Saturday, September 11, 2010

Officials: Airstrike kills 3 militants in Pakistan (AP)

MIR ALI, Pakistan � A suspected U.S. missile strike early Sunday killed at least four suspected associates of a warlord who is fighting Western troops in Afghanistan, intelligence officials said.

Powerful militant leader Hafiz Gul Bahadur struck a truce with the Pakistani military and agreed to stay on the sidelines last year as it waged an offensive in the South Waziristan tribal area against the Pakistani Taliban, a group dedicated to attacking the Pakistani state, among other targets.

Bahadur has focused instead on battling U.S. and NATO troops across the border in Afghanistan

Two Pakistan intelligence officials told The Associated Press that two missiles targeted a home in the village of Tata Khel in the North Waziristan tribal area where Gul's associates were believed to be staying. They said three men were believed to be wounded.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

A steady series of suspected U.S. missile attacks have happened in North Waziristan, a lawless region home to al-Qaida leaders plotting attacks in the West, insurgents battling foreign troops in Afghanistan and extremists behind bombings in Pakistan.

Four airstrikes pounded the area over 24 hours this past week, the last killing five suspected militants early Thursday, officials said.

There were at least four other attacks earlier in the week.

Most are believed to be fired from unmanned, remote-controlled planes that can hover for hours above the area.

Pakistan has condemned the American missile strikes as violations of its sovereignty, warning that the civilian casualties they cause deepen anti-U.S. sentiment and complicate the fight against terrorism.

But many suspect the two countries have a deal allowing the drone-fired attacks.



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Mexican police neutralize car bomb in border city (AP)

MEXICO CITY � Mexican police carried out the controlled detonation of a car bomb Saturday in the troubled border city of Ciudad Juarez, across from Texas.

A phone tip around midnight led authorities to a dead body in a car in a shopping center parking lot, the federal Public Safety Department said in a statement. In a second car, police found the bomb.

Agents deactivated the device and removed most of the explosive material to analyze it before safely detonating the vehicle, the department said. There were no injuries.

Juarez is the same city where drug traffickers staged the first successful car bombing in Mexico, killing three people in July.

There have been three other vehicle explosions in recent weeks in Ciudad Victoria, capital of the border state of Tamaulipas.

Ciudad, across from El Paso, Texas, has been one of the cities most affected by Mexico's drug violence. More than 2,100 people have been murdered there so far this year � putting it on pace to surpass its previous high of 2,700, set last year.

Across the country, more than 28,000 people have been killed since December 2006, when President Felipe Calderon launched a military offensive against the cartels soon after taking office.

In the central state of Morelos, police discovered nine bodies in clandestine graves Saturday in the same area where four more were recently found.

The Public Safety Department said in a separate statement that all 13 victims were believed to have been killed on the orders of U.S.-born Edgar "La Barbie" Valdez Villarreal, one of the alleged kingpins fighting for control of Morelos.

Valdez was captured Aug. 30 by federal police.

Late Saturday, federal authorities announced they had arrested two Colombian brothers who they alleged have ties to Valdez and belong to a group responsible for buying cocaine in Colombia and smuggling it to the United States.

The men were identified as Dario Emilio Valencia and Victor Espinosa Valencia. The latter was said to own the ranch on the outskirts of Mexico City where Valdez allegedly hid out before his arrest.

The Public Safety Department said both men are named in a U.S. warrant issued in 2004 in Florida.



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Relative: Spat began Ky. rampage that killed 6 (AP)

JACKSON, Ky. � A man facing eviction over his hostile temper became enraged by how his wife cooked his eggs and killed her, his stepdaughter and three neighbors with a shotgun before shooting himself on Saturday.

Trooper Jody Sims of the Kentucky State Police said 47-year-old Stanley Neace killed the five people in two mobile homes in rural eastern Kentucky around 11:30 a.m., then went to his home and turned the gun on himself.

Neighbors in the roadside mobile home park said Neace stormed across the lawns of about seven homes in his pajamas and fired dozens of shots from a 12-gauge pump shotgun.

Sims said that when state police arrived about an hour after the gunfire began, they heard a single gunshot and found Neace's body on the porch in the unincorporated community of Mount Carmel in Breathitt County. The county is home to about 16,000 people.

Sherri Anne Robinson, a relative of two of the victims, said witnesses to the shootings told her that Neace became enraged when his wife did not cook his breakfast to his liking.

Robinson said that when his wife fled to a neighbor's trailer, Neace followed and shot her and the others. Robinson says he allowed a young girl to flee.

"He just got mad at his wife for not making his breakfast right and he shot her," Robinson said. "She tried to run to tell my family and he shot them too because they found out about it."

The victims were identified as the gunman's wife, Sandra Neace, 54; her daughter Sandra R. Strong, 28; and neighbors Dennis Turner, 31; Teresa Fugate, 30; and Tammy Kilborn, 40.

The names of the victims were provided by Kentucky State Police, while Robinson described their relationships. Fugate is Robinson's sister, Turner is her cousin and Kilborn was a witness who happened to step onto the porch of another trailer when she heard the commotion.

Robinson said Fugate was shot in front of her 7-year-old daughter.

"Her daughter said, 'Please, please don't shoot me,' and he said, 'All right, you can leave,' and she ran out," said Robinson, who spoke to her niece after the shootings. "She went and told her neighbors, and the neighbors called the law."

Robinson says Neace had never appeared threatening to her, but that he was known to have a violent history. Sims could not confirm that Neace had a criminal record.

County prosecutor Brendon Miller said his dealings with Neace came on nonviolent issues involving child support. Neace also was in Miller's office a month ago regarding a traffic ticket.

Authorities started receiving calls from concerned neighbors around 11:30 in the roadside mobile home park outside Jackson, about 90 miles southeast of Lexington. Sims said when they arrived about an hour later, they heard a single gunshot, then found Neace's body on his porch.

They found victims in two other trailers. Other neighbors fled the trailer park in fear for their lives during the shootings.

"Over eggs?" Robinson said. "I thought that was crazy. Really. I mean just because his eggs weren't hot?"

Landlord Ray Rastegar said Neace received monthly disability checks from the Social Security Administration, though he didn't know what his disability was. Rastegar said he had begun the process of evicting Neace, who had lived in the trailer park for about seven years, because he had become increasingly hostile toward neighbors in recent months.

"He was unpredictable," Rastergar said. "Little things would set him off."

Neighbor Steve Smith saw the rampage from the window of his mobile home. When he walked outside, Smith said Neace took a shot at him but missed.

"He chased his wife around that Jeep shooting at her," Smith said, pointing to a shot-up SUV parked outside his mobile home. "I heard her screaming and running."

Smith said Neace ended up mumbling to himself on the porch of his trailer, pointed the shotgun at his head and pulled the trigger.

"He's been trouble ever since he's been here," Smith said. "He's always been trouble."

___

Talbott reported from Nashville, Tenn. AP writer Janet Blake in Louisville, Ky., contributed to this report.



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Fire breaks out at refinery pier in Venezuela (AP)

CARACAS, Venezuela � A fire broke out at a Venezuelan oil refinery loading pier Saturday, forcing the evacuation of workers and ships from the area.

The blaze began in the morning while diesel was being loaded onto a ship for export, the state oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela SA, said in a statement released by the Information Ministry.

It said Saturday night that the fire had been brought under control and the blaze did not affect fuel production at the Cardon refinery in western Falcon state. No injuries were reported.

The precise cause wasn't clear, but the statement linked it to a flare while the ship was being loaded.

The Cardon refinery, one of two in the Paraguana complex, has five other piers.

On Wednesday, a fire blamed on lightning broke out on the Dutch Caribbean island of Bonaire, halting operations at a Venezuelan-owned fuel terminal.

Officials said Friday that blaze had died out after burning off the last of the available fuel.



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Unsettled nation marks 9/11 with rituals of sorrow (AP)

NEW YORK � Rites of remembrance and loss marked the ninth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, familiar in their sorrow but observed for the first time Saturday in a nation torn over the prospect of a mosque near ground zero and the role of Islam in society.

Under a flawless blue sky that called to mind the day itself, there were tears and song, chants, and the waving of hundreds of American flags. Loved ones recited the names of the victims, as they have each year since the attacks. They looked up to add personal messages to the lost and down to place flowers in a reflecting pool in their honor.

For a few hours Saturday morning, the political and cultural furor over whether a proposed Islamic center and mosque belongs two blocks from the World Trade Center site mostly gave way to the somber anniversary ceremony and pleas from elected officials for religious tolerance.

