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NATO targets ceding control of Afghan war to Kabul (AFP)
Satellite images fuel N. Korea intrigue
Experts at Jane's Defense Weekly say the tunneling operation seen in the satellite imagery may indicate a test is planned.Two recent sets of satellite photos show what experts believe is tunneling workWork is going on near location of 2009 nuclear test site, reactor constructionU.S. official says photos are far from conclusive about what North Korea is up to"Tunneling is the hallmark of most [military] sites," defense analyst cautionsWashington (CNN) -- The latest satellite imagery taken of North Korea indicates the secretive country might be further pursuing its nuclear program.
But as often is the case, with satellite imagery being one of the main methods of gleaning insight into the North, what's going on in the ground is not entirely clear.
Two recent sets of commercial satellite photos show what experts believe is tunneling work near the location of a 2009 underground nuclear weapons test site and construction of a light water reactor at the Yongbyon nuclear complex.
A nuclear security think tank obtained the satellite pictures of the Yongbyon construction and showed them to Siegfried Hecker, an American physicist who recently visited Yongbyon and was the first to report that North Korea was building the light water reactor. Hecker confirmed the construction is of the new nuclear reactor, according to the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS).
A light water reactor is for generating electricity and has no connection to a nuclear weapons program. But Paul Brannan, the senior research analyst at ISIS, said the reactor would need to be fueled by low-enriched uranium, which gives rise to the question where North Korea would get the material.
"The assumption is they will introduce into the equation that they already have a gas centrifuge enrichment program. They are trying to ease into it," said Brannan.
A successful enrichment program not only would enable North Korea to produce low-enriched uranium for the reactor, but it could potentially be further developed and expanded to make the highly enriched uranium (HEU) used for nuclear weapons.
A nuclear security think tank obtained the satellite pictures.In 2002, North Korean officials categorically denied they had a secret uranium enrichment program when the U.S. confronted them with intelligence. Last year, North Korea indicated it planned to build an enrichment plant within the decade.
There's equal ambiguity about what's going on at the nuclear testing location near the town of Kilju.
An article by experts at Jane's Defense Weekly indicates the tunneling operation and other activity at the site seen in the satellite imagery is similar to the configuration seen ahead of a test last year.
"North Korea's 25 May 2009 nuclear test was conducted by tunneling into the site's terrain and sealing the testing material inside the mountain," wrote Allison Puccioni and James Hardy.
A U.S. official said the photos are far from conclusive about what North Korea is up to.
"We certainly cannot discount the possibility, but the satellite photos in themselves don't indicate any imminent nuclear test," the official said.
Brannan acknowledges the images do show tunneling activity, but said similar work has been going on since the fall of 2009 and it doesn't necessarily mean it's tied to an upcoming test.
"It's a military site and tunneling is the hallmark of most sites regardless of the purpose," said Brannan, adding, "we avoid trying to read the tea leaves at these sites."
The U.S. is closely monitoring developments in North Korea, Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said.
"We're trying as we always do to decipher real intent in this otherwise very secretive country. If it is true they are pursing any one of these things it is obviously of concern to us, and we would call on the North not to take any additional provocative or destabilizing actions," Morrell said.Six nations to miss Nobel peace awards
London, England (CNN) -- Six countries -- China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Cuba, Morocco and Iraq -- will not attend the Nobel Peace Prize ceremonies in Oslo, Norway, the Norweigian Nobel Committee said Thursday.
The Nobel Committee has selected jailed Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo to receive the prize.Police probe blast in Scottish forest
Police heard about the blast on WednesdayDamage indicates an explosion occurred
(CNN) -- Police in Scotland are investigating a mysterious explosion in a forest, authorities said Thursday.
Police received a report from a citizen of what sounded like a blast in Garadhban Forest in Gartocharn about noon local time Wednesday, Strathclyde police said in a written statement. Officials responding to the report "discovered some damage to the wooded area within the forest that would suggest some short of explosion had occurred," the statement said.
"I would stress that the site is secure and that there is no risk to public safety," said Chief Superintendent Calum Murray, divisional commander for Argyll, Bute and West Dunbartonshire, in the statement. He said agencies from across the United Kingdom are assisting in the investigation, and asked anyone who has seen anything suspicious to notify police.
