Do not be a head for heads are easily hurt.

US 'needs fresh Afghan strategy'

A top US general in Afghanistan has called for a revised military strategy, suggesting the current one is failing.
...............
BBC NEWS: In a strategic assessment, Gen Stanley McChrystal said that, while the Afghan situation was serious, success was still achievable.
The report has not yet been published, but sources say Gen McChrystal sees protecting the Afghan people against the Taliban as the top priority.
The report does not carry a direct call for increasing troop numbers.
"The situation in Afghanistan is serious, but success is achievable and demands a revised implementation strategy, commitment and resolve, and increased unity of effort," Gen McChrystal said in the assessment.
Copies of the document have been sent to Nato Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen and US Defence Secretary Robert Gates.
The report came as further results from last week's presidential election were released, with ballots now counted from almost 48% of polling stations.
President Hamid Karzai is leading so far, with 45.8% of the votes counted.
The independent Electoral Complaints Commission says that of more than 2,100 allegations of wrongdoing during voting and vote-counting, 618 have been deemed serious enough to affect the election's outcome, if proven.
Crisis of confidence
Gen McChrystal's blunt assessment will say that the Afghan people are undergoing a crisis of confidence because the war against the Taliban has not made their lives better, says BBC North America editor Mark Mardell.
The general says the aim should be for Afghan forces to take the lead - but their army will not be ready to do that for three years and it will take much longer for the police.
And he will warn that villages have to be taken from the Taliban and held, not merely taken.
Gen McChrystal also wants more engagement with the Taliban fighters and he believes that 60% of the problem would go away if they could be found jobs.
More than 30,000 extra US troops have been sent to Afghanistan since President Barack Obama ordered reinforcements in May - almost doubling his country's contingent and increasing the Western total to about 100,000.
This report does not mention increasing troop numbers - that is for another report later in the year - but the hints are all there, our correspondent says.
But when Gen McChrystal's report lands on Mr Obama's desk he will have to ponder the implications of increasing a commitment to a conflict which opinion polls suggest is losing support among the American people.
The latest Washington Post-ABC news poll suggests that only 49% of Americans now think the fight in Afghanistan is worth it.
In a recent BBC interview, Gen McChrystal said that he was changing the whole approach to the conflict in Afghanistan - from what he described as a focus on "body count", to enabling the Afghans to get rid of the Taliban themselves.
Nato partners
On Saturday, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown promised more support for UK troops in Afghanistan, during a surprise visit to the country.
During the visit he met Gen McChrystal. Correspondents say the pair discussed the need to speed up the pace of training of Afghan troops.
The British Ministry of Defence said it would look closely at any recommendations from Gen McChrystal.
"The UK conducted a review of policy earlier this year and the prime minister set out a new strategy on Afghanistan and Pakistan on 29 April.
"General McChrystal's work will be an important input to further planning, and we will work closely with him and our Nato partners moving forward," an MoD spokesman added.

Australia probes NKorea arms ship seized in UAE

MELBOURNE (AFP)- An Australian shipping firm at the center of an investigation into North Korean arms smuggling remained tight-lipped Monday as foreign affairs officials probed allegations it shipped arms to Iran.
United Arab Emirates customs officials are believed to have seized containers from the ship ANL Australia as it travelled from North Korea to Iran earlier this month.
The Australian government confirmed over the weekend that weapons including rocket-propelled grenades were found in the containers, in apparent violation of U.N.-imposed sanctions on Pyongyang.
A foreign affairs spokeswoman said officials were investigating if there had been a breach of Australian laws relating to the U.N. sanctions, which were strengthened in June after North Korea stunned the world with a nuclear test.
She said Australian laws backing the U.N. sanctions applied to the country's citizens and corporations anywhere in the world.
"In the event these inquiries reveal information which could reasonably be suspected to relate to an offence under Australian law, the department will refer the case to the Australian federal police," she said.
The ship is owned by ANL, a Melbourne-based subsidiary of the world's third-largest container company, CMA CGM, which has its global headquarters in the French port of Marseille.
ANL business development manager Chris Schultz said the company was not making any public statements about the allegations.
"We're just choosing not to make any comment," Schultz said from his Melbourne office.
The vessel's seizure marks the first time a nation has acted on U.N. sanctions to stop the communist state's arms proliferation.
The incident is seen as an indication that North Korea remains set on exporting its military technology, long a top money-maker for one of the world's poorest and most isolated nations.
A new round of U.N. sanctions was approved unanimously on June 12, under Resolution 1874, in response to North Korea's earlier nuclear weapons test and missile launches.
The resolution included financial sanctions designed to choke off revenue to the regime, called for beefed-up inspections of air, sea and land shipments going to and from North Korea and an expanded arms embargo.

'Eye mouse' to help disabled people get online

BUENOS AIRES: High school students of the ORT technical school in Argentina have presented a new technology that could help severally disabled people get online at a very low cost.
The software and webcam system was developed by the two 18-year-olds so that one of their friend's who suffers from Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) could use the computer.
Eye movements are translated by the Eye Mouse with a standard webcam into on-screen actions.
It means that people who suffer from SMA like Nicolas Rossi can control the computer with their eyes.

25 Nato-supply vehicles destroyed in Chaman

CHAMAN: The fire, which broke out after blast and firing at the containers and Nato oil tankers in Chaman area of Pak-Afghan border, could not be put out as yet, Geo News reported in the wee hours of Monday.
Also, the contingents of army have been called in to control the situation.
According to sources, some unidentified miscreants attacked with rockets at the Nato-supply cavalcade stationed at Pak-Afghan border a little after Iftar time and fired gunshots, which caused to set vehicles on blaze.
According to sources, over 25 containers, oil tankers, trailers and the vehicles mounted on trailers were all destroyed with three people injured in the incident.
Soon after the incident, Frontier Corps and Police put a security cordon around the area.
It should be mentioned here over thousand Nato supply vehicles and other trucks carrying commercial goods are standing stuck owing to the difference of mode of checking between the forces of Pak and Afghan forces.
Also, some unidentified miscreants tried to annihilate the containers for Nato supply on Sunday evening a little before Iftar; however, the bomb was neutralized with on time action.

Al-Qaeda claims responsibility of attack on Prince Nayef

DUBAI: Al-Qaeda has named the main it says was responsible for a suicide bombing targeting Saudi Arabia's Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, the deputy interior minister.
In a statement posted on the Internet on Sunday, the group said Abdullah al-Asiri crossed into Saudi Arabia from Yemen to carry out Thursday's attack.
Mohammed bin Nayef, who is in charge of the kingdom's crackdown on suspected members of the organisation, survived the suicide blast in Jeddah.
"The hero martyr on the list of 85 wanted persons Abdullah Hassan Tali al-Asiri, known as Abul-Khair, managed to enter his palace, pass his guards and blow up a package," a statement attributed to the Qaeda Jihad Organisation in the Arab Peninsula said.
"He managed to get through all the inspections at Najran and Jeddah airports and travelled on his [the prince's] private jet," it said.

