Stunningnews.blogspot.com: 2007

India regrets imposition of emergency in Pakistan

India regretted imposition of emergency in Pakistan and hoped that normalcy will soon return to allow transition to democracy.

"We regret the difficult times that Pakistan is passing through," External Affairs Ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna said soon after Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf imposed emergency.

"We trust that conditions of normalcy will soon return permitting Pakistan's transition to stability and democracy to continue," he added.

The reaction came as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh held a meeting with External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee to take stock of the situation in the neighbouring country.

Musharraf imposed a state of emergency in the wake of a rapid deterioration in the security situation and growing uncertainty over his position in the face of a legal challenge to his re-election in uniform.

An eight-member Supreme Court immediately set aside the Presidential order declaring Emergency amid reports that Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, who has been at loggerheads with Musharraf, has been asked to go.

All land and mobile telephone services were suspended and several private TV channels were taken off air.

Pakistan's President Declares State of Emergency

President Gen. Pervez Musharraf declared a state of emergency in Pakistan on Saturday ahead of a crucial Supreme Court decision on whether to overturn his recent election win and amid rising Islamic militant violence.

Activists Detained in Pakistan Emergency

Police officers arrest political workers in Lahore, Pakistan on Sunday, Nov. 4, 2007. Authorities rounded up opposition leaders Sunday after Gen. Pervez Musharraf suspended Pakistan's constitution, declaring rising Islamic extremism forced him to take emergency measures that included replacing the nation's chief judge and blacking out the independent media that refused to support him.

Police officer arrests political activists in Lahore, Pakistan on Sunday, Nov. 4, 2007. Authorities rounded up opposition leaders Sunday after Gen. Pervez Musharraf suspended Pakistan's constitution, declaring rising Islamic extremism forced him to take emergency measures that included replacing the nation's chief judge and blacking out the independent media that refused to support him.

Pakistan?s Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz gestures during a press conference at Prime Minister House in Islamabad, Pakistan on Sunday, Nov. 4, 2007. Aziz said Sunday the extraordinary measures would remain in place "as long as it is necessary" and that parliamentary elections, which had been due by January, could now be delayed by up to one year, though no such decision had been made.

Police officers arrest a human rights activist who condemned the emergency rule imposed by military ruler President Pervez Musharraf in Islamabad, Pakistan on Sunday, Nov 4, 2007. Authorities rounded up opposition leaders Sunday after Gen. Musharraf suspended Pakistan's constitution, declaring rising Islamic extremism forced him to take emergency measures that included replacing the nation's chief judge and blacking out the independent media that refused to support him.

Pakistani lawyer Chaudry Ikram flashes a victory sign as he was arrested by police during an anti-Musharraf rally in Islamabad, Pakistan on Sunday, Nov. 4, 2007. Authorities rounded up opposition leaders Sunday after Gen. Pervez Musharraf suspended Pakistan's constitution, declaring rising Islamic extremism forced him to take emergency measures that included replacing the nation's chief judge and blacking out the independent media that refused to support him.

Police officers arrest Pakistani lawyer Chaudry Ikram duirng an anti-Musharraf rally in Islamabad, Pakistan on Sunday, Nov. 4, 2007. Authorities rounded up opposition leaders Sunday after Gen. Pervez Musharraf suspended Pakistan's constitution, declaring rising Islamic extremism forced him to take emergency measures that included replacing the nation's chief judge and blacking out the independent media that refused to support him.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan November 4, 2007, 11:26 a.m. ET · Police rounded up hundreds of opposition leaders and rights activists Sunday after Pakistan's military ruler suspended the constitution, ousted the top judge and deployed troops to fight what he called rising Islamic extremism.

Increasingly concerned by the unfolding crisis, the Bush administration said Sunday that American aid to Pakistan would be reviewed. The U.S. has provided about $11 billion to Pakistan since 2001, when Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, allied with the United States after the Sept. 11 attacks.

"Some of the aid that goes to Pakistan is directly related to the counterterrorism mission," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told reporters traveling with her. "We just have to review the situation. But I would be very surprised if anyone wants the president to set aside or ignore" the responsibility to national security that can come through such cooperation, she said.

In the lawless Afghan border region, militants freed 211 Pakistani soldiers captured two months ago, the army's top spokesman said.

Musharraf, a 1999 coup leader who had promised to relinquish his army post and become a civilian president this year, declared a state of emergency Saturday night, dashing hopes of a smooth transition to democracy for the nuclear-armed nation.

Musharraf's leadership is threatened by the reemergence of political rival and former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, an increasingly defiant Supreme Court set to rule on the validity of his recent presidential election win, and an Islamic militant movement that has spread from border regions to the capital.

South Waziristan, the tribal border region where the government is struggling to assert control, has seen a surge in violence, including the capture of the soldiers two months ago. The group was freed Sunday through the efforts of a jirga or a tribal council of elders in South Waziristan, said Maj. Gen. Waheed Arshad.

Crucial parliamentary elections expected in January could now be delayed by up to a year, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said, stressing that such a decision had not yet been reached. He said the extraordinary measures would be in place as long as necessary.

Aziz said up to 500 opposition activists had been arrested nationwide in the last 24 hours, about 45 of them in the capital, Islamabad.

Among them were Javed Hashmi, the acting president of the party of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif; cricket star-turned politician, Imran Khan; Asma Jehangir, chairman of the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan; and Hamid Gul, former chief of the main intelligence agency and a staunch critic of Musharraf's support for the U.S.

Some 200 armed police stormed the rights commission office in Lahore on Sunday and arrested about 50 activists, said Mehboob Ahmed Khan, a legal officer for the body.

"They dragged us out, including the women," he said from the police station in the eastern city. "It's inhuman, undemocratic and a violation of human rights to enter a room and arrest people gathering peacefully there."

Attorney General Malik Mohammed Qayyum denied claims that Musharraf had imposed martial law — direct rule by the army — under the guise of a state of emergency. He noted the prime minister was still in place and that the legislature would complete its term next week.

Commentators in local newspapers disagreed. "It is martial law," said the headline in Daily Times. "Gen. Musharraf's second coup," said the Dawn daily.

In Islamabad, phone service that was cut Saturday evening appeared to have been restored by Sunday morning. but transmissions by television news networks other than state-controlled Pakistan TV remained off the air.

Scores of paramilitary troops blocked access to the Supreme Court and parliament. Otherwise streets in the capital appeared calm, with only a handful of demonstrations. But one, attended by 40 people at the Marriott Hotel, was broken up by baton-wielding police.

"Shame on you! Go Musharraf go!" the protesters shouted as officers dragged some out of the crowd and forced them to the ground. Eight were taken away in a van.

Others were apathetic. Standing at on a dusty street corner in Islamabad, Togul Khan, 38, said he didn't care about the emergency declaration.

"What's the point of talking about this," said the day laborer, who was waiting to be hired for work. "For us, life stays the same, even when politicians throw Pakistan into the sky, spin it around and watch as it crashes back down to earth."

