SanLuisObispo.com: World

Iran begins war games to protect nuclear sites

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 06:01 PST

Iran on Thursday began large-scale air defense war games aimed at protecting the country's nuclear facilities against any possible attack, state television reported.

It said the five-day drill will cover an area a third of the size of Iran and spread across the central, western and southern parts of the country.

Gen. Ahmad Mighani, head of an air force unit that deals with threats to Iran's air space, said Saturday the war games would cover regions where Iran's nuclear facilities are located.

Canadian woman loses benefits over Facebook photo

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 05:01 PST

A Canadian woman on long-term sick leave for depression says she lost her benefits because her insurance agent found photos of her on Facebook in which she appeared to be having fun.

Nathalie Blanchard has been on leave from her job at IBM in Bromont, Quebec, for the last year.

The Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported Saturday she was diagnosed with major depression and was receiving monthly sick-leave benefits from insurance giant Manulife.

Indonesian ferry sinks; 25 dead, some 240 rescued

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 05:41 PST

By By ALI KOTARUMALOS -- Rescuers saved more than 240 people aboard an Indonesian passenger ferry that sank Sunday in rough waters off Sumatra island, but at least 25 people have died, officials said. Search operations were called off after nightfall for the unknown number of passengers still missing.

A second ferry was still stranded in nearby waters after running aground, but all its passengers were said to be safe.

Rescue teams found 25 bodies, including those of two children, according to the latest reports, said Daniel, an official from the local search and rescue agency who like many Indonesians uses only one name. A total of 243 survivors from the Dumai Express 10 were rescued, he said.

Is imam a terror recruiter or just an incendiary preacher?

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 00:16 PST

By By HANNAH ALLAM -- The Yemeni-American imam who's been under renewed scrutiny after the deadly shootings at Fort Hood, Texas, preaches against alcohol, birthday parties, black magic and extramarital sex. He also supports armed struggle - jihad - against the U.S. military in Afghanistan and Iraq, and has encouraged extremist insurgents in Pakistan and Somalia.

None of that sets Anwar al-Awlaki, 38, apart from other militant Sunni Muslim clerics - and even many mainstream ones - in the Middle East. Al-Awlaki uses digital means to spread his views, however, through a blog, lectures on YouTube and Facebook pages with more than 1,000 fans.

American-born and popular with young Westernized Muslims, al-Awlaki preaches mainly in English and drops pop-culture references, invoking Michael Jackson in a sermon on death or the parable of a marijuana-smoking Muslim who turned his life around.

Ugandans upset over praise for former dictator

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 02:56 PST

Ugandan officials say they are offended that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has praised former dictator Idi Amin.

Officials including President Yoweri Museveni's secretary Tamale Mirundi say Amin ruled brutally in the 1970s. Chavez on Friday called the East African dictator a nationalist and a patriot.

Mirundi countered on Sunday with Amin's record of torturing and killing opponents - including one of his wives. James Kizza Baliruno said he was offended by the praise as Amin's soldiers killed both of his parents in front of him when he was 4 years old.

Police: IRA dissidents plant car bomb in Belfast

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 06:36 PST

By By SHAWN POGATCHNIK -- Irish Republican Army dissidents left a 400-pound (180-kilogram) car bomb outside police reform headquarters in Belfast but the homemade device failed to detonate, Northern Ireland's police commander said Sunday.

As politicians warned of a rising threat from IRA diehards, four other suspected IRA dissidents were arrested Sunday following a gun attack on police.

Chief Constable Matt Baggott said Saturday night's attempted bombing of the Northern Ireland Policing Board office in Belfast's docklands represented an attack on the province's entire peace process.

Egypt's president warns Israel over Jerusalem

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 06:41 PST

Israel will anger all Muslims if it does not resolve Jerusalem's disputed status, Egypt's president warned his Israeli counterpart on Sunday.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak emphasized to Israeli President Shimon Peres that the future of Jerusalem, which both Israelis and Palestinians claim as their capital, is an issue for the entire Islamic world.

"I expressed my concern to President Peres that peace talks have not progressed since our last meeting in July and that Egypt is looking forward to an Israeli response, such as halting the building of settlements in east Jerusalem," he said.

Israeli aircraft strike Gaza targets

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 06:46 PST

By By JOSEF FEDERMAN -- Israeli aircraft attacked two suspected weapons-making factories and a smuggling tunnel in the Gaza Strip early Sunday in what the military said was retaliation for Palestinian rocket fire into southern Israel.

The airstrikes, which wounded at least seven people - including one seriously - came despite an announcement by Gaza's Hamas rulers that the territory's military factions had all agreed to stop firing rockets. The Hamas announcement came late Saturday, after the rocket attack.

Hamas' interior minister, Fathi Hamad, said the proclaimed halt in rocket fire was designed to prevent Israeli retaliation and provide stability for Gaza, which continues to suffer from the aftermath of a massive Israeli military offensive in December and January.

