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(06/21/06 11:16pm)
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- One of Saddam Hussein's main lawyers was shot to death Wednesday after he was abducted from his Baghdad home by men wearing police uniforms, the third killing of a member of the former leader's defense team since the trial started some eight months ago.\nKhamis al-Obeidi, an Iraqi who represented Saddam and his half brother Barzan Ibrahimin their trial, was abducted from his house Wednesday morning, said Saddam's top lawyer, Khalil al-Dulaimi. His body was found on a street near the Shiite slum of Sadr City, police Lt. Thaer Mahmoud said.\nChief prosecutor Jaafar al-Moussawi confirmed that al-Obeidi had been killed, although he did not provide any details. A photo of al-Obeidi provided by police showed his face, head and shoulders drenched in his own blood.\nA parked car bomb also exploded near an ice cream shop in the Baghdad neighborhood of Sadr City on Wednesday, killing at least three people and wounding eight, police Capt. Sattar Jabar said. It was the second attack in as many days in the sprawling Shiite district in eastern Baghdad.\nThe violence came a day after the U.S. military recovered the bodies of two missing soldiers from an area south of Baghdad that it said was rigged with explosives. A senior Iraqi defense official, Maj. Gen. Abdul-Aziz Mohammed, said the bodies showed signs of having been tortured.\nThe Mujahedeen Shura Council, an umbrella organization of five insurgent groups, claimed the new leader of al-Qaida in Iraq executed the men personally, but it offered no evidence. The U.S. military did not confirm whether the soldiers died from wounds suffered in an attack Friday or were kidnapped and later killed.\nAl-Obeidi, who was in his 50s and had six children, was the third member of Saddam's defense team to be killed since the former leader's trial began on Oct. 19.\nA dozen masked gunmen abducted defense lawyer Saadoun al-Janabi from his Baghdad office the day after the trial's opening session. His body was found the next day with two bullets in his skull. Nearly three weeks later, defense lawyer Adel al-Zubeidi was assassinated in a brazen daylight ambush in Baghdad. A colleague who was wounded fled the country.\n"The aim of this act is to terrify the lawyers and hinder the work of the defense team," al-Dulaimi said.\nszformer Iraqi leader. After a three-week recess, the defense gets to sum up its case, then a panel of judges will begin weighing the case.\nUnlike al-Dulaimi, who shuttles between Amman, Jordan, and the Iraqi capital, al-Obeidi chose to continue living in Baghdad during the trial despite the capital's tenuous security. He lived in the predominantly Sunni neighborhood of Azamiyah in northern Baghdad.\nAl-Dulaimi blamed the Interior Ministry, which Sunnis have alleged is infiltrated by so-called Shiite death squads, for the killing. "We strongly condemn this act and we condemn the killings done by the Interior Ministry forces against Iraqis," he said.\nBushra al-Khalil, a Lebanese member of the defense team, also said al-Obeidi was taken from his house early Wednesday by men dressed in police uniforms and driving four vehicles used by Iraqi security forces.\n"They blindfolded him and took him away," said al-Khalil, who was thrown out of the courtroom last month by chief judge Raouf Abdel-Rahman. "No one can go out during curfew time in Baghdad."\nShe said the Americans bore responsibility for al-Obeidi's death because they decided to stop providing protection for defense lawyers. The U.S. has denied this.\n"Lifting the security of the defense team was an introduction to assassinations," al-Khalil told The Associated Press.\nShe said that for the first time since the trial began she received a threat by telephone Monday night. "A man cursed me and threatened me before hanging up," she said adding that he was using a Lebanese public telephone.\nMohammed Moneib, an Egyptian lawyer for Saddam and co-defendant Taha Yassin Ramadan, said Abdel-Rahman was also partly responsible for al-Obeidi's death because of the way he deals with defense attorneys. After an angry exchange during a hearing last week, Abdel-Rahman, a Kurd, accused Moneib of seeking to create "chaos" in the courtroom.\n___
(06/21/06 11:16pm)
WASHINGTON -- Seven Marines and a sailor have been charged with murder in the April death of an Iraqi civilian, the Marine Corps said Wednesday.\nAll eight also were charged with kidnapping, according to a Marine statement issued at Camp Pendleton, Calif. Other charges include conspiracy, larceny and providing false official statements.\nSeparately, the U.S. military in Iraq announced that murder charges were filed against a fourth Army soldier in the shooting deaths May 9 of three civilians who had been detained by U.S. troops. Spc. Juston R. Graber, 20, of the 101st Airborne Division was charged with one count of premeditated murder, one count of attempted premeditated murder, one count of conspiracy to commit murder, and making a false official statement.\nOn Monday the military had announced that three soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division were charged with murder and other offenses in connection with the May 9 killings. It was not clear why charges against the fourth soldier were not announced until Wednesday.\nIn the case of the April killing of an Iraqi civilian, the allegation is that Marines pulled an unarmed man from his home on April 26 and shot him to death without provocation. Seven Marines and one Navy corpsman from the Pendleton-based 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment were taken out of Iraq in late May and put in the confinement at Pendleton pending the filing of charges.\nThe Marine Corps identified the eight as: Marine Sgt. Lawrence G. Hutchins III, Marine Cpl. Trent D. Thomas, Navy Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class Melson J. Bacos, Marine Lance Cpl. Tyler A. Jackson, Marine Pfc. John J. Jackson, Marine Lance Cpl. Jerry E. Shumate Jr., Marine Lance Cpl. Robert B. Pennington, and Marine Cpl. Marshall L. Magincalda.\nThe case is separate from the alleged killing by other Marines of 24 Iraqi civilians at Haditha last November. A pair of investigations related to that case are still under way and no criminal charges have been filed.\nThe accused in the current case will be assigned military lawyers at no cost, although they have the choice of hiring their own civilian attorneys. Lt. Gen. John Sattler, the senior commander at Pendleton, will decide whether and how to proceed with preliminary hearings known in the military justice system as Article 32 proceedings. Those in turn could lead to courts-martial for some or all eight.\nOn May 24 the Marines announced that Maj. Gen. Richard C. Zilmer, the commander of all Marine forces in Iraq, had asked for a criminal investigation after a preliminary probe.\nTogether, the Hamdania and Haditha cases have generated international criticism of the U.S. and unfavorable publicity for the Marine Corps.\nGen. Michael Hagee, the \nMarine commandant, visited Iraq to reinforce the importance of adhering to ethical standards.\n"As commandant I am \ngravely concerned about the serious allegations concerning actions of some Marines at Haditha and Hamdania," Hagee told a Pentagon news \nconference June 7. "I can assure you that the Marine Corps takes them seriously."\n"As commandant I am the one accountable for organization, training and equipping of Marines," he added. "I am responsible and I take these responsibilities quite seriously"
(06/19/06 3:25am)
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- A farmer claiming to have witnessed an attack on a U.S. military checkpoint said Sunday that insurgents swarmed the scene, killing the driver of a Humvee before taking two of his comrades captive.\nU.S. troops, backed by helicopters and warplanes, fanned out across the "Triangle of Death" south of Baghdad searching for the missing servicemen. At least four raids had been carried out, but the captives were not found, the military said.\nA U.S. military spokesman, Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, said Saturday a dive team also was searching for the men, whose checkpoint was near a Euphrates River canal not far from Youssifiyah, 12 miles south of Baghdad. The Sunni region is the site of frequent ambushes of U.S. soldiers and Iraqi troops.\nAhmed Khalaf Falah, a farmer who said he witnessed the attack Friday, said three Humvees were manning a checkpoint when they came under fire from many directions. Two Humvees went after the assailants, but the third was ambushed before it could move, he told The Associated Press.\nSeven masked gunmen, including one carrying what Falah described as a heavy machine gun, killed the driver of the third vehicle, then took the two other U.S. soldiers captive, the witness said. His account could not be verified independently.\nThe U.S. military said Sunday it was continuing the search.\n"Coalition and Iraqi forces will continue to search everywhere possible, uncovering every stone, until our soldiers are found, and we will continue to use every resource available in our search," it said.\nFalah also said tensions were high in the area as U.S. soldiers raided some houses and arrested men. He also said the Americans were setting up checkpoints on all roads leading to the area of the attack and helicopters were hovering at low altitudes.\nNo new raids were announced by the military early Sunday.\nThe military said Saturday that soldiers at a nearby checkpoint heard small-arms fire and explosions during the attack at 7:15 p.m. Friday, and a quick-reaction force reached the scene within 15 minutes. The force found one soldier dead but no signs of the other two.\n"We are currently using every means at our disposal on the ground, in the air and in the water to find them," said Caldwell, the spokesman for U.S. forces in Baghdad.\nHe said blocking positions were established throughout the area within an hour of the attack to keep suspects from fleeing.\nCaldwell also said the military was still searching for Sgt. Keith M. Maupin, of Batavia, Ohio, who went missing April 9, 2004.\n"We continue to search using every means available and will not stop looking until we find the missing soldiers," he said.
