Maldini

CIA discloses news that it destroyed interrogation video tapes CIA director Hayden says the agency did not want to compromise agents' security. By David Monteroposted December 07, 2007 at 11:45 am EST The CIA disclosed Thursday that it destroyed two videotapes that showed agents using highly controversial interrogation techniques such as waterboarding. The revelation is certain to heat up the debate over the treatment of terrorism suspects as well as the CIA's decisionmaking in the case. The CIA, though asked for evidence taken from interrogations, had never disclosed the existence of the tapes, The New York Times says. The recordings were not provided to a federal court hearing the case of the terror suspect Zacarias Moussaoui or to the Sept. 11 commission, which had made formal requests to the C.I.A. for transcripts and any other documentary evidence taken from interrogations of agency prisoners. C.I.A. lawyers told federal prosecutors in 2003 and 2005, who relayed the information to a federal court in the Moussaoui case, that the C.I.A. did not possess recordings of interrogations sought by the judge in the case. The CIA decided to make the destruction of the tapes public after The New York Times informed the agency it was preparing a story on Friday, the paper reports. It adds: The videotapes showed agency operatives in 2002 subjecting terror suspects — including Abu Zubaydah the first detainee in C.I.A. custody — to severe interrogation techniques. The destruction of the tapes raises questions about whether agency officials withheld information from Congress, the courts and the Sept. 11 commission about aspects of the program. The CIA says it destroyed the tapes to safeguard the identity of undercover employees. The Washington Post reports these comments from CIA director Michael V. Hayden to agency employees: "Beyond their lack of intelligence value – as the interrogation sessions had already been exhaustively detailed in written channels – and the absence of any legal or internal reason to keep them, the tapes posed a security risk," Hayden said. "Were they ever to leak, they would permit identification of your CIA colleagues who had served in the program, exposing them to and their families to retaliation from al-Qaeda and it sympathizers." Although the CIA says it was acting to protect its employees, Reuters reports, by destroying the tapes, the organization has increased concerns about its already controversial interrogation program, according to some observers. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat, said the tapes' destruction was another troubling aspect of the interrogation program. "The damage is compounded when such actions are hidden away from accountability," he said in a statement. Several lawmakers responded to Mr. Hayden's assertions that leaders of the House and Senate intelligence committees were earlier told of the existence of the tapes and the CIA's intention to destroy them, according to The Seattle Times. California Rep. Jane Harman, then the senior Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, was one of four lawmakers informed in 2003 of the tapes' existence and the CIA's intention to ultimately destroy them. "I told the CIA that destroying videotapes of interrogations was a bad idea and urged them in writing not to do it," Harman said. Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., then chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said through a spokesman that he doesn't remember being informed of the videotaping. Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., said the panel didn't learn of the tapes' destruction until November 2006, one year after the fact. The American Civil Liberties Union immediately condemned the CIA's actions, Reuters also reports. "The destruction of these tapes suggests an utter disregard for the rule of law. It was plainly a deliberate attempt to destroy evidence that could have been used to hold CIA agents accountable for the torture of prisoners," ACLU National Security Project Director Jameel Jaffer said in a statement. According to The Washington Post, the timing of the tape incident is highly significant. The startling disclosures came on the same day that House and Senate negotiators reached an agreement on legislation that would prohibit the use of waterboarding and other harsh interrogation tactics by the CIA and bring intelligence agencies in line with rules followed by the U.S. military. The measure, which needs approval from the full House and Senate, would effectively set a government-wide standard for legal interrogations by explicitly outlawing the use of simulated drowning, forced nudity, hooding, military dogs and other harsh tactics against prisoners by any U.S. intelligence agency. This week's incident comes just weeks after a similar CIA tape incident. Reuters reported on Nov. 13 that: The CIA erred in twice telling a court in the case of September 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui that it did not have any recordings of interrogations of "enemy combatants," when in fact it had three video or audio tapes, according to a letter released on Tuesday. Prosecutors only recently learned of the tapes from the CIA, they said in the letter to the judge who presided over the case and to a U.S. appeals court that considered the Moussaoui case. And Andrew Sullivan, writing for The Atlantic Online, points out that tapes documenting Jose Padilla's interrogation disappeared under controversial circumstances in 2005. He quotes an assessment from Newsweek: The missing DVD dates from March 2, 2004. It contains a video of the last interrogation session of Padilla, then a declared 'enemy combatant' under an order from President Bush, while he was being held in military custody at a U.S. Navy brig in Charleston, S.C. But in recent days, in the course of an unusual court hearing about Padilla's mental condition, a government lawyer disclosed to a surprised courtroom that the Defense Intelligence Agency — which had custody of the evidence — was no longer able to locate the DVD. As a result, it was not included in a packet of classified DVDs that was recently turned over to defense lawyers under orders from Judge Cooke.