Gartocharn is about 20 miles northwest of Glasgow, Scotland.Troubled Ireland edges towards loan
Irish Finance Minister Brian Lenihan faces journalists after a meeting of EU finance ministers in Brussels.Irish Central Bank chief says he expects a substantial loan offerInternational Monetary Fund and European Central Bank are involvedThe European Commission is also at the meetingThey will be discussing problems in Ireland's banking sectorDublin, Ireland (CNN) -- Officials from the International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank were in Ireland on Thursday to examine the country's debt crisis -- a visit that could result in a substantial loan, the head of the Irish Central Bank said.
The bank's governor, Patrick Honohan, told state broadcaster RTE the negotiations with the IMF and European officials were not about a bailout, but would lead to a loan of tens of billions of euros to Ireland.
He said that loan would be something the Irish government would have to accept.
"The intention is and the expectation is, on their part and personally on my part, that negotiations or discussions will be effective and a loan will be made available and drawn down as necessary," Honohan told RTE.
The money would go directly into Irish banks to shore up investor confidence, he added. The banks, many of which have been nationalized, are unable to loan to other banks.
One analyst said Ireland has no choice now but to accept outside money.
"In actual fact Ireland as a country, in financial markets, has no reputation now. We've got to rebuild it, and the reason you rebuild it -- or how you rebuild it -- is you rebuild your balance sheet," author and economist David McWilliams told CNN. "The situation is, if there is no money, we can't pay. And there is no money. That's why the IMF are here. If we had money, they wouldn't be here."
One issue domestically is what restrictions any loan or bailout would place on Ireland.
Analyst Alan McQuaid said there is a worry that Ireland could be required to charge higher taxes on companies. Ireland currently has the third-lowest corporate tax rate in the European Union, after Bulgaria and Cyprus, he said.
"It's a main plank of industrial policy here," McQuaid told CNN. "I think it would be counterproductive if Ireland were forced to raise corporate taxes. In effect, you'd be giving it one hand and taking away the other, and I think it would seriously damage Ireland's prospects on generating economic growth going forward that we need to get our budget back in balance."
European officials have been talking with the Irish government about the problems in its banking sector, which have led to fears of a collapse and talk of a possible bailout.
Two days of meetings in Brussels, Belgium, with European finance ministers this week kept open the idea of a bailout, even though Ireland has yet to ask for one.
"I want to be absolutely clear: We are not putting pressure on Ireland to resort to the financial assistance mechanism," said President Jose Manuel Barroso of the European Commission, which was also taking part in Thursday's talks. "But I reiterate that the EU mechanism is available and ready to be used if requested."
Barroso said the Irish government is making "enormous efforts" to resolve the crisis and is committed to working with the IMF, the ECB and the European Commission. He also predicted next year's Irish budget bill will prove that a 2014 target date for correcting excessive deficit is "firm and credible."
"But Ireland is addressing a very specific problem as far as the banking sector is concerned," Barroso said in his statement, which was released late Wednesday. "This must be done speedily and decisively to pave the way of full confidence to be restored."
Irish leaders have said their treasury is funded through the first half of 2011, but there are still fears the country's financial sector could collapse under the weight of the massive debt.
That Ireland shares the euro with 15 other European nations has raised concerns that its financial problems could affect the common currency and the wider European Union.
The European Union and IMF were forced to bail out Greece in May, coming up with a three-year, 110-billion-euro (currently $150 billion) loan to save Greece from defaulting on debt.
EU economic and finance ministers gave the go-ahead Thursday to reform the EU framework for financial supervision. The goal, they said, is to fix problems that were exposed during the Greek crisis.
As part of the reforms, the ministers decided to create a European Systemic Risk Board and three European authorities to supervise the banking, insurance, and securities industries, to be operational starting January 1, they said.Anti-U.N. protests spread to Haiti capital
Demonstrators blame U.N. peacekeepers for the cholera outbreakProtests have been ongoing in the northern city of Cap-HaitienAid agencies say the protests are hampering treatment
Port-Au-Prince, Haiti (CNN) -- Like cholera itself, Haiti's protests against the United Nations spread Thursday to the capital, Port-au-Prince, as angry people took to the streets demanding the global body get out of their country.
