Two missing after India navy plane crashes into sea

Two missing after India navy plane crashes into sea

MUMBAI: A naval aircraft crashed off the western Indian coast leaving two pilots missing, the navy said Wednesday, in the latest of a string of accidents which have hit the force.

Rescue operations were underway after the Indian navy's Dornier aircraft plunged into the sea some 25 nautical miles off the western holiday state of Goa around 10:00 pm local time (1630 GMT) Tuesday.

"Last evening a navy Dornier during a routine training sortie off Goa ditched into sea," a navy statement said early Wednesday.

"One survivor rescued. Full scale search and rescue operation launched to locate two more officers (one pilot and one observer)," it added.

It is the latest in a series of deadly disasters to hit the navy, and comes just months after a naval ship sank off the southeastern coast of India leaving one worker dead and four others missing.

A fire aboard a nuclear submarine killed two officers off the Mumbai coast last February which led to the immediate resignation of the navy chief.

Eighteen sailors were also killed in August 2013 when INS Sindhurakshak burst into flames in Mumbai harbour. - AFP

'Dangerous' Afghans to be released in 24 hours: US

'Dangerous' Afghans to be released in 24 hours: US

KABUL: The Afghan government plans within 24 hours to start releasing from a former American detention facility a group of 65 inmates that the U.S considers highly dangerous, the NATO-led coalition said late Wednesday.

U.S. forces in Afghanistan have repeatedly registered strong concerns about releasing the detainees, who it says have the blood of international and Afghan soldiers on their hands - plus strong evidence against them, from DNA linking them to roadside bombs to explosive residue on their clothing.

When President Hamid Karzai ordered their release several weeks ago from the Parwan Detention Facility, it prompted angry denunciations from the U.S. and strained relations between the two countries ahead of the year-end withdrawal of most international combat troops.

The international coalition on Wednesday issued the latest in a string of statements condemning the release, which it said would begin early Thursday morning and include detainees directly linked to attacks that have killed or wounded 32 U.S. or coalition personnel and 23 Afghan security personnel or civilians.

The U.S. has stressed it wants the detainees to face trial in Afghanistan, but Kabul has cited insufficient proof to hold them - despite U.S. claims it has strong evidence against the prisoners.

Karzai, too, has referred to the Parwan Detention Facility as a "Taliban-producing factory" where innocent Afghans are tortured into hating their country.

Among those expected to walk free Thursday morning are Mohammad Wali, who the U.S. military says is a suspected Taliban explosives expert who allegedly placed roadside bombs targeting Afghan and international forces. The military said Wali had been biometrically linked to two roadside explosions and had a latent fingerprint match on another improvised explosive device - plus tested positive for explosives residue.

Others in the group include Nek Mohammad - who the U.S. says was captured with extensive weapons, and a man identified as Ehsanullah, who is claimed to have been biometrically matched to a roadside bomb and tested positive for explosive residue.

The U.S. military had formally disputed the prisoners' release, but an Afghan review board had effectively overruled those challenges.

The detainees' release has been in the works for weeks, and comes as Karzai's government has taken an increasingly hostile tone towards the U.S. ahead of the withdrawal of NATO combat troops at the end of 2014.

Elsewhere in Afghanistan on Wednesday, two international troops and two Afghan service members were killed in an apparent insider attack, according to officials.

The NATO-led force confirmed the deaths of its service members, saying they were killed by two men in Afghan uniforms. The coalition gave no further information, saying there would be an investigation.

A senior Afghan military official meanwhile said two Afghan army personnel were killed in the incident, which came after a heated dispute on a base in the east of the country. The official but had no further information, saying a joint NATO-Afghan team had been dispatched to investigate. He added that several other personnel were wounded in the incident in an Afghan base in the Pagab district of Kapisa province, east of Kabul.

He could not be identified because he was not authorized to release the information.

Insider attacks in the past have been claimed by Taliban insurgents as proof they can infiltrate Afghanistan's Western-trained security forces. Other cases have involved personal quarrels between Afghan forces and their trainers.

The Taliban earlier Wednesday issued a statement claiming that a "battle" between Afghan forces and foreign trainers had resulted in several deaths and injuries, but the insurgents did not claim its infiltrators were responsible.

Germany: Boy, 13, arrested for arson that killed Pakistani mom, kids

Germany: Boy, 13, arrested for arson that killed Pakistani mom, kids

BERLIN: German police say a 13-year-old boy has been arrested for setting fire to an asylum home in Hamburg that killed a woman from Pakistan and her two children.

 

Police spokesman Andreas Schoepflin said Saturday the boy, who is a member of the city’s youth fire department, was identified based on witness accounts and video footage by a surveillance camera.