Western allies had urged Musharraf not to take authoritarian measures despite recent his country's recent turmoil.

Rice called for a return to democracy, as the American Embassy urged citizens in Pakistan to remain at home and defer nonessential travel.

In his televised address late Saturday, Musharraf, looking somber and composed, said Pakistan was at a "dangerous" juncture, and that its government was threatened by Islamic extremists who were "imposing their obsolete ideas on moderates."

The military ruler, wearing a black button-down tunic rather than his army uniform, also blamed the Supreme Court for tying the hands of the government by postponing the validation of his recent election. The court was expected to rule soon on opponents' claims that Musharraf's Oct. 6 victory was unconstitutional because he contested while army chief. He was elected by a Musharraf-led legislature.

Bhutto, who had traveled abroad following an Oct. 18 suicide bombing that narrowly missed her but killed 145 others, immediately returned to the southern city of Karachi declared Saturday the "blackest day" in Pakistan's history. "Judicial decisions have to be accepted even if they don't suit you," she said.

Analysts, meanwhile, said the imposition of emergency rule may only postpone Musharraf's political demise. "He's obviously not very popular, and it's not going to increase his popularity," said Rick Barton, a Pakistan expert at the Washington-based Center for International and Strategic Studies.

Musharraf issued two ordinances toughening media laws, including a ban on live broadcasts of "incidents of violence and conflict." Also, TV operators who "ridicule" the president, armed forces, and other powerful state bodies face up to three years in jail.

PAKISTAN EMERGENCY - USA REACTS

The world reacts to Musharraf's declaration of emergency. Below is a roundup of items. Please add links below and your thoughts below. Earlier on SAJAforum: Emergency Declared in Pakistan.

IHT: World Leaders Condemn State of Emergency in Pakistan

The United States and Britain expressed grave concerns about Pakistan military ruler Gen. Pervez Musharraf's declaration of a state of emergency Saturday, with leaders from both countries calling for a swift return to a democratic government.

Leaders from India, Pakistan's nuclear-armed rival, had a more tempered reaction, aimed at keeping tensions low, saying they "regret the difficult times" in Pakistan and hope for a return to "normalcy."

US State Department statement by Sean McCormack, spokesperson:

The United States is deeply disturbed by reports that Pakistani President Musharraf has taken extra-constitutional actions and has imposed a state of emergency. A state of emergency would be a sharp setback for Pakistani democracy and takes Pakistan off the path toward civilian rule. President Musharraf has stated repeatedly that he will step down as Chief of Army Staff before re-taking the presidential oath of office and has promised to hold elections by January 15th. We expect him to uphold these commitments and urge him to do so immediately.

The United States stand with the people of Pakistan in supporting a democratic process and in countering violent extremism. We urge all parties to work together to complete the transition to democracy and civilian rule without violence or delay.

From the Committee to Protect Journalists (full text below):

"We are greatly disturbed by President Musharraf's decision to suspend Pakistan's constitution today. Even more chilling are reports that, having silenced all private television stations, the government intends to detain journalists who are critical of the government's actions. At a time of such crisis it is imperative that Pakistanis have access to independent media to be fully informed about the events affecting their lives," said Bob Dietz, CPJ's Asia program coordinator.

From Reporters Without Borders (full text below):

Reporters Without Borders today expressed deep concern after Pakistan´s president, General Pervez Musharraf declared emergency rule and ordered a halt to broadcasts by privately-owned TV in all the country´s major cities.

Apple Partners with O2

Apple's iPhone officially has a phone company partner in the UK. After weeks of rumors, Apple announced Tuesday that O2 -- the largest UK mobile phone operator -- would be its exclusive wireless carrier there.

The UK launch is scheduled to take place on Friday, November 9, with iPhones sold through Apple and O2 stores, as well as through 1,300 Carphone Warehouse locations.

The price for the 8-GB model will be £269 including VAT. Customers can choose to transfer their current mobile phone numbers, whether with O2 or another carrier. An 18-month contract will include unlimited data. According to news reports, Apple will receive 10 percent of usage revenue.

Source: newsfactor.com

Bharti Airtel and Huawei Deal

ellular major Bharti Airtel has awarded a 150 million-dollar deal to Chinese vendor Huawei for building and managing GSM mobile infrastructure for its Sri Lankan operations.

Huawei will deploy comprehensive 2G and 3H network for Bharti Airtel Lanka, the subsidiary of Bharti Airtel.

Airtel has signed three-year deal managed networks deal for its Lanka operations with Huawei Technologies and it includes telecom applications and software.

With the network deal in place, customers in Sri Lanka can look forward to a host of products and services at an affordable price from Airtels vast portfolio, Bharti Airtel said.

Bharti Airtel was recently awarded the licence to provide 2G and 3G mobile services in Sri Lanka. Under the agreement, Huawei will deploy and manage Airtels core network, Node-Bs and BTSs and comprehensive end-to-end 2G/3G network solutions, it said.

According to Sanjay Nandrajog, Executive Director, International Operations & Managed Services, Bharti Airtel, "Bharti Airtel is committed to creating a mobile network and offering 2G and 3G services to customers in Sri Lanka. Huawei has established credentials as a global company producing high quality products and solutions."

Max Yang, CEO, Huawei India said, "We look forward to continuing this strategic partnership with Bharti Airtel by providing innovative and customer-oriented solutions and services including wireless solutions.

Source: dnaindia.com

American Express to sell international banking unit

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3 SEZs cleared by GOVT.

The government on Tuesday gave formal clearances to three IT special economic zones (SEZs) in Navi Mumbai promoted by Mukesh Ambani and another by Tata Consultancy Services but deferred decision on all proposals for Uttar Pradesh.

The go-ahead was given at a meeting of commerce ministry's Board of Approval (BOA) on SEZs, which took up 19 proposals for consideration and decided to extend formal approvals to 10 of them.

"Three IT SEZs in Navi Mumbai and have been granted formal clearances," commerce secretary G.K. Pillai, who is also the chairperson of BOA, told reporters here.

"All proposals for setting up SEZs in Uttar Pradesh have been deferred since they did not have the possession of the land. Also, there was no official from the state government present," Pillai added.

Besides the three Navi Mumbai SEZs, other prominent ones that received official nod were those of Tata Consultancy Services in Gujarat and another from Gujarat Industrial Development Corp.

Pillai said the board has so far given formal approvals to 386 SEZs out of which 149 were notified. He said an investment of Rs.477 billion ($11.5 billion) has already been made in SEZs, providing direct employment to over 40,000 people.

The BOA chairman indicated that the government may soon reject as many as 100 SEZ proposals that had been given in-principle approvals but its promoters had failed to obtain their respective state government's approvals.