Similar demonstrations erupted earlier this week in the northern coastal city of Cap-Haitien after assertions that U.N. peacekeepers from Nepal were responsible for starting the cholera outbreak that has claimed more than 1,100 lives and spread to eight of the nation's 10 departments.
The United Nations has denied that its forces were responsible for the outbreak.
In Port-au-Prince on Thursday, a planned protest began peacefully in the center of the city but turned violent as it moved toward the presidential palace, with one woman overcome by tear gas, witnesses said.
At the central square, Champs de Mars Plaza, several hundred young men moving in a pack blocked traffic by setting fire to tires in the street and overturning Dumpsters.
Several threw rocks at a campaign poster for presidential candidate Jude Celestin, whose candidacy has been endorsed by outgoing president Rene Preval.
Others threw Molotov cocktails at the poster.
Some Haitians have said Celestin is a symbol of what is not working in the country, and that Preval's endorsement of him means the election -- set for November 28 -- will not be fair.
Near the presidential palace, which was destroyed in the January 12 earthquake that killed more than 200,000 people and left more than 1 million homeless, stores were closed and few cars were in the streets, though pedestrians were moving about freely.
A sprawling makeshift tent city that is home to thousands of people who lost their homes in the quake is located in the area.
"The Haitian government is never do nothing for us," said Pierre Aliodor, a protester who lives in the camp. "And we know the international government is still spending a lot of money for the Haitian people. But Preval, with his government, he still keeps their money to take back to the United States to buy some house."
Since the earthquake struck, neither he nor his wife had received any help from the government or from any of the many nongovernmental organizations that are in Haiti, Aliodor said.
Aliodor called for elections to be delayed. "This is not election time," he said, adding that both Preval and the U.N. forces should depart, "because they are not good for the Haitian people."
In another part of town, dozens of Haitians -- most of them young and male -- attacked a government tractor that was being used to clear barricades blocking the streets.
In addition to the 1,110 reported cholera deaths, another 18,382 people have been hospitalized with the disease, the health ministry reported. The hospital death rate was 4.0 percent, far above the none to 1.0 percent that infectious disease experts said they expect in developed countries.
In Washington, Mark Ward, the acting director of the Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance at the U.S. Agency for International Development, said U.S. authorities have "a lot of confidence" in the Haitian government's response to the outbreak.
The U.S. government strategy for aid in Haiti is to focus on prevention, he said, citing the need for clean drinking water, the addition of chlorine to the water supply, the ready availability of oral rehydration salts, education of the populace about how to protect themselves from getting the disease, and money to expand treatment centers.
"We're going to invest a lot of money in their health system in the next five years," said Thomas C. Adams, special coordinator for Haiti.
"Every hour that the efforts of medical and relief workers are obstructed means more deaths of Haitians from cholera," said Dr. Mirta Roses, director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). "We understand the frustration of many Haitians with the tragic situation that has developed as a result of systemic poverty, the January earthquake and now the cholera epidemic. But relief and medical workers are as critical to saving lives as rescue teams were after the earthquake."
In Cap-Haitien, a cholera treatment center at the main stadium is being operated by Medecins Sans Frontieres, also known as Doctors without Borders. Before the recent unrest, the organization was planning to open another center in a different part of town, said Dr. Lea Guido, PAHO representative in Port-au-Prince. On Wednesday alone, the center took in 100 patients.
PAHO said the unrest had led it and other United Nations agencies to discontinue much of their work supporting cholera treatment centers, training health personnel, and delivering supplies to affected communities.
"The last shipment of medical supplies was delivered over the weekend, and we had to postpone distribution planned for Monday," said Guido. "The airport was closed, and many roads remain blocked. We have not been able to ship new supplies to the area at all this week."
Beginning Monday, residents of Cap-Haitien, which has been hard hit by the outbreak, began demonstrations against U.N. peacekeepers. The northern port city is in the North Department, the Haitian province that has the highest fatality rate from cholera, 7.5 percent.
"Experience shows that without access to health care, the rate could rise to as much as five times that figure," PAHO said in a statement.