But this Sept. 11 was unmistakably different from the eight that came before it, and not only because a new World Trade Center is finally ready to rise. As they finished reading names, two relatives of 9/11 victims issued pleas � one to God and one to New York � that the site remain "sacred."

And within hours of the city's memorial service near ground zero, groups of protesters had taken up positions in lower Manhattan, blocks apart and representing both sides of the debate over the mosque, which has suffused the nation's politics for weeks leading up to the anniversary.

Near City Hall, supporters of the mosque toted signs that read, "The attack on Islam is racism" and "Tea Party bigots funded by corporate $." Opponents carried placards that read, "It stops here" and "Never forgive, never forget, no WTC mosque."

At the other Sept. 11 attack sites, as at ground zero, elected leaders sought to remind Americans of the acts of heroism that marked a Tuesday in 2001 and the national show of unity that followed.

President Barack Obama, appealing to an unsettled nation from the Pentagon, declared that the United States could not "sacrifice the liberties we cherish or hunker down behind walls of suspicion and mistrust."

"As Americans we are not � and never will be � at war with Islam," the president said. "It was not a religion that attacked us that September day � it was al-Qaida, a sorry band of men which perverts religion."

In Shanksville, Pa., first lady Michelle Obama and her predecessor, Laura Bush, spoke at a public event together for the first time since last year's presidential inauguration. At the rural field where the 40 passengers and crew of United Flight 93 lost their lives, Obama said "a scar in the earth has healed," and Bush said "Americans have no division" on this day.

In New York, the leader of a small Christian congregation in Florida who had planned to burn copies of the Quran to mark the Sept. 11 anniversary called off his plans.

Pastor Terry Jones gave an interview to NBC's "Today" after flying to New York in hopes of meeting with leaders of the mosque and persuading them to move the Islamic center in exchange for his canceling his own plans. No meeting had taken place, he said.

Nonetheless, "We feel that God is telling us to stop," he said. "Not today, not ever. We're not going to go back and do it. It is totally canceled."

Jones' plan had drawn opposition across the political spectrum and the world. Obama had appealed to him on television, and Defense Secretary Robert Gates in a personal phone call, not to burn the Islamic holy book. Gen. David Petraeus, head of the U.S. mission in Afghanistan, said carrying out the plan would have endangered American troops.

Nevertheless, there were isolated reports of Quran desecrations on the anniversary, including two not far from ground zero.

Afghans, meanwhile, set fire to tires in the streets and shouted "Death to America" for a second day despite Jones' decision to call off the burning. The largest drew a crowd estimated at 10,000.

There were no arrests in New York, police said. There were scattered scuffles in the streets, including one in which a man ripped up another's poster advocating freedom of religion and the second man struck back with the stick.

Near the World Trade Center site, a memorial to the 2,752 who died there played out mostly as it had each year since 2001. Bells were tolled to mark the times of impact of the two hijacked jets and the times the twin towers collapsed.

Assigned to read the names of the fallen, relatives of 9/11 victims calmly made their way through their lists, then struggled, some looking skyward, as they addressed their lost loved ones.

"David, please know that we love you. We miss you desperately," said Michael Brady, whose brother worked at Merrill Lynch. "We think about you and we pray for you every day."

Sean Holohan, whose brother was killed, called out to the 343 firefighters who died: "All of you proved that day to the world that we are still one indivisible nation under God."

Family members of Sept. 11 victims also laid flowers in a reflecting pool and wrote individual messages along its edges.

Around the spot where they paid tribute, ground zero is transforming itself. Just this week, officials hoisted a 70-foot piece of trade center steel there and vowed to open the Sept. 11 memorial, with two waterfalls marking where the towers stood, by next year. At the northwest corner of the site, 1 World Trade Center, formerly known as the Freedom Tower, now rises 36 stories above ground. It is set to open in 2013 and be 1,776 feet tall, taller than the original trade center.

The proposed Islamic cultural center, which organizers say will promote interfaith learning, would go in an abandoned Burlington Coat Factory two blocks uptown from ground zero.

Muslim prayer services are normally held at the site, but it was padlocked Friday and closed Saturday, the official end of the holy month of Ramadan. Police planned 24-hour patrols until next week. Worshippers on Friday were redirected to a different prayer room 10 blocks away.

On Saturday, about 1,500 opponents of the mosque chanted "USA" and "No mosque here." Critics have said that even if organizers have a First Amendment right to build the center where they want, putting it near ground zero would be a show of disrespect.

"Stop bending down to them. Stop placating them. No special treatment," said Alice Lemos, 58, speaking of Muslims and holding a small American flag on a stick. "This isn't about religion. This is about rubbing our faces in their victory over us."

Elizabeth Meehan, 51, was among about 2,000 rallying to support the mosque. Meehan, who rode a bus to the rally from her home in Saratoga, N.Y., about 180 miles away, said she is an observant Christian and felt it was important for Christians to speak in favor of religious freedom.

"I'm really fearful of all of the hate that's going on in our country. People in one brand of Christianity are coming out against other faiths, and I find that so sad," she said. "Muslims are fellow Americans, they should have the right to worship in America just like anyone else."

In an annual tradition, two bright blue beams of light rose from lower Manhattan in memory of the fallen towers on Saturday night.

___

Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Larry Neumeister in New York, Jennifer C. Yates in Shanksville and Erica Werner in Washington.



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APNewsBreak: Calif. gas pipe ranked high risk (AP)

SAN BRUNO, Calif. � The section of gas pipeline that ruptured and exploded in a suburban San Francisco neighborhood, killing four and injuring nearly 60 others, was ranked as high risk because it ran through a highly populated area, state and federal authorities said Saturday.

One of the victims killed in the inferno Thursday worked for the commission reviewing Pacific Gas & Electric's investment plans to upgrade its natural gas lines, including another risky section of the same pipeline within miles of her home, a colleague confirmed.

Longtime California Public Utilities Commission analyst Jacqueline Greig and her 13-year-old daughter Janessa died in the massive blast, which left a crater near their house and laid waste to dozens of 1960s-era homes in the hills overlooking San Francisco Bay.

Jessica Morales, 20, was also killed in the explosion and fire. One other victim found earlier hasn't been identified, and authorities were trying to identify remains found Saturday morning. Two people were still missing from the blast.

Greig spent part of the summer evaluating PG&E's expansion plans and investment proposals to replace out-of-date pipes, as part of the utility's overall bid to raise consumers' rates, co-worker Pearlie Sabino said.

Sabino and Greig were members of a small commission team that advocates for consumer and environmental protections pertaining to natural gas.

"It's just so shocking because she was one of the ones who was most closely involved with this kind of work," said Mike Florio, an attorney with the San Francisco advocacy group The Utility Reform Network who worked with Greig. "Little did we know that pipe was near Jackie's own neighborhood."

Among the paperwork PG&E submitted for hearings with regulators was a document ranking a section of the same gas line about two and half miles from the blast as within "the top 100 highest risk line sections" in the utility's entire service territory, documents show.

The federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration classified the 30-inch diameter transmission line, which ran for about a mile and a half near Greig's home, as a "high consequence area" requiring more stringent inspections called integrity assessments, agency spokeswoman Julia Valentine said. Nationwide, only about 7 percent of gas lines have that classification, she said.

The state commission gave that section of pipe the same classification and had conducted audits on that stretch, spokeswoman Terrie Prosper said. PG&E also had conducted leak surveys, evaluations and patrols on the gas line, she said.

Saturday, Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado, who is serving as acting governor while Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger travels in Asia, directed the commission to perform integrity assessments of all pipeline segments located in the impacted area.

Maldonado also ordered further inspections and surveys for high consequence areas, including a detailed inspection of three transmission lines that run through San Mateo County.

A group of local, state and federal officials toured the damaged area Saturday and described a ghost-town full of remnants of cars melted in driveways and pieces of houses, some left with just the chimney standing.

Besides the 40 homes leveled by the blast, seven were severely damaged, while dozens of other houses suffered less severe damage in the fire that sped across 15 acres.

Residents of roughly 270 homes that have been off-limits following the blaze will be allowed to return for good starting around noon on Sunday, San Bruno City Manager Connie Jackson said. Some residents were authorized to enter a limited area Saturday to retrieve belongings.

Michelle Salinda's home was destroyed in the fire, but her husband, Ricardo, and 15-year-old son were able to escape. She said she wants to return to what's left of her home to find closure.

"I can't wait to see it, even though it's all destroyed, because I know that's where I am going to start again," she said.

Ricardo Salinda described a harrowing scene as he and his son escaped from a 200-foot fireball racing toward the front door of their home. The two suffered burns as they fled the flames.

They used a ladder to scale a neighbor's fence but it was too hot there, and Salinda said he lifted his 120-pound son over the next fence and scrambled after him.