2 bomb blasts leave 7 dead, 52 wounded in India

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 02:01 PST

By By WASBIR HUSSAIN -- Suspected militants set off two bombs outside a police station in India's restive northeast on Sunday, killing seven people and wounding more than 50, police said.

Five people died instantly after two blasts went off within minutes of each other outside the station in Nalbari town near the Assam state capital, Gauhati, a local police official said. Two people died later in a hospital, he said.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity as he is not authorized to speak to the media, said what officials had earlier reported was a third bomb in a market a few miles (kilometers) away, turned out to be a firecracker.

Alleged Iraq bombers offer confessions

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 05:26 PST

By By MAZIN YAHYA -- Iraq's state television has shown what it says are confessions of alleged conspirators in October bombings of government offices that killed more than 150 people.

Baghdad's military spokesman says the three men planned the Oct. 25 attacks in the heavily protected center of Baghdad.

Maj. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi made the announcement at a televised news conference Sunday, and al-Iraqiya state television later broadcast a video of three men who said they had connections with Saddam Hussein's outlawed Baath party.

Report: Leaked UK documents detail Iraq war chaos

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 05:46 PST

By By DAVID STRINGER -- Leaked British government documents call into question ex-Prime Minister Tony Blair's public statements on the buildup to the Iraq war and show plans for the U.S.-led 2003 invasion were being made more than a year earlier, a newspaper reported Sunday.

Britain's Sunday Telegraph published details of private statements made by senior military figures claiming plans were in place months before the March 2003 invasion, but were so badly drafted they left troops poorly equipped and ill-prepared for the conflict.

The documents - transcripts of interviews from an internal defense ministry review of the conflict - disclose that some planning for the Iraq war had begun in February 2002. Maj. Gen. Graeme Lamb, then head of Britain's special forces, was quoted as saying he had been "working the war up since early 2002," according to the newspaper.

Dalai Lama says Obama not soft on China

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 05:51 PST

The Dalai Lama defended President Barack Obama from criticism that he has been too soft on China, saying Sunday that the U.S. leader just has a different approach to dealing with the Asian giant.

Obama made his first trip to China as president last week and has faced criticism that he didn't do enough to press Beijing on Tibet during his meetings with senior Chinese officials.

"Obama is not soft on China; just has a different style," the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader said in an interview aired on Indian television.

Mumbai still vulnerable 1 year after terror attack

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 22:21 PST

By By ERIKA KINETZ -- The walls that the rockets blew out have not been repaired, and the plaster is a dense scattershot of bullet holes. Dozens of holes, blasted by grenades, pockmark the linoleum floors.

One year after the terror attack that left 166 people dead, the Chabad House - a once-popular site with Jewish travelers where six foreigners were killed - remains scarred, still, and quiet.

In part, that silence is a symptom of how much remains unchanged since 10 militants with assault rifles fanned out across Mumbai last Nov. 26, attacking hotels, a train station and other targets, paralyzing India's financial capital and shocking the country.

Romanians vote for president amid political crisis

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 06:16 PST

By By ALISON MUTLER -- Romanians voted for new president Sunday, hoping to end a leadership crisis that threatens a euro1.5 billion ($2 billion) IMF loan their country desperately needs to ease a painful recession.

Both President Traian Basescu and his main rival, former Foreign Minister Mircea Geoana, described the election as one of the most important votes Romania has had since the 1989 fall of communism as they voted Sunday.

Yet reports of possible fraud emerged at some special voting centers.

Despite U.S. pressures, Pakistan continues to follow its own road

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 00:16 PST

By By SAEED SHAH -- The Pakistani government has some advice the Obama administration may not want to hear as it contemplates sending additional U.S. troops to neighboring Afghanistan: Negotiate with Taliban leaders and restrain India.

Pakistan embraces U.S. efforts to stabilize the region and worries that a hasty U.S. withdrawal would create chaos, but Pakistani officials worry that thousands of additional American soldiers and Marines would send Taliban forces retreating into Pakistan, where they're not welcome.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani's office said Friday that he told visiting CIA Director Leon Panetta of "Pakistan's concerns relating to the possible surge of the U.S. and ISAF forces in Afghanistan, which may entail negative implications for the situation in Baluchistan," the Pakistani province that borders Afghanistan to the south.

Top Iran reformer sentenced to 6 years in jail

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 01:06 PST

A top reformer has been sentenced to six years in jail after he stood trial on charges of fomenting unrest to topple the Iranian regime.

Lawyer Saleh Nikbakht said Sunday that former vice president Mohammad Ali Abtahi has 20 days to appeal the verdict.

Abtahi made televised confessions after his arrest in which he admitted provoking people to riot. His family and fellow reformers said the confessions were obtained under duress.