(06/14/06 10:49pm)
TAIZ, Yemen -- The father of a Yemeni inmate recently found dead at the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba rejected on Wednesday the U.S. military's claims that his son committed suicide and accused the prison authorities of killing him.\n"They (the Americans) lied and then they lied some more. My son is a religious man and a devout Muslim. There is no way he could have killed himself. They killed him," Mohammed Abdullah al-Aslami told The Associated Press at his home south of the Yemeni capital San'a.\nAl-Aslami's son, Ali Abdullah Ahmed, and two Saudi inmates, Mani Shaman Turki al-Habradi al-Utaybi and Yasser Talal al-Zahrani, were found dead in their cells early \nSaturday.\nU.S. military officials said all three inmates committed suicide by hanging themselves, using sheets and clothes as nooses.\nThe three suicides were the first detainee deaths at Guantanamo -- where the U.S. holds about 460 men on suspicion of links to al-Qaida or the Taliban -- and the military said they have prompted a complete review of operations at the detention center.\nNews of the deaths sparked renewed criticism of the U.S. prison that has been plagued with reports of abuse and other human rights violations in the more than four years since it opened. There were renewed calls from around the world for its closure.\nVenting his anger at President Bush, al-Aslami said the White House was the home of "murderous hypocrites."\nHours later, Bush was asked about the three suicides at a news conference.\n"I'd like to close Guantanamo," Bush replied, "I also recognize that we're holding some people that are darn dangerous.\n"Eventually, these people will have trials and they will have counsel."\nAl-Aslami urged his government to press the Bush administration to close the prison.\n"The Yemeni government must show some respect to its people and talk to the Americans about the treatment of our sons in this ugly prison. It must be closed down immediately. It is a place where Muslims are routinely tortured," al-Aslami said.\nBut an Afghan delegation that visited Guantanamo said the conditions were "humane."\nAbdul Jabar Sabhet of the Afghan Interior Ministry said he and his delegation were permitted to speak freely with all 96 Afghan prisoners, and there were "only one or two" complaints.\n"Conditions of the jail were humane. There were rumors in this country about that. It was wrong. What we have seen was OK," he said in Kabul.\nIn Saudi Arabia, the state-funded Saudi National Human Rights Group blamed the U.S. authorities for the deaths, and cast doubt on their being cases of suicide. The Saudi government called for the speedy release of all Saudis at the prison.\nThe U.N. human rights agency has said the suicides could have been anticipated and the focus should now be on closing the prison.\nThe European Parliament reiterated that the prison should be closed.\nThe United States is detaining about 460 men at Guantanamo on suspicion of links to al-Qaida or the Taliban. They include 136 Saudis and 107 \nYemenis.
(06/14/06 10:48pm)
WASHINGTON -- Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, under federal investigation for possible insider trading, will have a nice nest egg to fall back on when he retires from Congress in January, recording income last year of more than $5 million from his largest blind trust.\nFrist, R-Tenn., is hardly the richest member of the millionaires' club of Congress, but he and numerous other lawmakers whose financial dealings have been questioned were under scrutiny as House and Senate lawmakers disclosed their finances Wednesday.\nRep. Alan Mollohan, D-W.Va., steered millions in federal money to nonprofit groups in his district that had contributed to his campaigns. Mollohan, who has reported large increases in assets in recent years due to a boost in property values, claimed part ownership in a Washington property firm and several properties in Bald Head Island, N.C., each valued at $1 million to $5 million.\nMollohan stepped down as top Democrat on the House ethics committee because of charges, which he has denied, that he acted improperly.\nRep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, who gave up his chairmanship of the House Administration Committee while under investigation for his links to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, reported no major assets. Ney, one of the recipients of an Abramoff golfing trip to Scotland, has said he and his staff have stopped allowing any outside groups to pay for trips.\nPopular opinion of Congress has plummeted this year as one former House member, Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, R-Calif., went to jail for taking more than $2 million in bribes, another, Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., is under investigation after $90,000 in alleged bribe money was found in his freezer and several others are under a cloud because of ties to Abramoff.\nJefferson reported assets of up to $500,000 from shares in a law firm and money owed to him from his mayoral and gubernatorial campaigns worth $100,001 to $250,000. He also had some outstanding loans: two valued at $50,001 to $100,000 and another at $15,001 to $50,000.\nThe disclosure forms, of course, give little indication of possible unscrupulous activity, listing salaries -- $162,100 in 2005 for a rank-and-file House and Senate member -- and details of a lawmaker's assets, outside income, travel and losses. Speaking fees must be donated to charity, gifts are limited to $100 from any individual in a year and outside income can be no more than 15 percent of salary.\nBut the forms still provide a glimpse of private lives. Frist, a heart surgeon with presidential aspirations, had a good year with income from his largest blind trust, worth between $5 million and $25 million, bringing him more than $5 million. He paid off a line of credit worth between $1 million and $5 million and listed a new money market account worth $1 million to $5 million.\nFederal prosecutors and the Securities and Exchange Commission are investigating Frist's order last year to sell all his stock in HCA Inc., the hospital company founded by his father and brother. Frist denies he had any insider information about the stock, which lost 9 percent in value two weeks after the sale.\nAmong the other well-off congressional leaders was House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who jointly owns with her investor husband a St. Helena, Calif., vineyard worth $5 million to $25 million and a town house in Norden, Calif., worth $1 million to $5 million.\nSenate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada, who also has had to defend himself over his support of Indian tribes represented by Abramoff, reported various assets valued in the $1 million range, including 160 acres in Bullhead City, Ariz., land holdings in Nevada, municipal bonds and mining claims.\nSen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., reported a Citibank account she shares with her spouse, Bill Clinton, worth $5 million to $25 million and a blind trust valued at the same amount. Former President Clinton earned nearly $7.5 million in speaking appearances in 2005, a big boost from the previous year when bypass surgery and a book deadline kept him home.\nSen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., who has tens of millions from family trust funds, earned $50,000 in royalties for a children's book about his dog, "My Senator and Me."\nSen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., whose re-election bid has become harder because of the $150,000 in donations he received from Abramoff and his clients, said his major assets were a credit union account and mutual fund, both valued between $50,001 and $100,000.\nBurns returned the Abramoff money or donated it to charity.\nRep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, who succeeded Tom DeLay, R-Texas, as majority leader after DeLay was indicted on money laundering charges, claimed $1 million to $5 million in assets from the plastics and packaging company he operated before his election to Congress. He also reported $2,700 in slot machine winnings.\nNot all lawmakers were rolling in wealth. Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, reported joint bank account interest of $201 to $1,000 as a major source of unearned income.