Picture of the Day

Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a O.B.N

Winter Night at Pic du Midi

Hamas slams UN over Holocaust classes in Gaza

Netanyahu slams Israeli school ban on "Black Jews"
................
GAZA: Hamas condemned the United Nations on Sunday for what it said was a plan to teach Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip about the Holocaust in its history books as Israel's prime minister slammed three Jewish religious schools for refusing to admit Ethiopian Jews.
In an open letter to a senior U.N. official, the Islamist movement called on the agency to withdraw plans for history books in U.N. schools as it was an obvious bone of contention to teach Palestinian children about an event that lead to the creation of the state of Israel.
A spokesman for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which educates some 200,000 refugee children in Gaza, said the Holocaust was not on its current curriculum but would not comment on Hamas's statement that it was about to change.
Hamas said it believed UNRWA was about to start using a text for 13-year-olds that included a chapter on the Holocaust.
"We refuse to let our children study a lie invented by the Zionists," Hamas' Popular Committees for Refugees said in its letter to local UNRWA chief John Ging.
UNRWA spokesman Adnan Abu Hasna said: "There is no mention of the Holocaust in the current syllabus." Asked if UNRWA planned to change that, he declined to comment.
Hamas's official spokesman in Gaza, Sami Abu Zuhri, said he did not want to discuss the history of the Holocaust but said:
"Regardless of the controversy, we oppose forcing the issue of the so-called Holocaust onto the syllabus, because it aims to reinforce acceptance of the occupation of Palestinian land."
In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, run by the Western-backed Palestinian Authority of President Mahmoud Abbas, teachers said there was no official guidance on teaching about the Holocaust.
Arabs resent the way world powers reacted to the Holocaust by supporting the establishment of Israel in 1948, a move that took land from the Palestinians and left more than half of them refugees.
Israeli schools
Meanwhile Israeli schools also made headlines on Sunday as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed three Jewish religious schools for what he termed their immoral refusal to admit 100 Ethiopian Jewish students.
Spokesmen for Israel's 100,000-strong Ethiopian community described the schools' decision as discriminatory. Black Jews have long complained of prejudice in Israel.
The private ultra-Orthodox institutions, which also receive money from the government, denied the ban was racially motivated, saying the children required special funding and classes to raise their academic standards.
But Netanyahu called the ban "intolerable."
"Rejecting Ethiopian students is simply an attack on our morals, contradicting our ethos as a country, as a society, as Jews and as Israelis," Netanyahu said in an interview conducted jointly by Israel Radio and Army Radio.
"A school that continues along this line will suffer the consequences," he said. "I have told (the education minister) to act as forcefully as possible."
President Shimon Peres said last week the schools' policy was a "disgrace" no Israeli could accept. Most Ethiopian Jewish children attend state schools, many of them religious institutions.
Israel's chief rabbis determined formally in 1973 that Ethiopian Jews were descendants of the Jewish biblical tribe of Dan and were entitled to immigrate to Israel. Tens of thousands arrived in airlifts in the 1980s and 1990s

Online shopping brings new opportunity

BANGALORE-INDIA: With increasing facility and availability of products on the Internet, Online shopping(direct consumer business) is becoming a promising segment for the Supply Chain Management (SCM) companies bringing growth prospects along with some challenges.
The vertical is poised to show doubled growth in next three to five years, from the present growth rate of 19 per cent year-over-year.
Eddie Capel, executive vice president for Global Operation - Manhattan Associates, a supply chain optimization company said, "Online shopping or e-shopping is the process of direct consumer business where consumers purchase products or services over the Internet. Currently, total online purchases would account for six-seven per cent of the total purchases that occur across globe." He estimated that within a few years this would reach to 15-20 per cent of the total sales which is expected to be the peak situation.
Speaking about the opportunity, Capel said, "Direct consumer business like online shopping is different from other delivery processes as the shipments are done on individual demand basis and not bulk orders.
Therefore, it becomes necessary for companies to have a supply chain management software to ensure smooth and managed delivery in right time and right place."
He added that major issue faced by companies is the rejection of the delivered product.
"Around one third of the products are returned back. In this case, collecting and sending the materials back from various points and giving back the right product is very important. Apart from transport and distribution management, companies also look for a robust forecasting and planning software, and after the sudden advent of slowdown leading, resulting in decline of sales has spurred demand for the forecasting solutions," he said.
He informed that apart from online shopping, other growing verticals are food delivery, life sciences and hi-tech.
Manhattan Associates expects to leverage on this opportunity with its solution-SCOPE. According to the company, SCOPE has got a broad range of solutions like of planning and forecasting, inventory optimization, order life cycle management, transportation life cycle management and distribution management.
The company boasts to have around 1,200 global customers such as Adidas, Dell, Walmart, Papa John's and Staples. It has a 19-year old legacy of specialization in Warehouse Management system (WMS) and Transportation Lifecycle Management.

Fans mark would-have-been birthday of 'King of Pop'

NEW YORK: Fans around the world on Saturday marked what would have been the 51st birthday of late pop icon Michael Jackson as thousands braved rain in New York for a party organized by filmmaker Spike Lee.
Lee arranged what he described as a "joyous, festive and celebratory" event in Brooklyn's Prospect Park, with DJ Spinna setting the beat.
As the party got underway there were fears that the rains would keep the crowds away, but as the skies cleared police estimated there were between 7,000 and 10,000 people.
Videos of some of Jackson's greatest hits were showing on a big-screen television. Some fans hit the dance floor and got down, Jackson-style.
Others waited and took turns writing down their memories of the star on a special memorial wall.
"May your spirit, light, love and music forever bless us as we dance the nights away," a fan named Kayine wrote inside a heart.
The celebration came as weeks of feverish speculation about the cause of Jackson's sudden death in Los Angeles on June 25 ended Friday when the county coroner's office ruled his demise was a homicide.

Qaeda names man who tried to kill Saudi prince

Abdullah al-Asiri entered from Yemen to bomb Nayef
..............
DUBAI- Al-Qaeda on Sunday identified a militant who tried to kill Saudi Arabia's security chief on Thursday as Abdullah al-Asiri, a wanted suspect who entered Saudi Arabia from Yemen.
A suicide bomber posing as a repentant militant blew himself up in the Jeddah office of Prince Mohammed bin Nayef in the first known attack on a member of the Saudi royal family since al-Qaeda began a violent campaign in the world's top oil exporter in 2003.
"The hero martyr on the list of 85 wanted persons Abdullah Hassan Tali' al-Asiri, known as Abul-Khair, managed to enter his palace, pass his guards and blow up a package," said a statement on Islamist websites attributed to the "Qaeda Jihad Organization in the Arab Peninsula."
The statement suggested Asiri was apparently flown to Jeddah from Najran near the Yemeni border after entering from Yemen to give himself up to the Interior Ministry.
"He managed to get through all the inspections at Najran and Jeddah airports and travelled on his (the prince's) private jet," it said, accompanied by a picture of Asiri.
It was not possible to verify the statement, which said the Saudi government had a network of spies in Yemen of which the Yemeni government was not aware.
Yemeni Foreign Minister Abubakr al-Qirbi told Al Arabiya that Asiri travelled to Saudi Arabia from the Yemeni region of Mi'rib, stating he wanted to hand himself in.
The bomber was the only casualty. Prince Nayef, who is responsible for battling terrorism in the kingdom, was receiving guests at the end of the day's fasting during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said.
The 23-year-old Asiri insisted on meeting the prince to give himself up detonated his explosives. He also had a brother, Ibrahim, on the wanted list.
The Saudi and Yemeni branches of al-Qaeda merged early this year to form al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. They regrouped in Yemen after a vigorous counter-terrorism campaign led by Prince Mohammed, deputy interior minister, that badly damaged militants in Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia issued a list of 85 wanted suspects in February and analysts said many of them were in Yemen, including some who had been returned to Saudi Arabia from U.S. detention in Guantanamo Bay and some who had been through a much-vaunted Saudi militant "correction" program.
Saudi officials fear militants are finding refuge in lawless swaths of Yemen, whose security forces are stretched by a tribal revolt in the north and separatist unrest in the south.

