expert on silk farming.

And they are relentless. Sukhrobjon Ismoilov of the Expert Working Group, an independent think tank based in the capital, Tashkent, says local officials threaten to annul land leases, delay payments through government-affiliated banks, and even resort to physical abuse.

Although Soviet-era collective farms were disbanded after Uzbekistan became independent in 1991, their land was never privatized, which leaves farmers in constant fear of sanctions and even court convictions for not meeting quotas for cotton, grain and silk cocoons, rights groups say. The Najot group said at least 20 farmers were jailed for up to several years in 2009 alone.

"Farmers and agricultural workers earn low wages, which the state seldom pays on a regular basis," said a 2009 U.S. State Department report on Uzbekistan. "The government controls the agriculture sector, dictates what farms grow, and buys directly from the farmers to sell abroad."

Uzbek Ipagi, the state-run monopoly, exports Uzbek silk to China, India, South Korea and Western Europe. Some stays in Uzbekistan to be woven into scarves or rugs at small factories and mainly sold to tourists.

They rarely reach Western stores. "I never saw any silk garment with a tag Made in Uzbekistan" in U.S. stores," Greiss said.

Several joint ventures process Uzbek silk, but Western investment here is limited, and the companies keep a low profile.

Rustam Zakhidov, director general of Silver Silk, an Uzbek-British joint venture, said his company sells silk ribbons and thread worth $1.5 million a year to India, Vietnam, China and Turkey. He would not identify his British partners.

In 2009, the Uzbek Ipagi monopoly sold cocoons for about $6 a kilogram $2.70 a pound_ or almost eight times what it paid the farmers, and even that money isnt guaranteed, say the farmers, who complain that payment can be delayed for months, even years.

Pointing to the dry mulberry twigs in his yard, farmer Kayumov said: "All we have left is firewood for the winter."

Full Text RSS Feeds | WordPress Auto Translator