Omaha Gunman's Note: "Now I'll Be Famous" 8 Killed, 5 Hurt In Mall Slaying; 19-Year-Old Shooter Kills Self, Left Suicide Letter (CBS/AP) The teenager carried his rifle into the mall, passing shoppers and decorations. A department store employee was pressing a suit for a customer. A woman was making a quick stop to buy Christmas presents before picking up her son from school. Christmas music played. The gunman stopped on the third floor and cut through the sounds with gunfire. Shoppers and employees at the Westroads Mall scrambled for cover in dressing rooms, clothing racks, offices and storage areas. He appeared to fire without apparent motive or specific targets, reports CBS News correspondent Dean Reynolds. Eight people were killed and five wounded before the shooter ended the horror by taking his own life. He left behind a note that read, in part, "Now I'll be famous." The victims' names were given at a press conference Thursday by Omaha Police Chief Thomas Warren. The victims are aged 24 to 66, employees as well as customers, 5 females and four males deceased, including the suspect, Robert Hawkins. The deceased include Gary Sharp of Lincoln, Neb, a customer, John McDonald of Council Bluffs, Iowa, a customer, Angie Schuster, an employee, Maggie Webb, an employee, Janet Jorgenen, an employee, Diane Print, an employee, Gary Joy, an employee and Becky Flynn, an employee. Omaha mayor Mike Fahey offered his condolences to the families of the victims. "There are no words to adequately express our feelings this morning," Fahey said. "I saw employees taking a bunch of people into the dressing room, but I didn't want to go," shopper Jennifer Kramer told CBS' The Early Show. "I didn't know if this guy was going to come looking for people in dressing rooms, so we hid in a pants rack towards the back of the men's department." Robert A. Hawkins, 19, had a criminal record and had been kicked out of his parents' house. Police have not said anything about the motive, but Hawkins had suffered a string of setbacks over the past year. A family friend said he recently broke up with a girlfriend and got fired, and a source told CBS News affiliate KMTV-TV he tried, but failed, to get into the Army. Police Chief Thomas Warren said the shooting appeared to be random. He would not release the victims' identities Wednesday night and gave no motive for the attack, but promised more details in a news conference scheduled for Thursday morning. Hawkins was kicked out by his family about a year ago. He moved in with a friend's family, and Debora Maruca-Kovac and her husband welcomed him into their home and tried to help him. "He came to us like a little lost puppy. He was always very sensitive and caring, always wanting to know how everybody was doing," Maruca-Kovac told The Early Show. "He just needed a chance to get on his feet." "We never saw violence in him," she said. She told the Omaha World-Herald that the night before the shooting, Hawkins and her sons showed her an SKS semiautomatic Russian military rifle - the same type used in the shooting. She said she thought the gun belonged to a member of Hawkins' family. She said she didn't think much of it - the gun looked too old to work. Records in Sarpy and Washington counties showed Hawkins had a felony drug conviction and several misdemeanor cases filed against him, including an arrest 11 days before the shooting for having alcohol as a minor. He was due in court in two weeks. Maruca-Kovac said Hawkins was fired from his job at a McDonald's this week and had recently broken up with a girlfriend. She said he phoned her at about 1 p.m. Wednesday, telling her he had left a note. She tried to get him to explain. "He said, 'It's too late,"' and hung up, she told CNN. She then called Hawkins' mother. (CBS) In the note, which was turned over to authorities, Hawkins wrote that he was "sorry for everything" and would not be a burden on his family anymore. Maruca-Kovac went to her job as a nurse at the Nebraska Medical Center, where victims of the shooting soon began to arrive. "I was fearful that he was going to try to commit suicide," she told The Early Show. "But I had no idea that he would involve so many other families." "I feel so sorry for him, that he was so lost and alone that he had to resort to this." The first 911 call came in at 1:42 p.m., and the shooting was already over when police arrived six minutes later, authorities said. "We sent every available officer in the city of Omaha," Sgt. Teresa Negron said. "They came to the mall in lights and sirens." The World-Herald reported that the gunman had a military-style haircut and a black backpack, and wore a camouflage vest. Hawkins opened fire in a Von Maur store, part of a Midwestern chain. Mickey Vickory, who worked in the store's third-floor service department, said she heard shots and went with coworkers and customers into a back closet, emerging about a half-hour later when police shouted to come out with their hands up. As police led them to another part of the mall for safety, they saw the victims. "We saw the bodies and we saw the blood," she said. Keith Fidler, another Von Maur employee, said he heard a burst of five to six shots followed by 15 to 20 more rounds. Fidler said he huddled in the corner of the men's clothing department with about a dozen other employees until police yelled to get out of the store. Witness Shawn Vidlak said the shots sounded like a nail gun. At first he thought it was noise from construction work at the mall. "People started screaming about gunshots," Vidlak said. "I grabbed my wife and kids. We got out of there as fast as we could." A Von Maur store executive told KMTV it has a policy in place for such emergencies and employees, within the past year, had gone through training on how to handle similar situations. Nebraska Medical Center spokeswoman Andrea McMaster said the hospital had three victims from the mall shooting, including Fred Wilson, 61, who was in critical condition early Thursday with a bullet wound to his chest. Another critically wounded victim was at Creighton University Medical Center, spokeswoman Lisa Stites said. On Wednesday night, police used a bomb robot to access a Jeep Cherokee left in the mall parking lot that authorities believe belonged to Hawkins. Officers had seen some wires under some clothing, but no bomb was found. President Bush was in Omaha on Wednesday for a fundraiser, but left about an hour before the shooting. "Having just visited with so many members of the community in Omaha today, the president is confident that they will pull together to comfort one another," White House press secretary Dana Perino said. Governor Dave Heineman has issued an order for all U.S. and state flags to be flown at half-staff effectivelt immediately in honor of those killed. The flags will remain at half-staff until Sunday. The sprawling, three-level mall has more than 135 stores and restaurants. It gets 14.5 million visitors every year, according to its Web site. This was the second mass shooting at a mall this year. In February, nine people were shot, five of them fatally, at Trolley Square mall in Salt Lake City. The gunman, 18-year-old Sulejman Talovic, was shot and killed by police.