 

He admitted to the crime when confronted by police Friday night and was taken to a hospital for psychiatric evaluation. Schoepflin said the boy didn’t have any anti-foreigner motives.

 

Besides the three deaths, 27 residents were injured in the fire at the asylum home on Wednesday.

 

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. (AP)

Attempt to hijack Turkish plane to Sochi foiled

Attempt to hijack Turkish plane to Sochi foiled

ANKARA: A Ukrainian man tried to hijack a Turkey-bound flight to Sochi, Russia, as the Winter Olympics were kicking off Friday, but the pilot tricked him and landed in Istanbul instead, where he was stealthily detained after a four-hour stand-off on a plane full of passengers, an official said.

 

The hijacking drama came as the Winter Olympics opened in the Russian resort city, with thousands of athletes from around the world pouring into the tightly secured stadium amid warnings the games could be a terrorism target.

 

A Turkish F-16 fighter was scrambled as soon as the pilot on the Pegasus Airlines flight from Kharkiv, Ukraine, with 110 passengers aboard signaled there was a hijacking attempt, according to NTV television. It escorted the plane safely to its original destination at Sabiha Gokcen airport in Istanbul.

 

Officials credited the pilot and crew for convincing the 45-year-old-man, who claimed he had a bomb, that they were following his wishes.

 

"Through a very successful implementation by our pilot and crew, the plane was landed in Istanbul instead of Sochi," Istanbul governor Huseyin Avni Mutlu told reporters at the airport. "He thought it was going to Sochi but after a while he realized that (the plane) was in Istanbul."

 

He said the suspected hijacker was arrested after a stand-off during which a negotiator convinced him to first allow women and children to be evacuated and later agreed to let all other passengers off the plane as well.

 

"Our security units sneaked through various entrances during the evacuation of the passengers and with a quick and effective intervention the hijacker was subdued," Mutlu said. No bomb was found, he said.

 

The man's motive was unclear, but Mutlu said he had "requests concerning his own country" and wanted to relay a "message concerning sporting activities in Sochi." Mutlu said there was no immediate indication that the man was a member of any terror organization and Mutlu did not give his name.

 

"We were receiving through various channels information that there could be initiatives to sabotage the spirit of peace arising in Sochi, but we are saddened that such an event took place in our city," Mutlu said.

 

The governor said the man was being held at Istanbul police headquarters. The man was slightly injured during the struggle when he was detained, but no weapons were used, he said. The private Dogan news agency said later that the man was taken to a hospital for his injuries.

 

The Interfax news agency cited the Ukrainian Security Service, the country's main security agency, as saying the passenger was in a state of severe alcohol intoxication. Mutlu said the man was not drunk, but said he may have taken substances to help him remain alert. He did not elaborate.

 

Habib Soluk, the Turkish Transport Ministry undersecretary, told NTV earlier that the man rose from his seat, shouted that there was bomb on board and tried to enter the locked cockpit. The pilot signaled that there was a hijack attempt and the airport was placed on high alert.

 

Air traffic at Sabiha Gokcen was halted throughout the incident but had returned to normal after the man's arrest.

 

The plane landed at about 6 p.m. Turkish time, just as the opening ceremony for the Olympics was about to begin. The executive creative director of the Olympics opening ceremony told reporters afterward he heard of the threat but didn't alter the show's plans in any way.

 

"We had so much adrenaline in our veins that we could not grasp much," Konstantin Ernst said through an interpreter.

 

With about 100,000 police, security agents and army troops flooding Sochi, Russia has pledged to ensure "the safest Olympics in history." But terror fears fueled by recent suicide bombings have left athletes, spectators and officials worldwide jittery about potential threats.

 

"It would be wrong to make any comment before all the facts are known but any security questions are of course a matter for the authorities," International Olympic Committee spokesman Mark Adams said.

 

Security experts warn that Islamic militants in the Caucasus, who have threatened to derail the Winter Games that run from Feb. 7-23, could achieve their goal by choosing soft targets away from the Olympic sites or even outside Sochi.

 

Olympic organizers introduced blanket screening of all visitors, requiring them to share passport details to get a Winter Games spectator pass. Officials also cut access to vehicles lacking Sochi registration or a special pass, and guards were searching all train commuters. (AP)

Activists: Syrian rebels free hundreds from prison

Activists: Syrian rebels free hundreds from prison

BEIRUT: Syrian rebels launched a new push in the northern province of Aleppo on Thursday to capture key symbols of the government and stormed a major section of a prison there, freeing hundreds of prisoners in the process, activists said.

 

The advance came amid a relentless air campaign by government forces that killed at least 11 people in an opposition held neighborhood of the provincial capital of Aleppo.

