25 Islamic militants escape from Tajik prison AP

DUSHANBE, Tajikistan A group of 25 Islamic militants serving time on terrorism charges have escaped from a prison in Tajikistans capital after dramatic assaults that left at least five guards dead, the security services said Monday.

The escaped convicts include many members of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan terrorist group, among them Russian and Afghan citizens, officials said.

The violent breakout from a prison run by the National State Security Committee in the capital, Dushanbe, has dealt the government an embarrassing blow after it claimed successes lately in a clampdown on alleged militant organizations.

The prisoners attacked their guards late Sunday, killing one and badly wounding two others, the security services said. They then grabbed a supply of weapons, changed into camouflage uniforms and fled.

Three hours later, at 1:10 a.m. local time, they attacked a nearby prison checkpoint, killing four guards, the security services said. They then drove off in vehicles, their direction and destination unknown.

President Emomali Rakhmon has ordered the Interior Ministry to boost the presence of armed police on roads and at airports and railway stations.

Impoverished Tajikistan, which shares a long and porous border with Afghanistan, has enjoyed relative stability since the end of a civil war in the 1990s that pitted a loose coalition of Islamic fighters and nationalists against elements of the former Soviet elite.

The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, or IMU, is a group that emerged in the 1990s and at its outset comprised militants mainly set on toppling the authoritarian regimes in the neighboring former Soviet states of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.

The IMU had training camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan and at one time fought on the side of Taliban, but was believed to have suffered significant setbacks in the U.S.-led operations. Analysts have speculated that security operations along Pakistans border with Afghanistan last year may have compelled militants to return to their home countries in Central Asia, prompting an upsurge in their activity in the region.

Trials against alleged terrorist cell members in Tajikistan are usually held behind closed doors and details of investigations remain closely guarded, making it difficult to determine the exact activities and goals of the locally based militant groups.

One of the fugitives was identified as Abdurasul Mirzoyev, the brother of a jailed former head of the presidential guards, who was sentenced to 30 years in prison last month on charges of involvement in a plot to overthrow the government.

Among the others who escaped were some of the 46 people sentenced to lengthy prison terms last week for involvement with an illegal armed gang led by Mirzo Ziyoyev, a commander of the United Tajik Opposition, a rebel group in the civil war.

Most Islamist fighters gave up armed resistance after reaching an uneasy peace settlement with the government. But many returned to a hardline anti-government position over concerns they were being squeezed out of official positions granted to them as part of the peace agreement.

Ziyoyevs group was largely neutralized after the army and police mounted a large-scale operation in a remote mountainous area in eastern Tajikistan last summer. Authorities said the organization aimed to overthrow the government.

Security officials said Ziyoyev himself was killed last summer while assisting authorities during an operation against a former associate in the days after his arrest.

The international community remains concerned about reports of Islamic militants operating in countries north of Afghanistan.

Some government critics, however, accuse Tajik authorities of exaggerating the danger posed by Islamic groups as grounds for stamping out political freedoms. Rakhmon has led the country uninterruptedly for almost 20 years, overseeing a period of deep economic stagnation.

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Palestinians: No talks if settlement freeze ends AP

RAMALLAH, West Bank The Palestinian leader has warned President Barack Obama that he will pull out of upcoming peace talks if Israel ends a slowdown on West Bank settlement construction, a Palestinian negotiator said Monday.

President Mahmoud Abbas sent a letter to Obama stressing that any renewed Israeli settlement construction would end the talks, said Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat.

The direct negotiations are to begin in Washington next week, after months of U.S. diplomatic efforts. Both sides seem pessimistic about the chances of success.

Israels 10-month slowdown, which bars construction of most new homes in the West Bank, is supposed to end in late September, and Israels government is split over whether to extend it.

Erekat said that Abbas also sent the letter to the European Union, the U.N. and Russia � all members of the Mideast Quartet of mediators, along with the U.S.