"I don't know how I was able to lift him," he said. "It's a blessing we got out."

___

Contributing to this report were video journalist Haven Daley in San Bruno and John S. Marshall and Sudhin Thanawala in San Francisco. Burke reported from Fresno, Calif.



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Karzai marks 9/11 with appeal over civilian deaths (AP)

KABUL, Afghanistan � President Hamid Karzai marked the ninth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks in the U.S. by insisting the origins of the continued Taliban insurgency are not in Afghanistan.

Karzai did not mention neighboring Pakistan by name, but it was clear he was referring to the insurgent sanctuaries there when he said the war should "focus on the sources and the origins of terrorism."

He said by focusing on Afghanistan, the coalition endangers Afghan civilians who were freed from Taliban rule in the 2001 U.S.-led invasion that followed the 9/11 attacks. He urged NATO to do everything to avoid civilian deaths.

"The villages of Afghanistan are not the origins and the sanctuaries of terrorists," Karzai said Saturday. "Innocent Afghan people should not be the victims in the fight against terrorism."

Civilian deaths are a flashpoint issue in Afghanistan and seriously undermine support for the war. Karzai has repeatedly urged NATO to take all necessary measures to protect civilians. NATO says it is doing all it can to avoid innocent casualties but says insurgents often use civilians as human shields during attacks.

The Taliban issued a statement Saturday in which the 9/11 anniversary was mentioned. For nine years "Afghanistan has been burning in the flames of the invasion of the American invaders that started under the pretext of avenging the September event," the statment said.

The Taliban said the insurgency would continue, warning that foreign forces were facing defeat in an "illegitimate war which will eventually usher the downfall of the American empire."

Meanwhile, fighting continued Saturday in different parts of Afghanistan.

NATO said in a statement that international and Afghan forces destroyed multiple enemy positions in the Zharay district of southern Kandahar province, the hotbed of the Taliban insurgency.

The targets were around the village of Ghariban, an area "plagued with improvised explosive device activity and populated with insurgents," the statement said.

Also Saturday, a bomb blew up a vehicle on a dirt road near the southern village of Senjeray, wounding six children and killing their parents, according to U.S. Capt. Jeff Holt, 25, of Russellville, Arkansas.

Afghans brought the wounded children to the gate of a hilltop U.S.-Afghan base in Senjeray, where U.S. medical teams treated them. Two of the children suffered severe head trauma and facial cuts and were evacuated by helicopter to a military field hospital in Kandahar, Holt said.

"It was a big one," Holt said of the blast, which blew the vehicle's engine 200 meters (yards) away and left a seven foot wide crater in the road. "It was meant for one of our" heavily armored vehicles.

____

Associated Press writers Rahim Faiez and Robert H. Reid contributed to this report.



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Nigerian media mogul reports election threat (AP)

ABUJA, Nigeria � A Nigerian media mogul says his family has received kidnap threats over his support for a former military dictator in country's the upcoming election.

Raymond Dokpesi, the owner of the Africa Independent Television network, told reporters Saturday that his family received threats Friday night that his son would be kidnapped.

Dokpesi said the threats were "definitely masterminded and supported actively by President Goodluck Jonathan groups."

Dokpesi is a campaign chairman for former military dictator Ibrahim Babangida's presidential bid. Jonathan has yet to say whether he will run in the Jan. 22 presidential election.

In a statement Saturday night, Jonathan's office called Dokpesi's claims "lies."



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24 injured in clash between rival Guinea parties (AP)

CONAKRY, Guinea � At least 24 people were injured when members of Guinea's rival political parties began throwing rocks at each other following a campaign event Saturday, said a campaign official and a doctor at the hospital where the injured were being treated.

The violent clash is one more sign of escalating tension ahead of next week's historic election, which many had hoped would mark a turning point for the troubled country that has known only authoritarian rule since winning independence from France in 1958.

Souleymane Diallo, a spokesman for the Union for the Democratic Forces of Guinea, or UFDG, says that their female supporters were returning from a meeting when supporters of the opposing Rally of the Guinean People, or RPG, began throwing rocks at them and a brawl broke out.

"We were coming back from a meeting of pro-UFDG women, which had been held at the presidential palace, when a group of people started throwing rocks at us," said UFDG supporter Marietou Balde. "We started throwing rocks back at them, and it degenerated. People were injured."

A doctor at Donka Hospital, who asked not to be named because he is not authorized to speak to the press, confirmed that 24 people had been brought in with injuries, including open gashes.

Cellou Dalein Diallo, the UFDG candidate and a former prime minister, received 44 percent of the vote during the first round of voting in June. He is facing off against the RPG's Alpha Conde, an aging university professor and longtime opposition leader who got 18 percent during the first voting cycle.

Tension between the two is rooted in Guinea's ethnic divide, which has always hovered just below the surface of the country's politics.

Diallo is a Peul, the country's largest ethnic group, which has never had one of its own in power.

Last year, the Peul were explicitly targeted during an army-led massacre of opposition supporters inside the national soccer stadium. Women that had Peul features were dragged to the ground and raped, said survivors including women who were from other ethnic groups and who said that they tried to convince their aggressors that they were not Peul.

Although Conde spent decades as an icon of the opposition, he is a Malinke � a group heavily represented in the army, as well as in the junta blamed for the Sept. 29 massacre.

__

Associated Press Writer Rukmini Callimachi contributed to this report from Dakar, Senegal.



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Attacks in southern Russia kill 2 police, wound 5 AP

MAKHACHKALA, Russia Several attacks in Russias volatile North Caucasus region have left two police officers dead and another five wounded, officials said Saturday.

The ministrys branch in the Caspian Sea province of Dagestan says one officer was gunned down late Friday on the outskirts of the regional capital, Makhachkala.

Another policeman was killed Friday in the province of Ingushetia west of Chechnya. The gunmen shot and killed him outside an auto repair shop in the regions main city of Nazran.

In another attack Saturday in the province of Kabardino-Balkariya, a truck carrying police hit a radio-controlled land mine, leaving five policemen wounded.

The attacks follow Thursdays suicide bombing near the central market of Vladikavkaz, the regional capital of the republic of North Ossetia, that killed 17 people and wounded more than 140. It was the most serious attack in Russia since the March subway bombings in Moscow that killed 40 people.

Funerals were held in Vladikavkaz Saturday for some of the victims. About 200 people also rallied in front of the regional governments headquarters, demanding that authorities offer a better protection for the population.

A car exploded in a courtyard of an apartment building in Vladikavkaz on Saturday, hurting no one but raising fears of a new terror attack. Authorities said the blast wasnt a terror attack, and apparently was linked to criminal disputes.

Russias ethnically diverse North Caucasus region has been plagued by violence stemming from two separatist wars in Chechnya and fueled by poverty, official corruption and police abuses.



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State police: 6 dead in eastern Kentucky shooting AP

JACKSON, Ky. A gunman in rural eastern Kentucky killed five people with a shotgun before turning the weapon on himself Saturday, authorities said.

The shooting happened in a trailer park in the Mount Carmel community outside Jackson around 11:35 a.m. Saturday, Kentucky State Police and Breathitt County authorities said.

Sheriff Ray Clemons said the shooting appeared to be a domestic situation but it was too soon to make a complete determination.

Both Clemons and state Trooper Jody Sims say its too early to release the names of the shooter or his victims. Sims said he had no information about the ages or relationships between the victims. That and other information could be released later Saturday pending positive identification of the victims and notifying their families.

Sims said the shooter appeared to use a 12-gauge shotgun.

Authorities started receiving calls about multiple gunshots shortly after 11:30. Sims said troopers found five victims when they arrived about an hour later and "also a sixth person whos believed to be the alleged perpetrator." Troopers say the victim appeared to turn the shotgun on himself after killing the other five.

Breathitt County is located in the rugged eastern part of the state, almost 90 miles southeast of Lexington.

Eds: Corrects time of shooting reports to 11:35 a.m., rather than 12:30 p.m., based on updated information from authorities. Updates with more details from state police; Will be updated.



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Egypt: Barge leaks 100 tons of gasoline into Nile AP

LUXOR, Egypt A barge has leaked some 100 tons of gasoline into the Nile River in southern Egypt after it became partially submerged while workers unloaded its cargo.

The vessel docked Saturday in Aswan, about 700 miles 1,100 kilometers south of Cairo, when part of the barge sank below the surface and began spewing gasoline into the river. The leak has since been stopped.

Officials in three southern Egyptian provinces have declared a state of emergency to contain the spill and to prevent it from spreading down river.

The barge belongs to the Nile Company for River Transport. Officials say it was carrying 244 tons of gasoline.

