Wednesday, April 30, 2008
11:24 PM
MY SCHOOL DO THIS VERY FUNNY ONE LEH.YESTWERDAY AND MONDAY IS EL AND CL THEN MUST WAIT UNTILL NEXT WEDNESDAY THEN CAN HAVE MATHS EXAM
DUNNOE WHY DUN DO ALL IN ONCE HAVE EXAM THEN CAN NEXT WEEK COMPLETE LIAO
REGRETTED GOING TO 1N3 SIANZZ SO BORING AND ALWAYS KANA TEACHER DETENTION AND SCOLDING SIANZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
8:15 PM
The postmaster, however, seemed to have been infected by the Chinese officials around him, refusing to give much information beyond the fact that it would cost five 5 yuan (72 U.S. cents) - EVEREST BASE CAMP - Sub-zero temperatures and altitude sickness were bad enough, but a lack of information about just when a special Olympic flame would start up Mount Everest made journalists doubly miserable at Base Camp on Tuesday.
More than 24 hours after arriving at the foot of the world's highest mountain, 10 foreign and 19 Chinese journalists had no clearer idea of when the assault on the summit from Tibet would begin, if it had not already.
The Everest flame is separate from the globetrotting Olympic torch that was paraded in Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City on Tuesday evening, the last international leg of a relay that has been dogged by protests and counter-protests over Tibet.
Officials are determined that this most prestigious stage of the global parade will not be spoilt by demonstrations.
All that was heard at Base Camp was the official mantra -- "the torch will go up Mount Qomolangma on a day in May when the weather conditions are most suitable" -- and educated guesses as to exactly when -- Wednesday's 100-day countdown to the Beijing Games and Thursday's Labour Day holiday being the favourites.
"We are trying our best to give you information," said Liu Xuan, deputy director of the Tibet Information Office at the only press briefing on Tuesday. "We are hiding nothing."
Off the record, several of the large band of minders and interpreters accompanying the media admitted that there was an official silence because of security concerns.
A Japanese journalist who attempted to walk towards Base Camp proper on Tuesday afternoon was turned back by an armed security official.
GRIM
No other expeditions have been allowed on the northern, Tibetan side until the torch has reached the top of the Everest.
Teams of climbers on the southern, Nepali side have had most of their communication equipment removed and will not be able to summit until mid-May, according to various climbing websites.
Nepal deported a U.S. national and banned him from climbing in the country for two years after he was found carrying a pro-Tibet banner on an expedition to the Everest last week, a Nepal Tourism Ministry spokesman said on Tuesday.
The temporary media trailer camp, dominated by the imposing pyramid of the 8,848-metre peak, has comforts that many Everest expeditions could only have dreamed of.
But for those unused to sub-zero temperatures, a whipping wind and the most basic of sanitary facilities, it can be grim: especially after a rise from 54 metres above sea level to more than 5,000 metres in less than four days.
Two victims of altitude sickness left the camp on Monday evening and, despite an ambulance crashing and causing a minor head wound to a nurse, they were said to be "well" in the town of Shigatse.
One of the two, Hong Kong television journalist and sometime-actor Wang Xi wanted to return to Base Camp on Wednesday, according to his colleague.
As the day wore on, concern about altitude sickness turned the routine greeting "How are you?" into a serious enquiry, and admonitions to "drink more water" and "get plenty of rest" bounced back and forth across the camp.
The Mount Qomolangma post office, which claims to be the highest in the world, was doing brisker trade on Tuesday than it has since foreigners were banned from Tibet after deadly riots in the regional capital, Lhasa, last month.
The postmaster, however, seemed to have been infected by the Chinese officials around him, refusing to give much information beyond the fact that it would cost five 5 yuan (72 U.S. cents) to have him put his official stamp on a postcard.
4:24 PM
KABUL - Five suspected Taliban militants blew themselves up in a house close to Kabul's old city on Wednesday, avoiding capture by besieging Afghan security forces, an Interior Ministry official told Reuters.
Security forces surrounded a house where the suspected militants were holed up during the night and clashes erupted. The five militants inside blew themselves up as security forces closed in on them, said an Interior Ministry official who declined to be named.
3:44 PM
OUTSIDE GARMSER, Afghanistan - Marines stormed into a Taliban-held town before daybreak Tuesday, trading gunfire with insurgents on the ground and using helicopter gunships to destroy a militant compound in one of Afghanistan's most violent regions.
Several hundred Marines, many of whom have fought in Iraq, reportedly met light resistance in the assault, which is the farthest south in years that American troops have operated in Helmand province.
The goal is to stretch NATO's presence into an area where illegal opium poppy fields are plentiful and the Taliban is strong. British troops man a small base on Garmser's northern edge but insurgents rule the countryside south of the outpost all the way to the Pakistan border.
No Marines suffered injuries, said their commander, Maj. Tom Clinton Jr. There was no immediate word on whether any insurgents were killed or wounded.
An 11-year-old Afghan boy suffered a chest wound from the explosion of a rocket that insurgents apparently fired at Marines, Clinton said. The boy was flown to a British base for surgery. His condition wasn't immediately known.
"We haven't seen anybody who isn't carrying a gun," Clinton said of the mostly deserted town. "They're trying to figure out what we're doing. They're shooting at us, letting us know they're there."
The assault on Garmser was the first major task undertaken by the 2,300 Marines of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which arrived in April from Camp Lejeune, N.C., for a seven-month deployment.
Clinton, the American commander at Forward Operating Base Dwyer, a British base 10 miles west of Garmser, said militants and Marines exchanged fire in two parts of the town.
Attack helicopters "obliterated" a compound used as a base by the insurgents, said Clinton, 36, of Swampscott, Mass. He said he didn't if anyone was killed by the airstrike.