If the Israeli government continues settlement activities, then by this it would have decided to stop negotiations, because we cant continue with it if settlements continue, he said.

While Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials have said in the past that the slowdown would not be extended, the Israeli government is now signaling that it might be flexible.

The government has yet to announce officially what will be done. For the moment, the most important thing is to get the talks going, and were not going to do anything to give the Palestinians an excuse to derail the talks, said Yigal Palmor, a spokesman for Israels Foreign Ministry.

Netanyahu has not commented on the issue of the freeze since the U.S. announced on Friday that talks would be resuming in Washington next week. It will be the first face-to-face peace talks between the sides since late 2008. Obama hopes to forge a deal within one year.

Extending the settlement slowdown would be deeply unpopular among the more hawkish members of Netanyahus coalition government and among many members of his own Likud party.

Some analysts have suggested that in order to press ahead with the talks the Israeli leader might be forced to rearrange his coalition, excluding some of the more hard-line parties and bringing in his more moderate rivals from the opposition Kadima party.

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Passions rise at dueling NYC mosque demonstrations AP

NEW YORK Hundreds of impassioned demonstrators � all waving American flags, but separated into two groups by police � descended on the site of the proposed mosque near ground zero, with opponents chanting, No mosque, no way and supporters shouting, We say no to racist fear

The two leaders of the construction project, meanwhile, defended their plans on Sunday, though one suggested that organizers might eventually be willing to discuss an alternative site. The other, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, said during a Middle East trip that the attention generated by the project is actually positive and that he hopes it will bring greater understanding.

The rallies took place around the corner from the cordoned-off old building that is to become a 13-story Islamic community center and mosque. There were no reports of physical clashes but there were some nose-to-nose confrontations, including a man and a woman screaming at each other across a barricade under a steady rain.

Opponents of the $100 million project two blocks from the World Trade Center site appeared to outnumber supporters. Bruce Springsteens Born in the USA blared over loudspeakers as mosque opponents chanted, No mosque, no way

Signs hoisted by dozens of protesters standing behind police barricades read SHARIA � using dripping, blood-red letters to describe Islams Shariah law, which governs Muslims behavior.

Steve Ayling, a 40-year-old Brooklyn plumber, said the people behind the mosque project are the same people who took down the twin towers.

Opponents demand that the mosque be moved farther from the site where more than 2,700 people were killed on Sept. 11, 2001. They should put it in the Middle East, Ayling said.

On a nearby sidewalk, police chased away a group that unfurled a banner with images of beating, stoning and other torture they said was committed by those who followed Islamic law.

A mannequin wearing a keffiyeh, a traditional Arab headdress, was mounted on one of two mock missiles that were part of an anti-mosque installation. One missile was inscribed with the words: Again? Freedom Targeted by Religion; the other with Obama: With a middle name Hussein. We understand. Bloomberg: What is your excuse?

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has fiercely defended plans for the proposed mosque, saying that the right to practice your religion was one of the real reasons America was founded.

The mosque project is being led by Rauf and his wife, Daisy Khan, who insist the center will promote moderate Islam. The dispute has sparked a national debate on religious freedom and American values and is becoming an issue on the campaign trail ahead of the midterm elections. Republicans have been critical of President Barack Obamas stance: He has said the Muslims have the right to build the center at the site but has not commented on whether he thinks they should.

Rauf is in the middle of a Mideast trip funded by the U.S. State Department that is intended to promote religious tolerance. He told a gathering Sunday at the U.S. ambassadors residence in the Persian Gulf state of Bahrain that he took heart from the dispute over the mosque, saying the fact we are getting this kind of attention is a sign of success.

It is my hope that people will understand more, Rauf said without elaborating.

Democratic New York Gov. David Paterson has suggested that state land farther from ground zero be used for the center. Khan, executive director of the American Society for Muslim Advancement, expressed some openness to that idea on ABCs This Week with Christiane Amanpour, but said she would have to meet with the centers other stakeholders first.

