Thursday, August 4, 2011

Kashmir's 'half-widows in precarious state' - Central & South Asia

More than 1,500 women whose husbands have disappeared but have not yet been declared deceased are in a precarious and dangerous position in Indian-administered Kashmir, according to a new report.
 
The 48-page report titled "Half Widow, Half Wife" released on Thursday by the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP), argues that although "direct violence is disproportionately inflicted on males" in Kashmir, women and children whose husbands or fathers "disappear" are caught in a legal conundrum that does little to compensate or protect them.

The report says that the fact that the men have disappeared and have not been declared dead, has left thousands of women, known as "half-widows", and their children in a precarious state, with little legal protection, rendering many desperate and homeless and paving the way for abuse and exploitation.

The story of the half-widows of Kashmir "captures the unseen and pernicious face of insecurity in Kashmir", the report says.

'Missing' versus 'disappeared'

An estimated 8,000 people have disappeared in Kashmir since the insurgency against Indian rule began in 1989, although the Indian government says the number of those "missing" is most likely closer to 3,000 to 4,000.

Indian authorities claim that the disappeared men crossed over into Pakistan-administered Kashmir to complete arms training, became militants and never returned.

Local civil society and international human rights organisations dispute this claim and say that these men were abducted by Indian security forces and were either detained indefinitely or disposed of.

The Indian government's refusal to officially recognise enforced disappearances in Kashmir has left families in perpetual limbo, promulgating stress and psychological trauma for parents, spouses and children, the report says.

But for the "half-widows" it is particularly difficult.
 
The report says that based on their insecure position of being "single", yet still legally married, the "half-widows" are unable to access the family estate or ration cards. Even the ex-gratia relief and compassionate appointment created by the Indian government can only be accessed with a death certificate and that too only if it is proven that the deceased had no link with militancy.

Ex-gratia relief can only be accessed by "half-widows" after a period of seven years has passed and only when the case is passed through a local screening committee.

The report says that the committee is usually made up of police officers and those from government bureaucracy, thereby undermining the process.

"Most legal remedies remain elusive due to the severe financial and emotional costs over multiple year timelines," the report notes, adding that "administrative remedies fall short of providing due relief to half-widows".

But it is not just the state that places "roadblocks" in the way of the "half-widows".

"Half-widows" are undefined legally and within the patriarchal socio-cultural context of South Asia, the women find themselves at the mercy of Kashmiri society, where a deafening silence surrounds gender violence and abuse.

In rural Kashmir, with fewer economic opportunities, "half-widows" are at a greater risk of suffering manipulation by government officials and even community leaders.

Adding to the confusion is the continued dispute over what is the minimum time needed to dissolve a marriage and allow a "half-widow" to move on with her life and possibly remarry according to Islamic law.

One school suggests four to seven years, but others suggest that a "half-widow" is expected to wait up to 90 years before remarrying.

'Sheer volume of hardship'

Responding to the report, Govind Acharya from Amnesty International, told Al Jazeera that the most important aspect of the report is noting the "sheer volume of hardship that the 'half-widows' face above and beyond having to deal with the disappearance of their spouse".

Click here for more on the Kashmir conflict

"The report is incredibly useful in linking the past with the present and future. In other words, it's not just about the mourning of a lost loved one, but it's about the deprivation that resulted from that loss till today because of government inaction.

"And, it's about the future of Kashmir. If Kashmir cannot reconcile with the past then what kind of future will it face?"

Omar Abdullah, the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, could not be reached for immediate comment.

Khurram Parvez, the programme co-ordinator from the Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS), says that the most surprising finding of the report was the inaction of the state to the crisis.

"They [state authorities] have not moved, even years after the tragedies, which have ruined the past, present and future of so many families.

"The daily struggles of existence and seeking justice unabated, by these women have created examples of unflinching courage," Parvez said.

The report comes a day after India and Pakistan held peace talks in New Delhi for the first time since resuming bilateral talks this year.

Somanahalli Mallaiah Krishna, India's foreign minister, and his Pakistani counterpart, Hina Rabbani Khar, held talks on Wednesday and spoke of entering a new era in relations, agreeing to work together to end the insurgency, to ease commerce and open travel across the Line of Control, dividing Indian-administered and Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

Kashmir: Back on the agenda?

On Thursday, Pakistani newspapers appeared to welcome the revived talks: "Pakistan, India revive search for enduring dialogue process," read Dawn newspaper.

The Express Tribune daily led with: "Pakistan-India relationship: New era dawns in ties." The Daily Times headline declared: "Pakistan, India promise 'new era' of cooperation, Relations back on track", and The Nation led with "India willing to talk Kashmir".

Indian newspapers were a little more reserved, with The Hindu editorial suggesting that the "talks broke no ground" and the "Kashmir-related confidence building measures announced by the two sides is meagre".

A Tehelka magazine article asking "Was it a successful diplomatic visit at all?" comments that "Pakistan foreign minister avoided tricky issues and refrained from mentioning Kashmir at the brief media interaction… it was left to Krishna to mention Pakistan's core concern".

Acharya said that the timing of the report could not have been any better.

"It sheds light on the past human rights violations and links them to the present. I have said that already, but I just wanted to reiterate that without the APDP and other groups campaigning [for] justice for the victims of the disappearances, then they will be forgotten by everyone (except the family members of course)."

But Acharya fears that the outcome of India-Pakistan talks will have little impact on human rights in Kashmir. He says that while Pakistani citizens have expressed concern for Kashmiri human rights, it is difficult to believe that the Pakistani government shares that sentiment.

"The Pakistani government obviously does not care, otherwise its actions would not have involved sending militants across the border to commit widespread human rights violations against Kashmiris.

"In fact, I would say that Pakistani involvement in Kashmiri matters has been nothing but a detriment to human rights and human rights advocacy on Kashmir."

Parvez agrees that the prevailing talks are unlikely to end human right violations in the valley. He says that the rights of the people in Jammu and Kashmir have been held hostage by the Indian government and the talks are still about relations between India and Pakistan and not about Kashmir.

"While India and Pakistan appear keen to take confidence building measures, initiating steps to build mechanisms to protect human rights of people should have been the priority, but unfortunately everything else has been prioritised over human rights."

Parvez says that one of the key recommendations of the report is that the Indian government repeal the draconian laws that give the armed forces impunity in Indian-administered Kashmir, including the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) and the Public Safety Act (PSA).

Furthermore, he says that a set of immediate recommendations calls on the government to create "a streamlined system of compensation without delays, harassment and coercion" and calls on religious scholars to reach a consensus on the minimum amount of time needed to pass before being declared a widow.

Crucially, the report calls for a special bench at the Jammu and Kashmir high court to hear cases related to the "half-widows" and for India to ratify a UN resolution on the protection of all persons from enforced disappearances.

Meeting separatists

On Tuesday evening, the Pakistani foreign minister raised eyebrows when she met with Kashmiri separatists, who oppose India's rule in Kashmir, although Indian authorities reportedly knew the meeting was scheduled to take place and Krishna, reiterated that the two countries were determined to discuss Kashmir "with a view to finding a peaceful solution".

The disputed Himalayan territory of Kashmir, a major source of tension that has fuelled two of three wars fought by the two neighbours since 1947, will continue to be discussed "with a view to finding a peaceful solution", Krishna said.

Both India and Pakistan claim Kashmir.

 

'Enforced disappearances' in Pakistan slammed - Central & South Asia

Human Rights Watch has called on the Pakistani government to immediately end widespread "enforced disappearances" of activists by the military and intelligence agencies.

The New York-based rights group said in a report released this week that hundreds of enforced disappearances have been committed since 2005 in the southwestern province of Balochistan.

The Pakistani government on Friday rejected the claims. "We have responded to all this before. It's basically untrue," Army spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said.

HRW said it had also recorded 150 so-called "kill and dump" deaths in Balochistan since January alone, many of which may have been by Pakistani security forces.

The report detailed 45 cases of alleged disappearances gathered from more than 100 interviews with victims, families, local rights activists, lawyers and witnesses.

Victims told the group that they had been picked up from their homes at night by gangs of armed men, questioned and beaten without being told why.

"Pakistan's security forces are engaging in an abusive free-for-all in Balochistan as Baloch nationalists and suspected militants 'disappear,' and in many cases are executed," said Brad Adams, Asia director at HRW.

The rights group's report, entitled "We Can Torture, Kill, or Keep You for Years", documented cases of uniformed paramilitary troops, police and the much-feared ISI intelligence agency being involved in the abductions.

The government in Islamabad has cracked down on dissent in Balochistan since rebels rose up in 2004, demanding autonomy and a greater share of wealth from the region's oil, gas and mineral resources.

"Pakistani security services are brazenly disappearing, torturing, and often killing people because of suspected ties to the Baloch nationalist movement," Adams said.

"This is not counterinsurgency - it is barbarism."

Detained for months

One victim, Mazhar Khan, told how he was at a friend's house in Noshki district in December 2009 when armed men stormed in, blindfolded him and the friend and drove them to different locations.