A Visit To The Mall, Then Gunshots Victim Describes Being Struck In The Hand And Arm By Omaha Mall Teen Shooter Jeff Schaffart, shown here speaking with The Early Show was one of the people wounded in the mall shooting in Omaha, Nebraska, Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2007. He says he was there to buy his two-year-old daughter a dress for her visit with Santa. (CBS) CBS/AP) Jeff Schaffart did not realize right away that the bangs he heard at Westroads Mall were gunshots. Then he saw the blood streaming down his left arm and felt a stinging pain there. "I could hear my wife, Carrie, yell, 'Get down! Get down!"' he said, "but I didn't." Schaffart, 34, an Omaha attorney, and wife Carrie were on the third floor of the Von Maur department store Wednesday when a man began shooting, forcing holiday shoppers to flee and barricade themselves in dressing rooms. Robert A. Hawkins, 19, killed eight people before turning his gun on himself, in a shooting rampage at an Omaha shopping mall, police said. "I thought they were balloons or, you know, some kind of construction going on," Schaffert told CBS' The Early Show. He and his wife eventually made their way into the women's restroom up there on the third floor. The 34-year-old attorney used a necktie as a tourniquet to staunch the bleeding. "The bleeding, thankfully, was not that bad, he told The Early Show. Medical center representatives said they treated two other victims from the mall shooting: Fred Wilson, 61, who suffered a bullet wound to his chest. He had been in surgery for about six hours and was in critical condition in the intensive care unit Wednesday night. Wilson is a retired English teacher and was working as a customer service manager at Von Maur, a spokesman said. Also hurt, a 55-year-old male who cut his face when he ran into a clothing rack. He was discharged. Creighton University Medical Center spokeswoman Lisa Stites said one victim was dead upon arrival there, another died sometime after arriving, and a third, a woman, was in critical condition late Wednesday. "I feel exceedingly lucky and fortunate to have made it through today," said Schaffart. "My heart goes out to those that didn't, and the families of those that weren't so lucky."

OMG, Italy will kick France again! poor France;)

Yessssssssss, the Azzurri did it.:D

The Justice, he killed her on purpose and he didn't get enugh and ate her (he an animal) (i'm sorry to the animals). He must be execute.

What that, just 12 years in prison:dozey:. This court very cute:rolleyes:

After that Milan knocked out Man Utd very easily:laugh3: Viva Milan, we won 0-3 over Shakhtar:D