 

Activists said government aircraft dropped so-called barrel bombs — containers packed with explosives, fuel and scrap metal that inflict massive damage upon impact.

 

At least 246 people, including 73 children, have died in the past five days alone in similar aerial bombardment of the city, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

 

The rebels on Thursday declared their intention to liberate Aleppo´s central prison and the Kweiras military air base east of the city.

 

Opposition fighters have been trying to capture the facilities for months.The prison, in particular, has been caught in the deadly stalemate of Syria´s civil war.

 

Rebels have been besieging the facility, estimated to have around 4,000 prisoners, for almost a year.

 

They have rammed suicide car bombs into the prison´s front gates twice, lobbed shells into the compound and battled frequently with the hundreds of guards and troops holed up inside.

 

Thursday´s push began when a suicide bomber from the al-Qaida-linked Jabhat al-Nusra brigade blew himself up at the gates.

 

That was followed by a ground offensive during which rebels managed to gain control of most of the facility.

 

The Observatory said at least 300 prisoners were freed by the rebels. The anti-government Aleppo Media Center said rebels had gained control over the prison.

Egypt army chief Sisi says will run for president: report

Egypt army chief Sisi says will run for president: report

CAIRO: Egyptian army chief Field Marshal Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has said he will run for president, a Kuwaiti newspaper reported on Thursday.

Al-Seyassah quoted Sisi as saying that he had no alternative but to meet the demands of the Egyptian people for him to run in the elections, which are due within six months.

In July, Sisi toppled Egypt's first freely elected president, Mohamed Mursi, after mass protests against his rule.

Mursi and his Muslim Brotherhood movement accuse Sisi of staging a coup and undermining democratic gains made since a popular uprising ousted autocrat Hosni Mubarak in 2011. (Reuters)

Obama meets with top US commander in Afghanistan

Obama meets with top US commander in Afghanistan

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama has met at the White House with his top commander in Afghanistan and other high-ranking Pentagon officials.

White House spokeswoman Laura Magnuson says the meeting was useful but no decision has been made about a possible U.S. presence in Afghanistan after the NATO-led combat mission formally concludes. She says Obama is continuing to weigh input from military, intelligence and diplomatic officials.

The military has been pushing to keep up to 10,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan after 2014. But the White House says Obama won't leave any American forces in Afghanistan unless Afghan President Hamid Karzai signs a bilateral security agreement.

Among the officials Obama met with were Gen. Joseph Dunford, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan; Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel; and Joint Chiefs Chairman Martin Dempsey. (AP)

US cautions against move to stage military coup in Thailand

US cautions against move to stage military coup in Thailand

WASHINGTON: The United States on Monday warned against moves to stage a military coup in Thailand and said it was "concerned that political tensions" are challenging the Southeast Asian nation's democracy.

 

"We certainly do not want to see a coup or violence ... in any case of course. We are speaking directly to all elements in Thai society to make clear the importance of using democratic and constitutional means to resolve political differences," state department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said after disrupted weekend elections.

Afghan presidential election campaign under way

Afghan presidential election campaign under way

KABUL: Candidates for Afghanistan’s April 5 presidential election officially launched their campaigns Sunday with a series of rallies held in Kabul, but it remains to be seen whether the next president will have a closer relationship with the United States than the obstreperous incumbent Hamid Karzai.

There are 11 candidates vying to replace Karzai, who cannot run again, reports the BBC. The president has repeatedly held back from signing a security deal that would allow the U.S. military to carry out operations against the Taliban and suspected terrorists in the war-torn country, saying his successor could handle negotiations.

The academic Ashraf Ghani, who is running with former Uzbek warlord Gen Abdul Rashid Dostum and ethnic Hazara tribal chieftain Sarwar Danish as vice-presidents, promised at his rally Sunday to bring change. And the candidate Abdullah Abdullah said the world should not be frightened of Afghanistan, and Afghans should not be frightened of the world.

“There are actually a number of fairly strong candidates, people who we have worked with very closely in the past,” said former Defense Department official David Sedney on PBS on Jan. 27. ”And most importantly, the election gives the Afghan people themselves a chance to choose. And then I think we will have a much better chance of moving forward.”

It’s not just the outcome of the election that will shape Afghanistan’s future, but also whether voting can be carried out safely. A peaceful election process would set a precedent for future democratic elections with diminished coalition and U.S. involvement. But on Saturday two workers for Abdullah Abdullah were shot and killed in the western city of Herat, and the Taliban has threatened to derail the campaign. Voters expressed anxiety about the safety of the polls, and said it could prevent people from casting ballots.

Violence in Afghanistan has continued in recent months, with a recent Taliban attack on a Kabul cafe that served Western clientele killing 21 people.

