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Israel trains for possible strike on Iran

AFP, Washington

Israeli jet pilots trained for a possible strike on Iranian nuclear sites, US media reported Friday, sparking a strong warning from Tehran and caution from world leaders.

A major military exercise carried out by Israel earlier this month seemed to be a test-run for any potential strike against Iran's nuclear facilities, the New York Times reported, citing US officials.

In Athens, an official with the Greek air force's central command confirmed to AFP the substance of the report, stating that it had taken part in "joint training exercises" with Israel off the Mediterranean island of Crete.

The maneuvers, code-named "Glorious Spartan 08," took place on May 28 and June 12, and consisted of aerial maneuvers and knowledge exchange, said the Greek source, who requested anonymity.

The goal was for more than 100 Israeli F-16 and F-15 fighter jets to prepare for long-range strikes and demonstrate Israel's serious concern over Iran's nuclear ambitions, the Times reported.

On June 6 Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz warned that Iran would face attack if it pursues what he said was its nuclear weapons program.

In Tehran, senior cleric Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami warned Israel of a "strong blow" if it attacks Iran.

"If enemies especially Israelis and their supporters in the United States would want to use a language of force, they should rest assured that they will receive a strong blow in the mouth," Khatami said in his Friday prayers sermon.

At the United Nations, US ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said that Washington favored diplomacy to resolve the Iranian nuclear crisis-at least for the moment.

"We're in the phase of diplomacy, we want a diplomatic settlement of this issue," Khalilzad told reporters.

"I saw the article in (the) paper today," Khalilzad told reporters. "You know our view with regard to Iran, which is that it would be unacceptable for Iran to acquire nuclear weapons."

India floods push people onto trees, 50 killed

Reuters, Bhubaneswar

Flood victims in eastern India took refuge on treetops as monsoon rains swamped homes and continued to spread misery among millions.

Swelling rivers continued to break through mud embankments in the country's east and northeast on Friday, killing at least 50 people in the past 10 days and affecting more than three million.

Air force helicopters dropped food packets in Orissa, as hundreds of villagers climbed trees, hoping to be rescued as their homes got washed away, officials said. "I have seen hundreds of people living on trees and pleading to be rescued," Jayanarayan Mohanty, a community leader, said. In Jamshedpur, three alligators and a crocodile slipped out of a zoo after heavy rains flooded the park, officials said. The crocodile was later caught, but a park official said the missing alligators were a danger to the people.

Heavy monsoon rains also had an impact on coal mining in Jharkhand, with production at the state-run Central Coalfield Limited down by over 50 percent.

In West Bengal, trains services came to a halt in many flood-hit areas and a bridge was destroyed in West Midnapore.

Although the army has been called out to provide aid, people in many villages were angry at delays.

"We have not got any relief so far, we are homeless and starving for the past three days," said Usharani Manna, a flood victim in West Midnapore district.

Prices of essential commodities have shot up across the region as flooding blocked many highways and trucks carrying food and medicine were stranded

Calm on Gaza frontier as truce enters third day

AFP, Al-Qarara

As a truce between Israel and Hamas entered its third day Saturday Gaza farmers ventured into the war-scarred land along the frontier under the distant but watchful eyes of Israeli troops.

Mazen Muhanna began work at dawn clearing the bleached remains of dozens of olive trees destroyed in an Israeli incursion outside the southern Gaza village of Al-Qarara less than two weeks ago, hoping the truce would last.

"My father planted these trees. They are older than me and I am 45, but they can destroy them in less than a minute," he said.

Since the Islamist Hamas movement seized power over a year ago farmers along the border have been caught in the crossfire between rocket-launching Palestinian militants and Israeli troops stationed just over the horizon.

"They are both awful, but the Israelis are worse. The resistance just fires rockets, but the Israelis come with tanks and bulldozers," he said, his hand sweeping across a dusty wasteland of mangled trees and meandering tank tracks.

Fadi, a 17-year-old farmer working the same land, says the farmers would prefer Palestinian militants stay away. "But if you say anything to them they will call you an agent (of Israel)," he says.

