Watch US forces may have killed abducted aid worker Linda Norgrove says British PM

US forces may have killed abducted aid worker Linda Norgrove says British PM


A BRITISH aid worker who died in an attempt by US forces to rescue her from Taliban kidnappers in Afghanistan may have been killed by a grenade detonated by the US troops, Prime Minister David Cameron says.

Linda Norgrove, 36, was abducted on September 26 in eastern Afghanistan and killed in the failed US-led operation on Friday.

British officials had earlier said she died when one of her captors blew up a suicide vest.

Mr Cameron today said an immediate investigation had been launched into Ms Norgrove's death but he defended the attempt to rescue her, saying that she had been in "grave danger" from the moment she was captured.

He said the top US officer in Afghanistan, General David Petraeus, informed him today that a review of the raid "revealed evidence to indicate that Linda may not have died at the hands of her captors as originally believed."

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"Linda could have died as a result of a grenade detonated by the task force during the assault.

"However this is not certain and a full US-UK investigation will now be launched," Mr Cameron told a news conference at Downing Street.

Ms Norgrove was working for US development group DAI when she and three Afghan colleagues were kidnapped while travelling in Kunar province, a hotbed of Taliban activity in eastern Afghanistan near the Pakistani border.

Foreign Secretary William Hague told Parliament he gave the green light for the operation because the kidnappers were linked to the Taliban, and it was feared they could hand Ms Norgrove to al-Qaeda militants in Pakistan.

"At no stage was any serious attempt made by those holding her to negotiate," Mr Hague said, adding that her captors aimed to "pass her further up the Taliban command chain to make her more inaccessible."

Once hostages are taken to Pakistan, particularly the tribal region where Osama bin Laden is believed to be hiding, tracking their whereabouts becomes far more difficult. Western troops are also barred from operating there.
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Watches US forces may have killed abducted aid worker Linda Norgrove says British PM

US forces may have killed abducted aid worker Linda Norgrove says British PM

A BRITISH aid worker who died in an attempt by US forces to rescue her from Taliban kidnappers in Afghanistan may have been killed by a grenade detonated by the US troops, Prime Minister David Cameron says.

Linda Norgrove, 36, was abducted on September 26 in eastern Afghanistan and killed in the failed US-led operation on Friday.

British officials had earlier said she died when one of her captors blew up a suicide vest.

Mr Cameron today said an immediate investigation had been launched into Ms Norgrove's death but he defended the attempt to rescue her, saying that she had been in "grave danger" from the moment she was captured.

He said the top US officer in Afghanistan, General David Petraeus, informed him today that a review of the raid "revealed evidence to indicate that Linda may not have died at the hands of her captors as originally believed."



"Linda could have died as a result of a grenade detonated by the task force during the assault.

"However this is not certain and a full US-UK investigation will now be launched," Mr Cameron told a news conference at Downing Street.

Ms Norgrove was working for US development group DAI when she and three Afghan colleagues were kidnapped while travelling in Kunar province, a hotbed of Taliban activity in eastern Afghanistan near the Pakistani border.

Foreign Secretary William Hague told Parliament he gave the green light for the operation because the kidnappers were linked to the Taliban, and it was feared they could hand Ms Norgrove to al-Qaeda militants in Pakistan.

"At no stage was any serious attempt made by those holding her to negotiate," Mr Hague said, adding that her captors aimed to "pass her further up the Taliban command chain to make her more inaccessible."

Once hostages are taken to Pakistan, particularly the tribal region where Osama bin Laden is believed to be hiding, tracking their whereabouts becomes far more difficult. Western troops are also barred from operating there.

US President Barack Obama spoke to Mr Cameron by telephone late today and both agreed the decision to launch the operation had been right, Downing Street said.

The White House issued its own statement that noted Mr Obama had offered his "deepest condolences" and that he and Mr Cameron "agreed that the rescue operation was necessary given the grave danger to Linda's life, and that US forces had shown great courage."

Mr Cameron hailed US forces for putting their lives at risk to try to rescue Ms Norgrove and said that General Petraeus "deeply regrets" what had happened.