London police found guilty in killing of innocent man The police force faces fines of almost $1.1 million for endangering the public in the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes, mistakenly believed to be a suicide bomber. By Arthur Brightfrom the November 3, 2007 edition A British court found London's police force guilty of health and safety violations in the July 2005 incident that saw officers kill Jean Charles de Menezes in a crowded subway station, after they mistakenly identified him as a suicide bomber. The verdict has brought police conduct into question, as well as elicited calls for the resignation of Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair. The Times (London) reports that the jury fined the London Metropolitan Police (Met) almost £600,000 ($1.1 million) for endangering the public in the incident that led to the shooting of Mr. Menezes, an innocent Brazilian national. [The jury] upheld a charge against the Met of breaching its duty to protect the public under health and safety legislation after prosecutors detailed a series of 19 alleged errors in the police operation on July 22, 2005. Mr. de Menezes, 27, was shot seven times by specialist firearms officers who followed him into Stockwell Tube station in South London, mistaking him for Hussain Osman, one of four men who had tried unsuccessfully to launch a suicide attack on London's transport system the day before. Menezes's death was the result of a chain of errors that the police made just a day after several men attempted to detonate suicide bombs on London buses and subways, reports Reuters. The failed attack was meant to replicate the 7/11 attacks that had killed 52 people in London two weeks before. De Menezes lived in the same block of flats as one of the failed bombers, Hussein Osman. Surveillance officers monitoring the building followed de Menezes on two bus rides without stopping him before he reached the underground train station. Specialist firearms officers were rushed to the station – after a four-hour delay – when senior officers wrongly became convinced de Menezes was Osman. "No explanation has been forthcoming other than a breakdown in communication. It's been clear from the evidence that the surveillance team never positively identified Mr. De Menezes as a suspect," said Judge Richard Henriques. Time Magazine writes that the case "highlights the dilemma facing authorities across the world responsible for confronting terror while protecting the rights of innocent citizens." Time adds that the court's ruling leaves unanswered questions of cause and responsibility for Menezes's death. Despite the verdict, the Brazilian's family and human rights campaigners say the trial failed to answer the question of why de Menezes was killed. The Crown Prosecution Service decided there was insufficient evidence to charge individual officers with the shooting, and instead brought a case under health and safety legislation on the surreal grounds that the police had "failed to provide for the health, safety and welfare" of de Menezes and other members of the public. The verdict, which laid no individual blame upon police officials, has focused attention upon Metropolitan Police Commissioner Blair, reports The Independent (London). But Blair said he will not step down. He told reporters outside the Old Bailey following the guilty verdict: "This case thus provides no evidence at all of systematic failure by the Metropolitan Police. And I therefore intend to continue to lead the Met in its increasingly successful efforts to reduce crime and deter and disrupt terrorist activities in London and elsewhere in the United Kingdom." The police chief received the immediate backing of both Downing Street and the Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, who said that Sir Ian had her "full confidence". However, she added: "We will consider carefully the implications of the verdict with the police service." The Times (London) reports that the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats, the two main opposition parties, both called for Blair's resignation. David Davis, the [Conservatives'] Shadow Home Secretary, said that the trial had shed light on "serial failures", adding: "They include failures of organisation, command and operations. The failures were systemic, falling within the clear responsibility of the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police." His Liberal Democrat counterpart, Nick Clegg, also said that the guilty verdict made Sir Ian's resignation "unavoidable". He added: "The simple priority today is to show that we have a police force in London which is prepared to accept full responsibility for its actions." In an editorial, The Guardian noted the difficult situation the police faced in July 2005, and sympathized with their position. But the paper acknowledged that Blair may not be able to continue to oversee the force. The police, hunting for four suicide bombers, were under intense pressure. They acted in what they thought were the interests of public safety. How would the public have reacted, had the operation prevented a terrorist attack? Yet the fact remains: yesterday's verdict dealt a serious blow to the Metropolitan police. ... [blair's] decision to fight for his job may be noble in some regards, but it carries with it a mulish disregard for the opinions of others. Even those who agree with his aims for London's police, including this paper, recognise that Sir Ian may no longer be in a position to put them into effect. Meanwhile, an editorial in The Daily Telegraph asked, "Who's responsible for shooting de Menezes?" And suggested that the answer is Blair. Yesterday's trial verdict should be viewed alongside the report by the Independent Police Complaints Commission, published in August, which examined the way the Met dealt with Mr de Menezes's killing. That offered a deeply unflattering picture of the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir Ian Blair, who was revealed as being kept out of the loop as his officers learnt the dreadful truth that an innocent man had been shot dead. Taking that into consideration with yesterday's guilty verdict, one could be forgiven for assuming the position of the man at the top to be untenable.

Saudi king: UK ignored terrorism warning LONDON, England (CNN) -- Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah has stirred up controversy ahead of a rare visit to Britain which begins Monday, accusing British authorities of ignoring intelligence that could have prevented the 2005 London bombings King Abdullah accused Britain of not doing enough to fight international terrorism. In an interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation that aired on Monday, the Saudi king said Britain failed to act on information provided by Saudi security services ahead of the suicide bombings on London's transport network in July 2005, that killed 52 people and injured more than 770. "We sent information to Great Britain before the terrorist atrocities in Britain, but unfortunately no action was taken and it may have been able to avert the tragedy," the monarch told the BBC. King Abdullah's arrival in London on Monday will mark the first state visit by a Saudi monarch in 20 years. In the BBC interview, he refused to elaborate on the details of the intelligence, saying that disclosing specific information "may cause sensitivities" between the two countries' security services. However, he went on to say that Britain was among a number of countries that were not taking the issue of global terrorism seriously. A British Home Office spokesman strenuously denied that any intelligence from Saudi Arabia had been overlooked in the run-up to the atrocities and that information provided by the Saudis "was materially different from what actually occurred on 7 July and clearly not relevant to those acts." "We have made it clear that if we had intelligence that could have prevented the attacks we would have acted upon it," the spokesman told CNN. The spokesman said an investigation by the British Parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) published last year found there was no evidence that intelligence passed on by the Saudis could have prevented the bombings. British Foreign Secretary David Miliband pulled out of a meeting with his Saudi Arabian counterpart in London Monday, but the Foreign Office insisted it was for personal reasons and not a snub. Miliband has just adopted a baby son and is taking time off to look after him, the British Foreign Office confirmed to CNN. The Foreign Office insisted Miliband's decision to pull out of the meeting with Saudi's Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal was due to personal reasons and was in no way linked to King Abdullah's comments. Miliband's duties are being carried out by junior ministers in his absence.

I told you guys before, there is no war between USA and Iran the both just allies from the begining. All what you see just a silly show.