(06/14/06 10:46pm)
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Tens of thousands of Iraqi police and soldiers searched cars and secured roads Wednesday in Baghdad as the government launched a crackdown aimed at ending the violence that has devastated the capital.\nDespite the stepped-up security -- coming a day after President Bush's surprise visit to Baghdad -- a parked car bomb struck the northern Qahira district, killing at least four civilians and wounding six, police said.\nSome 2,000 followers of a radical Shiite cleric staged a noisy demonstration Wednesday to protest Bush's visit. They raised Iraqi flags and pictures of Muqtada al-Sadr while chanting "Iraq is for Iraqis" and "No, to the occupation." At one point, protesters tried to burn an American flag but it failed to ignite, forcing them to tear at it instead, according to AP Television News footage.\nClashes also erupted in the northern Sunni district of Azamiyah near the Grand Imam Abu Hanifa mosque, Iraq's holiest Sunni Muslim shrine. Gunfire sent residents running for cover. There were no \nreports of casualties.\nThe crackdown, dubbed Operation Forward Together, marked the biggest security operation in Baghdad since the U.S. handed sovereignty to Iraq in June 2004, according to the operation's commander. Bush, during his visit, promised continued U.S. support for Iraqis but cautioned that "the future of the country is in your hands."\nIraqi troops patrolled on foot in Baghdad's central and mainly Shiite Karradah, scene of deadly car bombs in the past week. Soldiers in pickup trucks with rooftop-mounted machine guns guarded main intersections.\nU.S. troops also patrolled parts of Baghdad in convoys of up to four Humvees.\nMost stores were closed in Azamiyah and mostly Sunni Dora, two insurgent strongholds. Entire streets in Dora, in southern Baghdad, were deserted -- including al-Moalemeem, dubbed "death road" by residents because of the frequent sectarian killing and clashes between Sunni insurgents and \nsecurity forces.\nTraffic for Iraqis driving to work was heaviest in areas where large numbers of security forces set up checkpoints behind coils of barbed wire, forcing vehicles to one lane and conducting random searches. Noticeably fewer vehicles were on the streets elsewhere in Baghdad.\nPrime Minister Nouri al-Maliki urged Iraqis to be patient with the new security and promised Iraqi forces would respect human rights and not single out any ethnic or sectarian group. "We are only going to attack areas that are dens for terrorists," he said at a news conference.\nMaj. Gen. Mahdi al-Gharrawi, commander of public order forces under the Interior Ministry, said his forces had encountered no resistance, even in some of Baghdad's most volatile areas.\n"The people are feeling comfortable with the security measures and they are waving to us," he said. "Until now, no clashes have erupted and no bullets have been fired at us."\nSecurity officials said Tuesday that 75,000 Iraqi and multinational forces would be deployed throughout Baghdad, and that the crackdown would also launch raids against insurgent hideouts and call in airstrikes if necessary. The government declined to say how many troops were deployed Wednesday.\nAl-Maliki also announced plans for an extended curfew and a weapons ban, saying he would show "no mercy" to terrorists a week after al-Qaida in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed in a U.S. airstrike northeast of Baghdad.\nThe Iraqi army launched a similar crackdown dubbed Operation Lightning in May 2005, deploying more than 40,000 Iraqi police and soldiers, backed by U.S. troops and air support. But violence increased, and many Sunnis were alienated by the heavy-handed tactics concentrating on their neighborhoods.\nThe curfew is expected to curtail what little nightlife Baghdad's 6 million residents have left, although such activities are already limited in many neighborhoods where streets are unsafe.\nAt the anti-Bush demonstration, a close al-Sadr adviser accused the president of breaching Iraq's sovereignty by arriving without notice. Bush's trip was made under tight security, and al-Maliki himself did not know he was in Baghdad until five minutes before they met.\n"Even the Iraqi prime minister wasn't informed about the visit by the American president to Iraq," Abdul-Hadi al-Darajial-Daraji told Al-Jazeera TV. "These violations by the U.S.A. ... are in fact rejected by the Iraqi people."\nHe also demanded a withdrawal of U.S.-led troops.\nBush said Tuesday that the U.S. military presence -- now at about 132,000 troops -- would continue. "I have expressed our country's desire to work with you, but I appreciate you recognize the fact that the future of the country is in your hands," Bush said.\nDespite Wednesday's protest, many Iraqis welcomed Bush's visit.\n"It is truly a surprise visit, but it is a good gesture and a step forward on the path of establishing security and stability," author Abbas al-Rubai said in Baghdad.\nBaghdad's residents have suffered most from the suicide attacks and other violence that plagues Iraq daily. Al-Qaida in Iraq has increasingly focused attacks on the capital rather than on U.S. targets in western Iraq.\nAuthorities said intelligence is helping structure the crackdown. "Baghdad is divided according to geographical area, and we know the al-Qaida leaders in each area," al-Gharrawi said.\nYet he warned insurgents were likely to step up attacks.\n"We are expecting clashes will erupt in the predominantly Sunni areas," al-Gharrawi said. "The terrorists will escalate their violence especially during the first week as revenge for the killing of al-Zarqawi."\nCivilians have complained of random violence and detentions by Iraqi forces, especially the police, widely believed to have been infiltrated by so-called sectarian death squads. Al-Gharrawi said there were plans for a single uniform to distinguish legitimate forces in the coming days.
(06/12/06 2:05am)
CAIRO, Egypt -- Al-Qaida in Iraq vowed Sunday to carry out "major attacks," insisting in a Web statement that it was still powerful after the death of leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.\nThe statement did not name a successor to al-Zarqawi, who was killed by a U.S. airstrike Wednesday. But it said the group's leadership "renews its allegiance" to Osama bin Laden.\nBin Laden "will see things that will bring joy to his heart," it said, vowing "to prepare major attacks that will shake the enemy like an earthquake and rattle them out of sleep."\nThe authenticity of the statement could not be independently confirmed. It was posted on an Islamic militant Web forum where the group has posted statements in the past.\nGen. George Casey, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, told "Fox News Sunday" he expected the statement from al-Qaida in Iraq because "they're hurt badly." He said there had been a "steady drumbeat" of operations against al-Zarqawi's network since the leader's hideout was bombed.\n"It's expected but I think we'll be prepared for it," Casey said of the threat. "But again, you can't stop terrorist attacks completely."\nThe statement was issued in the name of al-Qaida in Iraq but was put out by the Mujahedeen Shura Council, an umbrella organization of five insurgent groups that al-Zarqawi helped create.\nThe statement said al-Qaida in Iraq's leadership met after al-Zarqawi's death and "agreed to continue jihad (holy war) and not be affected by his martyrdom."\n"The organization has strengthened its back, regained its footing and has been renewed with fresh blood," it said, listing previous prominent members who had been killed without setting back the group's attacks.\n"For those who were waging holy war for the sake of al-Zarqawi, al-Zarqawi is dead. But for those who were fighting for the sake of God, God is alive and eternal," it said.\nThe phrase echoed the words used by the Prophet Muhammad's successor, Abu Bakr, after the prophet's death in the 7th century to urge Muslims to stick to their new faith.\nThe message left unknown the issue of who will succeed al-Zarqawi as the group's "emir," or leader.\nThursday's al-Qaida statement was signed by al-Zarqawi's deputy emir, Abu Abdul-Rahman al-Iraqi, and sympathizers quickly flooded Web forums with vows of allegiance to him.\nBut Sunday's message did not mention his name. There is confusion over whether he is still alive, after the U.S. military said a man named "Abdul-Rahman," whom it identified as al-Zarqawi's spiritual adviser, died in the airstrike alongside his leader.\nThe U.S. military has said the mostly likely successor is an Egyptian associate of al-Zarqawi named Abu Ayyub al-Masri, who has a $50,000 reward on his head.