Khan was questioned about Baloch political activity and held alone in a dark room for nearly two months before being released on the side of a road near Quetta, the provincial capital.

His friend's whereabouts are still unknown despite his family fighting a high court battle in which judges have asked the ISI, police, federal and state authorities to provide information about any charges against the men.

HRW said the number of abductions and executions was unknown but that in 2008 Rehman Malik, the interior minister, said there had been at least 1,100 victims of "disappearances" in Balochistan. Other officials have disputed the figure.

Balochistan, which borders Iran and Afghanistan, has a long history of tensions with Pakistan's central government and the province is now beset by violence and Taliban fighters as well as a separatist insurgency.

Pakistan officials have often denied allegations about the "disappearances", saying many of the claims are separatist propaganda and that the courts ensure that legal procedures are followed.

 

Gunmen kill Shia bus passengers in Pakistan - Central & South Asia

At least 11 Shia Muslims have been killed in a suspected sectarian attack on their vehicle in Pakistan's southwestern Baluchistan province.

Police said unidentified gunmen opened fire on the vehicle as it travelled to the town of Hazara on Saturday.

"The vehicle was passing by a bus stand when gunmen riding in another car opened fire, killing at least 11 people and wounding three," Hamid Shakeel, city's police chief, told reporters.

Shakeel said the assailants ambushed the minibus on the outskirts of Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan, which borders Afghanistan and Iran. One woman was among the dead.

Another police official said it appeared to be a sectarian attack as all those killed were Shia Muslims.

Dozens of Shia protesters briefly blocked a main road and torched two cars and two motorcycles after news of the incident spread, Shakeel said.

Police regained control of the situation with help from local Shia elders.

Local intelligence and administrative officials confirmed the incident, and said the gunmen succeeded in fleeing the scene after the shootings.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but Baluchistan has witnessed separatist movements and sectarian violence. Taliban fighters with links to al-Qaeda have also been active.

Baluchistan is the largest but poorest of Pakistan's four provinces, and home to the country's largest gas and oil reserves. Separatists want a greater share of the money derived from the province's natural resources.

Tit-for-tat attacks

Saturday's attack came a day after eight people were killed and about 25 wounded in two separate bomb and gun attacks in two districts of Baluchistan.

The majority of Pakistanis are Sunni Muslims, with Shia accounting for around 15 per cent of a population of more than 170 million.

Both communities largely live in peace with each other but extremists from the two sides have killed thousands of people in tit-for-tat attacks, and religious tensions have increased in recent years.

Pakistan has seen a surge in violence since al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden was killed by US special forces in a secret raid near the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, on May 2.

The Pakistani Taliban vowed revenge for bin Laden's death and the group has since launched a series of deadly attacks against government installations.

 

Indian army 'halting peace in Kashmir' - Central & South Asia

Kashmiri separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani has slammed the Indian government, saying that it is using armed forces to stop the peace process in the restive Himalayan region.

The chairman of the separatist faction of Hurriyat Conference said on Saturday that the large contingent of troops in the region was "blocking the path to peace".

He was speaking during a seminar called "Kashmir: Road to Peace" in the provincial summer capital Srinagar, the Reuters reported.

"India has blocked the road to peace. One million troops are sitting and blocking the path to peace. The road to peace has been blocked by the Indian government's police. The police [are] exhibiting a display of atrocity and force on the innocent people of the valley," said Geelani.

"The presence of armed forces is not an answer to the issue of Jammu and Kashmir. The presence of police is not an answer to the issue of Jammu and Kashmir," he said.

"Using gunpoint to generate silence is not the solution to the Jammu and Kashmir issue. Using the strength of the police to create graveyard like silence in the valley is not the solution," he added.

Geelani accused the Indian government of using its forces to suppress the people and issues of the disputed region.

Lashing out

"India is acting like a stranger to the issue. From time to time they are sending interlocutors, lawmakers or representatives of policy centres and other groups to know the opinion of the people of Kashmir.

"India is adopting the policy of behaving as if it is unaware of the situation Ianthe Jammu and Kashmir. Even after 63 years, we are suffering from this policy of the Indian government," Geelani said.

A special series on the dispute in Kashmir will feature on Al Jazeera's website from August 2, 2011

He further lashed out at Palaniappan Chidambaram, India's interior minister for hailing state chief Omar Abdullah for restoring peace and normalcy in the state.

"He patted the back of Omar Abdullah (chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir) saying that you are very brave to send teenagers to jail, you are very brave for putting Syed Ali Shah Geelani under house arrest for many weeks without any law or order problem," Geelani said.

Amnesty International reported in March that hundreds of people were being held each year in detention centres in the state without trial or a charge.

In recent weeks, the Jammu and Kashmir state government announced plans of a proposal to make some amendments to the Public Safety Act (PSA) after a public outcry over the law that allows the detention of people as young as 16 without a trial for up to a period of two years.  

Meanwhile, the AFP news agency reported that two Indian soldiers were killed on Saturday in a clash along the Line of Control - the de facto border that splits Indian and Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

The army said that a gun fight ensued when soldiers tried to intercept alleged fighters attempting to enter India from Pakistan.

"We have foiled yet another bid by militants to infiltrate into our territory from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir," JS Brar, an Indian army spokesman, said.

"Two of our soldiers achieved martyrdom," he said, adding that the fighting was "still going on in the rugged area".

India-Pakistan talks

The latest fighting comes just days after Indian and Pakistani officials met for the first time in five months as part of revived peace talks between the two countries.

The two countries decided to restart the peace process in February and have since discussed a wide range of issues concerning the two sides, including Kashmir and the continuing threat of terrorism.
 
Kashmir has been at the core of the acrimonious relationship between India and Pakistan over the past six decades.

The nuclear-armed neighbours having fought two of their three wars since 1947 over the disputed territory,which is claimed by both in full but ruled in parts.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed in Indian-administered Kashmir since an armed revolt against New Delhi's rule erupted in 1989.

 

Afghan president's senior aide quits - Central & South Asia

 

 

The Afghanistan president's communications director and spokesman has resigned.

Waheed Omer, who had been in the post for nearly two years, had the tough job of managing President Hamid Karzai's relations with Afghan and international media amid increasing violence in the country and tense ties between the president and his Western allies.

"My decision to leave at this point is informed by a deep conviction that under the current situation, I cannot serve the president and Afghanistan effectively. I have shared it with the president," Omer said in a statement on Monday without giving further details.

But analysts and palace insiders say a conservative circle of advisers who are growing in their influence on Karzai had made it difficult for Omer.

His resignation comes months after two senior security ministers, both reputed for their effectiveness, were also forced to resign. Several other of the president's close confidants including Ahmad Wali Karzai, his brother and linchpin to his authority in the troubled south, have been killed recently for which the Taliban have taken responsibility. 

A government official, aware of the debate in the palace, confirmed to Al Jazeera that rifts between Omer and a "Hizb-e-Islami circle that has progressively tightened influence over president" emerged months ago and it had exacerbated in the past two weeks.

"Hizb-e-Islami is gearing up for elections in 2013 and they want control of the government media enterprise," the official said. 

"Omer wasn't one they could have co-opted or controlled, so their design was to gradually undermine and frustrate him."

Once an influential, conservative Islamic party in the 1980s and 1990s, Hizb-e-Islami's leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar is on the wanted list of the United States and its allies for waging war and siding with the Taliban.

Despite him being on the run in the past decade, his former associates have revived a wing of the party in Kabul and are becoming increasingly influential over the president, analysts say.

'Circle of influence'

"Unfortunately, there are a lot of circles inside president's office that are moving in a specific direction close to Hizb-e-Islami and Pakistan and it could be involved in Mr Omer's resignation," Mir Ahmad Joyenda, a former MP, told ToloNews.

 Omer's period of discontent reportedly began with the appointment of Karim Khuram as the president's chief of staff several months ago.

Khurram, upon arrival, had dismissed a large number of Omer's staff at the Government Media and Information Center (GMIC), the communications wing that Omer had founded in 2009, and eventually brought GMIC directly under the chief of staff's office.

"Omer was left merely as the government's mouthpiece and he no longer had much control over the messages that were going out," the official said.

He first quit his post in January, then citing "personal reasons," but the president urged him to stay on. This time around, Karzai accepted his resignation, according to AFP, and praised Omer as an "honest and patriotic man."

"As I decide to leave my post, I want to express gratitude for the fact that under President Karzai's leadership many young Afghans like myself have had numerous opportunities to grow and serve Afghanistan," Omer said in his statement, a sign that his close relationship with the president had persevered.

With a civil society and social-work background, Omer has served in different posts in Karzai's government for over the past five years.

Before being appointed as the communications director, he served as the campaign spokesman for Karzai during the presidential elections two years ago.

 

Taliban suicide bombers attack guest house - Central & South Asia

 

Four security guards have been killed after three suicide bombers attacked a guest house frequented by foreigners in Kunduz province of northern Afghanistan, police officials say.