Health workers at Hopital Universitaire, the city's main hospital, treated at least six patients with gunshot wounds. "MINUSTAH shot them," said a man pushing a wheelbarrow holding one of the wounded. He was referring to the U.N. forces in Haiti by their acronym.
At Cap-Haitien's Justinien Hospital, Dr. Wilton Cheruben told CNN that 37 people with bullet wounds had been treated between Monday and Wednesday night. The victims included a 9-year-old and a 14-year-old who were shot in the mouth; a 6-year-old was shot in the back and an 11-year-old was shot in the arm, he said.
"Right now, we don't have any anesthetics, and the people really need some help," he said.
In Cap-Haitien, PAHO staff members have been confined to their living quarters since Monday.
Roses said Thursday it was impossible to identify the origins of the epidemic in Haiti "with currently available data."
Rita Colwell, a cholera expert at the University of Maryland in College Park and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, said the reported links between the outbreak and peacekeepers is not based on evidence. "The evidence is not clear at all to be making any charge whatsoever for importing the disease," she said. "We've been jumping to conclusions without evidence, without facts."
U.N. officials said the demonstrations have disrupted logistical operations, including the supply of clean water and proper sanitation.
The U.N.'s World Food Programme reported that one of its warehouses had been looted and that food supplies were burned. The private charity Oxfam suspended water chlorination projects and other private charities pulled out of the Cap Haitien area.
U.N. staffers have suggested the violence is politically motivated and said it's especially troubling just ahead of Haiti's presidential elections.Journalists Dmitri Foucard and Osman Jean Junior contributed to this story from Port-au-PrinceCalm returns to Guinea after unrest
Guinea's November 7 election was followed by growing conflict between political groupsThree days of violence this week left nine dead and dozens injuredThe ruling junta declared a state of emergency Wednesday, deploying military unitsBy Thursday, calm had returned to the West African nation
Conakry, Guinea (CNN) -- After three days of violence throughout the country that killed at least nine people, injured dozens more and pushed the ruling military junta to declare a national state of emergency, calm returned to Guinea on Thursday.
Military units are now deployed around the country to "preserve the peace, tranquility and national unity," said Gen.Nouhou Thiam, army chief-of-staff, on state radio.
The state of emergency will last until the West African country's Supreme Court finalizes results from a November 7 runoff between longtime opposition leader Alpha Conde and former prime minister Cellou Dalein Diallo that put Conde on top with 52.52 percent of the vote.
Since the provisional results were announced on Monday night, supporters of Diallo, largely from the Peul ethnic group, have clashed with Conde supporters and security forces.
Many shops in areas effected by violence reopened Thirsday, and automobile and pedestrian traffic resumed to near-normal levels.
It was a remarkable turnaround from 24 hours earlier, when military police were clashing with civilians in broad daylight throughout the capital city of Conakry.
French radio RFI reported that strife-torn cities in the northern Fouta Djallon region such as Labe, Dalaba and Pita had calmed by Thursday as well.
But residents of Conakry's impoverished suburbs of Cosa, Hamdallaye, Enco5 and Bambeto -- areas of majority Peul supporters of defeated candidate Diallo -- are wary of the near future.
Many residents reported gunfire throughout Tuesday night as roving military units continuously fired into the air.
"The daytime is calm, the violence happens at night. Last night I heard a lot of gunshots. I could not sleep, my wife and children were sleeping under the bed to avoid stray bullets," said Youssouf Bah, a Hamdallaye resident.
"The military was around, opening fire. When we woke up this morning, some families complained that the military was entering houses," Bah added.
Guinea's military has long been scrutinized for alleged human rights abuses.
Last September security forces opened fire on civilians protesting military rule, killing more than 150 and injuring more than 1,000, and allegedly raping hundreds of women, according to the U.S. government and human rights groups.
Guinea, rich in minerals, is one of the poorest countries in Africa.
It has never held free and fair presidential elections until this year.Obama: Approve nuclear arms treaty
Obama confident on START treaty votesObama urges quick Senate ratification of the new arms control treatyObama is joined at a meeting on the treaty by several former secretaries of state and defenseTen GOP senators-elect urge Majority Leader Harry Reid to delay consideration of the treatyThe next Senate will be more Republican and is considered to be less favorable towards the treatyVice President Joe Biden weighs in on the GOP's control of the House and his role in shaping Iraq's future on "Larry King Live," 9 ET tonight on CNN.