(06/12/06 2:03am)
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- Israeli aircraft struck a rocket-launching cell in the northern Gaza Strip on Sunday, killing two militants from the Palestinians' ruling Hamas party. The attack came after Hamas activists fired a barrage of rockets at southern Israel.\nThe violence brought the two sides closer to a broader armed conflict. Hamas' military wing called off its 16-month truce with Israel on Saturday, a day after Israeli shelling was blamed for killing eight Palestinians at seaside picnic.\nThe rising tensions coincide with attempts by moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to persuade the Hamas-led government to endorse a document calling for the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel. That would in effect mean recognizing the Jewish state, which Hamas has refused to do.\nAbbas, leader of the rival Fatah party, plans to hold a referendum on the document on July 26. He brushed off Hamas' call to put off the vote because of the beach attack.\nIsraeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert expressed "deep sorrow" over the deaths at his weekly Cabinet meeting, but insisted the Israeli military "never had a policy of striking civilians."\nMaj.-Gen. Yoav Galant, the head of Israel's southern command, said Sunday the military had proof it wasn't responsible. He said the military suspended artillery fire 15 minutes before the explosion at the beach, Army Radio reported.\nGalant said that Israel has not ruled out a ground operation against militants in Gaza, which it evacuated last summer after a 38-year occupation, the radio station said.\nNow that Hamas has openly resumed its rocket fire, the Islamic militant group "and all of its supporters should expect a serious blow," Galant said.\nSince Hamas reached the February 2005 truce, Palestinian militants from various factions have relied largely on rocket attacks in their battle against Israel. Israel has responded by bombarding militants' operations with artillery fire and air strikes.\nOvernight Saturday and early Sunday, Hamas fired 17 rockets at southern Israel, including one that hit a school in the southern town of Sderot, the Israeli military said. A man at the school was hit with shrapnel and his life was in danger, hospital officials said.\nHamas' military wing in Gaza said it had fired nine of the \nrockets.\n"We have decided to make Sderot a ghost town," said a Hamas spokesman who gave his name only as Abu Ubeideh. "We are not going to stop launching our rockets until they leave."\nResidents of Sderot demanded the government act to protect them, and city authorities canceled school classes after rockets hit the town. Israeli police were on high alert against revenge attacks throughout the country, especially at malls and on buses, where suicide bombings have often been carried out, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.\nIsrael halted its artillery fire against rocket-launching operations Friday while it investigated the attack on the beach. But it continued its more accurate air strike operations, firing missiles at Hamas militants on a rocket-launching mission near the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahia, the army said.\nTwo militants were killed in that strike, and three were wounded, Hamas' military wing and hospital officials said.\nThere was no immediate reaction from Hamas to the strike.\nHamas killed more than 250 Israelis in attacks in the 4 1/2 years leading up to the truce. But it wasn't clear whether Hamas' takeover of the Palestinian Authority in January parliamentary elections would restrain its military wing from resuming an all-out bombing war.\nHamas political leaders said after the Gaza beach killings that Palestinians had the right to respond to Israeli aggression. They have not acted to prevent the movement's military wing or other factions from attacking Israel.\nHamas' heightened hostilities with Israel have come at a time of increased infighting between the group's militants and gunmen affiliated with Abbas' Fatah \nmovement.\nAmong other things, Abbas hopes his proposed July 26 referendum would help to end the infighting, which has killed 17 Palestinians in the past month. Accepting a two-state solution would also help the Palestinians achieve their dream of statehood and end a debilitating international aid boycott imposed after Hamas' rise to power, he said in announcing the vote.\nHamas immediately rejected the notion of the referendum, which is expected to win a clear majority despite rising anger at Israel and clashes between militants.\nAbbas, elected separately last year, met with Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas in Gaza on Saturday, and made it clear the vote would be held as planned, Abbas' spokesman said.\nAbbas and Haniyeh were scheduled to meet again later Sunday.\nIn other news, an Islamic Jihad militant was killed in an explosion in his home in the northern Gaza Strip, hospital officials said.\nPalestinian firefighters said the blast originated inside the house in the town of Jebaliya, and was not the result of an attack.\nIn the past, militants have died when explosives they were preparing went off prematurely.\nIslamic Jihad said the explosion was caused by Israeli aircraft, but the Israeli army said it knew of no Israeli operation in Jebaliya.
(06/12/06 2:00am)
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- Three Guantanamo Bay detainees hanged themselves with nooses made of sheets and clothes, the commander of the detention center said, bringing further condemnation of the isolated camp where hundreds of men have been held for years without charge.\nMilitary officials said the suicides were coordinated acts of protests, but human rights activists and defense attorneys said the deaths signaled the desperation of many of the 460 detainees held on suspicion of links to al-Qaida and the Taliban. Only 10 have been charged with crimes and there has been growing international pressure on the United States to close the prison.\nTwo men from Saudi Arabia and one from Yemen were found dead shortly after midnight Saturday in separate cells, said the Miami-based U.S. Southern Command, which has jurisdiction over the prison. Attempts were made to revive them, but they failed.\n"They hung themselves with fabricated nooses made out of clothes and bed sheets," Navy Rear Adm. Harry Harris told reporters in a conference call from the U.S. base in southeastern Cuba.\n"They have no regard for human life," he said. "Neither ours nor their own. I believe this was not an act of desperation but an act of asymmetric warfare against us."\nTo help prevent more suicides, guards will now give bed sheets to detainees only when they go to bed and remove them after they wake up in the morning, Harris said.\nGen. John Craddock, commander of the U.S. Southern Command, said in the conference call that the three had left suicide notes, but refused to disclose the contents.\nOne of the detainees was a mid- or high-level al-Qaida operative, Harris said, while another had been captured in Afghanistan and participated in a riot at a prison there. The third belonged to a splinter group.\nSome of the evidence against detainees is classified, so they are not permitted to know of it, and are thus unable to challenge it.\nThe military did not release the three detainees' names.\nBut Saudi Arabia identified the two Saudis Sunday as Mani bin Shaman bin Turki al Habradi and Yasser Talal Abdullah Yahya al Zahrani. The Saudi government has begun procedures to have their bodies sent home, Interior Ministry spokesman Mansour Turki told The Associated Press.\nA list of Guantanamo detainees provided by the Pentagon identified one Saudi Arabian detainee as Talal Yasser al Zharani, 21.\n"They're determined, intelligent, committed elements and they continue to do everything they can ... to become martyrs in the jihad," said Craddock.\nHe said all three had engaged in a hunger strike to protest their indefinite incarceration and had been force-fed before quitting the protest action. Military commanders said two were participating in the hunger strike as recently as last month, and described one of them as a long-term hunger striker who had begun the protest late last year and ended it in May.\nBush, who was spending the weekend at Camp David, expressed "serious concern" over the suicides and directed his administration to reach out diplomatically while it investigates, White House press secretary Tony Snow said Saturday evening.\nAmnesty International said the apparent suicides "are the tragic results of years of arbitrary and indefinite detention" and called the prison "an indictment" of the Bush administration's human rights record.\nDetainees "have this incredible level of despair that they will never get justice," said Barbara Olshansky of the Center for Constitutional Rights, which represents about 300 Guantanamo prisoners.\n"I don't think this country wants the stain of injustice on it for many years to come," she said, appealing to the Bush administration "for immediate action to do the right thing."\nPentagon officials said the three men were in Camp 1, the highest security prison at Guantanamo, and none had tried to commit suicide before.\nThough the military termed the deaths apparent suicides, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service was investigating to establish the official cause of death.\nSaudi Arabia's state-sponsored Saudi Human Rights group blamed the United States for the deaths and suggested torture may have been involved.\n"There are no independent monitors at the detention camp so it is easy to pin the crime on the prisoners ... it's possible they were tortured," Mufleh al-Qahtani, the group's deputy director, said in a statement to the local Al-Riyadh newspaper.\nThe United States has said it forbids the torture of detainees and has improved measures to prevent any mistreatment.\nGuantanamo officials have reported 41 unsuccessful suicide attempts by 25 detainees since the U.S. began taking prisoners to the base in January 2002. Defense lawyers contend the number of suicide attempts is higher.\nGuantanamo Bay has become a sore subject between Bush and U.S. allies who otherwise are staunch supporters of his policies.\nA U.N. panel said May 19 that holding detainees indefinitely at Guantanamo violated the world's ban on torture and the United States should close the detention center.\nGerman Chancellor Angela Merkel, Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen and British Prime Minister Tony Blair are among those who also recently have urged the United States to close the prison.\nUntil now, Guantanamo officials have said there have been 41 suicide attempts by 25 detainees and no deaths since the U.S. began taking prisoners to the base in January 2002. Defense lawyers contend the number of suicide attempts is higher.\nMark Denbeaux, a law professor at Seton Hall University in New Jersey who represents two Tunisians at Guantanamo, said he believes others there are candidates for suicide.\nDenbeaux said one of his clients, Mohammed Abdul Rahman, appeared to be depressed and hardly spoke during a June 1 visit. Rahman was on a hunger strike at the time and was force-fed soon after, Denbeaux said.\n"He told us he would rather die than stay in Guantanamo," the attorney said. "He doesn't believe he will ever get out of Guantanamo alive."\n--Associated Press Writers Paisley Dodds in London and Ben Fox and Lolita C. Baldor in Washington contributed to this report. Jennifer Loven reported from Washington.
(06/07/06 11:56pm)
WASHINGTON -- President Bush would get $50 billion for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan for the first few months of next year, under a House bill a subcommittee approved Wednesday.\nOn a voice vote, the House defense appropriations subcommittee passed a $427 billion measure for the Pentagon budget year that begins Oct. 1, including operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.\nThe Senate has not yet completed its version of the annual bill.\nHouse lawmakers sliced about $4 billion from the president's spending request for the Pentagon because of what they said were other priorities within the budget and a soaring federal deficit.\n"We did the best we could with the money we had to work with," said Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania, the top Democrat on the subcommittee. He provided some details of the bill after the panel approved it in a session that was closed to the public.\nOverall, Murtha said, the subcommittee went to great lengths to support the National Guard. The bill, he said, provides $500 million for the Guard to replace equipment tattered in war zones. And it states that the Pentagon plan to drop the number of Guard combat brigades from 34 to 28 is unacceptable, he said.\nHouse lawmakers consider the $50 billion for Iraq and Afghanistan the first installment of what they expect will be continued war costs through 2007, although no one would predict how much more money would be needed.\n"I don't think anybody can see without a crystal ball about next year," said Rep. Bill Young, R-Fla., the subcommittee chairman.\nIf approved, the House bill would push total war-related dollars since 2001 toward a staggering half-trillion dollars.\nThe Congressional Research Service, a nonpartisan agency that writes reports for lawmakers, says that since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, lawmakers already have provided $368 billion for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and other costs associated with the war on terrorism.\nAdditionally, a bill making its way through Congress now to pay for the rest of this year's war costs includes another $65.7 billion for the Pentagon, much of which will be used to pay for military operations, maintenance and personnel costs in the two war zones.\nLawmakers say the Pentagon is spending about $8 billion a month in Iraq and $1 billion a month in Afghanistan.
