Iraq: Blackwater guards fired unprovoked

BAGHDAD - Iraqi investigators have a videotape that shows Blackwater USA guards opened fire against civilians without provocation in a shooting last week that left 11 people dead, a senior Iraqi official said Saturday. He said the case was referred to the Iraqi judiciary.

Iraq's president, meanwhile, demanded that the Americans release an Iranian arrested this week on suspicion of smuggling weapons to Shiite militias. The demand adds new strains to U.S.-Iraqi relations only days before a meeting between President Bush and Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
Interior Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Abdul-Karim Khalaf said Iraqi authorities had completed an investigation into the Sept. 16 shooting in Nisoor Square in western Baghdad and concluded that Blackwater guards were responsible for the deaths.
He told The Associated Press that the conclusion was based on witness statements as well as videotape shot by cameras at the nearby headquarters of the national police command. He said eight people were killed at the scene and three of the 15 wounded died in hospitals.
Blackwater, which provides most of the security for U.S. diplomats and civilian officials in Iraq, has insisted that its guards came under fire from armed insurgents and shot back only to defend themselves.
Blackwater spokeswoman Anne Tyrrell said Saturday that she knew nothing about the videotape and was contractually prohibited from discussing details of the shooting.
Khalaf also said the ministry was looking into six other fatal shootings involving the Moyock, N.C.-based company in which 10 Iraqis were killed and 15 wounded. Among the shootings was one Feb. 7 outside Iraqi state television in Baghdad that killed three building guards.
"These six cases will support the case against Blackwater, because they show that it has a criminal record," Khalaf said.
Khalaf said the report was "sent to the judiciary" although he would not specify whether that amounted to filing of criminal charges. Under Iraqi law, an investigating judge reviews criminal complaints and decides whether there is enough evidence for a trial.
Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh denied that authorities had decided to file charges against the Blackwater guards and said Saturday that no decision had been taken whether to seek punishment.
"The necessary measures will be taken that will preserve the honor of the Iraqi people," he said in New York, where al-Maliki arrived Friday for the U.N. General Assembly session. "We have ongoing high-level meetings with the U.S. side about this issue."
Al-Maliki is expected to raise the issue with Bush during a meeting Monday in New York.
It is doubtful that foreign security contractors could be prosecuted under Iraqi law. A directive issued by U.S. occupation authorities in 2004 granted contractors, U.S. troops and many other foreign officials immunity from prosecution under Iraqi law.
Security contractors are also not subject to U.S. military law under which U.S. troopers face prosecution for killing or abusing Iraqis.
Iraqi officials have said in the wake of the Nisoor Square shooting that they will press for amendments to the 2004 directive.
A senior aide to al-Maliki said Friday that three of the Blackwater guards were Iraqis and could be subject to prosecution. The aide spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case.
Shortly after the Sept. 16 shooting, U.S. officials said they "understood" that there was videotape, but refused to give more details. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not supposed to release information to the media.
Following the Nisoor Square shooting, the Interior Ministry banned Blackwater from operating in Iraq but rolled back after the U.S. agreed to a joint investigation. The company resumed guarding a reduced number of U.S. convoys on Friday.
The al-Maliki aide said Friday that the Iraqis were pushing for an apology, compensation for victims or their families and for the guards involved in the shooting to be held "accountable."
Hadi al-Amri, a prominent Shiite lawmaker and al-Maliki ally, also said an admission of wrongdoing, an apology and compensation offered a way out of the dilemma.
"They are always frightened and that's why they shoot at civilians," al-Amri said. "If Blackwater gets to stay in Iraq, it will have to give guarantees about its conduct."
Allegations against Blackwater have clouded relations between Iraq and the Americans at a time when the Bush administration is seeking to contain calls in Congress for sharp reductions in the 160,000-strong U.S. military force.
Adding to those strains, President Jalal Talabani demanded the immediate release of an Iranian official detained Thursday by U.S. forces in the Kurdish city of Sulaimaniyah.
The U.S. military said the unidentified Iranian was a member of the Quds force — an elite unit of Iran's Revolutionary Guards accused of arming and training Shiite militias in Iraq.
A statement issued Saturday by Talabani's office said the arrest was carried out without the prior knowledge or the cooperation of the Kurdish regional government.
"This amounts to an insult and a violation of its rights and authority," said the statement, quoting a letter Talabani sent to Gen. David Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker. Talabani, a Kurd, is one of Washington's most reliable partners in Iraq.
Talabani said Iran had threatened to close the border with the Kurdish region if the official were not freed — a serious blow to the economy in the president's political stronghold.
"I want to express to you our dismay over the arrest by American forces of this official civilian Iranian guest," Talabani wrote to Petraeus and Crocker.
Five Iranians said to be linked to the Quds force were arrested in the Kurdish city of Irbil and remain in U.S. custody.
Also Saturday, the U.S. military announced the death of two more American soldiers — one of an unspecified non-combat related injury and another in a vehicle accident in Diyala province.

La. protests hark back to '50s, '60s

By MARY FOSTER, Associated Press Writer

JENA, La. - Drawn by a case tinged with one of the most hated symbols of Old South racism — a hangman's noose tied in an oak tree — thousands of protesters rallied Thursday against what they see as a double standard of prosecution for blacks and whites.

