95 snakes found in burst bag at Malaysia airport AP

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia A Malaysian man pleaded guilty to wildlife smuggling after his bag bursting with 95 live boa constrictors broke open on a luggage conveyer belt at Kuala Lumpur International Airport, an official said Friday.

Keng Liang "Anson" Wong, 52, who was previously convicted of wildlife trafficking in the United States, was charged Wednesday in a district court with exporting the endangered boas without a permit, said Shamsuddin Osman, an official with Malaysias wildlife department.

The offense that carries a penalty of up to seven years in prison and a fine, Shamsuddin said.

Wong was arrested Aug. 26 after airport authorities found the boa constrictors, together with a few other snakes and a turtle, when his bag broke open on a luggage conveyor belt. Wong was transiting from Malaysias northern Penang state to Indonesias capital Jakarta.

The court will reconvene Monday pending Wongs appointment of a lawyer, Shamsuddin said.

He said the criminal charges involve the boas only, because the other animals are not listed as endangered. All of the animals are alive and under the care of wildlife officials, Shamsuddin said.

A decade ago, Wong was sentenced to almost six years in prison in the U.S. for running an animal-smuggling ring that prosecutors said imported and sold more than 300 protected reptiles native to Asia and Africa from 1996 until Wongs arrest in Mexico in 1998. It is unclear whether he served the full term.

Activists say the illegal wildlife trade used to flourish in Malaysia until the country recently stepped up efforts to crack down on it. In July, Parliament passed a new law to punish poachers and smugglers more severely, but the act has not yet taken effect.

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Jobs report may show rise in unemployment rate AP

WASHINGTON The unemployment rate may be about to rise again.

Economists are bracing for a weak showing in the August employment report, which is scheduled to be released Friday. The private sector is forecast to add a net total of only 41,000 jobs, the fewest since January, which isnt enough to keep up with population growth. The jobless rate is expected to increase to 9.6 percent from 9.5 percent, the first rise since April.

The anemic economy is causing companies to conserve cash and hold back on hiring. While most economists expect the nation to avoid another recession, growth will likely be so weak for the rest of this year that the jobless rate could move back above 10 percent by early next year.

"Ultimately, businesses will hire if they feel confident there will be revenue growth in the future," said Julie Coronado, an economist at BNP Paribas. "But were growing at a pretty slow pace."

Overall, total payrolls are forecast to drop by 100,000, because about 115,000 temporary census jobs ended last month.

The weak pace of job creation is raising concerns among economists about whether the economy can keep growing after government programs, such as the homebuyers tax credit, ends.

"The idea is that as the stimulus falls away, the private sector is supposed to pick up steam," said Scott Brown, an economist at Raymond James.

Instead, businesses now face uncertainty about whether tax cuts enacted in 2001 and 2003 will be allowed to expire, Brown noted, which "isnt helpful."

But rising unemployment may force Congress to resolve that uncertainty. An increasing number of Democrats are joining congressional Republicans in opposing President Barack Obamas plans to let tax cuts on upper income earners end.

A jobless rate nearing 10 percent would also raise pressure on the Federal Reserve to do more to jump start the economy. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said last week the central bank will take more steps if necessary. But he also said the foundations have already been laid for economic growth to accelerate next year.

There were some positive economic reports Thursday. Figures on unemployment claims, store sales and home-buying contracts all trended in the right direction, allaying fears that the economy is on the brink of another stumble.

For now, companies arent resorting to widespread layoffs. New applications for unemployment benefits declined for the second straight week after rising in the previous three to above the half-million mark.

"This is something of a relief, because it suggests that the 504,000 claims number from two weeks ago was a fluke rather than an indication that the trend has suddenly surged higher," said Ian Shepherdson, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics.

Claims for unemployment aid fell last week by 6,000 to a seasonally adjusted 472,000, the Labor Department said. There would be far fewer claims in a healthy economy. When economic output is growing rapidly and employers are hiring, claims generally drop below 400,000.

Retailers, meanwhile, reported surprisingly strong sales in August compared to a year ago. The International Council of Shopping Centers index of 31 major retailers was up 3.2 percent in August, following a 2.8 percent gain in July.

Costco Wholesale Corp. posted a robust gain, boosted by higher gas prices and improved international revenue. Limited Brands Inc. and Macys Inc. also reported solid revenue increases. But Target Corp.s results came in below expectations.

In housing, perhaps the weakest area of the economy, a report from the National Association of Realtors offered some mild optimism. The number of people who signed contracts to buy homes rose in July, though the total remained well below levels last year.

Home sales are at the lowest level in more than a decade, even as mortgage rates plummet. The average 30-year mortgage dropped to 4.32 percent this week, down from 4.36 percent last week, according to mortgage buyer Freddie Mac. Thats the 10th time in the past 11 weeks that rates have hit their have lowest level since Freddie Mac began tracking them in 1971.

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Associated Press Writers Martin Crutsinger, Alan Zibel and Anne DInnocenzio contributed to this report.

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Dolphins caught, not killed, in Japan cove AP

TOKYO Dolphins have been herded into a cove as part of an annual hunt in the Japanese seaside town made famous by an Oscar-winning documentary about their slaughter, conservationist group Sea Shepherd said Friday. A town official said none were killed.

The dolphin hunt at Taiji, documented in "The Cove," begins Sept. 1 every year. The boats returned empty Wednesday. But on Thursday, some dolphins were corralled into the inlet, according to anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd and a fishing official in Taiji.

The official in charge of media queries at the Taiji fishing organization said a handful of dolphins were kept for aquariums, but the rest were set free Friday morning. He declined to give details.

He said the criticism the town has received from the West was unfair because residents were merely trying to make a living, and the rocky landscape made it difficult to go into farming or livestock.

Sea Shepherd said it has been monitoring Taiji with a small crew of Australians, New Zealanders, Americans and Japanese this week.

Ric OBarry, who stars in "The Cove," has gathered about 100 people in Tokyo, including supporters from abroad, to protest the dolphin slaughter. He took a petition with 1.7 million signatures from 155 nations to the U.S. Embassy on Thursday.

"The dolphins need defenders at the cove today and tomorrow," said Michael Dalton of Sea Shepherd in a statement from Taiji. "If you came to Japan to save dolphins, the place to be is Taiji and the time to be here is now."

OBarry, 70, the former dolphin trainer for the 1960s "Flipper" TV show, has received threats from a violent nationalist group and skipped going to Taiji this year, a trip he makes every year to try to save the dolphins.

He said he had been advised by Japanese authorities not to go to Taiji, and repeatedly stressed that he does not want confrontation.

He was flanked by police, as well as supporters, when he went to the U.S. Embassy. But some of his supporters said they are headed to Taiji.

Nationalist groups say criticism of dolphin hunting is a denigration of Japanese culture.

The Japanese government allows a hunt of about 20,000 dolphins a year, and argues that killing them � and whales � is no different from raising cows or pigs for slaughter. Most Japanese have never eaten dolphin meat and, even in Taiji, it is not consumed regularly.

The government is also critical of Sea Shepherd, which has harrassed Japanese whaling ships. In July, a Tokyo court convicted New Zealander Peter Bethune, a former Sea Shepherd activist, of obstructing a Japanese whaling mission in the Antarctic Ocean, assault, trespassing and other charges. He was not sent to prison and was deported.

"The Cove," which won this years Academy Award for best documentary, depicts a handful of fishermen from the town of Taiji who scare dolphins into a cove and kill them slowly, piercing them repeatedly until the waters turn red with blood. Other Japanese towns that hunt dolphins kill them at sea.

Taiji, which has a population of 3,500 people, defends the dolphin killing as tradition and a livelihood. Most of the dolphins are generally eaten as meat after a handful of the best looking are sold off to aquariums.

"Im not losing hope. Our voice is being heard in Taiji," said OBarry, who has campaigned for four decades to save dolphins not only from slaughter but also from captivity.

The films Japanese debut became a free-speech fight. It opened in some theaters in June after earlier screenings were canceled when cinemas received a flood of angry phone calls and threats by far-right nationalists.

Louie Psihoyos, the director of "The Cove," said he doesnt agree with blindly sticking with tradition.

"In America we had a much longer tradition of slavery, but that was banned," Psihoyos told The Associated Press. "My message to Japan is to see the movie for yourself with an open mind."

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On the Net:

"The Cove": http://ping.fm/N01Qd

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Indonesian volcano spews new burst of ash AP

TANAH KARO, Indonesia An Indonesian volcano sent a new, powerful burst of hot ash high into the air early Friday, violently shaking homes and trees along the slopes and sending panicked villagers scurrying back to safety.

"This was a big one" said 37-year-old Anto Sembiring, who fled his coffee shop not far from the craters mouth, joining hundreds of others gathered near Mount Sinabungs base. "It shot up at least 3,000 meters yards."

The air was thick with the smell of sulfur and visibility was limited to just a few yards meters.