(06/07/06 11:55pm)
WASHINGTON -- Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said Wednesday that while the country has been able to absorb sharp increases in oil prices, high energy costs are beginning to stunt economic growth.\nBut he also said sharply higher oil prices have not produced any "serious erosion" of world economic activity.\n"The United States, especially, has been able to absorb the huge implicit tax of rising oil prices so far," Greenspan told a Senate hearing. It was his first appearance before Congress since leaving the Federal Reserve in January.\nHe added, "recent data indicate we may finally be experiencing some impact."\nGreenspan said high oil prices, exceeding $70 a barrel and pushing gasoline costs beyond $3 a gallon in many areas, are due to a sharp decline in spare global oil production capacity, refinery shortages and, to some extent, market speculation.\nBut he said market speculators also have been able "to hasten the adjustment" to higher prices and eased the shock to the economy.\nAmerican business "to date has largely succeeded in finding productivity improvements that have contained energy costs." But he said consumers "are struggling with rising gasoline prices."\nGreenspan said with limits on U.S. oil reserves "we are not going to be a price setter in oil anywhere in the foreseeable future" unless there is a significant reduction in demand.\n"We're out of the market essentially as a very critical player with respect to price," Greenspan told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.\nHe said "current oil prices over time should lower to some extent our worrisome dependence on petroleum" with the development of alternative fuels and broader use of electric-hybrid cars. This "would help to wean us of our petroleum dependence," Greenspan said.\n"We are gradually ... weaning ourselves off petroleum. It is slow and in many ways like watching grass grow," Greenspan told the senators. He said if the shift "happens smoothly, that is the best of all contingencies. ... But what happens if it doesn't go smoothly."\nGreenspan said ethanol can become a significant alternative to gasoline, but that the answer in the long run is not in corn, now the sole commercial source of the fuel, because of limited supplies. He urged rapid expansion of research into the development of cellulosic ethanol _ made from wood chips, sawgrass or other material.\n"Find out if (it) really is a practical alternative," he said, adding that only cellulosic ethanol will create the volumes adequate to replace large amounts of gasoline.\nHe said the United States has been able to "absorb the huge impact of rising oil prices with little consequences to date because it has become far more flexible" over the past three decades because of less regulation and globalization.\nHe warned against import or price restrictions or other interference in the market.\n"Growing protectionism would undermine that flexibility and make our nation increasingly vulnerable to the vagaries of the oil market," he said.
(06/07/06 11:52pm)
WASHINGTON -- The Senate on Wednesday rejected a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, dealing an embarrassing defeat to President Bush and Republicans who hoped to use the measure to energize conservative voters on Election Day.\nSupporters knew they wouldn't achieve the two-thirds vote needed to approve a constitutional amendment, but they had predicted a gain in votes over the last time the issue came up, in 2004. Instead, they lost one vote for the amendment in a procedural test tally that ended up 49-48.\n"We were hoping to get over 50 percent, but that didn't happen today," said Sen. David Vitter, R-La., one of the amendment's supporters. "Eventually, Congress is going to have to catch up to the wisdom of the American people or the American people will change Congress for the better."\n"We're not going to stop until marriage between a man and a woman is protected," said Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan.\nWednesday's vote fell 11 short of the 60 required to send the matter for an up-or-down tally in the Senate. The 2004 vote was 50-48.\nSupporters lost two key "yes" votes -- one from Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., who has changed his mind since 2004, and another from Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., who did not vote this time because he was traveling with Bush.\nGregg said that in 2004, he believed the Massachusetts Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage in that state would undermine the prerogatives of other states, like his, to prohibit such unions.\n"Fortunately, such legal pandemonium has not ensued," Gregg said in a statement. "The past two years have shown that federalism, not more federal laws, is a viable and preferable approach."\nA majority of Americans define marriage as a union of a man and a woman, as the proposed amendment does, according to a poll out this week by ABC News. But an equal majority opposes amending the Constitution on this issue, the poll found.\n"Most Americans are not yet convinced that their elected representatives or the judiciary are likely to expand decisively the definition of marriage to include same-sex couples," said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., a possible presidential candidate in 2008. He told the Senate Tuesday he does not support the \namendment.\nThe tally Wednesday put the ban 18 votes short of the 67 needed for the Senate to approve a constitutional amendment.\nBut the defeat is by no means the amendment's last stand, said its supporters.\n"I do not believe the sponsors are going to fall back and cry about it," said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. "I think they are going to keep bringing it up."\nThe House plans a redux next month, said Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio.\n"This is an issue that is of significant importance to many Americans," Boehner told reporters. "We have significant numbers of our members who want a vote on this, so we are going to have a vote."\nThe defeat came despite daily appeals for passage from Bush, whose standing is troubled by sagging poll numbers and a dissatisfied conservative base.\nThe Vatican also added muscle to the argument Tuesday, naming gay marriage as one of the factors threatening the traditional family as never before.\nDemocrats said the debate was a divisive political ploy.\n"The Republican leadership is asking us to spend time writing bigotry into the Constitution," said Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, which legalized gay marriage in 2003. "A vote for it is a vote against civil unions, against domestic partnership, against all other efforts for states to treat gays and lesbians fairly under the law."\nIn response, Hatch fumed: "Does he really want to suggest that over half of the United States Senate is a crew of bigots?"\nForty-five of the 50 states have acted to define traditional marriage in ways that would ban same-sex marriage -- 19 with constitutional amendments and 26 with statutes.\nThe amendment would prohibit states from recognizing same-sex marriages. To become ratified, it would need two-thirds support in the Senate and House, and then would have to be ratified by at least 38 state legislatures.\nSeven Republicans, many from New England, voted to kill the amendment. They were Sens. Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, Susan Collins of Maine, Gregg, McCain, Olympia Snowe of Maine, Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania and John Sununu of New Hampshire.\nBen Nelson of Nebraska, the only Democratic senator who supports the amendment, voted "yes." The only other Democrat to vote in favor of moving forward with an up-or-down vote Wednesday, Robert Byrd of West Virginia, opposes the amendment itself.
(06/05/06 3:19pm)
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Gunmen dragged passengers off three minibuses northeast of Baghdad early Sunday and killed 21 people, including a dozen students. Authorities said the attackers spared four Sunni Arabs in one of Iraq's worst sectarian atrocities in recent weeks.\nIn Qara Tappah, Mayor Serwan Shokir said one person also was wounded in the attack on buses carrying 26 people from his town to Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad. The 12 slain high school and college students were apparently going to Baqouba to take exams.\nNineteen of the dead were ethnic Turkomen and two were Kurds. The four Sunni Arabs spared by the gunmen were being questioned by police, Shokir said.\nThe attack occurred on the outskirts of Diyala province, an ethnically mixed region that in recent weeks has become a powder keg of sectarian violence, including assaults against Sunni and Shiite shrines.\nSectarian fighting also flared in Iraq's south, where a gunbattle broke out when police surrounded a Sunni mosque in the predominantly Shiite city of Basra. At least nine people died in the clash, which came a day after a suicide car bomber killed 28 people and wounded 62 at Basra's biggest outdoor market.\nThe bloodshed dealt another blow to efforts by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to calm a recent surge in sectarian violence in Basra, which is Iraq's second largest city and is the main city in the country's rich southern oil region.\nA parliament session was postponed Sunday after al-Maliki again failed to reach consensus on candidates to head the crucial ministries that run Iraq's military and police. He had promised to present his own nominees to the 275-member parliament if there wasn't agreement among the ethnic, religious and secular political parties, but was apparently persuaded to wait.\nDeputy Parliament Speaker Khalid al-Atiya, a Shiite, said that due to the large number of candidates and failure to reach agreement, the parties decided "to give the prime minister another chance to have more negotiations."\nAl-Maliki and one of his deputes have staffed the posts of defense, interior and minister of state for national security since his government of national unity took office two weeks ago.\nFilling the posts is a key step for al-Maliki's plan for Iraqi forces to take control of security from U.S.-led troops in 18 months.\nIn an effort to address the sectarian divide, the Interior Ministry post, which oversees police, is to go to a Shiite, while the Defense Ministry and control of the army is earmarked for a Sunni Arab.\nThere were conflicting reports Sunday over the fate of four Russian diplomats kidnapped in Baghdad.\nAn Interior Ministry spokesman, Brig. Adnan Abudel Rahman, denied a report that the Russians had been freed Saturday in a raid by Iraqi commandos. That report had come earlier from a senior ministry official, Lt. Colonel Falah al-Mohamedawi.\nIn Moscow, the Foreign Ministry said Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari told Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Saltanov that Iraq's government was taking "active efforts to ensure the quickest release of four abducted Russian embassy workers."\nIt said Zebari underlined that Iraq views "Russia as a friendly nation, and the Iraqi society doesn't remain indifferent to the tragic incident and its representatives were ready to help."\nThe four Russian diplomatic workers were kidnapped Saturday by gunmen who attacked an embassy car just after noon in Baghdad, killing one Russian. Russia's Foreign Ministry identified the slain man as Vitaly Vitalyevich Titov, according to the ITAR-Tass news agency.