I remember in 1998 the oil price was $38:thinking:

The best song is- All I Need -

Bad luck AC Milan:(

By Demetri Sevastopulo in Washington Published: September 3 2007 19:00 | Last updated: September 3 2007 20:53 The Chinese military hacked into a Pentagon computer network in June in the most successful cyber attack on the US defence department, say American ­officials. The Pentagon acknowledged shutting down part of a computer system serving the office of Robert Gates, defence secretary, but declined to say who it believed was behind the attack. Current and former officials have told the Financial Times an internal investigation has revealed that the incursion came from the People’s Liberation Army. One senior US official said the Pentagon had pinpointed the exact origins of the attack. Another person familiar with the event said there was a “very high level of confidence...trending towards total certainty” that the PLA was responsible. The defence ministry in Beijing declined to comment on Monday. Angela Merkel, Germany’s chancellor, raised reports of Chinese infiltration of German government computers with Wen Jiabao, China’s premier, in a visit to Beijing, after which the Chinese foreign ministry said the government opposed and forbade “any criminal acts undermining computer systems, including hacking”. “We have explicit laws and regulations in this regard,” said Jiang Yu, from the ministry. “Hacking is a global issue and China is frequently a victim.” George W. Bush, US president, is due to meet Hu Jintao, China’s president, on Thursday in Australia prior to the Apec summit. The PLA regularly probes US military networks – and the Pentagon is widely assumed to scan Chinese networks – but US officials said the penetration in June raised concerns to a new level because of fears that China had shown it could disrupt systems at critical times. “The PLA has demonstrated the ability to conduct attacks that disable our system...and the ability in a conflict situation to re-enter and disrupt on a very large scale,” said a former official, who said the PLA had penetrated the networks of US defence companies and think-tanks. Hackers from numerous locations in China spent several months probing the Pentagon system before overcoming its defences, according to people familiar with the matter. The Pentagon took down the network for more than a week while the attacks continued, and is to conduct a comprehensive diagnosis. “These are multiple wake-up calls stirring us to levels of more aggressive vigilance,” said Richard Lawless, the Pentagon’s top Asia official at the time of the attacks. The Pentagon is still investigating how much data was downloaded, but one person with knowledge of the attack said most of the information was probably “unclassified”. He said the event had forced officials to reconsider the kind of information they send over unsecured e-mail systems. John Hamre, a Clinton-era deputy defence secretary involved with cyber security, said that while he had no knowledge of the June attack, criminal groups sometimes masked cyber attacks to make it appear they came from government computers in a particular country. The National Security Council said the White House had created a team of experts to consider whether the administration needed to restrict the use of BlackBerries because of concerns about cyber espionage. Additional reporting by Richard McGregor in Beijing

Very sad news, R.I.P.:cry: Forever in our hearts Puerta.

Taliban agree to free SKorean hostages By AMIR SHAH, Associated Press Writer GHAZNI, Afghanistan - The Taliban agreed Tuesday to free 19 South Korean church volunteers held hostage since July after the government in Seoul pledged to end all missionary work and keep a promise to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan by the end of the year. In eastern Afghanistan, a suicide bomber attacked NATO troops helping build a bridge, killing three soldiers. In striking the deal, the Taliban apparently backed down on earlier demands for a prisoner exchange, but may still emerge politically stronger having negotiated successfully with a foreign government, an analyst said. Relatives of the hostages in South Korea welcomed news of the deal, which did not specify when the captives would be released. "I would like to dance," said Cho Myung-ho, mother of 28-year-old hostage Lee Joo-yeon. The deal was made in direct talks between Taliban negotiators and South Korean diplomats in central Afghanistan. The Afghan government was not party to the negotiations, which were mediated by the International Committee of the Red Cross. South Korean presidential spokesman Cheon Ho-sun said from Seoul that the deal had been reached "on the condition that South Korea withdraws troops by the end of year and South Korea suspends missionary work in Afghanistan," he said. South Korea did not appear to commit to anything it did not already planned to do. Seoul has already said it would withdraw its 200 troops in the country by the end of the year and has also sought to prevent missionaries from causing trouble in countries where they were not wanted. The South Korean government and relatives of the hostages have said that the 19 kidnapped South Koreans were not missionaries, but were doing aid work such as helping in hospitals. Taliban commander Mullah Basheer told a media conference following the talks that the Taliban would say Wednesday when and how the captives would be released. They are believed to be held in several different locations. Missionaries from South Korea and scores of other countries have historically been active in Afghanistan, but there is no way of knowing how many are there now. Most operate without the knowledge of their governments, and there is some disagreement on the boundaries between missionary work, proselytizing and Christian-inspired aid work. An analyst said the Taliban, which has been leading an increasingly bloody insurgency against Afghan and Western security forces, emerged from the hostage crisis with increased political power. "Maybe they did not achieve all that they demanded but they achieved a lot in terms of political credibility," said Mustafa Alani, director of security and terrorism studies at the Dubai-based Gulf Research Center. "The fact that the Koreans negotiated with them directly and more or less in their territory ... is in itself an achievement." Taliban spokesmen have previously said they had no interest in a ransom payment. Presidential spokesman Cheon told The Associated Press that he was informed by South Korean officials in Afghanistan that money was not discussed during negotiations with the Taliban. The Taliban kidnapped 23 South Koreans as they traveled by bus from Kabul to the former Taliban stronghold of Kandahar on July 19. In late July, the militants executed two male hostages. They released two women earlier this month as a good will gesture. "We are sorry to the public for causing concern, but we thank the government officials for the (impending) release," Cha Sung-min, whose 32-year-old sister Cha Hye-jin was being held, told the AP. "Still, our hearts are broken as two died, so we convey our sympathy to the bereaved family members," said Cha, 31, who has served as a spokesman for the hostages' relatives. Abductions have become a key insurgent tactic in recent months in trying to destabilize the country, targeting both Afghan officials and foreigners helping with reconstruction. A German engineer and four Afghan colleagues kidnapped a day before the South Koreans are still being held. Violence in Afghanistan is running at its highest level since the Taliban ouster. The suicide bomber approached the troops building a bridge in eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday, killing three soldiers and wounding six, NATO said. The alliance did not disclose the nationalities of the victims or the exact location of the blast. Most foreign troops in the east of the country are American. U.S.-led coalition and Afghan troops, meanwhile, killed up to 21 suspected Taliban militants in three separate clashes in southern Afghanistan, and a roadside blast killed four Afghan soldiers in the east, officials said.