Mount Sinabung erupted for the first time in four centuries on Sunday and Monday, catching many scientists off guard and forcing at least 30,000 people living along its fertile slopes in North Sumatra province to be evacuated.

In recent days, as the mountain quieted, many had returned home to tend to their dust-covered crops and to reopen small businesses, despite warnings by vulcanologists that the alert level was still high.

The eruption Friday, which started at around 4:45 a.m., as many people were sleeping, appeared to be the strongest yet, said Surono, who heads the nations volcano alert center, adding that the tremor could be felt five miles eight kilometers away.

"Everything around us was shaking," said Sembiring, the coffee shop owner, adding that he and many others ignored vulcanologists warnings ahead of the blast that activity was increasing.

"When it blew, we all ran as fast as we could," he said. "Everyone was panicking."

Mount Sinabung last erupted in 1600, and government vulcanologists acknowledged they had made no efforts before the mountain started rumbling last week to sample gases or look out for rising magma or other signs of seismic activity.

They were too busy with more than 129 active volcanoes in Indonesia, a seismically charged region because of its location on the so-called "Ring of Fire" � a series of fault lines stretching from the Western Hemisphere through Japan and Southeast Asia.

They said from now on they will be watching it very closely.

There are fears that current activity could foreshadow a much more destructive explosion in a few weeks or months, though it is possible, too, that the mountain will go back to sleep after letting off steam.

The archipelagic nation has recorded some of the largest eruptions in history.

The 1815 explosion of Mount Tambora buried the inhabitants of Sumbawa Island under searing ash, gas and rock, killing an estimated 88,000 people.

The 1883 eruption of Krakatoa could be heard 2,000 miles 3,200 kilometers away and blackened skies region-wide for months. At least 36,000 people were killed in the blast and the tsunami that followed.

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Associated Press Writer Niniek Karmini contributed to this report from Jakarta.

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Hopeful sign: More talks for Israel, Palestinians AP

WASHINGTON In an early sign of promise, Israeli and Palestinian leaders pledged Thursday in a cordial first round of talks to keep meeting at regular intervals, aiming to nail down a framework for overcoming deep disputes and achieving lasting peace within a year.

As their facilitator-in-chief, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to rise above the suspicion and skepticism that has blocked peace efforts for decades. "By being here today, you each have taken an important step toward freeing your peoples from the shackles of a history we cannot change," she said.

The eventual aim is the creation of a sovereign Palestinian state beside a secure Israel.

Thursdays results, in the first face-to-face peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians in nearly two years, were modest � and acknowledged as such by all sides. There was no detailed negotiation on any substantive issue, according to George Mitchell, the administrations special envoy for Mideast peace, who held months of preparatory talks and was a participant in most of the days discussions.

Netanyahu and Abbas will meet again on Sept. 14 and 15 in the Middle East, probably at the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheik, with Clinton and Mitchell attending. The two also agreed to meet roughly every two weeks after that � sometimes with U.S. officials present, other times not.

Mitchell offered no timeline for agreeing on the initial framework, which he said was to be "less than a full-fledged treaty" but more detailed than a statement of principles.

A major obstacle is looming: Israels moratorium on Jewish settlement construction in the disputed West Bank is due to expire Sept. 26. The Palestinians have said that unless the freeze is extended, the fledgling peace talks will collapse in short order.

In his public remarks Thursday, Netanyahu made no reference to an extension; Abbas called for an end to settlement expansion, but he raised the matter in the context of both sides living up to commitments, including a Palestinian pledge to end all incitement of violence against Israelis.

Thats not entirely under Abbas control.

Gunmen from the militant Palestinian Hamas movement killed four Israeli residents of a West Bank settlement on Tuesday. And, on Wednesday, hours before the leaders had dinner with President Barack Obama and Clinton at the White House, Hamas gunmen wounded two Israelis as they drove in another part of the West Bank.

Hamas rejected the talks and stepped up its rhetoric as the ceremony in Washington began.

"These talks are not legitimate because the Palestinian people did not give any mandate to Mahmoud Abbas and his team to negotiate on behalf of our people," said Sami Abu Zuhri, a spokesman. "Therefore, any result and outcome of these talks does not commit us and does not commit our people, it only commits Abbas himself."

In Washington, the atmosphere was mostly upbeat.

In his opening remarks, Netanyahu at one point turned to Abbas and said, "I see in you a partner for peace. Together, we can lead our people to a historic future that can put an end to claims and to conflict."

Abbas struck an optimistic tone, too. "Were not starting from scratch," he said, noting that all the central issues in dispute are well known.

Both cautioned, however, that hard decisions lay ahead.

When the two leaders had finished their introductory remarks, they shook hands, a smiling Clinton seated between them.

In a plea for both sides to compromise, Clinton said the Obama administration has no illusions about a quick breakthrough.

"Weve been here before, and we know how difficult the road ahead will be," she said. "There undoubtedly will be obstacles and setbacks. Those who oppose the cause of peace will try in every way possible to sabotage this process, as we have already seen this week."

Mitchell declined to detail exactly what the framework agreement would include but said it would lay out the main compromises necessary to get to a full peace treaty.

"Our goal is to resolve all of the core issues within one year, and the parties themselves have suggested and agreed that the logical way to proceed, to tackle them, is to try to reach a framework agreement first," he told reporters as Abbas and Netanyahu remained in a one-on-one session that completed the days talks. On Wednesday, Abbas and Netanyahu met separately with Obama at the White House.

The compromises the two sides seek would involve the thorniest issues that have dogged the parties for decades: the borders of an eventual Palestinian state, the political status of Jerusalem, West Bank settlements, the fate of Palestinian refugees and security.

"I know the decision to sit at this table was not easy," said Clinton, who with Mitchell has been working to relaunch talks stalled for 20 months. "We understand the suspicion and skepticism that so many feel borne out of years of conflict and frustrated hopes."

Flanked by Abbas and Netanyahu at the head of a U-shaped table in the State Departments ornate Benjamin Franklin room, Clinton said the Obama administration was committed to an agreement. She stressed, though, that the heavy lifting must be done by Netanyahu and Abbas with support from the international community, particularly the Arab and Israeli publics.

Netanyahu and Abbas vowed to work together but each outlined concessions required from the other.

Netanyahu said to Abbas: "Together we can lead our people to a historic future that can put an end to claims and to conflict. Now this will not be easy. A true peace, a lasting peace would be achieved only with mutual and painful concessions from both sides."

Abbas called on Israel to end Jewish settlements in the West Bank and other areas that the Palestinians want to be part off their own state. Netanyahu insisted that any agreement must ensure Israels security as a Jewish state.

"We do know how hard are the hurdles and obstacles we face during these negotiations � negotiations that within a year should result in an agreement that will bring peace," Abbas said.

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Associated Press Writers Matti Friedman and Abed Arnaout contributed to this story.

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Most Asian stocks rise on improving US data AP

TOKYO Most Asian stock markets climbed Friday as investors took heart from improving U.S. housing and jobs data amid lingering worries over the pace of the global economic recovery.

But gains were modest across the region as investors took a wait-and-see stance ahead of closely-watched U.S. employment data due out Friday. The jobless rate for August is expected to rise to 9.6 percent from 9.5 percent in July, according to Thomson Reuters.

Japans benchmark Nikkei 225 stock index rose 34.79 points, or 0.4 percent, to 9,097.63 in the morning session. South Koreas Kospi edged up 0.3 percent to 1,780.83. Australias S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.2 percent at 4,573.40.

Elsewhere, Hong Kongs Hang Seng index added 0.2 percent to 20,918.81. Markets in New Zealand, Singapore and Taiwan all advanced in early trading.

But the Shanghai Composite Index slipped 0.1 percent to 2,652.14. Stocks in Malaysia also declined.

In New York on Thursday, the Dow Jones industrial average added 50.63 points, or 0.5 percent, to 10,320.10.

Sentiment on Wall Street turned upbeat after the National Association of Realtors said Thursday that the number of buyers who signed contracts to purchase homes rose 5.2 percent in July after hitting a record low in June.

A fall in new claims for U.S. unemployment aid last week also helped lift sentiment. The Labor Department said Thursday that the number of American people requesting jobless benefits fell by 6,000 the previous week to a seasonally adjusted 472,000.

The four-week average of claims, a less-volatile measure, also fell by 2,500 to 485,500, the first drop after four straight increases. But even with the declines, U.S. jobless claims are still at much higher levels than they would be in a healthy economy.

When economic output is growing rapidly and employers are hiring, such claims generally drop below 400,000.

In currencies, the dollar rose to 84.38 yen in Tokyo Friday from 84.28 yen in New York late Thursday. The euro slipped to $1.2821 from $1.2828.

Benchmark oil for October delivery rose $1.11 to settle at $75.02 a barrel Thursday on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices dropped as low as $73.11 earlier in the session.