Pakistan modified US-made missiles-NYT

NEW YORK- The Obama administration has accused Pakistan of illegally modifying U.S.-made missiles to expand its ability to hit land-based targets, which would constitute a threat to India, The New York Times reported in Sunday editions.
Citing senior administration and Congressional officials, the Times said the charge came in late June through an unpublicized diplomatic protest to Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani and other top Pakistani officials.
The accusation, made amid growing concerns about Pakistan's increasingly rapid conventional and nuclear weapons development, triggered a new round of U.S.-Pakistani tensions, the report added.
"There's a concerted effort to get these guys to slow down," the newspaper quoted a senior administration official as saying. "Their energies are misdirected," the official added.
A senior Pakistani official called the accusation "incorrect," saying that the missile tested was developed by Pakistan, just as it had modified North Korean designs to build a range of land-based missiles that could strike India, according to the Times.
U.S. officials said the disputed weapon is a conventional one based on the Harpoon antiship missiles that were sold to Pakistan during the Reagan administration as a defensive weapon, the newspaper reported, but the charges come as the Obama administration is seeking Congressional approval for $7.5 billion in aid for Pakistan over the next five years.
The accusation stems from U.S. intelligence agencies' detection of a suspicious missile test on April 23 which was never announced by the Pakistanis and which appeared to give it a new offensive weapon, the Times said.
U.S. military and intelligence officials suspect Pakistan of modifying the Harpoon sold to them in the 1980s, which would violate the Arms Control Export Act.
Pakistan denied the charge and said it developed the missile, the Times said.
The missiles would bolster Pakistan's ability to threaten India, stoking fears of heating up the two nations' arms race.
"The focus of our concern is that this is a potential unauthorized modification of a maritime antiship defensive capability to an offensive land-attack missile," another senior administration official told the Times, speaking on condition of anonymity about classified information.
"When we have concerns, we act aggressively," the official added. (Writing by Chris Michaud; Editing by Eric Walsh)

Etihad launches cargo service to Baghdad

UAE: Etihad Crystal Cargo, a division of Etihad Airways, is to launch a twice weekly service from its hub at Abu Dhabi airport to Baghdad.
The service, which will begin on September 1, will operate every Tuesday and Thursday, with Etihad deploying one of its A300-600 freighters with a payload of 42 tonnes on the route.
Baghdad is Etihad's first cargo-only destination in the Middle East and this is the first time in its history that the airline has operated any service to Iraq.
Des Vertannes, executive vice president for cargo said: "We are very proud to launch Etihad's first services to Baghdad and assist in the country's reconstruction.
"Trade and business ties between the UAE and Iraq continue to grow and we look forward to building a strong customer base in the country, which is widely considered one of the region's fastest growing markets."
With its fleet of two Airbus A300-600 aircraft and an MD11, Etihad Crystal Cargo has 14 cargo freighter destinations including Frankfurt Haan, Mumbai, Lagos, Colombo and Milan.
The first flight to Baghdad operates on Tuesday, September 1.
It will operate every Tuesday and Thursday between Abu Dhabi and Baghdad.
Flight EY981 departs from Abu Dhabi at 6am and arrives in Baghdad at 7.15am.
The return flight, EY980, departs from Baghdad at 11.15am and arrives in Abu Dhabi at 2.30pm. All times are local.

Brown visits troops

Kabul: Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown made a surprise visit to Afghanistan, where he pledged to speed up the training of Afghan security forces, the BBC and Sky News reported.
"I think we could get another 50,000 Afghan army personnel trained over the next year," Brown told the BBC from Helmand province, where the majority of Britain's approximately 9,000 troops in Afghanistan are based.
"Stepping that up means that the Afghans take more responsibility for their own affairs. They're backed up by partnering and mentoring done by the British forces."
Quicker training could require more British troops, and the BBC reported that Brown discussed this possibility with General Stanley McChrstyal, the new U.S. commander in Afghanistan, during his trip.
Brown also visited British troops at Camp Bastion in Helmand province and thanked them for their efforts in fighting insurgents in the build-up to the presidential elections on Aug. 20.
A total of 207 British military personnel have died in operations in Afghanistan since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001.

UAE seizes NKorea ship with arms bound for Iran

Shipment was falsely labeled "machine parts": report
....................
UNITED NATIONS: The United Arab Emirates seized a ship several weeks ago that was bound for Iran and carrying North Korean weapons in violation of a United Nations embargo, Western diplomats said on Friday.
"They (UAE) did seize the ship and it was carrying weapons from North Korea for Iran," a U.N. Security Council diplomat said on condition of anonymity, confirming a report in the Financial Times newspaper.
The diplomat said UAE government officials had informed the U.N. Security Council's sanctions committee, which is responsible for implementing sanctions on Pyongyang.
" They (UAE) did seize the ship and it was carrying weapons from North Korea for Iran "
A U.N. Security Council diplomat"It is an issue that is being processed by the committee," said the source, who declined further comment on details on the weapons.
The UAE mission to the U.N. also declined comment on the case.
The Financial Times reported earlier Friday that the ship was seized "some weeks ago," and identified some of the armaments as basic weaponry, including rocket-propelled grenades.
The arms had been falsely labeled as "machine parts," the Times reported.
The new round of U.N. sanctions were approved unanimously on June 12, under resolution 1874, in response to North Korea's earlier nuclear weapons test and subsequent missile launches.
The resolution included financial sanctions designed to choke off revenue to the regime, and also called for beefed-up inspections of air, sea and land shipments going to and from North Korea, and an expanded arms embargo.

Smoking to kill 6 million in 2010

WASHINGTON: Six million people worldwide will die from smoking-related illnesses next year, according to the annual Tobacco Atlas report from the American Cancer Society.
"Tobacco accounts for one out of every 10 deaths worldwide and will claim 5.5 million lives this year alone," the study said, predicting that current trends indicate that tobacco-related deaths could top 8 million annually by 2030.
"One hundred million people were killed by tobacco in the 20th century," the report said. "Unless effective measures are implemented to prevent young people from smoking and to help current smokers quit, tobacco will kill 1 billion people in the 21st century."
The Tobacco Atlas said that there are 1 billion male smokers worldwide and 250 million female smokers, and that tobacco kills one-third to one-half of those who smoke.

UN warns over swine flu in birds

The discovery of swine flu in birds in Chile raises concerns about the spread of the virus, the UN warns.
......................
Last week the H1N1 virus was found in turkeys on farms in Chile. The UN now says poultry farms elsewhere in the world could also become infected.
Scientists are worried that the virus could theoretically mix with more dangerous strains. It has previously spread from humans to pigs.
However, swine flu remains no more severe than seasonal flu.
Safe to eat
Chilean authorities first reported the incident last week. Two poultry farms are affected near the seaport of Valparaiso.
Juan Lubroth, interim chief veterinary officer of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), said: "Once the sick birds have recovered, safe production and processing can continue. They do not pose a threat to the food chain."
Chilean authorities have established a temporary quarantine and have decided to allow the infected birds to recover rather than culling them.
It is thought the incident represents a "spill-over" from infected farm workers to turkeys.
Canada, Argentina and Australia have previously reported spread of the H1N1 swine flu virus from farm workers to pigs.
Dangerous strains
The emergence of a more dangerous strain of flu remains a theoretical risk. Different strains of virus can mix together in a process called genetic reassortment or recombination.
So far there have been no cases of H5N1 bird flu in flocks in Chile.
However, Dr Lubroth said: "In Southeast Asia there is a lot of the (H5N1) virus circulating in poultry.
"The introduction of H1N1 in these populations would be of greater concern."
Colin Butter from the UK's Institute of Animal Health agrees.
"We hope it is a rare event and we must monitor closely what happens next," he told BBC News.
"However, it is not just about the H5N1 strain. Any further spread of the H1N1 virus between birds, or from birds to humans would not be good.
"It might make the virus harder to control, because it would be more likely to change."
William Karesh, vice president of the Wildlife Conservation Society, who studies the spread of animal diseases, says he is not surprised by what has happened.
"The location is surprising, but it could be that Chile has a better surveillance system.
"However, the only constant is that the situation keeps changing."