The British Prime Minister has pledged to get all of his country's troops out of Afghanistan by 2015. A total of 339 British troops have been killed in Afghanistan since the 2001 invasion.
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Climate aid reaches $30 bln goal, but is it new?

Climate aid reaches $30 bln goal, but is it new?
OSLO (Reuters) - Aid promises from rich nations to help poor countries slow global warming are reaching the $30 billion goal agreed in Copenhagen but analysts say much of that is old funding dressed up as new pledges.

A boy touches an ice sculpture of a polar bear as it melts to reveal a bronze skeleton in Copenhagen December 8, 2009. Aid promises from rich nations to help poor countries slow global warming are reaching the $30 billion goal agreed in Copenhagen but analysts say much of that is old funding dressed up as new pledges. (REUTERS/Bob Strong/Files)
Officially, the promises total $29.8 billion, Reuters calculations show, apparently meeting a pledge of "new and additional" funds "approaching $30 billion" for 2010-12 made at the U.N. summit in Copenhagen in December.

But austerity policies to combat government debt problems and a re-labelling of past promises will undermine real funding that is vital to unlock a new U.N. climate deal by showing that the developed world is serious about taking a leadership role, analysts say.

"I'm afraid the pledges of Copenhagen will not be realised," said Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. "It would be a little political miracle if it happened. I'm fairly pessimistic."

He said that Germany, the biggest European Union economy, was unlikely to fulfil its promises even though it had fewer economic problems than most EU nations, struggling to plug huge budget deficits.

Climate aid is widely seen as a key to build trust between rich and poor in the run-up to the 2010 U.N. meeting of environment ministers, in Cancun, Mexico, from Nov. 29-Dec. 10.

The cash was meant as a "fast start" for action to slow floods, droughts, heat waves and rising seas. Donors say projects are starting, from Nepal to Mali.

Many poor nations say "new and additional" means cash above an unmet 1970 U.N. target for rich nations to give 0.7 percent of their gross national product in aid -- OECD figures show that aid totalled $120 billion, or 0.31 percent of developed countries' combined GNP, in 2009.

Developed nations have varying definitions of what counts.

RENAMING AID

"It's hard to know what's really new and additional," said Clifford Polycarp of the Washington-based World Resources Institute, which tracks pledges by all nations. Some funds were "restated or renamed commitments already made."

Japan's pledge of fast start funds is by far the highest -- $15 billion -- but much of the money stems from a "Cool Earth Partnership" agreed several years ago to run from 2008-12.

Among other big pledges, the EU plans $9.6 billion for 2010-12 and U.S. President Barack Obama plans $3.2 billion for 2010-11. But some money was committed before Copenhagen to climate funds, for instance managed by the World Bank.
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Watch Pakistan Taliban planning aid attack, says US official

Pakistan Taliban planning aid attack, says US official


Millions of Pakistanis have been displaced by the floods
The Pakistani Taliban are planning to attack foreigners helping with flood relief efforts in the country, a senior US official has warned.

The official also said "federal and provincial ministers" may be at risk.

Some UN agencies say they are now reviewing their security procedures.

It has now been four weeks since the start of the flooding, described as the region's worst humanitarian crisis. The UN says more than 17 million people have been affected by the floods.

Continue reading the main story
Pakistan's Monsoon Floods

Born amid the floodwaters
Aid effort painfully slow
In pictures: Pakistan's flood crisis
Forgotten humanity
As floods sweep down from the north, they are threatening to breach an embankment in the Kot Almo area in Sindh province, forcing thousands of people in the southern Thatta district to flee from their homes.

Throughout Pakistan, about 1.2 million homes have been destroyed in the monsoon floods, leaving 5 million people homeless.

Aid agencies are focusing on providing emergency relief such as shelter, food and medical care.

'Plans to attack'

The militant group Tehrik-e Taliban "plans to conduct attacks against foreigners participating in the ongoing flood relief operations in Pakistan", a US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the BBC.

There have been no such attacks so far, but Tehrik-e Taliban is considered the most radical and violent militant group in Pakistan.

