Fight over Eichmann files back to German court AP

BERLIN Germanys intelligence service has turned over thousands of files on top Nazi Adolf Eichmanns whereabouts after World War II to a journalist who sued for them. But with so many passages blacked out and pages missing, shes taking the matter back to court.

An attorney for freelance reporter Gabriele Weber said Tuesday he was confident that she would win greater access eventually, even though Chancellor Angela Merkels office has argued that some Eichmann files should stay secret.

Last week, Weber went to see the government files on the man known as the "architect of the Holocaust" for coordinating the Nazis genocide policy. She was surprised to find some 1,000 pages missing, despite a federal courts order in April that the intelligence agency, the BND, could not keep all of the documents secret.

Merkels office, which oversees the BND, argued in a filing with the Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig that the 3,400 files had been examined and that it had been determined that some should remain withheld for a variety of reasons. It expressed concern that because the information had been received in confidence from other intelligence agencies, to make it public would discredit the BND.

Merkels office has not commented on the April decision and the BND refused to elaborate while the matter is still pending in court.

The arguments, however, were similar to those the court rejected when it made its initial ruling.

"I am certain that we will get all of the files, but it will take some time," Webers Berlin attorney Reiner Geulen said.

He has filed a new request with the Leipzig court arguing that the government is violating the courts original order by withholding so much.

Even though the basics of Eichmanns story after the war are well known � he fled Germany, was captured in Argentina by Israels Mossad in 1960, then hanged after trial in Jerusalem in 1962 � Weber hopes the files will shed more light on missing pieces of the puzzle. Who helped him escape? How much did Germany know about where he was? Is there more to the story of his capture?

While she received some 2,400 pages, another 1,000 � crucially about the years before Eichmann was captured by Israel � were held back, she said. Of the pages she did receive, much of the information was blacked out, she told The Associated Press.

"Of the 2,400 pages, maybe 100 are interesting," she said.

It was not clear when the case would be heard by the Leipzig court.

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3 dead in blast at police complex in NW Pakistan AP

PESHAWAR, Pakistan A large explosion ripped through a police compound in a northwestern Pakistani city Tuesday evening, killing at least three people and wounding 25, a local official said.

The complex in the garrison city of Kohat houses officers homes, a training facility and a commercial area.

Police officer Mumtaz Khan said three bodies had been recovered from the rubble of toppled homes and at least 25 were hurt, including women and children.

Khan said the death toll could rise as many were still trapped in the destroyed houses.

Officer Mohammad Arif said there was a huge explosion in the residential area of the compound soon after the evening breaking of the daily fast during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. Power to the area was cut, forcing emergency workers to search for any victims in the dark, he said.

"There was a massive blast and due to the darkness it is not yet known what the extent of damage and loss of life is," he said.

Kohat, the major town on the road between the provincial capital of Peshawar and several tribal areas, has been the scene of several militant attacks this year. In April, two burqa-clad suicide bombers attacked refugees lined up to register for food and other relief supplies in the district, killing 41 people and wounding dozens more.

"This city is a war zone. We would always expect such attacks," said Khalid Omarzai, a top local official .

The Pakistani Taliban has claimed responsibility for a series of recent attacks across the nation aimed at destabilizing the country and weakening a civilian government already struggling with a massive flooding that has displaced millions and caused widespread destruction.

The deadliest have targeted minority Shiite Muslims. A suicide bombing killed at least 43 Shiite Muslims at a procession in the southwestern city of Quetta on Friday. Two days earlier, a triple suicide attack killed 35 people at a Shiite ceremony in the eastern city of Lahore.

On Monday, a Taliban suicide bomber detonated a car in an alley behind a police station in a strategically important town in northwestern Pakistan, killing at least 17 police and civilians in an explosion that shattered the station and neighboring homes.

About 40 people were wounded in the attack in Lakki Marwat, which sits on the main road between Punjab province, Pakistans largest and most prosperous, and the North and South Waziristan tribal regions.