UN says more than 733 Iraqis killed in January

UN says more than 733 Iraqis killed in January

BAGHDAD: The United Nations said Saturday that at least 733 Iraqis were killed during violence in January, even when leaving out casualties from an embattled western province.

 

The figures issued Saturday by the U.N.´s mission to Iraq show 618 civilians and 115 members of the security forces were killed in January. But the UNAMI statement excluded deaths from ongoing fighting in Anbar, due to problems in verifying the "status of those killed."

 

The figures also leave out insurgent deaths.

 

Also, the UN said at least 1,229 Iraqis were wounded in attacks across the country last month.

 

Baghdad was the worst affected province, with 297 killed and 585 wounded.

 

Al-Qaida-linked fighters and their allies seized control of the city of Fallujah and parts of the Anbar provincial capital Ramadi last month after authorities dismantled a protest camp.

 

UN mission chief Nickolay Mladenov expressed deep concern over the humanitarian situation in Anbar, saying thousands of families are displaced and others stranded in besieged Fallujah.

 

"I am deeply alarmed by the humanitarian situation of thousands of displaced families and particularly of those stranded in Fallujah. They lack water, fuel, food, medicine and other basic commodities," he said. (AP)

US lowers India's safety ranking

US lowers India's safety ranking

NEW DELHI: US aviation authorities have downgraded India’s safety ranking in a “disappointing” and “surprising” move that will hit air links between the countries, India’s aviation minister said on Friday.

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) downgraded India after conducting an audit last year of the country’s aviation regulator that found 31 issues of safety concern, a ministry statement said.

The issues include the need for more and better trained full-time inspectors employed by the regulator tasked with carrying out safety checks on all types of aircraft and helicopters in India, it said.

“They have downgraded us to category 2. It is very disappointing and also surprising,” Aviation Minister Ajit Singh said at a press conference in New Delhi.

FAA has “determined that India at this time is not in compliance with the international standards for aviation safety oversight,” according to the notes it gave to the directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA).

The rating downgrade brings India below Pakistan and on a par with countries like Bangladesh, Ghana and Indonesia, according to FAA.

The downgrading effectively bars Air India and Jet Airways from increasing flights to the US, and additional safety checks will now be imposed on existing flights to the United States, the FAA’s website shows.

Currently, Air India has 21 flights to the US per week while Jet Airway flies seven.

Indian airlines will also have to snap ties with US airlines, according to the website, but DGCA chief Prabhat Kumar said the downgrade would not affect the code-share agreement.

Jet has a code-share agreement with United Airlines currently, while Air India is joining Star Alliance.

Afghan expresses optimism Karzai will sign US pact

Afghan expresses optimism Karzai will sign US pact

KABUL: President Hamid Karzai´s national security adviser expressed optimism Thursday that the Afghan leader will sign a key U.S. security pact before leaving office this year, a positive sign after weeks of deadlock and anti-American rhetoric from the government.

 

Rangin Dadfar Spanta said there have been recent talks with the U.S. to try to resolve the issue.

 

"We are working very intensively together with the United States authorities to reach and sign this agreement soon," Spanta said.

 

"I cannot go today into detail, but I don´t know — since two, three, four days, I am more optimistic compared to last week.

 

Let us wait a few days more."Washington has been frustrated by Karzai´s refusal to sign the pact that would allow some U.S. troops to remain and keep training Afghan soldiers after the planned withdrawal of most troops by the end of this year.

 

Without the agreement, American military trainers will be forced to pull out of Afghanistan, weakening the government´s ability to fight the Taliban insurgency.

 

Also Thursday, U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel warned that at some point Karzai´s indecision will interfere with Washington´s need to plan the post-2014 military mission that the Afghan president himself has said he favors.

 

"You can´t just keep deferring and deferring, because at some point the realities of planning and budgeting — it collides," Hagel told reporters flying with him to Poland.

 

However, Hagel said he respects Karzai´s right to decide the matter as he sees fit, and noted that the United States´ ability to influence Karzai´s decision-making is "limited."

 

Along with elections to be held in April, the Bilateral Security Agreement is a pillar of the U.S.-led coalition´s plan to end its 12-year mission in Afghanistan and hand over full security authority to the Afghan government at the end of 2014.

 

But Karzai repeatedly has declined to sign the document, instead saying he wants to wait to sign it after the country elects his successor in the coming April 5 presidential election.

 

If the deal falls apart, Afghanistan could lose up to $15 billion a year in aid, effectively collapsing its fragile economy and making it unable to pay its 350,000-strong army and police.

 

Insurgents in Afghanistan have intensified attacks recently in a campaign to regain territory as foreign forces prepare to leave the country at the end of 2014.

 

A suicide car bomber killed two police officers in eastern Afghanistan on Thursday, officials said.