The wounded boy was brought to Marines by the boy's father and two Afghan men who wouldn't identify themselves, which Clinton labeled "suspicious." Much of Garmser has been abandoned by civilians, and up to 100 Taliban fighters were in the town or outlying areas, he said.
The Marines reported finding rockets and bomb-making material and detonated a roadside bomb. Commanders said they expected insurgents to plant more bombs.
Many of the men in the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit served in 2006 and 2007 in Ramadi, capital of Anbar province in western Iraq. The vast region was once the stronghold of al-Qaida in Iraq before the militants were pushed out in early 2007.
Capt. John Moder, 34, a company commander from North Kingstown, R.I., said before the assault began that the experience in Iraq would affect how his men fight in Afghanistan.
"These guys saw a lot of progress in Ramadi, so they understand it's not just kinetic (fighting),but it's reconstruction and economic development," he said.
The Marines' mission is the first carried out by U.S. forces this far south in Helmand province in years. An operation late last year to take back the Taliban-held town of Musa Qala in northern Helmand involved U.S., British and Afghan troops.
Helmand is the world's largest opium poppy-growing region and has been a flashpoint of the increasingly violent insurgency the last two years. British troops, who are responsible for Helmand, have fought in fierce battles in Helmand's north.
Most U.S. troops operate in eastern Afghanistan, along the border with Pakistan. Britain, with 7,500 soldiers, and Canada, with 2,500 in neighboring Kandahar province, have not had enough manpower to tame the south.
More than 8,000 people died in insurgency-related violence in Afghanistan last year, according to an Associated Press tally. Taliban fighters have increasingly relied on roadside bombs and suicide attacks since being routed in ground battles.
3:00 PM
OUTSIDE GARMSER, Afghanistan - Marines stormed into a Taliban-held town before daybreak Tuesday, trading gunfire with insurgents on the ground and using helicopter gunships to destroy a militant compound in one of Afghanistan's most violent regions.
Several hundred Marines, many of whom have fought in Iraq, reportedly met light resistance in the assault, which is the farthest south in years that American troops have operated in Helmand province.
The goal is to stretch NATO's presence into an area where illegal opium poppy fields are plentiful and the Taliban is strong. British troops man a small base on Garmser's northern edge but insurgents rule the countryside south of the outpost all the way to the Pakistan border.
No Marines suffered injuries, said their commander, Maj. Tom Clinton Jr. There was no immediate word on whether any insurgents were killed or wounded.
An 11-year-old Afghan boy suffered a chest wound from the explosion of a rocket that insurgents apparently fired at Marines, Clinton said. The boy was flown to a British base for surgery. His condition wasn't immediately known.
"We haven't seen anybody who isn't carrying a gun," Clinton said of the mostly deserted town. "They're trying to figure out what we're doing. They're shooting at us, letting us know they're there."
The assault on Garmser was the first major task undertaken by the 2,300 Marines of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which arrived in April from Camp Lejeune, N.C., for a seven-month deployment.
Clinton, the American commander at Forward Operating Base Dwyer, a British base 10 miles west of Garmser, said militants and Marines exchanged fire in two parts of the town.
Attack helicopters "obliterated" a compound used as a base by the insurgents, said Clinton, 36, of Swampscott, Mass. He said he didn't if anyone was killed by the airstrike.
The wounded boy was brought to Marines by the boy's father and two Afghan men who wouldn't identify themselves, which Clinton labeled "suspicious." Much of Garmser has been abandoned by civilians, and up to 100 Taliban fighters were in the town or outlying areas, he said.
The Marines reported finding rockets and bomb-making material and detonated a roadside bomb. Commanders said they expected insurgents to plant more bombs.
Many of the men in the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit served in 2006 and 2007 in Ramadi, capital of Anbar province in western Iraq. The vast region was once the stronghold of al-Qaida in Iraq before the militants were pushed out in early 2007.
Capt. John Moder, 34, a company commander from North Kingstown, R.I., said before the assault began that the experience in Iraq would affect how his men fight in Afghanistan.
"These guys saw a lot of progress in Ramadi, so they understand it's not just kinetic (fighting),but it's reconstruction and economic development," he said.
The Marines' mission is the first carried out by U.S. forces this far south in Helmand province in years. An operation late last year to take back the Taliban-held town of Musa Qala in northern Helmand involved U.S., British and Afghan troops.
Helmand is the world's largest opium poppy-growing region and has been a flashpoint of the increasingly violent insurgency the last two years. British troops, who are responsible for Helmand, have fought in fierce battles in Helmand's north.
Most U.S. troops operate in eastern Afghanistan, along the border with Pakistan. Britain, with 7,500 soldiers, and Canada, with 2,500 in neighboring Kandahar province, have not had enough manpower to tame the south.
More than 8,000 people died in insurgency-related violence in Afghanistan last year, according to an Associated Press tally. Taliban fighters have increasingly relied on roadside bombs and suicide attacks since being routed in ground battles.
2:54 PM
Nepal has also asked climbers not to carry any non-essential items on expeditions to the 8,850 metre (29,035 feet) - KATHMANDU - Nepal deported a U.S. national and banned him from climbing in the country for two years, after he was found carrying a pro-Tibet banner on an expedition to the Everest last week, an official said on Tuesday.
Nepal, which regards Tibet as part of China, has restricted access to Mount Everest between May 1 and 10 and posted armed soldiers to discourage protests against the Olympics torch when it is taken to the summit by Chinese authorities next month.
The ascent of Everest is the highlight of a torch parade that has been dogged by protests and counter-protests over Tibet on its journey around all five inhabited continents to raise the curtain on August's Beijing Games.
The Everest flame is separate from the globetrotting torch, which passed through the streets of the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, on Monday and is due to be paraded in Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City on Tuesday.