"Ten people, including civilians and an Afghan police officer, were wounded in the early morning attack," Abdul Rahman, senior Kunduz police official, said on Tuesday.

Mubobullah Sayedi, a spokesman for the governor of Kunduz province, said one of the gunmen blew himself up outside the two-story building shortly after dawn, while two other attackers rushed inside.

Security forces battled for two hours before the attackers were eventually killed.

It was not immediately clear if foreigners were among the wounded, but those staying at the guest house escaped through the rear of the building.

Sarwar Husseini, a provincial police spokesman, said German aid workers often stayed in the house, but the identity and number of foreigners staying there at the time of the attack was not clear.

The building burned and several nearby buildings were damaged. Flames could be seen shooting up an exterior wall as police contained the area.

"We heard a very big explosion that shook all of Kunduz," Ahmadullah, a 30-year-old shopkeeper in Kunduz, who lives about 10 meters from the building, said.

The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Zabiullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Afghan fighters, said in a text message to the AP news agency that the bombers had attacked a "German intelligence centre and security company".

Deadly six months

Fighting has been focused in southern and eastern Afghanistan, but the Taliban has been conducting a rising number of attacks in the once-peaceful north.

Last month, a vehicle carrying the deputy governor of Kunduz province struck a roadside bomb, injuring three of his bodyguards.

 

Taliban suicide bombers attack guest house - Central & South Asia - Al Jazeera English

 

In May, a suicide bomber infiltrated a high-level meeting in neighbouring Takhar province and killed northern Afghanistan's top police commander, General Daoud Daoud, provincial police chief Shah Jehan Noori and two German soldiers.

Violence is at its worst in Afghanistan since US-backed international forces toppled the Taliban government in late 2001.

With at least 1,462 deaths, the first half of this year has been one of the deadliest for civilians, according to a  UN report in July.

A gradual transition of security control to Afghan forces began last month when some areas were handed over by the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force.

Afghan forces are due to take full control across the country by the end of 2014.

Ever since President Barack Obama announced the withdrawal of US "surge" troops in June, the Taliban has intensified attacks against government installations.

In the past month gunmen have carried out a string of killings of high-profile southern leaders, including President Hamid Karzai's younger brother, Ahmad Wali Karzai, and other senior government officials.

 

No let-up in Karachi violence - Central & South Asia

There has been more violence in the Pakistani city of Karachi, where at least 42 people have been killed since Monday.

Rehman Malik, Pakistan's interior minister warned on Tuesday of stern action against those involved in the latest round of violence in the country's commercial capital, blaming "criminals and militants" for the unrest.

The Pakistani interior minister said at least 18 of the killings targeted political activists, and that the government had prepared a plan to tackle the deteriorating law and order situation in the city.

"We will take every possible action to restore peace in Karachi," he said, adding that results of the government's action will be visible soon.

Al Jazeera's Imtiaz Tyab, reporting from Karachi, said: "As this violence is still going on, people aren't listening."

The latest round of violence has been attributed to a fight for political influence in the city between Karachi's main parties, Tyab said.

The embattled city, where police say about 200 people were killed in last month alone, is home to Pakistan's main port, stock exchange and central bank. It has not seen a month as deadly as July in almost 20 years.

Local media put the toll even higher, with the Dawn newspaper reporting that 318 people were killed during the month.

Burnt vehicles

After violence erupted last month, hundreds of extra police and paramilitary troops were deployed in Orangi, Karachi's largest and one of its poorest slums. 

More than 100 people were killed during three days of violence in the slum at that time.

The Rangers, an internal security force, took control of the area, but violence has since spread to other parts of the city of more than 18 million.

Calls for peace by the government and other political parties have also failed.

On Monday, at least 90 vehicles were set ablaze in different parts of the city.

In one incident, at least 80 motorcycles were burnt when dozens of people stormed a textile factory late on Monday and set fire to the vehicles parked outside the industrial unit.

Political 'turf war'

Over the years, criminal gangs have been used by political parties in a city-wide war for influence in Karachi, which contributes about two-third of Pakistan's tax revenue.

On Monday, the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) attributed much of the violence to these political parties, though it also said that criminal elements were "exploit[ing] the breakdown of law and order".

"While gangs of land-grabbers and mafias have tried to exploit the breakdown of law and order, they do not appear to be the main directors of the horrible game of death and destruction; that distinction belongs to more powerful political groups and it is they who hold the key to peace," it said.

Tyab said that the battles between smaller and local groups happen as a result of a politically motivated "turf war".

"What we understand is that the political parties in Pakistan have been exploiting the divisions that exist in this city ... and often they will turn to the underworld, the criminals, to carry out their dirty work," he said.

The HRCP had previously said that 1,138 people were killed in Karachi in the first six months of 2011, of whom 490 were victims of political, ethnic and sectarian violence.

 

Intelligence official killed in Afghan city - Central & South Asia

A car bomb has killed an intelligence official in the northern Afghan city of Kunduz, a spokesman for the provincial police chief said.

Three civilians were also wounded in Thursday's blast from the bomb, which was planted in the car of Payenda Khan, police spokesman Sayed Sarwar Husaini told the Reuters news agency.

Khan headed intelligence operations for a district in the city of Kunduz, police said.

The attack comes barely two days after four security guards were killed in a suicide attack on a guest house in Kunduz, which is frequented by foreigners.

The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack. The Afghan militia said in a text message that the bombing was aimed at senior security officials, AFP news agency reported.

The militia, which has been fighting US-led international forces since it was ousted from power in 2001, has stepped up targeted assassinations of high-profile politicians and aides in recent weeks.

Last month Ghulam Haidar Hameedi, mayor of Kandahar city, and President Hamid Karzai's half-brother, Ahmed Wali Karzai, were killed.

In May, a suicide bomber infiltrated a high-level meeting in neighbouring Takhar province and killed northern Afghanistan's top police commander, General Daoud Daoud, provincial police chief Shah Jehan Noori and two German soldiers.

Fighting has been focused in southern and eastern Afghanistan, but the Taliban has been conducting a rising number of attacks in the once-peaceful north.

With at least 1,462 deaths, the first half of this year has been one of the deadliest for civilians, according to a  UN report in July.

A gradual transition of security control to Afghan forces began last month when some areas were handed over by the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force.

Afghan forces are due to take full control across the country by the end of 2014.

 

South Korea hit by deadly mudslides - Asia-Pacific

At least 17 people have been killed after two separate landslides hit South Korea, officials say.

They said rescue workers on Wednesday were helping those trapped and searching for missing people in the affected areas.

The first landslide crashed into a mountain resort in Chuncheon, killing five people and leaving two people missing, the officials said.

Eight of those killed in the early morning disaster were college students who had been doing volunteer work.

They were staying in a resort cabin in Chuncheon, about two hours northeast of Seoul, when the mud and debris engulfed them, Byun In-soo of the town's fire station said.

About 500 rescuers searched for two students who were still missing after the landslide.

Separately, in southern Seoul, five people were killed in Wednesday's second landslide, a police official in the Bangbae area said.

The dead had not yet been identified. One child was also missing.

Fast-moving muddy water filled the streets. Local broadcaster YTV showed the dramatic rescue of group of people who had scrambled onto the roofs of their partially submerged cars to escape the gushing water.

Elsewhere, water filled some subway stations and spewed from sewers.

About 800 houses flooded, according to a city disaster official who declined to be named because of office policy.

South Korea has been buffeted by strong rain this week: about 400mm of rain fell in Seoul in just 17 hours starting on Tuesday afternoon.

More than 250mm fell on Chuncheon in the last two days.

Weather officials say another 10 inches could fall till Friday in the north of the country.

 

Asiana cargo plane crashes off South Korea - Asia-Pacific

A cargo plane has crashed off the coast of South Korea's southern Jeju island.

According to unconfirmed local media reports, searchers found sea wreckage of an Asiana Airlines cargo plane that crashed on Thursday.

The plane is thought to have had two occupants, a pilot and co-pilot aboard.

Choi Kyu-mo, the Jeju island coast guard's spokesperson said four ships and a helicopter were searching the wreckage west of the southern resort island of Jej.

Yonhap News Agency earlier cited the coast guard as saying one of its patrol boats had found debris from the aircraft operated by Asiana, South Korea's second-largest flagship carrier, in waters about 107km west of Jeju city.

The plane had reportedly left from South Korea's Incheon International Airport and was bound for Pudong in China.

'Mechanical difficulties'

Asiana officials got a report early on Thursday from the pilot that the Boeing-747, which was southwest of Jeju, was having mechanical difficulties and would try to make its way to the island's airport, Jason
Kim, a spokesman for Asiana Airlines, said.

Officials then lost contact with the plane and asked the coast guard to investigate, Kim said.

The airline also sent its own emergency specialists to the area.

Kim said he had seen media reports about the crash but was waiting for a final investigative report from the coast guard and Asiana airline officials at the site before confirming anything.

South Korea has been lashed with extraordinarily heavy rain this week, with landslides and floods killing dozens and causing havoc.

Kim said it was unclear whether the weather had caused any problems for the plane.