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Calderon: Violence price worth paying in drug war AP

MEXICO CITY President Felipe Calderon tried to rally frustrated Mexicans behind his increasingly bloody drug war Thursday, saying he knows violence has surged under his watch, but arguing that it is the price of confronting powerful and brutal cartels.

Calderon delivered his annual state-of-the-nation address two days after his government brought down the third major kingpin in less than a year. But it also came less than two weeks after the massacre of 72 migrants near the U.S. border, which laid bare how freely drug traffickers operate in pockets of the country, no matter how many capos are captured.

"I am well aware that over the past year, violence has worsened," Calderon said. "But we must battle on."

Calderon has struggled to maintain support for a fight that was hugely popular when he first deployed tens of thousands of soldiers and federal police to drug-cartel strongholds across the country in late 2006.

Since then, gang violence has become more shocking, with beheaded bodies hung from bridges and police discovering pits filled with dozens of slain cartel victims. Gangs have employed warfare tactics previously unseen in Mexico, including car bombs and blockades in front of police stations and army garrisons.

Underscoring the point, a shootout later Thursday between soldiers and suspected cartel gunmen in Tamaulipas state, near Texas, left 25 suspects dead.

The gunbattle began after an airborne patrol over Ciudad Mier spotted gunmen in front of a property. When troops moved in on the ground, suspected gang members opened fire. A military spokesman who was not authorized to be quoted by name said the property was a ranch controlled by the Zetas drug gang. No soldiers were killed, but two were injured.

A debate now rages in Mexico: Critics, especially Mexicans who live in the most violent cities, believe the government is losing control. Calderon and his supporters argue the violence is a sign drug gangs are reeling and fighting with each other as their bosses fall one by one.

"If we want a safe Mexico for the Mexicans of the future, we must take on the cost of achieving it today," Calderon said.

Calderons supporters include the U.S. government, which backs his fight with millions of dollars in aid.

Although Mexicos violence increasingly worries Washington � President Barack Obama sent more National Guard troops to the border last week, and the State Department pulled the children of American diplomats out of the northern city of Monterrey � U.S. officials say they dont believe drug cartels are growing stronger.

"I dont know that I would characterize it as more powerful, but I would certainly say they are more aggressive," said David Johnson, assistant secretary of state for international narcotics, who was in Mexico City this week.

Calderon got a major boost with the capture Monday of Texas-born Edgar Valdez Villarreal, alias "La Barbie," who is wanted in three U.S. states for cocaine trafficking and had turned central Mexico into a bloody battleground as he fought a rival for control of the Beltran Leyva cartel.

U.S. and Mexican officials hailed the arrest as the product of deeper cooperation between the two countries and the improving intelligence capabilities of Mexican federal security forces.

Authorities have expressed hope that more cartel leaders will be captured with the help of Valdez, who seems to be cooperating with investigators.

Federal police released a video of La Barbie discussing a meeting several years ago in which Mexicos top cartels reached a nonaggression pact. Valdez told police that Sinaloa cartel leader Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman � the worlds most powerful drug trafficker by some accounts � was the first to break that pact two years ago when he tried to wrest smuggling routes through the northern state of Chihuahua from the Juarez cartel. That fight � which U.S. law-enforcement officials say El Chapo has largely won � has turned the border city of Ciudad Juarez into one of the worlds deadliest.

Two other major capos have been killed in shootouts with the Mexican military since December: La Barbies boss, Arturo Beltran Leyva, and Ignacio Nacho Coronel, No. 3 in the Sinaloa cartel.

Calderon touted the militarys work, and added that Mexican officials also had made 34,515 drug-related arrests over the past year, including more than 700 gang leaders.

And yet the cartel operatives still at large continue to kidnap, extort and kill with impunity.

"No cartel is desperate," said Federico Toto, a school teacher in Monterrey. "Ask those who are going to take La Barbies place, for example, if they are desperate. The only thing security forces are achieving is that the trash at the bottom rises to the top. Its a cycle."

In his speech, Calderon didnt mention how many of the drug suspects arrested this year were convicted � or even charged. According to the report he handed over to Congress, just 12 percent of criminal investigations under his administration have ended in convictions. Government figures obtained by The Associated Press show that three-quarters of the drug suspects arrested have been freed.

Calderon said that he has started to tackle that problem with U.S.-backed training of federal police and a massive reform of Mexicos secretive, inquisitorial justice system.

But until such a reform takes place, criminals "have no fear of the government," said Mexican drug-war expert Jorge Chabat. "They have no fear at all they are ever going to be brought to justice."

The shortcomings of Mexicos criminal-justice system were on full display earlier this week when a cartel suspects trial ended with his acquittal on kidnapping charges.

During Jose Luis Carrizales yearslong trial, several police officers, prison guards, a judge and a defense attorney were killed. On Tuesday, authorities transferred Carrizales to a prison in the northern state of Tamaulipas, where he faced murder charges.

He was killed by other prisoners hours after his arrival.

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Associated Press Writers E. Eduardo Castillo in Mexico City and Mark Walsh in Monterrey, Mexico, contributed to this report.

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Typhoon kills 5 South Koreans AP

SEOUL, South Korea The death toll from Typhoon Kompasu, which battered the Korean peninsula with strong winds and heavy rains, rose to five in South Korea, an official said Friday.

The typhoon struck Seoul the day before, toppling trees, streetlights and scaffolding in what was called the strongest storm to hit the capital area in 15 years.

Powerful gusts knocked over power lines, cutting off electricity to tens of thousands of homes and forcing airports to cancel or delay more than 60 international flights, the National Emergency Management Agency said.

Authorities later resumed service on flights, Seoul subway lines and five railway routes, emergency officials said.

Streets in Seoul were littered with tree branches. Some parked cars were wrecked by construction scaffolding knocked over by the storm.

An 80-year-old man died after being hit by a roof tile and a 37-year-old businessman was killed by a falling tree branch on his way to work. Three other people were also killed in similar typhoon-related incidents later Thursday, NEMA official Shin Seok-soon said Friday.

Elementary and middle schools in the capital were ordered to delay the start of classes by two hours, while all public and private kindergartens were closed Thursday, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education said.

The storm caused at least 10 billion won $8.3 million in damage to a sports stadium in Incheon, west of Seoul, stadium officials said.

Power was out at more than 60,000 homes along South Koreas west coast before being back on in nearly all residences, officials said.

Kompasu, the Japanese word for "compass," landed on Ganghwa Island, about 40 miles 70 kilometers west of Seoul before leaving the Korean peninsula on Thursday, said officials.

The typhoon also caused torrential rains and heavy gusts throughout North Korea, the countrys state media reported. It didnt say whether there were any fatalities or provide damage estimates.

Last month, floods swamped farmland, houses and public buildings in North Koreas northwestern city of Sinuiju and adjacent areas and displaced more than 23,000 people, according to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

Earlier this week, South Koreas Red Cross offered North Korea relief aid worth 10 billion won.

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Mexico: Soldiers kill 25 in gunbattle near border AP

MONTERREY, Mexico A shootout between soldiers and purported drug cartel gunmen killed 25 suspects Thursday in northern Nuevo Leon state, near Mexicos border with Texas, the military said.

Troops were patrolling in the town of General Trevino around noon when they came under fire from a ranch allegedly controlled by the Zetas drug gang, according to a military spokesman who was not authorized to be quoted by name.

They returned fire and invaded the ranch, known as "The Stump." At least 25 suspected cartel operatives died, but no soldiers were killed or wounded seriously, the spokesman said.

Authorities rescued three people believed to be kidnap victims, he added, and seized 20 vehicles and an unspecified quantity of weapons and ammunition.

Drug violence has claimed more than 28,000 lives since President Felipe Calderon intensified a crackdown on cartels after taking office in late 2006.

The Zetas began as a gang of drug assassins but have since evolved into a powerful cartel. A fight between the Zetas and their former allies, the Gulf cartel, has increased the rate of killings in Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas states, according to government figures.

The Zetas are suspected of being responsible for the kidnapping and killing of 72 Central and South American migrants in Tamaulipas last week, in what could be Mexicos biggest drug-related massacre.

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Earl weakens but still powerful as it smacks NC AP

BUXTON, N.C. The last ferry left for the mainland and coastal residents hunkered down at home as Hurricane Earl closed in with 110 mph winds Thursday on North Carolinas dangerously exposed Outer Banks, the first and potentially most destructive stop on the storms projected journey up the Eastern Seaboard.

The first bands of heavy rain hit the long ribbon of barrier islands Thursday night. The downpours started in several bursts as the storms so-called rain shield whirled into the southeasternmost tip of the Outer Banks.

Hurricane Earls winds were slowing, from 140 mph early Thursday to 110 mph, Category 2 strength, by 8 p.m. But forecasters warned that it remained powerful, with hurricane-force winds of 74 mph or more extending 70 miles from its center and tropical storm-force winds of at least 35 mph reaching more than 200 miles out.