Nepal has also asked climbers not to carry any non-essential items on expeditions to the 8,850 metre (29,035 feet) peak, the world's tallest.
But security forces frisking mountaineers at the Everest base camp found a pro-Tibet banner in one of the bags of William Brant Holland. It was not clear what the banner said.
Holland was deported on Monday. Tourism ministry spokesman Prem Kumar Rai said he had also been banned from any climbing in Nepal for two years.
Nepal has seen almost daily anti-China protests which police initially broke up with beatings. But, of late, they have been using little force in the face of criticism from rights groups such as the Amnesty International.
Beijing, a key donor to impoverished Nepal's economic development, has urged Kathmandu to prevent Tibetan protests.
More than 20,000 Tibetans have lived in settlements across mountainous Nepal since fleeing their homeland after a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959.
2:52 PM
KATMANDU, Nepal - Nepal has imposed a near-blackout on communications on its side of Mount Everest, trekking company officials said Tuesday, hours after the government acknowledged it had deported an American mountaineer caught at base camp with a "Free Tibet" banner.
The government has also ordered a BBC news crew from the Everest base camp, the broadcaster reported.
The news comes as Nepal, not wanting to hurt relations with Beijing, tries to enforce a strict ban on protests during China's upcoming Olympic torch relay to the summit of the world's highest mountain. Dozens of armed Nepalese soldiers have been posted at Mount Everest's base camp and at Camp 2, a lower stop for mountaineers.
The border between the two countries cuts across the 29,035-foot summit.
U.S. mountaineer William Brant Holland of Midlothian, Va., was expelled from Nepal for violating regulations, Tourism Ministry official Krishna Gyawali said Tuesday.
Holland, who left Nepal on Monday for home, was found with the banner at the Everest base camp last week and told to leave the mountain. When he arrived in the capital of Katmandu, he was questioned by officials, who ordered him to leave the country for violating a ban on anti-China activities.
He also has been banned from all mountaineering activities in Nepal for the next two years.
Holland was the first climber expelled from the mountain to prevent protests during the planned torch relay by Chinese climbers to the Everest summit ahead of the Beijing Olympics.
The relay, expected to start soon, will take place on the Chinese side of the mountain. But Nepal's government, under pressure from Beijing, has posted soldiers on its side and banned climbing near the summit from May 1-10.
Police and soldiers have been ordered to stop protests on the mountain using whatever means necessary, including weapons, although the use of deadly force is authorized only as a last resort.
A British Broadcasting Corp. team, meanwhile, was told Monday by Nepalese officials to leave the Everest base camp. A report on the BBC's Web site said they were "politely but firmly" told to leave.
Only climbers with permits to climb Everest are allowed to stay in the base camp area.
Soldiers and officials have also banned the use of satellite phones and radios on the mountain, and have forbidden photography at higher elevations, according to the BBC and trekking company employees in Katmandu. The trekking company employees spoke on condition of anonymity because they didn't want to alienate government officials.
Climbers are allowed occasional use of e-mail, but only under the supervision of authorities, the employees said.
Government officials declined to comment on communications restrictions.
Climbers will not be allowed to go past Everest's Camp 2 _ at 21,325 feet _ until after the Chinese finish their torch run, which is expected to take place in May. The harsh weather on Everest usually allows only two brief windows, normally lasting anywhere from a couple of days to a week, when conditions are favorable enough for a push to the summit.
There are already dozens of mountaineers on Everest for the popular spring climbing season. Climbers spend weeks acclimatizing before attempting the summit. There are even more people on Nepal's southern section of the mountain this season because the Chinese side is completely off-limits to foreign climbers.
The threat of protests on Everest comes from the thousands of Tibetan exiles who have been living in Nepal for years. They have been holding almost daily anti-China protests in front of the United Nations office and the Chinese Embassy in Katmandu.
Police broke up yet another of their protests Tuesday outside the Chinese Embassy's visa office, detaining 130 people.
They chanted "Free Tibet," "China is killer" and "China is lying" as they were taken away by policemen in vans and trucks.
The U.N. and international rights groups have criticized Nepal for using what they say is excessive force in stopping the demonstrations. Police have beaten protesters with batons and dragged them through the streets while detaining them.
2:44 PM
HONG KONG - The Olympic torch has arrived in Hong Kong after the Chinese territory deported at least seven activists who planned to protest the flame.
The torch returned to Chinese soil Wednesday after a 20-nation relay overseas.
Before the flame came to Hong Kong, authorities deported three pro-Tibet protesters after they arrived at the airport Tuesday.
Four other activists who planned to protest China's human rights record have been turned away since the weekend.
Police say about 3,000 officers will guard the flame Friday when it begins the Hong Kong leg of its relay.
SECOND NEWS
Olympic torch arrives in Hong Kong as rights fears mount
Wednesday • April 30, 2008
The Olympic torch landed in Hong Kong at the start of its journey through China Wednesday, but its arrival has raised fears over freedom of speech as protesters are barred from the city.
The torch arrived in Hong Kong International Airport from Hanoi, just 100 days ahead of the Beijing Games in August, and following its troubled journey around the world.
It will be held in an undisclosed location until Friday, when it will be run through the financial hub and then Macau before snaking its way through the Chinese mainland to the capital Beijing.
The Hong Kong leg will take in the city's spectacular Victoria Harbour and the venues for the summer's equestrian events, which will be held here.
The 120 torchbearers will include acting heartthrob Andy Lau, members of the three wealthiest tycoon families and Hong Kong's only gold medal Olympian, windsurfer Lee Lai-shan.
Friday is expected to provide the last chance for anti-China protesters -- including pro-Tibetan groups -- to target the relay, as it passes from the relatively open former British colony to the more restrictive mainland.
