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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We are see watches Sudan says it is committed to independence vote

Sudan says it is committed to independence vote


KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) - Sudan's foreign minister assured the U.N. Security Council Saturday that the government is committed to holding a referendum on southern independence on time - a vote that is widely expected to split the country in two.

Addressing Security Council members wrapping up a fact-finding trip to Sudan and Uganda, Ali Karti said the government's sole condition was no outside interference in the referendum.

"We are fully committed to holding the referendum on time," Karti told the visiting members of the Council, the U.N.'s most powerful arm. "We want it on time, but it must be arranged properly. ... We do not want any interference in the referendum, this is the only condition."

The referendum is required by a 2005 peace agreement that ended the 21-year civil war between Sudan's predominantly Arab and Muslim north and rebels in the largely Christian-animist south.

Preparations for the Jan. 9 vote have proceeded haltingly amid political and logistical obstacles, and the southerners have accused the northerners of stalling, warning of violence if the referendum is delayed.

Underlining the tensions surrounding the vote, clashes erupted between southern pro-secession demonstrators and pro-unity northerners staging a rally in Khartoum.

Some 70 southerners were arrested, and at least five people were wounded, according to the witnesses.

Police armed with sticks quickly dispersed the protesters, some of whom were toting posters reading, "No No Unity."

The vote on secession is open to all southerners whether they live in the north or the south, but determining who is eligible to vote and citizenship after the referendum have fueled tensions.

North Sudan officials are wary of losing the oil-rich south, while southerners say the Islamist-controlled government in Khartoum is not living up to its commitments of sharing wealth and respecting freedom of expression and religion.
coppied by http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/10/10/apworld/20101010074301&sec=apworld

Watched Toxic sludge no longer poses threat to Danube, says Hungary

Toxic sludge no longer poses threat to Danube, says Hungary


DANIEL McLAUGHLIN

SLUDGE RELEASED by a deadly industrial accident is no longer a danger to the river Danube, according to Hungary.

However, environmental groups have challenged that claim and questioned whether the disaster could have been prevented.

Some 700,000 cubic metres of toxic mud burst from a waste pool at an alumina plant in southwest Hungary on Monday, devastating nearby villages and about 40sq km and killing all life in the river Marcal, which flows into the Danube.

One of about 120 people injured by the wave of caustic filth died yesterday and two bodies were found, bringing the death toll to seven. One person is still missing.

Workers poured tonnes of neutralising agents into the Marcal to reduce the acidity before it reached Europe’s second longest river. Although dead fish were spotted in the Danube on Thursday, officials said yesterday that the emergency was easing.

“The good news is that we have succeeded in bringing it under control and very probably waters threatening the environment will not enter the Danube, even on Hungarian territory,” said prime minister Viktor Orban.

The government said drinking water supplies had not been affected and that the acidity level of the Danube near the site of the spill was almost neutral.
Coppied by http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2010/1009/1224280699449.html

Watch Hungary says clean-up of toxic spill could take a year

Hungary says clean-up of toxic spill could take a year


Budapest: A damburst of toxic sludge that killed at least four people and left scores needing treatment for chemical burns and other injuries could take up to a year to clean up, officials said on Wednesday.

"The clean-up and reconstruction could take months, even a year," Environment Secretary Zoltan Illes said.

On Monday, the retaining walls of a reservoir at an aluminium plant in Ajka in western Hungary collapsed, sending a toxic soup of industrial waste cascading through seven villages.

The devastation spread across an area of 40 square kilometres (15.4 square miles) in what officials say is Hungary's worst-ever chemical accident.



Three adults and one child were killed and 123 people were injured, while three people are still missing.

Karoly Tily, the mayor of Kolontar, the village where all four victims died, declared on Wednesday a day of mourning, and the company which owned the reservoir, the Hungarian Aluminium Production and Trade Company (MAL), said it would foot the costs of the funerals.

Illes told online publication Langlovak in an interview that the overall costs of the clean-up and reconstruction "could reach tens of millions of euros (dollars)”.

If MAL was unable to drum up the funds, "the sum will be borne by the Hungarian government, or it might be necessary to ask the European Union for aid”, he said.

The tidal wave of sludge overturned cars, swept away possessions and raised fears that pollution leeching from it could reach the Danube River, which courses through Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania and Ukraine before flowing into the Black Sea.


