World News | Latest News

Monday, September 6, 2010

UK police may probe alleged tabloid phone hacking AP

LONDON One of Britains best-selling newspapers denied Monday that it engaged in widespread phone hacking, but police said they might reopen an investigation into claims its reporters illegally eavesdropped on scores of politicians and celebrities.

The allegations against the News of the World tabloid ï¿½ sensational even by the knockabout standards of the British press ï¿½ are rattling Prime Minister David Camerons government. Andy Coulson, the former News of the World editor who stepped down after one of his reporters was convicted of hacking, is now Camerons PR chief.

Coulson said Monday he would be happy to meet with police, but denied wrongdoing. Camerons Downing Street office said Coulson had the prime ministers support.

"Andy has made his position clear, there have been a number of reports over the last few days and those reports change nothing as far as the prime minister is concerned," said spokesman Steve Field. "The prime minister accepts the position; he has full confidence in Andy Coulson and he continues to do his job."

Opposition politicians are demanding a full inquiry into the allegations, which the News of the World denies.

"We reject absolutely any suggestion there was a widespread culture of wrongdoing at the News of the World," the newspaper said in a statement Monday.

The papers former royal reporter and a private investigator were sentenced to jail in 2007 for intercepting messages left for royal officials, including some from Princes William and Harry. But police said they had no evidence the illegal behavior went any further at the newspaper.

Scotland Yard has said, however, that detectives found nearly 3,000 cell phone numbers over the course of their investigation and that hundreds of people were thought to have been targeted, although it was likely far fewer had their phones actually broken into.

Coulson has always insisted he knew nothing of the phone hacking. But some former staff have claimed the process of intercepting voice mails was widespread ï¿½ an allegation made again last week in a lengthy report by the New York Times.

It claimed breaking in to voicemail messages was a matter of routine in the papers newsroom, and that Coulson had participated in dozens or even hundreds of meetings where the hacking was discussed.

John Yates, assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, said the force was seeking any new information and was particularly interested in statements by a former reporter, Sean Hoare, who told the Times that Coulson had asked him to hack into phones.

"This is the first time we have heard of Mr. Hoare or anything he has to say," Yates told the BBC. "We focused our resources where we thought we could get the best evidence.

"He has come from nowhere. We are surprised that the New York Times did not alert us to this information earlier than they did."

Yates said that if there was new evidence, police would consult the Crown Prosecution Service on how to proceed.

The News of the World has accused the Times of being motivated by commercial rivalry. The tabloid is owned by News International Ltd., a subsidiary of Rupert Murdochs News Corp., whose U.S. media outlets include Fox Television, the New York Post, and the Wall Street Journal ï¿½ which is in fierce competition with the New York Times.

Full Text RSS Feeds | ShareWorx Social Network

Officials: Obama to back infrastructure spending AP

WASHINGTON Vowing to find new ways to stimulate the sputtering economy, President Barack Obama will call for long-term investments in the nations roads, railways and airports that would cost at least $50 billion, administration officials said.

The infrastructure investments are one part of a package of targeted proposals the White House is expected to announce in hopes of jump-starting the economy ahead of the November election. Obama will outline the infrastructure proposal Monday at a Labor Day event in Milwaukee.

While the proposal calls for investments over six years, officials said spending would be front-loaded with an initial $50 billion to help create jobs in the near future. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the proposals ahead of the presidents announcement.

The goals of the infrastructure plan include: rebuilding 150,000 miles of roads; constructing and maintaining 4,000 miles of railways, enough to go coast-to-coast; and rehabilitating or reconstructing 150 miles of airport runways, while also installing a new air navigation system designed to reduce travel times and delays.

Obama will also call for the creation of a permanent infrastructure bank that would focus on funding national and regional infrastructure projects.

Officials wouldnt say what the total cost of the infrastructure investments would be, but did say the initial $50 billion represents a significant percentage. Officials said the White House would consider closing a number of special tax breaks for oil and gas companies to pay for the proposal.