However, a handful of activists have been prevented from entering the city in the past few days, raising concerns that the city's much-cherished freedom of speech laws are being compromised.
"We think it is bizarre that the Hong Kong government are so oversensitive to protect the torch at the expense of people's rights," said Mak Yin-tiny, general secretary of the Hong Kong Journalists' Association after writer Zhang Yu was prevented from entering the territory on Tuesday.
Zhang, general secretary of the writers's group Independent Chinese Pen Centre and a Chinese citizen, was scheduled to address a World Press Freedom Day event that had been planned before the relay schedule was announced, Mak told AFP.
Three pro-Tibet campaigners who were planning events to coincide with the relay were also detained and then flown out of the southern Chinese city on Tuesday, the groups said in statement.
Free Tibet Campaigner Matt Whitticase, along with two members of the Students for a Free Tibet group, had planned to address reporters over major violence that broke out in Lhasa in March, sparking a clampdown by Chinese authorities.
"Denying me entry not only represents a slap in the face for the concept of 'one country, two systems', it also demonstrates yet again that China clearly has much to hide in Tibet," he said.
The relay has been dogged by activists in cities including London and Paris during its journey around the world protesting over China's crackdown in Tibet and its human rights record.
Hong Kong, a wealthy financial centre that was returned to China by colonial power Britain in 1997, has its own more liberal legal and economic arrangements under the 'one country, two systems' agreement brokered before the handover.
The latest deportations come after three people, including a Danish sculptor and rights campaigner, were barred from entering the city on Saturday.
A spokeswoman for Hong Kong's immigration department said she would not comment on individual cases, adding it had "the responsibility to uphold effective immigration control so as to ensure Hong Kong's public interest."
"The department will handle all entry applications in accordance with the law and prevailing policy and having due regard to individual circumstances," the spokeswoman said.
American actress Mia Farrow, who is pushing China to help stop violence in Sudan's conflict-riven Darfur region, is expected to arrive in Hong Kong Thursday before addressing reporters on Friday.
Farrow will give a speech entitled "Darfur and the Olympics" to the Foreign Correspondents' Club here. — AFP
2:36 PM
BEIJING (AFP) - - Police shot dead an alleged Tibetan independence "insurgent" in northwest China, state press said Wednesday, the first official admission that authorities killed anyone during recent unrest.
A policeman was also killed in the gun battle on Monday in a Tibetan populated area of Qinghai province, Xinhua news agency reported.
Tibet's government-in-exile says more than 200 people have been killed in a huge Chinese military and police crackdown on protests against China's rule of the Himalayan region that began on March 10.
Until Wednesday's report, the Chinese authorities had insisted they had not killed anyone in the crackdown and blamed Tibetan "rioters" for the deaths of 20 people.
Monday's incident occurred after police went in pursuit of the leader of a handful of "insurgents seeking Tibetan independence", Xinhua reported, citing the Qinghai public security department.
The group had tried to incite Tibetan herders in Dari County to protest on March 21, a week after major protests erupted in Tibet's capital, Lhasa, according to Xinhua.
"After a month-long investigation, the police moved on Monday to arrest the suspected leader. The suspect resisted arrest and gunfire broke out," Xinhua reported, citing the department.
"The officer was killed in the gun battle, and other officers returned fire, killing the suspect."
Xinhua identified the police officer as Lama Cedain, but did not release the name of the alleged "insurgent" who was killed.
1:51 PM
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1:49 PM
KABUL (AFP) - - Around 26 Taliban have been killed in military action in Afghanistan, officials said Monday, including a dozen when troops repelled a mass attack on several US and Afghan bases.
Australia meanwhile announced earlier it had lost a soldier in a Taliban attack in the southern province of Uruzgan on Sunday. The country is one of about 40 with troops in Afghanistan to fight back the extremist Taliban.
Between 30 and 40 insurgents attacked five bases in the eastern province of Kunar on Sunday with artillery, machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, the US-led coalition said in a statement.
The military forces responded, including with military aircraft, and a dozen insurgents were killed and a dozen more wounded, it said.
Another six rebels were killed Monday when security forces fought back a Taliban attack on a coalition and Afghan army convoy in the central province of Ghazni, provincial government spokesman Zia Wali Zadran told AFP.
Six more were killed and 18 wounded in a military operation in a different area of the same province late Sunday, Zadran said.
The coalition also announced that two insurgents were killed in the eastern province of Nangarhar on Sunday when international and Afghan troops fought back after being attacked during an operation.
A member of the Afghan security forces was also killed, it said in a statement. Four suspected insurgents were arrested. The operation was to track down a man involved in suicide attacks.
Militants had also attacked a high-profile military parade in Kabul Sunday, missing President Hamid Karzai but killing a tribal chief and a parliamentarian. A 10-year-old boy was also killed.
Authorities said Monday that investigations were continuing into the daring attack and people rounded up afterwards were being questioned.
1:48 PM
OUTSIDE GARMSER, Afghanistan - U.S. Marines in helicopters and Humvees flooded into a Taliban-held town in southern Afghanistan's most violent province early Tuesday in the first major American operation in the region in years.
Several hundred Marines, many of them veterans of the conflict in Iraq, pushed into the town of Garmser in predawn light in an operation to drive out militants, stretching NATO's presence into an area littered with poppy fields and classified as Taliban territory.
U.S. commanders say Taliban fighters have been expecting an assault and have been setting up improvised explosive devices in response. It wasn't known how much resistance the Marines would face in Garmser, where the British have a small base on the town's edge but whose main marketplace is closed because of the Taliban threat.