"However, they can re-apply and put in fresh application for the government to consider. They are free to apply," said Pillai.
Source: economictimes.indiatimes.com

Aligarh Muslim University - UPDATE

The Aligarh Muslim University, one of India's oldest universities, is in the news once again for the wrong reasons. On September 16, at around 10 pm, BSc II year student Mazhar Nayeem was shot dead. He was a resident of room 10, Mumtaz House at the Aftab Hall of Residence.

Some unidentified people shot Nayeem at point-blank range and fled. Like many previous killings in AMU, it is not known who killed Nayeem and why.

Students close to Nayeem say he was not involved in any controversy, did not have any love affair; there was no known rivalry in his family in the Baghpat district of Uttar Pradesh. The boy was gentle, religious, and had a small friend circle of like-minded students.

Thus, in many ways, this murder resembles a series of murders in the recent past in AMU -- a residential university which is home to 25,000 students in the north Indian town of Aligarh, about 125 km from the national capital New Delhi.

In April, two undergraduate students were killed in separate incidents. The murders were then linked to the ongoing process of empanelment of the new vice-chancellor as the then vice-chancellor Naseem Ahmad had completed his five-year term.

Nayeem's murder was followed by mass violence on the campus on Monday. Angry students burnt the vice-chancellor's home, the proctor's office and other university property.

The students' anger and frustration mounted because before Nayeem's murder, a Class IX girl was allegedly raped by some non-teaching employees of the girls' hostel on September 8. Despite protests, no action was taken against the alleged rapists.

The administration allegedly tried to cover up the incident, but the girl students broke out of the hostel on September 12 and staged a demonstration before the VC's office. Only wide media coverage persuaded the vice-chancellor to institute an inquiry, that too headed by a male, which is in violation of Supreme Court's directives.

Source: rediff.com

Russia and China worried by Iran attack talk

Russia and China expressed alarm on Tuesday over comments by France's foreign minister raising the spectre of war with Iran, and Washington said diplomacy was key to ending a standoff with Tehran over its nuclear programme.

Minister Bernard Kouchner, his comments clearly testing the resilience of a coalition of major powers seeking to curb Iran's ambitions, sought to play down his weekend remarks, saying they had been meant as a warning against war.

"I do not want it to be said that I am a warmonger!" he told Le Monde newspaper, days before the five U.N. Security Council permanent members, including Russia and China, and Germany were due to meet to discuss possible new sanctions against Tehran.

"My message was a message of peace, of seriousness and of determination," the paper quoted Kouchner as saying on his plane as he headed to Moscow for talks with his Russian counterpart.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov made it clear at a joint news briefing with Kouchner that his remarks had disturbed a Kremlin, like China, less inclined to sanctions than the West.

"We are worried by reports that there is serious consideration being given to military action in Iran," Lavrov said. "That is a threat to a region where there are already grave problems in Iraq and Afghanistan."

Washington, which itself has kept open the possibility of armed force if diplomacy fails, made clear it had no interest in military embroilment at this stage. At the same time, it seemed at pains to dismiss suggestions of disunity among the powers.

"We believe that there is a diplomatic solution," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said. "We are working with the French and the rest of the EU (European Union) community in order to pressure Iran to comply with their obligations under the U.N. Security Council regulations."

Source: uk.reuters.com

Mudslide kills 3 in Assam

A mudslide buried three people living in a hilltop home, raising the death toll to 49 in fresh floods in the northeast in the past 10 days, officials said Sunday.

``Three people of a family died Saturday as their hilltop house collapsed under the weight of mud and rock loosened by heavy rains during the past week,'' said C.K. Bhuyan, an Assam state government official.

Monsoon rains pounded Assam state in June, triggering floods, but waters receded in August with a break in the downpour. Heavy rains resumed early this month, however.

``Reports reaching us from inaccessible areas indicate up to 49 people have died in the fresh flooding during the past 10 days,'' said Bhumidhar Barman, an Assam state minister.

Source: www.hindu.com

Ram Setu

Ambika Soni's cultural ministry is in the centre of a storm for an affidavit filed in the Supreme Court that said there was no historical proof of Lord Ram's existence.

On Saturday, the minister said she had personally ordered the deletion of the three objectionable lines in the affidavit.

But she claimed the draft affidavit was not prepared by her ministry but by the additional solicitor general or the ASG.

''I'm not blaming anybody else but the affidavit came from ASG,'' said Ambika Soni Union Culture Minister.

Two officials of the ASI have been suspended for not making the changes Soni had suggested in the draft.

The minister has already ordered a probe. On Saturday she met Congress President Sonia Gandhi to explain what went wrong.

And she said she was willing to step down.

''It won't take me a minute to resign if required by the PM and UPA chairperson,'' said Ambika Soni, Union Culture Minister.

But one of her cabinet colleagues feels she should not wait for orders.

''If I were the Culture Minister, I would have resigned immediately. If Lal Bahadur Shastri could resign after a train accident in 1956, then when there has been such an error with a sensitive affidavit, and the feelings of the people have been hurt, I feel the Minister should resign,'' said Jairam Ramesh, Minister of State for Commerce.

Though the ASG refused to speak on camera, sources in his office said liberty was given to all government departments to make required changes but the change in the culture ministry's affidavit were not communicated to the ASG.

The damage control exercise on the Ram Setu controversy seems to be boomeranging with Congress ministers trying to settle their own political scores.

And despite the opposition attempt to gain political mileage, a full blown-out war has begun within the government over who was responsible for the controversy.

Source: ndtv.com

Bush faces new political battle over Iraq withdrawal

US President George W. Bush on Sunday faced a new clash with congressional Democrats over the unpopular war in Iraq as Senate Democrats reportedly reached a deal that would allow soldiers to spend more time at home.

"If we were to be driven out of Iraq, extremists of all strains would be emboldened," Bush said Saturday in his weekly radio address. "Al-Qaeda could find new recruits and new sanctuaries," he added, naming the extremist network that he blames, along with Iran, for fueling violence in Iraq.

"By contrast, a free Iraq will deny Al-Qaeda a safe haven. It will counter the destructive ambitions of Iran. And it will serve as a partner in the fight against terrorism," he said.

Meanwhile in Washington, thousands of protestors marched from the White House to Congress Saturday, waving placards demanding an end to the war in Iraq, the return of US troops, and the impeachment of Bush.

Organizers said 197 people, including dozens of veterans and activists, were arrested as they crossed police lines. Police put the number of arrests at 189.

Authorities also used pepper spray to disperse the crowd, according to the Act Now to Stop War & End Racism (ANSWER) coalition, the group that organized the march.

The president announced in a speech on Thursday that the size of the US force in Iraq would decrease by about 21,500 combat troops by mid-2008, with the first 5,700 soldiers leaving Iraq in December. Most of those soldiers had been scheduled to rotate back to the United States at that time.

Currently 169,000 US troops are in Iraq, up from 130,000 before Bush announced a "surge" of US forces in January.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates, keenly aware that the all-volunteer US military has been stretched thin with repeated deployments, said Friday he hoped US forces in Iraq can be brought down to about 100,000 by the time the next president takes office in January 2009.