The farmers hope that an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire which took effect Thursday morning will bring an end to the near daily clashes in Gaza, but though the calm has held for more than two days the border remains tense.

Siham Smeri, a farmer and mother of five, says the Israelis still fire warning shots when the farmers get too close to the fence.

Her family owns land near the border that they haven't farmed in more than two years.

Iran warns of 'strong blow’ if Israel attacks

AFP, Tehran

Tehran Friday warned its arch-enemy Israel of a "strong blow" if it takes forceful measures, after the US media reported military exercises by the Jewish state were a possible practice for a strike against Iran.

"If enemies especially Israelis and their supporters in the United States would want to use a language of force, they should rest assured that they will receive a strong blow in the mouth," senior cleric Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami said in his Friday prayers sermon.

Khatami, whose speech was broadcast live on state radio, stressed that the Iranian nation's mentality was "to fight foreigners."

"Given this mentality, if you make a hostile look at the Islamic Iran, you will witness such a united roar by our nation that it will definitely make you regret any vicious move forever," the conservative cleric added.

A Friday report by the New York Times cited US officials as saying that a major military exercise carried out by Israel earlier this month seemed to be a practice for any potential strike against Iran's nuclear facilities.

A Pentagon official briefed on the exercise said a goal of the practice was to send a message that the Jewish state was prepared to act militarily if diplomatic efforts failed to halt Tehran's production of bomb-grade uranium.

Last month the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN's atomic watchdog, expressed "serious concern" that Iran is still hiding information about alleged studies into making nuclear warheads and defying UN demands to suspend uranium enrichment.

World powers-Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States-offered Tehran a new package of technological and economic incentives on Saturday in exchange for suspending uranium enrichment activities.

The West fears Iran could use uranium enrichment to make an atomic bomb although Tehran insists it wants only to generate nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.

Iran has given no signal that it would comply with the key demand.

Four US-led soldiers killed in Afghanistan: Another American soldier killed in Iraq

AP, Baghdad

The U.S. military says an American soldier has been killed and five others wounded by roadside bombs northeast of Baghdad.

A statement says the soldiers were struck Friday in three bombings on U.S patrols in the volatile Diyala province.

At least 4,102 members of the U.S. military have died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003. That's according to an Associated Press count.

The names of the soldiers have not been released pending notification of relatives.

Kabul report adds: A bomb killed four troops from the U.S.-led coalition in southern Afghanistan on Saturday, one of the deadliest attacks on foreign forces this year. The explosion seriously wounded two other troops as they were conducting operations in Kandahar province, a coalition statement said. It didn't release the nationalities of the victims or other details. Afghanistan is seeing a resurgence of violence, despite the presence of thousands of extra U.S. and NATO troops and fresh pledges of financial aid to the struggling government under President Hamid Karzai.

Last year, more than 8,000 people were killed in insurgency-related attacks - the most since the 2001 invasion - and violence has claimed more than 1,700 lives this year.

Saturday's bombing caps a particularly bloody week.

NATO and Afghan troops backed by warplanes on Wednesday attacked up to 400 Taliban militants who had seized Arghandab, a strategic valley dotted with orchards within striking distance of the main southern city of Kandahar. According to the Defense Ministry, 56 fighters and two Afghan soldiers died during the overnight operation, though the provincial governor put the militant toll at over 100.

The swift military success was tempered by concern at how easily militants had infiltrated a region dominated by one of the region's strongest tribes and forced NATO to mount a massive counter-operation.

It was also offset by a series of deadly attacks in the south and east which have taken this year's death toll for foreign troops to 105, according to an Associated Press tally.

Bomb, rocket and gun attacks had already killed four British soldiers, two American sailors, two U.S. Marines and one other member of the U.S.-led coalition this week.

On the trail of the 'Indian yeti'

BBC News, Meghalaya

In the US it's known as bigfoot, in Canada as sasquatch, in Brazil as mapinguary, in Australia as a yowie, in Indonesia as sajarang gigi and, most famously of all, in Nepal as a yeti.