 

The car bomber targeted a police and intelligence compound in Nangarhar province´s Pachir Wagam district, said provincial spokesman Ahmad Zia Abdulzai.

 

The Taliban claimed responsibility. In the western province of Herat, another car bomb driven by a suicide attacker slammed into the vehicle of the police chief of Shindan district.

 

The district administrator Abdul Hamid Noor said the police chief survived and only the attacker was killed.

Obama threatens to veto new Iran sanctions bill

Obama threatens to veto new Iran sanctions bill

WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama vowed on Tuesday to veto any new bill by lawmakers to impose new sanctions against Iran in the middle of delicate negotiations to rein in its nuclear program.

 

"The sanctions that we put in place helped make this opportunity possible. But let me be clear: if this Congress sends me a new sanctions bill now that threatens to derail these talks, I will veto it. For the sake of our national security, we must give diplomacy a chance to succeed," Obama said, in his State of the Union address.

 

The United States has turned a corner after struggling to escape the economic downturn and is poised for recovery, President Barack Obama declared.

 

"That´s why I believe this can be a breakthrough year for America," he said. "After five years of grit and determined effort, the United States is better-positioned for the 21st century than any other nation on Earth."

 

Obama urged Congress to raise the federal minimum wage, challenging legislators to help reverse deepening income disparity across the country. "Say yes. Give America a raise," Obama told Congress.

 

Noting that the current national minimum of $7.25 an hour was effectively 20 percent lower than it was a quarter-century ago, he announced an executive order requiring government contractors to pay their workers at least $10.10 an hour.

 

He urged the legislature to support a bill already proposed that would hike the national base rate to that level.

 

"This will help families. It will give businesses customers with more money to spend," he said.

 

The threat from US arch foe Al-Qaeda is evolving and taking root in new places around the world, US President Barack Obama warned.

 

"In Yemen, Somalia, Iraq, and Mali, we have to keep working with partners to disrupt and disable these networks."

 

Obama added the United States had put "Al-Qaeda´s core leadership on the path to defeat." (AFP)

Nine killed in latest Iraq bloodshed

Nine killed in latest Iraq bloodshed

BAGHDAD: A series of attacks in Baghdad nine people on Monday, as Iraq grapples with a months-long surge in nationwide violence.

Coupled with a protracted stand-off between security forces and anti-government fighters in the western province of Anbar, unrest this month has left more than 850 people dead, fuelling fears Iraq is slipping back into the brutal conflict that plagued it in 2006-2007.

Attacks on Monday struck in Baghdad, and in and around the restive Baquba, Mosul and Samarra, security and medical officials said.

In the most brutal incident, gunmen killed two policemen and an anti-Qaeda Sahwa militiaman in an attack on their joint checkpoint near Samarra and then decapitated them.

Elsewhere, gunmen killed three people, including a police officer, in separate shootings in Baghdad, while two policemen were gunned down in the main northern city of Mosul.

Mortar fire in Muqdadiyah, near Baquba in Diyala province, killed one person and wounded three others.

The latest bloodshed took the overall death toll for the month above 870 -- more than three times the toll for January 2013. (AFP)

Three years before the vote, Clinton machine gears up

Three years before the vote, Clinton machine gears up

WASHINGTON: With the news that America´s largest liberal fundraising group is to back a Hillary Clinton presidential bid in 2016, a growing sense of inevitability is building around her prospective candidacy.

 

The former secretary of state who once occupied the White House as first lady and narrowly lost the Democratic nomination in 2008, has been coy about whether she plans to run again.

 

But she has said that she will decide this year and, with a full 24 months before even the first party primaries, the "draft Clinton" movement is not waiting for its heroine to formally announce.

 

She swamps other potential Democratic contenders in the polls, including Vice President Joe Biden, another 2008 Democratic challenger defeated by Barack Obama´s victorious campaign.

 

Meanwhile, the man once seen as her most dangerous Republican challenger, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, is battling a murky political dirty tricks scandal in his home state.

 

Clinton is scheduled to give three speeches in April before business groups in reliably Democratic California, further fueling speculation that the 66-year-old veteran is nurturing a candidacy.

 

Priorities USA Action, a non-profit political group which brought in $78 million for Obama´s re-election campaign in 2012, confirmed Thursday it plans to raise money for Clinton from rich Democrats.

 

The group named 2012 Obama campaign manager Jim Messina, a veteran political operator with deep ties to wealthy donors, as its co-chair, essentially ensuring the most high-profile Democratic push of the coming election cycle.

 

He is joined at the helm by former Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm, an energetic Clinton backer and who has spoken for grassroots political action committee, "Ready For Hillary.