We want to build bridges, Khan said. We dont want to create conflict, this is not where we were coming from.

But Khan also said the angry reaction to the project is like a metastasized anti-Semitism.

At the pro-mosque rally, staged a block away from opponents demonstration, several hundred people chanted, Muslims are welcome here We say no to racist fear

Dr. Ali Akram, a 39-year-old Brooklyn physician, came with his three sons and an 11-year-old nephew waving an American flag. He noted that scores of Muslims were among those who died in the towers, and he called those who oppose the mosque un-American.

They teach their children about the freedom of religion in America � but they dont practice what they preach, Akram said.

Rauf, in an interview with Bahrains Al Wasat newspaper, said Americas sweeping constitutional rights are more in line with Islamic principles than the limits imposed by some Muslim nations.

American Muslims have the right to practice their religion in accordance with the Constitution of the United States, Rauf said. I see the article of independence as more compliant with the principles of Islam than what is available in many of the current Muslim countries.

A portion of the Al Wasat interview � to be published Monday � was seen Sunday by The Associated Press.

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Embassy official: 2 Spanish hostages freed AP

BAMAKO, Mali Two Spanish aid workers kidnapped almost nine months ago by an al-Qaida affiliate have been set free and were en route Monday to the capital of neighboring Burkina Faso, a Spanish official and a diplomatic source said.

The release happened just days after a Malian who was sentenced in Mauritainia for the kidnapping was extradited back to his home country. Al-Qaida of the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM, had demanded his return as a condition for the release of the two aid workers.

The two were due to arrive in Ouagadougou by mid-afternoon and were then continue on to Spain, said the official at a Western embassy who asked not to be named because he is not authorized to speak to the press.

They are free, he said. Its done.

In Madrid, an official in Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapateros office confirmed the release and said they are now in safe hands. The official gave no other details. Zapatero was scheduled to address reporters shortly.

Roque Pascual and Albert Vilalta were kidnapped when their convoy of SUVs was attacked in Mauritania on Nov. 29 while they were delivering supplies to poor villagers. They and a third colleague, Alicia Gamez, were taken to northern Mali, a remote desert area which has become one of the operating bases for AQIM. Gamez was released in March.

The non-governmental organization Barcelona Solidarity Action for whom the two work said it was treating the reports of the hostages release with guarded optimism until they are confirmed by the government.

Not long after the kidnapping, Mauritanian commandos led a raid in northern Mali where they seized Malian national Omar Ould Sid Ahmed Ould Hama, who goes by the alias Omar Sahraoui. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison by a Mauritanian judge for the kidnappings.

The embassy official said AQIM had demanded Sahraouis return as a condition of the release of the aid workers. He was extradited to Mali on Aug. 15.

Vilalta is believed to have suffered gunshot wounds to the leg while trying to elude capture on the day of the kidnapping.

Mauritania, on Africas western coast, has been rocked by attacks by the radical Islamic group which has spread its tentacles across the vast desert encompassing swaths of Mali, Niger and Algeria. The terror group appears to be financing itself through a kidnap economy and in recent years they have abducted Austrian, Swiss, Italian, French and Canadian nationals.

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Associated Press writers Ahmed Mohamed in Nouakchott, Mauritania contributed to this report.

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NATO: 4 foreign troops killed in Afghanistan AP

KABUL, Afghanistan Roadside bombs killed four members of the international security force in Afghanistan on Monday, including one American and a Hungarian who died in an ambush.

The attacks came in the north, south and east of the war-torn country, the military alliance said. The nationalities of the other troops killed were not known.

Hungarys Defense Ministry said the soldier was killed after his convoy was hit by a blast and then strafed by gunfire from all sides. The attack occurred 12 miles 20 kilometers northwest of the town of Pul-e Khumri in the northern province of Baghlan.