Washington (CNN) -- President Barack Obama urged the lame duck Senate to quickly ratify the new arms control treaty with Russia, arguing that the United States cannot "afford to gamble" on the need to effectively monitor that country's nuclear stockpile.
"The stakes for American national security are clear, and they are high," he said. "This is not a matter that can be delayed."
Obama called the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) a "cornerstone" of relations between Russia and the United States and "completely in line" with a long tradition of bipartisan cooperation on arms control.
The president insisted he's confident his administration will round up the 67 Senate votes needed for ratification of the treaty.
Obama made his remarks during a White House meeting about the treaty with Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry, D-Massachusetts, and Indiana Sen. Richard Lugar, the top Republican on the committee.
Former Secretaries of State Madeleine Albright, James Baker, and Henry Kissinger were also in attendance, along with former National Security Adviser General Brent Scowcroft and former Secretaries of Defense William Cohen and William Perry.
Former Georgia Sen. Sam Nunn, a top nuclear arms control expert, also joined the meeting.
If approved, the treaty would restart mutual inspections while limiting the United States and Russia to 1,550 warheads and 700 launchers each.
Ten Republican senators-elect, however, moved to counter the White House push, sending a letter Thursday to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, urging a delay in consideration of the treaty until the new Congress convenes early next year.
"One of the most important tasks of the 112th Congress will be to carefully consider measures that protect the national security of the United States," they wrote. "And few matters will more directly impact our security than arms control agreements like New START that would dramatically reduce the U.S. nuclear deterrent in a strategic environment that is becoming ever more perilous."
They noted that no arms control treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union or Russia has ever been ratified during a lame duck session.
The incoming Senate will be more Republican and conservative, and it is considered less likely to produce the votes necessary for ratification.
Earlier this week, Democrats were caught off guard when Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl, the Republican point man for Senate negotiations over the treaty, said he told Reid the accord should not be considered before January, when the new Congress is seated.
Kyl cited the current congressional workload and concerns over modernization of the U.S. nuclear arsenal as two of the reasons why Senate consideration of the treaty should be delayed.
The White House, which has already committed $80 billion to nuclear modernization efforts, recently promised to spend $4 billion in an effort to win the support of Kyl and other conservatives.
"We're talking. In good faith," Kyl told CNN Wednesday.
On Wednesday, Clinton visited Senate leaders on Capitol Hill to warn that a failure to ratify the treaty would create a far more unstable international political climate while undermining America's relationship with Russia. She noted that no American inspectors have been able to inspect the Russian nuclear arsenal since the expiration of the old arms control treaty last December.
Clinton was joined by Kerry and Lugar, who helped push the treaty through the Foreign Relations Committee earlier this year with a bipartisan 14 to 4 vote.
Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen also weighed in Wednesday, stating that the U.S. military leadership supports the treaty's ratification. "I hope we can do that as rapidly as possible," he said.
Seventy-three percent of Americans believe the Senate should ratify the treaty, according to a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Tuesday. Twenty-three percent are opposed to its approval.
Russia has not approved the measure yet.Sweden issues international arrest warrant for Assange
A formal court procedure to decide whether to arrest Assange scheduled for Thursday afternoon.The Stockholm court issues an international arrest warrantThe court also ordered Assange's arrest in his absenceAssange faces five countsAssange is the founder of WikiLeaks(CNN) -- The Stockholm Criminal Court on Thursday issued an international arrest warrant for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on probable cause, saying he is suspected of rape, sexual molestation and illegal use of force.
The court also ordered Assange arrested in his absence, which requires Swedish authorities anywhere in the world to detain Assange if they come across him. Sweden's director of prosecutions, Marianne Ny, had requested the arrest in absence.
"The background is that he has to be heard in this investigation and we haven't been able to get a hold of him to question him," Ny said earlier Thursday.
Assange faces five counts that appear related to two incidents, according to the request Ny filed with the court.
He faces one count of rape and one count of sexual molestation related to an instance around August 17 in Enkoping, just outside Stockholm. He then faces two counts of sexual molestation between August 13 and 18 in Stockholm, and one count of illegal use of force between August 13 and 14, also in the capital.