A retired Pakistani general, Talat Masood, told the BBC that the militant group would seek to counter any gains in public support for Western governments helping with relief and aid work.
Protection and security

The warning came hours after a top US general involved in the military relief effort said his men had not encountered any security problems in flying aid to Pakistan.

It has been nearly a month since the flooding began
"We have seen no security threat whatsoever in the three weeks we have been operating here," Brigadier General Michael Nagata was quoted by the AFP news agency as saying.

He added that the Pakistani military had done a "highly effective job in providing our force protection and security".

Various nations have pledged more than $700m (£552m) for relief efforts in Pakistan.

Workers have begun clearing up as the floods recede in the north and the UN has appealed for more helicopters to reach 800,000 people who are cut off.
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Spanish aid workers freed by Al Qaeda in Mali

Enjoy Spanish aid workers freed by Al Qaeda in Mali



MADRID (AFP) - Two Spanish aid workers held hostage for the past nine months by Al Qaeda's North African branch have been freed in Mali, the Spanish government announced Monday.

"Albert Vilalta and Roque Pasqual are free. They have been freed after spending 268 days in the hands of their kidnappers," Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said in a brief televised statement.

The release is "very good news" and "puts an end to a terrorist action which should never have happened", Zapatero said.

Vilalta, 35, and Pascual, 50, who worked for Catalan aid group Accio Solidaria, were kidnapped north of the Mauritanian capital Nouakchott on November 29, along with a third Spaniard, 39-year-old Alicia Gamez, who was released in March.

They were handed over to the North African branch of Osama Bin Laden's terror network, Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), who held them in Mali.

Their release follows the August 16 transfer from Mauritania to Mali of the kidnap mastermind, Malian national Omar Sid'Ahmed Ould Hamma, who had been jailed for 12 years by a Mauritanian court.

Hamma has strong ties to AQIM, although not a member of the group himself.

Spanish dailies El Mundo and ABC both reported on Monday that their release was the result of Hamma's transfer and a payment by the Spanish government which El Mundo put at 3.8 million euros ($4.8 million) and ABC at between 5 million and 10 million.

Zapatero made no mention of any ransom in his statement.

"It has been nine months of suffering for them and their families, days of concern and activity by the government, which stepped up the activities of its political, diplomatic and intelligence services to secure their release," he said.

The prime minister "thanked the various governments for their cooperation, especially the governments in the zone in which the kidnapping happened”.

He said the two are to arrive in Barcelona late on Monday on a special flight accompanied by close relatives and Secretary of State for Cooperation Soraya Rodriguez.

A security official in the Burkina Faso capital of Ouagadougou said a helicopter carrying the two freed men had been due there at around 2:00pm (1400 GMT) but "their arrival has been delayed because of a refuelling" stop.

A Malian government minister said the two men were escorted via a specially secured route out of Mali.

"Mali followed the release of the hostages minute by minute, by opening a humanitarian corridor to secure the success of the operation," said the minister who requested anonymity.

He did not say where this route was or where the hostages were.

Mauritania has accused Mali of being soft on AQIM after it released four prisoners in exchange for French hostage Pierre Camatte in February.

The pair were being held by a cell led by Algeria's Mokhtar Belmokhtar, nicknamed "Belawar", who paid Hamma to kidnap them.

While Belmokhtar is considered more a businessman than a religious fanatic, he is believed to be under pressure from a radical branch of AQIM led by another Algerian, Abdelhamid Abou Zeid.

Zeid has overseen the deaths of two Western hostages, Briton Edwin Dyer and Frenchman Michel Germaneau. The latter was killed after a Franco-Mauritanian raid in an attempt to find him, in which seven of Zeid's men were killed.

He is believed to have been demanding the execution of the Spaniards in retaliation for the July 22 military operation.
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Watch Aid agency warns of 'double disaster' for Niger

Aid agency warns of 'double disaster' for Niger


More than 100,000 people are homeless after rains washed away their homes
Niger has been hit by a double disaster as recent floods compound an existing food crisis, a UK aid agency warned.

Aid workers are struggling to help thousands of people affected by the floods which have hit many areas of West and Central Africa.

Oxfam says the situation is stretching resources to the limit as it also tries to respond to the food shortages.