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Kenyan court convicts, sentences 7 Somali pirates AP

NAIROBI, Kenya A Kenyan court has convicted and sentenced seven Somalis of piracy to five years in jail, a defense lawyer said Tuesday.

A court in the Kenyan port town of Mombasa found the Somalis guilty of attacking a German naval supply ship in the Gulf of Aden on March 29 last year, said Jared Magolo, their lawyer. He said his clients plan to appeal the verdict made Monday.

"Even though we believe that the verdict was not very heavy, but the conviction was not proper," said Magolo.

The European Union anti-piracy task force said it welcomes the courts decision.

The "judgment marks an important step in the cooperation between EU and Kenya in the repression of acts of piracy and armed robbery off the coast of Somalia," said Maj. Gen. Buster Howes, the forces operation commander.

Riding in a single skiff, the seven pirates opened fire on the FGS Spessart, a German Navy tanker, mistaking it for a commercial vessel. They were repelled by ships security and later captured by the German frigate FGS Rheinland-Pfalz. The pirates were handed over to Kenyan authorities in April last year.

Before Monday, Kenyan courts had convicted 28 Somalis of piracy since 2006, when the first piracy case was concluded in the East African nation.

Somalia has been mired in anarchy and chaos since 1991, and the lawlessness has allowed piracy to thrive off its Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden coastlines. Somali pirates are able to make multimillion dollar ransoms from their hijackings.

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Abbas asks US to step into settlement dispute AP

RAMALLAH, West Bank Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he has asked the U.S. to settle a dispute with Israel over settlement expansion that is threatening to derail Mideast peace talks.

Israels 10-month partial freeze on new construction in West Bank settlements ends Sept. 26, and Israeli officials have indicated they will not extend the freeze as is. Abbas has said hell quit peace talks with Israel unless the restrictions remain in place.

Abbas said late Monday that he has asked the U.S. "to intervene in the settlement issue."

The Obama administration has promised an active role in the talks, Abbas told reporters accompanying him on his way back from Washington, where direct negotiations were launched last week after a hiatus of nearly two years.

"The U.S. will be present at the negotiations, not necessarily behind closed doors, but U.S. mediators can be inside the room, or outside," Abbas said.

Settlements take up land the Palestinians want for a state, and Abbas views Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus decision on the freeze as a test of his intentions.

President Barack Obama wants Abbas and Netanyahu to agree on the main principles of a peace deal within a year, but gaps remain wide. In Washington, Netanyahu � who long opposed Palestinian statehood before accepting the idea last year � struck a conciliatory tone, but the Palestinians still fear the Israeli leader plans to use the talks to buy time and establish more facts on the ground.

"Some say he is not serious and practicing PR," Palestinian negotiator Nabil Shaath told reporters on Tuesday, referring to Netanyahu. "But we are going to test him on two imminent issues � the settlement slowdown and then at the negotiating table."

President Barack Obama wants to see both sides reaching agreement on the main elements of a peace deal within a year. But in a message to the Israeli people on Tuesday ahead of the upcoming Jewish New Year, Netanyahu said the negotiations success, while desired, "was not assured."

Abbas and Netanyahu will meet twice next week, first in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheik and then in Jerusalem. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will attend both meetings.

The Israelis are negotiating with Abbas, who has limited governing power in the West Bank under Israels overall security control. The Gaza Strip, located on the other side of Israel, is controlled by Abbas rivals, the Islamic militants of Hamas, who do not recognize Israel and reject negotiations. Clashes and rocket fire are common along the Gaza-Israel border.

On Tuesday, Palestinian militants in Gaza fired a rocket into Israel. No one was hurt.

This version CORRECTS that Clinton will attend Egypt and Jerusalem talks.

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Mozambique government reverses bread price hike AP

MAPUTO, Mozambique Mozambiques government is reversing bread and water price increases that had touched off deadly riots, the planning minister said Tuesday.

Protests last week in the capital, Maputo, over hikes in the costs of bread, water and electricity turned violent, with demonstrators clashing with police. The health department put the death toll at 13.