The chief of the Luxor drinking water company urged people to stockpile water in case the spill reaches the citys water purification facilities.



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Sofia Coppolas Somewhere wins top Venice prize AP

VENICE, Italy Sofia Coppolas "Somewhere," the tale of an actor who sees the emptiness of his existence through the eyes of his child, won the top Golden Lion prize at the Venice film festival Saturday.

Director Quentin Tarantino headed the jury, which unanimously chose Coppolas film as the best movie at the 11-day annual festival.

The buzz in the final days of the festival had pegged "Somewhere" as a sure winner, and the jury appeared to have had no doubts, either.

"This film enchanted us from its first screening," Tarantino said. "It has the artistry we were looking for in a Golden Lion" winner, he told the closing ceremony.

Coppola has described the film, which made its world premiere at Venice, as a "portrait of todays L.A."

In "Somewhere," a movie star, played by Stephen Dorff, realizes how empty is life is when he travels with his 11-year-old daughter, played by Elle Fanning.

Coppola, 39, herself grew up in the world of film thanks to her father, director Francis Ford Coppola. "Thanks to my dad for teaching me," Coppola said, accepting the award.

When the film was screened at Venice, early in the festival, Coppola told reporters her father "loved" the film.

Much of "Somewhere" takes place in hotels, and Coppola, when presenting the film, reminisced that she and her family spent a lot of time growing up in hotels where her director father was out on location while filming.

Other awards included the Silver Lion for best director, which went to Alex de la Iglesia for his "Balada triste de Trompeta" "A Sad Trumpet Ballad". The Spanish director also won the best screenplay award for the film.

The top actor award was given to Vincent Gallo, who played a terror suspect plotting his escape in "Essential Killing," by Polish director Jerzy Skolimowski. Best actress honors were awarded to Ariana Lebed, in "Attenberg," a film by Greek director Athina Rachel Tsangari.



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Greek protesters confront government on economy AP

THESSALONIKI, Greece Greeces prime minister promised Saturday to lower corporate taxes to help revive the debt-plagued countrys shrinking economy, while thousands of protesters marched against the governments harsh austerity measures.

Greece narrowly avoided bankruptcy in May when European countries and the International Monetary Fund gave it euro110 billion through 2012 in emergency loans. The money came on condition Athens make deep cutbacks � moves that have angered citizens suffering from a recession.

Prime Minister George Papandreou said the tax rate on companies retained profits would be cut from 24 to 20 percent next year, providing what he called "a strong incentive for investments and competitiveness."

He also pledged to open up restricted professions � including truck drivers, notaries, taxi drivers and pharmacists � deregulate the energy market, settle on privatization targets and simplify business licensing procedures by the end of this year.

Some 20,000 people gathered in three separate protests in the northern port city of Thessaloniki ahead of Papandreous speech. They were accompanied by some 4,500 police on security duty.

Minor clashes broke out as scores of youths attacked riot police with sticks, and were repelled with tear gas. No arrests or injuries were immediately reported. Police pre-emptively detained 20 people, including 15 from Spain, Italy, Britain and Portugal.

Previous protests have turned violent, and in May three people died in a bank torched by hooded youths who infiltrated a large demonstration in Athens � an action that shocked Greeks and deflated the protest movement.

Earlier Saturday, an elderly man threw a shoe at Papandreou, who had just inaugurated an annual trade fair. The projectile landed wide of its target, and the alleged shoe-thrower was arrested but later freed as Papandreou declined to press charges.

The center-left government says its daunting task of reducing the budget deficit from 13.6 percent of annual output in 2009 to 8.1 percent this year is on track, and has pledged to maintain the pace.

The government announced plans Friday to overhaul the state-run rail company � with debts of euro10.7 billion $13.62 billion_ by cutting payrolls and rail services. About 40 percent of its 6,300 workers will leave and be offered other public sector jobs, while the company faces private competition.

Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou said Friday that reforms would extend to other state corporations. "As a society, we have shown that we understand the problem," he said.

But amid a deepening recession and high unemployment, unions are angry at this years deep spending cuts and consumer tax hikes, and fear new cutbacks. Heralding a new round of unrest, railway workers are planning strikes against payroll cuts, and some unionists have threatened to burn privately operated trains.

State revenues are increasing at a lower-than-projected rate, and the government has said it may have to increase sales tax rates on a broad range of goods, or raise heating fuel costs.

Officials insist, however, that together with the pain, the countrys worst postwar economic crisis will allow key reforms to the bloated, inefficient public sector and encourage a healthier development model.

Papandreou said Friday that in the coming year, apart from "fighting the monster deficits and debt," government policy would focus on reforms to tourism � a key earner � education, agriculture and renewable energy.

Inspectors from the EU and IMF next week will review the progress of austerity measures required for the bailout loans, as well as on efforts to cut the budget deficit. The country is due to receive euro9 billion over the next few days in the second installment of the loans.

Greece remains off the market for government bonds � with interest rates at 9.6 percentage points higher than those for the benchmark German 10-year issue. Instead, Athens is seeking shorter-term loans, and is due to auction euro900 million $1.14 billion worth of 26-week treasury bills on Tuesday.

The employment crisis has hit parts of northern Greece the hardest, including the town of Naoussa, where the jobless rate hit 50 percent, worsened by the relocation of factories to nearby Bulgaria.

"We have no hope. At this point we have nothing," said Ioanna Stoumbiari, and unemployed worker at a recently closed textile factory. "Who will hire me at 50? I want to work, but who will hire me? Theyre not hiring younger kids, theyre going to hire me?"

___

Associated Press writer Costas Kantouris and APTN producer Theodora Tongas contributed to this report.



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Karzai marks 9-11 with appeal over civilian deaths AP

KABUL, Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai marked the ninth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks in the U.S. on Saturday by insisting the origins of the continued Taliban insurgency are not in Afghanistan.

Karzai did not mention neighboring Pakistan by name, but it was clear he was referring to the insurgent sanctuaries there when he said the war should "focus on the sources and the origins of terrorism."

The president said by focusing on Afghanistan, the coalition endangers Afghan civilians who were freed from Taliban rule in the 2001 U.S.-led invasion that followed the 9-11 attacks. He urged NATO to do everything to avoid civilian deaths.

"The villages of Afghanistan are not the origins and the sanctuaries of terrorists," Karzai said. "Innocent Afghan people should not be the victims in the fight against terrorism."

Civilian deaths are a flashpoint issue in Afghanistan because they seriously undermine support for the war. Karzai has repeatedly urged NATO to take all necessary measures to protect civilians. NATO says it is doing all it can to avoid innocent casualties, but says insurgents often use civilians as human shields during attacks.

Meanwhile, fighting continued Saturday in different parts of Afghanistan.

NATO said in a statement that together with Afghan forces it destroyed multiple enemy positions in the Zharay district of southern Kandahar province, the hotbed of the Taliban insurgency.

The targets were around the village of Ghariban, an area "plagued with improvised explosive device activity and populated with insurgents," the statement said.

In a separate incident Saturday, a bomb blew up a vehicle driving on a dirt road near the southern Afghan village of Senjeray, wounding six children and killing their parents, according to U.S. Capt. Jeff Holt, 25, of Russellville, Arkansas.

Afghans brought the wounded children to the gate of a hilltop U.S.-Afghan base in Senjeray, where U.S. medical teams treated them. Two of the children suffered severe head trauma and facial lacerations, and were evacuated by helicopter to a military field hospital in Kandahar, Holt said.

"It was a big one," Holt said of the blast, which blew the vehicles engine 200 meters yards away and left a seven foot wide crater in the road. "It was meant for one of our" heavily armored vehicles.

____

Associated Press writers Rahim Faiez and Robert H. Reid contributed to this report.



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US woman caught in middle of Irans power struggle AP

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates Irans start-and-stop announcements over the release of one of three detained Americans add up to a distinct message: President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his allies still have a fight on their hands within the ruling ranks.

The confusing signals over the fate of 31-year-old Sarah Shourd � whose planned Saturday release was personally backed by Ahmadinejad � underscore the wider backlash to efforts at expanding his powers and sway over internal policies and Irans foreign affairs, analysts say.

It also points to one of the main fissures in Irans conservative leadership: Ahmadinejad and his allies against the powerful judiciary overseen by Irans supreme leader.

The judiciary head, Ayatollah Sadeq Larijani � who took over shortly after the Americans were detained along the Iraqi border in July 2009 � apparently sees the detainees as his portfolio alone.

On Saturday, the judiciarys website quoted Tehrans chief prosecutor, Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi, as saying none of the detained Americans would be released "until the end of the legal procedure" and stressed that Shourd would not receive special treatment despite reported health concerns, including a breast lump and precancerous cervical cells.