The figure could decrease faster if Senate Democrats have their way: a proposal by Democratic Senator Jim Webb of Virginia -- a Vietnam war veteran -- is under discussion that would require US troops to spend as much time at home as on their most recent tours overseas before being re-deployed.

The proposal is close to winning enough Republican support for approval, The New York Times reported Saturday.

If approved, the measure would force US military commanders to withdraw troops on a much faster timeline than the one the top US commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, presented to Congress on September 10.

Gates called the proposal "well-intentioned," but said it might require extending tours of units already in Iraq, and calling up additional National Guard and Reserve troops.

At the Washington protest, one woman carried a picture of her 25-year-old daughter who is on her second tour of duty in Iraq. "I had a nervous breakdown when they told me her tour was being extended to 15 months," she told AFP.

"Now they say it's probably going to be 18 months."

For months US politicians have been searching for a way to end the unpopular war in Iraq without appearing unpatriotic by cutting funds for soldiers on the battle front.

In the US political system the president is the top military commander and sets foreign policy, but the US Congress approves the budget and can set conditions for funding.

In order to be approved, Webb's measure must gain support from at least some of Bush's Republicans, because opposition Democrats have a razor-thin majority in the Senate.

In his Saturday address Bush also said that Petraeus and the US ambassador to Baghdad, Ryan Crocker, told him that security conditions in Iraq "are improving, that our forces are seizing the initiative from the enemy, and that the troop surge is working."

Petraeus and Crocker were in Washington for hearings on Capitol Hill on Monday and Tuesday.

"The more successful we are, the more troops can return home," said Bush.

Some 3,773 US soldiers have been killed in Iraq and some 27,850 wounded in action since the US-led 2003 invasion.

Source

To the Moon and Beyond

The moon, a luminous disk in the inky sky, appears suddenly above the broad crescent of Earth’s horizon. The four astronauts in the Orion crew exploration vehicle have witnessed several such spectacular moonrises since their spacecraft reached orbit some 300 kilometers above the vast expanse of our home planet. But now, with a well-timed rocket boost, the pilot is ready to accelerate their vessel toward the distant target ahead. “Translunar injection burn in 10 seconds ... ” comes the call over the headset. “Five, four, three, two, one, mark ... ignition....” White-hot flames erupt from a rocket nozzle far astern, and the entire ship—a stack of functional modules—vibrates as the crew starts the voyage to our nearest celestial neighbor, a still mysterious place that humans have not visited in nearly half a century. The year is 2020, and Americans are returning to the moon. This time, however, the goal is not just to come and go but to establish an outpost for a new generation of space explorers.

The Orion vehicle is a key component of the Constellation program, NASA’s ambitious, multibillion-dollar effort to build a space transportation system that can not only bring humans to the moon and back but also resupply the International Space Station (ISS) and eventually place people on the planet Mars. Since the program was established in mid-2006, engineers and researchers at NASA, as well as at Lockheed Martin, Orion’s prime contractor, have been working to develop the rocket launchers, crew and service modules, upper stages and landing systems necessary for the U.S. to mount a robust and affordable human spaceflight effort after its current launch workhorse, the space shuttle, retires in 2010.

First Look: 16GB iPod Touch

I'm an iPhone fan who can't get an AT&T signal at home, so I was hoping the iPod Touch would be the perfect compromise. Based on its specs (Wi-Fi, mobile Safari, the Multi-touch interface, and twice the iPhone's storage capacity at 16GB), it sure looks like it would be. But I've been testing a $399 16GB iPod Touch for a couple of days now, and based on a number of hardware and software issues I've encountered, it looks like Apple still has some work to do.

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Don't get me wrong, the Touch is an amazing piece of technology. Mobile Safari is the best portable Web browser around, Cover Flow works great on a device with limited storage capacity, and the new iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store is extremely slick for a first generation product. But in these first two days, I've run into a screen anomaly that makes dark movies scenes difficult to watch, software bugs that halt music playback when browsing pages in Safari, and an issue that harms sound quality on many in-ear headphones.

If Apple can work out most of those kinks, it will have produced the first portable video player I'd actually want to own. Until they do, I'd recommend taking a wait-and-see approach with the Touch.

The iPhone Slims Down

Run down a list of the iPhone's features, and you'll find that almost everything has made it over to the iPod Touch. The Touch is available in both 8GB and 16GB capacities. At .31 inches deep, it's substantially thinner than the iPhone, but it's got the same 802.11b/g wireless support. It also features a 3.5-inch Multi-touch screen with 480-by-320-pixel resolution. The single button on its face brings up the main menu, and a small button on top turns the device on and off.

The only missing bits of hardware are the phone (plus the mic and speakers that go with it), the camera, and the physical volume buttons and locking switch on the side. The non-standard headset jack that prevents you from plugging most headphones directly into the iPhone is gone as well--your normal headphones will fit just fine.

The touch works just like the iPhone, too. We've spent plenty of time dissecting how that device works, so I won't dig deeply into it here. The tap, scroll, and pinch gestures that make the iPhone a joy to use work just as well on the Touch.

Music Highs (and One Low)

The iPod Touch's beautiful interface and large, attractive screen help make it easily the most fun media player I've ever tested. Cover Flow, Apple's unique touch-based interface for flipping through the albums on your player, performs much better on the Touch than on the Nano or the Classic. Album art loads efficiently enough that it's nearly impossible to outrun the player and end up with the dreaded gray placeholder graphics while the player catches up.

I've always been a fan of music players that can hold my entire library, so the Touch was more attractive to me as a mobile video player and Web browser. But the Touch's limited capacity forced me to come up with some new ways to listen to music, and after awhile I was having a blast adapting to the smaller confines and the Touch's interface. I've loaded my test unit with a library-wide best of playlist, along with some classic discs and the last 20 or so albums I've ripped. My favorite new trick: I'll put the best of playlist on shuffle and let that play until I hear something I haven't heard in a while. When I do, a quick tap of the album's track listing lets me go back and listen to that disc.

Apple's new iTunes Wi-Fi Music store works great as well. Its search function updates while you type, helping you drill down to the correct artist, album, or song title with a minimum of typing. Provided you have an iTunes Music Store account, you can purchase songs directly from the device using the Touch's Wi-Fi connection. (This feature is now available to iPhone users as well.) Tracks download as quickly as your 'Net connection can manage, and are immediately playable. The next time you sync the player, those songs will be downloaded to your PC's music library.

Much like the iPhone, the iPod Touch sounds similar to a last-generation iPod Nano. That's not bad for a flash-based MP3 player, but there's a critical difference between the sound of the touch and any of the Nanos I've tested. As noted in our first impressions on Friday, the Touch doesn't play so well with many high-end in-ear headphones I've tested. The problem goes away if I use an attenuator (a tiny adapter that shipped with my Ultimate Ears Super.fi 5 Pros), but I'd prefer not to have to plug an adapter into the player if at all possible.