Planning Minister Aiuba Cuereneia told reporters after a Cabinet meeting that the 20 percent increase in the government-set price of bread � which had followed a year of steady increases on the staple in this impoverished country � that went into effect Monday would be reversed. He said an increase in the price of water also would be reversed, but that higher electricity tariffs were being maintained.

"These are measures we are taking to reduce the cost of living in Mozambique," the minister said. He referred to the protests only to condemn the violence.

The government was cutting back elsewhere to compensate. Cuereneia said the government was suspending salary increases for top government officials and stipends for those chairing the boards of public companies.

The Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organization said in a statement Tuesday its experts did not believe the world was headed toward a food crisis like the one in 2008, when high prices sparked political instability in Mozambique, Haiti and elsewhere. FAO said this years cereal harvest worldwide was the third highest on record and food stocks are high. Other conditions, such as soaring fuel prices, that were blamed for the 2007-2008 food crisis arent present now, officials say.

The FAO nonetheless cautioned that food commodities markets will remain more volatile in coming years. It suggested improving the markets regulation and establishing an "appropriate level" of emergency food stocks, while assuring fluid global trade in food.

The agency is holding a special session on Sept. 24 to better gauge the food supply situation in member nations, but FAO stressed that the gathering is "not an emergency meeting."

This year, a drought in Russia has prompted the country to restrict wheat exports, helping drive up global food costs.

Mozambiques government has said that keeping food prices low is difficult because so much of the countrys food has to be imported. The southeastern African nation grows only 30 percent of the wheat it needs.

Energy Minister Salvador Namburete has said Monday that the recent increase in the price of electricity was necessary to cover the cost of electrifying rural areas and constructing a new power line in the countrys northwest.

No one has come forward as the organizer of the protests. Word was spread by cell phone text messages, and on Monday Mozambicans found they were unable to send texts. It was unclear whether the text failure was part of a government crackdown.

The worst of the rioting was Wednesday and Thursday. Though it died down after that, the government had struggled to stamp out unrest and protests had flared outside Maputo.

Authorities have said they were trying to trace who sent the first unsigned cell phone messages calling for protests in the southern African nation. Over the weekend, text messages calling for calm and portraying protests as unpatriotic began to appear � they, too, were unsigned.

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Hundreds of looted artifacts returned to Iraq AP

BAGHDAD Hundreds of Iraqi artifacts looted from museums and archaeological sites across the country have been returned to Iraq.

More than 500 pieces were on display at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Tuesday, including a 4,400-year-old statue of a Sumerian king discovered in the 1920s at the ancient city of Ur, in southern Iraq.

The headless statue was stolen from the Iraqi National Museum during the looting and chaos that followed the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

The display is part of Iraqi efforts to repatriate its looted cultural heritage.

Among the youngest pieces of Iraqs past returned was a chrome-plated AK-47 with a pearl hand grip bearing Saddam Husseins image. It was taken to the U.S. by an American soldier as a war trophy.

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Japan confirms its first case of new superbug gene AP

TOKYO Japan has confirmed the nations first case of a new gene in bacteria that allows the microorganisms to become drug-resistant superbugs, detected in a man who had medical treatment in India, a Health Ministry official said Tuesday.

The gene, known as NDM-1, was found in a Japanese man in his 50s, Kensuke Nakajima said.

Researchers say the gene � which appears to be circulating widely in India � alters bacteria, making them resistant to nearly all known antibiotics.

Drug-resistant bacteria are not new. Many bacteria are resistant to the worlds first antibiotic, penicillin, as well as successive generations of drugs. Excessive use and improper use of antibiotics have exacerbated the problem and led to the emergence of superbugs.

"The potential of NDM-1 to be a worldwide public health problem is great, and coordinated international surveillance is needed," according to a widely publicized report in the British medical journal Lancet in August.

The gene has been seen largely in the deadly E. coli bacteria and on DNA structures that can be easily copied and passed onto other types of bacteria.