Obama made infrastructure investments a central part of the $814 billion stimulus Congress passed last year, but with that spending winding down, the economys growth has slowed. Officials said this infrastructure package differs from the stimulus because its aimed at long-term growth, while still focusing on creating jobs in the short-term.

With the unemployment rate ticking up to 9.6 percent, and polls showing the midterm elections could be dismal for Democrats, the president has promised to unveil a series of new measures on the economy.

In addition to Mondays announcement in Milwaukee, Obama will travel to Cleveland Wednesday to pitch a $100 billion proposal to increase and make permanent research and development tax credits for businesses, a White House official said.

While the idea is popular in Congress, coming up with offsetting tax increases or spending cuts has been a stumbling block. Similar to his proposal to pay for the infrastructure investments, Obama will ask lawmakers to close tax breaks for oil and gas companies and multinational corporations to pay for the plan.

Other stimulus measures the administration is considering include extending a law passed in March that exempts companies that hire unemployed workers from paying Social Security taxes on those workers through December. Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has proposed extending the exemption an additional six months.

Obama is also continuing to prod the Senate to pass the small business bill that calls for about $12 billion in tax breaks and a $30 billion fund to help unfreeze lending. Republicans have likened the bill to the unpopular bailout of the financial industry. And the president wants to make permanent the portion of George W. Bushs tax cuts affecting the middle class.

Wary of the publics concern over rising deficits, the administration insists a second stimulus plan, similar to last years $814 billion bill, is not in the works.

Full Text RSS Feeds | ShareWorx Social Network

Lebanon PM: accusations against Syria were mistake AP

BEIRUT Lebanons prime minister says it was a mistake to accuse Syria of being behind the 2005 assassination of his father.

The statement is a major turnaround for Saad Hariri, who for years has blamed Damascus for his fathers death in a massive truck bombing in Beirut.

Syria directly dominated Lebanon for nearly 30 years and kept tens of thousands of troops on its soil. The killing of Hariris father, former prime minister Rafik Hariri, sparked anti-Syrian protests and led to Syrias withdrawal.

Hariri told the Saudi-owned newspaper Asharq al-Awsat in an interview published Monday that "during a period of time we accused Syria of being behind the assassination ... This was a political accusation, and this political accusation has ended."

Full Text RSS Feeds | ShareWorx Social Network

Philippines asks court to outlaw Abu Sayyaf AP

MANILA, Philippines The Philippine government has asked a court to outlaw the Abu Sayyaf as a terrorist group and blacklist more than 200 of its Islamic fighters blamed for two decades of bombings, kidnappings and beheadings, officials said Monday.

The Justice Department recently lodged its petition against the al-Qaida-linked group with a trial court in southern Basilan province ï¿½ the Abu Sayyafs birthplace ï¿½ in the first known government attempt to ban a rebel group under a 2007 anti-terrorism law.

Abu Sayyaf members currently cannot be arrested unless they commit a crime.

The petition cited 20 major bombings and atrocities allegedly committed by the Abu Sayyaf, including a 2004 attack that ignited an inferno on a ferry that killed 116 people, and the kidnappings of dozens of mostly European tourists and three Americans in early 2000.

If approved, the measure would criminalize membership in the Abu Sayyaf and allow authorities to freeze financial assets of militants more rapidly and limit their travel. It would serve as a new legal weapon against the group, which has survived years of U.S.-backed offensives, state prosecutor Nestor Lazaro said.

"This will help cripple the group," Lazaro told The Associated Press.

The 210 names to be added to the blacklist are identified so far out of an estimated 400-strong membership.

The militants are determined to pursue jihad, or holy war, "in any shape or form ... without regard to violation of laws or even sacrificing innocent lives," according to the 22-page petition, which cited the Abu Sayyafs charter.