Assange could be sentenced to at least two years in prison if convicted, according to the document.
It is the first time authorities have mentioned probable cause. The molestation charge, previously mentioned in the case, has also been upgraded to sexual molestation.
In a news release issued after the court's decision, Assange's British lawyer said the charges stem from consensual sexual relationships his client had with two women.
"Only after the women became aware of each other's relationships with Mr. Assange did they make their allegations against him," lawyer Mark Stephens said in the statement.
Stephens also said neither he nor Assange "have ever received a single written word, at any time, in any form, from Swedish authorities on the Swedish investigation against our client."
The media has been the only way they've learned substantial information about the investigation, Stephens said. He called it "a clear contravention to Article 6 of the European Convention, which states that every accused must be informed promptly, in a language which he understands and in detail, of the nature and cause of the accusation against him."
It was unclear where Assange was Thursday. Stephens told CNN he could not reveal his client's location.
Swedish prosecutors announced over the summer they were investigating Assange in two separate cases of rape and molestation. Ny said then there was reason to believe a crime had been committed, but that more investigation was necessary before she could make a final decision.
Assange has maintained he is innocent, telling the Arabic-language television network Al-Jazeera the accusations were a "smear campaign."
Assange repeatedly declined to answer questions about the rape and molestation investigation and what the allegations may mean to his organization when he spoke to CNN's Atika Shubert in October.
"This interview is about something else. I will have to walk if you are ... if you are going to contaminate this extremely serious interview with questions about my personal life," he said. Moments later, he walked off the set.CNN's Per Nyberg in London, England, contributed to this report.Saudis: We helped foil parcel-bomb plot
An al Qaeda group claims responsibility for the plot to send explosive devices on cargo planes bound for the U.S.Saudi Prince Khalid al Faisal's remarks are first official confirmation by Saudi official "That information came from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia"Yemen-based al Qaeda group denies it would target pilgrims to MeccaMecca, Saudi Arabia (CNN) -- Saudi Prince Khalid al Faisal acknowledged Thursday that Saudi Arabia alerted U.S. and European authorities to the presence of parcel bombs that were en route from Yemen.
"The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is targeted" by terrorists, he told CNN's Nima Elbagir in the first public Saudi confirmation of the role of Saudi intelligence in thwarting the attempted bombings for which the Yemen-based arm of al Qaeda has claimed responsibility.
"The kingdom has managed to overcome this through preemptive confrontation, and we saw evidence of that recently in our warning of the United States and Europe of the parcel bombs that were on their way to them," he said. "That information came from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia."
Last week, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula issued what the organization described as an "explanatory statement" addressed to the Muslim nation denying that it planned to carry out any terrorist acts against Muslims making the pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca.
It was issued in response to comments by Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz that he could not rule out the possibility that al Qaeda might try to sabotage the hajj. The minister's remarks were reported by the Guardian Unlimited.
"The Hajj is a main pillar of the pillars of Islam," the al Qaeda group's statement said. "We, the mujahedeen, are extremely keen on protecting and preserving the blood of Muslims everywhere and especially in Mecca because it holds more sanctity than any other place and let everyone remember that we only joined this movement to defend Muslims, apply God's rule on Earth and lift the injustice imposed on Muslims," said the statement, which was dated November 10.
The statement then accused Gen. David Petraeus, commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, of being the real terrorist.
"We assure the Muslim nation that we are against any criminal act committed against the pilgrims of the Holy site, and we warn our Muslim nation of the implementation of the plan of God's enemy Petraeus, which aims to detonate bombs in public markets, mosques, and houses of worship in order to discredit the jihadi movement."
It added that the Saudi warning about the parcel bombs "confirms the full cooperation and collaboration of the Saudi regime with the Americans and Jews and their utmost loyalty to them."
AQAP, which also blamed Iran for violence, has claimed responsibility for the plot -- which surfaced October 29 -- to send explosive devices on cargo planes bound for the United States. The group posted its claim on various radical Islamist websites, saying, "We will continue to strike blows against American interests and the interest of America's allies."
