US CIA officers killed in Afghanistan bomb attack

Eight Americans reportedly working for the CIA have died in a bomb attack in Afghanistan, the worst against US intelligence officials since 2001.

A bomber wearing an explosive vest entered Forward Operating Base Chapman in Khost Province, near Pakistan.

A Taliban spokesman said one of its members who was working for the Afghan army carried out the attack.

In a separate incident, four Canadian soldiers and a journalist died in a roadside bomb attack in Kandahar.

It was the worst fatal incident affecting Canadians in Afghanistan for more than two years.

Army uniform

A Taliban spokesman said the militant who carried out the attack at the Chapman Base on Wednesday evening was working as a soldier in the Afghan army.

Zabiullah Mujahid told the BBC the bomber was wearing uniform when he managed to breach security at the base, detonating his explosives belt in the gym.

Unnamed US officials were quoted as saying that most if not all of the dead Americans were either CIA agents or contractors, although this has not been confirmed by either the CIA or the Pentagon. A further six Americans are reported to be wounded.

Reports say the base is used by provincial reconstruction teams, which consist of soldiers and civilians.

The base has been described as "not regular" - a phrase that implies it was a centre of CIA operations in Khost province, the BBC's Peter Greste in Kabul says.

It is the biggest single reported loss of life for the CIA since the war began in Afghanistan eight years, and the biggest loss for the US since October.

"We mourn the loss of life in this attack, and are withholding further details pending notification of next of kin," US state department spokesman Ian Kelly said.

A spokesman for Isaf, the international Nato force in Afghanistan, said that "no US and no Isaf military personnel were killed or injured" in the incident.

Raised questions

Khost province - which is one of the Taliban's strongholds - has been targeted by militants over the past year.

The number of foreign civilians deployed in Afghanistan has been rising as international efforts there focus increasingly on development and aid.

Civilians work alongside military reconstruction teams at provincial bases around the country.

A "civilian surge" was one of the three core elements of the new US strategy for Afghanistan announced by US President Barack Obama at the beginning of the month.

The fact that an attacker has been able to breach security at such a sensitive facility raises questions about the ability of US forces to protect themselves ahead of the surge, our correspondent adds.

This has been the deadliest year for foreign troops since the 2001 invasion.

Saudi Arabia adopts highest budget in its history

Kingdom increases spending on education and health

RIYADH:  The Saudi cabinet agreed on Monday a budget for 2010 that forecasts a deficit of $18.7 billion, with spending hitting a record-high of 540 billion riyals($144 billion), Al Arabiya TV reported.

The budget projects revenues of 505 billion riyals ($125.3 billion) and a fiscal deficit of 70 billion riyals ($18.67 billion) in 2010, its second straight deficit, as it increases spending.

The kingdom expected to post a fiscal deficit of 70 billion riyals ($18.6 billion) in the coming year and estimated expenditures to reach 540 billion riyals, including 260 billion riyals ($69.3 billion) for investment projects.

The figures represent a 16 percent increase from 2009.

The kingdom's 2010 budget for education stood at 137 billion riyals ($36.5 billion) and for healthcare at 61 billion riyals ($16.2 billion).

Actual spending for 2009 was the highest ever and exceeded the $127 billion initially projected.

For 2009, the kingdom expects to post a deficit of 45 billion riyals ($11.9 billion), the finance ministry said in a statement.

Iranians mourn dissident cleric

IRAN:  Tens of thousands of Iranians have turned out to attend the funeral of Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, a senior cleric who was critical of the Iranian government, according to reports on an Iranian opposition website.

Montazeri's funeral in the holy city of Qom got under way on Monday, with some analysts saying it could become a catalyst for fresh opposition protests.

"People and friends are coming to express their condolences," Naser Montazeri, the cleric's grandson, said from Qom.

The opposition Kalme website reported that a bus carrying opposition supporters to Qom was stopped and some of those on board arrested.

Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, both opposition leaders who were defeated in June's disputed presidential poll, had earlier called for a national day of mourning.

"We invite all saddened religious people mourning the death of this pride of the Shia world to take part in the funeral of this legend of endeavour, jurisprudence and spirituality," Mousavi and Karroubi said in a joint statement published on the Kalme website.