The plight of the so-called Jena Six became a flashpoint for one the biggest civil-rights demonstrations in years. Five of the black teens were initially charged with attempted murder in the beating of a white classmate.
Old-guard lions like the Revs. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton joined scores of college students bused in from across the nation who said they wanted to make a stand for racial equality just as their parents did in the 1950s and '60s.
"It's not just about Jena, but about inequalities and disparities around the country," said Stephanie Brown, 26, national youth director for the NAACP, who estimated about 2,000 college students were among the throngs of mostly black protesters who overwhelmed this tiny central Louisiana town.
But the teens' case galvanized demonstrators as few legal cases have in recent years.
The cause of Thursday's demonstrations dates to August 2006, when a black Jena High School student asked the principal whether blacks could sit under a shade tree that was a frequent gathering place for whites. He was told yes. But nooses appeared in the tree the next day. Three white students were suspended but not criminally prosecuted. LaSalle Parish District Attorney Reed Walters said this week he could find no state law covering the act.
Brown said the Jena case resonates with the college-aged crowd because they aren't much older than the six youths charged. Many of the student protesters had been sharing information about the case through Facebook, MySpace and other social-networking Web sites.
Jackson, who led a throng of people three blocks long to the courthouse with an American flag resting on his shoulder, likened the demonstration to the marches on Selma and the Montgomery bus boycott. But even he was not entirely sure why Jena became the focal point.
"You can never quite tell," he said. "Rosa Parks was not the first to sit in the front of the bus. But the sparks hit a dry field."
The noose incident was followed by fights between blacks and whites, culminating in December's attack on white student Justin Barker, who was knocked unconscious. According to court testimony, his face was swollen and bloodied, but he was able to attend a school function that same night.
Six black teens were arrested. Five were originally charged with attempted second-degree murder — charges that have since been reduced for four of them. The sixth was booked as a juvenile on sealed charges.
Martin Luther King III, son of the slain civil rights leader, said punishment of some sort may be in order for the six defendants, but "the justice system isn't applied the same to all crimes and all people."
People began massing for the demonstrations before dawn Thursday, jamming the two-lane highway leading into town and parking wherever they could. State police estimated the crowd at 15,000 to 20,000. Organizers said they believe it drew as many as 50,000.
Demonstrators gathered at the local courthouse, a park, and the yard at Jena High where the tree once stood (it was cut down in July). At times the town resembled a giant festival, with people setting up tables of food and drink and some dancing while a man beat on a drum.
Sharpton admonished the crowd to remain peaceful, and there were no reports of trouble. State police could be seen chatting amicably with demonstrators at the courthouse.
In Washington, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee said he would hold hearings on the case, though he did not set a date or say if the prosecutor would be called to testify.
Walters, the district attorney, has usually declined to discuss the case publicly. But on the eve of the demonstrations, he denied the charges against the teens were race-related and lamented that Barker, the victim of the beating, has been reduced to "a footnote" while protesters generate sympathy for his alleged attackers.
President Bush said he understood the emotions and the FBI was monitoring the situation.
"The events in Louisiana have saddened me," the president told reporters at the White House. "All of us in America want there to be, you know, fairness when it comes to justice."
While Jena Six supporters were overwhelmingly black, young whites were also present.
"I think what happened here was disgusting and repulsive to the whole state," said Mallory Flippo, a white college student from Shreveport. "I think it reflected badly on our state and how it makes it seem we view black people. I don't feel that way, so I thought I should be here."
Other rallies in support of the black teens were held elsewhere, including Oklahoma City, where about 500 people gathered.
"It is time for us to express our outrage that such a blatant injustice should happen," said Roosevelt Milton, Oklahoma City NAACP president.
"I'm just glad people are starting to stand up for what is right," said Kiara Andrews, 15, of the Oklahoma City suburb of Midwest City.
In Jena, many white residents expressed anger at the way news organizations portrayed their town of 3,000 people.
"I believe in people standing up for what's right," said resident Ricky Coleman, 46, who is white. "What bothers me is this town being labeled racist. I'm not racist."
Mychal Bell, now 17, is the only one of the defendants to be tried. He was convicted of aggravated second-degree battery, but his conviction was tossed out last week by a state appeals court that said Bell, who was 16 at the time of the beating, could not be tried as an adult on that charge.
He remained in jail pending an appeal by prosecutors. An appellate court on Thursday ordered a hearing to be held within three days on his request for release. The other five defendants are free on bond.
A group of about a dozen white residents and black demonstrators engaged in an animated but not angry exchange during the march. Whites asked blacks if they were aware of Bell's criminal record. Blacks replied that Jena High administrators mishandled the incidents.
Another white resident, Bill Williamson, 59, said he tried to convince visitors that the town was being treated unfairly and that Bell belonged in jail.
"I think we changed one man's mind," he said. "But most of these people don't want to hear."
As she trudged up a hill to a rally at a park, 63-year-old Elizabeth Redding of Willingboro, N.J., remembered marching at Selma, Ala., when she was in her 20s.
"I am a great-grandmother now. I'm doing this for my great-grandchildren," she said.
Alecea Rush, 21, a senior at Prairie View A&M University in Texas, said her grandmother used to tell her stories about the civil rights movement, including one in which she witnessed a lynching in Oklahoma City.
"I thought about every one of those stories being out here today," Rush said. "I never really felt the significance until today."

Bin Laden urges Pakistanis to revolt

By LEE KEATH, Associated Press Writer

CAIRO, Egypt - Al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden called on Pakistanis to rebel against President Gen. Pervez Musharraf in a new recording released Thursday, saying his military's siege of a militant mosque stronghold makes him an infidel.

The storming of the Red Mosque in Islamabad in July "demonstrated Musharraf's insistence on continuing his loyalty, submissiveness and aid to America against the Muslims ... and makes armed rebellion against him and removing him obligatory," bin Laden said in the message.
"So when the capability is there, it is obligatory to rebel against the apostate ruler, as is the case now," he said.
Bin Laden's voice was heard over video showing previously released footage of the terror leader. The video was released Thursday on Islamic militant Web sites and first reported by Laura Mansfield, an American terrorism expert who monitors militant message traffic.
The message, titled "Come to Jihad," was the third from bin Laden this month in a flurry of videos and audiotapes marking the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States.
Maj. Gen. Waheed Arshad, a Pakistani army spokesman, said the army will continue its fight against terrorism, regardless of any threats it faces.
"We have the aim and objective, as our national duty, to eliminate terrorists and eradicate extremism. The Pakistan army will continue to carry out its role against terrorists wherever they are found, whether in the tribal areas (of northwest Pakistan) or elsewhere."
"Such threats issued through videos or in any other way cannot deter us from fulfilling our national duty," he said.
State Department spokesman Tom Casey said the message was "not surprising" since bin Laden seek Pakistan as an ally to the U.S. "in the fight against his kind of extremism."
Earlier Thursday, al-Qaida released an 80-minute documentary-style video that had a new speech from bin Laden's deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, who boasted that the United States was being defeated in Afghanistan, Iraq and other fronts. Speakers in the video promised more fighting in Afghanistan, North Africa and Sudan's Darfur region.
The Pakistani military stormed the Red Mosque after it became a stronghold for Islamic militants and at least 102 people were killed in the fighting, including one of the militants' leaders, Abdul Rashid Ghazi. The siege was followed by a series of suicide bombings in retaliation.
In his message, bin Laden said Ghazi and his followers were killed for seeking the application of Sharia Islamic law, and he condemned Musharraf for allying himself with the U.S. in the fight against al-Qaida.
He quoted fatwas, or religious edits, from hard-line Islamic scholars on the duty to overthrow infidel rulers.
"So Pervez, his ministers, his soldiers and those who help him are all accomplices in the spilling the blood of those of the Muslims who have been killed. He who helps him knowingly and willingly is an infidel like him," bin Laden said.
Al-Qaida leaders have railed against Musharraf and urged Pakistanis to rise up against him in past messages — but the call from bin Laden now may be aimed at adding weight to the rallying cry. The Pakistani president has come under four assassination attempts since 2002.
Bin Laden and al-Zawahri are thought to be hiding in the lawless Pakistan-Afghanistan border region, where many analysts believe they have rebuilt al-Qaida's core leadership.
Thursday's other video underlined al-Qaida's growing technical sophistication in its videos, interspersing al-Zawahri's speech with scenes from the Sept. 11 attacks, interviews with experts and officials taken from Western and Arab broadcasters, and old footage and audio of bin Laden.
The tone was triumphal, with al-Zawahri calling for attacks on French and Spanish interests in North Africa and on U.N. and African peacekeepers expected to deploy in Darfur.
"What they claim to be the strongest power in the history of mankind is today being defeated in front of the Muslim vanguards of jihad six years after the two raids on New York and Washington," al-Zawahri said.
The video included footage of al-Qaida's leader in Afghanistan, Mustafa Abu al-Yazeed, meeting with a senior Taliban commander. In contrast to past videos showing al-Qaida and Taliban fighters in rough desert terrain, Abu al-Yazeed and the commander were shown sitting in a field surrounded by trees as a jihad anthem played, extolling the virgins that will meet martyrs in paradise.
Abu al-Yazeed said al-Qaida's ties with the Taliban were strengthening. The Taliban commander, Dadullah Mansoor, vowed to "target the infidels in Afghanistan and outside Afghanistan" and to "focus our attacks, Allah willing, on the coalition forces in Afghanistan."
Another clip in the video showed Abu Musab Abdulwadood, the leader of Algeria's main Islamic insurgency movement, addressing bin Laden and vowing that "our swords are unsheathed."
Al-Zawahri called on supporters in North Africa to "cleanse the Maghrib (western region) of Islam of the children of France and Spain. ... Stand with your sons the mujahedeen against the Crusaders and their children."
He denounced Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir for agreeing to an international peacekeeping force in Darfur, saying, "the free mujahid (holy warrior) sons of Sudan must arrange jihad against the forces invading Sudan in the same way their brothers arranged the jihadi resistance in Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia."
The video also included old, but previously unreleased footage of bin Laden, according to IntelCenter, a U.S. counterterrorism group that monitors militant messages.
The images show bin Laden, with a beard streaked with gray and white cloth draped over his head, in front of a map showing the Middle East and South and Central Asia.
He condemns Arab Gulf governments that have allied themselves with the United States, saying they have "sold the Islamic nation, colluded with the enemies of Islam and backed the infidels."