Three other soldiers were wounded and the convoy managed to return to its base in the province, where Hungary administers development projects, it said.

The deaths bring the number of foreign forces killed in Afghanistan this month to 46, including 29 Americans, according to a count by The Associated Press.

They come amid a particularly bloody period for international troops, with 66 Americans killed in July � the deadliest month for the U.S. in Afghanistan since the 2001 invasion that overthrew the hard-line Islamist Taliban government.

Mondays casualties follow the deaths Sunday of four U.S. troops amid fierce fighting in eastern and southern Afghanistan.

Combat has intensified around the country amid an increase in the number of foreign forces battling the stubborn Taliban insurgency to about 120,000, including more than 78,000 Americans. Foreign troops are increasingly skirmishing in the vast south and mountainous east, where insurgents have long held sway. Militants also are attacking coalition forces in parts of the north and west where they were not previously active.

Baghlan has seen an increasing number of attacks and Afghan and international forces killed 12 insurgents in a firefight in the province Sunday, including two Taliban regional commanders, NATO said.

Amid the continuing violence, President Hamid Karzai defended his decision to disband private security firms operating in the country, saying they were undermining Afghanistans police and army and contributing to corruption.

Karzai last week ordered Afghan and international security companies to cease operating by the end of the year, despite U.S. concerns the short deadline may endanger American development projects that are protected by private guards.

NATO uses security contractors to guard supply convoys bringing food, water, ammunition and other supplies to military bases. Critics of the decision have said Afghanistans own security forces are not ready to assume the burden.

But Karzai told ABC News This Week with Christiane Amanpour the companies undermine the effort to recruit more police and soldiers because the government cant compete with the private firms in salaries. He also repeated allegations that many companies are contributing to corruption by shaking down transport firms for money, some of which goes to warlords and the Taliban for protection.

Karzais spokesman, Waheed Omar, reiterated the governments determination to end such operations, calling it part of efforts to strengthen rule of law. Employees of private security firms would receive assistance finding new jobs, possibly with the Afghan national police or army, Omar said.

Even before Karzais order last week, U.S. congressional investigators had been looking into allegations that Afghan security firms were extorting as much as $4 million a week from contractors paid with U.S. tax dollars and then funneling the money to warlords and the Taliban to avoid attacks against convoys. Allegations of widespread corruption have also been levied at the Afghan police.

During the interview, Karzai also said he was willing to talk peace with Taliban figures who break with al-Qaida and other terrorist groups � a key U.S. condition � and accept the Afghan constitution. He said there had already been individual contacts with some Taliban elements but not formal negotiations.

The president acknowledged fears that political, economic and social gains of women and ethnic minorities might be eroded under a future peace agreement with the Taliban, which banned women from most jobs and education during their years in power.

Those concerns were heightened last week when Taliban militants in northern Afghanistan stoned a young couple to death for adultery in the first confirmed use of the punishment here since the hard-line Islamist regime was ousted in the U.S.-led invasion of 2001.

Karzai said he was in deep, deep shock over the stoning and would ensure that womens representation in peace talks would be solid and meaningful.

He said the Afghan people must make sure the gains made by women in political, social and economic walks of life since the fall of the Taliban were not only protected but are promoted and advanced further.

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FDA commissioner says agency needs more authority AP

WASHINGTON Food and Drug Administration chief Margaret Hamburg said Monday her agency is limited by law to a mostly reactive stance on food safety and argued that it needs a more preventive approach.

Giving a series of network interviews in the wake of the egg and salmonella breakout, Hamburg said the FDA is taking the issue very, very seriously. At the same time, she said Congress should pass pending legislation that would provide her agency with greater enforcement power, including new authority over imported food.

We need better abilities and authorities to put in place these preventive controls and hold companies accountable, Hamburg said as she discussed the approximately 1,300 cases of salmonella poisoning and the recall of roughly a half-billion eggs from two Iowa egg distributors.

