Key NATO supply route hit again in Pakistan (AP)

ISLAMABAD � Suspected militants attacked and set fire to at least 20 tankers carrying oil for NATO and U.S. troops in Afghanistan on Monday, the third such strike inside Pakistan in as many days, police said.

The attack not far from the capital Islamabad took place on a supply line that has been stalled because of a temporary border closing imposed by Pakistani authorities to protest a NATO helicopter attack that killed three Pakistan troops last week.

It will raise the stakes in the closure, which has exacerbated tensions between Washington and Islamabad but has been welcomed by Islamist groups opposed to Pakistan's support of the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan.

Police officer Umer Hayat said three people were killed and blamed Monday's attack on "terrorists."

The attackers opened fire on trucks that were parked at a poorly guarded terminal before setting them afire, he and other officers said.

The trucks were en route or waiting to travel to the Torkham border crossing along the fabled Khyber Pass, which is used to bring fuel, military vehicles, spare parts, clothing and other non-lethal supplies for foreign troops in Afghanistan. Pakistan's other main route into landlocked Afghanistan, in Chaman in the southwest, has remained open.

While NATO and the United States have alternative supply routes into Afghanistan, the Pakistani ones are the cheapest and most convenient. Most of the coalition's non-lethal supplies are transported over Pakistani soil after being unloaded at docks in Karachi, a port city in the south.

On Friday, a day after the closure of the Khyber Pass route to NATO and US traffic, there were two attacks on oil tankers headed to the country. The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for at least one of them, and vowed to launch more.

Striking now gains them more media attention than normal and adds to unease between Pakistan and the United States.

The convoys take several days to reach the border after setting off from Karachi and make frequent stops. They receive little or no protection outside the frontier region and are indistinguishable from ordinary trucks and tankers that ply Pakistani roads.

Over the past two years they often have been attacked by militants, mostly in the northwestern border region where militants are strongest.

Attacks on convoys in Pakistan give militants a propaganda victory, but coalition officials say they do not result in shortages in Afghanistan. Hundreds of trucks cross into Afghanistan each day.

Some attacks are believed to be the work of criminals, who can sell much of the vehicles, clothes and other goods they carry. Officials have alleged truck owners may be behind some of the incidents, perhaps to claim insurance fraudulently.

Earlier Sunday, Pakistan's ambassador to the U.S., Husain Haqqani, said on CNN's State of the Union program that he did "not expect this blockade to continue for too long."

Asked whether the route could be opened within the next week, he said "I think it will happen in less than that duration."

U.S. officials are also predicting the route will not stay closed for long.

Analysts have said that the relationship between Pakistan and the United States is too important for both nations for this incident to derail ties.

Powered by WizardRSS | Full Text RSS Feeds

US terror warning could hurt Europe's economy (AP)

MADRID � A rare advisory for U.S. travelers to beware of potential terrorist threats in Europe drew American shrugs Sunday from Paris to Rome, but tourism officials worried that it could deter would-be visitors from moving ahead with plans to cross the Atlantic.

The travel alert is a step below a formal warning not to visit Europe, but some experts said it could still hurt a fragile European economy already hit hard by the debt crisis.

"I think if someone was looking for an excuse not to travel, then this is just the ticket," said George Hobica, founder of Airfarewatchdog.com. "However, I don't think most people will alter their plans unless the threat is very specific."

The State Department alert advised the hundreds of thousands of U.S. citizens living or traveling in Europe to take more precautions about their personal security. Security officials say terrorists may be plotting attacks in Europe with assault weapons on public places, similar to the deadly 2008 shooting spree in Mumbai, India.

Without a specific threat, however, American visitors were not letting the alert disrupt their travels.

"We live in New York. So in New York we think about these things all the time," said Richard Mintzer, a 55-year-old American visiting Italy with his wife. "I wouldn't say we are particularly worried in Rome, no more than we would be at home, or anywhere in the Western world."

At Paris' spring-summer 2011 ready-to-wear fashion shows, W magazine fashion market director Karla Martinez said she gets "worried for five minutes, but then I forget about it and get back to the job that I'm here to do.

"It's a little scary when you're staying in a big hotel with lots of tourists, because we hear that could be a target, but I try not to get too worked up about it," she said. "At the end of the day all you can do is keep your eyes and ears open and try not to be naive."

The nonprofit group IES Abroad sent e-mails Sunday warning about 1,500 college students in its European study abroad programs to avoid crowded tourist spots and hangouts typically frequented by Americans. The message � also sent to the students' parents � also told students to leave public places if they see signs of trouble.

"We say, 'Be alert, cautious and aware of your surroundings,'" IES executive vice president Bill Hoye said. "It means, 'Don't be totally plugged into your iPod.'"

Hours after the e-mails were sent by the Chicago-based group, it had no sign of any students who wanted to drop out of the programs.

The impact on travel could deepen if the threat leads to new, tighter security measures, said Henry Harteveldt, a travel analyst for Forrester Research. But the U.S.-based Air Transport Association, a trade group for the airline industry, said it expects "business as usual."

United, Continental and Delta said they were operating as usual on Sunday without any cancellations or delays related to the terror alert. The airlines said customers will be charged the usual penalty if they want to change itineraries.

Kevin Mitchell, chairman of the Business Travel Coalition, said business travelers will likely keep their plans and hold onto nonrefundable tickets as long as the warning remains "fairly general."

"The biggest impact will be those people who right now haven't yet made their plans," Mitchell said. "They're the ones who will forestall their decision until the situation is a little bit more clear."

The travel alert noted in particular "the potential for terrorists to attack public transportation systems and other tourist infrastructure."

"Current information suggests that al-Qaida and affiliated organizations continue to plan terrorist attacks," it said. "European governments have taken action to guard against a terrorist attack and some have spoken publicly about the heightened threat conditions."

U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., stressed to reporters after talking to State Department and Justice Department officials that the alert "means be careful when you go, but they are not advising you not to go."

U.S. and European security experts have been concerned for days about a terror attack similar to the one in Mumbai, which left 166 people dead and targeted two luxury hotels, a Jewish center, a popular restaurant and a crowded train station.

Britain's Foreign Office on Sunday began warning British travelers to France and Germany that the threat of terrorism in those countries is high. Britain's Home Secretary Theresa May said the threat of terrorism in the U.K. remains unchanged at "severe," meaning an attack is highly likely.

Germany's Interior Ministry said it saw no need to change its assessment of risks to the country and there were "still no concrete indications of imminent attacks" there. France's interior minister said the threat of a terrorist attack is real but that the country is not raising its alert level.

"The terrorist threat exists, and could hit us at any moment," the French defense minister, Herve Morin, was quoted as saying in the daily Le Parisien. "Networks organizing themselves to prepare attacks are constantly being dismantled around the world. It is good for the French to know this,"

A French official said Sunday that Italian police had arrested a Frenchman suspected of links to a network recruiting fighters for Afghanistan. The man was arrested in Naples in early September, said the official, who was not authorized to be publicly named because terrorism cases are classified.

The U.S. alert is not changing plans for three NBA teams to play preseason games this week in London, Milan and Barcelona, Spain, though Minnesota Timberwolves coach Kurt Rambis said players were getting additional security when they went out.

Kobe Bryant and other members of the Los Angeles Lakers attended a Premier League game between London rivals Chelsea and Arsenal. Lakers center Pau Gasol said he had no intention of spending his time in London sitting in a hotel room.

"It's a great city to be out and walk around in, and experience things. It would be a crime to stay at the hotel," Gasol said.

The U.S. notice said citizens "should take every precaution to be aware of their surroundings and to adopt appropriate safety measures to protect themselves when traveling," according to the alert.

The alert wasn't intended to urge travelers to stay away from public places. It fell short of a formal travel warning, which could have had broader implications including a stronger likelihood of canceled airline and hotel bookings and the suspension of many U.S. college and university study-abroad programs.

Despite concerns that the alert could cause a European travel slump, there was no strong opposition to it from European leaders, who were advised privately of the impending action, a European official said.

Marietta Rough, a British tour guide in Berlin, said being concerned about terrorism while traveling has simply become something everyone has to live with.

"It shouldn't affect your daily life, and I certainly don't feel like it is here in Berlin," she said.

U.S. intelligence officials believe Osama bin Laden is behind the plan to attack several European cities. If that's true, it would be the most operational role bin Laden has played in plotting attacks since Sept. 11, 2001.

Eight Germans and two British brothers are at the heart of an al-Qaida-linked terror plot against European cities, but the plan is still in its early stages, with the suspects calling acquaintances in Europe to plan logistics, a Pakistani intelligence official said last week. One of the Britons died in a recent CIA missile strike, he said.

The Pakistani official said the suspects are hiding in North Waziristan, a Pakistani tribal region where militancy is rife and where the U.S. has focused many of its drone-fired missile strikes.