Khan warns to unveil sensitive issues if maltreatment continues

ISLAMABAD: Atomic scientist Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan said if mischievous attitude continued with him in the name of security protocol, he will unveil sensitive issues.
In an exclusive interview to Geo News after Lahore High Court’s verdict, Dr. Qadeer said the elements he served most treated him maliciously. He said he never talked with anyone during five-year home confinement.
Dr. Khan expressed sorrow over the maltreatment and said in reply of accusations, I am leaving this issue on God.
Replying to a question, Dr. Khan said he will go to Supreme Court if Lahore High Court decision could not implemented. He praised the judiciary and said present judiciary comprised of brave judges. Dr. Khan said he wants freedom of movement like any other free citizen of the country.

US nuke gurus see signs of more Indian nuclear tests

WASHINGTON: US nuclear pundits feel the Indian establishment -- political, scientific, or both in concert – may be lining up to conduct more nuclear tests to validate and improve the country’s arsenal before the Obama administration shuts the door on nuclear explosions.
''You bet he wants to test again,'' said Henry Sokolski, Executive Director of the Washington DC-based Nonproliferation Policy Education Center, when asked about the remarks from a key Indian nuclear scientist suggesting India’s thermonuclear test was not up to mark. ''Imagine you are a nuclear weapons designer who has corrected the mistakes and ironed out the wrinkles. You would be crazy not to want to test again.''
''You have to look at the DNA of a weapons designer. They always want to make the weapons smaller, lighter, more powerful,'' Sokolski added. ''If you blindfold them, tie their hands and leave them in the middle of a forest, they will still make their way to a test site.''
While Sokolski addressed the Indian motivations largely from the technology validation standpoint, Washington has long believed that geo-political objectives rather than scientific or technical metrics drives New Delhi’s nuclear weapons quest. The argument has gotten another boost following the remarks by a key Indian scientist, K.Santhanam, questioning the potency of India’s thermonuclear bomb.
While ''We told you so,'' was pretty much the reaction in the US scientific and strategic community on the renewed controversy over the yield of the thermo-nuclear device in Shakti series of nuclear test arising from remarks by Santhanam, there is lingering suspicion here that the disclosure in politically driven. It’s rare for Indian scientists to break ranks on a sensitive national security issue.
Why would Santhanam go public, with such deliberation, on something that was commonly discussed and widely acknowledged in scientific circles, a decade after the questions first surfaced?
The answer, according to some nuclear pundits mulling on the issue on blogs: To ward off growing American pressure on India to sign various nuclear containment treaties and perhaps enable India to conduct one last series of tests to validate and improve its nuclear arsenal.
In scores of research papers and studies in the immediate weeks and months of the 1998 nuclear tests in Pokhran, US scientists repeatedly questioned the reported yield of the thermo-nuclear device, saying it was well below India’s claim of 43-45 kilotons. In fact, some scientists, notably Terry Wallace, then with the University of Arizona and now attached to the Los Alamos National Laboratory, put the combined yield of the three May 11 tests at as low as 10 to 15 kilotons.
Two other tests on May 13 involved sub-kiloton devices for tactical weapons, which US scientists doubted even took place. Even the six nuclear tests claimed by Pakistan were treated with derision, with US scientists saying only two of them involved nuclear devices.
''This is quite clearly a case where governments tested for a political reason rather than scientific reasons, so we have to be suspicious of what they say,'' Wallace, the country’s top nuclear seismology expert, had said about the reported yields.
On Thursday, suspicion lingered in strategic circles that even Santhanam’s ''admission'' was cloaked in politics, aimed primarily at warding off US pressure on New Delhi to sign CTBT, the long-sought treaty to ban nuclear tests, and making ground for a further series of tests. There is renewed energy in Washington under the Democratic dispensation to push forward with such nuclear containment treaties after the previous Bush administration put them on the backburner.
Some US nuclear gurus also believe any break-out test at this point will be detrimental to India, even if it is aimed at validating its thermo-nuclear device, or the so-called Hydrogen Bomb.
"An Indian test would be very toxic to cooperation it has just gained under the nuclear deal. It’s hard to see what India would gain," said Gary Milholin Director of the Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control.
Ensuring a reliable thermonuclear bomb? Milholin scoffed at the idea. "There are people who say American nuclear bombs won’t work because we have not tested for so long," he laughed. "I don’t think anyone would want to test that assumption."
Similarly, he said, it would be risky for any country to count on India’s thermonuclear weapon to have a low yield.
"There are now ways other than testing to increase confidence," Milholin added. "And I think India has enough computing power to do that."

Saudi anti-terror chief escapes murder attempt

Deputy interior minister survives Qaeda suicide bomb
......................
RIYADH: Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, deputy interior minister responsible for anti-terror fight, escapes an assassination attempt late on Thursday in Jeddah after a suicide bomber who claimed wanted to give himself up to authoritiesin got close to him and detonated his explosives.
Prince bin Nayef was meeting well-wishers for the Moslem fasting month of Ramadan on Thursday when a man blew himself up with explosives he was carrying, the Saudi News Agency said reported.
Qaeda’s role
The suicide bomber was a wanted militant who had insisted on meeting the prince to announce he was giving himself up to authorities, SPA added. It said the man, whom it did not name, was the only casualty.
The Saudi wing of al-Qaeda was swift in claiming responsibility. In a statement posted on an Islamist website late Thursday, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula said it was behind the bomb, according to the U.S.-based monitoring group, SITE Intelligence.
The attack was the first to directly target a member of the royal family since the start of a wave of violence by Qaeda sympathizers in 2003 against the saudi monarchy.
"This will only increase our determination to eradicate this (terrorism)," said Prince bin Nayef, apparently slightly injured, in a meeting with Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz who was visiting him in the hospital.
Jamal Khashaqji, editor-in-Chief of the Saudi newspaper al-Watan, told Al Arabiya that targeting Prince bin Nayef, as a member of the royal family, represents Qaeda’s fight for power and authority, not for reform as it claims.
Earlier this month, Saudi authorities announced the arrest of 44 Qaeda-linked suspects and the seizure of explosives, detonators and firearms.
In 2004, suspected terrorists rammed a vehicle laden with explosives into the entrance of the Interior Ministry headquarters in the capital Riyadh.