She also had some practical advice for consumers: Reject over-easy eggs. She said that as federal investigators continue their work with the companies involved, consumers should strictly avoid runny egg yolks for mopping up with toast.

Two Iowa farms linked to the disease outbreak � Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farms � share suppliers of chickens and feed as well as ties to an Iowa business with a history of violating state and federal law.

The number of illnesses, which can be life-threatening, especially to those with weakened immune systems, is expected to increase. The most common symptoms are diarrhea, abdominal cramps and fever eight to 72 hours of eating a contaminated product.

Jewanna Porter, a spokeswoman for the egg industry, said Saturday the company Quality Egg supplies young chickens and feed to both Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farms. The two share other suppliers, she said, but she did not name them.

The egg industry has consolidated over recent years, placing fewer, larger businesses in control over much of the nations egg supply to consumers.

The salmonella outbreak has raised questions about federal inspections of egg farms. The FDA oversees inspections of shell eggs, while the Agriculture Department is in charge of inspecting other egg products.

William D. Marler, a Seattle attorney for a person who filed suit alleging illness from tainted eggs in a salad at a restaurant in Kenosha, Wis., said Sunday his firm has been retained by two dozen families and was representing a woman who was hospitalized in California.

Businessman Austin Jack DeCoster owns Wright County Egg and Quality Egg. Wright County Egg recalled 380 million eggs Aug. 13 after it was linked to more than 1,000 cases of salmonella poisoning. A week later, Hillandale Farms recalled 170 million eggs.

DeCosters companies have a long history of problems:

_In 1994, the state of Iowa assessed at least four separate penalties against DeCoster Farms for environmental violations, many of them involving hog waste.

_In 1997, DeCoster Egg Farms agreed to pay $2 million in fines to settle citations brought in 1996 for health and safety violations at DeCosters farm in Turner, Maine. The nations labor secretary at the time, Robert Reich, said conditions were as dangerous and oppressive as any sweatshop. Reichs successor, Alexis Herman, called the state of the farms simply atrocious, citing unguarded machinery, electrical hazards, exposure to harmful bacteria and other unsanitary conditions.

_In 2000, Iowa designated DeCoster a habitual violator of environmental regulations for problems that included hog manure runoff into waterways. The label made him subject to increased penalties and prohibited him from building new farms.

_In 2002, the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced a more than $1.5 million settlement of an employment discrimination lawsuit against DeCoster Farms on behalf of Mexican women who reported they were subjected to sexual harassment, including rape, abuse and retaliation by some supervisory workers at DeCosters Wright County plants.

_In 2007, 51 workers were arrested during an immigration raid at six DeCoster egg farms. His farms had been the subject of at least three previous raids.

_In June 2010, Maine Contract Farming, the successor company to DeCoster Egg Farms, agreed in state court to pay $25,000 in penalties and to make a one-time payment of $100,000 to the Maine Department of Agriculture over animal cruelty allegations that were spurred by a hidden-camera investigation by an animal welfare organization.

In a statement Sunday, Wright County Egg spokeswoman Hinda Mitchell said the company had reacted quickly in the past to correct its operations when issues have been raised about our farms.

We are approaching our work with FDA in the same forthright manner, she said.

The FDA investigation could take months, and sources of contamination are often difficult to find.

The CDC said last week that investigations by 10 states since April have identified 26 cases where more than one person became ill. Preliminary information showed that Wright was the supplier in at least 15 of those cases.

Hamburg appeared Monday on ABCs Good Morning America, CBSs The Early Show, and NBCs Today show.

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Online:

Food and Drug Administration: http://tinyurl.com/25ot6ss

Centers for Disease Control: http://tinyurl.com/27lla8y

Egg Safety Center recall information: http://ping.fm/iKCaB

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2 bombs kill 23 in northwest Pakistan AP

PARACHINAR, Pakistan Two bomb attacks killed at least 23 people Monday in tribally administered regions in Pakistan close to the Afghan border, officials and a witness said.