The assault in Helmand province _ backed by U.S. artillery in the desert and fighter aircraft in the sky _ is the first major task undertaken by the 2,300 Marines in the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which arrived last month from Camp Lejuene, North Carolina for a seven-month deployment. Another 1,200 Marines arrived to train Afghan police.
Maj. Tom Clinton, the American commander at Forward Operating Base Dwyer, a British outpost 16 kilometers (10 miles) west of Garmser, said the Taliban had undoubtedly seen the Marines moving into the area in recent days.
But he said the fact that the Marines were assaulting the town by helicopter and were moving through by foot was likely a surprise.
"There's all kinds of reports of (Taliban) commanders telling their guys to grab their stuff and get out there" to fight, said Clinton, 36, of Swampscott, Massachusetts. "It's no secret they know we're here. It's just a question of when and where" an assault would happen.
The Marines' mission is the first carried out by U.S. forces this far south in Helmand province in years. An operation late last year to take back the Taliban-held town of Musa Qala on the north end of Helmand involved U.S., British and Afghan forces.
Helmand province is the world's largest opium poppy growing region and has been a flashpoint of the increasingly violent insurgency the last two years. British troops _ who are responsible for Helmand _ have faced fierce battles on the north end of Helmand.
Most U.S. troops operate in the east, along the border with Pakistan, but Britain _ with 7,500 troops _ and Canada _ with 2,500 troops in neighboring Kandahar province _ have not had enough manpower to tame the south.
More than 8,000 people died in insurgency related violence last year. Militants set off more than 140 suicide bombs. Taliban fighters have been increasingly relying on roadside bombs and suicide attacks after being routed in force-on-force battles in the past.
"I think if it was me I'd be laying a ton of IEDs down and leaving some guys behind to shoot and run. I don't expect a lot of leaders to stay around," Clinton said of the number of fighters the Marines might face.
Marines had prepared on Monday by cleaning weapons and handing out grenades. The leader of one of three companies involved _ Charlie Company commander Capt. John Moder _ said his men were ready.
"The feeling in general is optimistic, excited," said Moder, 34, of North Kingstown, Rhode Island. "They've been training for this deployment the last nine months. We've got veteran leaders."
Many of the men in the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit served in 2006 and 2007 in Ramadi, the capital of the Anbar province in western Iraq. The vast region was once al-Qaida in Iraq's stronghold before the militants were pushed out in early 2007.
Moder said that experience would inform how his men fight in Afghanistan. "These guys saw a lot of progress in Ramadi, so they understand it's not just kinetic (war fighting) but it's reconstruction and economic development."
But on the initial assault, Moder said his men were prepared to face mines and improvised explosive devices and "anybody that wants to fight us."
One Marine in Charlie Company, Corp. Matt Gregorio, a 26-year-old from Boston, alluded to the fact the Marines have been in Afghanistan for six weeks without carrying out any missions. He said the mood was "anxious, excited."
"We've been waiting a while to get this going," he said
1:32 PM
HO CHI MINH CITY (AFP) - - Vietnam's largest city on Tuesday readied for its leg of the troubled Olympic torch relay, eager to ensure a smooth event as some activists announced peaceful anti-Chinese protests.
The Beijing Olympic flame arrived in Ho Chi Minh City late Monday from North Korea, ahead of the relay that was set to start under tight security at 6:30 pm (1130 GMT), 101 days before the start of the Games.
Some 60 runners will carry the torch from the downtown Opera House along a secret route 10 to 13 kilometres (six to eight miles) long to the Military Zone 7 Competition Hall stadium near the international airport, officials said.
The former Saigon is home to Vietnam's largest ethnic Chinese community.
Security was expected to be tight, but city officials did not announce how many police would be deployed and remained tight-lipped about other details following the detentions last week of several anti-China activists.
Pro-Tibet rallies have dogged the relay in cities including London, Paris and Canberra, but Vietnam's mostly young and nationalist activists are driven by the country's own long-simmering dispute with its northern neighbour.
Both Beijing and Hanoi are among claimants to the Spratly and Paracel island chains in the South China Sea, in a dispute that late last year triggered a series of street rallies rarely seen in Vietnam, a one-party state.
The communist leaders of Vietnam and China routinely stress their comradely ties, and Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung last week promised China's visiting Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi to stage a trouble-free torch relay.
The premier warned that "hostile forces" would seek to disrupt the event, using a standard term from the communist lexicon for pro-democracy activists.
Vietnamese police have questioned and detained some activists and Friday expelled Vietnamese-American chemical engineer Vuong Hoang Minh, who was caught with T-shirts bearing slogans including "A Gold Medal for Oppression."
Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders on Wednesday called on Vietnam to free blogger Nguyen Hoang Hai, a member of the online Union of Independent Journalists, who Vietnamese state media said was detained for tax evasion.
The small but vocal Vietnamese political activist community, based both inside the country and overseas, has made no secret of its plans to stage non-violent rallies in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi.
Taiwan-based architecture student Le Trung Thanh, who uses the weblog name "Blacky," wrote an open letter to Dung last week, announcing plans for a protest and asking for police "to ensure order and the safety of protesters."
"If we keep silent, it means we agree to lose Hoang Sa and Truong Sa" he wrote, using the respective Vietnamese names for the Paracels and Spratlys, rocky island chains that have stirred strong passions in Vietnam.
Hundreds of youths took to the streets outside Chinese diplomatic missions here in December, in small protests that Vietnam briefly tolerated before deploying thousands of riot police in coming weeks to prevent repeat rallies.
Vietnam was ruled as a southern vassal state by China for about a millennium and was then repeatedly invaded by successive dynasties.
Most Vietnamese folk heroes are leaders who fought back northern invaders.
China and Vietnam fought their last border war in 1979, but the leaders in Hanoi and Beijing, two of the world's five remaining communist governments, have since normalised relations and become strong economic partners.