Its unclear whether the prosecutor was referring to a trial on possible spy charges � which could takes weeks or months � or some other kind of case review. It appears, however, any fast-track release is unlikely.

"By stopping the release of Sarah Shourd, the judiciary sent a strong message to the president that the buck stops with them," said Meir Javedanfar, an Iran expert with the Middle East Economic and Political Analyst based in Israel.

But the rumblings inside Irans power structure have potential resonance beyond the detained Americans. Pressure from the sources such as the judiciary and parliament � led by Larijanis brother Ali � could undercut Ahmadinejads ability to fend off domestic complaints.

The list is long and includes a creaky economy, the squeeze of sanctions over Irans nuclear program and the crackdown on opposition groups who claim he stole last years election.

"More and more, Iranian lawmakers and officials believe he is ignoring them and acting solely in his own interest," said Javedanfar.

The timing of the planned release of Shourd also could have played a role in the abrupt pullback.

It coincided with the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, a common time to free prisoners in the Islamic world. But its just weeks before Ahmadinejads annual trip to attend the U.N. General Assembly � suggesting the judiciary did not want to hand Ahmadinejad potential goodwill points before heading to the United States.

Ahmadinejad also could be looking to soften international outcry over a stoning sentence � now put on hold � for an Iranian woman convicted of adultery in another case that overlaps political sensitivities and the judicial process.

"There are definite lines of division within Iran," said Behzad Sarmadi, a researcher on Iranian affairs at the Dubai School of Government. "Its easy to imagine a case like the American detainees being caught up in the factional disputes."

On Friday, state media reported that Ahmadinejads intervention helped secure her freedom in part because of the "special viewpoint of the Islamic Republic of Iran on the dignity of women." Reporters were invited to witness her release.

Then, just hours later, judiciary officials said it was off � an embarrassing rebuke to Ahmadinejad and dashing the hopes of Shourds family.

Shourd and two other Americans, Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal, were detained along the Iran-Iraq border on July 31, 2009. They have been accused of illegally crossing the border and spying in a case that has deepened tensions with Washington � which has led the push from greater sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program.

Their families say they were hiking in Iraqs scenic Kurdish region and that if they crossed the border, they did so unwittingly. Shourd has been held in solitary confinement, and her mother has said shes been denied medical treatment.

They were visited once by their mothers in May in a trip closely covered by Iranian state media.

Two weeks after the Americans were detained, Iran appointed Larijani to lead the countrys judiciary. It was the height of the crackdown on dissent amid unprecedented protests and clashes following Ahmadinejads disputed re-election.

But Larijani pushed back against Ahmadinejad, including warning that security forces and the Revolutionary Guard allied with Ahmadinejad could face prosecution if they overstepped their bounds.

"Larijani is not a fan of Ahmadinejad," said the researcher Sarmadi. "To him, Ahmadinejad represents the militarization of the government with his links to the Revolutionary Guard."

Larijanis brother, Ali, is parliament speaker and Irans former nuclear negotiator � and considered one of Ahmadinejads leading rivals among Iranian conservatives.

The judiciary is among the key pillars of authority directly overseen by Irans highest figure, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The mixed signals over Shourds release suggests a breakdown in the traditional flow of power � with Ahmadinejad trying to set policies without full clearance from the top.

"You can see this as another sign of cracks in Khameneis authority," said Patrick Clawson, deputy director of The Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

In an apparent attempt to save face, an unidentified official in the presidents office was quoted Saturday by the IRNA news agency as saying the postponement of Shourds release was due to the Eid al-Fitr holiday. But the timing of the end-of-Ramdan events are known days in advance.

Still, the American womans lawyer, Masoud Shafiei, said he remains optimistic.

"Since the case has turned into a political and diplomatic issue and many officials have talked about a release, she could be released soon," he said.

But some analysts see a number of factors possibly complicating the release, including whether to be seen as rewarding the United States after it led the push for greater U.N. sanctions over Irans refused to halt uranium enrichment.

Some Iranian authorities may be leery about the appearance of freeing one of the U.S. detainees as an exchange for Iranian nuclear scientist Shahram Amiri, who returned to Iran in July.

In the past, Ahmadinejad has suggested the three Americans could be traded for Iranians claimed to be held by the U.S.

"This change of plans about the release could be more about foreign policy priorities than factional fighting within the country," said Kaveh Afrasiabi, a California-based author and scholar of Iranian affairs. "This could make things difficult."



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Karzai marks 9-11 with appeal over civilian deaths AP

KABUL, Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai marked the ninth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks in the U.S. on Saturday by insisting the origins of the continued Taliban insurgency are not in Afghanistan.

Karzai did not mention neighboring Pakistan by name, but it was clear he was referring to the insurgent sanctuaries there when he said the war should "focus on the sources and the origins of terrorism."

The president said by focusing on Afghanistan, the coalition endangers Afghan civilians who were freed from Taliban rule in the 2001 U.S.-led invasion that followed the 9-11 attacks. He urged NATO to do everything to avoid civilian deaths.

"The villages of Afghanistan are not the origins and the sanctuaries of terrorists," Karzai said. "Innocent Afghan people should not be the victims in the fight against terrorism."

Civilian deaths are a flashpoint issue in Afghanistan because they seriously undermine support for the war. Karzai has repeatedly urged NATO to take all necessary measures to protect civilians. NATO says it is doing all it can to avoid innocent casualties, but says insurgents often use civilians as human shields during attacks.

Meanwhile, fighting continued Saturday in different parts of Afghanistan.

NATO said in a statement that together with Afghan forces it destroyed multiple enemy positions in the Zharay district of southern Kandahar province, the hotbed of the Taliban insurgency.

The targets were around the village of Ghariban, an area "plagued with improvised explosive device activity and populated with insurgents," the statement said.

In a separate incident Saturday, a bomb blew up a vehicle driving on a dirt road near the southern Afghan village of Senjeray, wounding six children and killing their parents, according to U.S. Capt. Jeff Holt, 25, of Russellville, Arkansas.

Afghans brought the wounded children to the gate of a hilltop U.S.-Afghan base in Senjeray, where U.S. medical teams treated them. Two of the children suffered severe head trauma and facial lacerations, and were evacuated by helicopter to a military field hospital in Kandahar, Holt said.

"It was a big one," Holt said of the blast, which blew the vehicles engine 200 meters yards away and left a seven foot wide crater in the road. "It was meant for one of our" heavily armored vehicles.

____

Associated Press writers Rahim Faiez and Robert H. Reid contributed to this report.



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Zimbabwe arrests 5 US doctors over licensing AP

HARARE, Zimbabwe Zimbabwean police have arrested five American doctors working in the capital and charged them with operating without proper licenses, their lawyer said Saturday.

Lawyer Jonathan Samukange said the five Americans were arrested late Friday along with a Zimbabwean doctor.

He said the doctors are accused of practicing medicine in Zimbabwe without a proper license and of running a pharmacy without a pharmacists supervision or a pharmacists license. But he said they have the proper licenses and were only supervising a pharmacy that mainly gave out AIDS medications. He said they are expected to appear in court on Monday.

He said they are working for a church-related aid group but did not specify which one.



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Ex-bishop in Belgian abuse scandal goes to hiding AP

BRUSSELS The former Belgian bishop who resigned in April after admitting he sexually abused a nephew for years said Friday he would go into hiding to assess his future, despite calls for him to leave the church immediately.

Roger Vangheluwe said in a statement he would immediately leave an abbey in his bishopry of Bruges, where he has been staying since his April 23 resignation. His bishopry has urged him to seek another place to live, and several victims of sexual abuse by clergy as well as a prominent senator have called on him to leave the church as an institution.

Vangheluwe gave no response to the calls for him to step out of priesthood, but said that "as of today, I will contemplate my life and future somewhere hidden, outside the bishopry of Bruges."

His April admission triggered a huge crisis in the Belgian Roman Catholic Church. On Friday, a commission presented a report of hundreds of sex abuse victims over the past half century with harrowing accounts of molestation by Catholic clergy that reportedly led to at least 13 suicides.

Vangheluwe had been Belgiums longest serving bishop when he resigned, one year shy of retirement. The scandal acerbated when secret tapes of a discussion between the former head of the Belgian church, Cardinal Godfried Danneels, and the victim showed the cardinal wanted to keep the scandal secret until the bishop retired.

On Saturday, Vangheluwe again admitted guilt and asked for forgiveness "to our church, to society, and all people marked by the suffering."

"My remorse has increased now that I see how much evil happened, partly because of me," he said in a statement read out by a spokesman for the Belgian church.