 

"Political analyst Tobe Berkovitz told AFP the moves are early efforts at "bigfooting potential challengers on the Democratic side and also freezing the big donors from going anywhere else."

 

Is it too early?

Part of the plan appears to be for the Clinton camp to burnish the inevitability of her candidacy, showing she is hungry to make history as the United States´ first woman president. But is it happening too early? Berkovitz said news of the powerful groups aligning with Clinton was good for her but warned it may have been better to appear inevitable a year from now when voters are closer to making their decisions.

 

And yet the enormous early enthusiasm for Clinton is a "tremendous asset," argued Mitch Stewart, Obama´s battleground states director in 2012, who now advises Ready For Hillary.

 

"I think you´re seeing people coalesce around that excitement because it´s very rare, if ever, to see something like that especially three years before the actual election," he told AFP.

 

"For us not to take advantage of both the enthusiasm that we´re seeing across the country but also the time that we have, again I think it would be gross malpractice.

 

"As if the world needed reminding that Clinton´s gravitational pull was increasing, this week´s New York Times Magazine cover features a much-debated "Planet Hillary," an orb bearing Clinton´s face.

 

The image also contains a nod to potential threats to her campaign from the aura of scandal that still cloud memories of her husband´s presidency, featuring as it does a "Friends of Bill" black hole.

 

If Clinton runs she will need to juggle operating in today´s data-driven political climate of micro-targeting and rapid response, while also buttering up the old-school politicos who have been the power couple´s inner circle for decades.

 

Sensing a juggernaut, Republicans have not waited for Clinton to declare before trying to set-up roadblocks.

 

Even before Clinton left office as secretary of state, conservative lawmakers seized on the militant attack on an under-protected US mission in Benghazi, Libya that killed the US ambassador in 2012 as evidence that Clinton is not White House material.

 

They have also turned to a recent memoir by former defense secretary Robert Gates, a Republican in Obama´s first-term cabinet, who wrote that Clinton only opposed the 2007 troop surge in Iraq for political reasons because she was facing Obama in the primaries.

 

But when Gates was asked whether he felt Clinton would be a good president, he let down Clinton´s critics in his own party."Actually, I think she would," Gates said.

Snowden sees ´no chance´ for fair trial in US

Snowden sees ´no chance´ for fair trial in US

WASHINGTON: Fugitive intelligence leaker Edward Snowden said Thursday he has no plans to return to the United States, because he would have "no chance" for a fair trial.

 

"The hundred-year old law under which I´ve been charged... forbids a public interest defense," he said in a question-and-answer session on the "Free Snowden" website.

 

"This is especially frustrating, because it means there´s no chance to have a fair trial, and no way I can come home and make my case to a jury," he said.

 

The comments during the former National Security Agency contractor´s first such public forum since June.

 

Snowden was asked about the conditions under which he would return to the United States, where he faces espionage charges for leaking numerous documents about NSA surveillance programs.

 

"Returning to the US, I think, is the best resolution for the government, the public, and myself, but it´s unfortunately not possible in the face of current whistleblower protection laws, which, through a failure in law, did not cover national security contractors like myself," he said.

 

"Maybe when Congress comes together to end the programs... they´ll reform the Whistleblower Protection Act, and we´ll see a mechanism for all Americans, no matter who they work for, to get a fair trial.

 

"His comments came hours after a US government privacy watchdog panel said the NSA´s indiscriminate collection of bulk phone records is illegal and has had minimal value in fighting terrorism.

 

Also Thursday, US Attorney General Eric Holder said he was unlikely to consider clemency for Snowden.

 

Holder told MSNBC television US authorities "would engage in conversation" about a resolution of the case if Snowden accepted responsibility for leaking government secrets. But he said granting clemency "would be going too far.

9 killed in 5 days of clashes in Lebanon´s Tripoli: security

9 killed in 5 days of clashes in Lebanon´s Tripoli: security

TRIPOLI: Nine people have been killed in five days of fighting in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli, where sectarian clashes linked to the Syrian war regularly break out, a security official said Wednesday.

 

"After a civilian and an army soldier were killed today, the death toll since Friday has risen to nine people," said the official, who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity.

 

Another 65 people, including four soldiers, have also been wounded, he added. The latest deaths come a day after the army started deploying troops on the aptly named Syria street, that acts as the frontline separating the Sunni district of Bab al-Tebbaneh from Jabal Mohsen.

 

While residents of Bab al-Tebbaneh support the revolt in neighbouring Syria against Bashar al-Assad, the Alawites of Jabal Mohsen back the regime.

 

"The clashes ensued despite the army´s attempt to deploy, making it very difficult for troops to enter Syria street," said the security official.

 

Then on Wednesday morning, "armed men from Bab al-Tebbaneh launched a rocket-propelled grenade at a military vehicle," he added.