File-sharers' TV tastes revealed

Millions of television viewers are now using illegal file-sharing services to access free and unauthorised copies of programmes, research has revealed.
....................
US drama Heroes was the most popular illegal download this year, according to research firm Big Champagne.
Around 55 million people downloaded the show, whilst 51 million chose to access Lost, the second most popular show.
Visits to leading "torrent" sites, which index video and music files, have also nearly doubled in the last year.
The proportion of file-sharing involving films and television rather than music is continuing to rise, the research shows.
"Millions of television viewers now access free, unauthorised versions of favourite shows at least some of the time," says Eric Garland the chief executive of Big Champagne.
"This is a socially acceptable form of casual piracy - and it is replacing viewing hours."
Film show
All of the programmes in the top 10 were American, but the survey also examined unauthorised downloads of popular BBC show Top Gear.
During the most recent series, the figures show around 300,000 downloads of each episode in the days immediately following their broadcast in the UK.
But the UK accounted for just 4% of the download activity, with 47% coming from the United States.
Big Champagne says Top Gear has been among the most pirated television programmes internationally.
The series appears on BBC America some time after it is shown in the UK, and it appears that some American fans are eager to download it before it is available legally.
The research also looks at unauthorised film downloads and shows they are getting lower audiences than those for TV programmes.
Top of the chart was Watchmen, downloaded nearly 17 million times, followed by The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, with 13 million.
The Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire, a relatively low budget film compared with the two Hollywood blockbusters, was viewed by nearly 9 million unauthorised downloaders.
The research will be presented on Saturday at the Edinburgh Television Festival in a session on what television can learn from the music industry's experience with online piracy.
Mr Garland says there are major differences between the two industries and the impact on television may not be as severe as some TV executives fear: "We may see a lot of disruption but it is premature to say 'we're next'."
"The effect on the business is going to be very different."
Big Champagne's research also shows that the rate of piracy for live events, such as sport or talent shows, is much lower than that for popular drama series.

Boeing 787 to fly by year's end

The first flight of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner will take place by the end of 2009, the company has announced.
..................
Boeing also said it hoped to deliver the first plane for service in the last quarter of 2010.
There have been a series of delays in the development of the aircraft, and it is now running almost two years behind its original schedule.
Boeing chairman Jim McNerney said the extra time would enable the remaining work to be completed.
"The design details and implementation plan are nearly complete, and the team is preparing airplanes for modification and testing," he said.
Write-off
The delay was partly caused by an area within the side-of-body section of the aircraft which needed to be reinforced, Boeing added.
The latest delay in the project, announced in June this year, was the fifth time the launch had been put back.
The company estimated that the cost of the first three test planes, which have no commercial value, would be $2.5bn. This, it said, would be included as a one-off charge in its July to September results.
"This charge will have no impact on the company's cash outlook going forward," Boeing said.
While analysts generally welcomed Boeing's announcement, some cautioned that future delays may still have to be announced.
"Risk remains the new schedule could slip given the current challenge of re-fitting the wing-body join, the possibility of changes to the electrical and environmental control systems, and simply the poor 787 track record," said Credit Suisse analyst Robert Spingarn.
Important plane
Boeing hopes to be making 10 of the 787 planes a month by the end of 2013.
Last month, the firm said it already had 850 orders.
It also revealed that it had received 13 new orders for 787s between April and June, but that airlines had cancelled 41 others.
The 787 Dreamliner is a hugely important plane for US-based Boeing in its long standing rivalry with Europe's Airbus.
It was the first unveiled in July 2007 and is the firm's first all-new jet since 1995.
It is designed to make use of carbon fibre to make it much lighter and more fuel efficient than traditional aluminium planes.

US envoy 'in angry Karzai talks'

The US special envoy to Afghanistan has held an "explosive" meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai over the country's election, the BBC has learnt.
................
KABUL: Richard Holbrooke raised concerns about ballot-stuffing and fraud, by a number of candidates' teams, sources say.
The US envoy also said a second-round run-off could make the election process more credible, the sources said.
Concerns have already been raised about Afghanistan's election, although final results are not due until September.
A number of senior sources have confirmed the details of a meeting between Mr Holbrooke and Mr Karzai held on 21 August, one day after the election.
The meeting was described as "explosive" and "a dramatic bust-up".
Mr Holbrooke is said to have twice raised the idea of holding a second round run-off because of concerns about the voting process.
He is believed to have complained about the use of fraud and ballot stuffing by some members of the president's campaign team, as well as other candidates.
Mr Karzai reacted very angrily and the meeting ended shortly afterwards, the sources said.
However, a spokeswoman for the US embassy in Kabul denied there had been any shouting or that Mr Holbrooke had stormed out.
She refused to discuss the details of the meeting.
A spokesman for the presidential palace denied the account of the conversation.
There have been many doubts raised about the Afghan presidential election, about the turnout and irregularities.
But this is the first time that a leading Western official has apparently expressed it quite so openly.
It will raise more uestions about the credibility of the whole process and could well make the plan to establish a meaningful government in a stable country all the harder to achieve.

Sex braggart trial may net others

JEDDAH: Investigations in the case of Mazen Abdul Jawad, the Saudi who appeared on LBC’s “Bold Red Line” last month bragging about his sex life, may lead to charges against other individuals, an anonymous source at the Investigation and Prosecution Commission (IPC) told Arab News on Thursday.
Already three other men who appeared in the segment and whose names have not been released have been detained as accomplices.
“This has led to the delay in taking suspects to the court for trial,” said the source, adding that the four men are probably going to spend Ramadan and Eid behind bars. “They cannot be taken to court before sometime in October.”
The source would not elaborate on who else if anyone would be facing charges, but it has been suggested in previous reports that the producers of the program could become involved. Saudi authorities recently shuttered LBC’s Saudi offices. LBC is a major Saudi-owned, Lebanon-based broadcaster.
For his part, Abdul Jawad claims that the show’s producers took four hours of footage of him talking about sex and reduced it to a few minutes of the most extreme off-the-cuff comments where, among other things, Abdul Jawad claims he engaged in pre-marital sex at 14 and regularly cruises the streets of Jeddah looking for hook-ups with women via his mobile phone’s Bluetooth application. He could face charges of promoting sinful behavior (publicizing vice), which is considered a crime in Shariah law.
The IPC has brought in voice experts to prove that the video footage wasn’t dubbed or creatively edited and LBC producers have been subpoenaed to verify that Abdul Jawad participated in the program and that it was he who made the incriminating comments.

Pokhran II not fully successful: Indian scientist

NEW DELHI: The 1998 Pokhran II nuclear tests might have been far from the success they have been claimed to be. The yield of the thermonuclear explosions was actually much below expectations and the tests were perhaps more a fizzle rather than a big bang.
The controversy over the yield of the tests, previously questioned by foreign agencies, has been given a fresh lease of life with K Santhanam, senior scientist and DRDO representative at Pokhran II, admitting for the first time that the only thermonuclear device tested was a "fizzle". In nuclear parlance, a test is described as a fizzle when it fails to meet the desired yield.
Santhanam, who was director for 1998 test site preparations, said that the yield for the thermonuclear test, or hydrogen bomb in popular usage, was much lower than what was claimed. Santhanam, who was DRDO's chief advisor, could well have opened up the debate on whether or not India should sign CTBT as claims that India has all the data required and can manage with simulations is bound to be called into question.
``Based upon the seismic measurements and expert opinion from world over, it is clear that the yield in the thermonuclear device test was much lower than what was claimed. I think it is well documented and that is why I assert that India should not rush into signing the CTBT,'' said Santhanam.
He emphasized the need for India to conduct more tests to improve its nuclear weapon programme.
The test was said to have yielded 45 kilotons (KT) but was challenged by western experts who said it was not more than 20 KT.
The exact yield of the thermonuclear explosion is important as during the heated debate on the India.