____

Lee reported from Washington. Associated Press reporters Angela Charlton, Jenny Barchfield, and Nicolas Garriga in Paris, Chris Kahn and Julie Walker in New York, Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin, Malin Rising in Stockholm, Alessandra Rizzo in Rome and David Koenig in Dallas contributed to this story.

Powered by WizardRSS | Full Text RSS Feeds

NJ school holds vigil for student who killed self (AP)

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. � Rutgers University held a silent vigil Sunday night to remember a student who committed suicide after his sexual encounter with a man in his dormitory room was secretly streamed online.

The tribute to 18-year-old freshman Tyler Clementi drew a few hundred people, many holding candles, to the school's campus in New Brunswick.

While some area religious officials briefly addressed the crowd during the hour-long vigil, few words were spoken by the participants. Most in attendance took the time to reflect on what had happened to Clementi, sharing hugs and holding hands with others in a show if unity.

Among those attending was Rutgers student Julie Burg, who said she wanted to spread the message that help is available for students in crisis.

"There are many groups anywhere you go to that could help support you," Burg told WCBS-TV in New York.

Burg was joined at the vigil by her mother, Annmarie Burg, who was saddened by the events leading to Clementi's death.

"It had to take such an unfortunate incident like this to create, probably, an even larger awareness," the mother said.

Prosecutors say Clementi's roommate and another student used a webcam to broadcast on the Internet live images of Clementi having the intimate encounter.

Clementi, a promising violinist, jumped off the George Washington Bridge into the Hudson River three days later. His body was identified Thursday.

Rutgers President Richard McCormick said the vigil was an opportunity for students and staff to come together and "reaffirm our commitment to the values of civility, dignity, compassion and respect."

The vigil was the latest in a series of remembrances for Clementi at the university that included the establishment of a Facebook group, In Honor of Tyler Clementi.

On Friday, students wore black and were encouraged to leave flowers or mementoes at a makeshift memorial for Clementi. The Rutgers Glee Club marched to the memorial and performed a rendition of "Rutgers Prayer," which is traditionally sung when an important member of the Rutgers community dies or a tragedy happens at the university.

On Saturday, the school had a moment of silence for Clementi before the start of its homecoming football game against Tulane.

Clementi's death was one of a string of suicides last month involving teens believed to have been victims of anti-gay bullying. On Friday, more than 500 people attended a memorial service for Seth Walsh, a 13-year-old central California boy who hanged himself after enduring taunts from classmates about being gay.

Powered by WizardRSS | Full Text RSS Feeds

Explosion at plaza injures 15 in northern Mexico (AP)

MONTERREY, Mexico � An explosion at a plaza in northeastern Mexico injured 15 people, an attack authorities blamed Sunday on drug cartels targeting the civilian population to cause chaos.

Police believe the attackers threw a grenade Saturday night at the main square in the town of Guadalupe, but were still trying to confirm the type of explosive, said Adrian de la Garza, the director of the investigations agency of Nuevo Leon, where the town is located.

Six children, the youngest 3 years old, were among the injured, said Francisco Gonzalez, the state deputy health director. He said the injuries were not life-threatening, and most of the victims had returned home from the hospital.

It was the fourth such attack in two days in the area around the city of Monterrey, which has been reeling from a turf war between the Gulf and Zetas drug gangs.

On Friday night, three separate grenade attacks happened: near the federal courts, outside a prison and near the U.S. Consulate in Monterrey. A security guard was injured in the attack at the courts.

Nuevo Leon Attorney General Alejandro Garza y Garza said they may be revenge for recent operations against drug traffickers. He did not specify which ones, but 22 suspected drug gang members were killed in a Sept. 15 shootout with soldiers in Ciudad Mier, another town in Nuevo Leon. Last week, marines captured 30 suspected Gulf cartel members in Tamaulipas state, which borders Nuevo Leon.

"We believe this might have been an attack against the civilian population. They are trying to create chaos and anxiety in the population," Garza y Garza said.

Soldiers arrested eight suspected Zetas members in Guadalupe early Sunday, although the operation appeared unrelated to the attack on the plaza.

The soldiers were patrolling the town when they saw three cars brake suddenly and try to reverse and flee, according to the Defense Department statement. Soldiers arrested eight people and found 8 rifles and ammunition in the cars.

Although drug gangs frequently hurl grenades at police headquarters and government installations, they rarely target crowds of bystanders.

The last such major attack was two years ago, when assailants threw grenades at thousands of revelers during Independence Day celebrations in the western city of Morelia. Eight people were killed.

Still, civilians have been increasingly caught up in Mexico's bloody drug war, which has claimed more than 28,000 lives since President Felipe Calderon deployed thousands of troops and federal police to fight the cartels in December 2006.

In Acapulco, meanwhile, police continued to search Sunday for 20 men who were kidnapped while traveling together in the Pacific coast resort city.

Authorities were investigating whether the missing men had ties to drug gangs, said Fernando Monreal, director of the investigative police in Guerrero state, where Acapulco is located.

The kidnapping was reported to police Friday by a man who had been among the group but said he was at the store when his companions were abducted. He said the men, ages 17 to 47, were mechanics from Morelia, capital of Calderon's home state of Michoacan, and saved up each year to vacation together.

Police have since been unable to contact the man, and Monreal said he found his story suspicious.

"They were not tourists. It's very suspicious that 20 men go on vacation in Acapulco without their families," he told The Associated Press. "We are not ruling out the possibility that they had ties to organized crime."

___

Associated Press Writer Sergio Flores in Acapulco, Mexico, contributed to this report.

Powered by WizardRSS | Full Text RSS Feeds

Key NATO supply route hit again in Pakistan (AP)

ISLAMABAD � Suspected militants attacked and set fire to at least 20 tankers carrying oil for NATO and U.S. troops in Afghanistan on Monday, the third such strike inside Pakistan in as many days, police said.

The attack not far from the capital Islamabad took place on a supply line that has been stalled because of a temporary border closing imposed by Pakistani authorities to protest a NATO helicopter attack that killed three Pakistan troops last week.

It will raise the stakes in the closure, which has exacerbated tensions between Washington and Islamabad but has been welcomed by Islamist groups opposed to Pakistan's support of the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan.

Police officer Umer Hayat said three people were killed and blamed Monday's attack on "terrorists."

The attackers opened fire on trucks that were parked at a poorly guarded terminal before setting them afire, he and other officers said.

The trucks were en route or waiting to travel to the Torkham border crossing along the fabled Khyber Pass, which is used to bring fuel, military vehicles, spare parts, clothing and other non-lethal supplies for foreign troops in Afghanistan. Pakistan's other main route into landlocked Afghanistan, in Chaman in the southwest, has remained open.

While NATO and the United States have alternative supply routes into Afghanistan, the Pakistani ones are the cheapest and most convenient. Most of the coalition's non-lethal supplies are transported over Pakistani soil after being unloaded at docks in Karachi, a port city in the south.

On Friday, a day after the closure of the Khyber Pass route to NATO and US traffic, there were two attacks on oil tankers headed to the country. The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for at least one of them, and vowed to launch more.

Striking now gains them more media attention than normal and adds to unease between Pakistan and the United States.

The convoys take several days to reach the border after setting off from Karachi and make frequent stops. They receive little or no protection outside the frontier region and are indistinguishable from ordinary trucks and tankers that ply Pakistani roads.

Over the past two years they often have been attacked by militants, mostly in the northwestern border region where militants are strongest.

Attacks on convoys in Pakistan give militants a propaganda victory, but coalition officials say they do not result in shortages in Afghanistan. Hundreds of trucks cross into Afghanistan each day.

Some attacks are believed to be the work of criminals, who can sell much of the vehicles, clothes and other goods they carry. Officials have alleged truck owners may be behind some of the incidents, perhaps to claim insurance fraudulently.

Earlier Sunday, Pakistan's ambassador to the U.S., Husain Haqqani, said on CNN's State of the Union program that he did "not expect this blockade to continue for too long."

Asked whether the route could be opened within the next week, he said "I think it will happen in less than that duration."

U.S. officials are also predicting the route will not stay closed for long.

Analysts have said that the relationship between Pakistan and the United States is too important for both nations for this incident to derail ties.

Powered by WizardRSS | Full Text RSS Feeds

Rousseff leads in Brazil vote, but runoff likely (AP)

SAO PAULO � A one-time Marxist guerrilla chosen by Brazil's beloved leader to succeed him took a wide lead in Sunday's presidential election, but a second-round vote seemed inevitable, said top officials within the government and the ruling party.

Dilma Rousseff, a 62-year-old career bureaucrat running under the ruling party's ticket, would be Brazil's first female leader and has vowed to continue the market-friendly polices of outgoing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, which have lifted millions out of poverty.

With 91 percent of the vote counted, Rousseff had 45.9 percent of the vote compared to 33.1 percent for Serra, according to the Brazil's Supreme Electoral Court. A third candidate had the remaining votes.