Archbishop Andre-Mutien Leonard, who was appointed earlier this year, said he would present a new initiative Monday on how to deal with cases of abuse, prevent further abuse and help victims seek closure.

Danneels, Leonards predecessor, acknowledged Wednesday that damage control often took precedence in Belgium over concerns for victims in sexual abuse cases involving clergy.



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Serbia charges 9 ex-troops with Kosovo war crimes AP

BELGRADE, Serbia Serbias war crimes prosecutor has charged nine former paramilitary fighters with war crimes for the brutal killing of more than 40 civilians during the war in Kosovo, the prosecutors office said Saturday.

The nine are accused of murder, looting, rape, intimidation and destruction of property of ethnic Albanian civilians in the western Kosovo village of Cuska in May 1999, the statement said.

The purpose of the crimes was to drive the ethnic Albanians from their homes, it added.

The indictment against the nine, all former members of the Sakali, or Jackals, paramilitary unit, is part of pro-Western Serbian government efforts to deal with the wartime past as it seeks EU membership.

The atrocities committed in Cuska and the surrounding villages are among the worst from Kosovos 1998-99 war. Altogether, around 10,000 people, mostly ethnic Albanians, were killed during the conflict.

The indictment for Cuska crimes says that "the accused have shown particular brutality, ruthlessness and insensitivity," the prosecutors statement said.

It added that the accused intimidated the civilians by snatching small children away from them, shooting in front of their feet, putting knives at their throats or beating them.

The murders were committed in a brutal way, often by firing multiple rounds into the victims backs, the indictment said. The bodies were burned to prevent identification, it added.

Serbian prosecutors have initially opened an investigation against 26 people for the crimes committed in western Kosovo in 1999.

The brutality of Serbias crackdown in Kosovo had prompted NATO to bomb the country to end the war. Then-President Slobodan Milosevic and several top wartime state officials and security officers were tried for Kosovo war crimes at the U.N. tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands. Milosevic died in 2006 before his genocide trial ended.

Kosovo declared independence in 2008.



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Obama remembers Sept. 11, calls for unity AP

WASHINGTON Amid an atmosphere of unease, President Barack Obama wants Americans to mark the ninth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks by recapturing the sense of common purpose felt on that dreadful day.

"If there is a lesson to be drawn on this anniversary, it is this: We are one nation � one people � bound not only by grief, but by a set of common ideals," the president said Saturday in his weekly radio and Internet address.

"By giving back to our communities, by serving people in need, we reaffirm our ideals � in defiance of those who would do us grave harm."

Obama himself was marking the day nearly 3,000 people died in terrorist jetliner attacks with a moment of silence at 8:46 a.m., the time the first plane hit the World Trade Center in New York City. The president also planned to attend a memorial service at the Pentagon and participate in a service project in the Washington area.

First lady Michelle Obama was to join former first lady Laura Bush in Shanksville, Pa., where the fourth plane crashed after passengers rushed the cockpit. Vice President Joe Biden is in New York for the service at ground zero.

But this years remembrances take place in an unusually tense environment, amid growing public suspicion of Muslims and controversies over an Islamic community center and mosque planned near ground zero and a Florida pastors threat to burn Qurans on Saturday.

By late Friday, it appeared the Rev. Terry Jones had backed off his plan to burn the Muslim holy book, following international condemnation. In New York, protests were planned for Saturday by supporters and opponents of the proposed mosque.

Obama alluded in his radio address to the contentious atmosphere, though without specifically addressing either controversy.

"This is a time of difficulty for our country," Obama said. "And it is often in such moments that some try to stoke bitterness � to divide us based on our differences, to blind us to what we have in common.

"But on this day, we are reminded that at our best, we do not give in to this temptation," Obama said. "We stand with one another. We fight alongside one another. We do not allow ourselves to be defined by fear, but by the hopes we have for our families, for our nation, and for a brighter future."

At a White House news conference Friday Obama denounced the threatened Quran burning, said Muslims have the same right as any other religion to build near ground zero and issued a full-throated appeal for religious tolerance, reminding Americans: "We are not at war against Islam."

In the GOPs weekly address, Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., echoed Obamas plea for a common purpose. Kyl called for the country to "recapture the unity that allowed us to come together as a nation to confront a determined enemy."

But without mentioning the president by name, Kyl seemed to question the Obama administrations commitment to the war on terror begun by his predecessor, George W. Bush. Obama recently declared an end to combat missions in Iraq even as he pledged to renew efforts to prosecute the war in Afghanistan and pursue al-Qaida terrorists.

"The fact that none of the subsequent attempts to attack us have succeeded seems to have removed some of the urgency and commitment so necessary to succeed in war," Kyl said.

___

Online:

Obama address: http://ping.fm/Y8oh0

GOP address: http://ping.fm/hcJkF



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Pakistani flood victims celebrate Eid in tents AP

MUZAFFARGARH, Pakistan Millions of Pakistani flood victims celebrated Islams most joyous festival in donated tents and makeshift shelters on Saturday as the countrys leaders � criticized for an inadequate response to the disaster � pledged more aid.

The water has receded in many places, but remains head-high in others, forcing victims to stay outside their villages in camps or alone on roadsides.

Girls gathered at one camp near a power plant in the city of Muzaffargarh, sitting on a rug unfurled on the ground near the road as aid workers decorated their hands with intricate henna designs.

Their mothers, hovering behind, said even this small pleasure would soon be gone.

"We dont have the happiness of Eid. What is the happiness?" said Amana Bibi, 25. "We dont have homes."

Charities sent bags of gifts such as shiny plastic wrist bangles and candies to children displaced by the floods, which have affected some 18 million people.

The three-day Eid al-Fitr festival is celebrated at the end of the fasting month of Ramadan. The festival begins when the first visible crescent of the new moon is spotted in the skies. Eid started Friday in Pakistans northwest and Saturday in most other parts of the country.

During Ramadan, the faithful are supposed to abstain from food and drink in a dawn-to-dusk period of self-sacrifice to commemorate the revelation of the Quran to the Prophet Muhammad.

Eid includes morning prayers at mosques before visits, gift-giving and meals at relatives and friends homes.

The Pakistani government has been criticized by victims for its inability to deliver adequate aid.

"We will provide you financial help for rebuilding homes," Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani told survivors at a camp in southwestern Baluchistan province, one of the hardest-hit regions. He also distributed gifts.

President Asif Ali Zardari, criticized for traveling to Britain and France as the crisis developed, was also planning to visit victims.

___

Ahmed reported from Islamabad.



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Thousands of Afghans in anti-Quran-burning protest AP

KABUL, Afghanistan Thousands of people protested in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday against a small American churchs earlier plan to burn the Muslim holy book, chanting "Death to America" and setting shops and police checkpoints on fire, officials said.

Din Mohammad Darwish, spokesman for the governor of Logar province, said police fired warning shots into the air to prevent the protesters from storming the governors house. He said no injuries were immediately reported.

He said a highway linking Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan was briefly blocked by the protesters.

Nabi Charkhi, the deputy provincial police chief, said more than 10,000 people took part in the protest in the provincial capital, Puli Alam.

At least 11 people were injured in similar protests in Afghanistan on Friday.

A Florida pastor who had announced plans to burn the Quran on the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States traveled to New York on Friday. His son said the Quran burning would not take place Saturday but couldnt say whether it might occur later.



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Iran balks at release of American woman AP

TEHRAN, Iran Iranian authorities abruptly halted plans to release an American woman Saturday after more than a year in jail with two friends, dashing their mothers hopes and pointing to the internal rivalries within Irans leadership.

The about-face was an embarrassment to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who had personally intervened to get Sarah Shourd released as an act of clemency at the end of the holy month of Ramadan, according to state media. With just hours to go, judiciary officials blocked the release, indicating she must stand trial before an amnesty could be granted.

The 31-year-old Shourd was detained with two other Americans, Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal, along the border between Iraq and Iran on July 31, 2009. They have been accused of illegally crossing the border and spying in a case that has deepened tension with the U.S., a relationship already strained over Washingtons suspicions that Tehran is trying to build nuclear weapons � something Iran denies.

Their families say they were hiking in Iraqs scenic north and that if they crossed the border, they did so unwittingly. Shourd has been held in solitary confinement, and her mother has said shes been denied treatment for serious health problems, including a breast lump and precancerous cervical cells.

The postponed release was not the first mixed signal in the case. Judicial officials have said several times that a trial would start soon, but few details have been made public, including whether the three Americans have even been formally charged.

President Ahmadinejad and other officials have also suggested the three could be traded for Iranians they say are in custody in the U.S., indicating Iran might be holding them just as bargaining chips.