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Late Wednesday, officials said they were confident the contamination would not reach Europe's second longest river

"If our calculations are right then by the time the sludge reaches the Danube contamination will be under the acceptable levels," Emil Jenak, president of Northern Transdanubian Water Management, said.

A pollution expert, quoted by the Hungarian news agency MTI, said rain and neutralising agents used so far had already led to a drop in alkaline levels in the Marcal river "and the connecting Raba will suffer much less damage" than feared.

But environmental organisation Greenpeace detected lead, chrome and arsenic in samples taken from a tributary of the Marcal, the river Torma.
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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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President Barack Obama's Afghan withdrawal date bolsters enemy says General

Afghan withdrawal date bolsters enemy says General
By Phil Stewart and Sue Pleming, Reuters



President Barack Obama's July 2011 date to start withdrawing troops from Afghanistan has given a morale boost to Taliban insurgents, who believe they can wait out Nato forces, the top US Marine said yesterday.

But retiring General James Conway said he believed Marines would not be in a position to withdraw from the fight in southern Afghanistan for years, even though he acknowledged that Americans were growing "tired" of the 9-year-old war.

Conway's unusually blunt assessment is likely to fan criticism of Obama's war strategy ahead of US congressional elections in November, as public opinion of the conflict sours further and casualties rise.

"In some ways, we think right now it is probably giving our enemy sustenance," Conway, the Marine Corps' commandant, said of the July 2011 deadline.

"In fact we've intercepted communications that say, 'Hey, you know, we only need to hold out for so long.'"

Supporters of Obama's July 2011 date to start withdrawing forces from Afghanistan, conditions permitting, say it conveys a needed sense of urgency to Kabul. Afghans must quickly ramp up the size of their security forces for a gradual handover.

But critics say the strategy backfired, sending a signal to the Taliban that the United States was preparing to wind down the war while setting unrealistic expectations among Americans about the pace of progress in Afghanistan.

Conway, quoting one of his own commanders, told reporters: "We can either lose fast or win slow."

The timetable for withdrawal is certain to come under close scrutiny in a White House strategy review in December, which Obama called for last year when he announced the July 2011 deadline and 30,000 additional forces.

"We know the president was talking to several audiences at the same time when he made his comments on July 2011," Conway told reporters at the Pentagon.

"Though I certainly believe that some American units somewhere in Afghanistan will turn over responsibilities to Afghanistan security forces in 2011, I do not think they will be Marines."

Violence across Afghanistan has reached record levels despite the presence of almost 150,000 US and Nato troops. US and Nato forces have also stepped up operations after the Taliban insurgency spread out of the South and East into once relatively peaceful areas of the North and West.

Coppied by http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/afghan-withdrawal-date-bolsters-enemy-says-general-2061387.html

We are saw this Sri Lanka's Sarath Fonseka 'expects jail sentence'

Sarath Fonseka was once a close ally of President Rajapaksa
Sri Lanka's Sarath Fonseka 'expects jail sentence'

Former Sri Lankan armed forces chief Sarath Fonseka says he expects he will soon be given a jail sentence.

A military court last week sentenced him to be stripped of his rank as a general and dishonourably discharged from the armed forces.

Mr Fonseka, 59, said he expected to receive a jail sentence from a second military court trying him on charges of corruption.

He said he believed the verdict was already planned.

The former general spoke to reporters at the Sri Lankan parliament, to which he was elected in April and which he can attend under military escort.

Mr Fonseka said he would appeal against the first court-martial verdict - which found him guilty of dabbling in politics while still military chief - although he played down the sentence removing his rank, medals and pension.

"Whatever I did for the country, I didn't expect anything in return," he said.

"When I served the country for 40 years, I did not expect medals. I did not expect promotions. I did not expect money. I didn't work on a contract."

'No rule of law'
Mr Fonseka accused Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the government of harassing opposition politicians and he alleged that there was no rule of law on the island.

"They are trying to create a lawless situation, lawlessness in the country," he said.

"That is not in the long-term interest of the country. If there is no law and order in the country, people are not safe."

There are still several other legal cases pending against the former military chief.

The government says he was planning a coup and assassinations earlier this year. It says the law will take its course.

Sarath Fonseka, once very close to President Rajapaksa and his powerful brothers, says he is being victimised for daring to challenge Mr Rajapaksa in presidential elections.
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