A candidate needs to win a 50 percent plus one vote to take the presidency in the first round.

A government source with access to top electoral officials in Brasilia said that "the numbers indicate a trend to a runoff election between Dilma and Serra."

A spokesman for the Workers Party in Brasilia said it would "be difficult" for Rousseff to come back and get a first-round victory, but that they were holding out hope that votes in Brazil's northeast region, where about 60 percent of ballots had been counted, could push her into a majority.

Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity, saying there were not authorized to discuss the matter.

Carlos Lopes, a political analyst with Santafe Ideias in Brasilia, said the election was heading to a second round, though he hedged his comments somewhat by noting that the vote count was slower in the northeast.

"Serra is doing surprisingly well in some areas where Dilma was expected to win, as is Marina Silva," he said. "It seems many voters decided at the last minute to opt for a third option � which is Marina in this case � and to give themselves more time to think about who to elect."

Earlier, a Globo television network poll carried out by the Ibope polling institute indicated that Rousseff would in 51 percent of the vote, compared to 30 percent for Serra. The exit poll interviewed 4,300 people in nearly 500 counties across Brazil. The margin of error was plus or minus 2 percentage points. The remaining votes went to a third candidate.

Rousseff is the personal choice of outgoing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, universally known as Lula, who led Brazil to unparalleled economic growth, increased the nation's political clout on the global stage, and leaves office with 80 percent approval ratings.

Serra is a 68-year-old centrist from the Brazilian Social Democracy Party and former mayor and governor of Sao Paulo who was badly defeated by Silva in the 2002 election. He, too, has promised to continue the popular policies of Silva.

"In the last election, I voted for Lula, who has improved the lives of millions of poor and made Brazil a country respected around the world," said Maria Silveira, a 63-year-old retired teacher voting in Sao Bernardo do Campo, just outside Sao Paulo, where Silva also cast his ballot. "It only makes sense to vote for the candidate who I know will continue what he started."

Maria Aparecida, a 67-year-old retiree voting in Sao Paulo, said the fact Rousseff could become Brazil's first female leader mattered little to her � it was the quality of the candidate, not gender, that mattered.

"It depends on who that woman is. If she is good, then it's good, but if she is not, then we don't need a woman as president," Aparecida said. "Lets hope that it's a woman, but more importantly, a woman who is right for the country."

Rousseff was confident after voting in the southern city of Porto Alegre, where she began her government career.

"I fought the good fight, and whoever does that comes out stronger," she said. "Today is a day to be grateful because we have a great chance to win in the first round."

Serra, after voting in Sao Paulo, said Brazilians deserve to see the election head into a second-round vote so the candidates' platforms can be more closely examined.

Silva, who has been a candidate in every presidential election since 1989 and is constitutionally barred from running for a third term, said this year's election showed "the consolidation of Brazilian democracy."

The campaign has been short on substance and long on arguing about who would more efficiently continue the policies of the Silva presidency � eight years during which 20.5 million people have been lifted from poverty.

Despite an ethics scandal that received heavy media coverage in the final weeks of the race, Rousseff's numbers barely ticked down and the last polls published had put her 20 percentage points ahead of Serra.

If the election does go to a second ballot, it could be due to spoiler candidate Marina Silva, a former environment minister who is not related to the president. In the Ibope exit poll, she had 18 percent of the vote, well above the 14 percent the last polls gave her.

In recent weeks, the Green Party candidate's standing in the polls rose from a steady 10 percent in the wake of the ethics scandal.

While none of the three leading candidates come close to mustering the magnetic charisma Silva has, they all have histories just as fascinating as his.

Rousseff was a key player in an armed militant group that resisted Brazil's 1964-85 military dictatorship. She was imprisoned for nearly three years beginning in 1970 and tortured. She is a cancer survivor, a former minister of energy and chief of staff to Silva. She is more moderate than in her youth and has promised a government of pragmatic capitalism.

Serra, in addition to being a former mayor and senator, served as health minister under President Fernando Henrique Cardoso and won praise for defying the pharmaceutical lobby to market inexpensive generic drugs and free anti-AIDS medicine.

Marina Silva, 52, is a renowned environmentalist who was born in the Amazon, the daughter of a poor rubber tapper. Despite being illiterate into her teens, she went on to earn a university degree and has since worked tirelessly to defend Brazil's rain forest.

About 135 million voters also cast ballots for governors, mayors and state and federal houses of Congress. Under Brazilian law, voting is mandatory for citizens between the ages of 18 and 70. Not voting could result in a small fine and make it impossible to obtain a passport or a government job, among other penalties.

Electoral authorities in Brasilia said 368 people were arrested across Brazil on Sunday for election violations, such as trying to buy votes, illegally transporting people to polls and distributing campaign materials past deadline.

___

Associated Press Writers Marco Sibaja in Brasilia, Brazil, and Stan Lehman, Tales Azzoni and Flora Charner in Sao Paulo contributed to this report.

Powered by WizardRSS | Full Text RSS Feeds

Nigeria: Police name suspects in dual car bombings (AP)

ABUJA, Nigeria � Nigeria's federal police force named two men Sunday night as the "masterminds" behind the bombings that struck the West African nation's capital during its independence celebrations.

Meanwhile, a lawyer in South Africa confirmed that an ex-leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, the group that claimed responsibility for the Friday attack, faces a terrorism charge over his alleged involvement in the plot.

Federal police spokesman Emmanuel Ojukwu in a statement named the two men as Ben Jessy and Chima Orlu. He offered no further details about the two Nigerian men, other than warning the public that harboring them would be a criminal offense.

"It is clear that the intention of the perpetrators of the evil act was to truncate Nigeria's celebration of half a century of her political freedom," the statement read. "Their motive was to cut short the joy of men and women of goodwill and to pour shame and contempt on our president and indeed the entire nation."

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, also known by the acronym MEND, issued a warning to journalists about an hour before the attacks Friday, telling people to stay away from festivities at Eagle Square in Abuja. It blamed Nigeria's government for doing nothing to end the unceasing poverty in the delta as the nation receives billions of dollars from oil revenue.

One car bomb exploded, drawing police, firefighters and the curious to the street near a federal courthouse. Five minutes later, a second car bomb exploded, apparently intended to target those drawn to the scene.

A third, smaller explosion struck inside Eagle Square during the ceremony, apparently injuring one security officer. However, MEND has denied placing any explosives inside the venue.

MEND has destroyed oil pipelines, kidnapped petroleum company workers and fought government troops since 2006. The attack Friday marked the first time it targeted Nigeria's capital � and came within a 10-minute walk of where President Goodluck Jonathan and others attended celebrations marking Nigeria's 50th anniversary of independence from Britain.

The police statement said another arrest had already been made by authorities over the bombing. On Sunday, a lawyer for ex-MEND leader Henry Okah confirmed his client had been arrested in Johannesburg.

Ulrich Roux, an attorney with the South African firm representing Okah, said Okah was arrested Saturday. Roux said Okah "claims that he knows nothing of any of these bombings."

Roux said Okah was arrested and jailed under South African counterterrorism legislation, but has not been charged. Okah is expected be brought to court for a preliminary hearing Monday.

Meanwhile, Nigeria's president has blamed a "small terrorist group that resides outside Nigeria" for the bombings. Jonathan's assertions, coming in a statement from his office Sunday night, go against MEND's claim of responsibility.

The statement quoted Jonathan as saying "investigations show that members of MEND have said they know nothing about" claiming responsibility for the attacks. However, it offered no other details.

___

Associated Press Writer Donna Bryson reported from Johannesburg.

Powered by WizardRSS | Full Text RSS Feeds

FBI uncovers cyber crime network

1 October 2010 Last updated at 19:49 ET

The FBI says it has cracked a major international cyber crime network after more than 90 suspected members of the ring were arrested in the US.

The suspects worked as so-called mules for fraudsters based in Eastern Europe who hacked into US computers to steal around $70m.

More people were detained in Ukraine and the UK, local police said.

The FBI said the arrests were part of "one of the largest cyber criminal cases we have ever investigated".

Most of those arrested in the US were charged with conspiracy to commit bank fraud and money laundering, a US Attorney said.

They are suspected of acting as go-betweens or mules by providing bank accounts for an elaborate cyber crime scheme.

Hackers in Eastern Europe would use spam email to infect computers of small businesses and individuals in the US with a virus known as Zeus, the FBI said in a statement.

The unnamed hackers were then able to to access users' online passwords and bank account details and used them to transfer money to the bank accounts provided by the go-betweens in the US.

The crime ring attempted to steal around $220m, the FBI added.

The arrests were the result of an international operation that kicked off in Omaha in May 2009 when FBI agents noticed a row of suspicious bank transactions.

Law enforcement agencies in the US, Ukraine, the Netherlands and the UK were also involved in the investigation.

Police in the UK arrested 19 people suspected members of the ring.