Faisal, who is fifth in line to the throne, with oversight of the Mecca region and Islamic holy sites, made his remarks on the final day of the pilgrimage, which authorities believe attracted a record of nearly 4 million this year.
Though efforts are under way to expand the city's capacity to host pilgrims, Faisal predicted the total number will have to be capped.NATO to state Afghan handover date
Afghanistan is a top agenda item at the NATO meeting in PortugalPresident Obama's challenge will be to urge allies to stay the courseTensions are high after President Karzai's criticism of military strategyKarzai's remarks rankled U.S. Gen. David Petraeus and other Western leaders
Lisbon, Portugal (CNN) -- Even with serious questions about President Hamid Karzai's commitment to the military strategy in Afghanistan, NATO members plan to announce an enduring presence there beyond 2014, the new target date for handing off security control to the Afghans.
At its weekend summit, NATO members will tout a three-year plan to transfer security responsibilities by 2014 to the Afghans, beginning early next year on a phased, conditions-based timeline, NATO officials told CNN.
NATO members plan to offer a message of reassurance to Afghanistan that the alliance will remain engaged after security control is transferred to Afghan forces. NATO will endorse an "enduring partnership" with Afghanistan, specifically focused on developing Afghan security forces and police, officials said.
Canada has already committed more than 900 personnel to train Afghan security forces, and other nations, including the Netherlands, are expected to follow suit.
But many troops from other nations will deploy to Afghanistan in noncombat roles, leaving more of the fight to the U.S. and British contingents.
U.S. President Barack Obama's challenge will be to urge wary NATO allies to stay the course in Afghanistan despite mixed results, growing public frustration, and the beginning of a drawdown of U.S. troops next summer, U.S. officials said.
Observers of the Afghan war said they will be keenly focused on Day 2 of the summit, Saturday, when Karzai is set to address the 48 NATO partners who make up the International Security Assistance Force.
Afghan officials said Karzai will seek specifics on how Afghans will work with NATO forces during the transfer of power. Karzai favors a joint command structure that would include the Afghan military.
The pivotal NATO summit comes amid heightened tensions between Karzai and his allies.
In an interview with the Washington Post published on Sunday, Karzai was critical of the U.S. military and called for a reduced U.S. military role. He said U.S. raids on insurgent targets at night were counterproductive and incited support for the Taliban.
Rankled by those comments, the top NATO commander in Afghanistan, U.S. Gen. David Petraeus, said Karzai's remarks could undermine the war effort. He warned the U.S.-Afghan partnership could be "untenable" if Karzai wants U.S. troops out of Afghanistan prematurely.
The two men met Wednesday to try and defuse tensions.
Afghan officials said Karzai supports the raids on insurgents but faces intense pressure from the Afghan public, which has protested civilian deaths. He is also balancing the fight against the insurgency with a desire for political settlement, the officials said.
U.S. officials explained Karzai's comments as being in line with NATO's announcement at the summit on the transfer of control.
"We read President Karzai's interview as a call for an Afghanistan that eventually is stable, fully sovereign and self-reliant. And in that call, we have a lot in common," said Doug Lute, the special assistant to the president for Afghanistan and Pakistan.
"We're talking mostly a difference of timelines," Lute told reporters Tuesday. "It's a question of whether you're reading President Karzai's call for immediate changes or whether he's talking about changes which we all eventually want to see together."
But other Western officials have voiced concern that Karzai is undermining the war effort at a time that NATO-led forces are regaining momentum against the Taliban.
Ambassador Mark Sedwill, NATO's senior civilian representative in Afghanistan, said Wednesday that coalition forces have "regained the initiative" in the war, but said Karzai's remarks were "not helpful" in the lead-up to the Lisbon summit.
"We have different perspectives, and it would be much better if we worked out those different perspectives in private," Sedwill said in Kabul.
One senior European official said he hoped NATO members would have a "genuine" discussion about Karzai's continued public criticism of the NATO strategy. The official did not wish to be named in order to speak more frankly.
"Yes, we all share the goals he states, but at the moment, we are here because of a United Nations mandate, and we need to explain that Afghanistan is not fully sovereign and we are still in a transition and he has to support that, not undermine it. The West is getting confusing signals and President Karzai has to be confronted that this does damage to his cause."