Then in May, Iran allowed the mothers of the three Americans to visit them in Iran, releasing them temporarily from Tehrans Evin prison for an emotional reunion at a hotel in the capital where they were treated to a lavish meal.

On Friday, state media reported that Ahmadinejads intervention helped secure Shourds planned release in part because of the "special viewpoint of the Islamic Republic of Iran on the dignity of women."

Reporters had even been invited to witness the release.

Later, the IRNA state news agency quoted the deputy chief of communication for the presidents office, Mohammed Hassan Salilhimaram, as saying the release was postponed and details would be announced later.

Tehrans chief prosecutor, Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi, said the release could not take place because "judicial procedures have not been completed," according to the semiofficial ILNA news agency.

An official close to the prosecutors office said Dowlatabadi believes the release is unacceptable because Shourd should first stand before the court and then the amnesty will be granted.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the issue.

Patrick Clawson, deputy director at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said the last-minute quarrels over Shrouds release highlight the internal fissures in Irans power structure between Ahmadinejad and others such as the prosecutor who could see him overreaching his authority.

"There are all kinds of internal pressures," he said. "A case like this shows there are various factions at play."

Last year, the brother of Ahmadinejads main conservative rival took over as head of the powerful judiciary, reducing the presidents influence there.

The presidents effort to have Shourd released might have been calculated to try to soften international criticism over a stoning sentence for a woman convicted of adultery that has been temporarily suspended during a review of her case by Irans Supreme Court.

Ahmadinejad might also have wanted to make a gesture of goodwill before traveling later this month to the U.N. General Assembly in New York, where he has proposed having a televised debate with President Barack Obama on issues dividing the two nations.

In an apparent attempt to save face, an unidentified official in the presidents office was quoted Saturday by the IRNA news agency as saying the postponement of Shourds release was due to the Eid al-Fitr holiday, though that date was known in advance.

The American womans lawyer, Masoud Shafiei, said he remains optimistic.

"Since the case has turned into a political and diplomatic issue and many officials have talked about a release, she could be released soon," he said.

The U.S. State Department and relatives said they had no immediate information about the reports that she would not be freed after all.

Shourds name was not among the official list of prisoners freed at the end of Ramadan, further suggesting that prosecutors want the Americans to first face trial before any kind of pardon or clemency is considered.

Typically, inmates released during Ramadan have already been convicted.

Shourds planned release had provided a long-sought sign of hope to the Americans families, who have been pleading with Iranian officials to free their children since their arrest.

Now, they are once again left wondering what is going to happen.

"We dont know anything," said Samantha Topping, a New York publicist working with the families. She said the families knew only what they were hearing from media about a delayed release.

___

Associated Press writer Brian Murphy contributed to this report from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

This version CORRECTS that official close to prosecutor is not from the judiciary.



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Iran balks at release of American woman AP

TEHRAN, Iran Iranian authorities abruptly halted plans to release an American woman Saturday after more than a year in jail with two friends, dashing their mothers hopes and pointing to the internal rivalries within Irans leadership.

The about-face was an embarrassment to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who had personally intervened to get Sarah Shourd released as an act of clemency at the end of the holy month of Ramadan, according to state media. With just hours to go, judiciary officials blocked the release, indicating she must stand trial before an amnesty could be granted.

The 31-year-old Shourd was detained with two other Americans, Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal, along the border between Iraq and Iran on July 31, 2009. They have been accused of illegally crossing the border and spying in a case that has deepened tension with the U.S., a relationship already strained over Washingtons suspicions that Tehran is trying to build nuclear weapons � something Iran denies.

Their families say they were hiking in Iraqs scenic north and that if they crossed the border, they did so unwittingly.

The postponed release was not the first mixed signal in the case. Judicial officials have said several times that a trial would start soon, but few details have been made public, including whether the three Americans have even been formally charged.

President Ahmadinejad and other officials have also suggested the three could be traded for Iranians they say are in custody in the U.S., indicating Iran might be holding them just as bargaining chips.

Then in May, Iran allowed the mothers of the three Americans to visit them in Iran, releasing them temporarily from Tehrans Evin prison for an emotional reunion at a hotel in the capital where they were treated to a lavish meal.

On Friday, state media reported that Ahmadinejads intervention helped secure Shourds planned release in part because of the "special viewpoint of the Islamic Republic of Iran on the dignity of women."

Reporters had even been invited to witness the release at the same hotel where the Americans were briefly reunited with their mothers in May.

Later, the IRNA state news agency quoted the deputy chief of communication for the presidents office, Mohammed Hassan Salilhimaram, as saying the release was postponed and details would be announced later.

Tehrans chief prosecutor, Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi, said the release could not take place because "judicial procedures have not been completed," according to the semiofficial ILNA news agency.

A judicial official close to the prosecutors office said Dolatabadi believes the release is unacceptable because Shourd should first stand before the court and then the amnesty will be granted.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the issue.

Patrick Clawson, deputy director at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said the last-minute quarrels over Shrouds release highlight the internal fissures in Irans power structure between Ahmadinejad and others such as the prosecutor who could see him overreaching his authority.

"There are all kinds of internal pressures," he said. "A case like this shows there are various factions at play."

Last year, the brother of Ahmadinejads main conservative rival took over as head of the powerful judiciary, reducing the presidents influence there.

The presidents effort to have Shourd released might have been calculated to try to soften international criticism over a stoning sentence for a woman convicted of adultery that has been temporarily suspended during a review of her case by Irans Supreme Court.

Shourd has been held in solitary confinement, and her mother has said shes been denied treatment for serious health problems, including a breast lump and precancerous cervical cells.

The U.S. State Department and relatives said they had no immediate information about the reports that she would not be freed after all.

Shourds name was not among the official list of prisoners freed at the end of Ramadan, further suggesting that prosecutors want the Americans to first face trial before any kind of pardon or clemency is considered.

Typically, inmates released during Ramadan have already been convicted.

Shourds planned release had provided a long-sought sign of hope to the Americans families, who have been pleading with Iranian officials to free their children since their arrest.

Now, they are once again left wondering what is going to happen.

"We dont know anything," said Samantha Topping, a New York publicist working with the families. She said the families knew only what they were hearing from media about a delayed release.

___

Associated Press writer Brian Murphy contributed to this report from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.



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Catholics in England suffered long repression AP

STONOR, England For nearly three centuries after the Reformation, Catholics in England were outlaws.

But in the turmoil and persecution that followed the break between King Henry VIII and Rome, noble families such as the Stonors clung to their faith, "in spite of dungeon, fire and sword," as the Victorian hymn "Faith of our Fathers" put it.

"Were just stubborn, really," says Ralph Thomas Campion Stonor, the seventh Lord Camoys, a title bestowed on an ancestor for valor in the Battle of Agincourt in 1415.

Pope Benedict XVI will recall the years of persecution during his upcoming tour of Britain Sept. 16-19. He will visit Westminster Hall, the medieval chamber within the Houses of Parliament where the Catholic Thomas More was tried and convicted of treason in 1535. More refused to swear an oath accepting the annulment of King Henrys marriage, thus becoming one of the first of the legion of English Catholic martyrs.

The Stonor familys history mirrors the vicissitudes of Catholics, both noble and humble, who defied the law and risked death to preserve their faith through times of persecution until they regained full legal rights in the 19th century.

The Stonors were among those described as respectable "recusants," people who refused to attend Church of England services; respectable because they did not join in any plots to overthrow the monarchy.

It was possible, even in the turbulent times of Queen Elizabeth I, to be openly Catholic and still enjoy royal favor. A notable case was the composer William Byrd, who wrote music for the Chapel Royal and for the Catholic Mass.

The Stonor family sheltered another famous martyr, the Jesuit priest Edmund Campion. Campions printing press was discovered at the Stonor house after Campion was arrested in 1581. Dame Cecily Stonor, who had already been paying yearly fines equivalent to 50,000 pounds $77,000 in todays money, and her son John were arrested as well,

She stoutly refused to renounce her faith in which, she declared, she found "nothing taught in it but great virtue and sanctity, and so by the grace of God I will live and die in it."

The heavy fines and confiscation of Catholic lands depleted the wealth of the Stonors, who by the 14th century had owned 22 manors in eight counties plus 60 acres 24 hectares of land in the center of London.

Various post-Reformation laws barred Catholics from entering London, traveling more than 10 miles 16 kilometers from home or owning horses worth more than 10 pounds, but the Stonor family continued to live in some comfort in their grand house, nestled between hills in the countryside 40 miles 65 kilometers west of London.