Founded in 1991, the Abu Sayyaf has not only waged local attacks but has worked with foreign militants to carry out operations abroad, the petition said. It has reportedly given sanctuary to Indonesian terrorist suspects, including Dulmatin ï¿½ a key suspect in the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings who was killed by police last March in Indonesia.

Abu Sayyaf fighters have staged terrorist attacks with help from Osama bin Ladens al-Qaida network, Indonesia-based Jemaah Islamiyah, and a special assault unit of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, a group engaged in on-and-off again peace talks, according to the government petition. It did not elaborate.

The Moro rebel group has denied any such link.

The Abu Sayyaf, which has not issued any public statement for years, could not be reached for comment.

Washington has listed the Abu Sayyaf as a terrorist group and deployed hundreds of troops to the southern Philippines in 2002 to provide combat training, weapons and intelligence to Filipino soldiers battling the militants.

U.S.-backed offensives have killed or captured many of the groups commanders, leaving it without an overall leader to unify its factions in Basilan, nearby Jolo island and the Zamboanga peninsula.

Full Text RSS Feeds | ShareWorx Social Network

Massive earthquake sets back NZ economic recovery AP

CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand New Zealands prime minister warned Monday that the countrys economic recovery will be hurt by the weekends powerful 7.1-magnitude earthquake that smashed buildings and wrecked roads and rail lines in the city of Christchurch.

The aftereffects of the temblor are still coming to light. Residents in a new subdivision in a southern suburb were evacuated Monday from their houses, which became mired in deep layers of silt that spewed from the soft ground as it turned to liquid under pressure from the quake.

"We thought we were having a tsunami," said homeowner Lalita Sharma. "We stepped outside into knee-high liquid. We thought the house would sink."

Mounds of sand covered front lawns and driveways, and some houses had been ripped from their foundations. A driveway that had sloped upward from the road was now flat, the rose garden buried in sand.

Army troops have taken control of central Christchurch to help police secure streets and badly damaged businesses in the worst-hit center of the city. The area remained cordoned off and under nighttime curfew, with only building and business owners allowed access.

"There will be considerable disruption to the regional and national economy in the short term," but activity should pick up as reconstruction gains momentum, Prime Minister John Key said. The countrys economy has now recorded two quarters of minor growth after struggling to escape 18 months of recession.

The quake struck at 4:35 a.m. Saturday near the South Island city of 400,000 people, ripping open a new fault line in the earths surface, destroying hundreds of buildings and cutting power to the region. No one was killed, and only two serious injuries were reported.

Key, who toured the citys damaged areas over the weekend, said 430 houses and another 70 buildings, many of them older structures, were already earmarked for demolition because of damage caused by the quake. Around 100,000 of the regions 160,000 homes had sustained some damage, he said.

"I was awe-struck by the power of the earthquake and the damage it has caused in the city," he told reporters. "It was miraculous that nobody was killed."

A quake-damaged building partially collapsed into a suburban street Monday and officials took urgent steps to bulldoze and remove it. There were no injuries reported.

"Police had a unit going past just as it happened and they managed to stop and block off the road," Inspector John Price said.

Key said the earthquake would have a short-term negative impact on economic growth, but that loss "would be more than made up by the stimulus impact that takes place with the rebuilding program."

The government plans to pay at least 90 percent of the hundreds of millions of dollars needed to rebuild the citys water, waste water and road infrastructure, Key said.

Economists agreed the immediate economic outlook for quake-ravaged Christchurch is bleak, but noted reconstruction would provide a boost to a struggling construction sector next year.

"I think people are going to be pretty conservative over the next three months. What we are seeing is ... negative growth in the near term," ANZ Bank chief economist Cameron Bagrie said.

More than 80 aftershocks, ranging from magnitude 3.2 to 5.4, have rocked the region since the major quake Saturday.