The deadliest blast was a suicide attack at a mosque inside a religious school in South Waziristan, said an intelligence official in the region. He spoke on condition of anonymity in line with the orders set down by his agency.

He said Maulana Noor Mohammad, a former lawmaker who ran the school, was among the 16 dead.

Yar Mohammad, a local tribesman who was present inside the mosque, also said it was a suicide blast.

There was no claim of responsibility, though Islamist militants have often attacked clerics or others who do not support them. It was unclear whether Mohammad fell into that category. Militant and tribal factions also fight among themselves.

Earlier, a bomb exploded inside a school during a meeting of elders in Kurram, killing seven people.

Local official Khalid Umerzai said the elders at the meeting were discussing a disagreement over ownership of the school building. It wasnt clear if the blast was tied to that dispute or if it had been launched by Islamist militants.

The army has launched offensives in South Waziristan and Kurram over the last 18 months.

There is little or no government presence in either area.

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Associated Press Writer Riaz Khan in Peshawar and Ishtiaq Mehsud in Dera Ismail Khan contributed to this report.

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Corporate deals help lift European markets AP

LONDON European stock markets rose modestly Monday as the recent pickup in corporate dealmaking helped offset the gloom from disappointing U.S. economic data.

Australian shares traded flat despite an uncertain general election result, as mining companies rallied on hopes that a government tax proposal will be ditched.

In Europe, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was up 26.05 points, or 0.5 percent, at 5,221.33 while Germanys DAX rose 19.79 points, or 0.3 percent, at 6,024.95. The CAC-40 in France was 23.18 points, or 0.7 percent, higher at 3,549.74.

Wall Street was poised to post gains at the open later after a late rally on Friday helped limit the losses � Dow futures were up 23 points, or 0.2 percent, at 10,225 while the broader Standard & Poors 500 futures rose 3.6 points, or 0.3 percent, to 1,073.90.

Though disappointing economic data over the last couple of weeks has contributed to a retreat in equity markets around the world, a pickup in the volume and value of mergers and acquisitions has helped limit the losses � the most high-profile bid last week was BHP Billitons $38.5 billion hostile bid for Canadian fertilizer producer Potash Corp.

M&A talk is at the heart of the new trading week too, helping to sustain interest in the markets in what is usually a quiet time of year, particularly in Europe and the U.S. Trading volumes usually dont pick up from the summer lull until after the Labor Day holiday in the U.S., which this year falls on September 6.

With M&A activity continuing to roll along in the background, once again it might not be quite as quiet as would be expected for the time of year, said Ben Potter, research analyst at IG Markets.

British bank HSBC Holdings PLC said Monday it is in talks with financial group Old Mutual PLC to buy a controlling stake in South Africas fourth largest bank Nedbank Group Ltd. in a deal worth as much as $6.8 billion.

And shares in Australias Fosters Group Ltd ended 6.5 percent higher on news media reports that SABMiller PLC was preparing a 7 billion pound bid for Fosters beer business.

Even though investors are on the lookout for continued deals, overall sentiment in the markets remains fragile at best. The scale of the negative reaction to some worse than expected second-tier U.S. economic data last week provides clear evidence of where investors main worries lie.

Concerns over the U.S. economy are dominating positive factors like rising M&A volume and good earnings data, said Neil MacKinnon, global macro strategist at VTB Capital.

One of the main arenas where concerns about the U.S. economy have dominated has been in the foreign exchange markets.

Even though the news out of the U.S. has been the broadly disappointing over the last couple of weeks, the dollar does not seem to be suffering at all, particularly against the euro, because the main fear is that the slowdown in the U.S. will bring growth down everywhere else. A risk-averse trading environment also usually helps the dollar, which garners support from its reputation as a safe-haven currency.