 

One of the four troops wounded in the attack died later in the day from his injuries.

 

Fighting then raged between the army and Bab al-Tebbaneh´s fighters, who view the military as siding against them and on Jabal Mohsen´s side.

 

The fighting has since subsided, after a meeting Wednesday at caretaker prime minister Najib Mikati´s Tripoli residence, during which a ceasefire was agreed.

 

But hundreds of families that have fled the two neighbourhoods in the past five days have not yet returned, while Tripoli´s schools and universities remained closed.

 

On Wednesday, shop owners in the heart of the city kept their stores shut, for fear clashes between Sunni militants and the army might spread beyond the battle-hardened, outlying neighbourhoods.

 

Major snowstorm slams northeastern US

Major snowstorm slams northeastern US

WASHINGTON: Snow blanketed much of the northeastern United States Tuesday, grounding thousands of flights and causing chaos on the roads as forecasters warned that a brutal cold spell was on its way.

Downtown Washington fell eerily silent after the federal government, seeing the swift-moving storm approaching, closed its doors and told civil servants -- who already had the day off Monday for the Martin Luther King holiday -- to stay home.

Many offices and schools followed suit, as 20 mile (32 kilometer) per hour winds whipped through the US capital´s unusually quiet streets.

Washington´s Metro public transit system reported half as many riders as on a typical weekday, and business was so slow that many restaurants used Twitter to woo customers with bargain-priced drinks while others offered customers 2-for-1 deals. The "storm system will strengthen overnight in the Atlantic waters off the East Coast, spreading heavy snow and strong wind into coastal sections of New England and the Northeast," the National Weather Service said.

"Blizzard conditions are possible in eastern Massachusetts," it added.

Meanwhile, temperatures across the eastern part of the country will be 10 to 25 degrees below average, amid "bitter wind chills," it warned.

FlightAware, a website that monitors air traffic in real time, said nearly 3,000 flights into, out of or within the United States had been canceled Tuesday.

The lion´s share of affected flights involved busy airports in the New York, Philadelphia and Washington areas.

Seven inches (18 centimeters) of snow had fallen at Washington´s Dulles International Airport while some 11 inches were reported at the Philadelphia International Airport, according to AccuWeather, a private forecasting service.

Accumulations of six to 12 inches were expected over the mid-Atlantic to southeastern New England, it said.

National rail company Amtrak said it would operate "a modified schedule" Wednesday on its Northeast Corridor line between Washington and Boston, as well as on two other routes in the hard-hit region.

In New York, a storm alert remained in effect until 6:00 am (1100 GMT) Wednesday with as much as a foot (30 centimeters) forecast for the metropolitan region.

States of emergency were declared there, as well as in New Jersey and Delaware, according to CNN.

More than 1,700 plows were to be mobilized in New York Tuesday night to clear up to 10 inches of snow, it reported.

"For your safety and the safety of emergency responders, motorists are strongly urged to avoid unnecessary travel at this time," the New York State Department of Transportation said.

Across the Hudson River, New Jersey went ahead with its mid-day inauguration ceremony for re-elected governor Chris Christie, who is battling allegations he used his office to bully political foes.

But an evening gala on historic Ellis Island in New York Harbor to mark the start of his new term in office was scrapped due to the storm.

Schools across the Northeast either closed for the day or told parents to expect their youngsters to be dismissed from class earlier than usual. Closures in many areas were extended through Wednesday. Meanwhile, courthouses called off proceedings in the afternoon.

What the National Weather Service called a "fast moving but potent" snowstorm had earlier dumped seven inches of snow on airports in the Chicago area, before temperatures fell to the freezing level.

Embattled Turkey PM faces tough visit to EU

Embattled Turkey PM faces tough visit to EU

ANKARA: Turkey´s embattled Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan sought Monday to downplay the risk of a crisis with the European Union as he headed to Brussels facing a row over controversial judical reforms.

European officials have voiced deep concern about the state of democracy in Turkey and the independence of its institutions after the government, facing its worst crisis since coming to power over a decade ago, moved to tighten its control on the judiciary in the wake of a vast corruption probe.

Erdogan insisted 2014 would be a "turning point" in Turkey´s relations with the EU, after the resumption of membership talks late last year following a three-year freeze.

But he told reporters before leaving for Brussels that the government would not back down on the plans to reform top judicial body the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) and that it would move ahead with a "brave" reform agenda this year.

Nearly 2,000 supporters of the Turkish prime minister gathered in front of the Brussels hotel he is to check to into, waving Turkish flags in a festive display.

New EU Affairs Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that Muslim-majority Turkey, which has sought for decades to join the European club, would be pushing in Brussels for a timeline for negotations to ensure that the process is not "open-ended.