The man was hospitalized in April 2009 after returning from India where he had medical treatment. Nakajima declined to say what kind of treatment the man had received in India, citing the mans privacy.

The man had a high fever while staying at a hospital in Tochigi, north of Tokyo. He was discharged in October last year.

The hospital � Dokkyo Medical University Hospital � kept a preserved sample of the suspected superbug from the man. The hospital examined the sample after the Lancet report.

The Tochigi hospital notified the Health Ministry about the detection of the NDM-1 gene. It told the ministry that no in-hospital infections were found. Following the confirmation of the discovery � Japans first NDM-1 case � the Health Ministry launched a nationwide survey, asking local health authorities to check on hospitals for evidence of more infections.

Along with India, the new superbug gene has been detected in small numbers in Australia, Canada, the United States, the Netherlands, Sweden and the U.K. Researchers say since many Americans and Europeans travel to India and Pakistan for elective procedures like cosmetic surgery, it was likely the superbug gene would spread worldwide.

Antimicrobial resistance � the ability of microorganisms to escape drugs efficacy � is an increasing global health problem that could affect control of diseases such as respiratory infections and dysentery, according to the World Health Organization.

The WHO says NDM-1 requires monitoring and further study. With effective measures, countries have successfully battled multi-drug resistant microorganisms in the past.

It recommends that governments focus their efforts in four areas: surveillance, rational antibiotic use, legislation to stop sales of antibiotics without prescription, and rigorous infection prevention measures such as hand-washing in hospitals.

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Colorado wildfire destroys dozens of homes AP

DENVER A wind-whipped wildfire sent flames roaring through a rugged canyon in the Colorado foothills, forcing hundreds of people to flee and destroying dozens of homes � some that belonged to the firefighters themselves, authorities said early Tuesday.

Firefighters were waiting until sunrise to count the exact number of houses that have burned, said Brett Haberstick of the Sunshine Fire Protection District.

The blaze broke out Monday morning in Four Mile Canyon northwest of Boulder and rapidly spread across 5 1/2 square miles or 3,500 acres. Erratic 45-mph gusts sometimes sent the fire in two directions at once.

Crews managed to save the historic town of Gold Hill, including an old West grocery store and structures once used for stagecoach stops. But firefighters in the area had to relocate their engines and equipment several times to avoid the flames.

"The fire moved too quickly and was much more active than anticipated," Haberstick said.

Despite the fires destructive advance, no injuries have been reported, although some residents told of narrow escapes.

"I just drove through a wall of flames," Tom Neur told KDVR-TV. "The bumper is melted off in the front of the van."

Neurs wife, Anna, left earlier, and the couple reunited at temporary shelter. They said their house was destroyed.

"I dont care about the house," Anna Neur told her husband. "Im just glad youre OK."

Fire managers said 1,000 homes had to be evacuated from the canyon and surrounding areas. Four belonging to firefighters were destroyed. Those firefighters were allowed to leave to attend to their families and personal affairs, said Laura McConnell, a spokeswoman for the fire management team.

More than 100 firefighters were on the scene on Monday, and the winds quieted enough by late afternoon to allow three tankers to drop more than 40,000 gallons of fire retardant along the leading edge of the fire.

The winds pushed the fire through three canyons where pine trees have been left prone to fire by disease, drought and beetles that burrow under the bark of pine trees, fire managers said. Such beetles have killed more than 3.5 million acres of trees in Colorado and southeastern Wyoming.

"We havent had any rain there for almost a month. Maybe more than a month," said Craig Douglas, who lives north of the fire and received a knock on the door from a sheriffs deputy at about 8 p.m. on Monday. "The humidity the last couple of days has been in the single digits, so it was a fire waiting to happen."

The cause of the fire was unknown, and officials said it was too early to say how much, if any, of it was contained.

"Its very rocky, hilly, mountainous terrain," said Boulder County sheriffs Cmdr. Rick Brough.