Georgia says Russia violated it's airspace TBILISI, Georgia - Georgian officials said Tuesday that two Russian fighter jets violated its airspace and fired a missile which did not explode. Russia denied the claim. Georgian Interior Ministry spokesman Shota Ustiashvili said that that the incident took place late Monday when the aircraft entered Georgia's airspace over the northeastern Gori region and fired a missile which fell near the village of Shavshvebi and didn't explode. Ustiashvili said that he personally had inspected the missile which landed on the outskirts of the village, just 25 yards away from a house. He said that experts were considering what to do with the weapon. Russia's air force spokesman Alexander Drobyshevsky on Tuesday denied the accusations. "Russian aircraft haven't conducted any flights over that area and haven't violated Georgia's airspace," he told The Associated Press. Relations between the two ex-Soviet nations are tense, and Georgian officials have frequently claimed that Russian military aircraft violated its airspace — accusations Russia has always denied. Moscow is angry about Georgia's plans to join NATO, while Tbilisi accuses Russia of backing separatists in its breakaway provinces and trying to destabilize Georgia.

Georgia says it was bombed by Russian jets By Margarita Antidze TSITELUBANI, Georgia (Reuters) - Jets flown from Russia fired an air-to-surface missile at Georgian territory in an "act of aggression," Georgian Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili told Reuters on Tuesday. Russia, which has a long history of tense relations with the former Soviet republic, denied that its airforce had flown missions in Georgian air space. "Our radars show that these jets flew from Russia and then flew back in the same direction that they had come from ..." Merabishvili said. "I assess this fact as an act of aggression carried out by planes flown from the territory of another state," he added. Georgian officials say the ordnance hit the village of Tsitelubani, about 65 km (40 miles) west of the capital, Tbilisi, but did not explode. Shota Utiashvili, the head of the Georgian interior ministry's public relations department, earlier told Reuters that the Russian jets had dropped a 700 kilo (1,543 lb) bomb. "Fortunately it didn't explode. If it had exploded it would have been a disaster," he added. He said nobody was hurt. Russia's airforce denied that it had bombed Georgia, and said it had not violated its airspace. "Russia's airforce neither on Monday nor Tuesday flew flights over Georgia," Colonel Alexander Drobyshevsky, the aide to the commander of Russia's airforce, told Reuters. "Russia has not violated the borders of sovereign Georgia." The village of Tsitelubani is near the city of Gori, and a few kilometers to the south of Georgia's breakaway South Ossetia region, a long-standing cause of friction between Russia and Tbilisi. Russia provides moral and financial support for Georgia's rebel Abkhazia and South Ossetia regions. It has accused Tbilisi of pursuing anti-Russian policies. Georgia's previous administration, under ousted President Eduard Shevardnadze, accused Russia in 2002 of sending fighter jets on sorties over its territory, but Moscow denied any involvement. At that time, Tbilisi alleged that Russian jets had dropped ordnance on uninhabited areas of the remote Pankisi Gorge in north-east Georgia, near the border with Russia. Relations between Russia and Georgia deteriorated sharply again last year when Tbilisi deported four Russian army officers, accusing them of spying. Moscow responded by withdrawing its ambassador from Tbilisi and cutting air, sea and postal links with Georgia. Russia also deported several thousand Georgians, saying they were illegal immigrants. Tension is still high but there have been tentative signs this year that the crisis was easing. Moscow's ambassador has returned to Tbilisi and the two sides have been in talks -- so far unsuccessful -- to restore air links.

Bad news and it's bad for the farmers.

Of course I didn't meant all people of Israel, I mean Juval Aviv. He have a lot of hallucination

It's my opinion!!!

Terrorism phobia. it's an israeli hallucination.