Camoys pointed out a painting from the more relaxed time of King James II, a Catholic who reigned from 1685 to 1688. The painting shows a large number of horses � clearly worth more than allowed � outside the house, along with a fine carriage.

Persecution ran both ways. Queen Mary, the Catholic daughter of Henry VIII, vigorously sought to uproot the Church of England; Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, author of the Book of Common Prayer, and Bishops Nicholas Ridley and Hugh Latimer were among scores burned at the stake during her reign from 1553 to 1558. Mary also bestowed a knighthood on Francis Stonor.

Pope Pius V fueled official paranoia in 1570 by publishing a bull pronouncing the Protestant Queen Elizabeth to be excommunicated and deposed. Nonetheless, Elizabeth knighted the second Francis Stonor as a gesture of reconciliation.

Pope Sixtus V supported the Spanish Armada and promised financial support for the invasion which never came, because the English navy repulsed the Spanish fleet in 1588.

Though officially suppressed, Catholics developed an organization in the following century with four Vicars Apostolic acting much like bishops, overseeing districts. One of the vicars was John Talbot Stonor, who died in 1756; it helped that he had support from a relative, the Duke of Shrewsbury, who was Lord Chamberlain, Camoys said.

Camoys, an investment banker, in 1998 became the first Catholic since the Reformation to be appointed Lord Chamberlain, a senior royal official, and he is a financial adviser to the Vatican.

The family chapel, still open under a license granted by King Edward III in 1349, is a touchstone of his faith, he says.

"Its the chapel, the existence of the chapel, the continuity of that chapel � that is the thing that is foremost in our minds and keeps us going," Camoys said.

"It is an amazing fact that only about three Catholic chapels survived through it all."

The chapel boasts a Stations of the Cross carved from wood and presented to Camoys parents by Graham Greene, the late Catholic novelist.

Laws restricting Catholic rights were enacted in every reign from Elizabeth I to George II, who died in 1760. In 1832, Catholics won the right to vote, and one of the first to benefit was Thomas Stonor. He moved easily into the establishment, serving Queen Victoria as Lord-in-Waiting for 28 years.

For ordinary Catholics, the most significant date was 1791, when they were allowed to celebrate Mass openly.

The ban on Catholics entering Oxford or Cambridge universities remained in force until the 1870s, during the lifetime of Cardinal Newman, the convert from the Church of England who is to be beatified by Benedict on Sept. 19.

Newman, born in 1801, saw the early years of the 19th century as a dark time for the faith, reduced in his eyes to "but a few adherents of the old religion, moving silently and sorrowfully about, as memorials of what had been."

In contrast, Camoys pointed to a portrait of an 18th century ancestor, his proud, almost haughty face framed in a long wig. "They dont look downtrodden, do they?" Camoys said.

Other Catholic noble families survived, including the Dukes of Norfolk who are the pre-eminent nobles of England, though the fourth duke was beheaded for plotting against Queen Elizabeth.

Ordinary Catholics shared in the suffering. Margaret Clitherow, a butchers wife from York, was executed in 1586 by being pressed to death with heavy weights. A convert to Catholicism during Elizabeths reign, Clitherow sheltered priests in her home.

The faithful risked prison to gather up relics, or even a scrap of bloody fabric, after the execution of a Catholic, she said.

After it emerged from the shadows, the English Catholic Church grew rapidly as Irish immigrants flooded into Britain. Todays church is even more diverse; Archbishop Vincent Nichols says he knows of parishes whose members represent more than a hundred languages.

Occasionally, though, one hears echoes of the old nervousness about being associated with the Roman church: Former Prime Minister Tony Blair waited until he had left office to convert to Catholicism.



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Greek protesters to confront thrifty government AP

THESSALONIKI, Greece Some 4,500 police are on duty Saturday in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki as unions vow to hold rallies against possible new spending cuts by the government to cope with countrys major debt crisis.

Prime Minister George Papandreou is due to speak about the economy on Saturday afternoon as his government faces a deepening recession and troubling unemployment figures. His government has already slashed pensions and civil service pay while raising consumer taxes, and on Friday it indicated more austerity lay ahead.

Unions have vowed to hold street protests before the prime ministers keynote speech at an annual trade fair � in the first major demonstration after months of strikes and protests halted over the summer.

Minor scuffles broke out Friday between riot police and protesting firefighters, while railway workers and left-wing unionists also held demonstrations.

Greece narrowly avoided bankruptcy in May, when European countries and the International Monetary Fund granted Athens emergency loans worth euro110 billion $140 billion through 2012.

The government on Friday announced plans to overhaul the state-run rail company � in debt for euro10.7 billion � by cutting payrolls and rail services. About 40 percent of its 6,300 workers will leave and be offered other public sector jobs, while the company faces private competition.

"This is a situation that cannot not be allowed to continue," Transport Minister Dimitris Reppas said after a Cabinet meeting in Thessaloniki. "We struggled in difficult circumstances so that there will not be a single dismissal."

Inspectors from the EU and IMF next week will review the progress of austerity measures required for the bailout loans, as well as on efforts to cut the budget deficit from 13.6 percent of annual output in 2009 to 8.1 percent this year.

Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou said the IMF on Friday approved its share of the second rescue-loan installment totaling euro9 billion to paid out next week.

Greece remains off the market for government bonds � with interest rates at 9.6 percentage points higher than those for the benchmark German 10-year issue � leaving it to seek shorter-term loans.

The countrys debt management agency said it would auction euro900 million worth of 26-week treasury bills on Tuesday, in the first of a string of monthly short-term debt issues that replace quarterly sales.

Official data Friday showed Athens remains on track to meet its fiscal targets, although the rate at which the deficit is narrowing has slowed. And unemployment fell to 11.6 percent in June from 12 percent in May, according to Greeces statistics agency, defying an annual job surge over the summer tourist season.

The employment crisis has hit parts of northern Greece the hardest, including the town of Naoussa, where the jobless rate hit 50 percent, worsened by the relocation of factories of nearby Bulgaria.

"We have no hope. At this point we have nothing," said Ioanna Stoumbiari, and unemployed worker at a recently-closed textile factory in Naoussa.

"Who will hire me at 50? I want to work, but who will hire me? Theyre not hiring younger kids, theyre going to hire me. I dont know what will happen."

___

Associated Press TV producer Theodora Tongas contributed to this report.



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NKorea proposes family reunion talks with SKorea AP

SEOUL, South Korea North Korea has offered South Korea a new round of reunions for families separated by the Korean War, state media said Saturday.

Reunions last happened in September and October 2009, and their potential renewal could signal an easing of tensions after the deadly sinking of a South Korean warship in March.

The North proposed that the two Koreas Red Cross societies meet soon to discuss the gatherings. It proposed the reunions take place at the Norths scenic Diamond Mountain on the Chuseok autumn harvest holiday, the Norths official Korean Central News Agency reported.

Chuseok, which falls on Sept. 22 this year, is a major holiday for both Koreas, equivalent to Thanksgiving in the United States.

North Koreas Red Cross chief Jang Jae On expressed hope that "humanitarian cooperation between the North and the South would get brisk with the reunion of separated families and their relatives." Jang made the comment in a message sent to his South Korean counterpart on Friday, according to KCNA.

South Koreas Red Cross would consider the Norths proposal and consult with the government, according to Kim Seong-keun, a South Korean Red Cross official in charge of inter-Korean cooperation.

The two sides last held Red Cross-brokered reunions for six days around Chuseok holiday in late September and early October last year. So far, more than 20,800 separated families have been reunited through brief face-to-face meetings or by video following a landmark inter-Korean summit in 2000.

Millions of families were separated by the division of the Korean peninsula in 1945 and the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended with a cease-fire, not a peace treaty, leaving the two countries technically at war. There are no mail, telephone or e-mail exchanges between ordinary citizens across the Korean border.

The Norths offer is the latest in a series of conciliatory gestures by North Korea toward Seoul and Washington.

Last month, North Korea freed an imprisoned American during former President Jimmy Carters rare trip to Pyongyang. Earlier this week, the North also released a seven-man crew of a South Korean fishing boat seized a month ago in its waters.

The Norths overture also came days after flood-stricken North Korea requested a shipment of rice, cement and heavy equipment from South Korea to recover from recent flooding.

Seoul had offered to send aid worth 10 billion won $8.5 million despite tensions over the warship sinking that has been blamed on Pyongyang. The North has denied its involvement in the sinking that killed 46 South Korean sailors.

Meanwhile, there is widespread speculation that North leader Kim Jong Il may be preparing to give his youngest son, Kim Jong Un, a key Workers Party position at the upcoming party conference as part of plans to extend the Kim dynasty into a third generation.



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