National Weather Service meteorologist Hal Austin said the eye of the hurricane was expected to get as close as 55 miles east of the Outer Banks about 2 a.m. Friday. The coast is expected to be lashed by hurricane-force winds for a couple of hours.

Earls arrival could mark the start of at least 24 hours of stormy, windy weather along the East Coast. During its march up the Atlantic, it could snarl travelers Labor Day weekend plans and strike a second forceful blow to the vacation homes and cottages on Long Island, Nantucket Island and Cape Cod.

It was unclear exactly how close Earls center and its strongest winds would get to land. But Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Craig Fugate said people shouldnt wait for the next forecast to act.

"This is a day of action. Conditions are going to deteriorate rapidly," he said.

Shelters were open in inland North Carolina, and officials on Nantucket Island, Mass., planned to set up a shelter at a high school on Friday. North Carolina shut down ferry service between the Outer Banks and the mainland. Boats were being pulled from the water in the Northeast, and lobstermen in Maine set their traps out in deeper water to protect them.

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick and Rhode Island Gov. Donald Carcieri declared a state of emergency. Similar declarations have also made in North Carolina, Virginia and Maryland.

As of Thursday afternoon, though, the only evacuations ordered were on the Outer Banks, which sticks out into the Atlantic Ocean like the side-view mirror on a car, vulnerable to a sideswiping. About 35,000 tourists and residents were urged to leave.

A slow winding down was expected to continue as the storm moved into cooler waters, but forecasters warned the size of the storms wind field was increasing, similar to what happened when Hurricane Katrina approached the Gulf Coast five years ago.

"It will be bigger. The storm wont be as strong, but they spread out as they go north and the rain will be spreading from New England," National Hurricane Center Director Bill Read said.

In North Carolina, the end of an already dilapidated wooden pier in Frisco, one of the villages on Hatteras Island, collapsed after being battered by high surf Thursday. It had been closed to the public because of past storm damage.

Hundreds of the Outer Banks more hardy residents gassed up their generators and planned to hunker down at home behind their boarded-up windows, even though officials warned them that it could be three days before they could expect any help and that storm surge could again slice through the islands. It took crews two months to fill the breach and rebuild the only road to the mainland when Hurricane Isabel carved a 2,000-foot-wide channel in 2003.

"Its kind of nerve-racking, but Ive been through this before," said 65-year-old Herma De Gier, who has lived in the village of Avon since 1984. De Gier said she will ride out the storm at a neighbors house but wants to be close enough to her own property so she can quickly deal with any damage.

Officials warned once the winds began to pick up, police, firefighters and paramedics probably werent going to answer emergency calls.

"Once this storm comes in and becomes serious, once its at its worst point, we are not going to put any emergency worker in harms way," North Carolina Gov. Beverly Perdue said.

Forecasters said that after Earl passes the Outer Banks, a kink in the jetstream over the eastern U.S. should push the storm away from the coast, guiding it like a marble in a groove.

Earl is expected to move north-northeast for much of Friday, staying away from New Jersey and the other mid-Atlantic states, but also passing very close to Long Island, Cape Cod and Nantucket, which could get gusts up to 100 mph. The storm is expected to finally move ashore in Canada sometime Saturday afternoon.

Much of New England should expect strong, gusty winds much like a noreaster, along with fallen trees and downed power lines, forecasters said.

"This is the strongest hurricane to threaten the Northeast and New England since Hurricane Bob in 1991," said Dennis Feltgen, a meteorologist with the National Hurricane Center.

Clayton Smith and his colleagues at a yacht servicing company in New England scrambled to Nantucket to pull boats to safety, hoping to get about 40 vessels out of the water in two days.

"Complacency is a bad thing," Smith said. "Its better to be safe than sorry."

But many people in Nantucket werent too worried about Earl. Arnos Main Street Grill plans to stay open Friday as long as possible said owner Chris Morris. The hurricane might even be good for business.

"Theres not much else to do during a hurricane besides eat and drink," he said. "I mean, theres only so many times you can visit the whaling museum."

The storm is likely to disrupt travel as people try to squeeze in a few more days of summer vacation over Labor Day. Continental Airlines canceled 50 departures from Newark on its Continental Connection and Continental Express routes along the East Coast, beginning Thursday night. Other airlines were watching the forecast and waiving fees for changing flights. Amtrak canceled trains to Newport News, near Virginias coast, from Richmond, Va., and Washington. Ferry operators across the Northeast warned their service would likely be interrupted.

And the Army Corps of Engineers warned it would have to close the two bridges connecting Cape Cod to the rest of Massachusetts if winds got above 70 mph.

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Associated Press Writers Christine Armario in Miami; Martha Waggoner, Emery Dalesio and Gary Robertson in Raleigh, N.C.; Tom Breen in Morehead City, N.C.; Bruce Smith in Jacksonville, N.C.; Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, S.C.; David Sharp in Portland, Maine; Mark Pratt in Boston; David Porter in Trenton, N.J.; David Koenig in Dallas; and Frank Eltman in Stony Brook, N.Y., contributed to this report.

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Ecuadorean survivor urges migrants to avoid Mexico AP

QUITO, Ecuador One of two known survivors of a drug gangs massacre in northern Mexico of 72 undocumented Central and South American migrants urged others in an interview broadcast Thursday not to attempt the journey to the United States.

Luis Freddy Lala Pomavilla, 18, also described being seized by gunmen after entering Mexico from Guatemala and then taken to a house where the migrants were tied up and kept overnight before being shot in the head.

"Im telling everyone, Ecuadoreans, dont make the journey any more because the Zetas are killing a lot of people," Lala said, referring to the drug gang that dominates parts of Tamaulipas state, where he was found last week.

Lala, who was wounded in the neck, wore a brace and part of his face was bandaged. His speech was labored in the four-minute interview with state-run GamaTV.

"There are a lot of bad people who wont let you through," he said in the edited interview, which was apparently recorded during his plane flight home from Mexico on Sunday.

He did not say why the migrants, who included Salvadorans, Hondurans, Guatemalans and a Brazilian, were killed.

Mexican authorities have speculated they refused to serve as couriers for illegal drugs, but Lala was not asked about a possible motive in the interview.

Ecuadorean officials, who have put him in a witness protection program, refused to put The Associated Press in touch with the state TV journalists who interviewed Lala.

The identity of the other survivor, a Honduran, has not been released.

Lala said that after arriving on the northeastern Mexico coast from Guatemala by boat, he and his 76 traveling companions were traveling by vehicle when they were stopped by three cars from which eight gunmen emerged.

"They put us in a house and tied us in groups of four with hands tied behind our backs. They held us there one night," he said.

A native of the small southern Ecuadorean town of Ger, Lala described the killing the next day, presumably on Sunday, Aug. 22, two days before the bodies were found.

"They threw us face down ... and then I heard the sound of shooting," he said. "I heard them shoot my friends, and later they shot me."

After the massacre was over, he said, the gunmen left.

"I waited two minutes, I got up, I left the house and walked all night," he said.

Lala initially approached two men he said he encountered at a streetlight but they wouldnt help him. He said he walked and ran another 10 kilometers six miles until he found another group, which also refused the help.

At about 7 a.m. the next morning, he said, he encountered the Mexican marines who aided him.

Also Thursday, forensic investigators said the identity of four massacre victims thought to be Hondurans was not clear.

Of 16 bodies delivered to the Central American country, "12 have been positively identified through fingerprints, dental records, tattoos and surgical intervention, but there are doubts about four of them," said Danelia Ferrera, chief prosecutor for the Public Ministry.

Authorities were conducting further tests and comparing notes with Guatemala and El Salvador to see whether the victims may have come from those nations.

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Associated Press writer Freddy Cuevas in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, contributed to this report.

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Oil platform explodes off La. coast; crew rescued AP

NEW ORLEANS An oil platform exploded and burned off the Louisiana coast Thursday, the second such disaster in the Gulf of Mexico in less than five months. This time, the Coast Guard said there was no leak, and no one was killed.

The Coast Guard initially reported that an oil sheen a mile long and 100 feet wide had begun to spread from the site of the blast, about 200 miles west of the source of BPs massive spill. But hours later, Coast Guard Cmdr. Cheri Ben-Iesau said crews were unable to find any spill.

The company that owns the platform, Houston-based Mariner Energy, did not know what caused the explosion.

Mariner officials said there were seven active production wells on the platform, and they were shut down shortly before the fire broke out.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said the company told him the fire began in 100 barrels of light oil condensate, but officials did not know yet what sparked the flames.

The Coast Guard said Mariner Energy reported the oil sheen. In a public statement, the company said an initial flyover did not show any oil.

Photos from the scene showed at least five ships floating near the platform. Three of them were shooting great plumes of water onto the machinery. Light smoke could be seen drifting across the deep blue waters of the gulf.