Kyu-mo said there was no rain in the area but that there were stronger-than-normal winds at the time

 

'Faulty signal' blamed for China train crash - Asia-Pacific

Railway authorities in China have said design flaws in signal equipment and human error are to blame for Saturday's deadly train crash in which 39 people were killed, according to the state news agency, Xinhua.

A Chinese railway research institute took responsibility on Thursday for a flaw in signalling equipment.

The Beijing National Railway Research and Design Institute of Signals and Communications Co Ltd, in a rare admission of responsibility for the disaster, issued an apology, acknowledging that it was the source of the deadly flaw.

The accident, in which nearly 200 people were injured, was China's worst rail accident since 2008, and has led to a public outcry.

The showcase high-speed line between Beijing and Shanghai has been plagued by power outages and other malfunctions since it opened on June 30.

More than 100 relatives of passengers who were killed protested on Wednesday outside a railway station, angered by the lack of accountability over the incident, state media reported.

The Global Times, a tabloid owned by Communist Party mouthpiece the People's Daily, said the protesters demanded direct talks with officials from the Railways Ministry.

Premier's pledge

Wen Jiabao, the Chinese premier, visited the crash site near Wenzhou city in China's eastern Zhejiang province and vowed a thorough and transparent investigation.

"No matter if it was a mechanical fault, a management problem, or a manufacturing problem, we must get to the bottom of this," Wen said.

"If corruption was found behind this, we must handle it according to law and will not be soft. Only in this way can we be fair to those who have died."

The accident was caused when a bullet train crashed into the back of another that had been stalled after being struck by lightning.

Following the accident, China dismissed three senior railway officials, including the head of the Shanghai railway bureau, his deputy and the bureau's Communist Party chief.

The three will "be subject to investigation", China's railways ministry said in a statement on its website.

Wang Yongping, the railways ministry spokesman, said: "As leaders ... they should take ultimate responsibility for the main cause of the accident."

Controversy, however, is not new to the burgeoning rail line.

Corruption charges

Liu Zhijun, the railways minister, was dismissed this spring amid an investigation into unspecified corruption allegations.

No details have been released about the allegations against him, but news reports say they include kickbacks, bribes, illegal contracts and sexual liaisons.

China has spent billions of dollars and plans more massive spending to link the country with a high-speed rail network. Official plans call for China's rails to expand to 13,000km this year and 16,000km by 2020.

However, the accident has raised questions about the safety of the country's fast-growing rail network.

"There's been a lot of talk in the country, a lot of suspicion in China about the bullet trains and in many ways this actually really confirms a lot of people's suspicions about the safety and the technology and whether China is really ready to adopt this technology," Al Jazeera's Melissa Chan, reporting from the site of the accident in Wenzhou, said.

 

East Timor weighs reconciliation cost - Asia-Pacific

One year after elections, and 12 years after the riots that followed a crucial referendum, the central debate in East Timor, or Timor-Leste as the nation is now known as, is how best to maintain a still-fragile peace.

Armed groups were responsible for massacres in the wake of that vote for independence from neighbouring Indonesia in 1999 that claimed 1,500 lives and forced more than 250,000 - one-fourth of East Timor's population - to flee the territory.

Many of the men held responsible for the violence - former members of the pro-Indonesian militias - are still living in camps with their families in West Timor, in Indonesia.

Explaining why they have still not returned to East Timor, Eurico Guterrez, a former militia leader, says: "They threaten us: they say we shouldn't come back because we betrayed our country, that we chose to be Indonesian so we don't deserve to return home."

But these militia members stranded in Indonesia now have an unlikely ally: East Timor's president, Jose Ramos Horta, who has come out in favour of amnesties.

Ramos-Horta told Al Jazeera that the Timorese people should "let bygones be bygones", although many are calling for the perpetrators of the violence to be tried in court.

As Andrew Thomas reports from Dili, East Timor's capital, the big question now facing the young country is: Justice, no matter what the consequences, or integration, whatever the cost?

 

Floods threaten thousands in northern Japan - Asia-Pacific

 

Heavy rains have claimed their first victim in Japan, where the government has urged nearly half a million people to leave their homes amid flooding in the northern Niigata and tsunami-hit Fukushima prefectures.

River banks gave way to swollen rivers at several points on Saturday and more than 400,000 people were advised to head to evacuation centres.

As Al Jazeera's Aela Callan reported from Yasuda city in Niigata prefecture, the worst-hit towns were swamped by water levels that reached as high as 12 metres. But she said the rain had stopped by midday and authorities predicted that the worst of the rains had ceased.

The flooding comes nearly five months after a massive earthquake and tsunami hit Japan's northeastern coast, killing more than 13,000 people and displacing tens of thousands from their homes.

"The Self-Defence Forces are now responding to a different disaster," our correspondent said. "It is reminiscent of the earthquake and tsunami and people are heading to evacuation centres and staying out of the way of aid and rescue efforts."

"It is another blow to people who are still trying to recover," she added.

Maximum alert

Click here for more of Al Jazeera's coverage on Japan in the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami

The government has urged citizens to be on the maximum alert against more flooding and mudslides as television footage showed muddy swollen rivers, broken dykes and flooded houses.

Bridges over the Shinano River in Niigata disappeared into muddy water in the middle, while trees and telephone polls were seen fallen. Dozens of cars were seen stranded on a road along the Shinano.

Local governments in Niigata and Fukushima prefectures have advised a total of 417,000 people to evacuate, according to public broadcaster NHK.

Helicopter footage on NHK showed that Kamo City in Niigata, 250km north of Tokyo, were extensively flooded, with water submerging roads and rice fields.

Dead and missing

Eiichi Murayama, 67, was confirmed dead in Tokamachi City, Niigata, early on Saturday.

"We found a car fallen in River Nakazawa last night... and found the driver's body downstream this morning," the AFP news agency cited an official at Niigata police as saying of the drowned man.

Five other people are missing in the area, including a 93-year-old woman who was swept away in a river and a 25-year-old man who was believed to have fallen into a swollen river, police said.

Officials had requested the country's Self-Defence Force dispatch troops to join the search for missing people and help those stranded by mudslides and floods.

One man was listed as missing in Fukushima, whose Pacific coasts were hit by a massive tsunami on March 11 that crippled an atomic power plant in the world's worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986.

More than 40 people who had spent a night in cars and buses after being stranded on a road blocked by mudslides and flooding in Fukushima were rescued unhurt.

"I couldn't sleep. I had some food but couldn't swallow a bite" out of fears that fresh further mudslides would hit the stranded cars, a woman told NHK.

The weather agency has warned quake-hit regions are more prone to mudslides as the tremors had worsened ground conditions.

 

Several injured in strong Japan earthquake - Asia-Pacific

A strong 6.4-magnitude earthquake has struck northeastern Japan, leaving at least seven people injured in the Fukushima region, home to a crippled nuclear power plant.

The tremor early on Sunday morning caused no damage to the Fukushima Daiichi plant, which was ravaged by a 9.0-quake and ensuing tsunami in March, the national Fire and Disaster Management Agency said.

In the city of Hitachinaka, a 60-year-old man broke his wrist when he was jolted off his bed by the tremor, media reports said. Two elderly women, aged 69 and 90, were hurt when they fell over at their homes in Koriyama.

The Japan Meteorological Agency said the tremor was presumed to be an aftershock of the March 11 quake.

"Aftershocks of the massive earthquake are still continuing actively," Akira Nagai, director of earthquake and tsunami monitoring at the agency, told a news conference.

The quake was centred in the Pacific around 100km south-southeast of Fukushima city, the agency and the US Geological Survey said, at a depth of about 40km.

The March disaster left more than 20,000 people dead or missing on the country's northeast coast, and the damaged nuclear plant leaking radioactive substances from its reactors.

Japan, located at the junction of four tectonic plates, experiences 20 per cent of the strongest quakes recorded on Earth each year.

 

'Extremists' blamed for attacks in China - Asia-Pacific

The Chinese government has claimed Muslim activists trained in Pakistan were behind weekend attacks that killed 11 civilians in the Xinjiang region.

In response, the autonomous regional government on Monday announced a crackdown on "illegal religious" activities at the start of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

Ten civilians were killed in knife attacks and two small blasts during the weekend in Kashgar, a city in south Xinjiang, where the Uighurs, a Turkic Muslim ethnic minority, dominate.

The regional government said in a statement on Monday that a preliminary inquiry has shown "a group of religious extremists trained in overseas terrorist camps were responsible for the attacks".

The statement continued: "An initial police investigation found that the leaders of the group behind the attack had learned about explosives and firearms in Pakistan at a camp of the separatist East Turkestan Islamic Movement. This was another violent terrorist action by a small group of foes organised and planned under special conditions."

'Malign intention'

Captured suspects had confessed that the ringleaders had earlier fled to Pakistan and received firearms and explosives training before infiltrating back into China, the government website said.

It said: "Their malign intention behind this terrorist violence was to sabotage inter-ethnic unity and harm social stability, provoking ethnic hatred and creating ethnic conflict, splitting Xinjiang off from the motherland, casting the people of every ethnic group into a disastrous abyss."