US students under fire for anti-Islam shirts

Church prints "Islam is of the Devil" shirts for members
......................
Gainesville, FLORIDA: A handful of school students in the American state of Florida were sent home this week for wearing t-shirts with the words "Islam is of the Devil" printed on the back in red and refusing to change out of them or cover the message.
The controversy started after members of a local church, the Dove World Outreach Center, which printed the shirts, showed up for the first day of school wearing the controversial t-shirts, which officials said violated a ban on clothing that may offend or distract other students and "disrupt the learning process."
"Students have a right of free speech, and we have allowed students to come to school wearing clothes with messages," school district staff attorney Tom Wittmer told Florida's the Gainesville Sun newspaper, adding "but this message is a divisive message that is likely to offend students."
"The next kid might show up with a shirt saying 'Christianity is of the Devil,'" Wittmer said, which Dove church members said they would not like but said every student has the right to do as they please.
Dove's Senior pastor, Terry Jones, said he believed spreading the church's message was more important than education and told the paper no local company "had the guts" to print the shirts, forcing him to go online to have them made.
"People can be saved"
Gainesville High student, 15-year-old Emily Sapp, was sent home after she refused to change her clothes.
Sapp said she wore the shirt to promote her Christian beliefs, when asked about the offensive statement Sapp said it was aimed at the religion and not its members.
"The people are fine," the paper quoted her as saying. "The people are people. They can be saved like anyone else."
The front of the controversial shirts are emblazoned with "Jesus answered I am the way and the truth and the life; no one goes to the Father except through me," coupled with "I stand in trust with Dove Outreach Center."
The anti-Islam message "Islam is of the Devil" is written on the back in bold red letters.
For the president of the Muslim Association of North Central Florida, Saeed R. Khan, the offensive shirts should not be accepted "particularly in a school setting where you are trying to create an atmosphere where people are supposed to respect each other and live with each other, where we have people of every ethnicity and every religion."

Child bride turned over to 80-year-old husband

AL-LAITH: A 10-year-old bride was returned last Sunday to her 80-year-old husband by her father who discovered her at the home of her aunt with whom she has been hiding for around 10 days.
A local newspaper said the husband, who denies he is 80 in spite of claims by the girl’s family, accused the aunt of meddling in his affairs. “My marriage is not against Shariah. It included the elements of acceptance and response by the father of the bride,” he said.
He added that he had been engaged to his wife’s elder sister and that this broke off as she wanted to continue with her education. “In light of this, her father offered his younger daughter. I was allowed to have a look at her according to Shariah and found her acceptable,” he said.
Maatouq Al-Abdullah, a member of the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR), said there is no system in place regulating the marriage of young girls, something that he said results in adverse psychological, health and social effects.
“Such marriages are considered a gross violation of charters on the rights of children, which the Kingdom has signed and which set the age of adulthood at 18,” he added.

Three million cups of Zamzam daily

MAKKAH: Three million cups of Zamzam water are consumed daily at the Grand Mosque during the month of Ramadan, said Director of Zamzam Water Distribution in the Grand Mosque Aifan Al-Juaid.
“More than 1,800 cubic meters of water are consumed inside the mosque and 270 cubic meters in the courtyards outside each day this Ramadan,” said Al-Juaid in a statement.
Pilgrims can drink Zamzam at 90 drinking points consisting of 1,100 taps inside the mosque and 43 drinking areas of 100 taps outside.
Al-Juaid added that new drinking areas have been constructed in the basement, on the first and second floors, and on the Masaa. More drinking facilities have also been arranged in the northern courtyard.
Pilgrims and visitors are keen to drink plenty of Zamzam water, which is a tradition of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). Zamzam water is also supplied to the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah at a daily average of 274 cubic meters, the official said.
The late King Faisal showed considerable interest in improving the system of Zamzam water distribution to pilgrims, said Al-Juaid.
The erstwhile Ministry of Haj and Endowments laid down financial and administrative statutes for the distribution of the holy water and established the Zamzam United Office in 1982. It was about that time that the distribution of Zamzam became a collective function instead of continuing it as an individual pursuit.
The new Zamzam office has been striving to upgrade Zamzam distribution so that pilgrims, particularly during Haj and Ramadan, do not find any difficulty in getting desired quantities.

Yahoo Buys Maktoob Arabic Portal,Boosts Emerging Mkts

DUBAI (By Dania Saadi)-Yahoo Inc. (YHOO), said on Tuesday it agreed to buy Arabic online portal Maktoob.com as it seeks to add the Middle East to its expanding strategy for the fast-growing emerging markets.
"This deal reinforces Yahoo's commitment to invest in emerging markets," Keith Nilsson, senior vice president of emerging markets for Yahoo, said at a press conference in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
"With online user penetration and advertising penetration at its infancy, we see tremendous growth potential in this region," he said.
Nilsson and Maktoob officials declined to disclose the value of the deal.
Yahoo Inc. is looking at further expansion in emerging countries, which are the company's fastest growing regions. Yahoo 's emerging markets include South East Asia, India, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East.
The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company said in July its second-quarter revenue fell 13% as its online advertising business continued to deteriorate. Yahoo has 44 million users a month in the North Africa and Middle East region, Nilsson said. Maktoob.com has over 16 million users, according to the company.
The deal comes a month after Yahoo agreed to join forces with Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) in the Internet search and advertising business to help create a counterweight to Google Inc. (GOOG) and has upgraded its services as the Internet portal tries to make its core properties more appealing.
Yahoo and rival Google, which already has Arabic internet services, are competing to tap the Arab World's fast-growing population of over 320 million and high per capita gross domestic product, one of the highest in the world.
"Saudi Arabia and Egypt offer tremendous size and growth opportunities that we will be looking at in addition to other countries in the Middle East," Nilsson said.
With a population exceeding 70 million, Egypt is the Arab World's most populous state, and Saudi Arabia is the region's largest economy and the world's biggest oil exporter.
Yahoo's acquisition follows a wave of consolidation in the Middle East's internet and media industry over the last few years.
Abraaj Capital, a Dubai-based private equity firm, sold in 2007 its 40% stake in Maktoob.com to U.S.-based hedge fund Tiger Global Management. Abraaj bought this year a stake in Mediaquest Corp., a Dubai-based company mainly involved in publishing.
Emap, a London-based media group, paid in 2006 an initial $24 million for AME Info, an online business and information service provider in the Middle East, according to its Web site.
The Arab World's online advertising market is growing anywhere between 25 and 50 percent a year as internet usage soars, Nilsson added.
Samih Toukan, who helped found Maktoob in 2000, said the shift in advertising expenditure has helped fuel growth in the online advertising industry.
"We are talking of an online advertising budget of probably $40 to $50 million that is even growing this year at 30% to 40% even with this global financial crisis," Toukan said at the press conference.
Besides the Maktoob.com portal, the Maktoob Group includes web sites such as Souq.com and cashU.com, which will operate under into a new entity called Jabbar Internet Group to be managed by Toukan.

Hakeem,Wali confirm Mehsud’s death

PAKISTAN: Taliban leaders Hakeemullah Mehsud and Waliur Rehman confirmed the death of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Baitullah Mehsud. Talking to a British news agency, both the Taliban leaders said their chief Baitullah Mehsud has passed away two days back on Sunday.
They said Mehsud was unconscious ever since he was hit in a drone attack on August 5 near Pak-Afghan border, he died in this state of unconsciousness, succumbing to injuries.
Both the Taliban leaders told that Hakeemuall has assumed the chieftaincy of the outfit, after the death of Baitullah Mehsud.
It should be mentioned here that Baitullah Mehsud was the chief of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and accepted the responsibility for several sabotage activities across Pakistan.