Police: More victims in submerged cars By JON KRAWCZYNSKI, Associated Press Writers MINNEAPOLIS - Divers checked submerged cars in the Mississippi River Thursday for a count of victims still trapped beneath the concrete slabs of a collapsed bridge. As many as 30 people were reported missing as the rescue effort shifted to recovery. Gov. Tim Pawlenty also ordered an immediate inspection of all bridges in the state with similar designs. The official death count from Wednesday evening's collapse stood at four Thursday morning, but Police Chief Tim Dolan said more bodies were in the water. Hospitals officials said 79 others were injured. "We have a number of vehicles that are underneath big pieces of concrete, and we do know we have some people in those vehicles," Dolan said, though he said he did not have a number. "We know we do have more casualties at the scene." The eight-lane Interstate 35W bridge, a major Minneapolis artery, was in the midst of repairs when the bridge buckled during the evening rush hour Wednesday. Dozens of cars plummeted more than 60 feet into the Mississippi River, some falling on top one of another. A school bus sat on the angled concrete. In the river, divers were checking for bodies and taking down license plate numbers for authorities to track down the vehicles' owners. Getting the vehicles out was expected to take several days and involve moving around very large, heavy pieces of bridge. "The bridge is still shifting," Dolan said. "We're dealing with the Mississippi River. We're dealing with currents. We're going to have to do it slowly and safely." He said police estimate that 20 to 30 people were unaccounted for, though he stressed that it was just an estimate. At Hennepin County Medical Center, patients had arrived in a steady stream after the collapse, some unconscious or moaning, some barely breathing, others with serious head and back injuries, Dr. William Heegaard said. "There was blood everywhere," he said. Relatives who couldn't find their loved ones at hospitals gathered in a hotel ballroom Thursday morning for any news, hoping for the best. "I've never wanted to see my brother so much in my life," said Kristi Foster, who went to an information center set up at a Holiday Inn looking for her brother Kirk. She hadn't had contact with her brother or his girlfriend, Krystle Webb, since the previous night. Authorities initially said at least seven people had died, but Police Lt. Amelia Huffman lowered that number Thursday morning, saying, "The medical examiner's office only has four sets of remains." She said the initial reports were based on the best estimates authorities had. As many as 50 vehicles tumbled into the river when the bridge collapsed, leaving those who could escape to scramble to shore. Some survivors carried the injured up the riverbank, while emergency workers tended to others on the ground and some jumped into the water to look for survivors. Fire and black smoke rose from the wreckage. The Homeland Security Department said the collapse did not appear to be terrorism-related, but Hennepin County Sheriff Richard Stanek said Thursday that the cause was still unknown. "All indications are that it was a collapse, not an act of someone doing it," Stanek said. The first step of the federal investigation will be to recover pieces of the bridge and reassemble them, kind of like a jigsaw puzzle, to try and determine what happened, NTSB Chairman Mark Rosenker said. Investigators also want to review video of the collapse, and were setting up a phone number for witnesses to call with information. "It is clearly much too early in the initial stages of this investigation to have any idea what happened," Rosenker said. The bridge was crowded with traffic, and a train had been passing beneath the roadway at the time it fell. As the divers worked their way around at least a dozen submerged vehicles, Transportation Secretary Mary Peters announced a $5 million grant to help pay for rerouting traffic patterns around the disaster site. "We fully understand what happened and we will take every step possible to ensure something like this will not happen again," Peters said. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., said up to $100 million in federal funds will also be available for rebuilding and recovery. "A bridge in America just shouldn't fall down," Klobuchar said. "That's why we have called for this investigation." In 2005, the 40-year-old bridge had been rated as "structurally deficient" and possibly in need of replacement, according to a federal database. The span rated 50 on a scale of 120 for structural stability in that review, White House press secretary Tony Snow said. The U.S. Department of Transportation's inspector general last year criticized the Federal Highway Administration's oversight of interstate bridges, saying investigators found incorrect or outdated maximum weight limit calculations and weight limit postings in the National Bridge Inventory and in states' bridge databases. Incorrect load ratings could endanger bridges by allowing heavier vehicles to cross than should be allowed, the inspector general said. The audit didn't identify any Minnesota bridges beyond noting that 3 percent of the state's bridges were structurally deficient, placing it at the low end among states. Pawlenty said Thursday that there was no indication from that and other reviews that the bridge should be shut down. Peters added that "none of those ratings indicated there was any kind of danger." This week, road crews had been working on the bridge's joints, guardrails and lights, with lane closures overnight on Tuesday and Wednesday. In 2001, the bridge had been fitted with a computerized anti-icing system that sprayed chemicals on the surface during winter weather, according to documents posted on the Minnesota Department of Transportation's Web site. Wednesday evening, 18 construction workers were on the bridge when it collapsed, said Tom Sloan, head of the bridge division for Progressive Contractors Inc., in St. Michael. The crew was placing concrete finish on the bridge for what he called a routine resurfacing project. "It was the final item on this phase of the project. Suddenly the bridge gave way," he said. "They said they basically rode the bridge down to the water. They were sliding into cars and cars were sliding into them," he said. One of the workers was unaccounted for, he said. The school bus had just crossed the bridge when the entire span of Interstate 35W crumpled into the river below. The bus stayed on concrete, and the children were able to escape unharmed out the back door. Christine Swift's 10-year-old daughter, Kaleigh, was on the bus, returning from a field trip to Bunker Hills in Blaine. She said her daughter called her about 6:10 p.m. "She was screaming, 'The bridge collapsed,'" Swift said. All the kids got off the bus safely, but about 10 of the children were injured, officials said. The collapsed bridge is just blocks from the heart of Minneapolis, near tourist attractions like the new Guthrie Theater and the Stone Arch Bridge. As the steamy night progressed massive crowds of onlookers circulated in the area on foot or bicycle, some of them wearing Twins T-shirts and caps after departing Wednesday night's game at the nearby Metrodome early. Thursday's game between the Twins and Kansas City Royals was called off, but the Twins decided to go ahead with Wednesday's rather than sending about 25,000 fans back out onto the congested highways. Inside the stadium, there was a moment of silence to honor victims. The steel-arched bridge, built in 1967, rose 64 feet above the river and stretched 1,900 feet across the water. It was built with a single 458-foot-long steel arch to avoid the need for piers that might interfere with river navigation. The river's depth at the bridge was not immediately available, but the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers maintains a channel depth of at least 9 feet in the Upper Mississippi to allow for barge traffic.