In Ukraine, police arrested five people suspected of directing the scheme, the FBI said.

Powered by WizardRSS | Full Text RSS Feeds

New PCs 'could boot in seconds'

1 October 2010 Last updated at 05:11 ET By Mark Ward Technology correspondent, BBC News

New PCs could start in just seconds, thanks to an update to one of the oldest parts of desktop computers.

The upgrade will spell the end for the 25-year-old PC start-up software known as Bios that initialises a machine so its operating system can get going.

The code was not intended to live nearly this long, and adapting it to modern PCs is one reason they take as long as they do to warm up.

Bios' replacement, known as UEFI, will predominate in new PCs by 2011.

The acronym stands for Unified Extensible Firmware Interface and is designed to be more flexible than its venerable predecessor.

"Conventional Bios is up there with some of the physical pieces of the chip set that have been kicking around the PC since 1979," said Mark Doran, head of the UEFI Forum, which is overseeing development of the technology.

Mr Doran said the creators of the original Bios only expected it to have a lifetime of about 250,000 machines - a figure that has long been surpassed.

"They are as amazed as anyone else that now it is still alive and well in a lot of systems," he said. "It was never really designed to be extensible over time."

AMI is a firm that develops Bios software. Brian Richardson, of AMI's technical marketing team, said the age of the Bios was starting to hamper development as 64-bit computing became more common and machines mutated beyond basic desktops and laptops.

"Drive size limits that were inherent to the original PC design - two terabytes - are going to become an issue pretty soon for those that use their PC a lot for pictures and video," he said.

Similarly, he said, as tablet computers and other smaller devices become more popular, having to get them working with a PC control system was going to cause problems.

The problem emerges, he said, because Bios expects the machine it is getting going to have the same basic internal set-up as the first PCs.

As a result, adding extra peripherals - such as keyboards that connect via USB rather than the AT or PS/2 ports of yesteryear - has been technically far from straightforward.

Similarly, the Bios forces USB drives to be identified to a PC as either a hard drive or a floppy drive.

This, said Mr Richardson, could cause problems when those thumb drives are used to get a system working while installing or re-installing an operating system.

UEFI frees any computer from being based around the blueprint and specifications of the original PCs. For instance, it does not specify that a keyboard will only connect via a specific port.

"All it says is that somewhere in the machine there's a device that can produce keyboard-type information," said Mr Doran.

Under UEFI, it will be much easier for that input to come a soft keyboard, gestures on a touchscreen or any future input device.

"The extensible part of the name is important because we are going to have to live with this for a long time," said Mr Doran.

He added that UEFI started life as an Intel-only specification known as EFI. It morphed into a general standard when the need to replace Bios industry-wide became more widely recognised.

Alternatives to UEFI, such as Open Firmware and Coreboot, do exist and are typically used on computers that do not run chips based on Intel's x86 architecture.

The first to see the benefits of swapping old-fashioned Bios for UEFI have been system administrators who have to oversee hundreds or thousands of PCs in data centres or in offices around the world.

Before now, said Mr Doran, getting those machines working has been "pretty painful" because of the limited capabilities of Bios.

By contrast, he said, UEFI has much better support for basic net protocols - which should mean that remote management is easier from the "bare metal" upwards.

For consumers, said Mr Doran, the biggest obvious benefit of a machine running UEFI will be the speed with which it starts up.

"At the moment it can be 25-30 seconds of boot time before you see the first bit of OS sign-on," he said. "With UEFI we're getting it under a handful of seconds."

"In terms of boot speed, we're not at instant-on yet but it is already a lot better than conventional Bios can manage," he said "and we're getting closer to that every day."

Some PC and laptop makers are already using UEFI as are many firms that make embedded computers. More, said Mr Richardson, will result as motherboard makers complete the shift to using it.

He said that 2011 would be the year that sales of UEFI machines start to dominate.

"I would say we are at the edge of the tipping point right now," he said.

Powered by WizardRSS | Full Text RSS Feeds

US terror warning could hurt Europe's economy (AP)

MADRID � A rare advisory for U.S. travelers to beware of potential terrorist threats in Europe drew American shrugs Sunday from Paris to Rome, but tourism officials worried that it could deter would-be visitors from moving ahead with plans to cross the Atlantic.

The travel alert is a step below a formal warning not to visit Europe, but some experts said it could still hurt a fragile European economy already hit hard by the debt crisis.

"I think if someone was looking for an excuse not to travel, then this is just the ticket," says George Hobica, founder of Airfarewatchdog.com. "However, I don't think most people will alter their plans unless the threat is very specific."

The State Department alert advised the hundreds of thousands of U.S. citizens living or traveling in Europe to take more precautions about their personal security. Security officials say terrorists may be plotting attacks in Europe with assault weapons on public places, similar to the deadly 2008 shooting spree in Mumbai, India.

Without a specific threat, however, American visitors were not letting the alert disrupt their travels.

"We live in New York. So in New York we think about these things all the time," said Richard Mintzer, a 55-year-old American visiting Italy with his wife. "I wouldn't say we are particularly worried in Rome, no more than we would be at home, or anywhere in the Western world."

At Paris' spring-summer 2011 ready-to-wear fashion shows, W magazine fashion market director Karla Martinez said she gets "worried for five minutes, but then I forget about it and get back to the job that I'm here to do.

"It's a little scary when you're staying in a big hotel with lots of tourists, because we hear that could be a target, but I try not to get too worked up about it," she said. "At the end of the day all you can do is keep your eyes and ears open and try not to be naive."

The impact on travel could deepen if the threat highlighted by the Obama administration leads to new, tighter security measures in airports and elsewhere, said Henry Harteveldt, a travel analyst for Forrester Research.

But the U.S.-based Air Transport Association, a trade group for the airline industry, said it expects "business as usual."

United, Continental and Delta said they were operating as usual on Sunday without any cancellations or delays related to the terror alert. The airlines said customers will be charged the usual penalty if they want to change itineraries.

Kevin Mitchell, chairman of the Business Travel Coalition, said business travelers will likely keep their plans and hold onto nonrefundable tickets as long as the warning remains "fairly general."

"The biggest impact will be those people who right now haven't yet made their plans," Mitchell said. "They're the ones who will forestall their decision until the situation is a little bit more clear."

The travel alert noted in particular "the potential for terrorists to attack public transportation systems and other tourist infrastructure."

"Current information suggests that al-Qaida and affiliated organizations continue to plan terrorist attacks," it said. "European governments have taken action to guard against a terrorist attack and some have spoken publicly about the heightened threat conditions."

U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., stressed to reporters after talking to State Department and Justice Department officials that the alert "means be careful when you go, but they are not advising you not to go."

Peter Terpstra, a tourism analyst at the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth, said the warning could dampen the recent upswing of visitors from the U.S. to Sweden � boosted in part by the success of Swedish crime novels that have generated an exciting image of the Nordic nation.

In Paris, Texan tourist Frederico Reimers was afraid his flight back home might be canceled, but said the scene at the airport showed "everything is running pretty good."

The U.S. advisory itself might be "a little bit exaggerated, but oh well, what can you do," Reimers said.

U.S. and European security experts have been concerned for days about a terror attack similar to the one in Mumbai, which left 166 people dead and targeted two luxury hotels, a Jewish center, a popular restaurant and a crowded train station.

Britain's Foreign Office on Sunday began warning British travelers to France and Germany that the threat of terrorism in those countries is high. Britain's Home Secretary Theresa May said the threat of terrorism in the U.K. remains unchanged at "severe," meaning an attack is highly likely.

Germany's Interior Ministry said it saw no need to change its assessment of risks to the country and there were "still no concrete indications of imminent attacks" there. France's interior minister said the threat of a terrorist attack is real but that the country is not raising its alert level.

"The terrorist threat exists, and could hit us at any moment," the French defense minister, Herve Morin, said in an interview published Sunday. "Networks organizing themselves to prepare attacks are constantly being dismantled around the world. It is good for the French to know this," he was quoted as saying in the daily Le Parisien.

A French official said Sunday that Italian police had arrested a Frenchman suspected of links to a network recruiting fighters for Afghanistan. The man was arrested in Naples in southern Italy in early September, based on a French probe underway for several months into alleged involvement in a terrorist enterprise, the official said. The official was not authorized to be publicly named because terrorism cases are classified.

The U.S. notice said terrorists "may elect to use a variety of means and weapons and target both official and private interests" and noted past attacks against subways, rail systems and aviation and maritime services.

"U.S. citizens should take every precaution to be aware of their surroundings and to adopt appropriate safety measures to protect themselves when traveling," according to the alert.

The alert wasn't intended to urge travelers to stay away from public places. It fell short of a formal travel warning, which could have had broader implications including a stronger likelihood of canceled airline and hotel bookings and the suspension of many U.S. college and university study-abroad programs.