1:30 PM
Vietnam's largest city on Tuesday readied for its leg of the troubled Olympic torch relay, eager to ensure a smooth event as some activists announced peaceful anti-Chinese protests.
The Beijing Olympic flame arrived in Ho Chi Minh City late Monday from North Korea, ahead of the relay that was set to start under tight security at 6:30 pm (1130 GMT), 101 days before the start of the Games.
Some 60 runners will carry the torch from the downtown Opera House along a secret route 10 to 13 kilometres (six to eight miles) long to the Military Zone 7 Competition Hall stadium near the international airport, officials said.
The former Saigon is home to Vietnam's largest ethnic Chinese community.
Security was expected to be tight, but city officials did not announce how many police would be deployed and remained tight-lipped about other details following the detentions last week of several anti-China activists.
Pro-Tibet rallies have dogged the relay in cities including London, Paris and Canberra, but Vietnam's mostly young and nationalist activists are driven by the country's own long-simmering dispute with its northern neighbour.
Both Beijing and Hanoi are among claimants to the Spratly and Paracel island chains in the South China Sea, in a dispute that late last year triggered a series of street rallies rarely seen in Vietnam, a one-party state.
The communist leaders of Vietnam and China routinely stress their comradely ties, and Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung last week promised China's visiting Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi to stage a trouble-free torch relay.
The premier warned that "hostile forces" would seek to disrupt the event, using a standard term from the communist lexicon for pro-democracy activists.
Vietnamese police have questioned and detained some activists and Friday expelled Vietnamese-American chemical engineer Vuong Hoang Minh, who was caught with T-shirts bearing slogans including "A Gold Medal for Oppression."
Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders on Wednesday called on Vietnam to free blogger Nguyen Hoang Hai, a member of the online Union of Independent Journalists, who Vietnamese state media said was detained for tax evasion.
The small but vocal Vietnamese political activist community, based both inside the country and overseas, has made no secret of its plans to stage non-violent rallies in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi.
Taiwan-based architecture student Le Trung Thanh, who uses the weblog name "Blacky," wrote an open letter to Dung last week, announcing plans for a protest and asking for police "to ensure order and the safety of protesters."
"If we keep silent, it means we agree to lose Hoang Sa and Truong Sa" he wrote, using the respective Vietnamese names for the Paracels and Spratlys, rocky island chains that have stirred strong passions in Vietnam.
Hundreds of youths took to the streets outside Chinese diplomatic missions here in December, in small protests that Vietnam briefly tolerated before deploying thousands of riot police in coming weeks to prevent repeat rallies.
Vietnam was ruled as a southern vassal state by China for about a millennium and was then repeatedly invaded by successive dynasties.
Most Vietnamese folk heroes are leaders who fought back northern invaders.
China and Vietnam fought their last border war in 1979, but the leaders in Hanoi and Beijing, two of the world's five remaining communist governments, have since normalised relations and become strong economic partners. — AFP
3:03 PM
BAGHDAD (AFP) - - Fierce clashes between Shiite militiamen and US and Iraqi forces in eastern Baghdad killed at least 38 people, including 22 who died when a US tank fired on attackers, the American military said Monday.
Others died when troops responded after they were attacked with small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades in Sadr City, the Baghdad bastion of the Mahdi Army militia of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, statements issued Monday said.
The major attack on the checkpoint was carried out by "a large group of criminals engaging with small-arms fire" at around 6.35 pm (1535 GMT) on Sunday.
"US soldiers used 120 mm fire from M1A12 Abrams tanks and small arms fire to kill the 22 criminals, forcing remaining enemy forces present to retreat," the military said.
"The criminals' small arms fire was ineffective and there were no US soldier or Iraqi security force casualties in the attack."
The latest deaths bring to at least 439 the number of militiamen and civilians killed in a month of clashes in Sadr City, where violence erupted after Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki ordered a countrywide crackdown on militias, starting in the southern oil city of Basra.
At least 15 US soldiers have died in Baghdad since the clashes began.
2:56 PM
BEIJING, China – Recent demonstrations along the torch relay route and reports of disrupted plots to attack the Beijing Olympics have made the issue of safety and security at the event an even greater priority not just for China, but for all athletes and visitors, Secretary General Ronald K. Noble today told the International Conference on Security Co-operation for the Olympic Games.
Speaking in Beijing at the final conference on security preparations for the Games before they begin in August, Secretary General Noble said INTERPOL and its 186 member countries remained committed to helping the Chinese authorities ensure the Beijing Summer Olympics pass as safely as possible.
2:47 PM
PESHAWAR - PAKISTAN on Monday released an ailing pro-Taleban leader who sent thousands of fighters against the US-led invasion of Afghanistan, and swiftly signed a peace pact with his hardline group, officials said.
The freeing of Sufi Muhammad and the subsequent deal was the most significant move yet by the new government to broker peace with Islamic militants along the volatile frontier.
It marked a break from President Pervez Musharraf's policy of using force.
Muhammad, believed to be in his 70s, is the father-in-law of the current militant leader in Pakistan's northwestern Swat Valley which fell into the hands of Islamists last year, prompting a bloody army operation to wrest it back.
However it was not immediately clear if Mullah Fazlullah had agreed to lay down arms as a result of the pact.
Fazlullah's spokesman could not be reached for comment late on Monday, and experts expressed doubt that the younger militant leader, reportedly at odds with Muhammad, would change his ways.
British FM backs talks with Pakistan militants
ISLAMABAD - BRITISH Foreign Secretary David Miliband on Monday backed the new Pakistani government's talks with militants, but added that there should only be reconciliation with those who renounce violence.
Mr Miliband arrived on a two-day official visit to Pakistan on Sunday and has met President Pervez Musharraf, new premier Yousaf Raza Gilani and top officials in North West Frontier Province bordering Afghanistan.