Police shot dead five people and arrested four others after they stormed a restaurant, set in on fire after killing the owner and a waiter, and then ran onto the street and hacked to death four people, Xinhua news agency reported.

For the ruling Communist Party, the latest violence presents a test of its control in Xinjiang, where Uighur and Han Chinese residents view each other with suspicion.

Beijing has been wary of contagion from Arab uprisings inspiring challenges to party power in China.

After the attacks, the most senior Communist Party official in Xinjiang, Zhang Chunxian, announced a crackdown on religious extremism and vowed harsh punishment for those found guilty of attacks, according to
Xinjiang's official news website.

"[We will] resolutely attack religious extremist forces and effectively curb illegal religious activities," Zhang said.

Strategically vital

Xinjiang has seen several outbreaks of ethnic violence in recent years as the mainly Muslim Uighur minority is unhappy with what they say has been decades of political and religious repression, and the unwanted immigration of China's dominant Han ethnic group.

This tension has triggered sporadic bouts of violence in Xinjiang - a vast, arid but resource-rich region which is home to more than eight million Turkic-speaking Uighurs.

In the nation's worst ethnic violence in decades, Uighurs savagely attacked Han Chinese in the regional capital, Urumqi, in July 2009 - an incident that led to retaliatory attacks by Han on Uighurs several days later.

The government says about 200 people were killed and 1,700 injured in the violence, which cast doubt on the authoritarian Communist Party's claims of harmony among the country's dozens of ethnic groups.

Yet, China sees Xinjiang as strategically vital, and Beijing has shown no sign of loosening its grip on the territory, which accounts for one-sixth of the country's land mass and holds deposits of oil and gas.

 

S Korea summons Japan envoy over islands row - Asia-Pacific

South Korea has summoned a senior Japanese envoy to lodge "a strong protest" after three opposition politicians from Japan attempted to restate their country's claim to a group of disputed islands.

The heightened diplomatic tensions came a day after the politicians were barred from entering South Korea upon their arrival in the capital Seoul early on Monday.

The members of parliament had planned to visit Ulleung island, the closest South Korean territory to the uninhabited disputed Dokdo islands in the Sea of Japan [East Sea], which are known in Japan as Takeshima.

The legislators from Japan's conservative Liberal Democratic Party had refused to fly back home for nine hours, before being repatriated in the late evening from Seoul's Gimpo International Airport.

Airport authorities stopped them from passing through immigration, citing a law which prohibits entry of anyone who could harm South Korea's national interests or public safety.

Seoul's foreign ministry said on Tuesday that the failed trip had "negative impacts" on relations and warned that the politicians would be sent back again if they stage a repeat visit as promised.

"We find it very regrettable that they did not properly respond to legitimate requests of our immigration officials to leave, defying our legal order and law enforcement," Cho Byung-Jae, a spokesman, told reporters.

The Japanese embassy official was also summoned in protest against the release on Tuesday of Japan's 2011 defence white paper, which describes the islands as Japanese territory.

In a statement, South Korea's defence ministry said: "The defence ministry urges the Japanese government to realise they can never expect progress in bilateral military relations without giving up a claim to Dokdo.

"We will respond resolutely to any attempt to violate our territorial rights."

Territorial dispute

One of the three Japanese politicians who were repatriated is Yoshitaka Shindo, the grandson of a general in the imperial Japanese army, who has previously accused South Korea of "illegally and militarily" occupying "what is undoubtedly our territory".

"We don't intend to fight there. We want to express our feeling of anger to the South Korean people," Shindo said in a video message posted on his website.

The other two legislators are Tomomi Inada, a former lawyer who denies the 1937 Nanjing massacre by Japanese troops in China, and Masahisa Sato, a former member of the military who headed a Japanese reconstruction mission to Iraq in 2004.

Shindo said at Gimpo airport on Monday that Dokdo rightfully belonged to his country.

"However, we must discuss the issues as there is a difference in opinion between Japan and South Korea," Shindo said, according to the South Korean Yonhap news agency. "If our entry is denied, we will visit once gain."

He said the entry ban might evolve into a diplomatic row between the nations.

Bitter memories

Earlier, hundreds of South Korean protesters gathered at Gimpo airport to protest against the three legislators' arrival.

They carried banners which read "Stop Japan!" and "You die!", while other protesters carried a coffin plastered with photos of the politicians.

One group set fire to photos of the three, while others got caught in small scuffles with the police as they tried to enter a security area to "hunt down" the legislators.

The disputed islands are a sensitive issue for the South Koreans, especially for the older generations who still have bitter memories of Japan's harsh colonial rule over Korea from 1910 to 1945.

South Korea says it regained control over all of its territory, including Dokdo, at the end of the colonial period.

It posts a small coastguard force on Dokdo and has sought to strengthen its control over the islets after Tokyo in March authorised new school textbooks reasserting its claims to them.

In a rare showcase of solidarity with the South, North Korea condemned the Japanese legislators' actions.

"The Japanese reactionaries' recent moves are serious issues not to be tolerated by the Korean nation," a commentary on the official KCNA news agency said, accusing the three of trying to seize both Ulleung and Dokdo islands.

 

Record radiation level at Japan nuclear plant - Asia-Pacific

Record levels of radiation have been recorded at the damaged Fukushima Daiichi plant reactor, just months after the nuclear accident resulting from the earthquake and tsunami in March.

The Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) reported that Geiger counters - a hand-held device used to measure radiation - registered their highest possible reading at the site on Monday.

TEPCO said that radiation exceeding 10 sieverts [10,000 millisieverts] per hour was found at the bottom of a ventilation stack standing between two reactors.

Al Jazeera's Aela Callan, reporting from Japan's Ibaraki prefecture, said the level recorded was "fatal to humans" but that it was contained just to the plant's site. However, scientists are planning to carry out more tests on Tuesday.

"Authorities are working on the theory though that it has come from those initial hydrogen explosions that we've seen at the plant in the days after the earthquake and tsunami," she said.

"It is now looking more likely that this area has been this radioactive since the earthquake and tsunami but no one realised until now."

Click here for more of Al Jazeera's special coverage

On Tuesday, TEPCO said it found another spot on the ventilation stack itself where radiation exceeded 10 sieverts per hour, a level that could lead to incapacitation or death after just several seconds of exposure.

The company used equipment to measure radiation from a distance and was unable to ascertain the exact level because the device's maximum reading is 10 sieverts.

While TEPCO said the readings would not hinder its goal of stabilising the Fukushima reactors by January, experts said that worker safety could be at risk if the operator prioritised hitting the deadline over radiation risks.

"Radiation leakage at the plant may have been contained or slowed but it has not been sealed off completely," Kenji Sumita, a professor at Osaka University who specialises in nuclear engineering, said.

"The utility is likely to continue finding these spots of high radiation.

"Considering this, recovery work at the plant should not be rushed to meet schedules and goals as that could put workers in harm's way.

"We are past the immediate crisis phase and some delays should be permissible."

Workers at Daiichi are only allowed to be exposed to 250 millisieverts of radiation per year.

TEPCO, which provides power to Tokyo and neighbouring areas, said it had not detected a sharp increase in overall radiation levels at the compound.

"The high dose was discovered in an area that doesn't hamper recovery efforts at the plant," Junichi Matsumoto, a TEPCO spokesman, said on Tuesday.

Although it is still investigating the matter, TEPCO said the spots of high radiation could stem from debris left behind by emergency venting conducted days after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that crippled the plant.

 

Australian woman freed of collar bomb - Asia-Pacific

An Australian woman has been freed after a 10-hour standoff, in which a device - suspected to be explosive - was collared around her neck, reports say.

The 18-year-old, who had been trapped in a home in the exclusive neighbourhood of Mosmon, in New South Wales, was relieved of the device early Thursday morning.

Mark Murdoch, the New South Wales assistant police commissioner, said: "We have secured the release of the young lady. She is safe and sound, she is being reunited with her parents as we speak."

While local Australian media had speculated that extortion was the motive for the bomb scare, police are still investigating.

Early reports claimed that a ransom note was left at the scene, but that could not be confirmed.

"You'd hardly think that someone would go to this much trouble if there wasn't a motive behind it. What that motive is, as I've indicated, we are still not aware," Murdoch said.

Thus far, no suspects have been named. However, police say that the person responsible for the act had previous interactions with the woman, the Reuters news agency says.

Police were able to disengage the bomb with the help of several Australian agencies, British military and bomb experts.

 

Obama echoes East Africa's pleas for help - Africa

An appeal for more famine relief by Somalia's president has been echoed by US President Barack Obama who has called for an "international response" to the humanitarian crisis in the Horn of Africa.

President Sharif Sheik Ahmed said on Friday that Somalia can no longer feed the overwhelming number of its people suffering from famine brought on by the worst regional drought in nearly 60 years.

Ahmed said his government has created several refugee camps, but that Somalia needs urgent support to reach the level of aid that is needed.