Despite concerns that the alert could cause a European travel slump, there was no strong opposition it from European leaders, who privately have been advised of the impending action, a European official said.

Marietta Rough, a British tour guide in Berlin, said being concerned about terrorism while traveling has simply become something everyone has to live with.

"It shouldn't affect your daily life, and I certainly don't feel like it is here in Berlin," she said.

U.S. intelligence officials believe Osama bin Laden is behind the plan to attack several European cities. If true, this would be the most operational role that bin Laden has played in plotting attacks since Sept. 11, 2001.

Eight Germans and two British brothers are at the heart of an al-Qaida-linked terror plot against European cities, but the plan is still in its early stages, with the suspects calling acquaintances in Europe to plan logistics, a Pakistani intelligence official said last week. One of the Britons died in a recent CIA missile strike, he said.

The Pakistani official said the suspects are hiding in North Waziristan, a Pakistani tribal region where militancy is rife and where the U.S. has focused many of its drone-fired missile strikes.

____

Lee reported from Washington. Associated Press reporters Angela Charlton, Jenny Barchfield, and Nicolas Garriga in Paris, Chris Kahn and Julie Walker in New York, Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin, Malin Rising in Stockholm and Alessandra Rizzo in Rome contributed to this story.

Powered by WizardRSS | Full Text RSS Feeds

Sky launches 3D TV across the UK

By Dan Whitworth
Newsbeat technology reporter

Europe's first dedicated 3D television channel has launched in the UK.

Sky 3D will broadcast for 14 hours every day from around 9am and will show a selection of programmes including premier league football, and films.

At this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas all the big names unveiled new 3D products and was billed by some as a saviour for TV firms.

A monthly subscription fee will be �61 with the cost of an average 3D television around �2,000.

Subscribers who pay for the top Sky World HD package will be able to get the service free.

'Seeing is believing'

Since the launch of James Cameron's 3D movie film Avatar late last year, 3D has been in the news like never before.

Most cinemas have at least one 3D film on show all the time, while the launch of this new channel will let people experience it at home for the first time.

3D movies like Alice in Wonderland have been a big hit in cinemas

John Dollin, who's been developing 3D TV for Sky for the last two years, is confident that it has the wow factor.

"Once you've seen 3D you get it," he said. "It's definitely a seeing is believing experience.

"With HD once you've got it you understand it, but 3D TV is a much easier sell because it's just such an improved viewing experience."

He is also confident the cost of setting up 3D TV will gradually come down, just as it has with high definition.

He added: "What you're going to see is that because there's so much competition out there between the TV manufacturers you'll see some very competitive pricing on TVs."

Sky's also announced the launch of a new subscription channel, Sky Atlantic HD.

It'll show US imports from HBO including Mad Men, new prohibition drama Boardwalk Empire, Entourage and The Pacific.

The high definition channel launches early next year and will be available to subscribers for �19 a month as part of Sky's Variety Pack.

Punters' view

Craig, who is 19 and from Dagenham, tried out 3D TV during a sneak preview for Newsbeat.

"At first it's a bit freaky," he said. "But you realise that it's something very unique and you start to enjoy it.

"I'm a bit of a gamer as well, so the fact that it's [a 3D television] and is going to be able to support 3D gaming is going to be very good."

<!-- Embedding the video player --> <!-- This is the embedded player component -->

<!-- embedding script -->

<!-- companion banner --> <!-- END - companion banner --> <!-- caption -->

Sky 3D, Europe's first 3D TV channel, goes on air, offering a mix of sport and movies

<!-- END - caption -->

<!-- end of the embedded player component --> <!-- Player embedded -->

He hopes that competition for customers will mean lower prices.

"I don't think I'd buy it straight away," he said.

"I'd have to wait a few years for the 3D TVs to go down in price, but it is impressive."

Frank, from Romford, also tried out the new technology. He liked it, but agreed that the price was a bit of a turn off.

He said: "I do think it's amazing and I am well impressed.

"But I think that is what's going to hold a lot of people back - the cost."

Virgin has also launched its 3D Movies On Demand service today (1 October).

Films will be available on a pay-per-view basis for customers who already have a Virgin HD plus set-top box, a 3D-ready TV and a pair of 3D glasses.

Powered by WizardRSS | Full Text RSS Feeds

Pakistan: Dozens of Europeans in terror training &#40;AP&#41;

ISLAMABAD � Dozens of Muslim militants with European citizenship are believed to be hiding out in the lawless tribal area of northwestern Pakistan, Pakistani and Western intelligence officials say, training for missions that could include terror attacks in European capitals.

Officials have used phone intercepts and voice tracking software to track militants with ties to Britain and other European countries to areas along the Afghan border. Al-Qaida would likely turn to such extremists for a European plot because they can move freely in and out of Western cities.

Fear that such an attack is in the planning stage has prompted the U.S. State Department to advise Americans traveling in Europe to be vigilant. American and European security experts have been concerned that terrorists based in Pakistan may be plotting attacks in Europe with assault weapons, similar to the deadly 2008 shooting spree in Mumbai, India. U.S. intelligence officials believe Osama bin Laden is behind the plots.

A senior official of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency, or ISI, told The Associated Press that there are believed to be "several dozen" people with European citizenship - many of Pakistani origin - among the Islamic extremists operating in the lawless border area.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not supposed to talk about classified information to the media, said foreigners in the area also include Chechens, Uzbeks, Arabs and Turks, one of whom was a former F-16 pilot in the Turkish air force.

"That shows you that some of the people who are coming are very well educated," he said. "It was very surprising for us but they come thinking this is the pure (Islamic) ideology that they are seeking."

Britain's communications monitoring agency, the Government Communications Headquarters or GCHQ, estimates there are as many as 20 British-born militants in the border area, especially in the North Waziristan district that has been the focus of recent missile strikes carried out by unmanned aircraft operated by the CIA.

Mobile phone communications have been tracked from the border area to points in Britain, particularly England's Midlands, where there is a heavy Pakistani immigrant population, according to a British government official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the terror plot investigation is ongoing.

Voice-printing software enables British intelligence to identify and track specific individuals believed connected to terror plots, he said.

In addition, a spokeswoman with Germany's Federal Criminal Police Office said last week that there is "concrete evidence" that 70 people have traveled from Germany to Pakistan and Afghanistan for paramilitary training, and that about a third of them have returned to Germany.

The presence in the border areas of Islamic militants with Western connections has been known for years.

Faisal Shahzad, the Pakistani-American who confessed to the May 1 failed car-bombing in New York's Times Square, said the Pakistani Taliban trained him for the mission. Shahzad is scheduled to be sentenced Tuesday in a U.S. court.

During an operation last year, Pakistani soldiers discovered a passport in the name of Said Bahaji, which matches the name of a member of the Hamburg, Germany, cell that conceived the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States. Bahaji is believed to have fled Germany shortly before the attacks in New York and Washington.

A Spanish passport found by the Pakistani military during the same operation bore the name of Raquel Burgos Garcia. Spanish media reported that a woman with the same name was married to Amer Azizi, an alleged al-Qaida member from Morocco suspected in both the 9/11 attacks and the Madrid train bombings in 2004.

Concern over the pool of Europeans capable of carrying out attacks abroad rose about a month ago when U.S. intelligence heard of a European plot and began monitoring the people involved, according to two U.S. officials. The CIA recently stepped up airstrikes from unmanned aircraft in northwestern Pakistan, in part to disrupt the plot. In September there were at least 21 attacks - more than double the highest number fired in any other single month.

A Pakistani official said some information about the plot came from a suspect who had been interrogated at the military prison at Bagram Air Field north of Kabul, the main U.S. and NATO base in Afghanistan. A U.S. official identified him as Ahmed Siddiqui, a German citizen of Afghan origin who was captured in Afghanistan in July.

The plot apparently called for several gunmen to fan out across Germany, Britain and France in hopes of launching attacks similar not only to the Mumbai assault but also to so-called "swarm attacks" that extremists have mounted in Kabul and other Afghan cities. The tactic calls for small teams with automatic rifles, grenade launchers and suicide vests to strike simultaneously at several targets in a city and cause as much havoc as possible before they can be killed or captured.

Reports of the alleged plot again cast the spotlight on the Pakistani district of North Waziristan, where Washington believes al-Qaida and its allies plan attacks against U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan as well as targets abroad.

Although the Pakistani military has mounted ground operations elsewhere in the border region, it has been reluctant to do so in North Waziristan, saying its forces are stretched too thin. Some within Pakistan's military and intelligence establishment privately say an escalation in drone attacks in North Waziristan and recent cross-border incursions by NATO helicopter gunships are aimed at forcing the army into an operation.

However, the incursions have frayed relations between Pakistan and the U.S. and NATO. Pakistan has blocked its main border crossing to NATO supply trucks for the past four days in response to alleged incursions last week by NATO helicopters, including firing that shot dead three Pakistani paramilitary soldiers who had fired warning shots at the choppers.