By late afternoon, the fire on the platform was out.

The platform is in about 340 feet of water and about 100 miles south of Louisianas Vermilion Bay. Its location is considered shallow water, much less than the approximately 5,000 feet where BPs well spewed oil and gas for three months after the April rig explosion that killed 11 workers.

Responding to any oil spill in shallow water would be much easier than in deep water, where crews depend on remote-operated vehicles to access equipment on the sea floor.

A Homeland Security update obtained by The Associated Press said the platform was producing 58,800 gallons of oil and 900,000 cubic feet of gas per day. The platform can store 4,200 gallons of oil.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said the administration has "response assets ready for deployment should we receive reports of pollution in the water."

All 13 of the platforms crew members were rescued from the water. They were found huddled together in life jackets.

The captain of the boat that rescued the platform crew said his vessel was 25 miles away when it received a distress call Thursday morning from the platform.

The Crystal Clear, a 110-foot boat, was in the Gulf doing routine maintenance work on oil rigs and platforms. When Capt. Dan Shaw arrived at the scene of the blast, the workers were holding hands in the water, where they had been for two hours. They were thirsty and tired.

"We gave them soda and water, anything they wanted to drink," Shaw said. "They were just glad to be on board with us."

Shaw said the blast was so sudden that the crew did not have time to get into lifeboats. They did not mention what might have caused the blast.

"They just said there was an explosion, there was a fire," Shaw said. "It happened very quick."

Crew members were being flown to a hospital in Houma. The Coast Guard said one person was injured, but the company said there were no injuries. All of them were released by early Thursday evening.

Jindal met with some of the survivors. He would not identify them except to say most were from Louisiana.

Environmental groups and some lawmakers said the incident showed the dangers of offshore drilling, and urged the Obama administration to extend a temporary ban on deepwater drilling to shallow water, where this platform was located.

"How many accidents are needed and how much environmental and economic damage must we suffer before we act to contain and control the source of the danger: offshore drilling?" said Rep. Frank Pallone, a New Jersey Democrat.

Mike Gravitz, oceans advocate for Environment America, said President Barack Obama "should need no further wake-up call to permanently ban new drilling."

There are about 3,400 platforms operating in the Gulf, according to the American Petroleum Institute. Together they pump about a third of the Americas domestic oil, forming the backbone of the countrys petroleum industry.

Platforms are vastly different from oil rigs like BPs Deepwater Horizon. They are usually brought in after wells are already drilled and sealed.

"A production platform is much more stable," said Andy Radford, an API expert on offshore oil drilling. "On a drilling rig, youre actually drilling the well. Youre cutting. Youre pumping mud down the hole. You have a lot more activity on a drilling rig."

In contrast, platforms are usually placed atop stable wells where the oil is flowing at a predictable pressure, he said. A majority of platforms in the Gulf do not require crews on board.

Many platforms, especially those in shallower water, stand on legs that are drilled into the sea floor. Like a giant octopus, they spread numerous pipelines and can tap into many wells at once.

Platforms do not have blowout preventers, but they are usually equipped with a series of redundant valves that can shut off oil and gas at different points along the pipeline.

Numerous platforms were damaged during hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The storms broke pipelines, and oil spilled into the Gulf. But the platforms successfully kept major spills from happening, Radford said.

"Those safety valves did their job," he said.

Industry representatives sought to minimize Thursdays incident and distance it from the well blowout in April.

"We have on these platforms on any given year roughly 100 fires," said Allen Verret, executive director of the Offshore Operators Committee.

Federal authorities have cited Mariner Energy and related entities for 10 accidents in the Gulf of Mexico over the last four years, according to safety records from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement.

The accidents range from platform fires to pollution spills and a blowout, according to accident-investigation reports from the agency formerly known as the Minerals Management Service.

In 2007, welding sparks falling onto an oil storage tank caused a flash fire that slightly burned a contract worker. The Minerals Management Service issued a $35,000 fine.

Mariner Energy Inc. focuses on oil and gas exploration and production in the Gulf. In April, Apache Corp., another independent oil company, announced plans to buy Mariner in a cash-and-stock deal valued at $3.9 billion, including the assumption of about $1.2 billion of Mariners debt. That deal is pending.

On Friday, BP was expected to begin the process of removing the cap and failed blowout preventer from its ruptured well, another step toward completion of a relief well that would seal the leak permanently. The Deepwater Horizon exploded April 20, setting off a three-month leak that totaled 206 million gallons of oil.

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Associated Press writers Harry R. Weber, Michael Kunzelman and Janet McConnaughey in New Orleans, Chris Kahn in New York, Eileen Sullivan, Matthew Daly, Gerry Bodlander and Dina Capiello in Washington, Garance Burke in Fresno, Calif., and researcher Monika Mathur in New York contributed to this report.

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Mozambique riots spotlight world food price spike AP

JOHANNESBURG A few pennies increase in the price of a loaf of bread can mean the difference between getting by and going hungry � and erupting in anger � in the worlds poorest countries.

A spike in food prices has triggered deadly riots in Mozambique this week, and experts worry other countries that saw such unrest during the last global food crisis in 2008 could be hit again. Over the last two months alone, food prices worldwide have risen 5 percent.

"I think everyone is wondering if we are going to have a repeat of 2008 when ... there were food riots around the world," said Johanna Nesseth Tuttle, director of the Global Food Security Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

Countries from Asia, to the Middle East to Europe are feeling the strain.

� In Egypt, where half the population depends on subsidized bread, recent protests over rising food prices left at least one person dead. The crisis could impact upcoming parliamentary elections because the regimes increasingly tenuous legitimacy rests on its ability to provide the masses with cheap bread.

� In Pakistan, the prices of many food items have risen by 15 percent or more following devastating floods that destroyed a fifth of the countrys crops and agricultural infrastructure. Flooding has also hit distribution networks, leading to shortages.

� In China, officials are threatening to punish price gougers, while in Serbia, a 30 percent hike in the price of cooking oil reported for next week has led to warnings of demonstrations by trade unions.

In downtown Dakar, Senegal, 29-year-old security guard Djiba Sidime recalled going to the market to buy a bag of rice and finding it had spiked from around $30 to $38.

The increase is no small matter in a country where most people get by on around $4 a day. To make up the difference, Sidime said he wont be able to buy new clothes to mark the end of Ramadan later this month.

"Of course, Im frustrated," he said.

International food prices have risen to their highest levels in two years, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization said Wednesday, reporting a 5 percent increase between July and August alone. The Rome-based agency also forecast this years wheat crop at 648 million tons, down 5 percent from 2009, reflecting a cut in drought-hit Russias harvest.

However, there are few parallels between today and the 2008 food crisis, which was blamed on high oil prices and growing demand for biofuels that pushed world food stocks to their lowest levels since 1982, according to Maximo Torero, an expert on markets and trade with the International Food Policy Research Institute.

The United States, Canada and other countries have had good harvests and supplies are sufficient, Torero said, adding that what must be avoided are panicky policy decisions, like banning exports.

In Mozambiques case, he said, higher prices set by the government were based on monetary exchange issues, not concerns about world supplies.

Mozambicans saw the price of a loaf of bread rise 25 percent in the past year � from about four to five U.S. cents, and fuel and water costs also have risen.

The increases have had a dramatic impact in a nation where more than half the population lives in poverty. Mozambique ranks 175th of 179 countries on the U.N. Human Development Index, a measure that takes into account health and education levels as well as income.

Per capita income in the southeastern African country is just $802, compared to $9,757 in South Africa, where many Mozambicans have fled in search of work.

Still, the country has recovered from a devastating civil war that broke out after independence from Portugal in 1975 and lasted for 17 years. From 1994 to 2006, it saw annual GDP growth of about 8 percent. Mozambique is relatively stable and a popular tourist destination, particularly for visitors from South Africa.

The trouble this week started Wednesday in the capital, Maputo. Protesters, most of them young men, started marching peacefully but then began throwing stones, burning tires and looting shops.

Police opened fire, and tourists and business people were trapped in their hotels or at the airport as mobs cut off the airport road. At least seven people were killed and scores injured.

The unrest continued Thursday. Cell phone messages called for continued protests and a march on parliament.

The government has urged calm, saying it can do little about the high prices, which were sparked by a drop in the value of the import-dependent nations currency. It pointed out that Mozambique grows only 30 percent of the wheat it needs.

"The importation of wheat and other commodities incur high costs in international markets," government spokesman Antonio Nkutumula said.

Augusto Gonas, a protester, said that instead of calls for calm, the government should address the needs of its people.

"What we need to hear is the order to lower prices," Gonas said.

Marc Van Ameringen, executive director of the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition, said the price spike is hitting a country already seriously affected by malnutrition: 44 percent of Mozambican children suffer from stunted growth and nearly 20 percent of those under 5 are underweight.