The little known Indian version of this legendary ape-like creature is called mande barung - or forest man - and is reputed to live in the remote West Garo hills of the north-eastern state of Meghalaya.

I was invited by passionate yeti believer Dipu Marak to travel throughout the area to hear for myself what he says is compelling evidence of the existence of a black and grey ape-like animal which stands about 3m (nearly 10ft) tall.

There have been repeated reports of sightings over many years by different witnesses in the West, South and East Garo hills.

Mr Marak estimates the creature weighs about 300kg (660lb) and is herbivorous, surviving on fruit, roots and tree bark.

The Garo hills comprise more than 8,000sq.km of some of the thickest jungle in India.

And as I soon discovered, there is no shortage of people who say they have seen the creature at first hand.

Take woodcutter Nelbison Sangma, for example, who works on the fringes of the Nokrek national park in the Garo hills.

In November 2003, he says that he saw a yeti three days in a row.

He took me from his village to the spot where he says he made the sighting, a five-hour walk in intense tropical heat from his house.

"I saw the creature quite clearly on the other side of the river. It was breaking branches off trees and eating the sap. Its strength was amazing.

"Obviously I wanted to photograph it, but I knew that if I left the area, it would take at least 10 hours or more to get a camera as I do not own one. By that time the creature would have disappeared."

Mr Sangma says that he told the state forestry department of his sighting, but they did not believe him.

He took me to the spot where he says the yeti destroyed a tree - an exhausting uphill walk through thick jungle infested with blood-sucking leeches.

Mr Sangma showed me where the creature broke the tree's branches and clearly visible scratch marks on its bark.

A 10-hour drive away from Nokrek is the other national park of the Garo hills, Balpakram, which lies amid thick jungle on the border with Bangladesh.

It is an extremely remote area, where the hum of insects clicking in the undergrowth sounds like a series of disconnected power cables.

Balpakram is famous for its vast jungle-filled canyon which spans several miles and is surrounded by spectacular cliffs. Any descent is a treacherous exercise.

IAEA chief warns against attack on Iran

AFP, Dubai

UN atomic watchdog chief Mohamed ElBaradei warned that any attack on Iran would transform the region into a "ball of fire," in an interview with Al-Arabiya television broadcast on Saturday.

His comments come after US media reported that Israeli jet pilots trained for a possible strike on Iranian nuclear sites.

"A military strike (against Iran) would in my opinion be worse than anything elset It would transform the Middle East region into a ball of fire," said ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Should a strike be carried out, he told the Dubai-based channel, he would find it impossible to continue as head of the IAEA.

An attack, he added, would do nothing but harden Iran's position in its row with the West over its nuclear programme.

"A military strike would spark the launch of an emergency programme to make atomic weapons, with the support of all Iranians, including those living abroad," ElBaradei said.

Obama widens lead over McCain, says poll

Reuters, Washington

Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama has opened up a double-digit lead over Republican John McCain two weeks after he clinched the nomination, a new poll published on Friday showed.

The nationwide poll conducted by Newsweek showed Obama leading McCain by a margin of 51-36 percent, indicating that he might have got a bounce from his recent primary victory over Hillary Clinton.

Newsweek said the survey of 1,010 adults nationwide on June 18 and 19, 2008 has a margin of error of 4 points.

Obama's edge in the latest poll is larger than in other recent surveys. A Reuters/Zogby poll released on Wednesday found Obama had a only a 5-point lead.

Obama was tied at 46 percent with McCain in a previous Newsweek poll completed in late May, when he was still battling Clinton for the nomination, Newsweek said.

Pakistan remembers Benazir, calls for death row mercy

Reuters, Islamabad

Pakistan's new government paid tribute to slain former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and asked President Pervez Musharraf on Saturday to spare thousands of prisoners held on death row.

Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani made the plea for their sentences to be commuted to life imprisonment in a speech to the National Assembly to commemorate Bhutto's 55th birthday.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan has estimated that about 7,000 people in Pakistani jails are awaiting execution.