(06/05/06 2:08am)
BEIJING -- Chinese police tore up a protester's poster and detained at least two people on Beijing's Tiananmen Square on Sunday as the country marked 17 years since local troops crushed a pro-democracy demonstration in the public space.\nAn elderly woman tried to pull out a poster with apparently political material written on it, but police ripped it up and then took her away in a van.\nA farmer tried to stage a protest apparently unrelated to the 1989 crackdown, but he also was taken away in a van.\nAfter dawn, a group of tourists tried to open a banner while posing for a photo, catching the attention of police, who quickly forced them to put the nonpolitical material away. They were not detained.\nDiscussion of the crackdown is still taboo in China outside of the semiautonomous regions of Hong Kong and Macau. Chinese television news and major newspapers did not mention the anniversary.\nIn Hong Kong, several hundred people holding candles gathered at Victoria Park, creating a sea of lights covering four soccer fields. They observed a brief silence and organizers laid wreaths at a makeshift shrine dedicated to "martyrs of democracy."\nThe crowd also sang the pro-democracy song, "Freedom Flower," with the lyrics: "No matter how heavy the rain beats, freedom will blossom."\nOrganizers claimed 44,000 attended the commemoration, but police put the figure at 19,000. The crowd size was likely hurt by rainy weather in recent days and the lack of major political disputes.\n"I hope the Chinese government will recognize this dark history," Eric Lau, 14, said.\nRetiree Yan San, 74, said he has attended the annual commemoration in Hong Kong since its debut in 1990.\n"I have persisted in coming here for 17 years because I love freedom and democracy," he said.\nWang Dan, one of the 1989 protest leaders who was jailed and then exiled to the United States, said in a taped video message: "We don't want China to plunge into chaos nor do we want the ruling party to give up power. We only want the Chinese people to live freely and with dignity."\nChina's authoritarian government has stood by the suppression of what it has called "counterrevolutionary" riots, saying it preserved social stability and paved the way for economic growth.\nThe events of June 4, 1989, shocked Hong Kongers at a time when the territory was still a British colony but preparing to return to Chinese sovereignty in 1997. The bloody suppression fueled fears that Beijing would extend its authoritarian rule to Hong Kong.\nChinese police monitored Tiananmen Square closely Sunday.\nAbout 2,000 police were on guard in and around Beijing's "petitioner's village," a cluster of cheap hostels popular with people from the provinces who have come to the capital to complain to the central government.\nWang said in an article published in Hong Kong's Ming Pao newspaper that he holds out hope China will loosen its political controls.\n"Although so far we can't see any loosening, personally I'm confident that day will come," he said. "Until the government reverses its position (on the 1989 protests), ordinary people won't easily forget the crackdown."\nHong Kong leader Donald Tsang, while in China's southwestern Yunnan province to attend a regional cooperation conference, urged his fellow citizens to look at the Tiananmen crackdown practically.\n"Mainland China has undergone a level of change that has gained the world's attention in the past 17 years. These changes have brought much prosperity to Hong Kong ... so Hong Kong people can make an objective judgment," Tsang said.\nHong Kong Cardinal Joseph Zen, a fierce democracy advocate, disagreed with Tsang.\n"How can we let it go? Should we just let it slide, forgive, pretend nothing happened? This is irresponsible. The successors of those responsible for the June 4 incident should give an explanation," Zen said.
(06/05/06 2:06am)
PHOENIX -- Fifty-five National Guard members from Utah arrived in Yuma on Saturday afternoon -- the first troops to be sent to the Arizona-Mexico border in a new crackdown on illegal immigration.\nThe Utah troops had been scheduled to work on fences and other projects as part of the Guard's long-standing efforts at the Arizona border, officials had said as late as Wednesday. But their mission has since been folded into President Bush's plan to send up to 6,000 National Guard troops to the four southern border states to supplement federal immigration agents.\nThe Utah troops got word of the change Friday from Guard officials in Washington, D.C., said Maj. Hank McIntire, a spokesman for the Utah National Guard.\nThey are scheduled to be briefed on their mission Sunday and start field work as early as Monday, he said.\nUnder the president's plan, troops will perform support duties to allow federal authorities to focus on border security. They won't perform law enforcement duties.\nThe Utah troops, who will not carry weapons, will be in Yuma for two weeks to install improved lighting at a border crossing, extend an existing border fence and build a road, McIntire said.\nThe projects will be done in the area of San Luis, Ariz., a town 25 miles south of Yuma with a fortified stretch of border with Mexico.\nThe town is part of the nation's busiest U.S. Border Patrol station, in a state that is the nation's busiest illegal entry point.\nA 12-foot corrugated metal fence divides San Luis from Mexico, reinforced 50 yards to the north by an 8-foot chain-link fence topped with barbed wire and towers with surveillance cameras. Stadium lights help agents spot those who try to slip across at night.\nGov. Janet Napolitano proposed a similar plan in December, but it remained on the shelf while funding was sought.\nOfficials say 300 National Guard soldiers from Arizona are expected to begin arriving at the state's border in mid-June.\n--Associated Press Writer Amanda Lee Myers contributed to this report.
(06/01/06 1:59am)
NEW YORK -- Plunging oil prices pushed stocks sharply higher Wednesday as the United States' latest move to settle the dispute over Iran's nuclear arms program eased the energy market's worries about a supply cutoff from the petroleum-rich nation.\nThe pullback in crude oil helped calm inflation jitters as investors grew hopeful that the minutes from the latest Federal Reserve meeting would shed light on the outlook for interest rates. Traders have been scouring for clues on whether to expect higher lending rates after the Fed said in early May that more rates hikes could be neeeded to battle soaring energy prices.\nMeanwhile, a recovering bond market was also helping stocks to their gains, and drew attention from disappointing earnings at Costco Wholesale Corp.\nOn Tuesday, a jump in oil prices, weakening consumer strength and a poor sales report from Wal-Mart Stores Inc. triggered more heaving selling. The Dow Jones industrial average plunged 184 points, its biggest one-day loss since dropping 214 points on May 11.\nIn midmorning trading Wednesday, the Dow gained 83.00, or 0.75 percent, to 11,177.43.\nBroader stock indicators rose. The Standard & Poor's 500 index was up 9.12, or 0.72 percent, at 1,268.96; the Nasdaq composite index added 15.95, or 0.74 percent, to 2,180.69, but still showed a loss for the year.\nFalling crude futures eased investors' inflation anxiety as traders awaited data expected to show increased domestic oil reserves. A barrel of light crude lost $1.03 to $71 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.\nBonds edged up alongside stocks, with the yield on the 10-year Treasury note slipping to 5.06 percent from 5.08 percent late Tuesday. The U.S. dollar inched higher against the Japanese yen; gold prices stood near $660 an ounce.\nConcerns that rising U.S. lending rates will cramp global growth has roiled overseas markets this week. On Wednesday, Japan's Nikkei stock average plunged 2.47 percent, while stocks in Singapore slid 2.4 percent and the Indian market tumbled 3.6 percent.\nEuropean markets recouped some of their recent losses in afternoon activity, with Britain's FTSE 100 adding 0.85 percent, Germany's DAX index rising 0.89 percent and France's CAC-40 higher by 0.45 percent.