By mid-morning London time, the euro was flat at $1.27, way down on the four-month high of $1.333 it was trading at just over two weeks ago.

Figures showing that the economic recovery in the eurozone was losing momentum did little to help the euros fortunes.

The monthly eurozone purchasing managers index � a gauge of business activity � dropped to 56.1 in August from 56.7 in July. The drop was bigger than anticipated in the markets and shows that growth, though relatively healthy, is slowing � anything above 50 indicates expansion.

One of the main points of interest in the markets is Australia after national elections on Saturday gave neither of the major political parties an outright majority in parliament.

The ruling Labour Party and the opposition Liberal Party are now lobbying for the support of independent lawmakers to try to stitch together the nations first minority government since World War II.

The S&P/ASX 200 index fell 1.9, or less than 0.1 percent, to 4,429.00 � the retreat was negligible as commodity stocks advanced on hopes that a proposed mining profits tax would be dropped if the opposition Liberal Party forms the new government. Mining giant BHP Billiton Ltd. added 0.6 percent, while rival Rio Tinto Ltd. rose 0.9 percent.

Elsewhere in Asia, Japans Nikkei 225 stock average shed 0.7 percent to 9,116.69 as a strong yen � which can reduce the profits of Japanese exporters � continued to drag sentiment. As expected, Prime Minister Naoto Kan and Bank of Japan Governor Masaaki Shirakawa discussed on the telephone recent foreign exchange developments, according to Kyodo news agency.

Hong Kongs Hang Seng lost 0.6 percent to 20,863.92 and Seouls Kospi fell 0.4 percent to 1,767.71.

The Shanghai Composite index eased 0.1 percent to 2,639.27 while markets in Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand rose.

Benchmark crude for October delivery was up 24 cents at $74.06 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract lost 97 cents to settle at $73.82 a barrel on Friday.

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A shoe flies, a leader ducks a trend is born? AP

LONDON For a few days, he was famous the world over � an Iraqi TV journalist who became an instant hero for millions when he hurled his shoes at President George W. Bushs head and called him a dog.

Little has been heard out of Muntadhar al-Zeidi since he left Iraq and started a charity in Switzerland last year. But his odd moment in the spotlight has, to the chagrin of world leaders and their bodyguards, left behind an enduring legacy.

Throwing shoes at the mighty has become a global phenomenon that shows no sign of fading away.

Since that infamous Baghdad press conference on Dec. 14, 2008, shoes have flown at the prime ministers of China and Turkey, the chief justice of Israels Supreme Court, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, a Ukrainian politician who favored joining NATO, and a string of Indian politicians.

Just this month, shoes flew at Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and the top elected official in Indian-controlled Kashmir.

Bits of video and pictures pop up daily by the dozens on the web, spread like lightning and fizzle out in hours. A few leap from the screen and into reality, mostly as drinking games or goofy poses to imitate for the camera and post online.

Rare are the memes � the bits of viral behavior � that truly take root in the real world. Throwing shoes at world leaders has joined the club. But what makes shoe-throwing more lasting than, say, the Old Spice Guy?

Throwing a shoe is pure slapstick � aggression and humor blended, violence in which no one really gets hurt. Its stronger than a sign, or shouted slogan, but short of actually harming a leader.

It breaks the wall between the audience and those on stage, disrupting reality with an exciting shock at least for the viewer � a little like those TV shows that secretly film pranks on unsuspecting people.

Al-Zeidis shoes werent the first to be thrown; the sole, unclean, represents a potent insult in much of the Arab and Muslim world. But al-Zeidi put a unique new stamp on shoe-throwing, a meaning that echoes whenever and wherever a piece of footwear is launched at someone important.

First, the flying shoe draws an instant parallel between its target and Bush, who remains deeply reviled in many countries.

Al-Zeidi himself is key, too. If hed been Swedish he would have looked nutty. The fact that he was an Iraqi turning the tables on a man he blamed for destroying his country made his act political, a bit poetic � and contagious.