___

Associated Press writer Paisley Dodds contributed to this report from London.

Powered by WizardRSS | Full Text RSS Feeds

Pakistan: Dozens of Europeans in terror training &#40;AP&#41;

ISLAMABAD � Dozens of Muslim militants with European citizenship are believed to be hiding out in the lawless tribal area of northwestern Pakistan, Pakistani and Western intelligence officials say, training for missions that could include terror attacks in European capitals.

Officials have used phone intercepts and voice tracking software to track militants with ties to Britain and other European countries to areas along the Afghan border. Al-Qaida would likely turn to such extremists for a European plot because they can move freely in and out of Western cities.

Fear that such an attack is in the planning stage has prompted the U.S. State Department to advise Americans traveling in Europe to be vigilant. American and European security experts have been concerned that terrorists based in Pakistan may be plotting attacks in Europe with assault weapons, similar to the deadly 2008 shooting spree in Mumbai, India. U.S. intelligence officials believe Osama bin Laden is behind the plots.

A senior official of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency, or ISI, told The Associated Press that there are believed to be "several dozen" people with European citizenship - many of Pakistani origin - among the Islamic extremists operating in the lawless border area.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not supposed to talk about classified information to the media, said foreigners in the area also include Chechens, Uzbeks, Arabs and Turks, one of whom was a former F-16 pilot in the Turkish air force.

"That shows you that some of the people who are coming are very well educated," he said. "It was very surprising for us but they come thinking this is the pure (Islamic) ideology that they are seeking."

Britain's communications monitoring agency, the Government Communications Headquarters or GCHQ, estimates there are as many as 20 British-born militants in the border area, especially in the North Waziristan district that has been the focus of recent missile strikes carried out by unmanned aircraft operated by the CIA.

Mobile phone communications have been tracked from the border area to points in Britain, particularly England's Midlands, where there is a heavy Pakistani immigrant population, according to a British government official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the terror plot investigation is ongoing.

Voice-printing software enables British intelligence to identify and track specific individuals believed connected to terror plots, he said.

In addition, a spokeswoman with Germany's Federal Criminal Police Office said last week that there is "concrete evidence" that 70 people have traveled from Germany to Pakistan and Afghanistan for paramilitary training, and that about a third of them have returned to Germany.

The presence in the border areas of Islamic militants with Western connections has been known for years.

Faisal Shahzad, the Pakistani-American who confessed to the May 1 failed car-bombing in New York's Times Square, said the Pakistani Taliban trained him for the mission. Shahzad is scheduled to be sentenced Tuesday in a U.S. court.

During an operation last year, Pakistani soldiers discovered a passport in the name of Said Bahaji, which matches the name of a member of the Hamburg, Germany, cell that conceived the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States. Bahaji is believed to have fled Germany shortly before the attacks in New York and Washington.

A Spanish passport found by the Pakistani military during the same operation bore the name of Raquel Burgos Garcia. Spanish media reported that a woman with the same name was married to Amer Azizi, an alleged al-Qaida member from Morocco suspected in both the 9/11 attacks and the Madrid train bombings in 2004.

Concern over the pool of Europeans capable of carrying out attacks abroad rose about a month ago when U.S. intelligence heard of a European plot and began monitoring the people involved, according to two U.S. officials. The CIA recently stepped up airstrikes from unmanned aircraft in northwestern Pakistan, in part to disrupt the plot. In September there were at least 21 attacks - more than double the highest number fired in any other single month.

A Pakistani official said some information about the plot came from a suspect who had been interrogated at the military prison at Bagram Air Field north of Kabul, the main U.S. and NATO base in Afghanistan. A U.S. official identified him as Ahmed Siddiqui, a German citizen of Afghan origin who was captured in Afghanistan in July.

The plot apparently called for several gunmen to fan out across Germany, Britain and France in hopes of launching attacks similar not only to the Mumbai assault but also to so-called "swarm attacks" that extremists have mounted in Kabul and other Afghan cities. The tactic calls for small teams with automatic rifles, grenade launchers and suicide vests to strike simultaneously at several targets in a city and cause as much havoc as possible before they can be killed or captured.

Reports of the alleged plot again cast the spotlight on the Pakistani district of North Waziristan, where Washington believes al-Qaida and its allies plan attacks against U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan as well as targets abroad.

Although the Pakistani military has mounted ground operations elsewhere in the border region, it has been reluctant to do so in North Waziristan, saying its forces are stretched too thin. Some within Pakistan's military and intelligence establishment privately say an escalation in drone attacks in North Waziristan and recent cross-border incursions by NATO helicopter gunships are aimed at forcing the army into an operation.

However, the incursions have frayed relations between Pakistan and the U.S. and NATO. Pakistan has blocked its main border crossing to NATO supply trucks for the past four days in response to alleged incursions last week by NATO helicopters, including firing that shot dead three Pakistani paramilitary soldiers who had fired warning shots at the choppers.

___

Associated Press writer Paisley Dodds contributed to this report from London.

Powered by WizardRSS | Full Text RSS Feeds

Document shows ex-French leader&#39;s anti-Semitism &#40;AP&#41;

PARIS � A respected Holocaust historian said Sunday that a recently uncovered 1940 document provides written proof of the personal involvement of Nazi-occupied France's wartime leader in persecuting Jews.

The document was given a few days ago to France's Holocaust Memorial museum by a donor who wants to remain anonymous, Serge Klarsfeld told The Associated Press.

Klarsfeld, a trial lawyer and longtime Nazi hunter, said he is certain of the document's authenticity and calls it the latest sign of official anti-Semitism by the French � and not just by their German occupiers.

The document � dated Oct. 3, 1940 � is a draft of a statute on Jews under France's collaborationist Vichy regime. It includes what Klarsfeld says are handwritten notes by Vichy leader Philippe Petain describing how authorities should target Jews, notably by excluding them from public office and from working in schools.

Klarsfeld says the document is "decisive proof" that the measures were taken at the behest of Petain himself and that the handwritten notes show that Petain in fact toughened the statute's original language.

Klarsfeld said the statute was not written "at the Germans' demands" and shows "the will of Vichy to align itself with the Nazi racial ideology."

France has struggled to come to terms with its role in the Holocaust. Some 76,000 Jews were deported from France to Nazi concentration camps. Fewer than 3,000 returned alive. It wasn't until 1995 that then-President Jacques Chirac said the nation bore some responsibility, breaking with the official position that the Vichy regime was not synonymous with the French state.

Petain's defenders have said he acted to protect Jews, to the degree he could, under the Nazi occupation.

Historians have had only indirect evidence of Petain's involvement in drafting the statute on Jews, from a declaration by a former foreign minister who said Petain ordered the toughest anti-Semitic measures of all.

"At his depths, he was an anti-Semite, and did not defend French Jews. ... He took the initiative to persecute them," Klarsfeld said.

The document appears to show that Petain crossed out an exemption in the original statute for French Jews whose ancestors were naturalized before 1860, and edited it to ensure that Jews could not run for public office.

All the changes suggested by the notes were included in the final, published version of the statute.

Klarsfeld, whose father died in the death camp in Auschwitz, has devoted his life to shedding light on France's collaboration in the Holocaust. He has unearthed thousands of documents clinching court convictions and proving the systematic persecution and deportation of Jews from France during World War II. He has flushed out war criminals from safe havens around the world, including tracking down Nazi Klaus Barbie in Peru.

Klarsfeld's announcement Sunday came the same day that Paris marked the 30th anniversary of a bombing of a synagogue that killed four and injured dozens and shocked the country. French Prime Minister Francois Fillon and leading Jewish figures attended a ceremony marking the anniversary.

Powered by WizardRSS | Full Text RSS Feeds

Will voters believe Dem or GOP message on economy? &#40;AP&#41;

WASHINGTON � If you don't like the economy, blame President Barack Obama and Democrats because they're making times tougher, Republicans are telling voters entering the four-week homestretch to an election the GOP hopes will return the party to power in Congress.

Look, Democrats say, it's the Republicans who caused the financial meltdown and recession. Do you want them to do it again? As bad as high unemployment, record home foreclosures and bankruptcies are, they'd be worse if the GOP had succeeded in blocking financial and auto industry bailouts and Obama's stimulus plan, Democrats claim.

The dueling arguments will dominate the airwaves between now and Nov. 2 in an election that will turn on which message is believed. Because Democrats hold the White House and both the House and Senate, they're more likely to bear the brunt of an anti-establishment furor fueled by the ailing economy.

Each party suggests it holds the key to future prosperity.

Obama takes frequent credit for averting a Great Depression and for laying the groundwork for a recovery, which millions of people have yet to see. He blames the worst economic downturn since the 1930s on George W. Bush-era policies and Republican intransigence. It's up to him and fellow Democrats "to clean up after their mess," he says at party rallies.