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'I think Maulana Fazlullah will continue with whatever he is doing,' said Mr Mehmood Shah, former security chief for Pakistan's tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.
Muhammad founded the Tehrik Nifaz-e-Sharia Mohammed - or Movement for the Enforcement of Islamic Law - which sent thousands of volunteers to fight in Afghanistan against the US-led invasion that toppled the Taliban regime in 2001.
Mr Musharraf outlawed the group in early 2002. Muhammad was arrested as he returned to Pakistan then sentenced in November 2002 on a weapons charge.
The deaths of many of his followers in the Afghan fighting hurt Muhammad's popularity. The group resurfaced under the leadership of Fazlullah, who won a large following through firebrand preaching over an illegal FM radio station but alienated people by resorting to violence.
Peace pact
Provincial government spokesman Faridullah Khan said the peace pact was signed on Monday evening by Muhammad's deputy and eight other clerics, and four officials, including three provincial government ministers.
Under the six-point agreement, which covers Swat and neighboring districts, Muhammad's group renounces attacks on the government but can peacefully seek the implementation of Shariah, or Islamic law.
Under one clause, the agreement says the government has the right to 'act against' militants who attack the government.
The pact was announced hours after the government released Muhammad from hospital in Peshawar where he had spent the last five months of his detention because of poor health.
He left under police escort, accompanied by followers wearing black turbans who shielded his face - apparently to prevent him being photographed. He later met with the province's chief minister.
The federal government, led by the party of slain premier Benazir Bhutto, which won power in February elections, and the allied administration in North West Frontier Province led by a Pashtun nationalist party, wants to use a combination of dialogue and development to curb the militancy that has exploded in the region over the past year.
That marks a shift from the more aggressive approach that Mr Musharraf's military regime took with US support since Pakistan joined the war on terror after the Sept 11 attacks.
Western nations have voiced support for dialogue if the militants renounce violence, but the release of Muhammad could cause some unease.
Officials at the US Embassy in Islamabad could not be immediately reached for comment late on Monday.
Military not involved in government's decision
Pakistan army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said on Monday the military was not involved in the government's decision to release Muhammad and no decision has been made to withdraw the army from Swat.
He said 90 per cent of the valley was peaceful, but that the army was still conducting occasional search operations against militant holdouts and had recently set up a checkpoint at Fazlullah's former headquarters to stop followers from slipping back in the area.
Fazlullah's spokesman has previously said hostilities would cease if Shariah was adopted and the government released Muhammad.
Fazlullah tapped into popular frustration over official corruption and failings in the justice system. His group wants a Taleban-like system in Pakistan, including compulsory beards for men, mandatory veils for women and the outlawing of music and television.
His dispute with the government is seen as less intractable than that of Taleban fighters in the tribal regions of Waziristan, where US officials believe al-Qaeda leaders are hiding.
Mr Talat Masood, a retired general and security analyst, said the deal with Muhammad demonstrated the new government's willingness to try dialogue with militants, and could increase pressure on Fazlullah and others to eschew violence and seek peace.
'But it's a long way before you can make any judgment as to whether this is a success,' he said, noting that previous peace efforts with Taleban militants have failed.
'We have to see ... to what extent both parties are going to abide by the agreement and whether the militants use this period to consolidate,' he said.
In a sign of continuing insecurity, Pakistani security forces clashed on Monday with gunmen to recover two UN employees who were kidnapped on a key road linking Pakistan to Afghanistan.
One paramilitary soldier was killed and four were wounded in the fighting in Khyber tribal region, said Mohammed Iqbal, a local government official. The two employees of the World Food Programme, both Pakistanis, escaped unharmed, he said.
Pakistan's ambassador to Afghanistan was abducted in the same region on Feb 11 as he headed by road to Kabul.
The ambassador, Tariq Azizuddin, appeared on a video aired on Saturday on Al-Arabiya television saying he was kidnapped by Taleban militants, and urging the government of Pakistan to take steps for his release.
1:23 PM
SEOUL (AFP) - - After a troubled worldwide trip the Beijing Olympic torch Monday began its journey through the capital of communist North Korea, where thousands were mobilised to show support for close ally China.
TV footage showed crowds dressed in their best clothes packing the streets of Pyongyang as the torch began its 20-kilometre (12 mile) relay route. It was the first time the Olympic flame had been carried in North Korea.
In some other cities, the relay has sparked rowdy protests against China's policies on Tibet and other issues, but North Korea clamps down sharply on any dissent and the Pyongyang leg was guaranteed to run smoothly.
Reclusive leader Kim Jong-Il was absent from the launch ceremony at the Tower of the Juche Idea -- named after the impoverished state's guiding ideology of juche or self-reliance.
De facto head of state Kim Yong-Nam handed the torch to the first runner, a hero of one of the nation's greatest sporting triumphs.
"I am very honoured to have been chosen for this at my advanced age," Japan's Kyodo news agency quoted Pak Du-Ik, 71, as saying on Sunday.
Pak was a key member of the country's football team which advanced to the 1966 World Cup quarter-finals.
The torch has been dogged by demonstrators since the Olympic flame was lit last month, with critics of China's military crackdown in Tibet and its human rights record severely disrupting the Paris and London legs of the relay.
Organisers in many other countries have been forced to surround the torch with unprecedented security to ensure a smooth passage.
North Korea had earlier promised to "astonish the world" with its handling of the relay and criticised the overseas protests.
Radio Pyongyang on Monday slammed the demonstrations as "an open challenge to the spirit and charter of the Olympics," according to Seoul's Yonhap news agency.
During the South Korean leg Sunday, demonstrators including North Korean defectors staged protests against China's forced repatriation of refugees from the North.