Gilani, a member of Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP), said the act of mercy would be a "big gift to the nation".

On Friday, he renamed Islamabad's airport as Benazir Bhutto International. The Rawalpindi hospital where Bhutto was taken after her assassination was also renamed after her.

17 killed, thousands evacuated as typhoon strikes Philippines

AFP, Manila

Flash floods and landslides triggered by Typhoon Fengshen have left at least 17 people dead and forced the evacuation of tens of thousands in the Philippines, officials said Saturday.

The Risao river in the town of Upi in southern Maguindanao province overflowed and washed away at least five houses, army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Julieto Ando said.

Ten people drowned while at least eight others were missing, Ando said. A landslide buried several houses at a slum area in Cotabato city, also in the south, killing two people, officials said.

A 49-year-old woman died after her house collapsed after being buffeted by strong winds in a coastal village in central Negros island.

A low intensity tornado triggered by the typhoon also left one dead after it destroyed 16 houses in Negros, the Philippine Star reported. The local social welfare department office said nine towns and cities were flooded, forcing the evacuation of over 3,000 people.

Rice trip comes amid signs of N Korea cooperation

AP, Washington

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice heads to Asia next week amid signs of an imminent breakthrough in efforts to get North Korea to abandon nuclear weapons and bring a formal end to the Korean War. After months of delay, the communist North appears set to hand over an accounting of its atomic activities by the end of the month, fulfilling a key step in the denuclearization process that will trigger an announcement by the Bush administration that it intends to lift sanctions against Pyongyang, U.S. officials said Friday. Once that announcement is made, North Korea is expected to blow up the cooling tower at its Yongbyon reactor complex in what would be a dramatic, if only symbolic, televised signal of its intent to abandon nuclear arms, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity to describe sensitive diplomatic discussions.

Thai PM vows to stay in office

AFP, Bangkok

Thailand's embattled Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej vowed not to quit Saturday, defying thousands of protesters who have besieged the capital demanding that he resign from office. At least 25,000 demonstrators from the anti-government People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) surrounded government offices Friday and about a fifth of them remained a day later.

But Samak, whom the PAD accuse of acting as a proxy for ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, pledged to answer his critics during his weekly television address on Sunday.

"Wait and listen to me tomorrow," Samak told reporters during a visit to a police hospital, adding that he expected to return to work at his office where protesters have assembled to demand that he quit.

"Prime Minister Samak will speak on everything Sunday in his "Samak Talks"," Nutthawut Saikua, deputy government spokesman told AFP.

Olympic torch paraded through Tibet

AP, Lhasa

The Olympic torch was paraded through the streets of Tibet's capital Saturday, the site of bloody riots in March that triggered demonstrations along the flame's international relay stops.

Tight security accompanied the flame over its three-hour journey through the historic city, da day after officials announced more jail sentences related to the deadly riots. The torch next travels to neighboring Qinghai province before gradually winding its way across northern China toward Beijing. A special Aug. 3-5 stop in Sichuan was added to honor victims of last month's earthquake ahead of the Aug. 8 opening ceremony in Beijing. The roughly 6-mile run began at Norbulingka, the Dalai Lama's former summer palace from where Tibet's traditional Buddhist leader fled into exile in 1959.

12 dead in stampede at Mexico nightclub

AP, Mexico City

Panicked youths rushed for the exits during a police raid on a Mexico City nightclub on Friday, leaving at least 12 people dead in the crush of bodies, the capital's police chief said.

Chief Joel Ortega said three police officers and nine youths, at least three of them minors, were killed. At least 13 others were injured.

Police went to the News Divine club in the working-class district of Nueva Atzacoalco in the early evening to check reports of drugs and alcohol being sold to minors.

Ortega told the Televisa network the club's owner announced to the crowd that the officers were there to arrest them, causing a stampede. He denied earlier media reports that officers threw tear gas inside the club, and also said no shots were fired.

At a news conference later Friday, Ortega said about 500 young people - more than the club's capacity - were there to celebrate the end of the school year and many more were waiting in line to get in.