Rain was falling Monday in the nearby Southern Alps and foothills, increasing the risk of flooding. Civil defense officials warned that stop banks, or flood protectors, weakened by the quake may fail to hold rising waters. Engineers were inspecting the banks Monday.

Around 150 people have been evacuated from a trailer park near the Waimakariri River as a precaution.

New Zealand sits above an area where two tectonic plates collide. The country records more than 14,000 earthquakes a year ï¿½ but only about 150 are felt by residents. Fewer than 10 a year do any damage.

New Zealands last major earthquake registered magnitude 7.8 and hit South Islands Fiordland region on July 16, 2009, moving the southern tip of the country 12 inches 30 centimeters closer to Australia.

___

Associated Press Writer Ray Lilley in Wellington contributed to this report.

Full Text RSS Feeds | ShareWorx Social Network

Israeli FM: Settlement slowdown will end AP

JERUSALEM Israels hard-line foreign minister said Sunday that his party will try to block any extension of Israels settlement slowdown, a move that could derail the recently launched Mideast peace negotiations.

Avigdor Lieberman said the Israeli government must keep its explicit promise to voters that the 10-month slowdown, declared under U.S. pressure in order to draw the Palestinians to the negotiating table, will end as scheduled at the end of September.

The Sept. 26 deadline is a challenge for the fragile talks launched in Washington last week. The Palestinians say they will quit the talks if the slowdown ends, but extending it could potentially bring down the Israeli government.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has yet to say how he will handle the deadline.

"A promise is a promise," Lieberman told Israel Radio. "We will not agree to any extension."

"I promise that if theres a proposal that we dont accept it will not pass," he said.

Liebermans Yisrael Beitenu party is a key member of Israels governing coalition, which is led by Netanyahus Likud party.

In a sign that compromise was possible, however, Lieberman told the daily Yediot Ahronot that he would not quit the coalition even if he does not get his way.

"We will not leave or bring down the government. We will fight from the inside for what we believe," he told the paper.

At the summit marking the relaunch of peace talks in Washington last week, Netanyahu used unusually warm language about the Palestinian leadership and the chances for peace. But the Israeli foreign minister has been vocal in his pessimism.

In another interview Monday with Army Radio, Lieberman said the new talks were creating too many expectations and that the declared goal of a peace deal within a year was impossible.

The Israeli government says construction in settlements continued during previous rounds of peace talks and that building does not compromise a future deal. Many members of Netanyahus own party oppose any extension.

Vice Prime Minister Silvan Shalom, a prominent member of Netanyahus party, said extending the slowdown would pose a "huge danger" to the coalition.

"Within the coalition, there is a huge majority against it," Shalom told reporters late Sunday.

Netanyahu is seeking a way to get through the Sept. 26 deadline without dismantling his coalition, alienating the Palestinians or angering the U.S. administration, which is backing the talks and has invested time and political capital in their success.

Netanyahu is slated to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas for a second round of talks next week in Egypt and Jerusalem. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is also scheduled to attend.

About 300,000 Israelis live in West Bank settlements, among the territorys some 2.5 million Palestinians. The Palestinians and the international community say the settlements are obstacles to peace because they eat up land the Palestinians want for a future state.

Full Text RSS Feeds | ShareWorx Social Network

Tropical Storm Hermine forms in the Gulf of Mexico AP

MIAMI Tropical Storm Hermine has formed in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Texas.

A new tropical storm warning has been issued early Monday for the south Texas coast from the mouth of the Rio Grande to Baffin Bay. A tropical storm warning was already in effect for the coast of Mexico from Tampico to the mouth of the Rio Grande.

Hermines maximum sustained winds are near 40 mph 65 kph with some additional strengthening expected before the storm makes landfall.

Heavy rain is predicted with northeastern Mexico into south Texas getting 4 to 8 inches with as much as a foot in some places. It could cause flash floods and mudslides.

The storm is located about 235 miles 375 kilometers southeast of La Pesca, Mexico, and is moving north near 8 mph 13 kph.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. APs earlier story is below.