Young children and pregnant women are at particular risk, because poor nutrition in the early years can permanently affect the development of the brain and body, Van Ameringen said.

He noted that more than 1 billion people around the world are hungry and malnourished, and another 1 billion arent getting the proper nutrition from the food they do manage to obtain.

"These crises should remind the world that we already have a crisis, even before this food price spike," Van Ameringen said.

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Associated Press writers Emanuel Camillo in Maputo, Mozambique; Jovana Gec in Belgrade, Serbia; Artis Henderson reported in Dakar, Senegal; Zarar Khan in Islamabad; Jason Straziuso in Nairobi, Kenya; and Gillian Wong in Beijing contributed to this report.

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Hamas among intractable issues in Mideast talks AP

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip To relaunch Middle East peace talks on Thursday, the Israeli and Palestinian leaders and their American mediators quietly agreed to push aside the question of Hamas � the Islamic militant group that controls one of the two Palestinian territories and rejects negotiations.

But Hamas let it be known with its bullets that it would not be left out of the equation � the militants killed four Israelis and wounded two others in a pair of attacks on the eve of the new talks.

The bloodshed was a reminder that Hamas is now on the list of intractable issues that have stymied decades of Mideast negotiations. There can be no peace without Hamas, but there is no solution so far for bringing the Iranian-backed group into the process.

"The attacks were meant to tell Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas he is not the one who decides the fate of the Palestinians," declared Ahmed Yousef, a senior Hamas official in Gaza, adding that the group deserves a place in national decision-making because it won parliamentary elections in 2006.

"Hamas will never agree to be ignored and isolated, and it can reshuffle the cards," he said.

Hamas is firmly in control of the Gaza Strip, one of the two territories that are supposed to be part of a future Palestinian state. It wields virtual veto power over any agreement and has given no indication it would be willing to accept a deal with Israel reached by Abbas, who runs a rival government in the West Bank.

The more moderate Abbas met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Thursday for the first peace talks in two years, hosted by President Barack Obama.

Abbas and Netanyahu are far apart on issues that have eluded a solution for decades, including the borders of a Palestinian state, the fate of millions of Palestinian refugees and the most explosive issue, the competing claims to the holy city of Jerusalem.

But if they can somehow work out these differences, Hamas would be needed to implement any deal. The Palestinians seek the West Bank and Gaza � located on opposite sides of Israel � for their future state, with east Jerusalem as its capital.

For now, the Palestinians appear to be unified on one issue: There can be no peace that leaves the 1.5 million people of Gaza out.

Abbas has rejected any suggestion of a partial solution granting independence only to the West Bank and its 2.4 million Palestinians. This would be perceived by the Palestinian public as a massive sellout and sign of weakness. Hamas would paint Abbas as a traitor.

"Any result and outcome of these talks does not commit us and does not commit our people. It only commits Abbas himself," said Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman in Gaza.

Abbas has repeatedly said he will present any peace deal to a national referendum, a vote that would include the people of Gaza. A vote in favor of peace would put heavy pressure on Hamas to accept the will of the Palestinian people.

So if Abbas will not go it alone, the quandary is how to bring Hamas into the fold.

Hamas, founded two decades ago as a Palestinian offshoot of Egypts Muslim Brotherhood, has repeatedly played the role of spoiler in Mideast peace efforts over the years.

A series of suicide bombings in the mid-1990s helped derail peace negotiations at the time, and the group killed hundreds of Israelis during the second Palestinian uprising last decade.

When Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza in 2005, Hamas stepped up rocket attacks on southern Israel, helping fuel years of violence. After the 2006 election, a unity government formed with Abbas Fatah movement collapsed into civil war, resulting in Hamas takeover of Gaza the following year.

In fiery speeches ahead of the launch of peace talks, Hamas leaders repeatedly rejected compromise with Israel and condemned Abbas for seeking peace.

Yet behind the public rhetoric, the enigmatic group has also shown itself to be remarkably pragmatic. In its short-lived power-sharing agreement with Abbas, it agreed to let the moderate president handle negotiations with Israel, as long as he presented any deal to a national referendum.

While refusing to recognize the Jewish states right to exist, Hamas has largely honored a cease-fire since a devastating Israeli military offensive ended early last year.

Hamas forces have even blocked smaller militant groups from staging attacks, and this week, commanders ordered their forces to hold fire when Israeli tanks were conducting exercises along the Gaza border. Hamas leaders frequently speak of long-term truces with Israel that could last decades.

Hamas is also eager to win legitimacy in the Arab world. The reaction of key Arab players � including Syria, which hosts Hamas headquarters in Damascus, as well as Saudi Arabia, the custodian of the Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina, and Egypt � could greatly influence Hamas behavior.

Beyond condemnations of the shootings, neither Israeli, American or Palestinian officials in Abbas delegation have said much about Hamas, reflecting the international communitys inability to find a way to work with the Islamic militants.

Asked about Hamas on Thursday, White House Mideast envoy George Mitchell said: "We do not expect Hamas to play a role in this immediate process." He added, however, that the U.S. would welcome Hamas "full participation" if it complies "with the basic requirements of democracy and nonviolence that are a prerequisite to engage in these serious types of discussions."

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor agreed the Islamic militants have no role to play for now.

"Hamas does not fit into the process," he said, adding that although the sides hope to reach an agreement in a year, implementing it would have to be gradual.

"Very efficient measures will be needed by all parties involved before an eventual peace agreement can be extended to Gaza," he said.

In a series of interviews with The Associated Press, top Hamas officials voiced great skepticism over the new peace talks, but signaled they have no intention of scuttling the negotiations, at least for now.

"You want to go? OK, go. We have no objection," said Mahmoud Zahar, Hamas top leader in Gaza, referring to Thursdays gathering in Washington. He confidently predicted the talks would fail, saying Abbas is "wasting time."

Since the Hamas takeover of Gaza, the Palestinians have been torn between two governments.

Hamas now has tens of thousands of armed fighters in Gaza and a sizable arsenal of rockets and mortar shells at its disposal. Neither a three-year Israeli-Egyptian blockade of Gaza nor Israels fierce military offensive last year put a dent in Hamas control.

Israel and the international community shun Hamas as a terrorist group and would have to make a tough decision to engage with the militants. The group has long coveted international recognition. But it has refused to accept international calls to renounce violence or recognize Israels right to exist.

"Our resistance is continuous," Zahar said.

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Barzak reported from Gaza City and Federman from Jerusalem. Associated Press writers Mohammed Daraghmeh in Ramallah and Ian Deitch in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

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Israel, Palestinians agree to 2nd round of talks AP

WASHINGTON Israeli and Palestinian leaders agreed Thursday to produce a framework for a permanent peace deal and to hold a second round of direct talks this month, a modest achievement reached amid deep skepticism about success at their first such session in two years.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will meet again on Sept. 14 and 15 in the Middle East, likely at the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheik, with an eye toward forging the outline of a pact that could lead to a final agreement in a years time.

The United States special Mideast envoy George Mitchell announced the agreement after several hours of talks between Netanyahu and Abbas at the State Department at which the two leaders pledged to work through the regions deeply ingrained mutual hostility and suspicion to resolve the long-running conflict.

"I believe these two leaders � President Abbas and Prime Minister Netanyahu � are committed to doing what it takes to achieve the right results," Mitchell told reporters. He refused to discuss specifics of what the framework agreement would entail but said it would lay out the "fundamental compromises" needed for a final settlement.

Those compromises will involve the thorniest issues that have dogged the parties for decades: the borders of an eventual Palestinian state, the political status of Jerusalem, the fate of Palestinian refugees and security.

Mitchell said both he and Clinton would be at the next round. Diplomats said it will likely also include other officials from the "Quartet" of Mideast peacemakers � the U.S., the U.N., Russia and the European Union.

Earlier, Clinton had opened the talks with an appeal for the two leaders to overcome a long history of failed attempts to resolve the conflict and make the difficult compromises needed for peace.

"I know the decision to sit at this table was not easy," said Clinton, who with Mitchell has been working to relaunch talks stalled for 20 months. "We understand the suspicion and skepticism that so many feel borne out of years of conflict and frustrated hopes."

"But, by being here today, you each have taken an important step toward freeing your peoples from the shackles of a history we cannot change and moving toward a future of peace and dignity that only you can create," she said.

Flanked by Abbas and Netanyahu at the head of a U-shaped table in the State Departments ornate Benjamin Franklin room, Clinton said the Obama administration was committed to a settlement. She stressed, though, that the heavy lifting must be done by Netanyahu and Abbas with support from the international community, particularly the Arab and Israeli publics.

"We will be an active and sustained partner," she said. "But we cannot and we will not impose a solution. Only you can make the decisions necessary to reach an agreement and secure a peaceful future for the Israeli and Palestinian people."

Netanyahu and Abbas vowed to work together but each outlined concessions required from the other.