US Muslims turn to Jews for Ramadan prayers

Muslims flock to synagogues due to mosque overcrowding
..................
DUBAI - A booming Muslim population in the United States is creating a shortage of mosques and prayer space, forcing the faithful to get creative during the holy month of Ramadan as Muslims in Virginia rent out Jewish synagogues.
In Reston, Virginia, a synagogue has opened its doors to Muslim worshipers to perform daily prayers during Ramadan, according to the Washington Post. The extra space is crucial to accommodate the additional worshippers expected.
"Just like you have Easter Christians, Hanukkah Jews, we have what we call Ramadan Muslims. They just come out of the woodwork on the holy days," Imam Johari Abdul-Malik, outreach director at the Dar Al-Hijrah mosque in Falls Church, told the Post.
With estimates of the numbers of Muslims in America ranging anywhere between 2.5 and seven million, the Muslim population has doubled since 1990 according to a Trinity College study, challenging the ability of Muslims to build enough mosques to keep up with demand.
The Northern Virginia Hebrew Congregation once depended on space in a Catholic church before its synagogue was built. Rabbi Robert Nosanchuk noted that: “The prophet Isaiah said our houses would be houses of prayer for all people. Now, I don’t know if Isaiah could have imagined us hosting Ramadan in the synagogue, but the basic idea is there."
Overcrowded mosques
Islam prohibits the charging of interest, so most congregations spend years raising the entire amount needed to build a mosque in cash in order to avoid taking a mortgage. Despite a building boom in suburban Virginia, mosques are often full from the minute they open and must rent additional space.
Mosques like the 4,000-strong ADAMS mosque in Herndon, whose membership has increased by a factor of 13 since 2000, have not been able to build apace with membership growth.
The mosque rents space from hotels, a wedding hall and two synagogues to accommodate those attending Friday prayers.
Others, like the 2,000-capacity Dar al-Hijrah, have had to turn away worshippers because of space constraints.
Abdul-Malik said he had to turn many away last Ramadan to avoid violating occupancy rules, and refused to say how many the mosque would accommodate this year out of concern for the fire inspector.

Young Guantanamo detainee returns to Afghanistan

KABUL: A young Afghan whose six-year detention at Guantanamo arrived in his home country, less than a month after a federal judge in Washington ordered his release.

Mohammed Jawad, whose confession to throwing a hand grenade that wounded two U.S. soldiers was rejected as coerced by torture, was helicoptered into Kabul from Bagram Air Base and taken to the office of the Afghan attorney general.

One of his defense attorneys, Marine Major Eric Montalvo, said Jawad then met with President Hamid Karzai and was scheduled to be released to an uncle.

French court accepts SMS as divorce proof

PARIS: French appeal court has ruled that a text message can be used as evidence of an affair in divorce proceedings.

The ruling stems from a case, which hinged on a text found by a woman on her husband’s phone.

While a lower court in Lyon initially ruled this was a breach of the husband’s privacy, this decision has been overturned by the appeal court ruling.

Like letters and emails, text messages will be accepted as evidence as long as they were obtained “without violence or fraudulently”.

Voters targeted after Afghan polls

The Taliban has released footage of its fighters stopping Afghan citizens to see if they have voted, and abducting those who have.
The video footage, obtained by Al Jazeera and broadcast on Monday, showed Taliban fighters manning an impromptu checkpoint, stopping vehicles and demanding to see people's fingers.
On election day indelible ink was used as an anti-fraud measure to prevent people voting twice.
Before the polls, there had been rumours that Taliban fighters would use the ink to identify those who had voted and cut off their fingers.
The footage showed men who the Taliban accused of having voted being marched, blindfolded, by Taliban fighters and reprimanded for "standing in line with the Jews" by casting their vote.
Violence and fraud
The footage is the latest blow to the elections, backed by the West, which were carried out amid Taliban attacks on August 20 and have since been beset by accusations of fraud.
To the relief of Western officials, the Taliban were unable to derail the vote, but turnout was low due to increased violence and Taliban threats.
Election results have still to be released, with preliminary results due on Tuesday and final official results due in September. But claims of vote rigging have escalated in the wake of the vote.
The contest is thought to have come down to Hamid Karzai, the incumbent president, and Abdullah Abdullah, his former foreign minister and main election rival.
Abdullah announced on Sunday that he had evidence of widespread vote rigging by Karzai's faction and that "there might have been thousands of violations throughout the country".
Allegations rejected
Karzai's camp denied the claim, saying it had submitted its own election complaints against Abdullah's faction.
The election complaints commission, a body made up of Afghan and UN-mandated officials, has said it is investigating 225 allegations of misconduct.
The election disputes have arisen against a backdrop of continued high levels of violence. One American and two Estonian soldiers were killed in two separate attacks in southern Afghanistan on Monday.
The Estonian government said that its soldiers were killed when a bomb hit their armoured personal carrier near the Pimon patrol base in the Nad-e-Ali area of Helmand province.
The US military did not provide details of the attack on its soldier.

NATO presses for more resources in Afghanistan: report

KABUL: NATO military commanders told U.S. President Barack Obama's envoy on Sunday that they needed more troops and other resources to beat back a resurgent Taliban, particularly in eastern Afghanistan near the Pakistan border.
The Taliban has made inroads in recent months in many areas that U.S. forces though they had stabilized. The deteriorating security has increased pressure on the Obama administration to consider sending more forces into the fight, a move that could prove a hard sell with the U.S. Congress and the American public.
U.S. Major General Curtis Scaparotti, commander of forces in eastern Afghanistan, said he told U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke that veteran Taliban commander Jalaluddin Haqqani had expanded his reach in several areas in Afghanistan near the border with Pakistan.
"Haqqani is the central threat. We've seen that expansion and that's part of what we're fighting," Scaparotti told reporters after the meeting.
The U.S. military has launched big offensives against the Taliban in southern Afghanistan but officials acknowledge that more attention may need to be paid to the increasingly unstable eastern provinces.
It is unclear how much room Obama has to maneuver.
A new Washington Post-ABC News poll showed most Americans believe the war in Afghanistan is not worth fighting and just a quarter say more troops should be sent there.
U.S. senators visiting Kabul said they told Afghan President Hamid Karzai and members of his cabinet on Sunday that U.S. patience was running out.
"I conveyed to Karzai that there's going to come a time when the patience of Americans will run out," U.S. Senator Robert Casey, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, said.
Senator Sherrod Brown, an Ohio Democrat who was part of the same delegation, said: "Time is not running out next week. But they have to show results. It's the last chance."
Some military officials contend that there are a growing number of Uzbek and other foreign fighters among the Taliban in border areas.
Asked about the presence of Uzbek fighters, one commander said his men had never found one, alive or dead, but added: "I'm pretty sure they are there."
U.S. officials increasingly see the fight against the Taliban as a "single battlefield" that runs from Afghanistan into the tribal areas of Pakistan.
While welcoming Pakistan's offensive against militants in the Swat valley, northwest of Islamabad, some U.S. officials are concerned that Islamabad will put off indefinitely a push into the South Waziristan region on the Afghan border, a stronghold of Pakistani Taliban fighters led by Baitullah Mehsud.
Mehsud is widely believed to have been killed this month in a missile strike by a U.S. pilotless drone aircraft.