A Somali government spokesman went further, saying the famine response from aid agencies "is too slow'' and that the crisis is even more severe than the UN has said. He noted that diseases are spreading through the camps, including measles.

"The current famine situation in Somalia actually demands urgency, not only assessments and far-off responses, because many Somali children are dying in the county on a daily basis for lack of help," said Abdirahman Omar Osman.

"We are asking the international community to increase their efforts and help these people facing misery. We believe the famine is bigger than the UN said."

Al Jazeera's Haru Mutasa reporting from Kenya's Dadaab, the world's largest refugee camp, said there has been a constant stream of refugees into Kenya.

She said UN aid agencies say 1,500 people arrive daily and they fear the number could increase.

"The refugee camp at Dadaab is full, so those who arrive, camp outside it. Aid agencies are trying to move these people from make-shift shacks to tents," our correspondent said.

"There is a big plan to move about 180,000 people into tents, but with each tent costing $250 each, it requires lot of money."

Our correspondent said, with the refugees from Somalia flooding the area, the local Kenyans as well as some senior politicians are becoming wary of their presence.

"Many of the refugees have been living here since they first came in 1991 due to the conflict in Somalia.

"The locals complain that they are being overlooked despite the fact that drought has also affected parts of Kenya."

Call for global aid

After meeting in Washington with the leaders of four French-speaking African nations, Obama said millions are in danger of starvation and he regretted that the famine was still not gaining enough attention in the US.

"We discussed how we can partner together to avert the looming humanitarian crisis in Eastern Africa. I think it hasn't got as much attention here in the United States as it deserves," Obama said on Friday.

He added that the famine in East Africa, where nearly half of Somalia's 10 million people are in need of relief assistance, "is going to require an international response and Africa will have to be a partner to make sure that tens of thousands of people don't starve to death".

Obama held talks with four West African leaders, including Ivory Coast's new President Alassane Ouattara. Benin's President Boni Yayi, President Alpha Conde of Guinea and President Mahamadou Issoufou of Niger were also at the White House meeting.

The drought and the famine it has caused in Somalia have affected more than 11 million people, including 2.2 million Somalis who live in territory controlled by al-Shabab fighters in south-central Somalia where aid groups cannot deliver food.

A second UN plane landed in Mogadishu on Friday with more than 20 tons of nutritional supplements on board. A Kuwait Air Force transport plane also landed in the capital and offloaded sacks of food.

The World Food Programme (WFP) said with its second delivery on Friday it has airlifted nearly 31 tons of ready-to-use food into Mogadishu. A WFP plane with 10 tons of peanut butter landed Wednesday in Mogadishu, the first of several planned airlifts in coming weeks.

WFP says it is supplying a hot meal to 85,000 people daily at 20 feeding centres in Mogadishu, but many refugees cannot find the feeding sites or do not know about them.

"Our feeding centres continue to operate in spite of the difficult security situation and WFP is moving stocks out of our warehouse in Mogadishu to feed growing numbers of internally displaced Somalis who have fled the famine zone to the capital,'' the UN agency said.

Trading fire

The appeals for more humanitarian aid came as African Union and al-Shabab fighters traded fire at a new front line in Mogadishu on Friday.

The African Union military force fears that al-Shabab fighters may try to attack the camps that now house tens of thousands of famine refugees in the Somali capital, disrupting the distribution of food aid.

A new AU offensive that began on Thursday has seen AU troops move up the east side of Mogadishu's largest market, Bakara. The troops now control three sides of the market  and an AU force said Friday that the gains mean that tactically speaking the AU essentially controls the market.

Forces are now moving toward the city's large sports stadium, from which al-Shabab fires artillery, the spokesman said.

 

Chavez reaches out to Venezuela middle class - Americas

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has made an abrupt political shift, urging his socialist movement to reach out to the middle class and small business owners.

Chavez, who is undergoing cancer treatment, appeared to be taking a more moderate stance to try to expand his support ahead of the presidential election in late 2012.

In a telephone call broadcast on state television on Friday he said his party should seek to recapture middle class support.

Such support has waned over the years amid the government's expropriations of businesses, farmland and residential buildings, as well as expanding price controls viewed by many as a threat to the economy.

"We can't give away the middle class to the bourgeoisie," Chavez said, referring to the opposition.

The president also said his government has no plans to expropriate small businesses, adding: "We have to open ourselves up to those sectors, the private productive sector."

Tense relations

Chavez has had tense relations with the country's business leaders during his more than 12 years in office.

He has accused business leaders of defending capitalism, identifying them as obstacles to his socialist movement.

Meanwhile, he has nationalised or expropriated big businesses in industries ranging from telecommunications to construction.

"We have to reflect ... and introduce changes in our stances and in our actions," Chavez said, urging supporters to eradicate what he called political evils, "for example, sectarianism and dogmatism".

The president, whose signature red shirts have long been a symbol of his socialist movement, also suggested his allies ought to be more moderate in their wardrobes.

"Why do we have to go around all the time wearing a red shirt?" he asked.

Chavez, who in the past has scolded some aides for not wearing the red often associated with leftist movements, chose a yellow shirt when he addressed supporters at his 57th birthday party on Thursday.

Offering a similar message to his broadcast on state television, he said: "We have to keep advancing toward other sectors, of the middle class. The undecided, let them come with us."

Cancer treatment

A poll released last week said Chavez's public approval rating remains at 50 per cent and has not significantly varied since his cancer diagnosis.

Chavez underwent surgery in Cuba on June 20 to remove a cancerous tumour.

He has not said what type of cancer he has been diagnosed with or specified where exactly it was located, saying only that it was in his pelvic region.

He underwent his first phase of chemotherapy in Cuba last week and said the treatment aims to ensure that no malignant cells reappear.

Chavez is pivoting to try to shore up support, Angel Alvarez, director of the Institute of Political Studies at the Central University of Venezuela, said.

"In this electoral context, the government needs to become more moderate because all the polls show the government no longer has the middle class," Alvarez told the AP news agency in a phone interview.

Chavez's support declined as the economy contracted during the past two years and has remained significantly lower than the 63 per cent of the votes he got in his re-election in 2006.

The economy has begun growing again, expanding at an annual rate of 4.5 per cent in the first quarter.

Alvarez said he doubted Chavez's moderation will last because it goes against his "most important political asset, which is his fiery speech".

"That's his drama as a candidate," Alvarez said. "It's like an internal struggle between becoming more moderate and more radical."

'Examine ourselves'

Chavez said his movement should "examine ourselves, starting with the leadership ... I myself, and the leadership of the party".

He denied that being more open toward small businesses would represent giving in to the wealthy elite, citing the example of Cuba and the economic changes begun by President Raul Castro's government.

"If Cuba after 60 years of revolution is making those revisions ... I doubt it's betraying socialism," he said.

He urged his allies to read the Cuban state newspaper Granma every day to see how Fidel Castro and other leaders are engaged in self-criticism. "Fidel isn't there frozen, no," Chavez said.

His call for change extended to one of his main political slogans.

It used to be "Socialist fatherland or death," and was repeated by soldiers in the military under Chavez.

But on Thursday night, he proposed to do away with "death" and instead say: "Socialist fatherland and victory".

On Friday, he made another revision and suggested: "Independence and socialist fatherland".

 

Caribbean Airlines flight crashes in Guyana - Americas

A plane carrying 163 people has crashed and broken in two after landing in rainy conditions at Guyana's main airport, causing several injuries but no deaths.

The Caribbean Airlines Boeing 737-800 flight from New York was carrying 157 passengers and six crew members to the Cheddi Jagen International airport in Guyana's capital, Georgetown.

Guyana's President Bharrat Jagdeo said the plane, which had earlier made a stop in Trinidad, crashed on the runway, just stopping near a 61 metre ravine, which could have resulted in dozens of deaths.

Jagdeo said: "We are very, very grateful that more people were not injured,'' he said as authorities closed the airport, leaving hundreds of passengers stranded and delaying dozens of flights.

Geeta Ramsingh, a US citizen who escaped with bruises to her knees, said passengers had just started to applaud the touchdown "when it turned to screams".

A woman quoted by Guyana's Kaieteur News service described hearing a loud sound when the plane landed after which everyone began screaming.

"It was terror," she said. "I was praying to Jesus."

Her husband opened the emergency door and passengers began escaping, she added.

'Serious injuries'

The crash took place at 0132 (0532 GMT) local time, according to a statement from Caribbean Airlines.

The front section of the fuselage broke in the landing, briefly trapping passengers in the first class seats.

The Guyanese authorities struggled at first to remove passengers without adequate field lights and other emergency equipment.

"About 100 people received medical attention, with four hospitalised for serious injuries", said Devant Maharaj, the Trinidad minister of transport, where Caribbean Airlines is based.

He said the company was sending a team to Guyana to help investigate the crash.

Speaking to Al Jazeera, Enrico Woolford, a journalist from Guyana, said "that even though the conditions were wet, the Met office in Guyana are saying the cause of the accident is not just due to the weather".