Lawyer: Musharraf will give up army post

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - President Gen. Pervez Musharraf will give up his position as army chief if he wins re-election as president, a government lawyer said Tuesday.

The announcement by government attorney Sharifuddin Pirzada was the first clear official statement that Pakistan's military leader plans to contest the upcoming election while in uniform, then relinquish it afterward.
Musharraf, who took power in a military coup in 1999 and has seen his popularity slide in recent months after a failed attempt to sack Pakistan's top judge, currently holds the office of both president and army chief. He is under growing pressure to stand down from the army post — the main source of his power.
His current presidential term expires Nov. 15, and he is expected to seek another five-term year in a vote by all provincial and national lawmakers by Oct. 15. Many experts say that retaining the army position into the next term would violate the Constitution.
"If elected for the second term as president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf shall relinquish charge of the office of the chief of army staff soon after election, but before taking oath of office of the president of Pakistan for the next term," Pirzada said.
Pirzada read the statement in the Supreme Court as it hears petitions that challenge Musharraf's holding of both offices and his eligibility for the presidential election.
Pirzada added that the Musharraf's nomination paper for the election would be scrutinized by the chief Election Commissioner "independently and in accordance with the law."
On Monday, Pakistan's Election Commission changed the rules to open the way for Musharraf to seek a new term without giving up the powerful position of army chief.
Opposition parties decried the move as a brazen violation of the constitution and accused the U.S.-allied leader of trying to bulldoze legal obstacles to his staying in power amid increasing demands for an end to military rule. They predicted a surge in democracy protests.
The ruling was likely to end up before the Supreme Court, which has proved an impediment to Musharraf this year and which many people hope can find a way to guide Pakistan out of a political crisis that some fear could lead to violent demonstrations and martial law.
The high court on Monday resumed hearing arguments on several petitions that seek to disqualify Musharraf as a presidential candidate.
The five-member Election Commission, whose chairman was appointed by Musharraf, said it changed a rule for the presidential vote by legislators, due by Oct. 15, so a constitutional article barring government employees — such as army officers — from running no longer applies.
"The chief election commissioner of Pakistan has made the requisite amendment, with the approval of the president," the panel said in a statement.
The move appeared to signal Musharraf's determination to extend his rule and dimmed the promise of already-stalled negotiations between Musharraf and the moderate party of exiled former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto on a potential power-sharing deal.
It also could deepen divisions within the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Q party as Musharraf struggles to calm an intensified democracy campaign as well as respond to the resurgence of Taliban and al-Qaida militants entrenched in the region along with border with Afghanistan.
Musharraf's popularity has plummeted since March when he tried to fire the Supreme Court's independent-minded chief justice, sparking widespread pro-democracy demonstrations led by the country's lawyers. The high court later ruled the president could not remove the judge.
Musharraf retrieved some of the political initiative last week by blocking a personal challenge from another exiled prime minister, the man he toppled eight years ago in a bloodless coup. Nawaz Sharif was sent back into exile in Saudi Arabia just hours after he flew in.
However, in doing that, Musharraf has set up another showdown with the Supreme Court, which ruled earlier that the government could not prevent Sharif from coming home.
In the high court action Monday, arguments were made over six petitions challenging Musharraf's eligibility to run. They petitions included one by Jamaat-e-Islami, Pakistan's largest Islamic group, on Musharraf's eligibility to stand again as president. It was unclear when the court would reach a verdict.
Bhutto forecast that the change in the election rules would further enrage the lawyers who mounted the well-organized protest campaign that preceded the reinstatement of the Supreme Court's chief judge.
"All political parties, irrespective of whether they were moderates or religious, regional or national, came together to back the lawyers and their movement and I think the same would happen again," Bhutto told The Associated Press late Sunday, when Pakistani media first reported the rule change.
Bhutto said her party might join other opposition groups in resigning from parliament. She said that for Musharraf to seek re-election in uniform would be "illegal."
Bhutto and Musharraf have discussed a deal that would include constitutional amendments to remove legal problems to the president running again and let her return home to seek a third term as prime minister in parliamentary elections due by January.
But the talks have snagged amid opposition from right-wingers in the ruling party who could be eclipsed if Bhutto made a triumphant return.
If it remains in place, the rule change announced by the five-member Election Commission would remove the need for a power-sharing pact.
The commission said it was updating its rules to reflect Supreme Court rulings in 2002 and 2005 that Article 63 of the constitution did not apply to Musharraf.
The article bars civil servants, including members of the military, from running for elected office. The article also says former civil servants must wait for two years before they become eligible for election. Some argue that makes Musharraf ineligible even if he quits as army chief.
The 2002 and 2005 court cases challenged the legality of Musharraf's presidency, including his holding of the office of president and army chief at the same time.
Qazi Hussain Ahmed, head of a six-party coalition of Islamic parties in the opposition, said the latest move could destabilize Pakistan by discrediting the election commission.
"Gen. Musharraf is not getting off the bulldozer he has been riding" since toppling Sharif, Ahmed told the AP. "Now he is bent upon further ruining the constitution."
"We will block his way through street power and through every available forum," Ahmed added.

Rule change favors Pakistan's Musharraf

By SADAQAT JAN, Associated Press Writer
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - The Election Commission announced a rule change Monday that would apparently allow President Gen. Pervez Musharraf to seek a new, five-year term while still serving as army chief.

Opposition parties insist the U.S.-backed Musharraf is ineligible to run, but the commission said it had changed a rule so that a key article of the constitution no longer applied.
"The chief election commissioner of Pakistan has made the requisite amendment, with the approval of the president," the commission said in a statement.
The rule change drew an outraged response from opposition leader and former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. She also accused Musharraf's allies of leading the country toward a dangerous crisis by refusing to restore democracy and share power.
Bhutto predicted the decision would enrage the same lawyers who led the campaign for the restoration of Pakistan's independent-minded top judge whom Musharraf tried to remove from office in March, sparking a pro-democracy protest movement. The Supreme Court later reinstated the judge.
"All political parties, irrespective of whether they were moderates or religious, regional or national, came together to back the lawyers and their movement and I think the same would happen again," Bhutto told The Associated Press late Sunday, when Pakistani media first reported the rule change.
She said her party may join other opposition groups in resigning from parliament. She said that for Musharraf to seek re-election in uniform would be "illegal."
Pakistan's political turmoil is deepening as Musharraf, who took power in a 1999 coup and became a key U.S. ally after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, tries to extend his rule. He wants lawmakers to vote him back in by mid-October, but faces tough legal and political obstacles.
Musharraf's term expires Nov. 15. The president is elected in a vote by all members of Pakistan's provincial and national assemblies.
Musharraf's standing has plummeted since March, and he is also struggling to contain a surge in attacks by pro-Taliban militants near the border with Afghanistan.
Last week, he sidelined his chief political rival, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, sending him back into exile. But in doing that, he set up another showdown with the Supreme Court that had earlier ruled that Sharif could return to Pakistan.
Bhutto has been in talks with Musharraf on a pact including constitutional amendments to defuse the legal challenges to his re-election and let her return and seek a third term as premier in parliamentary elections due by January.
Negotiations have snagged over Musharraf's reluctance to cede his sweeping powers.
Monday's announcement by the election commission, however, seemed to remove the need for such a pact.
The election commission said it was updating its rules to reflect Supreme Court rulings in 2002 and 2005 that Article 63 of the constitution did not apply to Musharraf. The article includes a bar on government servants running for election that some legal experts argue prevents Musharraf from seeking another term.
The article also says that former government servants must wait for two years before they become eligible to run. Some argue that makes Musharraf ineligible even if he quits as army chief.
Information Minister Muhammad Ali Durrani said the government was not involved in the rule change. He defended the Election Commission's announcement, saying it had only amended the election rules in accordance with court rulings.
On Monday, the Supreme Court resumed hearing six petitions, including one by Jamaat-e-Islami, Pakistan's largest Islamist group, on Musharraf's eligibility to stand again. Their eventual verdict could override the decision of the Election Commission.
Attorney General Malik Mohammed Qayyum said that, with the cases pending in court, the Election Commission was "reluctant" to announce the schedule for the presidential election. Ruling party lawmakers have said it will be held in early October.