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Could 50 Cent be a spent force?

It is reminiscent of the UK's great Blur v Oasis standoff of 1995: A gritty, name-calling, blue-collar artist, 50 Cent, is going toe to toe with the more middle-class, metropolitan Kanye West. It's pure showbiz, but this is also a skirmish for the heart of hip hop. 50 Cent is the last of the great gangsta rap entrepreneurs. From the age of 12 he dealt drugs in Queens. Journalists routinely demand he show them the wounds from when he was shot nine times in 2000. (I once asked him if he suffered from post-traumatic stress. 'Nah,' said 50. 'That's for regular people.')

Hip hop has always been a gladiatorial genre, and few have exploited that as well as 50. Part of his mystique comes from wrecking the career of rival Queens rapper Ja Rule, who claimed to be tougher . 'You livin' fantasies nigga, I reject your deposit/ When your lil' sweet ass gon' come out of the closet?' rhymed 50 in a famously homophobic 'diss'.

Two years ago he opened hostilities with West: 'I feel like Kanye West is successful because of me. After 50 Cent, they was looking for something non-confrontational, and they went after the first thing that came along.'

Both write chart-friendly hip hop; both, too, are immensely convinced of their own abilities - West perhaps even more so than 50. But the difference between them is also vast. If 50 Cent played magnificently to the middle-class CD buyer's prejudices that all great black rap artists must be a) from poor broken homes, and b) scary, West is having none of that. His music is at heart conservative, retooled r'n'b, but his content is curiously radical. West is middle-class and unashamed. He has turned his back on the ghetto posturing which has, in effect, become hip hop's minstrel show.

Dressing in chartreuse polo shirts or suits, West is ridiculously un-hip hop - and clearly doesn't care. He has no problem admitting that his mother was an English professor at Chicago State University. (50's mother was a crack dealer - murdered when he was eight.) More radically, West has revived the kind of Civil Rights-era political stance which hip hop rendered unfashionable. While 50 Cent is a fan of George Bush, hailing him as a fellow 'gangsta', West upset the cart during a televised benefit concert for Hurricane Katrina by declaring: 'George Bush doesn't care about black people.' He has also lifted the lid on hip hop's greatest taboo, calling for an end to homophobia while talking movingly on TV about the discovery that his cousin was gay.

So you'd be forgiven for thinking that this beef is about the nasty thug assaulting the preppy toff. But that's not the way it happened.

In fact it was Kanye West who deliberately engineered this latest hip hop spat. In July his label moved the release of Graduation to 11 September to clash with 50 Cent's Curtis. In hip hop terms, that was a provocation. Goaded, 50 Cent reacted on cue by saying: 'Let's raise the stakes. If Kanye West sells more records than 50 Cent on 11 September, I'll no longer perform music.'

From his own track record, it was a fair bet. 50 Cent's last album The Massacre sold 1.14m in its first week in stores - almost 300,000 more than West's last, Late Registration. But 50 Cent appears to have stumbled. So far the maths says that by Tuesday, West will have sold between 75,000 and 150,000 more than 50 Cent's estimated 550,000 copies. It's hardly a decisive, knockout blow. And don't for a minute believe that 50 Cent is really going to retire. He has already started blaming his record company for the failure. But it looks for the moment as though Kanye West has again beaten hip hop at its own game.

· Westsiders: Stories of the Boys in the Hood by William Shaw is published by Bloomsbury

Sources

‘Eastern Promises’ reteams Viggo Mortensen and David Cronenberg in a violent tour de force

Scorsese and De Niro.

Fellini and Mastroianni.

John Ford and the Duke.

And now … David Cronenberg and Viggo Mortensen?

After working on only two films together, the partnership of Canada’s master of the grotesque and Aragon from “Lord of the Rings” is starting to resemble those other world-class director/actor collaborations.

First there was 2005’s “A History of Violence,” a seething drama about a family man with an ugly secret past that garnered rave reviews, two Oscar nominations and slots on many of the year’s best-of lists.

Now it’s “Eastern Promises,” a stomach-churning melodrama set inside the violent world of London’s Russian mob. The film opens Friday.

Cronenberg and Mortensen don’t just make memorable movies together. As they made clear in two recent phone interviews, they view themselves as cinematic and fraternal soul mates.

“I consider myself quite fortunate to do back-to-back movies with him,” Mortensen said. “It’s unusual in this business to find yourself on the same wavelength as a director.

“Plus, David is just starting to hit his stride. Usually someone who’s been making movies for 30 years starts to tire, but his curve keeps going up and up. It’s almost like he’s getting younger and more adventurous with every movie.”

Cronenberg is no less complimentary of his leading man.

“Viggo is just a lovely person, a sweetheart,” Cronenberg said.

“He has a wonderful sense of humor that is bizarrely similar to my own. We’re more like brothers, really, and that makes for a very close artistic collaboration. It’s not something you have to have to make a movie, but I do believe it gives us a much higher platform from which to launch.”

Both men are sticklers for research.

Cronenberg learned all he could about the Russian mob, which he describes as “capitalism in its most predatory form.”

“Here’s what happened after the fall of communism,” Cronenberg said. “You had a system of police and athletes supported by government, and suddenly that support was gone. Say you’re a karate expert training for the Olympics. You know discipline, you don’t fear violence, you thrive on camaraderie.

“Suddenly there’s no money for the Olympics, so you turn to crime, along with lots of other athletes, former military and KGB guys. You still have your old skills, only now you use them to earn money illegally.

“But whereas Western capitalism had 500 years to work out the kinks and cover up its brutal origins, the Russian mob is still an infant. They don’t just kill their enemies … unlike the Mafia, they go after their enemies’ wives, children, mothers. Sicily is pretty refined compared to Siberia.”

Russian gangsters, Cronenberg said, are a case study in capitalism in its most basic and brutal form.

“We’re shocked at the behavior of certain CEOs,” he said, “whereas we ought to consider it simply the natural outcome of this particular system.”

Meanwhile Mortensen was throwing himself into researching the role of Nikolai, the immaculately groomed driver and “fixer” for a London-based Russian crime family. He learned to speak Russian (about half his dialogue is delivered in that language, with English subtitles). He went to Russia to help him imagine the life his character led.

“The most fun I have is creating a back story for my characters,” Mortensen said. “My first question is always what happened to this man between the cradle and page one of the script? The answer to that question is usually very long and complicated and never fully explained … but it colors all aspects of my performance.”

Simpson says he and alleged victim agree incident overblown

O.J. Simpson says he and one of the alleged victims of a robbery that's put new scrutiny on the former NFL star have spoken by telephone and agree the incident was blown out of proportion.

O.J. Simpson, seen at a 2002 boxing match, was questioned by Las Vegas police.

Simpson told CNN on Saturday that Alfred Beardsley had called him.

Beardsley confirmed the conversation to celebrity Web site TMZ.com, saying Simpson apologized to him and told him he regretted the incident.