MIAMI AP ï¿½ Forecasters say a tropical depression off the coast of Mexico has strengthened slightly.

The National Hurricane Center says the depression has sustained winds of 35 mph 55 kph and is about 205 miles 335 kilometers east-southeast of Tampico, Mexico. It is expected to strengthen more before making land and could become a tropical storm later Monday.

Heavy rain is predicted with northeastern Mexico into south Texas getting 4 to 8 inches with as much as a foot in some places. It could cause flash floods and mudslides.

The government of Mexico has issued a tropical storm warning for the coast of Mexico from Tampico to the mouth of the Rio Grande.

Full Text RSS Feeds | ShareWorx Social Network

Afghans protest US churchs plans to burn Quran AP

KABUL, Afghanistan Hundreds of Afghans railed against the United States and called for President Barack Obamas death at a rally in the capital Monday to denounce an American churchs plans to burn the Islamic holy book on 9/11.

The crowd in Kabul, numbering as many as 500, chanted "Long live Islam" and "Death to America" as they listened to fiery speeches from members of parliament, provincial council deputies, and Islamic clerics who criticized the U.S. and demanded the withdrawal of foreign troops from the country. Some threw rocks when a U.S. military convoy passed, but speakers shouted at them to stop and told police to arrest anyone who disobeyed.

The Gainesville, Florida-based Dove World Outreach Center announced plans to burn copies of the Quran on church grounds to mark the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, but has been denied a permit to set a bonfire. The church, which made headlines last year after distributing T-shirts that said "Islam is of the Devil," has vowed to proceed with the burning.

"We know this is not just the decision of a church. It is the decision of the president and the entire United States," said Abdul Shakoor, an 18-year-old high school student who said he joined the protest after hearing neighborhood gossip about the Quran burning.

The U.S. Embassy in Kabul issued a statement condemning Dove World Outreach Centers plans, saying Washington was "deeply concerned about deliberate attempts to offend members of religious or ethnic groups."

Protesters, who gathered in front of western Kabuls Milad ul-Nabi mosque, raised placards and flags emblazoned with slogans calling for the death of Obama, while police looked on. They also held up a cardboard effigy of Dove World Outreach Centers pastor Terry Jones.

Muslims consider the Quran to be the word of God and demand that it, along with any printed material containing its verses or the name of Allah or the Prophet Muhammad, be treated with the utmost respect. Any intentional damage or show of disrespect to the Quran is considered deeply offensive.

In 2005, 15 people died and scores were wounded in riots in Afghanistan sparked by a story in Newsweek magazine alleging that interrogators at the U.S. detention center in Guantanamo Bay placed copies of the Quran in washrooms and had flushed one down the toilet to get inmates to talk. Newsweek later retracted the story.

Also Monday, NATO said an American service member was killed in fighting in the countrys turbulent east on Sunday.

No other details were given in accordance with standard procedure. The death was the fifth among U.S. troops in Afghanistan in September, following the deaths of more than 220 American troops over the past three months.

This year is already the bloodiest for American forces in Afghanistan since the 2001 invasion, with at least 321 killed so far.

Violence is increasing with the infusion of 30,000 additional U.S. troops that brings the total number of foreign forces in Afghanistan to more than 140,000. Stepped-up operations ahead of next weeks parliamentary elections and an ongoing campaign to drive the Taliban from its southern strongholds are also boosting the numbers of dead and wounded.

Taliban insurgents on Sunday vowed to attack polling places during the Sept. 18 vote and warned Afghans not to participate in what it called a sham election. The insurgency aims to topple the government in Kabul and drive foreign troops from the country, and has boycotted or tried to sabotage all aspects of the political process.

Taliban threats and intimidation drove down voter turnout in last years fraud-marred presidential election, especially in rural areas where security is harder to ensure, and many Afghans this time say they wont vote for fear of attacks.