The agency urged donors to help Niger face what it calls a second emergency.

Continue reading the main story
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'Niger drought made me a beggar'
Niger's silent crisis
Oxfam issued its warning as nearly eight million people, or half the population, are already facing hunger because of failed harvests.

Now more than 100,000 people have been left homeless after heavy rains washed away their homes earlier this month, according to the United Nations.

Floods have destroyed crops, and thousands of animals have drowned.

Oxfam warned that flooding is also hindering the delivery of aid in remote areas.

Floods will increase the risk of diseases, especially among young children suffering from acute malnutrition.

The World Food Programme recently acknowledged that it was forced to limit its food distribution to only 40% of those in need because of a funding shortfall.
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Enjoy More aid to give shelterless Pakistanis some relief

We are saw this More aid to give shelterless Pakistanis some relief


ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - More tents and plastic sheets have been secured to help 4.6 million shelterless Pakistanis, a U.N. spokesman said on Saturday, easing pressure on aid workers hoping to stop diseases spreading in the country's flood crisis.


Family members sit on a truck while fleeing from floodwaters in Shahdadkot, some 105 kilometers (65 miles) from Sukkur, in Pakistan's Sindh province August 21, 2010. (REUTERS/Akhtar Soomro)
Waters began raging through an area of Pakistan about the size of England some three weeks ago, ravaging crops, washing away villages, destroying roads and bridges and leaving millions homeless and penniless.

The crisis has also raised concerns about the stability of a government rendered even more unpopular by its slow response to the disaster in a country seen as strategic for the region and which is fighting a battle with Taliban insurgents.

U.N. humanitarian operations spokesman Maurizio Giuliano said tents and plastic sheets had been delivered to one million people and now more were on the way for another 2.4 million.

"The good news is that we have been able to double the amount of tents and plastic sheets that are in the pipeline that are coming in," Giuliano told Reuters.

Half a million people are living in about 5,000 schools, said Giuliano, where poor hygiene and sanitation, along with cramped quarters and the stifling heat, provide fertile ground for potentially fatal diseases such as cholera.

Isolated rains are expected in parts of central Punjab, southern Sindh and northwestern Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa provinces in the next 24 hours, officials said.

There are already over 38,000 cases of acute diarrhoea and at least one case of cholera has been confirmed. A major disease breakout would cause another crisis and impose new demands on already stretched humanitarian workers.

The official death toll is around 1,500 but the true number of people killed in the disaster may turn out to be higher, with large areas of the country still inaccessible, Pakistan's ambassador to the United Nations said on Friday. [nN20143960]

Islamist charities have moved swiftly to fill the vacuum left by a government overwhelmed by the scale of the disaster and struggling to reach millions of people in dire need of shelter, food and drinking water.

NATO said on Friday it would provide ships and aircraft to transport aid to Pakistan, a day after Islamabad warned that militants were trying to exploit the disaster.

ECONOMY HARD HIT

The United Nations has issued an appeal for $459 million of aid to help Pakistan, of which Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said about 60 percent had been pledged.

The EU foreign affairs chief will also urge countries next month to support trade breaks for Pakistan as worries grow about the impact of the floods on the stability of a nation fighting its own battle against Islamists.

A statement from the NATO Western military alliance, which is battling Islamist militants in Pakistan's neighbour Afghanistan, said a NATO aircraft would fly in power generators, water pumps and tents donated by Slovakia on Sunday.
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Pakistan accepts $5m flood aid from India

We are enjoy Pakistan accepts $5m flood aid from India

Tens of thousands have been made homeless by the floods in Sindh province
Pakistan has accepted $5m (£3.2m) in aid from its rival and neighbour India, as donors pledged more money for the flood-hit country.
Abdullah Haroon, Pakistan's UN Ambassador, welcomed the offer saying the disaster transcended any differences the two countries had.

Meanwhile, officials say the province of Sindh is now the worst hit, with more than two million people affected.

Continue reading the main story
Pakistan's Monsoon Floods

Battle for survival
Feuds and sickness in camps
Who cares about Pakistan?
In pictures: Pakistanis await aid
New warnings are being issued and villages evacuated, they said.