Stephanie Sanok, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said she expects some sort of statement from Karzai to be issued at the end of the summit. His criticism, she said, ultimately contradicts NATO's strategy and he may have to set the record straight.
"At the end of the day, the night raids have been successful," she said. "Ending them is really not an option. What I don't understand is what Karzai hoped to gain by those comments."
Several Western officials said results on the battlefield were improving, but not the capability of the Afghan government, which has come under fire in the past for being corrupt and inept.
They said NATO allies need to intensify their engagement with the government to increase its capacity for development, governance and delivering services to the people.
"We are managing the 'clear' part, but who is going to 'hold and build' going forward?" one senior European official asked. "That capacity to govern is not there, and it will need to be if the Afghans want to take the lead."Grim end to Ohio mystery: 3 bodies in hollow tree (AP)
Jobless benefits extension fails in House (Reuters)
Obama mulling more demands on Korea in trade talks (Reuters)
Reuters - President Barack Obama told congressional critics of a free trade deal with South Korea he would consider asking Seoul for changes to labor, investment and financial provisions of the pact to help win approval of the deal in Congress, a lawmaker said on Thursday.
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Palin's success raises tempers, boosts ratings (AP)
Airports consider congressman's call to ditch TSA (AP)
Ethics committee recommends censure for Rangel (AP)
GM shares lose momentum in post-IPO NYSE return (Reuters)
FBI: Aruba studying missing teen's dental records (AP)
NATO to back gradual withdrawal from Afghanistan (Reuters)
Reuters - NATO will back plans to pull most of the 150,000 foreign troops out of Afghanistan within four years at a summit starting on Friday, although Afghan forces may not be ready to defend the country by then.
GOP governors: Deep budget cuts are coming (AP)
Two longtime Madoff employees arrested and charged (Reuters)
Reuters - Two members of imprisoned financier Bernard Madoff's inner circle were arrested on charges of conspiring in the largest financial fraud in history and helping to conceal it, U.S. prosecutors said on Thursday.
Twin shooting was suicide pact, survivor says (AP)
Stonehenge gets millions for major makeover (AP)
Irish central bank expects EU/IMF loan (Reuters)
NY Gitmo trial spurs fresh debate over detainees (AP)
Irish Central Bank chief sees EU offering 'substantial loan' (AFP)
Democrats to hold votes on middle class tax cuts (AP)
Suspected bomb bound for Germany found in Namibia: police (AFP)
Friday, November 19, 2010
Ex-car czar Rattner sued by Cuomo, settles with SEC (Reuters)
Reuters - Former Obama administration auto industry czar Steven Rattner was sued by New York's attorney general on Thursday for allegedly paying kickbacks to win investments from the state's $130 billion pension fund.
White House says stimulus package exceeds jobs goal (Reuters)
Reuters - President Barack Obama's $814 billion stimulus package has "by some measures" exceeded its goal of saving or creating millions of jobs, the White House Council of Economic Advisers said on Thursday.
erin barry
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Brent Barry’s wife Erin Barry is the reason behind Eva and Tony Parker’s divorce.
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Eva Longoria Divorcing Tony Parker Due To Cheating.
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A 3 day music event to dance your pants off!
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Tony Parker was caught cheating on his beautiful wife Eva Longoria.Why would would cheat on someone so lovely as Eva is beyond me.
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Prince William is now engaged to Kate Middleton.
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For all the people who argue about immigration reform, most of them could not pass a US Citizenship test.That's America for you.
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The Leonid Meteor Shower 2010 will offer a great chance for those who love astronomy or simply want to see something unique, as tomorrow is the weather is right they might see up to 20 small meteors per minute.
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Omega Psi Phi Fraternity is an organizational Brotherhood consisting of 750 chapters throughout the world.
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Kate Middleton Engagement Ring:Diana's Former Ring Debuted By Future Princess.
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This is the movie where you can see Natalie Portman's booty.Rated R for ROTFLMAO.
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Smallpox was eradicated more than 30 years ago,but that didn't stop the viral disease from making a cameo Monday night on the hit TV drama “House.”
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Jeff Reed has been cut and replaced by Shaun Suisham from the Steelers.
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