Saudi in $8.9 billion deal for Eurofighter

AFP.

RIYADH (AFP) - The Saudi defence ministry announced on Monday that it has signed a 4.43 billion pound (8.86 billion dollar) deal to buy 72 Eurofighter planes, in one of the largest ever British export orders.

"The two governments on Tuesday (September 11) signed the contract for the acquisition of (72) planes for a cost of 4.43 billion pounds," a ministry spokesman told the state news agency SPA.
He said the deal follows an August 2006 agreement in principle and "a memorandum of understanding between the London and Riyadh governments to modernise the Saudi armed forces as part of their close defence ties".

The memorandum, inked in December 2005, also provides for "a transfer of technology, investment in Saudi military industry and aviation training for Saudis", the spokesman said.
The Times newspaper reported on September 7 that BAE Systems was poised to clinch the deal to supply 72 Eurofighter Typhoon jets to the oil-rich Gulf Arab kingdom.
It had been feared that the deal would be scuppered because of a British probe into allegations Saudi Arabia took bribes from BAE under a military-plane deal struck between Britain and the Middle East kingdom more than 20 years ago.
Britain's Serious Fraud Office last year investigated BAE Systems' 43-billion-pound Al-Yamamah deal in 1985, which provided Hawk and Tornado jets plus other military equipment to Saudi Arabia.
But the investigation was shelved by the British government last December in a move supported by then prime minister Tony Blair amid concerns over Britain's national interests.

Data recorders found in Thai plane crash

By SUTIN WANNABOVORN, Associated Press Writer
PHUKET, Thailand - Authorities on Monday found the two flight data recorders from a plane that crashed and killed 89 people — mostly foreigners — on Thailand's resort island of Phuket, while an airline official said wind shear may have doomed the flight.

The budget One-Two-Go Airlines flight was carrying 123 passengers and seven crew from Bangkok to Phuket when it skidded off a runway Sunday while landing in driving wind and rain, catching fire and engulfing some passengers in flames as others kicked out windows to escape.

Deputy Transport Minister Sansern Wongcha-um told reporters that 89 people, including 53 foreigners, were killed in the crash, and 41 others were injured. The crash was Thailand's worst air accident in a decade.
Kajit Habnanonda, president of Orient-Thai Airlines, which owns One-Two-Go, said wind shear — the rapid change in wind speed which can impact takeoffs and landings — was a possible cause of the accident. Heavy rains could have contributed to the plane skidding off the runway, Kajit added.
At least four Americans were among the foreign tourists killed and one survived the crash, according to a U.S. Embassy spokesman in Bangkok who spoke on condition of anonymity citing protocol.
An Israel Embassy official who spoke on condition of anonymity for the same reason said there were 10 Israelis on the passenger list. Two were injured, the official said.
Passengers from France, Sweden, Iran and Australia also were killed, as were the plane's Indonesian pilot and Thai co-pilot, according to the airline's list of dead passengers, which was obtained by The Associated Press.
Survivors described how the McDonnell Douglas MD-82 was preparing to land in heavy rains when it suddenly lifted off again and then came crashing down on the runway. It rammed through a low retaining wall and split in two after it crashed.
"I think he realized the runway was too close or he was too fast or the wind had hit him," Robert Borland, a survivor who lives in Australia, told The Associated Press. "He accelerated and tried to pull out. I thought he is going around again and the next thought was everything went black and there was a big mess and we hit the ground."
Borland, 48, managed to drag himself to an exit where he was pulled by another survivor from the plane to safety.
"People were screaming. There was a fire in the cabin and my clothes caught fire," he said.
Parinwit Chusaeng, who was slightly burned, said some passengers were engulfed in flames.
"I stepped over them on the way out of the plane," Parinwit told The Nation TV channel. "I was afraid that the airplane was going to explode, so I ran away."
Parts of the twisted plane lay smoking at the side of the runway, while officials wearing masks carried bodies wrapped in white sheets to an airport storage building.
Transport Minister Theera Haocharoen said the plane's black boxes would be sent to the United States for analysis.
"Hopefully, we will learn in a few weeks the cause of accident," he said.
Many of the passengers had been planning to vacation at Phuket, a popular beach resort that was among the areas hit hardest by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, which killed more than 8,000 people on the island.
The accident was likely to raise new questions about the safety of budget airlines in Southeast Asia, which have experienced rapid growth in recent years and often scramble to find qualified pilots. None of Thailand's budget airlines had previously suffered a major accident, but there have been several deadly crashes in Indonesia.
Many budget airlines use older planes that have been leased or purchased after years of use by other airlines. According to Thai and U.S. aviation registration data, the plane that crashed in Phuket was manufactured and put into use in 1983, and began flying in Thailand in March this year.
One-Two-Go Airlines began operations in December 2003 and is the domestic subsidiary of Orient-Thai Airlines, a regional charter carrier based in Thailand.
___
Associated Press Writer Audra Ang contributed to this report.

Blackwater license being pulled in Iraq

By BASSEM MROUE, Associated Press Writer
BAGHDAD - The Iraqi government said Monday that it was pulling the license of an American security firm allegedly involved in the fatal shooting of civilians during an attack on a U.S. State Department motorcade in Baghdad.

The Interior Ministry said it would prosecute any foreign contractors found to have used excessive force in the Sunday shooting. It was latest accusation against the U.S.-contracted firms that operate with little or no supervision and are widely disliked by Iraqis who resent their speeding motorcades and forceful behavior.

Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul-Karim Khalaf said eight civilians were killed and 13 were wounded when security contractors believed to be working for Blackwater USA opened fire in a predominantly Sunni neighborhood of western Baghdad.
"We have canceled the license of Blackwater and prevented them from working all over Iraqi territory. We will also refer those involved to Iraqi judicial authorities," Khalaf said.
The spokesman said witness reports pointed to Blackwater involvement but said the shooting was still under investigation. It was not immediately clear if the measure against Blackwater was intended to be temporary or permanent.
Blackwater, based in Moyock, N.C., provides security for many U.S. civilian operations in the country.
Phone messages left early Monday at the company's office in North Carolina and with a spokeswoman were not immediately returned.
The U.S. Embassy said a State Department motorcade came under small-arms fire that disabled one of the vehicles, which had to be towed from the scene near Nisoor Square in the Mansour district.
An embassy official provided no information about Iraqi casualties but said no State Department personnel were wounded or killed. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to media.
He said the shooting was being investigated by the State Department's diplomatic security service and law enforcement officials working with the Iraqi government and the U.S. military.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki late Sunday condemned the shooting by a "foreign security company" and called it a "crime."
The decision to pull the license was likely to face a challenge as it would be a major blow to a company that was at the forefront of one of the main turning points in the war.
The 2004 battle of Fallujah — an unsuccessful military assault in which an estimated 27 U.S. Marines were killed, along with an unknown number of civilians — was retaliation for the killing, maiming and burning of four Blackwater guards in that city by a mob of insurgents.
Tens of thousands of foreign private security contractors work in Iraq — some with automatic weapons, body armor, helicopters and bulletproof vehicles — to provide protection for Westerners and dignitaries in Iraq as the country has plummeted toward anarchy and civil war.
Monday's action against Blackwater was likely to give the unpopular government a boost, given the contractors' widespread unpopularity.
Many of the contractors have been accused of indiscriminately firing at American and Iraqi troops, and of shooting to death an unknown number of Iraqi citizens who got too close to their heavily armed convoys, but none has faced charges or prosecution.
The question of whether they could face prosecution is a gray legal area. Unlike soldiers, they are not bound by the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Under a special provision secured by American-occupying forces, they are exempt from prosecution by Iraqis for crimes committed there.
Khalaf, however, denied that the exemption applied to private security companies.
Iraqi police said the contractors were in a convoy of six sport utility vehicles and left after the shooting. A witness said the gunfire broke out following an explosion.
"We saw a convoy of SUVs passing in the street nearby. One minute later, we heard the sound of a bomb explosion followed by gunfire that lasted for 20 minutes between gunmen and the convoy people who were foreigners and dressed in civilian clothes. Everybody in the street started to flee immediately," said Hussein Abdul-Abbas, who owns a mobile phone store in the area.
The wartime numbers of private guards are unprecedented — as are their duties, many of which have traditionally been done by soldiers. They protect U.S. military operations and diplomats and have guarded high-ranking officials including Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Baghdad.
They also protect journalists, visiting foreign officials and thousands of construction projects.
Blackwater has an estimated 1,000 employees in Iraq, and at least $800 million in government contracts. It is one of the most high-profile security firms in Iraq, with its fleet of "Little Bird" helicopters and armed door gunners swarming Baghdad and beyond.
The secretive company, run by a former Navy SEAL, is based at a massive, swampland complex. Until the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, it had few security contracts.
Since then, Blackwater profits have soared. And it has become the focus of numerous controversies in Iraq, including the May 30 shooting death of an Iraqi deemed to be driving too close to a Blackwater security detail.
In violence Monday, a suicide bomber detonated his explosives-laden car near a busy market in Baghdad, killing three people and wounding 10 in an attack that apparently targeted a police patrol, said a police officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to release the information.
Hamid Ghassan, a 20-year-old juice vendor, who described hearing the blast, said he was dismayed that al-Maliki's government is "sitting safe, making agreements and lying to people while masses ... are being killed."

US captures Qaeda suspect in killing of key Iraq ally

BAGHDAD (AFP) - - The US military said it had captured a suspect in the killing of a key Iraqi ally in the fight against Al-Qaeda, as violence left 22 people dead on Sunday after the militants warned of a bloody Ramadan.
The suspected Al-Qaeda fighter was detained near Balad, north of Baghdad, on Saturday, two days after Sheikh Abdul Sattar Abu Reesha was killed in a car bomb near his home in western Anbar province, a military statement said.
Abu Reesha, a Sunni Arab tribal leader, had spearheaded the fight against Al-Qaeda in Anbar and was an important ally of the United States in its battle against the Iraqi affiliate of Osama bin Laden's jihadist network.
The US military named the detained Iraqi as Fallah Khalifa Hiyas Fayyas al-Jumayli and said he was also suspected of involvement in a plot to kill tribal leaders in Anbar.
"He is also reportedly responsible for car bomb and suicide vest attacks in Anbar province, and is closely allied with senior Al-Qaeda in Iraq leaders in the region," the statement said.
The Islamic State of Iraq, which is affiliated to Al-Qaeda, claimed responsibility for Abu Reesha's killing in an Internet statement on Friday, and warned it would target all Sunni leaders who support US troops in Iraq.
It also vowed a new offensive during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Security and medical officials said at least 22 people died in bombings and gunbattles in Iraq, despite extra security forces deployed for Ramadan and a surge in US troop numbers aimed at quelling sectarian violence that has has killed thousands of Iraqis.
In Baghdad, the relative calm which had prevailed since the holy month began on Thursday was shattered when a car bomb ripped through crowds outside a shopping mall, killing two people and wounding seven, security and medical officials said.
In another incident, nine people were killed and 15 wounded when a US State Department motorcade came under fire in the Yarmuk neighbourhood of west Baghdad.
"The motorcade of six four-wheel drive vehicles came under fire and occupants of the motorcade returned fire in which nine bystanders were killed and 15 wounded," a security official said.
A US embassy official confirmed that there had been an exchange of fire involving a diplomatic convoy but had no word on any casualties.
"A US Department of State motorcade came under fire in Baghdad. There was escalation of force. The incident is under investigation," the official told AFP.
In northern Iraq, a suicide bomber triggered his explosive vest in a crowded cafe in the town of Tuz, south of the oil city of Kirkuk, killing eight people and wounding 19, officials said.
In Hilla, south of Baghad, a traffic policeman and his 16-year-old son were abducted by gunmen early Sunday and later found dead, police said.
In Baquba, north of the capital, a boy of six was killed by sniper fire.
The latest deaths brought the overall toll since the start of Ramadan to 51, according to an AFP tally.
The violence came against the backdrop of a deepening rift within the Shiite alliance that leads the Iraqi government.
The Shiite radical movement of firebrand anti-US cleric Moqtada al-Sadr announced late Saturday that its 32 MPs were quitting the United Iraqi Alliance (UIA).
But the head of the movement's political committee, Liwa Sumaysim, denied on Sunday that the move was intended to undermine Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.
"We have absolutely no intention of pushing Prime Minister Maliki out," Sumaysim told AFP.
UIA member of parliament Abbas al-Bayati said the alliance would try to persuade Sadr's movement to reconsider.
"We will not neglect the Sadr movement and will keep open channels of dialogue with them to listen to them and understand the reasons for their withdrawal," he said.
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Al-Qaida fighters raid Iraq villages