Afghan army prepares for military action By AMIR SHAH, Associated Press Writer GHAZNI, Afghanistan - The Afghan army dropped leaflets Wednesday warning of impending military action in the region where Taliban militants are holding 21 South Korean hostages, though the army said the operation is not connected to the captives. Another deadline passed at noon with no word that any of the hostages had been killed, while the local governor said the Taliban militants had agreed to a face-to-face meeting requested by South Korea's ambassador. Two hostages have already been killed, though several deadlines have passed with no killings. In Ghazni province, where 23 South Koreans were kidnapped on July 19 while driving from Kabul to the southern city of Kandahar, Afghan soldiers in helicopters dropped leaflets telling citizens to move to government-controlled areas in order to avoid upcoming military action. Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Zahir Azimi said the mission, the start of which could be days or weeks away, had been long-planned and had no connection to the Korean kidnapping case. But a show of military force in the region could place the kidnappers under further pressure. Gov. Marajudin Pathan said the Taliban agreed to a face-to-face meeting with Korea's ambassador to Afghanistan, and officials were looking for suitable location to hold it. Pathan said he did not know when the meeting would happen. He also said another high-ranking official had arrived from South Korea to take part in talks, though he did not know the official's name or position. Qari Yousef Ahmadi, who claims to speak for the Taliban militants, told The Associated Press after the noon deadline passed that the remaining 21 hostages were still alive, though two female captives were gravely ill and could die at any time. He reiterated that the militants still wanted their key demand met — the release of Taliban prisoners in exchange for the lives of the Koreans. A doctor who heads a private clinic said Afghan doctors would try to visit the hostages Friday and take them medicine. Dr. Mohammad Hashim Wahwaj said he did not have permission from the militants and did not know if the attempt would be successful. Ahmadi, the purported Taliban spokesman, said Mullah Omar, the Taliban's elusive leader whose whereabouts are unknown, appointed three members of the Taliban's high council to oversee the hostage situation and they have the power to order them killed at any time. The South Koreans, who are all Christians from the same church, are the largest group of foreign hostages taken in Afghanistan since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion that drove the Taliban from power. Human Rights Watch called for the immediate release of all remaining captives. The New York-based group said the Taliban have kidnapped at least 41 Afghan civilians so far this year and killed at least 23 of them. The rest remain missing. "The taking of hostages is a war crime," Joanne Mariner of Human Rights Watch said in a statement. South Korea said it would send a parliamentary delegation to the United States to seek cooperation in resolving the crisis, and relatives of the hostages pleaded with U.S. Embassy officials during an hour-long visit for help in negotiating their loved ones' release. The families were told their message would be passed on to Washington. "We will hold on to any small hope to save them," Ryu Haeng-sik, 36, whose wife Kim Yoon-yong, 35, is one of the hostages, told The Associated Press outside the embassy in Seoul, his eyes red from weeping and fatigue. "We cannot say we're relieved, but there is no other way but to believe their words, that they're going to do their best," he said. In Washington, State Department spokesman Tom Casey said: "It's a difficult situation and it's one we want resolved in the best way possible, which is unharmed and safe to their families." Both the families and the South Korean government have urged that previous international practice in dealing with abductions be set aside in the interest of human life — effectively asking the United States to make an exception to its policy of refusing to make concessions to terrorist demands. But the U.S. and other countries strongly criticized Afghanistan earlier this year when it released five Taliban prisoners to win the freedom of a kidnapped Italian journalist. The South Korean president's office said Wednesday that Washington was involved in efforts to win the hostages' release, but at a basic level. "We understand their dilemma and limits," presidential spokesman Cheon Ho-sun said. "There are some views that the United States holds (the keys to) everything. But that's a lot different from the fact," he said. Meanwhile, in Ghazni's Dih Yak district, police recovered the bodies of four Afghan men, one of them a local judge who disappeared a week ago while traveling from neighboring Paktia province, said Azizullah, a police official in Ghazni who goes by one name. The police found the judge's ID card on his body. All four victims had bullet wounds, Azizullah said. Taliban fighters in Ghazni province attacked the home of government employees, killing three of them, Pathan said. Subsequent fighting also left seven Taliban dead about 40 miles south of Ghazni city.