Caribbean Airlines, which is based in Trinidad-based airline, is the single largest carrier in the region, operating at least five daily flights.

 

Iran to 'rule soon on US spy suspects' - Middle East

Two US citizens jailed in Iran on charges of espionage and illegal entry are expected to receive a court verdict on August 7, their lawyer said after a court hearing in the capital, Tehran.

Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal, both 29, were arrested along with Sarah Shourd, 32, on the unmarked border between Iran and Iraq on July 31, 2009.

The verdict is be issued "soon", Al-Alam television, an Iranian Arabic station said, quoting Iran's general prosecutor, following Sunday's hearing.

All three defendants have denied the charges and said they were only hiking in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq.

Dorsa Jabbari, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Tehran, spoke to the lawyer representing the three Americans.

"He expected a verdict to be delivered within a week, but according to a judiciary spokesman the verdict will handed down "at some point in the near future". Their lawyer is confident that the proceedings went his way and that his clients will be freed very shortly. However, this case is a very sensitive one in the Islamic Republic. There has been speculation in the past that the Americans will be released.

"I think the verdict being handed down within a week's time is certainly an optimistic opinion from the lawyer at this stage," Jabbari said.

Sara Shourd had not been summoned to attend the hearing, a sign the lawyer believed to indicate that this his clients could be freed immediately.

Shourd, who is being tried in absentia, returned to the US following her release on humanitarian and medical grounds in September 2010, for which a bail of about $500,000 was paid.

'Happy ending?'

"Since the hearing date coincides with the two year anniversary of their arrest, and it is the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan, I am hopeful that this case has a happy ending," their lawyer Masoud Shafii told the AFP news agency on Wednesday.

"I believe that they are innocent; the espionage charges have no relevance. Even if the court does not accept my defence, the two years they've spent behind bars is punishment enough."

Ahead of the new hearing, the families of the detained issued a statement on Friday in New York, and Shourd used her statement to wish Muslims in Iran and everywhere a blessed Ramadan on behalf of the families of the two men.

"Please, if you could make a little room in your prayers on the eve of Ramadan for my fiancé, my friend and our families, it would mean the world to us," she said.

The trial has been hit by a number of delays since November 6, 2010, when it was postponed to February 6, 2011 over what was termed "an error in the judicial proceedings".

Another hearing scheduled for May 11 this year was cancelled after Fattal and Bauer were not brought before the court, according to Shafii.

Shourd, who did not attend the February 6 hearing, told AFP in Washington that she will not return to Iran to join the other two in the dock.

She said she had sent Iran's revolutionary court a five-page evaluation by a clinical forensic psychologist, who concluded she was at high risk of psychological problems if she returned to face espionage charges.

Strained US-Iran relations

Shafii said he has met Bauer and Fattal only twice, the last time on February 6, 2011 when they appeared in court for the first hearing.

"I still have not met them (for) the lawyer-client meeting that I have requested. They told me that they will inform me and I am still pursuing it," he said.

The US government has appealed for the two men to be released, insisting that they have done nothing wrong.

Iran and the US have no direct diplomatic relations, so Washington has been relying on an interests section at the Swiss embassy to follow the case.

 

Mexico 'drug enforcer admits 1,500 killings' - Americas

Mexican police say a suspected drug cartel leader they arrested last week has confessed to ordering the killing of 1,500 people in northern Chihuahua state.

Jose Antonio Acosta Hernandez is also a suspect in the murder of a United States consulate employee last year near a border crossing in Ciudad Juarez.

Felipe Calderon, the Mexican president, said on Sunday that the capture was "the biggest blow" to organised crime in Ciudad Juarez since he first sent about 5,000 federal police personnel to the city in April 2010 in a bid to curb violence in one of the world's most dangerous cities.

Acosta, 33, was caught on Friday in the northern city of Chihuahua, said Ramon Pequeno, head of the federal police's anti-drug unit.

The arrest was not confirmed until Sunday, just before Acosta was displayed to the media in Mexico City.

He was limping as he was brought before the cameras, escorted by two masked federal police officers.

Acosta, who is nicknamed "El Diego", told federal police that he had ordered 1,500 killings, Pequeno announced at the news conference.

Investigators say that he was also the mastermind behind an attack that killed a US consulate employee, her husband and the husband of another consulate worker, in Ciudad Juarez.

US prosecutors say they want to try him in that case, and a federal indictment filed in the western district of Texas names Acosta and nine others as conspiring to kill the three US citizens.

Pequeno said that he expects an extradition request to be filed by the US government.

Mexican authorities have identified Acosta as the head of La Linea, a gang of hit men and corrupt police officers who have been acting as the enforcers of the Juarez cartel.

Pequeno said that Acosta acknowledged that he had ordered such crimes as the detonation of a July 2010 car bomb and a massacre that killed 15 people at a birthday party. Both events took place in Ciudad Juarez.

The Juarez cartel, allegedly led by Vicente Carrillo Fuentes, has been losing ground in recent times to the Sinaloa drug trafficking organisation, headed by Joaqiun "El Chapo" Guzman.

The two groups have been locked in a three-year battle over the border city's smuggling corridors.

Fuentes and Juan Pablo Ledezma, allegedly his top lieutenant, remain at large.

'Hands-on manager' 

Acosta is a former state police officer, and built a criminal empire out of leading a gang of contract killers for the Juarez cartel and extorting businesses, as well as carrying out kidnappings for ransom, said Tony Payan, an expert on the drug war at the University of Texas at El Paso.

"This is an enforcer and the financial arm of the Juarez Cartel,'' said Payan, whose research comes from both newspaper accounts and people living in Ciudad Juarez.

Payan said Acosta was able to gather intelligence using informants from within local police forces, given his own past experience with law enforcement.

He said that Acosta's arrest could reduce the number of murders in Juarez, where more than 3,000 murders were recorded last year.

"He was a very hands-on manager that was practically involved in the management and organisation, personally brokering every single activity and every single murder," Payan said.

 

Testing time for Argentina leader - Americas

In modern Argentinian politics, President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner continues to dominate.

After her husband, former President Nestor Kirchner, passed away last year, her approval ratings skyrocketed. However, there is uncertainty about her re-election in the forthcoming presidential election, in October.

The defeat of her candidates in recent elections show that Kirchner still has work to do to win in the first round of elections.

Al Jazeera's Teresa Bo reports from Buenos Aires.

 

Cuba approves economic reform plan - Americas

 

 

The Cuban National Assembly has approved Communist Party proposals to overhaul the country's state-dominated economy and lift some restrictions on citizens' personal lives, according to state-run media.
   
The plan, which includes more than 300 points, was first approved at a Communist Party congress in April and would end the socialist society built under Fidel Castro's leadership.

"The Cuban parliament today supported and approved the economic and social plans of the Communist party and Revolution" state news agency Prensa Latina said.

Raul Castro , the Cuban president, and other senior party and government officials presided over Monday's session to which foreign journalists were not invited.

He first replaced his ailing brother Fidel five years ago, becoming president in 2008.

'Equal rights'

The National Assembly, Cuba's single-chamber parliament, meets two times a year for only a few days and most members hold positions in, or are members of, the Communist Party - the only legal political organisation in the country.

"Socialism means equal rights and opportunity for all, but not egalitarianism," Jose Luis Toledo, president of the parliament's constitutional and legal affairs committee, was quoted as saying when he introduced the motion on Monday.

The changes, to be implemented over five years, eliminate more than a million government jobs and reduce the state's role in sectors such as agriculture, retail services, transportation and construction in favour of private small businesses, co-operatives and leasing.

Larger state companies are freed to make more of their own decisions and take into account market forces, while regulations that prohibit normal personal affairs such as buying and selling cars and homes would be loosened.

At the same time, state subsidies for everything from food to utilities will be gradually eliminated and state wages, that average the equivalent of $18 per month, increased.
   
The state has monopolised more than 90 per cent of all economic activity and employed a similar percentage of the labour force since the earliest days of Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution.

Travel rules eased

In another development on Monday, Raul Castro announced that Cuba will revise its travel and immigration rules as part of a broader reform of its economic and social policies.

"Today the overwhelming majority of Cuban immigrants leave for economic reasons and almost all of them maintain their love for family and the country where they were born," Castro said.

He said rules still in place dated back to the earlier years of the revolution when immigration was largely political and manipulated by the US.


Al Jazeera's Craig Mauro reports from Havana on the new spirit of private enterprise in Cuba

It was not immediately clear what the changes in travel and immigration policy would entail.

But Cuban regulations, which make it difficult and expensive to travel or move abroad, have long been criticised by local residents and human-rights groups.

Local authorities had not waited for National Assembly approval to begin cutting jobs and subsidies and building what they call the "non-state" sector.
    
About 325,000 people now run small businesses or work for them, compared with 150,000 before regulations were loosened late last year.
   
The number of small farmers has also increased by 150,000 since the state began leasing small plots of fallow state lands three years ago hoping to reverse an agricultural crisis that has the country importing 60 percent to 70 per cent of its food.