"I see in you a partner for peace," Netanyahu told Abbas. "Together we can lead our people to a historic future that can put an end to claims and to conflict. Now this will not be easy. A true peace, a lasting peace would be achieved only with mutual and painful concessions from both sides."

Abbas called on Israel to end Jewish settlements in the West Bank and other areas that the Palestinians want to be part off their own state. Netanyahu insisted that any agreement must assure Israels security as a Jewish state.

"We do know how hard are the hurdles and obstacles we face during these negotiations �" negotiations that within a year should result in an agreement that will bring peace," Abbas said.

Thursdays negotiations are the first since the last effort broke down in December 2008. A spate of violence this week in the West Bank and concerns about Israeli settlement activity have cast low expectations.

Underscoring the talks fragility, gunmen from the militant Palestinian Hamas movement killed four Israeli residents of a West Bank settlement on Tuesday. And, on Wednesday, hours before the leaders ate dinner at the White House, Hamas gunmen wounded two Israelis as they drove in their car in another part of the West Bank.

Hamas rejected the talks and stepped up its rhetoric as the ceremony in Washington began.

"These talks are not legitimate because the Palestinian people did not give any mandate to Mahmoud Abbas and his team to negotiate on behalf of our people," said Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman. "Therefore, any result and outcome of these talks does not commit us and does not commit our people, it only commits Abbas himself."

Further complicating the situation is the fact that the talks will face their first test within weeks, at the end of September, when the Israeli governments declared slowdown in settlement construction is slated to end.

Palestinians have said that a renewal of settlement construction will torpedo the talks. The Israeli government is divided over the future of the slowdown, and a decision to extend it could split Netanyahus hawkish coalition. Netanyahu has given no indication so far that it will continue beyond the deadline.

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UN to release Congo genocide report in October AP

GENEVA A report detailing hundreds of gruesome attacks against civilians in Congo over a 10-year period wont be released until October, the U.N.s top human rights official said Thursday, after Rwanda angrily protested the findings in a draft version.

Drafts of the report � circulated to governments earlier this year and leaked to the media last week � accused Rwandan troops and rebel allies tied to the current Congolese president of slaughtering tens of thousands of Hutus in Congo in the 1990s.

Rwanda has reacted angrily to the claim that this may have constituted genocide or crimes against humanity, and threatened to pull its troops from U.N. peacekeeping missions if the report was published unchanged, claiming the five-year study was "fatally flawed" and "incredibly irresponsible."

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said in a statement that the report will now be released Oct. 1 in order to allow affected governments time to publish their comments alongside the final version.

"Following requests, we have decided to give concerned states a further month to comment on the draft," she said. "I have offered to publish any such comments alongside the report itself."

Rwanda, a small country in East Africa, contributes thousands of soldiers to peacekeeping missions in Chad, Haiti, Liberia and Sudan. It would create a headache for the United Nations if Rwanda made good on its threat and withdrew its troops.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday praised Rwandas participation in peacekeeping missions, saying the United Nations was "very grateful for such strong support."

"I sincerely hope that such support and contribution will continue for peace and security in the region," he told reporters in Vienna. "The peace and security in Darfur and Sudan ... has very important implications for peace in the wider region."

A spokesman for Pillay denied Tuesday reports that Ban had put pressure on the organizations human rights chief to remove references to genocide from the text.

Nevertheless, the report could prove embarrassing for Rwandan President Paul Kagame, an ally of the United States and Britain whose government has long claimed the moral high ground for ending the 1994 genocide of Tutsis that also included the killings of some moderate Hutus.

The report, which cost $3 million to produce, details more than 600 incidents of human rights abuses in eastern Congo between 1993 and 2003 in which tens of thousands of people � mostly women and children � were killed.

"Over 1,280 witnesses were interviewed to corroborate or invalidate alleged violations, including previously undocumented incidents, and more than 1,500 documents were collected and analyzed during the two years that it took to research and write the report," Pillays office said.

The aim was to propose to Congos government ways in which it can bring the perpetrators of crimes to justice and assist survivors, Pillays office said.

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Associated Press Writer Veronika Oleksyn in Vienna contributed to this report.

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Book says Nazi hunter Wiesenthal worked for Mossad AP

JERUSALEM Renowned Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal worked for Israels Mossad spy agency, providing information on war criminals and Germans working in Arab countries, according to a new book released Thursday.

The assertions in "Wiesenthal - The Life and Legends" shed a different light on the Holocaust survivor previously believed to have conducted a lone quest to bring war criminals to justice.

"It is quite surprising in the context of his own story, because he was always regarded as a loner, someone who does everything alone against all odds and against local law enforcement," the books author, Israeli historian Tom Segev, said.

Efraim Zuroff, the head of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Jerusalem, said it was the first time the Mossad connection had surfaced. He said he was surprised by Segevs findings, but that he had no reason to doubt them.

In the book, Segev writes that the famed Nazi hunter worked with Israeli agents even before the establishment of the Mossad in 1949. In December 1948, Wiesenthal helped a forerunner of the agency mount a failed attempt to capture top Nazi Adolf Eichmann, who was later nabbed by Israeli agents in Argentina and executed after a trial in Israel.

Wiesenthal continued to provide intelligence to Israel through the 1950s, but his steady relationship with the Mossad only began in the run-up to the 1960 operation to capture Eichmann, Segev said.

Until 1970, Wiesenthal operated under the code name "Theocrat," providing Israeli intelligence information on suspected war criminals, neo-Nazi groups that threatened Jewish communities in Europe and German scientists working for Egypts rocket program.

The Mossad helped Wiesenthal open his office in Vienna and put him on the payroll with a monthly retainer of some $300, Segev said.

Segev was given first-time access to Wiesenthals office and personal archive. He then followed the paper trail to track down and interview three of his former Mossad handlers.

Wiesenthal, who died in Vienna in 2005, survived the Nazi death camps and spent the rest of his life documenting the Holocaust, helping refugees and pursuing Nazi war criminals, often with little cooperation from authorities in the countries that served as a haven for the wanted men.

Kurt Schrimm, the head of the special German prosecutors office responsible for investigating Nazi-era crimes, said the alleged link to Israeli intelligence shouldnt have any impact on the significance of the Wiesenthals legacy.

"I dont know if it is actually true, but I dont see that it would have any relevance to his work whether he was a member of the Mossad or not," Schrimm said.

The book also provides fresh insight on the famed Israeli intelligence agency, indicating that the Mossad did more than previously thought to track down former Nazi officials.

Until Eichmanns capture, Israel was believed to have focused more on present and future threats, but "Wiesenthals connection requires that we adjust that notion, at least in part," Segev said.

The Mossad did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

"Wiesenthal - The Live and Legends" was released in six countries, including an English translation in the United States and Britain.

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Gulf oil platform explodes, burning off La. coast AP

GRAND ISLE, La. An offshore petroleum platform exploded and was burning Thursday in the Gulf of Mexico about 80 miles off the Louisiana coast, west of the site where BPs undersea well spilled after a rig explosion.

The Coast Guard says no one was killed in the blast, which was reported by a commercial helicopter flying over the area Thursday morning. All 13 people aboard the rig have been accounted for, with one injury. The extent of the injury was not known.

Coast Guard Cmdr. Cheri Ben-Iesau said some of those from the rig were spotted in emergency flotation devices.

Seven Coast Guard helicopters, two airplanes and three cutters were dispatched to the scene from New Orleans, Houston and Mobile, Ala., Ben-Iesau said. She said authorities do not know whether oil was leaking from the site.

The Department of Homeland Security said the platform was in about 2,500 feet of water and owned by Mariner Energy of Houston. DHS said it was not producing oil and gas.

The Deepwater Horizon rig leased by BP was in about 5,000 feet of water when it exploded and sank in April, killing 11 workers and triggering a leak of about 206 million gallons of oil.

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Memristor revolution backed by HP

2 September 2010 Last updated at 11:33 ET By Jason Palmer Science and technology reporter, BBC News

Electronics giant HP has joined the worlds second-largest memory chip maker Hynix to manufacture a novel member of the electronics family.

The deal will see "memristors" - first demonstrated by HP in 2006 - mass produced for the first time.

Memristors promise significantly greater memory storage requiring less energy and space, and may eventually also be employed in processors.

HP says the first memristors should be widely available in about three years.

The devices started as a theoretical prediction in 1971 but HPs demonstration and publication of a real working device has put them on a possible roadmap to replace memory chips or even hard drives.

They are considered to be the "missing link" in electronics, a fourth element to supplement the more familiar resistor, capacitor and inductor that together form the basis of every electronic device yet made.

In short, it is a resistor with memory: applying an electric voltage can change how much the device blocks electric current - and memristors can "remember" that level - even when the power is turned off.

That makes it a candidate for memory that requires little energy to store information - like the current standard for non-volatile memory, Flash.