(06/01/06 1:59am)
WASHINGTON (AP) - In a major policy shift, the United States said Wednesday it is prepared to join other nations in holding direct talks with Iran on its nuclear program if Iran first agrees to stop disputed nuclear activities that the West fears could lead to a bomb.\n"To underscore our commitment to a diplomatic solution and to enhance prospects for success, as soon as Iran fully and verifiably suspends its enrichment and reprocessing activities, the United States will come to the table," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said at the State Department.\nThe Swiss ambassador to the United States was called to the State Department earlier Wednesday to receive a copy of Rice's remarks for transmission to Iran, U.S. officials said. The United States has had no diplomatic ties with Iran and few contacts at all with its government since Islamic radicals took over the U.S. Embassy in 1979 and held diplomats there for more than a year.\nThe Bush administration has been deeply suspicious of Iran's intentions and the prime mover for tough United Nations action against the clerical regime. Until now, the United States has refused repeated calls from European nations, other diplomats and former secretaries of state to join the European talks.\nFor its part, Iran has for months refused to do what the U.S. is now demanding as a first step to talks -- suspend its enrichment of uranium, which Tehran claims is for peaceful purposes. Iran did voluntarily suspend those activities while talks were active with the Europeans last year, but resumed and stepped up those activities this spring.\nSuspending uranium enrichment and related activities in order to talk with the United States would not preclude Iran from later insisting that it be allowed to continue those activities. At that point, the United States and its allies would be expected to move for tough U.N. Security Council action, possibly including economic or other sanctions.\nRice will meet with foreign ministers from the other permanent Security Council members on Thursday in Vienna to finalize a package of incentives and threats to be presented to Tehran.\n"We hope that in the coming days the Iranian government will thoroughly consider this proposal," Rice said.\nEuropean diplomats told The Associated Press that the package and the U.S. announcement of a willingness to talk were conditioned on pledges from Russia and China to eventually support tough actions such as sanctions if Iran continued to defy a U.N. call to stop its disputed activities.\nWhite House spokesman Tony Snow said the United States will not enter one-on-one talks with Iran. The European talks included Britain, France and Germany.\n"There are going to be some changes, but the overall position, which is that Iran needs to take the first step, it needs to suspend enrichment and reprocessing activities, that's still there," Snow said. "That's still the foundation stone for U.S. diplomatic policy on this."\nIn recent weeks, Bush administration officials repeatedly have insisted there were no plans for one-on-one talks with Iran over its nuclear program, while holding open the possibility of such meetings on Iraq, where Tehran has substantial influence with that country's Shiites.\nAny U.S. decision to talk directly with Tehran, even as part of a multilateral set of negotiations, reflects pressure by its allies and partners. Government officials from Germany have publicly urged the Americans to engage Tehran directly, and Moscow and Beijing also are believed to support such a move.\nNews of the latest U.S. position comes on the eve of a six-nation meeting focusing on ending months of disagreement between Washington and the Kremlin on how to persuade Tehran to stop uranium enrichment. A round of telephone diplomacy Tuesday between President Bush and the leaders of Russia, France and Germany also focused on the nuclear standoff.\nIran's room to maneuver would be greatly reduced if the Russians and Chinese agree to drop their objections to Security Council sanctions in exchange for U.S. participation in talks with Iran. For months, Moscow and Beijing have blocked U.S.-led attempts for tough Security Council action against the Islamic republic.\nIranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Tuesday his country was ready for "negotiations on Iran's nuclear issue without any preconditions," an allusion to the European Union's offer of economic and political perks if Tehran gave up enrichment.\n--Associated Press writers George Jahn in Vienna and Nedra Pickler in Washington contributed to this report.
(06/01/06 1:58am)
BASRA, Iraq -- Iraq's new prime minister declared a state of emergency Wednesday in the southern city of Basra, vowing to crack down with an "iron fist" on rival gangs battling each other for power.\nA car bomb in the northern city of Mosul, meanwhile, killed five policemen, the latest in an especially bloody week of insurgent attacks.\nViolence has been escalating in Shiite-dominated Basra, with a wave of kidnappings and the slaying of nearly 140 people -- mostly Sunnis but also Shiites and police -- in May alone, police said. The tension has been brewing largely due to the growing influence of anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army, and the armed Badr organization, both Shiite groups.\nPrime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, himself a Shiite, declared the monthlong state of emergency during a visit to the oil-rich region, said Syed Muhammad al-Haidari, a top Shiite official traveling with him. Al-Maliki gave a strong denunciation of the violence that Sunni religious leaders have blamed on Shiite death squads.\n"We shall use an iron fist against the leaders of the gangs or those who threaten security," he said earlier in a speech, apparently referring to the militias as well as rival tribal groups. "And we shall ask all security departments to draw up an effective and quick plan to achieve security."\n"The size of the security power in this province as far as I know should be sufficient to maintain full control of the security situation, but it seems that these forces are useless with the deteriorating of the security situation in this town," he told about 700 tribal sheiks, religious leaders, officials, army officers and other residents.\nShouting broke out in the auditorium before al-Maliki delivered his speech, with several tribal leaders accusing local officials and security forces of being behind the mounting violence. But al-Maliki calmed them down from the podium, saying "we cannot negotiate with everybody shouting."\nThe car bomb in Mosul struck a police patrol, killing at least five policemen and wounding 14, including a senior officer. The blast struck in the Dawasa neighborhood of Mosul, 225 miles northwest of Baghdad, heavily damaging nearby stores.\nIn Baghdad, gunmen killed a Shiite muazzin, the man who calls for the five daily prayers, as he headed to the Imam Ali Mosque, police Capt. Ali Hussein said.\nHe also said former Diwaniyah Gov. Jamal Kadhim Hassoun al-Zamili was killed in a drive-by shooting late Tuesday that also wounded two bodyguards.\nA bomb hidden in an air conditioner exploded in the mayor's office in Muqdadiyah, about 60 miles north of Baghdad, killing the mayor, Sheik Allaywi Farhan al-Dulaimi, a member of the Sunni Iraqi Islamic Party, and wounding three guards, police said. Provincial Gov. Raad Rashid al-Mula Jawad imposed a curfew on the city and deployed army forces.\nAt least 19 bodies were found in separate locations in Baghdad, many blindfolded and handcuffed, apparent victims of sectarian killings often blamed on militias.\nNortheast of Baghdad, gunmen ambushed a minibus, killing at least five people and wounding three, police said.\nThe new violence came a day after car bombs targeting Shiite areas tore through a car dealership in southern Iraq and a bustling outdoor market north of Baghdad as attacks nationwide killed 54 people and wounded 120.\nTwo Iraqi women _ one of them pregnant _ were shot to death after U.S. forces fired at a car that failed to stop at an observation post in Samarra, north of Baghdad, the military said.\nA car entered a clearly marked prohibited area near coalition troops at an observation post, and "shots were fired to disable the vehicle" after it failed to stop despite repeated visual and auditory signals, the military said, adding that it later learned that the women had been shot. Iraqi relatives and witnesses said the women were killed in the U.S. shooting and there was no warning.\n"I was with the victims, one of them was pregnant and about to give birth," said a woman who didn't give her name but said she was a relative.\nThe shooting deaths occurred in the wake of an investigation into allegations that U.S. Marines killed about 24 unarmed civilians the western city of Haditha.\nFormer Foreign Minister Adnan Pachachi told the BBC the allegations have "created a feeling of great shock and sadness and I believe that if what is alleged is true -- and I have no reason to believe it's not -- then I think something very drastic has to be done."\n"There must be a level of discipline imposed on the American troops and change of mentality which seems to think that Iraqi lives are expendable," said Pachachi, a member of parliament.\nAl-Maliki said his trip to Basra was an effort to "heal the rift and find a solution for what caused the latest events."\nBritain has about 8,000 troops in the area, along with those of other countries. In the months after the 2003 invasion, British troops enjoyed relative peace in the south, compared with the restive Sunni regions farther north.\nBut now violence has escalated. A spokesman for the influential Association of Muslim Scholars, Abdel-Salam al-Qubaisi, warned Sunday that the "Basra province is facing another phase of killings and kidnappings based of sectarian motives."\nTwo British soldiers were killed in a roadside bombing Sunday in Basra, bringing to nine the number of British personnel who have died in the city this month and pushing total British deaths since 2003 to 113. American deaths, meanwhile, are approaching 2,500.\nIn September, British troops battled Shiite gunmen in Basra after two British undercover soldiers were seized by police, whose ranks have been infiltrated by Shiite militiamen. British forces staged a raid that freed the men.\nShiite anger also has been stoked by a perceived shift in U.S. policy since the arrival of U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, a Sunni Muslim who has criticized the Shiite-led Interior Ministry for human rights abuses and made overtures to Sunni insurgents in hopes of getting them to disarm.\nSunni leaders also ordered the closure of all Sunni mosques in the city and urged preachers not to hold Friday prayers last week to protest the killing of a cleric.\nAl-Sadr has led two armed uprisings against U.S.-led forces in 2004 and has been an outspoken critic of the U.S.-led foreign military mission. His militia, the Mahdi Army, still operates in Basra.\nThe Badr Organization for Reconstruction and Development maintains it is no longer a militia but is still armed. The group is linked to Iraq's biggest Shiite party, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq _ senior partner in the Shiite coalition that won the biggest number of parliament seats.\nBadr is also widely believed to have links to Iranian intelligence. Badr veterans are believed represented in ranks of the Interior Ministry special commando forces that have been alleged to take part in the abuse of Sunni prisoners.\nAl-Maliki, meanwhile, still has not persuaded Iraq's ethnic, sectarian and secular factions to agree on new defense and interior ministers, leaving the key security posts vacant more than a week after his national unity government took office.\n___\nAssociated Press writers Bushra Juhi and Kim Gamel contributed to this report in Baghdad.