AP
By KIM GAMEL,Associated Press Writer
BAGHDAD - The U.S. military on Sunday announced the arrest of a suspect in the killing of a sheik who spearheaded the U.S.-backed Sunni revolt against al-Qaida in Iraq, even as the terror network launched a campaign of violence during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
Dozens of suspected Sunni insurgents raided Shiite villages north of Baghdad, killing at least 15 people and setting homes ablaze, police said. A bicycle bomb exploded at a cafe serving tea and food during the Ramadan fast in northern Iraq.
The surge of bloodshed — with 54 people killed or found dead nationwide — occurred a day after al-Qaida announced a new campaign aimed at countering U.S. and Iraqi claims the terror movement is reeling following the U.S.-led offensives around the Iraqi capital.
But the U.S. military insisted it had the group on the run and said a man believed responsible for the assassination of a U.S.-allied Sunni tribal leader in Anbar province had been arrested north of Baghdad.
Abdul-Sattar Abu Risha, 37, was the leader of Anbar Awakening — an alliance of clans backing the Iraqi government and U.S. forces against al-Qaida in Iraq that was touted as one of the success stories of the war. He and three companions were killed in a bombing Thursday outside his heavily guarded compound in the provincial capital of Ramadi, days after he had met with President Bush.
The U.S. military said an al-Qaida-linked militant connected to his death and a plot to kill other tribal leaders — Fallah Khalifa Hiyas Fayyas al-Jumayli, an Iraqi also known as Abu Khamis — was seized Saturday during a raid west of Balad, and the search continued for other suspects.
Brig. Gen. Joe Anderson, chief of staff to the No. 2 commander in Iraq, said al-Qaida fighters were "off-balance" and had "clearly been neutralized" in Baghdad.
"They are very fractured. It's very localized and the ability for them to conduct large-scale, sensational attacks has been greatly decreased," Anderson said at a news conference.
In the raids on the Shiite villages of Jichan and Ghizlayat, the fighters arrived from several different directions and residents fought back until Iraqi security forces arrived and forced the attackers to flee to nearby farms.
Iraqi police and army officials said 15 people were killed and 10 wounded, including two children, in the clashes some 60 miles north of Baghdad.
Mohammed Azzawi Ali al-Timimi, 30, said he was out buying supplies for his store when the attacks occurred. He returned home to devastation.
"When I came back to my Jichan village I was shocked to find that my father had been killed, along with two of my brothers and my 7-year-old nephew," he said. "Four other houses of my relatives were attacked as well and more than eight cars were burned out."
Farther north, a booby-trapped bicycle exploded in the religiously mixed town of Tuz Khormato, killing at least five people and wounding 19.
Witnesses said a boy left the bike near the outdoor cafe, which was in a popular market and was one of the few open during daylight hours despite Ramadan. Tradition requires the faithful to abstain from eating and drinking from sunrise to sunset during the monthlong observance.
Two of the slain victims were in the cafe, while three were in the market, police chief Capt. Abbas Mohammed said.
No one claimed responsibility, but the attack bore the hallmark of Sunni insurgents led by al-Qaida and underscored militants' ability to find new ways to thwart stringent security measures.
In Baghdad, Iraqi police said security contractors opened fire in a predominantly Sunni neighborhood of western Baghdad on Sunday, killing at least nine civilians.
The U.S. Embassy said contractors working for the State Department were involved in an incident in Baghdad but provided no further details. Leslie Phillips, a State Department spokeswoman in Washington, said an investigation was under way.
"We saw a convoy of SUVs passing in the street nearby. One minute later, we heard the sound of bomb explosion followed by gunfire that lasted for 20 minutes between gunmen and the convoy people who were foreigners and dressed in civilian clothes. Everybody in the street started to flee immediately," said Hussein Abdul-Abbas, who owns a cell phone store nearby.
State-run Iraqiya television reported that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki condemned the shootings by a "foreign security company."
The police officer who reported the shootings in Mansour spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information.
American soldiers arrived afterward and were not involved, military spokesman Lt. Col. Scott Bleichwehl said.
Many contractors have been accused of indiscriminately opening fire and shooting to death Iraqis who get too close to their heavily armed convoys, but none has faced charges or prosecution.
The wartime numbers of private guards are unprecedented — as are their duties, many of which have traditionally been done by soldiers. They protect U.S. military operations and have guarded high-ranking officials including Gen. David Petraeus, the U.S. commander in Baghdad.
They also protect journalists, visiting foreign officials and thousands of construction projects.

Plane crash in Thailand kills 88

AP
By AUDRA ANG, Associated Press Writer
PHUKET, Thailand - A plane carrying foreign tourists crashed Sunday as it tried to land in stormy weather on the resort island of Phuket, engulfing some passengers in flames while others kicked out windows to escape the smoke-filled cabin. At least 88 people were killed.
The budget One-Two-Go Airlines flight was carrying 123 passengers and seven crew members from the capital Bangkok to Phuket when it skidded off the runway in driving wind and rain, officials said. It then ran through a low retaining wall and split in two.
Survivors described their escape amid chaos, smoke and fire.
"As soon as we hit, everything went dark and everything fell," said Mildred Furlong, 23, a waitress from British Columbia, Canada. The plane started filling with smoke and fires broke out, she said. A passenger in front of her caught fire, while one in the back kicked out a plane window.
It was not clear how many of the 78 foreigners on board died, but they included tourists from France, Germany, Israel, Australia and Britain, said the deputy governor of Phuket province, Worapot Ratthaseema. The government issued a list saying nearly 30 foreigners had survived.
About 60 bodies were retrieved quickly, but it took hours to get the other bodies out. Parts of the twisted plane lay smoking at the side of the runway, while officials wearing masks carried bodies wrapped in white sheets to an airport storage building.
Survivors said the plane landed hard and was out of control.
"Our plane was landing, you can tell it was in trouble, because it kind of landed then came up again the second time," said John Gerard O'Donnell of Ireland, speaking from his hospital bed.
"I came out on the wing of the plane ... the exit door, it was kind of crushed and I had to squeeze through. And saw my friend, he was outside. He just got out before me. And next thing, it really caught fire, then I just got badly burned, my face, my legs, my arms," he said.
Parinwit Chusaeng, who was slightly burned, said some passengers were engulfed in flames.
"I stepped over them on the way out of the plane," Parinwit told The Nation TV channel. "I was afraid that the airplane was going to explode, so I ran away."
Piyanooch Ananpakdee, a coordinator at Bangkok Phuket Hospital, said some survivors told her that passengers stepped on each other as they fled the smoke-filled plane.
She said there were five people in critical condition at her hospital, including a British woman with burns over 60 percent of her body and another person with broken ribs. Many of the injured also had broken legs and similar injuries from jumping from the aircraft, she said.
Dr. Charnsilp Wacharajira said some of the victims were killed by traumatic injuries to the head, not burns from the fire, indicating they died from the impact of the crash.
Officials said it was too early to say what caused the crash, but weather was likely a factor.
"The visibility was poor as the pilot attempted to land. He decided to make a go-around (make another landing attempt) but the plane lost balance and crashed," said Chaisak Angsuwan, director general of the Air Transport Authority of Thailand. "It was torn into two parts."
Many of the passengers had been planning to vacation at Phuket, an island popular with Thai and foreign tourists for its pristine beaches. It was among the areas hit hardest by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, which killed more than 8,000 people on the island.
Sunday's plane crash was Thailand's deadliest since December 1998, when 101 people were killed in a Thai Airways crash at Surat Thani, 330 miles south of Bangkok. Forty-five people survived.
The accident was likely to raise new questions about the safety of budget airlines in Southeast Asia, which have experienced rapid growth in recent years. None of Thailand's budget airlines had previously suffered a major accident, but there have been several deadly crashes in Indonesia.
An Adam Air flight plunged into off the Indonesian coast on New Year's Day, killing 102 people. In 2004, a MD-82 operated by Indonesian budget carrier Lion Air skidded off the runaway in heavy rain at Solo airport in Central Java and crashed, killing 26 people.
Many budget airlines use older planes that have been leased or purchased after years of use by other airlines. According to Thai and U.S. aviation registration data, the plane that crashed in Phuket was manufactured and put into use in 1983, and began flying in Thailand in March this year.
One-Two-Go Airlines began operations in December 2003 and is the domestic subsidiary of Orient-Thai Airlines, a regional charter carrier based in Thailand.

Qaeda urges cartoonist death, threatens Swedish firms

DUBAI (Reuters) - The head of an al Qaeda-led group in Iraq has offered a $100,000 reward for the killing of a Swedish cartoonist for his drawing of Islam's Prophet Mohammad and threatened to attack major Swedish companies.
Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, leader of the self-styled Islamic State in Iraq, also offered $50,000 in an audiotape posted on an Islamist Web site on Saturday to anyone who killed the editor of the newspaper that published the drawing by Lars Vilks.
Sweden's daily Nerikes Allehanda published the drawing, part of a series which art galleries in Sweden had declined to display, last month.
"From now on we announce the call to shed the blood of the Lars who dared to insult our Prophet... and during this munificent month we announce an award worth $100,000 to the person who kills this infidel criminal," he said in the 31-minute tape.
"The award will be increased to $150,000 if he were to be slaughtered like a lamb.
"We know how to force them to withdraw and apologies, and if they don't, they can wait for our strikes on their economy and giant companies such as Ericsson, Volvo, Ikea...."
Contacted by Reuters, Edvard Unsgaard, spokesman for Sweden's prime minister, declined to comment on what he said was "police business."
The newspaper published the image, depicting the head of the Prophet on the body of a dog, in what it called a defense of free speech. Muslim countries including Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan expressed anger over the caricature.
Iran, the first country to protest against the publication of the drawing on August 27, summoned Sweden's charge d'affaires in Tehran to complain. Muslims believe images of the Prophet are forbidden and also consider dogs to be impure.
The Swedish Muslim Council, one of Sweden's largest Muslim organizations, rejected Baghdadi's threats.
"The Swedish Muslim Council definitely repudiates and at the same time condemns threats against individuals or Swedish institutions. We accept neither crimes nor ethical violations of everyone's right to live in security and to respectful treatment," it said in a statement.
Last year, Muslims around the world launched a firestorm of protest after a Danish newspaper published cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad that were reprinted by other European newspapers.