Republicans are playing to their base and trying to tap into the indignation evident in the tea party movement. They blame soaring deficits and a near 10 percent joblessness on Obama and Democratic policies, which they say promote runaway spending and stifle investment and job creation.

The GOP is seeking to turn the races into a referendum on Obama, much as Democrats did in 2006 when Bush was in the middle of his second term.

"The mood of the country isn't anti-incumbent � it's anti-taxes, anti-spending and anti-Obama," says House Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio. He's in line to replace Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., as House speaker if Republicans regain control.

In the latest Associated Press-GfK poll, about twice as many blame Bush for the recession as blame Obama. But Republicans and Democrats in Congress alike are seen as at fault by about four in 10 adults, and Republicans hold a narrow edge as more trusted to handle the economy.

Republicans are expected to make big gains in November. Democratic leaders are having difficulty holding their troops together. So Congress left for four weeks of campaigning with lots of work undone, including the federal budget and the fate of Bush-era tax cuts that are set to expire Jan. 1.

Nineteen months into his presidency, Obama can point to a series of legislative accomplishments that under any other circumstances would be considered remarkable:

_the $814 billion stimulus program, which passed shortly after he took office.

_landmark overhauls of health care and financial regulation.

_a major education bill.

_a $30 billion fund, enacted this month, to help small businesses.

_overseeing a $700 billion bailout program for troubled financial institutions that was started under Bush.

_helping complete the rescue of automakers General Motors and Chrysler.

The White House argues that Obama gets little credit for such an impressive run, accomplished with little or no Republican support.

Polls show widespread public skepticism toward the stimulus program, anger over the Wall Street and auto bailouts, mistrust of government in general, fears that jobs won't return and worries about a national debt that has grown to $13.6 trillion � more than the nation's gross domestic product.

A White House report Friday claimed the stimulus program was on track to create or save 3.5 million jobs by the end of December and that about two-thirds of the money had been committed in government spending and tax cuts.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, by contrast, estimates the program is responsible for as few as 1.4 million jobs and as many as 3.3 million. Republicans scoff at the administration's use of the "jobs saved" category in its totals and point out that when the stimulus was passed, the White House said it would help hold unemployment at under 8 percent; it's now 9.6 percent.

With partisan rhetoric flying, Republicans and Democrats present starkly different perspectives of what's at stake.

Putting off a decision on the expiring tax cuts was a high-risk strategy that could backfire for Democrats. If no agreement is reached in a postelection session of Congress, taxes will rise on Jan. 1 for nearly every household. Neither party wants to be associated with that.

Obama and most Democratic leaders favor letting the cuts, passed in 2001 and 2003, lapse for the rich, but continue for everyone else. Republicans suggest that could wreck the fragile economic recovery; they want all the cuts extended.

The expiring tax cuts are not only on wage income. They also cover interest, dividends, capital gains and large inheritances. Relief from the marriage penalty would disappear, and the per-child tax deduction would slide from $1,000 back to $500.

Not knowing what tax rates will be just a few months from now adds to "the collective nervousness," said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics. "With each passing day, the uncertainty increases."

Because neither party wants to be blamed for raising everyone's taxes in hard times, some compromise seems likely before year's end � perhaps a temporarily extension for all the cuts. Efforts to slash taxes on businesses, though supported by Obama and both parties, have stalled without finding a way to avoid adding to the government's debt.

Democrats kept scolding Republicans as "the party of no," and then the GOP rolled out a "Pledge to America" last month. Full of rhetorical flourishes modeled on the Declaration of Independence and Newt Gingrich's "Contract With America" from 1994, this new statement of principles calls for extending all the Bush tax cuts while offering vague spending cuts. Nonessential government spending would return to 2008 levels, according to the blueprint.

"Putting spending, putting the policy of economic growth in place and cleaning up the way Congress works is not only a stark contrast to this president and this Congress. It's a contrast to the way we conducted ourselves a decade ago. We spent too much money. We lost our way," said Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, one of the GOP's rising stars.

Both parties suffer divisions within their own ranks over goals and priorities.

Senate Republicans, for instance, did not join their House counterparts in lining up behind the agenda. Some Republicans have criticized it for lacking specifics on how to reduce deficits while extending tax cuts.

Fiscally conservative Democrats are resisting pleas by Obama, Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., to extend the Bush middle-class tax cuts but allow taxes to rise on households making more than $250,000 a year.

Neither party "is getting a clear strategy or message together," said American University political scientist James Thurber. "The election will be about anger, with not a lot of content."

Economists disagree on the effectiveness of Obama's stimulus program. Much of the money has gone into tax cuts and helping hard-pressed states instead of directly creating jobs.

"The stimulus bill was a positive, but we didn't get nearly the bang for the buck that we should have," said David Wyss, chief economist for Standard & Poor's in New York.

"The financial regulation bill did fix some of the stuff that needed to be fixed, but it failed to fix a lot that should have been fixed and tried to fix what wasn't broken. And the health care reform concentrated on improving coverage and did nothing for cost control."

As for Republicans, he conjured up a reference to Harry Potter's school.

"I frankly haven't seen any recommendations from them that would have significantly helped," Wyss said. "They're all in favor of cutting taxes, not cutting spending, and balancing the budget by I guess Hogwarts Economics."

Powered by WizardRSS | Full Text RSS Feeds

Cuba may free more political prisoners into exile &#40;AP&#41;

HAVANA � Cuba's government has contacted about a dozen islanders jailed for crimes against the shadowy state-security apparatus and asked if they would be willing to accept freedom in return for leaving their homeland, a leading human rights activist said.

If such a deal became a reality, it would mark the year's second major release of Cuban political prisoners � once unthinkable in a single-party communist state.

Why Cuban authorities have pushed to reduce the number of political prisoners is unclear, though some have speculated it may be part of an effort to promote reconciliation with the United States.

Officials from the administration of President Barack Obama have long suggested it may be time for a new beginning with Cuba � but have also said they would like to see the island embrace small economic and social reforms before a true thaw can take place in 50 years of frigid relations.

In addition to freeing political prisoners, Cuba's government announced last month that it will lay off a half-million state employees and reduce restrictions on self-employment, small businesses and pockets of free enterprise as a way of modernizing and overhauling its state-dominated economy.

Agents from the Ministry of the Interior � charged with running domestic spying and state security activities � have visited about 12 political prisoners in their cells in recent days and offered them the chance to go free as long as they accept exile, said Elizardo Sanchez, head of the Cuban Commission on Human Rights and National Reconciliation.

Sanchez said late Saturday that he received the information from relatives of some of the prisoners who had been offered the deal.

He added that he hoped to release a statement soon with the exact number of prisoners involved, as well as their names and the countries where they might end up, but that those details were not yet available.

Also unclear were what crimes the prisoners committed, though some Cubans have been jailed for years for disobedience, disrespecting authorities or making derogatory statements about former leader Fidel Castro.

In a landmark deal brokered by officials from the Cuban Roman Catholic Church and the Spanish government, Cuban President Raul Castro agreed in July to free 52 opposition activists, community organizers, dissidents and journalists who report on the island in defiance of state controls on all local news media.

Under the deal, 39 prisoners have been released so far and sent with their families into exile in Spain, with one of them settling in Chile. If the remaining 13 are freed, it would empty Cuban prisons of all 75 top activists arrested in a sweeping crackdown on organized dissent in March 2003, an event human rights activists have labeled the "Black Spring."

Cuba maintains that it holds no political prisoners. It says the 75 had been convicted and sentenced to lengthy prison terms on charges including treason and taking money from the U.S. government to destabilize the island's political system.

At least seven political prisoners due to be released under the July agreement do not want to leave Cuba, according to the island's cardinal, Jaime Ortega. That could put future releases in jeopardy: While neither the Church nor the government has said leaving the country is a prerequisite to release, it has clearly smoothed the way.

If all 52 are eventually freed, Cuba will hold just one person considered by Amnesty International to be a prisoner of conscience, a lawyer named Rolando Jimenez Pozada, who has been jailed since 2003 on charges of disobedience, disrespecting authorities and revealing state secrets. It was not known if Jimenez was among those most recently approached by Cuban authorities.

The number of other political prisoners is a matter of dispute. A list maintained by Sanchez includes about 105 additional names, but some of those have been convicted of violent crimes, including murder and hijacking.

Sanchez says about 40 of the people on his list would fit into the classic definition of nonviolent political prisoners, and that number would presumably get smaller if more inmates are freed under a second deal.

Powered by WizardRSS | Full Text RSS Feeds

Nigeria: Foreign sailors kidnapped off Niger Delta &#40;AP&#41;

LAGOS, Nigeria � Pirates kidnapped two foreign sailors from a tanker off the coast of Nigeria's restive and oil-rich southern delta, a naval spokesman said Sunday, suggesting the crew worked in the black market trade of stolen crude from the region.