Las Vegas police said they received a call Thursday evening from someone who reported that various sports-related items had been taken from him in a room at the Palace Station Hotel and Casino, and said Simpson was involved.

Simpson was questioned about the incident, but no arrests have been made.

Simpson told CNN's Ted Rowlands on Friday he had been tipped off that some of his personal items were for sale at the hotel, things he hadn't seen in years or that had been stolen. Watch a report on the latest developments in the probe »

Among those, he said, were photographs of his family and himself as a child and photographs and negatives taken by his ex-wife

Sources

Japanese PM candidate Vows to Stay Away from Controversial Shrine

The campaign to succeed Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who announced his intention to resign earlier this week, is now officially down to two candidates, and their comments have already provided some clues to what Japan's post-Abe foreign policy might look like. Catherine Makino reports from Tokyo.

Yasuo Fukuda (file photo)

The former chief cabinet secretary, 71-year-old Yasuo Fukuda, appears to be the leading candidate to replace Mr. Abe. His opponent is the former foreign minister and current leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, 66-year-old Taro Aso.

Fukuda is a political moderate, who says his aim is to create warm relations with Japan's neighbors, especially China and South Korea. Aso, a conservative, has annoyed China in the past with disparaging remarks.

Japan's relations with the two countries deteriorated badly during the tenure of Mr. Abe's predecessor, Junichiro Koizumi. A major reason was Mr. Koizumi's insistence on making regular visits to Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, which honors 14 convicted war criminals among Japan's 2.5 million war dead. Japan's neighbors see the shrine and the visits as glorification of the country's militaristic past.

On Saturday, Fukuda said prime ministers should not visit the shrine, and said he would not do so if elected. He suggested removing the irritant of Yasukuni altogether by building a new memorial.

He says he supports an alternative place to honor the soldiers and civilians who died during World War II. He says there should be one centralized memorial, but he would need public support for this.

Aso has defended Mr. Koizumi's visits to the shrine in the past and hinted he might do the same. He was circumspect Saturday when asked what he would do if elected.

He says his thoughts are the same as he stated in a recent newspaper interview. Just because a memorial has been built, he says, does not mean that it will not disappear.

Both candidates say they will support an extension of the Japanese navy's support mission for U.S.-led operations in Afghanistan. Mr. Abe has also fought for an extension of the mission, in which Japanese ships in the Indian Ocean provide fuel for U.S. and other coalition forces.

The extension is opposed by the main opposition, the Democratic Party, which controls the upper house of the Japanese parliament. A survey by the Asahi Shimbun this week shows that the public is also opposed to the mission, with 45 percent against and only 35 percent in favor.

Both candidates say they support Japan's hard line against North Korea. Pyongyang wants normalized relations with Japan, but the Japanese have demanded more details about Japanese citizens kidnapped by North Korean agents during the Cold War.

Aso said Japan could not engage in a dialogue with North Korea "without pressure." Fukuda said Japan's basic stance should not change, but he suggested that Tokyo should try harder to explain its position to Pyongyang.

Most factions of the ruling party, of which both men are members, have already pledged their support to Fukuda, and opinion polls also show that the public prefers him.

Sources

Germany held as US and North Korea stride on

SHANGHAI (AFP) — Defending women's World Cup champions Germany were held to a goalless draw by arch-rival England Friday as the United States and North Korea took giant steps towards the quarter-finals.

Argentina became the first team to be eliminated after falling 1-0 to Japan. The defeat followed their 11-0 thrashing by the Germans in their opening game.

With just one match left to play against England on Monday, the South American champions have no chance of qualifying from Group A, while England must win that game to keep their hopes alive.

Compared to their romp against Argentina, Germany had to work hard to earn a point in a drab 0-0 draw, unable to break down a solid English defense marshalled by captain and central defender Faye White.

The result leaves them top of their group ahead of Japan on goal difference with a crunch match between the two sides in Shanghai on Monday.

"I think that England played very well in defense," said German coach Silvia Neid, whose side have never lost to the English in 18 games.

"They stayed tight and never let us into space so that is the key to this draw."

Strike sensation Abby Wambach led the United States to an emphatic 2-0 victory over European powerhouse Sweden in Chengdu to put them on top of Group B alongside North Korea, who beat Nigeria 2-0.

The Americans take on the African champions on Tuesday and, bar an a major upset, will be in the knockout rounds.

Wambach, playing in her 98th international, scored both goals for the Americans to rip the heart out of the Swedes who finished runner-up in 2003.

"I'm so proud of my players, we knew this was potentially an elimination match against Sweden," said coach Greg Ryan.

Wambach, who suffered a bloodied head in the first match that needed stitches, struck in the 34th minute by cooly converting a penalty past goal goalkeeper Hedvig Lindahl.

She then nailed victory for the Americans by chesting down inside the box a pinpoint pass from captain Kristine Lilly in the 58th minute, and unleashing a bullet from her left foot past a diving Lindahl.

"It's one of those goals that, as a forward, you say 'yeah I meant to put it exactly where it went', but in this type of situation I just hit it as hard as I could and it went in," Wambach said.

The Koreans stepped up their campaign to clinch a first-ever World Cup with first half goals from Kim Kyong Hwa and Ri Kum Suk.

The communist country look a serious contender for the trophy, with their endless fast and aggressive attacks causing all sorts of problems for the opposition.

"The next match we play against Sweden and we know that will be a very tough match, (but) we only have to beat Sweden to guarantee our success to move into the second stage of the tournament," said Korean coach Kim Kwang Min.

Japan left it late against Argentina, with Yuki Nagasato scoring an injury time winner that gives them a good shot at the quarter-finals.

"We had a hard time trying to score in the first half but I think the players played really well after the break," said Japan coach Hiroshi Ohashi.

"Winning the next game against Germany is what we are now focussing on."

For Argentina, it was the end of a heartbreaking campaign. They brought on two strikers as second half substitutes as they fought desperately to stay in the tournament to no avail.

"Today we suffered another painful loss," said coach Jose Borrello. "But the players game 100 percent and compared to the last match it was better."

Sources

SCO files Chapter 11 bankruptcy

The SCO Group Inc., just one month after being dealt a crippling blow in its legal offensive against IBM and advocates of the freely distributed Linux operating system, filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Friday.

The small Lindon company's bankruptcy filing came on the eve of a trial -- which was to have started Monday -- over the remainder of its controversial intellectual property lawsuit against Novell Inc. News of SCO's bankruptcy sent its shares skidding more than 43 percent or 28 cents to close at 37 cents on Friday. The company had hit a five-year high of nearly $25 a share in 2003 shortly after it announced it sued IBM.

Friday's bankruptcy filing, which has the effect of staying all pending litigation including Monday's trial, came after a federal judge last month found Novell, and not SCO, owns the copyrights to Unix.

That ruling undermined SCO's long-held claims that IBM stole code from Unix and put it into Linux. SCO also was ordered to remit to Novell a portion of the fees it collected from selling Unix licenses to Microsoft and Sun Microsystems.