Iran urges world not to counter its nuke drive

Tehran asks world powers to join hands to resolve nuke crisis
....................
TEHRAN- Iran pleaded for the world powers on Monday to stop working against its atomic drive and instead adopt a policy of interaction with the Islamic republic to resolve the nuclear crisis.
"It is the right time for the other parties to review their policy. Rather than countering Iran, they should interact with Iran," foreign ministry spokesman Hassan Ghashghavi told reporters.
Ghashghavi's remarks come just days after reports that Iran has allowed inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to check on the nuclear reactor at Arak for the first time in a year.
Arak, with its nearly completed 40-megawatt heavy water reactor, is one of most sensitive nuclear sites in Iran, as it could produce plutonium, which Tehran says would be for medical research.
World powers and Israel are at loggerheads with Iran over its nuclear program which they suspect is aimed at making atomic weapons, a charge consistently denied by Tehran.
Iran has long insisted that it has a right to nuclear technology as it is a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Ghashghavi also dismissed threats of additional sanctions on Iran if it fails to abide by international demands to halt uranium enrichment, a process which makes fuel for nuclear plants but can also be diverted to make the core of an atomic bomb.
"Past experience has shown that sanctions are futile. Sanctions will not prevent us from pursuing our legal rights," he said.
U.S. President Barack Obama has given Iran until September to take up an offer by world powers of talks if it freezes uranium enrichment, or face harsher sanctions.
IAEA director Mohamed ElBaradei has persistently called for his agency's inspectors to be allowed back into Iran to continue their checks.
ElBaradei will publish his latest report on Iran next week and it will go before the agency's governors in September.

Obama approves new US interrogation team

WASHINGTON- U.S. President Barack Obama has approved the creation of an elite team of interrogators to question key terrorism suspects, The Washington Post reported Monday while the New York Times reported the U.S. Justice Department' recommendation to reopen a dozen prisoner abuse cases.
Citing unnamed senior administration officials, the newspaper said the decision was part of a broader effort to revamp U.S. policy on detention and interrogation.
Obama signed off on the unit, named the High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group (HIG) late last week, the report said.
It will be made up of experts from several intelligence and law enforcement agencies and housed at the FBI, the paper noted.
The group will be overseen by the National Security Council, which means shifting the center of gravity away from the CIA and giving the White House direct oversight, The Post said.
Obama moved to overhaul interrogation and detention guidelines soon after taking office, including the creation of a task force on interrogation and transfer policies, the report said.
The US Justice Department recommends
In the meantime, the U.S. Justice Department has also recommended reopening nearly a dozen prisoner-abuse cases, which could expose CIA employees and contractors to prosecution for their treatment of terrorism suspects, The New York Times said on Monday.
The recommendation, reversing the Bush administration, came from the Justice Department's ethics office and has been presented to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.
The department is due to disclose later on Monday details of prisoner abuse that were gathered in 2004 by the CIA's inspector general but have never been released, according to the Times report, which cited an unnamed person officially briefed on matter.
When the CIA first referred its inspector general's findings, it decided that none of the cases merited prosecution.
Holder reconsiders
But when Holder took office and saw the allegations included deaths of people in custody and other cases of physical or mental torment, he reconsidered, the newspaper said.
"With the release of the details on Monday and the formal advice that at least some cases be reopened, it now seems all but certain that the appointment of a prosecutor or other concrete steps will follow, posing significant new problems for the CIA," the Times said.
The recommendation to review the cases centers mainly on allegations of detainee abuse in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In some examples of abuse that have just been publicized, the CIA report describes how its officers carried out mock executions and threatened at least one prisoner with a gun and a power drill -- possible violations of a federal torture statute.
The Times quoted a CIA spokesman, Paul Gimigliano, as saying that the Justice Department recommendation to open the closed cases had not been sent to the intelligence agency.
"Decisions on whether or not to pursue action in court were made after careful consideration by career prosecutors at the Justice Department. The CIA itself brought these matters -- facts and allegations alike -- to the department's attention," he was quoted as saying.
"There has never been any public explanation of why the Justice Department under President George W. Bush decided not to bring charges in nearly two dozen abuse cases known to be referred to a team of federal prosecutors ... and in some instances not even details of the cases have been made public," the Times said.

Israel plans new Jerusalem settlements: report

Palestinians: A plan for a new Jewish settlement in the Israeli occupied Arab east Jerusalem has been submitted for approval to city hall, a newspaper reported on Sunday, which was likely to dominate Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's upcoming talks with Western leaders.
The plan calls for the construction of about 104 housing units in the Ras al-Amud neighborhood, currently home to some 14,000 Palestinians, the Haaretz newspaper reported, quoting sources at the Jerusalem municipality.
"This plan for massive construction in a high-density Palestinian area is extremely dangerous for the urban equilibrium," Yariv Oppenheimer, the head of the Israeli settlement watchdog, Peace Now, told AFP.
Palestinian senior negotiator Saeb Erakat slammed the project, saying in a statement that "Israel’s continued settlement expansion in east Jerusalem is an out and out land grab that threatens the very possibility of a negotiated two-state solution."
Peace Now said that despite a government moratorium announced last week on approving new housing in the West Bank enclaves, more than 40,000 more homes could be built under plans already ratified.
The group said almost 600 housing units have been constructed in the West Bank since the start of the year, including 96 structures in wildcat outposts built without Israeli government approval.
"The construction continues with government support in the large settlement blocs and, in a roundabout manner, in isolated colonies," the report said...more

Beer-drinking model planning Mecca pilgrimage

Malaysian woman prepares for caning with prayer
..................
MALAYSIA: A Muslim model who is to be caned for drinking alcohol said she is planning a pilgrimage to Mecca, and seeking solace in prayer as she prepares to face her punishment this week.
Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno will be the first Malaysian woman to be caned under Islamic laws applicable to Malaysia's Muslims, who account for 60 percent of the 27-million population.
She was sentenced to six strokes after pleading guilty to drinking alcohol at a hotel nightclub in Dec. 2007, and is expected to receive her punishment this week at a women's prison in Kajang, south of the capital Kuala Lumpur.
Public caning
Kartika cried when the verdict was handed down last month but in an interview at her home in a small Malay village, the slim and soft-spoken Kartika was composed about her fate.
"Sometimes I feel sad and stressed as I have tarnished my family's name. But now after spending time reading the Quran, I feel calm and am not afraid of being caned," she said.
The part-time model and mother of two, who lives in neighboring Singapore, has called for her punishment to be carried out in public but it is not clear exactly how it will be conducted.
Officials from the sharia religious court are expected to detain Kartika on Monday and take her to prison where she will undergo a medical check.
Islamic scholars have backed the sentence, and said it would be carried out when she was fully clothed and with a cane that is smaller and lighter than the heavy length of rattan used in criminal cases.
Malaysia, a multicultural country with large Chinese and Indian communities, has a dual-track legal system and sharia courts can try Muslims for religious and moral offences.
Critics say the unprecedented caning will damage Malaysia's international standing as a progressive and moderate Islamic country.
“Mother of all sins”
Kartika said she never expected the court to impose the sentence.
"But I accept it as consuming alcohol is the mother of all sins for a Muslim," she said.
Sitting between her doting father Shukarno Mutalib, 60, and her 56-year-old mother Badariah Mior Salim, Kartika said her family and the 500 people of their village in Perak state have rallied around her.
Religious authorities caught her drinking at a hotel in Kuantan, the state capital of the central Malaysian state of Pahang.
Kartika said she had three glasses of beer before the hotel was raided in what she said was her second time drinking alcohol. She and the other patrons were asked to provide urine samples.
"I was initially angry. But I did not scold her," said Shukarno, who operates a lodge by the Perak river in nearby Jawa village.
"I believe my daughter is the chosen one by Allah to remind Muslims not to drink. I heard many (Muslims) were arrested for beer drinking that night but were mysteriously freed," he said with a smile.
She is strong and is ready to accept the caning. But many people warn me that she will be traumatized. So we have a plan to send her to Mecca to overcome her painful ordeal," he said.