Mousavi later arrived in Qom to attend the funeral, at which Montazeri wil be buried in the shrine of Masoumeh, a revered Shia figure.

Media restricted

Foreign media have been banned from covering the funeral ceremony.

In the wake of the street protests that followed the election dispute, Montazeri was referred to as the spiritual leader of the opposition.

In August, Montazeri described the clerical establishment as a "dictatorship", saying that the authorities' handling of street unrest after the disputed re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the president, "could lead to the fall of the regime".

He was an architect of the 1979 Islamic revolution but fell out with the Iranian leadership in the 1980s.

Montazeri passed away on Sunday in Qom after suffering a cardiac arrest.

Videos posted on the internet prior to the funeral appeared to show hundreds of Montazeri's supporters taking to the streets of Najafabad, his birth town, to mourn his death.

'A humble man'

Baqer Moin, an Iranian journalist and author, told Al Jazeera that Montazeri's absence would be "greatly felt across the country", among people on both sides of the political divide.

"He was the most heavyweight among them [the reformists]. He had great popularity because he was a humble man, he was a simple man ... and above all he was very courageous," Moin said.

"He didn't fear expressing his views, critical of the current supreme leader or the policies of the government."

Ghanbar Naderi, a journalist for the Iran Daily newspaper, told Al Jazeera: "This is huge blow to the reformist camp, because he is unreplaceable and nobody is happy to hear about his sad demise.

"He used to say that religion should be separated from politics, because in this way, we can keep the integrity of religion intact."

But Seyed Mohammad Marandi, a political analyst at the University of Tehran, told Al Jazeera in August that Montazeri said "the same thing for around 25 years".

"After his inner circle was discovered to be linked to Mujahidin terrorists based in Iraq, he was isolated by the reformists," he said.

"He is not a major player and has always been very critical," Marandi said.

Jackson UK tribute gig in doubt

A Michael Jackson tribute concert in London next year is in doubt after the company organising the show dissolved.

The Austrian firm, World Awards Media, said the decision to wind-up was made in November.

No further details have been released but liquidator Martin Schneider said the company had lost the financial support of its main sponsor.

It is not yet known if Jackson's brother Jermaine will still put on the gig himself.

The concert was set to take place in June.

It was initially planned to take place outside Vienna's Schoenbrunn Palace in September, but it was moved London's Wembley Stadium after running into problems.

Organisers said too many performers were unable to commit because of scheduling conflicts.

The Austrian media was also accused of stirring up a negative atmosphere.

Former chief promoter Georg Kindel told the Austria Press Agency that he and Superfund founder Christian Baha - the majority owner of the now defunct company - split in October.

Neither Mr Kindel nor Mr Baha could be reached for comment.

Jackson died in June in Los Angeles aged 50.

Pro-Iranian hackers hit Twitter and opposition websites

A group calling itself the Iranian Cyber Army has hacked Twitter and an Iranian opposition website, replacing it with an anti-American message.

Traffic to the social networking website was redirected for nearly two hours on Thursday night.

The opposition website mowjcamp.org remained disrupted on Friday.

The opposition in Iran have used the websites to publicise protests and accuse the government of rigging elections in June.

"This site has been hacked by the Iranian Cyber Army," the message read.

The message, written in confused English, said the hackers had turned the tables on the US, who they criticise for sanctions on Iran.

"USA think they controlling and managing internet by their access, but they don't, we control and manage internet by our power," the message continued.

It ended on a seemingly polite note, telling visitors to "take care", and the hackers added a winking emoticon.

The hackers left an e-mail address, but could not be reached for comment.

Inner workings

Reporting on the hack, technology website techcruch.com recommended that Twitter users who have the same password for other websites like Facebook or their email should change them.

Twitter posted a blog on their website saying the micro-blogging service had been restored an hour and a quarter after the hack was first noticed.

The post said the hackers had gained access to the inner workings of the site and redirected visitors to their own website.

The website Mowjcamp.org is run by supporters of the reformist candidates who challenged Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in June's elections.

Both Twitter and Mowjcamp.org became a focal point for protesters during mass opposition rallies on the streets of Tehran, and the hundreds of arrests that followed.

Protesting Iranians posted pictures of the rallies, and the reaction of the Iranian riot police and pro-government militia, on the sites.

Opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi have said elections in June were rigged against them.