Monday's trial would have examined whether SCO had the authority to collect Unix license fees and how much it would have to pay Novell for licensing fees it collected over the past few years.

But SCO's bankruptcy petition came as little surprise to some, and in fact, reflects what one Linux advocate describes as "the last throes of a battle that has long since been lost."

"The bankruptcy filing wasn't a surprise to anyone. The real question is: Will there be cash to get?" said James Zemlin, executive director of the Linux Foundation, a nonprofit consortium formed to foster the Linux operating system. In its bankruptcy filing, SCO listed assets of between $1 million and $100 million, and liabilities of between $1 million and $100 million.

"It's not surprising that the lion's share of SCO's debts are legal bills," Zemlin said.

The Florida law firm of Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP, which is representing SCO in its legal battle against IBM and others, is listed among the Lindon company's 20 largest unsecured creditors.

Other creditors include: New York legal services company Amici LLC; SCO's former venture capital provider Canopy Group; and a slew of tech companies including Sun Microsystems, Microsoft Licensing, Veritas Software, Intel Corp., Fujitsu Services and Unisys Corp.

Another Linux Foundation executive, Don Kohn, says SCO may face the possibility of being forced into an involuntary Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition to liquidate its assets depending on how aggressive its creditors and Novell are in their debt recovery attempts.

Novell declined to comment on its next move.

"We'll be evaluating our options for pursuing our interests in this matter," said Kevan Barney, spokesman for Novell.

By filing bankruptcy, SCO may buy some time to negotiate with creditors and obtain debtor-in-possession financing for its debts.

In a news release Friday, SCO said its board of directors "unanimously determined that Chapter 11 reorganization is in the best long-term interest of SCO and its subsidiaries, as well as its customers, shareholders, and employees."

"We want to assure our customers and partners that they can continue to rely on SCO products, support and services for their business critical operations," said Darl McBride, president and CEO of SCO Group.

"Chapter 11 reorganization provides the company with an opportunity to protect its assets during this time while focusing on building our future plans," he said.

Subject to court approval, SCO and its subsidiaries will use the cash flow from their consolidated operations to meet capital needs during its reorganization.

SCO has filed a series of court documents to ensure that it will be able to maintain all of its commitments to its customers including paying its vendors and retaining various advisors.

But Kohn questioned if the company will survive the bankruptcy filing in the long run.

"Even if they emerge from Chapter 11, I can't imagine anyone wanting to risk their business by buying SCO's software," Kohn said.

Zemlin said the brunt of SCO's bankruptcy filing will likely be borne by its customers and its 150-plus employees.

"SCO customers will have to decide whether to continue to use its technology, or migrate to an alternative in the long run," he said.

SCO officials declined to comment beyond the news release on Friday.

Sources

General Motors, Auto Union to Extend Labor Talks for Second Day

Sept. 15 (Bloomberg) -- General Motors Corp., the largest U.S. automaker, and the United Auto Workers have agreed to negotiate for a second day after the scheduled expiration of their four-year labor contract.

Negotiators for the Detroit automaker and the union have broken off tonight to rest after nearly non-stop talks yesterday and today, and will return to the UAW-GM training center in Detroit at 11 a.m. tomorrow, GM spokeswoman Katie McBride said. She declined to characterize the content or nature of the talks.

``It sounds like they have made significant progress,'' Al Benchich, UAW Local 909 president in Warren, Michigan, said in an interview earlier today after he was briefed by a negotiator. ``There are still some issues that they are apart on,'' he added, while declining to say what they were.

GM is seeking concessions, including an independent union retiree health-care fund, to help end losses of $11.4 billion since 2004. UAW President Ron Gettelfinger's goal is to preserve living standards, wages and benefits for his members.

Talks started July 23 and played out against the backdrop of $15 billion in combined 2006 losses for GM, Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC. The three U.S.-based automakers estimated they pay $25 to $30 more an hour to American factory workers than Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. do at their U.S. plants.

The contract, which was set to expire at 11:59 p.m. Sept. 14, continues to be extended hour by hour, McBride said.

`Strike Target'

The Asian automakers are capturing sales and market share from GM, Ford and Chrysler, meaning the U.S. companies need fewer plants -- and fewer workers.

The UAW chose GM as the focus of negotiations, naming the company as its ``strike target'' Sept. 13. The move meant the union would concentrate on reaching an agreement with GM, then try to adapt the terms at Ford and Chrysler. Those two automakers agreed to operate under indefinite extensions of the old contract while the GM bargaining continued.

``It sounds like that if things fall apart, we're going out, and if they don't, we're not,'' Chris Sherwood, president of UAW Local 652 in Lansing, Michigan, said about 1 a.m. today. ``Right now, we're locked back down into a waiting mode.''

The UAW represents 73,454 active members and 269,614 retired members and 69,288 surviving spouses at GM, according to union figures.

``My guess is that they will settle,'' David Healy, a Burnham Securities Inc. analyst in Sierra Vista, Arizona, said yesterday before the extension was announced. ``Even if they had a short strike, they could handle it in stride, anything from a couple of weeks to a month.''

Goodyear's Model

Retiree health care emerged as a pivotal issue in the negotiations, which formally began in July. The higher labor costs for GM, Ford and Chrysler included retiree health-care obligations that totaled $114 billion at the end of 2006.

GM, Ford and Chrysler each sought to form a so-called Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association, or VEBA, to take those retiree obligations off company books.

The popularity of the idea was boosted by a similar fund created by Akron, Ohio-based Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. The tiremaker made a one-time contribution of $1 billion for a fund managed by the United Steelworkers union, under a contract approved in December.

Such an arrangement would represent a major departure for Gettelfinger and the UAW, which would be responsible for managing the fund and has traditionally shunned such risks.

Gettelfinger has declined to discuss the VEBA issue in public appearances. His silence didn't stop investors and analysts from studying how VEBAs might affect the auto industry.

Bonds, Credit-Default Swaps

Citi Investment Research, part of Citigroup Inc., upgraded GM to ``buy/speculative risk'' in a Sept. 13 report that projected the stock may climb to $57 with retiree obligations removed. GM rose 93 cents to $34.22 yesterday in New York Stock Exchange composite trading, and gained 16 percent for the week.

The company's 8.375 percent bond due July 2033 rose 0.5 cent to 83.5 cents on the dollar yesterday, according to Trace, the bond-price reporting system of the NASD. The yield is 10.19 percent.

GM credit-default swaps rose by 12 basis points to 673 basis points in New York, signaling that investors now consider the company at greater risk of defaulting on its debt. A basis point on a credit-default swap contract protecting $10 million of debt for five years is equivalent to $1,000 a year.

The last UAW strike against GM was in 1998 at two parts factories in Flint, Michigan. It forced the closing of 26 of the automaker's 29 North American assembly plants. That strike also canceled production of 318,000 cars and trucks and cut profit by $1.3 billion. Afterward, GM reorganized its labor department to help avoid future stoppages.