U.S. nuclear team ends survey in NKorea

SEOUL, South Korea - Recent talks between a U.S.-led team of nuclear experts and North Korea were "businesslike" and "positive," an official said Saturday, raising hopes for a deal soon on how to disable the North's nuclear facilities.
Lim Sung-nam, South Korea's No. 2 nuclear negotiator, made the remark after receiving a briefing from the American team of experts who returned to Seoul earlier in the day after a five-day survey of the North's main atomic facilities.
"The talks between the U.S. and the North this time were conducted in a businesslike manner in a very positive atmosphere," Lim told reporters. "Additional consultations and a decision are expected at next week's six-party talks."
The remarks strongly suggest that the upcoming nuclear disarmament talks in Beijing are expected to produce an agreement with the North on how to disable the communist nation's nuclear facilities be year's end, so they cannot produce material for bombs.
The nuclear negotiations, aimed at ridding North Korea of its nuclear weapons and programs, bring together China, Japan, the two Koreas, Russia and the United States. South Korean and U.S. officials said the talks would resume next week, although host China has not made any official announcement.
In North Korea, the American experts teamed up with Chinese and Russian specialists to survey the atomic facilities at Yongbyon, 60 miles north of Pyongyang.
They also held talks with North Korean officials in Pyongyang. The discussions produced a "detailed plan" on disabling Yongbyon facilities, China's official Xinhua news agency reported, citing Chu Xuming, the Chinese member of the three-nation team.
North Korea is required to disable Yongbyon in exchange for economic aid and political concessions under a February deal reached at six-party talks. In July, the North closed its sole functioning reactor at Yongbyon, as well as other facilities, ahead of their disablement.
The country agreed at bilateral talks with the U.S. earlier this month to complete the disablement by year's end.
The North's invitation to the American nuclear experts was the latest sign that it is serious about disarming.
North Korea, which conducted its first-ever nuclear test last October, has been cooperative in the nuclear disarmament talks as Washington made a series of conciliatory moves, including meeting Pyongyang's demand in a separate banking dispute with the U.S.
The experts' trip came amid suspicions about possible North Korean cooperation with Syria on a nuclear facility.
A senior U.S. nuclear official, Andrew Semmel, said Friday that North Koreans were in Syria and that the government in Damascus may have had contacts with "secret suppliers" to obtain nuclear equipment.
Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, the chief U.S. nuclear negotiator with North Korea, said such reports are an "important reminder of the need to accelerate the process we're already engaged in," referring to the six-nation talks aimed at ridding the North of its nuclear weapons and programs.
"It does not change the goal we are aiming for," Hill said.

Japanese candidates back Afghan mission

TOKYO - The front-runner to become Japan's next prime minister vowed Saturday to extend his nation's support for U.S.-led operations in Afghanistan.
Ruling party veteran Yasuo Fukuda also said he would take a softer line with North Korea over its past abduction of Japanese nationals, a row that has threatened to upset negotiations over the communist country's nuclear weapons.
The Sept. 23 Liberal Democratic Party ballot to replace Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who abruptly resigned earlier this week, will pit the liberal Fukuda against the more hawkish former Foreign Minister Taro Aso.
Both candidates have said Japan cannot afford to drop out of the global war on terrorism and pledged to push to extend the country's naval mission in the Indian Ocean.
"Our mission is highly regarded by the international community. We must win understanding for the need to extend," Fukuda told a joint press conference Saturday.
Since 2001, Japan's navy has been providing fuel for U.S.-led coalition forces in Afghanistan under an anti-terrorism law that has been extended three times.
But the country's main opposition party, the Democratic Party of Japan, is against a further extension, saying coalition operations there have not been properly approved by the United Nations.
"We must not forget that Japanese nationals were also among victims of the terrorist attacks on the U.S.," Aso said. "We have the responsibility to participate in the global war on terror." Twenty-four Japanese citizens were killed in the Sept. 11 attacks.
Abe had staked his job on pushing through a military extension. But he resigned on Wednesday, leaving the future of the mission in limbo and triggering political confusion in the world's second-biggest economy.
The premier was later hospitalized for exhaustion and stress-related stomach problems.
Aso, 66, a high-profile member of the Abe administration, initially emerged as the front-runner to replace Abe. But support for Fukuda, 71, a critic of Abe, has jumped after several party heavyweights said they will back him.
Fukuda also led Aso in a public opinion poll conducted by Kyodo News agency released late Friday.
Fukuda also said Saturday he would stay away from a contentious war shrine if he becomes prime minister and seek better ties with Asian neighbors.
Tokyo's Yasukuni shrine is vilified by critics because among the war dead honored are Japanese executed for wartime atrocities in Asia. Abe's predecessor Junichiro Koizumi made repeated visits to the shrine, infuriating China and South Korea.
"There is no need to engage in actions resented by our neighbors. We must consider this issue very cautiously," Fukuda said. He suggested that Japan set up a separate memorial to honor its war dead.
Fukuda said he would soften Tokyo's stance toward North Korea over its abductions of Japanese in the 1970s and 80s. Pyongyang returned five abductees in 2002, claiming the rest were dead.
Abe had demanded proof no more Japanese were in North Korea, and refused to give aid to the country under a regional disarmament deal earlier this year.
"Recent talks have become deadlocked, as if there is no room for further negotiation," Fukuda said. "We must work to let our opponents know that we are ready to negotiate."
Aso indicated he would retain Abe's hardline stance, saying Japan faced "the gravest threat from North Korea's nukes and missiles" and that "without pressure, there can be no dialogue."
The winner of the ballot, involving LDP lawmakers and regional party representatives, is assured election as prime minister by parliament because of the party's majority in the powerful lower house.

Al-Qaida: Bounty on Swedish cartoonist

CAIRO, Egypt - The leader of al-Qaida in Iraq offered money for the murder of a Swedish cartoonist and his editor who recently produced images deemed insulting to Islam, according to a statement carried by Islamist Web sites Saturday.
In a half hour audio file entitled "They plotted yet God too was plotting," Abu Omar al-Baghdadi also named the other insurgent groups in Iraq that al-Qaida was fighting and promised new attacks, particularly against the minority Yazidi sect.
"We are calling for the assassination of cartoonist Lars Vilks who dared insult our Prophet, peace be upon him, and we announce a reward during this generous month of Ramadan of $100,000 for the one who kills this criminal," the transcript on the Web site said.
The al-Qaida leader upped the reward for Vilks' death to $150,000 if he was "slaughtered like a lamb" and offered $50,000 for the killing of the editor of Nerikes Allehanda, the Swedish paper that printed Vilks' cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad with a dog's body on Aug. 19.
Vilks said from Sweden he believed the matter of his cartoons had been blown out of proportion.
"We have a real problem here," Vilks told The Associated Press by telephone. "We can only hope that Muslims in Europe and in the Western world choose to distance themselves from this and support the idea of freedom of expression."
Ulf Johansson, editor in chief of Nerikes Allehanda, said he took the bounty "more seriously" than other threats he had received. "This is more explicit. It's not every day somebody puts a price on your head."
Johansson said he had contacted the police and that they had already started work on the threat.
Aside from a few scattered protests and condemnations by Muslim countries, the reaction to the cartoon has been muted, in contrast to last year's fiery protests that erupted in several Muslim countries after a Danish newspaper published 12 cartoons of Muhammad that were reprinted in a range of Western media.
In an attempt to defuse the tensions caused by the cartoon in both Sweden and abroad, Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt last week invited 22 Sweden-based ambassadors from Muslim countries to talk about the sketch.
Reinfeldt expressed regret at the hurt it may have caused, but said that according to Swedish law it is not up to politicians to punish the free press.
Al-Baghdadi added in his message that if the "crusader state of Sweden" didn't apologize, his organization would also attack major companies.
"We know how to force you to retreat and apologize and if you don't, wait for us to strike the economy of your giant companies including Ericsson, Scania, Volvo, Ikea, and Electrolux," he said.
No photo has ever appeared of al-Baghdadi, whom the U.S. describes as a fictitious character used to give an Iraqi face to an organization dominated by foreigners.
The U.S. has said that under interrogation, a top al-Qaida member revealed that al-Baghdadi's speeches are read by an actor.
Al-Qaida in Iraq in the past has carried out operations in Jordan and may have links to militant groups in Lebanon, but is not known to have any kind of presence in Europe.