Commodore David Nabaida told The Associated Press that gunmen boarded the MV Eckhardt near Bonny early Friday morning. The pirates quickly took control of the vessel and kidnapped the tanker's captain and chief engineer before slipping off in the darkness, he said.

Nabaida said naval patrol boats continue to look for the sailors in the Niger Delta, a maze of creeks and mangroves about the size of South Carolina. The commodore said he didn't know the nationalities of the sailors, nor what company owned the tanker.

Militants upset about the region's unceasing poverty and polluted waterways have fought against foreign oil companies and government troops since an insurrection began in the Niger Delta in 2006. Violence has waned in recent months after a government-sponsored amnesty deal offered cash payouts and the promise of job training to gunmen roaming the region's creeks.

Now, there appears to be new tension in the region. The region's main militant group, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, claimed responsibility for a car bombing in the nation's capital Friday that killed at least 12 people. On Sept. 22, pirates operating off the delta's coast kidnapped three French oil workers and a Thai national. The workers have yet to be released.

In Friday's kidnapping, however, Nabaida said it appeared the ship ignored warnings from the navy to stay away from an area prone to kidnappings and remained close to the shore. He said that made authorities suspect the tanker took part in "bunkering" � when thieves tap into oil pipelines to steal crude. Boats then slip toward Nigeria's coast, load up on the stolen oil and travel to other countries to sell the oil to refineries.

Bonny light crude, drawn from the delta, can be easily refined into gasoline, make such thefts highly lucrative.

"Some of them go out there and conceal their identity and their movement," Nabaida said. "We can't be everywhere at the same time."

Nigeria, which is vying with Angola to regain its spot as Africa's top crude producer, is a major source of oil for the U.S.

Powered by WizardRSS | Full Text RSS Feeds

Ethnic divide in Guinea widens, threatens election &#40;AP&#41;

CONAKRY, Guinea � Ibrahima Diallo spends his days in Bed No. 7 of the municipal hospital here, waiting for the bones in his face to glue themselves back together. His teeth are tied shut, so it is hard for him to talk � but even if he could, he'd have little to say to the patient in Bed No. 8.

That man also has a broken cheekbone. And like Diallo, he too was injured in the spasm of pre-election violence that swept Conakry last month. Yet the gulf between the two hospital beds is a mirror of the ethnic divide at the heart of Guinea's political life, which is threatening to derail what was supposed to be the country's first democratic election since independence in 1958.

Mory Keita, 25, was rushed into surgery after being slammed in the face by a rock. The rocks started raining down on the party headquarters of presidential candidate Alpha Conde, a Malinke politician, whose supporters, like Keita, are overwhelmingly from his ethnic group. Keita says the last thing he heard before he was knocked unconscious was the screams of people speaking the Peul language.

On the same day, the last thing Diallo, 46 � a Peul � heard before passing out was the Malinke dialect. He was on his way to a soccer tournament in support of Peul candidate Cellou Dalein Diallo, whose Union for the Democratic Forces of Guinea, or UFDG, has the nearly unanimous support of Guinea's Peul population. The men who surrounded him insulted him in Malinke, telling him they would never accept a Peul president. They punched him until he spit up his own teeth.

Only four months ago, journalists flocked for a rare 'good news' story to this African capital ranked as one of the world's poorest, where black mold coats buildings and the smell of the sea mixes with that of the sewer. For the first time in Guinea's history, there was no incumbent to rig the election, and the army that had installed two of the country's three dictators had vowed not to meddle. A successful election was also expected to open the door to billions of dollars in planned mining investments.

But the mood of celebration fizzled when none of the 24 candidates won a majority, forcing a run-off between the No. 1 and No. 2 finishers, who are from the two largest ethnic groups, with a history of animosity. A shadow has since fallen over Guinea and the surrounding region, as the country's exercise in democracy degenerated into a contest along racial lines.

It's an all-too-familiar script in this part of Africa, where three of the six countries bordering Guinea � Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast and Liberia � are only now emerging from civil wars fueled by ethnic divisions. The dueling groups in Guinea, the Malinke and the Peul, are ethnicities that span the borders.

"People are no longer voting for a political platform. They are voting for an ethnicity," says Lama Bangoura, a youth leader in the violence-prone Enco-5 neighborhood. "You go into the neighborhoods and ask who people are voting for. And you'll immediately see that all the Peul are voting for the UFDG, and all the Malinke are voting for the RPG."

The ethnic question has always hovered just under the surface in Guinea, but like in the former Yugoslavia under Tito, it was kept under a tight lid by the country's successive strongmen. Each favored their ethnic group, stacking the government with their kin and violently silencing opponents.

Of the country's four major groups, the Peul are the largest, representing around 40 percent of the population of 10 million, and yet they are the only ones not to have had one of their own in power. Last year, they were singled out in an army-led massacre of protesters calling for an end to army rule. Peul women � identifiable by their lighter skin and Semitic features � were gang raped by soldiers chanting anti-Peul slurs.

In a market in Conakry, a Peul woman selling condiments from a Tupperware basin says the pride she felt just months ago at finally being able to cast a vote which she knew would be counted is gone. She says in the past few weeks, she stopped wearing her campaign T-shirt with a picture of Diallo. The last time she wore it, Khadiatou Bah says, a Malinke vendor approached her apparently to buy one of her sauces, and then grabbed her shirt as if trying to twist out the face of the Peul candidate.

"He said no Peul woman had ever carried a future president on her back. He said that if we Peuls toy around with the idea of being in power, they will kill us all," says Bah.

Salimatou Balde, 39, says the ethnic issue didn't come up until July, when the field of candidates was suddenly reduced to a Malinke and a Peul, exposing a faultline that has long existed between them. Guinea's first president Sekou Toure was a Malinke, and thousands of Peul fled to neighboring countries after he claimed to have uncovered a 'Peul plot' against him. Countless hundreds were tortured to death or starved in a gulag-like prison.

Balde says in the last four months, she has started to have fights with the Malinke tenants who rent a room in her house. When they put up a poster of Conde, she yanked it down. In retaliation they have stopped paying their rent.

Both candidates accuse the other of using 'tribal rhetoric' in their stump speeches. It's hard to ignore the racial homogeneity of their party offices, located just a half-mile apart on the national highway crossing Conakry's potholed boulevards.

At the RPG headquarters, the uniformed security guard at the entrance as well as the party supporters inside greet each other saying 'i nike' � "hello" in Malinke. Head to the squat building that houses the UFDG, and the first words out of people's mouths are 'on dyaraama,' a greeting in Peul. The majority of the people inside have one of four last names � Diallo, Barry, Balde or Bah � immediately identifying them as Peul.

The exceptions all have a story to tell about the ostracism they faced when they decided to back the opposing candidate. The secretary-general of the RPG in the Fouta district, the traditional homeland of the Peul, is a Peul. He has received threats from Peul community leaders who call him a traitor. They have vowed to chase him out of town if Diallo wins.

Bangoura, the youth leader from Enco-5, is a Soussou, a group allied with the Malinke. He is, however, voting for the UFDG because he says he prefers Diallo's economic policies to Conde's. He is paying the price in daily snubs from his Malinke neighbors.

"If we push on this ethnic button, it's going to explode," he says. "People are becoming radicalized. The Malinke say don't vote for Cellou because he's a Peul, and the Peul say we need to vote for him because he's a Peul."

Despite problems, including too few polling stations and a large percentage of irregular ballots, the first round of voting was largely deemed free and fair, said Guinea-based election expert Elizabeth Cote of the International Foundation for Election Systems. But instead of a run-off in July as planned, the vote has been delayed multiple times, allowing the electoral commission to remap voting districts and add more polling stations near remote villages. Last week, the United Nations warned that Guinea risks another army takeover if voting is further delayed.

Every postponement was viewed as politically motivated by Diallo's party, which clinched 44 percent of the vote in the first round to Conde's 18 percent. The UFDG accuses the election commission and members of the transitional government of purposely delaying the vote to prevent a Peul from winning. The disagreement spilled over onto the street on Sept. 11 and Sept. 12 when at least 54 people were injured, including the two patients in the Maxillo-Facial Surgery wing of the National Donka Hospital.

The whites of Ibrahima Diallo's eyes are pierced with red lines. He moves his bulbous lips slowly as he explains how his attackers yanked off his party pin before saying in Malinke that they planned to kill him. He acknowledges that Keita's attackers probably said the same thing in Peul.

Keita has gone to lie down in the cot in the corner of the room next to the chalk mark of the number 8 on the wall. His broken face is jutting out, as if he's tried to stuff an apple in one side of his mouth. When he wakes up, he'll probably go to charge his phone in the plug next to Bed No. 7.

"I let him charge his phone here. I give him my water. I share my food," says Diallo. "If they are alone, they're OK. But they're not OK when they're in a group. When they are in a group I am afraid."

___

Associated Press Writer Boubacar Diallo contributed to this report.

Powered by WizardRSS | Full Text RSS Feeds