``Waiting is really a good thing because it means they are making progress,'' said Tony Gnesotti, a union worker at Local 909, which makes transmissions for GM vehicles. ``Hopefully it will get done.''

Sources

Sunni Leaders in Iraq Threatened

BAGHDAD (AP) - An al-Qaida front group threatened to assassinate Sunni leaders who support American troops in Iraq as a Shiite bloc loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr defected Saturday from the Iraqi government's parliament base.

The two developments cast doubt over prospects for political and military progress in Iraq as the U.S. Senate gears up for a debate next week on Democratic demands for deeper and faster troop cuts than President Bush plans.

The threat against Sunni leaders came from the Islamic State of Iraq, which claimed responsibility for the assassination Thursday of Abdul-Sattar Abu Risha, the mastermind of the Sunni Arab revolt against al-Qaida in Anbar province. Bush met Abu Risha at a U.S. base in Anbar this month and praised his courage.

In a Web posting, the Islamic State said it had formed ``special security committees'' to track down and ``assassinate the tribal figures, the traitors, who stained the reputations of the real tribes by submitting to the soldiers of the Crusade'' and the Shiite-led government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

``We will publish lists of names of the tribal figures to scandalize them in front of our blessed tribes,'' the statement added.

In a second statement, the purported head of the Islamic State, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, said he was ``honored to announce'' a new Ramadan offensive in memory of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the founder of al-Qaida in Iraq killed last year in a U.S. air strike.

Hours after the announcement, a car bomb exploded late Saturday in a mostly Shiite area of southwest Baghdad, killing at least 11 people lined up to buy bread at a bakery. Two of the dead were children, police said.

``We rushed outside the house after hearing the sound of the explosion. I could see the bakery and a nearby pickle shop on fire,'' said Abu Ahmed, a 36-year-old Shiite government employee. ``The wounded were screaming for help as the ambulances were arriving.''

The blast occurred at the start of iftar, the evening meal at which Muslims break their dawn-to-dusk Ramadan fast. The bloodshed was a blow to government hopes that a peaceful Ramadan would demonstrate the success of the seven-month operation in the capital.

Also Saturday, the U.S. military said a soldier from the Army's Task Force Marne was killed and four were wounded the day before when a bomb exploded near their foot patrol.

The Sunni revolt which Abu Risha spearheaded has led to a dramatic improvement in security in Anbar, although the province remains unstable. Nevertheless, the decline in violence in Ramadi and other Anbar cities has been one of the major success stories for the U.S. mission in Iraq.

A prominent Sunni sheik told The Associated Press that the province's leaders would not be intimidated by al-Qaida threats and would continue efforts to drive the terror movement from their communities.

``We as tribesmen will act against the al-Qaida, and those standing behind it who do not want us to put an end to it,'' Ali Hatem al-Suleiman said.

Still, the al-Qaida threats and the assassination of Abu Risha, one of the best protected tribal figures in Iraq, could cause some tribal leaders in other Sunni provinces to reconsider plans to stand up against the terror movement.

With U.S. and Iraqi overtures to the Sunnis under threat, the government faced a deepening political crisis with the announcement that al-Sadr's followers were withdrawing from the Shiite alliance in parliament. Al-Sadr's followers hold 30 of the 275 parliament seats.

The announcement, made to reporters in Najaf, means the Shiite-led government can count on the support of only 108 parliament members - 30 short of a majority. However, it could probably win the backing of the 30 independent Shiite parliamentarians, as well as some minor parties.

Still, the decision by al-Sadr's followers will complicate further U.S.-backed efforts to win parliamentary approval of power-sharing legislation, including the oil bill and an easing of curbs that prevent former Saddam Hussein supporters from holding government jobs.

Al-Sadr's decision will also sharpen the power struggle among armed Shiite groups in the south, which includes major Shiite religious shrines and much of the country's vast oil resources.

The Sadrists had been threatening to bolt the Shiite alliance for several days. But tensions rose after arrest warrants were issued against Sadrist officials in the holy city of Karbala in connection with last month's Shiite factional fighting there.

The warrants, which were made public Saturday, angered the Sadrists, who said the government was provoking them despite recent gestures by al-Sadr, including a six-month halt to military operations by his Mahdi Army militia.

In the northern city of Mosul, authorities ordered all vehicles off the streets from late Saturday until sunrise Monday to enable security forces to search for explosives.

The ban was ordered after the Iraqi military announced it had found six booby-trapped cars and a would-be suicide bomber in the city Saturday.

Sources

Bush warns against hasty Iraq withdrawal

US President George W. Bush cautioned Saturday that a hasty withdrawal from Iraq would damage US national security, as Senate Democrats reportedly reached a deal that would force soldiers to spend more time at home.

"If we were to be driven out of Iraq, extremists of all strains would be emboldened," said Bush in his weekly radio address. "Al-Qaeda could find new recruits and new sanctuaries," he added, naming the extremist network that he blames, along with Iran, for fueling violence in Iraq.

"By contrast, a free Iraq will deny Al-Qaeda a safe haven. It will counter the destructive ambitions of Iran. And it will serve as a partner in the fight against terrorism," he said.

The president spoke after announcing in a speech on Thursday that the size of the US force in Iraq would decrease by about 21,500 combat troops by mid-2008, with the first 5,700 soldiers leaving Iraq in December. Most of those soldiers had been scheduled to rotate back to the United States at that time.

Currently 169,000 US troops are in Iraq, up from 130,000 before Bush announced a "surge" of US forces in January.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates, keenly aware that the all-volunteer US military has been stretched thin with repeated deployments, said Friday he hopes US forces in Iraq can be brought down to about 100,000 by the time the next president takes office in January 2009.

The proposal is close to winning enough Republican support for approval, The New York Times reported Saturday.

Gates called the proposal "well-intentioned," but said it might require extending tours of units already in Iraq, and calling up additional National Guard and Reserve troops.

"Now they say it's probably going to be 18 months."

For months US politicians have been searching for a way to end the unpopular war in Iraq without appearing unpatriotic by cutting funds for soldiers on the battle front.

In the US political system the president is the top military commander and sets foreign policy, but the US Congress approves the budget and can set conditions for funding.

In order to be approved, Webb's measure must gain support from at least some of Bush's Republicans, because opposition Democrats have a razor-thin majority in the Senate.

Petraeus and Crocker were in Washington for hearings on Capitol Hill on Monday and Tuesday.

"The more successful we are, the more troops can return home," said Bush.

Some 3,773 US soldiers have been killed in Iraq and some 27,850 wounded in action since the US-led 2003 invasion.

"The vast majority of Iraqi people want the US and other foreign forces out of the country," said Brian Becker with the ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War & End Racism) coalition, the group organizing Saturday's protest in Washington.

"The vast majority of the people in the US want the war ended and the troops brought home now."

Source

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