My brothers act was a spontaneous act, al-Zeidis brother Durgham told The Associated Press in Baghdad. He never thought it would be imitated, but he supports it as long as it is directed against tyrants only.

In some cases, the imitation gets a little ridiculous.

The first al-Zeidi copycat was probably Stephen Millies, a New York City man grabbed by police when he tried to pull his shoe off and toss it at the head of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Three days after al-Zeidi threw his footwear at Bush, Millies was protesting MTA budget cuts and a proposed subway fare hike, from $2 to $2.25.

Because of the courageous act of the Iraqi patriot, I wanted to take advantage of that but also have a link to that, Millies, 56, told The Associated Press on Sunday.

The most recent shoe thrower to grab headlines was Abdul Ahad Jan, an off-duty police officer who hurled the footwear and a black flag at Indian Kashmirs Chief Minister Omar Abdullah in a high-security gallery during an Indian independence day ceremony on Aug. 15. The predominantly Muslim region has been rocked by unrest aimed at Indian rule since June, and dozens of deaths from police shootings.

How to prevent shoe-throwing? Security officials can X-ray shoes to make sure they contain no bombs, but stripping people of their footwear before a rally or press conference still seems hard to imagine. That makes shoes virtually impossible to stop.

Just ask Muntadhar al-Zeidi himself. He held a press conference in Paris last year to discuss his experiences, which include being imprisoned for nine months and, he says, abused in retaliation.

As he spoke, al-Zeidi was targeted with a shoe by a man who appeared to be a fellow Iraqi. Al-Zeidi ducked, and the shoe hit the wall behind him.

He stole my technique, al-Zeidi joked.

Al-Zeidis brother, Maithan, chased the attacker and, as he left the room, hit him with a shoe.

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Associated Press writers Saad Abdul-Kadir in Baghdad and Lynn Berry in Moscow contributed to this report.

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Floods test defenses in southern Pakistani city AP

SUKKUR, Pakistan Workers piled stones and sandbags to plug leaks in a levee protecting a southern Pakistani city Monday, as the floods that have destroyed homes, farmland and livelihoods moved slowly toward the sea.

A bus carrying people fleeing the water plunged into a flooded ravine in Punjab province, and at least 13 people died.

Police official Jawed Amjad said the bus, traveling from Karachi to Peshawar, crashed into the ravine about 3 a.m. He said 29 of the 59 passengers were rescued, 13 bodies were recovered and 17 people were missing. The missing may have been swept away in the rushing waters, he said.

The floods have left around 6 million people homeless from the mountainous north to the southern plains. The floods are expected to begin draining into the Arabian Sea in the coming days.

On Monday, hundreds of people who had fled the floods blocked a highway near the town of Kot Adu in Punjab province to protest the slow pace of aid deliveries.

No food came here for the last two days ... We can wait � children cant, said Mohammad Iqbal, one of about 400 protesters.

Pakistans shaky government has come under criticism for its response and will require billions of dollars in foreign aid to rebuild. The scale of the disaster has raised fears that Islamist extremist such as the Taliban may regroup in the misery.

The latest town under threat from the Indus River is Shadad Kot in southern Sindh province. On the eastern side of the city, the levee was under pressure from nine-foot high waters, said Yaseen Shar, the top administrative official there.

We are fighting this constant threat by filling the breaches with stones and sand bags but it is a very challenging task, he said.

Most of the citys 350,000 people have moved to relief camps or to towns and cities away from the danger.

Local charities, the Pakistani army and international agencies are providing food, water, medicine and shelter to the displaced, but millions have received little or help. Aid officials warn that waterborne diseases like cholera now pose a real threat.

On Sunday, the government said the world has given or pledged more than $800 million of aid to the country.

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Associated Press writers Khalid Tanveer in Muzaffargarh and Aaron Favila in Kot Adu contributed to this report.

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