Video from KUSA-TV showed at least one home engulfed in flames.

"There is ash falling from the sky," David Jones told The Denver Post from his home in Gold Hill, where about 250 people live. "Were getting out of here."

Officials said one fire vehicle was destroyed by the blaze.

Some ground crews remained at the fire through the night. At least four more aerial tankers were requested to join the fight Tuesday morning.

More than a half-dozen dirt roads that thread the narrow canyons were closed.

A billowing, white plume of heavy smoke was visible for miles before sunset. County health officials advised residents to stay indoors if the smoky air became irritating.

The Boulder County alert system malfunctioned for about two hours Monday afternoon, leaving authorities unable to send automatic calls telling residents to evacuate. Officials said it began working again later.

The Red Cross set up an overnight evacuation center at the Coors Events Center on the University of Colorado campus in Boulder. Douglas and about a dozen others were there early Tuesday.

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Congo police arrest 3 men carrying elephant ivory AP

KINSHASA, Congo Police in southeastern Congo say they have arrested three men carrying six suitcases full of elephant tusks.

Anti-smuggling commission coordinator Placide Magungu said Tuesday the three Chinese nationals were caught at Lumumbashis airport while trying to fly to Nairobi, Kenya. He says the men said they bought the ivory from antique dealers.

Illegal hunting of elephants in central and eastern Africa has intensified in recent years, with much of the ivory exported to Asia.

In August, police seized 116 elephant tusks and arrested two Congolese men in the countrys northeast.

Poachers also have taken advantage of the fact Congo suffered through back-to-back civil wars, and the countrys volatile east remains mired in armed conflict.

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Indonesian volcano erupts again; strongest yet AP

TANAH KARO, Indonesia An Indonesian volcano shot a towering cloud of black ash high into the air Tuesday, dusting villages 15 miles 25 kilometers away in its most powerful eruption since awakening last week from four centuries of dormancy.

Some witnesses at the foot of Mount Sinabung reported seeing an orange glow � presumably magma � in cracks along the volcanos slopes for the first time.

"There was a huge, thunderous sound. It sounded like hundreds of bombs going off at one," said Ita Sitepu, 29, who was among thousands of people staying in crowded emergency shelters well away from the base. "Then everything starting shaking. Ive never experienced anything like it."

Mount Sinabungs first eruption last week caught many scientists off guard. With more than 129 active volcanoes to watch in this vast archipelago, local vulcanologists had failed to monitor the long-quiet mountain for rising magma, slight uplifts in land and other signs of seismic activity.

Indonesia is a seismically charged region because of its location on the so-called "Ring of Fire" � a series of fault lines stretching from the Western Hemisphere through Japan and Southeast Asia.

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

More than 30,000 people living along the volcanos fertile slopes have been relocated to cramped refugee camps, mosques and churches in nearby villages.

But some have insisted on returning to the danger zone to check on their homes and their dust-covered crops.

The government sent dozens of trucks to the mountain to help carry them back before Tuesdays eruption, which sent ash and debris shooting three miles 5,000 meters into the air, said Surono, who heads the nations volcano alert center.

"It was really terrifying," said Anissa Siregar, 30, as she and her two children arrived at one of the makeshift camps, adding that the mountain shook violently for at least three minutes. "It just keeps getting worse."

Local media said ash had reached as far as Berastagi, a district 15 miles 25 kilometers from the base of the mountain.

Surono, who, like many Indonesians, uses only one name, said activity was definitely on the rise: There were more than 80 volcanic earthquakes in the 24-hour lead-up to the blast, compared to 50 on Friday, when ash and debris shot nearly two miles 3,000 meters.

The eruption early Tuesday occurred just after midnight during a torrential downpour. Witnesses said volcanic ash and mud oozed down the mountains slopes, flooding into abandoned homes. Others said saw bursts of fire and hot ash.

The force of the explosion could be felt five miles eight kilometers away.

Indonesia has recorded some of the largest eruptions in history.

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

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

___

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

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