(06/01/06 1:56am)
CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. -- Three officers relieved of command from a Marine battalion are not targets of investigations into whether their troops killed as many as two dozen Iraqi civilians and tried to cover it up, the attorney for one of the officers said Tuesday.\nCapt. James Kimber learned about the deaths only after the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment returned from Iraq in March, attorney Paul Hackett said.\nSeparate investigations seek to determine whether the Nov. 19 killings in the western Iraqi city of Haditha were criminal and whether the Marines involved and their commanding officers tried to hide the truth.\nThe Pentagon has said little publicly. What is known is that a military convoy hit a roadside bomb, killing one Marine. The Marine Corps had initially attributed 15 civilian deaths to the bombing and a firefight with insurgents, eight of whom the Marines reported had been killed.\nRep. John Murtha, a Pennsylvania Democrat and decorated war veteran who has been briefed by military officials, has said Marines shot and killed unarmed civilians in a taxi at the scene and went into two homes and shot others.\nOn Tuesday, White House spokesman Tony Snow said President Bush learned of the killings only after a reporter from Time magazine asked questions. Time published an article in March that said the Pentagon was investigating the incident.\nThe White House has since said that the investigation details will be made public once the investigation is finished.\nMeanwhile, Lance Cpl. James Crossan of North Bend, Wash., who was injured in the roadside bomb attack in Haditha, told a Seattle television station that some of the Marines might have snapped after seeing one of their own killed in action.\n"So, I think they were just blinded by hate ... and they just lost control," Crossan told KING-TV, which aired the interview Tuesday.\nThe targets of the investigations are about a dozen enlisted Marines, according to Hackett, a Marine reservist and Iraqi war veteran who represents Kimber.\nHackett, who last year narrowly lost a special election for a U.S. House seat in Ohio, said the highest ranking among those under investigation is a staff sergeant who led the four-vehicle convoy that was hit by the bomb.\nKimber, who was nominated for a Bronze Star for valor in Haditha, was relieved of command last month because his subordinates in the battalion's Lima Company used profanity and criticized the performance of Iraqi security services during an interview with Britain's Sky News TV, Hackett said.\n"My purpose is to separate his name from the alleged war crimes that took place," Hackett told The Associated Press by telephone. "He's not under investigation for anything related to what has played out in the press."\nThe Pentagon has named two others who were relieved of command: Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, the commander of the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, and Capt. Lucas McConnell, who commanded Kilo Company, which was implicated in the killings.\nHackett does not represent either man but said that neither was present for the shootings and that he believes neither is a target of the investigations.\nLike all Marines, Chessani and McConnell were taught that commanders accept responsibility for the failure of their subordinates, Hackett said.\n"That's different than being criminally negligible or criminally responsible for the criminal actions of your subordinates," he said.\nMcConnell refused to speak with an AP reporter who visited his home near Camp Pendleton on Monday night. Chessani did not return a phone call seeking comment.\nIn his first statement on the case, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Tuesday expressed remorse over the deaths of the civilians.\n"It is not justifiable that a family is killed because someone is fighting terrorists; we have to be more specific and more careful," al-Maliki told the British Broadcasting Corp. through an interpreter.\n--Associated Press writers Seth Hettena in San Diego and Erica Werner in Washington contributed to this report.
(05/05/06 2:42am)
VATICAN CITY -- The Vatican declared Thursday that two bishops ordained by China's state-controlled church without papal consent were excommunicated, escalating tensions as the two sides explored preliminary moves toward improving ties.\nThe Vatican also excommunicated the two bishops who ordained them, citing church law. The Holy See then criticized China for allegedly forcing bishops and priests to participate in "illegitimate" ordinations that "go against their conscience."\nPope Benedict XVI's first major diplomatic clash since being elected pontiff a year ago shatters hopes for any re-establishment soon of official ties that ended after communists took control of China in 1949.\nVatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls cited Article 1382 of the Roman Catholic Church's canon law in announcing the excommunications. That article states that "both the bishop who, without a pontifical mandate, consecrates a person a bishop, and the one who receives the consecration from him, incur a 'latae sententiae excommunication,'" which means they are excommunicated.\nEarlier, Navarro-Valls said Benedict was deeply saddened by news of the ordinations, which have occurred in recent weeks.\n"It is a great wound to the unity of the church," Navarro-Valls said in a statement.\nChinese Foreign Ministry officials were not available to comment on the excommunications. But earlier, when the Vatican had only denounced the ordinations, a duty officer referred to a statement issued Sunday after the first ordination.\n"The criticism toward the Chinese side by the Vatican is groundless," that statement said. "We hope the Vatican can respect the will of Chinese church and the vast numbers of priests as well as its church members so as to create good atmosphere for the improvement of Sino-Vatican ties."\nOn Wednesday, the official church, known as the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association, ordained Liu Xinhong as bishop at the city of Wuhu's St. Joseph's Church in the eastern province of Anhui.\nIt was the second ordination in three days without the consent of the Vatican, which traditionally appoints its own bishops. On Sunday, China's official church ordained Ma Yinglin as a bishop in the southwestern province of Yunnan.\nThe association has said the new appointments were meant to fill shortages and were not intended to offend the Vatican.\nThe Vatican statement said officials had received information indicating that "bishops and priests have been subjected -- by institutions not related to the church -- to strong pressures and threats, in order for them to take part in the ordinations that, because they were not approved by the Vatican, are illegitimate and go against their conscience."\n"We are therefore faced with a grave violation of religious freedom," Navarro-Valls said, adding the Vatican "had thought and hoped that such despicable events belonged to the past."\nThe ordinations come as China and the Holy See try to re-establish ties that ended after communists took control of China in 1949.\nFormal ties would give some security to Vatican loyalists in China, who are frequently harassed and fined and sometimes sent to labor camps. Most Chinese Catholics are only allowed to worship in government-controlled churches, but millions are loyal to the Vatican.\nBut the Vatican said any dialogue was at risk now.\n"The Holy See has in various occasions reiterated its willingness to have an honest and constructive dialogue with the competent Chinese authorities to find solutions that would satisfy the legitimate requirements of both sides," Navarro-Valls said.\n"Initiatives such as those mentioned above not only don't favor this dialogue, but instead create new obstacles against it."\nThe Holy See also expressed alarm at reports that 20 more bishops might be ordained without Vatican approval and stressed "the need for respect for freedom of the church and for the autonomy of its institutions from any external interference."\nIt added the Vatican "sincerely hopes that there will not be a repetition of these unacceptable acts of violence and inadmissible acts of coercion."\nIn the last high-profile case, the Vatican in 2002 excommunicated seven women -- including former Ohio first lady Dagmar Braun Celeste -- who participated in an ordination ceremony aboard a boat on the Danube River between Germany and Austria. The women called themselves priests.\nThat case was handled by then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who led the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith before becoming pope last year.