Mr Haroon welcomed the latest offers of help, which followed a two-day special meeting of the UN Security Council in New York to discuss the crisis.

UN figures showed on Friday that $490.7m had been raised for the relief effort, with another $325m pledged. The total tops the $460m sought in the UN emergency appeal.

Mr Haroon described the new donations as "indeed heartening" and "a good beginning", but added that Pakistan will need support for years to come.

India's UN Ambassador, Hardeep Singh Puri, said the donation of $5m in relief supplies was an initial offer and his country was ready to do more if needed.

"We are willing to do all that is in our power to assist Pakistan in facing the consequences of floods," he said.

"We extend our wholehearted support to the government of Pakistan in its efforts for relief and rehabilitation of the... population."

The offer came after Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh spoke to his Pakistani counterpart Yusuf Raza Gilani on Thursday.

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“
Start Quote

We had no way to save our goats and buffaloes, stranded in the water and crying”

Qasim Bhayyo
Refugee from Sindh province
Pakistan and India have slowly been improving ties since the Mumbai militant attacks of 2008 put relations between the two nuclear-armed rivals at a new low.

Homes lost
The floods began last month in Pakistan's north-west after heavy monsoon rains and have since swept south, swamping thousands of towns and villages in Punjab and Sindh provinces.

About one-fifth of Pakistan's territory is underwater and an estimated 20 million people are affected.

Officials estimate that about 1,600 people have been killed.

In the southern province of Sindh, hundreds of thousands of people have been left homeless as the Indus river overflowed, swamping homes and valuable farmland.

"Everything has been wasted. Nothing is left," said Qasim Bhayyo, 45, a refugee from Qayyas Bhayyo village in Sindh.

"I saw my house of wood and mud washed away. I saw grain and flour - we stockpiled food for months. It was all destroyed. We had no way to save our goats and buffaloes stranded in the water and crying."

As aid agencies stepped up the relief effort, the UN said on Friday that more helicopters were urgently needed to reach communities cut off by the water.

Experts warn of a second wave of deaths from water-borne diseases such as cholera unless flood victims have access to supplies of fresh drinking water.

If you would like to make a donation to help people affected by the floods in Pakistan, you can do so through the UK's Disasters Emergency Committee at www.dec.org.uk or by telephone on 0370 60 60 900

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Pakistan finally accepts Indian flood aid offer

Watches this Pakistan finally accepts Indian flood aid offer

WASHINGTON: Pakistan has finally accepted the USD five million aid offered by India for flood relief victims and said such a gesture was appreciated.

"I can share with you that the Government of Pakistan has agreed to accept the Indian offer (of USD 5 million aid)," Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said on the sidelines of the special session of the General Assembly on Pakistan at the United Nations headquarters.

The US had yesterday asked Pakistan to accept USD five million in flood aid from India as politics should have no role in disaster response.

The foreign minister asserted that Pakistan was not playing any politics on aid offer from India.

"We are not playing politics. Let me acknowledge the fact that the minister for external affairs, Mr (S M) Krishna, called me in Islamabad and he expressed sympathy, he condoled with me on the loss of life, and offered assistance to Pakistan," he said in an interview.

Qureshi was at the United Nations headquarters in New York to attend the special session of the General Assembly on Pakistan.

Qureshi thanked Krishna, Indian Government and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, for this very "positive" gesture.

"It's highly appreciated by Pakistan and we have recognised it. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called Prime Minister Gillani and they have also exchanged views on the evolving flood situation in Pakistan.

"He has reiterated the offer made by the foreign minister, and I can share with you that the government of Pakistan has agreed to accept the Indian offer," Qureshi said.

"I think this initiative of India is a very welcome initiative and I'm looking forward to further engagements with my counterpart to improve the environment, to build confidence and to bridge the trust deficit between the two countries," the Pakistan foreign minister said.

When asked about reports that Islamic extremist groups might take advantage of this opportunity to win over hearts and minds, Qureshi asserted this will not happen.

"I think what we saw today and the UN will not permit them to take advantage of the situation. I think the international community is now forthcoming and the international community is responding and they are responding quickly, and we will not allow them to exploit that situation,"

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