Raul Castro has pushed for a new economic and social model based on individual effort and reward with targeted welfare, to replace one based on collective labour and consumption.

Cuba, which faces a stiff US trade embargo, has yet to fully emerge from a two-decades-old economic crisis started by the demise of former benefactor, the Soviet Union.

 

Largest US online child porn ring dismantled - Americas

US authorities say they have dismantled an online bulletin board allegedly used by over 600 people around the world to trade graphic images and videos of child sex abuse.

More than 70 people have been charged in connection with the private site, which was called "Dreamboard" and gave members varying access to the material.

Board members who molested children themselves getting the most coveted "Super VIP" access to pictures and videos, they said.

"To put it simply, we have charged that these individuals shared a dream - to create the preeminent online community for the promotion of child sexual exploitation," attorney general Eric Holder told reporters.

"But for the children they victimised, this was nothing short of a nightmare."

US officials called it the largest prosecution of people who participated in an online child exploitation enterprise operated for the purpose of promoting child sexual abuse, disseminating child pornography and evading law enforcement.

The bulletin board, created in 2008, folded in the spring of this year when members became aware of the US government's investigation, Justice Department officials said.

The 600 members of Dreamboard offered to trade images and videos of infants and children 12 and younger, contained in some 27,000 posts, the authorities said.

"The nature of this crime is abhorrent. These are some of the most disturbing images I think you will ever see," Holder said, adding that some victims were in obvious pain and crying.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said digital media recovered from those arrested in the US included more than 1 million images of child pornography.

Of those charged in the US, 43 have been arrested in this country and nine foreign nationals have been arrested overseas, including accused bulletin board administrators located in Canada and France, the officials said.

Global syndicate

The board's three other administrators have yet to be identified and authorities were seeking to identify other members and the victims, they said. About one-third of the members were in the US and the rest were overseas.

"The dismantling of Dreamboard is another stark warning to would-be child predators who think they can trade in child pornography," said John Morton, director of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which conducted the investigation.

The board's administrators required prospective members to upload child pornography when applying for membership, the officials said. The more content the members provided, the more child pornography they could access.

Members used encryption programs, proxy servers to disguise a user's location, and aliases rather than their real names in an effort to avoid detection, the officials said.

Some of the criminal charges carry sentences ranging from 20 years to life in prison. The officials said 13 of those charged in the US have already pleaded guilty.

 

Obama signs US debt ceiling bill into law - Americas

 

The US Senate has approved a bill that raises the country's borrowing limit and averts a possible default, after the lower house of congress approved it on Monday following weeks of political wrangling.

The upper house of congress passed the measure by 74 votes to 26. It required 60 votes to pass.

Barack Obama, the US president, signed the bill into law following Tuesday's vote.

The earlier passage of the bill by the Republican-controlled House came a day before the deadline to lift the debt ceiling, with agreement between Republicans and Democrats over the $2.1 trillion deficit-cutting plan reached over the weekend.

In remarks delivered immediately following the passage of the bill in the senate, Obama said that "both parties need to take responsibility for improving this economy".

The president emphasised the need for congress to work towards passing stalled trade bills that created more jobs. He also said that he wanted to see unemployment benefits extended.

Obama said that politicians need to continue to work towards finding a balanced approach to reducing the deficit, including some adjustments to healthcare benefit plans for the elderly and reforming the tax code so that the wealthy pay more.

"We can't balance the budget on the backs of the very people who have borne the biggest brunt of this recession," he said.

No immediate tax increases

The vote in the Senate had been virtually guaranteed to pass the bill, with Harry Reid, the Democratic majority leader, and Mitch McConnell, the Republican minority leader, both backing it.

It passed with support from 45 Democrats, 28 Republicans and an independent. Nineteen Republicans, six Democrats and an independent voted no.

The bill, which contains no immediate tax increases, raises the $14.3 trillion borrowing limit into 2013, calls for $900 billion in spending cuts spread over 10 years and creates a congressional committee to recommend a further $1.5 trillion in cuts by late November.

It does not spell out where the spending cuts should be made and instead puts off decisions about which programmes will bear the brunt.

Obama stressed that education and research would not be targeted by cuts, and that they would not happen "too abruptly, while the economy is still fragile".

World markets were initially down, despite the news, with the US Dow Jones Industrials bearish for the eight straight day on the back of spreading debt troubles in Europe and a decline in US consumer spending.

Al Jazeera's Patty Culhane, reporting from Washington DC, said that there was a lot of public anger over the way that the US congress went about dealing with this crisis.

"If you ask the American public across the board they blame anybody who currently holds elected office in Washington ... what is possibly going to impact the president here is what he's done to his base," she said.

"You'll hear from lawmakers here on Capitol Hill, especially the more on the far left [that] they feel as if the president simply walked up to the negotiating table and got nothing in return from the Republicans. They feel that he basically threw the Democrats here on Capitol Hill under the bus, is an expression I've heard a couple of times."

Credit rating fears

Reid, the US senate majority leader, said that while the deal left many people dissatisfied, it was necessary to avert a possible financial catastrophe.

"Today we made sure America can pay its bills. Now it's time to make sure all Americans can pay theirs," said Reid, as Democrats prepare to shift their attention towards lobbying for more US job creation and fighting unemployment, which remains above 9 per cent.

On Tuesday, Timothy Geithner, the US treasury secretary, said that it was unclear if the passage of the debt ceiling deal would ensure that the country did not lose its prized AAA rating from international credit ratings agencies.

The Fitch ratings agency retained its AAA rating for the US immediately following the passage of the bill, but more prominent firms Moody's and Standard & Poor's were yet to report.

The deal falls short of the $4 trillion in fiscal consolidation that rating agencies had indicated would be sufficient to retain the current rating.

Fitch said that the deal was an important first step, but "not the end of the process". The agency will be concluding its review of the US sovereign rating by the end of August, and it said that if matters remain as they stand, it could still downgrade the US debt at that time.

Any downgrade could lead to a spike in US interest rates, which would make debt payments costlier and hurt Americans holding flexible rate loans.

Christine Lagarde, the chief of the International Monetary Fund, meanwhile, welcomed the move from the US, but said that the country's finances needed to be placed on a more "sustainable" path.

"We welcome the agreement to raise the US government's borrowing limit and cut the budget deficit. By reducing a major uncertainty in the markets and bolstering US fiscal credibility, this agreement is good for both the US and the global economy," Lagarde said in a statement.

 

US judge allows army veteran to sue Rumsfeld - Americas

 

 

A federal judge in the US has ruled that Donald Rumsfeld, the former defence secretary, can be sued by a former military contractor who was allegedly tortured and "unjustly" imprisoned in Iraq.

Lawyers for the man, who is in his 50s, said on Thursday that their client was preparing to come home to the United States on annual leave when he was abducted by the US military and kept in detention for nine months.

Court papers filed on his behalf said he was repeatedly abused, and then suddenly released without explanation in August 2006, The Associated Press news agency reported.

Two years later, he filed suit in a US district court in Washington arguing that Rumsfeld personally approved torturous interrogation techniques on a case-by-case basis and controlled his detention without access to courts, in violation of his constitutional rights.

The lawsuit said the then civilian contractor was held without justification while his family knew nothing about his whereabouts or even whether he was still alive.

Court papers filed on his behalf said he was repeatedly abused while being held at Camp Cropper, a US military facility near the Baghdad airport dedicated to holding "high-value" detainees.

Chicago attorney Mike Kanovitz, who is representing the plaintiff, said it appeared that the military wanted to keep his client behind bars so he would not tell anyone about an important contact he made with a leading religious official while helping collect intelligence in Iraq.

"The US government was not ready for the rest of the world to know about it, so they basically put him on ice,'' Kanovitz said in a telephone interview with the AP.

The government has said he was suspected of helping pass classified information to the enemy and helping anti-coalition forces get into Iraq.

But he was never charged with a crime, and he said he never broke the law and was risking his life to help his country.

Rumsfeld being shielded

The Obama administration has represented Rumsfeld through the justice department and argued that the former defence secretary cannot be sued personally for official conduct, AP reported.

The justice department also argued that a judge cannot review wartime decisions that are the constitutional responsibility of congress and the president.

And the department said the case could disclose sensitive information and distract from the war effort, and that the threat of liability would impede future military decisions.

But US District Judge James Gwin rejected those arguments and said US citizens are protected by the Constitution at home or abroad during wartime.

"The court finds no convincing reason that United States citizens in Iraq should or must lose previously-declared substantive due process protections during prolonged detention in a conflict zone abroad,'' Gwin wrote in a ruling issued on Tuesday.

Rumsfeld is appealing that ruling, which Gwin cited.

In many other cases brought by foreign detainees, judges have dismissed torture claims made against US officials for their personal involvement in decisions over prisoner treatment.

But this is the second time a federal judge has allowed US citizens to sue Rumsfeld personally.

Wayne R Andersen, US District Judge, said in the central US state of Illinois last year that two other Americans who worked in Iraq as contractors and were held at Camp Cropper, can pursue claims that they were tortured using Rumsfeld-approved methods.