""We hope, we wish and we believe that the process concerning the HSYK will not provoke a serious crisis with the EU," Cavusoglu said, although he conceded that there were "some difficulties" in aspects of the membership talks.

Erdogan´s trip to Brussels -- his first in five years -- has been overshadowed by the graft scandal rocking Erdogan and his government´s subsequent mass purge of police and the judiciary, which critics see as a bid to stifle the investigation.´Opportunity to explain reforms´

Afghan president again demands US airstrikes end

Afghan president again demands US airstrikes end

KABUL: Afghanistan's president demanded Sunday that the United States no longer carry out military operations or airstrikes and must jump-start peace talks with the Taliban before his country signs a security deal to keep US troops in Afghanistan after 2014.

 

President Hamid Karzai's deepening anti-American rhetoric comes as the Taliban intensifies its assaults ahead of the planned withdrawal and after Friday's militant raid on a popular Kabul restaurant, the deadliest single attack against foreign civilians in the course of the nearly 13-year US-led war.

 

Although Karzai has made similar demands in the past, he has in recent weeks ratcheted up his condemnations of alleged US failures as Afghans look fearfully ahead to an uncertain future.

 

Karzai made the statement after being presented with the findings of an investigation into a joint Afghan-US military operation last week that resulted in civilian casualties which he blamed on a US military air strike.

 

The US-led international military coalition, however, provided a sharply different account Sunday of what happened during the two-day operation against insurgents in eastern Parwan province, saying it was an Afghan-led effort and carried out at the request of the government.

 

Karzai convened his National Security Council on Sunday to discuss the Parwan attack.

 

"Airstrikes are a matter of concern for the Afghan people. The National Security Council said there should be an immediate end to all operations and airstrikes by foreign forces," a statement said.

 

Karzai sent a delegation to investigate the Jan. 15 airstrike in the Ghorband district of Parwan province, which borders Kabul. The delegation blamed the US for ordering an operation it said killed 12 civilians and four Taliban fighters. It further said local authorities were not informed about the operation.

 

The coalition, which is carrying out its own investigation, said the government was not only aware but had requested the operation ahead of the country's April 5 presidential elections because the area had fallen under Taliban control.

 

"The operation was requested by the governor in response to those conditions," the coalition said in a statement. "The resulting plan, approved through the Ministry of Defense, was a deliberate clearing operation to disrupt insurgent activity, based on intelligence obtained primarily by Afghan forces."

 

The coalition said a team of more than 70 Afghan commandos with a few US Special Operations Forces carried out the operation. Senior US military officials, who requested anonymity as they weren't allowed to brief journalists about an ongoing investigation, said the commandos came under heavy fire almost immediately. An Afghan commando and US soldier were killed, they said.

 

Afghan National Security Forces had nine US advisers with them when they became trapped by withering fire from residential homes, they said.

 

"At that point, the ANSF and coalition advisers were unable to maneuver or withdraw without sustaining significant casualties. The combined force required defensive air support in order to suppress enemy fire from two compounds," the coalition statement said.

 

One senior US military official said the decision to ask for air support was taken "in extremis" by the Afghan ground commander. The official said there were two civilians killed and one wounded.

 

Karzai's comments come as he has declined to sign an agreement allowing some US forces to stay past the planned withdrawal. Karzai tentatively endorsed the deal after it was completed last October, but first refused to sign it until after it was approved by a council of tribal elders known as the Loya Jirga in November.

 

But after the elders approved it, Karzai still declined to sign it, now saying he wants his successor to decide after the elections.

 

The US had wanted the deal to be signed by Dec. 31 because it needs time to prepare to keep thousands of US troops in the country for up to a decade. NATO allies also have said they won't stay if the Americans pull out.

 

The agreement aims to help train and develop Afghan forces, while also allowing for a smaller counterterrorism force to pursue al-Qaida fighters and other groups.

 

Karzai again demanded Sunday that the US do more to start talks with the Taliban, although an American effort to get them going through intermediaries in Qatar collapsed last summer. The Taliban have refused to talk directly with Karzai, his government or its representatives.

 

Karzai's statement further warned that the country risked slipping into "feudalism" if his conditions were not met.

 

Meanwhile Sunday, hundreds of Afghans gathered outside a Lebanese restaurant in Kabul to protest against a Taliban assault there that killed 21 people Friday. A suicide bomber and two gunmen attacked La Taverna du Liban, killing 13 foreigners and eight Afghans, all of them civilians.

 

Protesters chanted against terrorism as they laid flowers.

 

"Today, we stand against terrorist attacks in Afghanistan, and the killing of the civilians by terrorists," demonstrator Salma Alkozai said.