"Memristor memory chips promise to run at least 10 times faster and use 10 times less power than an equivalent Flash memory chip," said Stan Williams, the HP Fellow who first demonstrated the memristor, in a statement by the firm.

Memristors can also in principle be used in logic circuits, replacing the actions of the billions of transistors that make up a modern microprocessor - but indications are that will require significant further development.

Bottom line

Steve Furber, professor of computer engineering at the University of Manchester, explained that the potential benefits lie in the fact that memristors are "much simpler in principle than transistors".

"Because they are formed as a film between two wires, they dont have to be implanted into the silicon surface - as do transistors, which form the storage locations in Flash - so they could be built in layers in 3D," he told BBC News.

"Of course, the devil is in the detail, and I dont think the manufacturing challenges have been fully exposed yet."

The joint effort between HP and Hynix will aim to develop memristor memory chips known as resistive random access memory ReRAM, with an aim to have the first products ready by 2013.

Malcolm Penn of the analysts Future Horizons told BBC News that "the combination of HP and Hynix is powerful" but that performance measures such as speed and efficiency were not the only figures of merit.

"Its always hard to displace an incumbent technology, and the memristor is chasing a market thats been around a long time," he explained.

"The bottom line is what it costs, and thats always the case with the chip industry. Performance certainly opens doors but people sacrifice performance for cost."

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Gulf oil rig explodes off La. coast AP

GRAND ISLE, La. An offshore oil rig has exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, west of the site of the April blast that caused the massive oil spill.

Coast Guard Petty Officer Casey Ranel says the blast was reported by a commercial helicopter company about 9:30 a.m. CDT Thursday. Seven helicopters, two airplanes and four boats are en route to the site, about 80 miles south of Vermilion Bay along the central Louisiana coast.

Ranel says it hasnt been determined whether the structure is a production platform or a drilling rig or whether workers were aboard. Ranel says smoke was reported but it is unclear whether the rig is still burning.

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Feds sue Arizona sheriff in civil rights probe AP

PHOENIX The U.S. Justice Department sued Sheriff Joe Arpaio on Thursday, saying the Arizona lawman refused for more than a year to turn over records in an investigation into allegations his department discriminates against Hispanics.

The lawsuit calls Arpaio and his offices defiance "unprecedented," and said the federal government has been trying since March 2009 to get officials to comply with its probe of alleged discrimination, unconstitutional searches and seizures, and having English-only policies in his jails that discriminates against people with limited English skills.

Arpaio had been given until Aug. 17 to hand over documents it first asked for 15 months ago.

Arpaios attorney, Robert Driscoll, declined immediate comment on the lawsuit, saying he had just received it and hadnt yet conferred with his client.

Arpaios office had said it has fully cooperated in the jail inquiry but wont hand over additional documents into the examination of the alleged unconstitutional searches because federal authorities havent said exactly what they were investigating.

Its the latest action against Arizona by the federal government, which earlier sued the state to stop its strict new immigration law that requires police officers to question people about their immigration status.

"The actions of the sheriffs office are unprecedented," said Thomas Perez, assistant attorney general for the departments civil rights division. "It is unfortunate that the department was forced to resort to litigation to gain access to public documents and facilities."

The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Phoenix and names Arpaio, the Maricopa County Sheriffs Office and the county.

Arizonas new law � most of which a federal judge has put on hold � mirrors many of the policies Arpaio has put into place in the greater Phoenix area, where he set up a hot line for the public to report immigration violations, conducts crime and immigration sweeps in heavily Latino neighborhoods and frequently raids workplaces for people in the U.S. illegally.

Arpaio believes the inquiry is focused on his immigration sweeps, patrols where deputies flood an area of a city � in some cases heavily Latino areas � to seek out traffic violators and arrest other offenders.

Critics say his deputies pull people over for minor traffic infractions because of the color of their skin so they can ask them for their proof of citizenship.

Arpaio denies allegations of racial profiling, saying people are stopped if deputies have probable cause to believe theyve committed crimes and that its only afterward that deputies find many of them are illegal immigrants.

The sheriffs office has said half of the 1,032 people arrested in the sweeps have been illegal immigrants.

Last year, the federal government stripped Arpaio of his special power to enforce federal immigration law. The sheriff continued his sweeps through the enforcement of state immigration laws.

Last year, the nearly $113 million that the county received from the federal government accounted for about 5 percent of the countys $2 billion budget. Arpaios office said it receives $3 million to $4 million each year in federal funds.

In a separate investigation, a federal grand jury in Phoenix is examining allegations that Arpaio has abused his powers with actions such as intimidating county workers by showing up at their homes at nights and on weekends.

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Associated Press writer Paul Davenport contributed to this report.

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Sudans north-south faultline worries about war AP

AGOK, Sudan Four months before Southern Sudan is scheduled to hold an independence referendum, tensions are already rising in this oil-rich region that sits on the expected future border, with allegations the central government is using violence and ethnic cleansing to sway the vote.

The central Sudan region of Abyei is the subject of a tug-of-war between leaders in Sudans north and south. The border zone is home to some of Sudans richest oil fields, worth hundreds of millions of dollars. In July 2009, an international court in The Hague ruled that the Heglig oilfields are in what would be northern Sudan. The south is appealing the decision.

In conjunction with Southern Sudans independence referendum scheduled for Jan. 9, Abyei is to vote the same day to decide if it should belong in Sudans north or in a possible new country in the south.

Not surprisingly, Sudans government in Khartoum � which would only preside over northern Sudan if the independence referendum passes as expected � wants Abyei in its sphere.

Sudans northern government may be sending Arab tribesman to settle in this Connecticut-sized patch of land in order to influence Abyeis vote, according to officials in Agok, a small town with a bustling market. Both sides argue that their people belong in Abyei, a sandy tan landscape that bursts green with lush grasses during the rainy season.

The souths Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement says the Ngok Dinka are the traditional inhabitants, while the norths National Congress Party says the semi-nomadic Misseriah � Arabs from the north � should retain cattle grazing rights.

The top official in Abyei, Deng Arop Kuol, recently accused Khartoum of planning to resettle 75,000 ethnic Misseriah in villages where Ngok Dinka, who are southern Christians or animists, have historically lived. More Arab-leaning inhabitants of Abyei could translate into more northern-oriented votes in January.

An international official in Sudan said it is "very likely" Misseriah are settling in northern Abyei, though Kuols numbers are probably inflated. Reports going back to last year indicated Arab settlers are moving in, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the topic between the south and north.

A Misseriah tribal chief, Mukhtar Babu Nimr, dismissed the accusations, saying there arent even 75,000 Misseriah.

Nimr said the Ngok Dinka have held protests in Abyei in recent days, saying they dont want any Misseriah in Abyei. He said that violates the spirit of the court decision and the subsequent agreement to respect it.

"They say they dont want Misseriah in Abyei and that they will shed their blood for Abyeis sake," he said. "If they insist on that, the situation may flare up."

Nimr said there are about 30 villages in northern Abyei that are occupied by about 3,000 or 4,000 Misseriah. "Where would these people go. They the Dinka want to kick them out. Where to?"

Misseriah who have been in the region for 30 or 40 years should have the right to vote, said Nimr, who accused the SPLA of deploying soldiers north of Abyei in violation of agreements.

Abyei evokes emotional responses from both sides. Two years ago, northern and southern armies clashed in Abyei, causing an estimated 60,000 people to flee to safety south of a border where Sudan could split. Abyei is still being rebuilt after largely burning to the ground in the 2008 violence.

A former top Southern Sudan official said on Thursday that the souths parliament may vote to secede from Sudan if the independence referendum is delayed. John Duku, Southern Sudans former mission chief to Kenya, said Southern Sudan can take such action under the terms of a peace deal signed in 2005 to end a north-south civil war.

If Sudan returns to civil war over the referendum, the fighting will likely start here, in Abyei.

The past several months have seen a spate of violent attacks on Ngok Dinka communities. In the latest attack, in July, at least eight people were killed in the village of Tajalei.

While the exact identity of the attackers is unknown, most people in the south point a finger northward.

"The situation in Abyei is grave," said Pagan Amum, the Secretary-General of the SPLM. "We have genuine concern that there may be a plan in action already to cause ethnic cleansing and possibly genocide in the Abyei area. The people of the Ngok Dinka are in danger of being expelled from area forcibly, with disastrous humanitarian consequences."

Sudans peace agreement promised southerners the right to an independence vote. It also called for a referendum in Abyei to determine whether the territory would be part of the north or south, regardless of southern votes outcome.

Preparations for both votes lag badly. One issue not yet decided is who counts as an Abyei resident. The two political parties working on such agreements havent even appointed members of the commission tasked with carrying out the vote.

Lual Kual Lual Deng, a Ngok Dinka youth leader, said the clashes may increase during the referendum as the central government uses violence to affect Abyeis referendum or to simply seize Abyei.

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Associated Press reporter Sarah El Deeb contributed to this report from Cairo.

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