Pakistan forsees October election date

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Pakistan's ruling party has enough votes to re-elect President Gen. Pervez Musharraf to a new five-year term, and the vote will likely take place in the first week of October, top party officials said Saturday.
An announcement on the date from the Election Commission is imminent, the officials said a day after opposition leader Benazir Bhutto's party announced she would return to Pakistan on Oct. 18 after an eight-year exile to campaign in parliamentary elections.
Two officials from the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Q party, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said the presidential vote would take place in the first week of October. The president, whose term expires Nov. 15, is chosen by an electoral college of all national and provincial lawmakers.
"We have enough votes to easily elect President Musharraf for another term," said Azeem Chaudhry, a senior official in the leader's party.
Chaudhry said that during negotiations on power sharing with Musharraf, Bhutto had demanded too much from the government in return for backing the military leader. Her demands included that the constitution be amended so she could become prime minister for a third term if her party wins parliamentary elections — due by January 2008.
"If we do it, it will send a signal that Benazir Bhutto is the future prime minister, and in this situation who will vote for us?" Chaudhry said.
Musharraf seized power in a 1999 coup, overthrowing the government of then-Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. But the U.S.-allied military leader has seen his popularity slide this year after he tried to remove the Supreme Court's popular chief judge and Islamic militants stepped up attacks in the nation.
On Friday, Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party announced the two-time former prime minister, who left the country in 1999 amid corruption allegations, will return home in October to campaign in the parliamentary elections, regardless of the outcome of her talks with Musharraf.
"This will strengthen our efforts for democracy," Bhutto, who lives in exile in Dubai and London, told Pakistan's Geo television. "Democracy should be restored completely and the army removed from the scene."
Both Bhutto and Musharraf are urging moderates to work together to defeat Taliban and al-Qaida extremists based along the frontier with Afghanistan. But they have failed to produce an accord amid signs Musharraf is reluctant to give up his sweeping powers.
The ruling coalition says it has enough support to get the simple majority needed to re-elect Musharraf, who also holds the post of army chief. Yet the support of Bhutto's party would help achieve the two-thirds majority needed for constitutional amendments that could head off of legal challenges to his re-election bid.
One ruling party official, seeking anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject, told The Associated Press that the Bhutto-Musharraf talks had divided ruling party members amid concerns that their electoral chances could suffer if Musharraf makes too many concessions to Bhutto.
Despite the uncertainty over the talks, the government says that on her return, Bhutto will not suffer the fate of political rival Sharif, who was swiftly expelled when he came back from exile Monday. But officials said she would have to face pending corruption charges.
Bhutto, now 56, was only 35 when she became prime minister in 1988, the first female leader of a modern Muslim nation. She was elected to a second term in 1993.
Analysts say even if Bhutto gains enough seats to form the government, she will be a weaker prime minister because the president enjoys more power. Bhutto's demands included clipping the wings of the president by reducing his power to dismiss the parliament, Chaudhry said.

Iraq: al-Qaida group threatens Sunnis

BAGHDAD - An al-Qaida front group warns it will hunt down and kill Sunni Arab tribal leaders who cooperate with the U.S. and its Iraqi partners in the wake of the assassination of the leader of the revolt against the terror movement.
In a separate statement, the Islamic State of Iraq announced a new offensive during Ramadan, the Muslim holy month of fasting that began this week. The statement said the offensive was in honor of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the founder of al-Qaida in Iraq who was killed by a U.S. airstrike in June 2006.
The statements were posted Friday and Saturday on Islamist Web sites, and among other things claimed responsibility for the assassination of Abdul-Sattar Abu Risha, who spearheaded the uprising against al-Qaida in Anbar province west of the capital.
In claiming responsibility for Abu Risha's death Thursday, the Islamic State said it had formed "special security committees" to track down and "assassinate the tribal figures, the traitors, who stained the reputations of the real tribes by submitting to the soldiers of the Crusade" and the Shiite-led government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
"We will publish lists of names of the tribal figures to scandalize them in front of our blessed tribes," the statement added.
In a second statement posted Saturday, the purported head of the Islamic State, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, said he was "honored to announce" the new offensive in memory of the "martyr Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in the beginning of Ramadan," which started for Iraqi Sunnis on Thursday and for Shiites the following day.
"Today we are on the door steps of a new era ... Today we witness the fallacy of the Western civilization and the renaissance of the Islamic giant," al-Baghdadi said in a half hour audio file.
U.S. officials hope Abu Risha's death will not reverse the tide against al-Qaida, which began last year when he organized Sunni clans to fight the terror movement, producing a dramatic turnaround in Ramadi and other parts of Anbar province.
The revolt has spread to Sunni insurgent groups in Baghdad, Diyala province and elsewhere. Some insurgents who were ambushing U.S. troops a few months ago are now working alongside the Americans to rid their communities of al-Qaida.
Abu Risha's brother Ahmed was elected head of the Anbar Awakening movement soon after the Thursday bombing at the family's heavily guarded compound on the outskirts of Ramadi.
Iraqi officials said the roadside bomb was just outside Abu Risha's walled compound in view of a guard shack and an Iraqi police checkpoint.
Abu Risha's assassination cast a cloud over President Bush's claims of progress in Iraq, especially in Anbar, which had been the center of the Sunni insurgency until the dramatic turnaround by the local sheiks. Bush met with Abu Risha during a visit to Anbar on Sept. 3.
In a televised address Thursday, Bush ordered gradual reductions in U.S. forces in Iraq but rejected calls to end the war. More than 130,000 U.S. troops will remain after the withdrawals are completed in July.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Friday raised the possibility of cutting U.S. troop levels to 100,000 or so by the end of 2008, if conditions on the ground improve enough.
In Saturday's violence, an Iraqi soldier was killed when unidentified gunmen attacked a checkpoint in Baqouba, capital of Diyala province, Iraqi army said. The city had been a stronghold of the Islamic State until U.S. soldiers overran it in July.
A joint Iraqi-U.S. force traded gunfire Saturday with a purported al-Qaida operative near the Diyala town of Muqdadiyah, killing him and arresting his son, provincial police said. Elsewhere in Diyala, police found a charred car with two unidentified bodies inside in the town of Khalis.
To the south, American soldiers conducted house-to-house searches Saturday in the mostly Shiite city of Diwaniyah, killing one person and arresting two others, Iraqi police said. The neighborhood is controlled by Shiite militiamen.
A roadside bomb exploded Saturday in Iskandariyah, 30 miles south of Baghdad, injuring five Iraqi soldiers and damaging one Humvee, the Iraqi army said. Two civilians were injured in a bombing near a police patrol in Mahaweel, 35 miles south of Baghdad, police said.