There were sporadic clashes in Seoul between protesters and thousands of Chinese students.
China sends back all those North Koreans it catches as economic migrants, a policy strongly criticised by rights groups. Refugees face severe punishment, or even a death sentence in some cases, on their return.
In Pyongyang, men in dark suits and women in traditional hanbok gowns waved artificial bunches of kimjongilia, a national flower named after the leader, as the relay got under way at 10:15 am.
Banners reading "Beijing 2008" were hung on both sides of the route.
A total of 80 people were due to carry the torch along the route, which ends at Kim Il-Sung Stadium at around 3:00 pm (0600 GMT).
Official media has said they include "officials of merit," famous athletes, working people, overseas Koreans and foreign residents.
Kyodo said almost three-quarters of the runners are North Koreans and the rest are Chinese nationals, including ambassador Liu Xiaoming.
The torch had arrived in North Korea early Monday by chartered plane direct from Seoul, to a welcome from nearly 1,000 locals and Chinese students.
The flame will be taken to Vietnam after North Korea and then to Hong Kong and Macau, before starting the final leg of the relay in mainland China.
1:22 PM
PYONGYANG, North Korea - The Olympic torch held its first-ever run Monday in authoritarian North Korea, where the flame was assured of a trip free of the anti-Chinese protests that marked other legs of the relay.
An attentive and peaceful crowd of thousands watched the start of the relay in Pyongyang, some waving Chinese flags, in live footage from broadcaster APTN. The event was presided over by the head of the country's rubber-stamp parliament who often acts as a ceremonial state leader, Kim Yong Nam.
The North, an ally of communist neighbor China, has been critical of disruptions to the torch relay elsewhere and has supported Beijing in its crackdown against violent protests in Tibet. North Korea is one of the world's most tightly controlled countries, where citizens are not allowed to travel freely and civil rights are restricted by the iron-fisted regime.
Kim passed the torch to the first runner Pak Du Ik, who played on North Korea's 1966 World Cup soccer team that made a historic run to the quarterfinals. As he began the 20-kilometer (12-mile) route through Pyongyang, thousands more cheering people lined city streets waving pink paper flowers and small flags with the Beijing Olympics logo.
The relay began from beneath the large sculpted flame that tops the obelisk of the Juche Tower, which commemorates the national ideology of "self-reliance" created by the country's late founding President Kim Il Sung, father of current leader Kim Jong Il. The younger Kim was not seen at the event.
The U.N. children's agency UNICEF had been asked to participate in the North Korean leg of the relay but withdrew in March, saying that it wasn't sure the event would help its mission of raising awareness of conditions for children.
The North's children are often the most at-risk for starvation in the regular food shortages that plague the country. The problem is expected to be more severe this year due to poor harvests caused by massive floods last summer that wiped out large swaths of the country's most productive farmland.
The torch arrived earlier Monday in North Korea by plane from rival South Korea, where China's treatment of North Korean refugees sparked protests against the relay.
On Sunday, clashes broke out in Seoul near the relay start between a group of 500 Chinese supporters and about 50 demonstrators criticizing Beijing's policies, carrying a banner reading, "Free North Korean refugees in China." The students threw stones and water bottles as some 2,500 police tried to keep the two sides apart.
One Chinese student swatted at the demonstrators with a flagpole. Another student was arrested for allegedly throwing rocks, police said.
South Korea's Deputy Foreign Minister Lee Yong-joon expressed strong regret over the clashes in a meeting Monday with China's ambassador to Seoul, Ning Fukui.
Ning also said he regretted the "extreme behavior" by some young Chinese and expressed his condolences to police and a journalist who was injured, the South's Foreign Ministry said.
Police said four other people were arrested for trying to disrupt the relay
Authorities deployed some 8,000 police _ some riding horses and bicycles _ to protect the torch.
One North Korean defector poured gasoline on himself in the middle of a street along the route and tried to set himself on fire, but police quickly surrounded him and carried him away. The man, 45-year-old Son Jong Hoon, had led an unsuccessful public campaign to save his brother from execution in the North, where he was accused of spying after the two met secretly in China
1:20 PM
SEOUL, South Korea - Chinese students clashed with anti-Beijing demonstrators at the Olympic torch relay Sunday in Seoul, throwing rocks and punches at the latest troubled stop on the flame's round-the-world journey.
Thousands of police guarded the torch from protesters blasting China's treatment of North Korean refugees. Nonetheless, a North Korean defector tried to set himself on fire to halt the relay.
The small groups of anti-torch demonstrators were far outnumbered by seas of red-clad Chinese supporters waving red national flags, who took to the streets of the South Korean capital to defend the torch.
Police deployed 8,000 officers, some running beside the flame while others rode horses and bicycles with the relay through the 1988 Olympics' host city.
On other legs of the torch relay, it was China's crackdown on violent protests against Chinese rule in Tibet that triggered attempts to disrupt the run heralding the August games. But in South Korea, many critics focused on Beijing's treatment of defectors who try to escape their lives of hardship in the North.
Thousands of North Koreans have fled across the loosely controlled Chinese border and many remain in hiding in China. If caught, they are deported by Chinese authorities and face likely imprisonment in life-threatening conditions back in the North.
The man who tried to immolate himself, 45-year-old Son Jong Hoon, had led an unsuccessful public campaign to save his brother from execution in the North, where he was accused of spying after the two met secretly in China. About an hour into the relay, Son poured gasoline on himself in the middle of a street, but police quickly surrounded him and carried him away before he could set himself alight.
Two other demonstrators tried to storm the torch to interrupt the relay but failed to hinder its 24-kilometer (15-mile) trip from Olympic Park _ built in honor of the 1988 Summer Games _ to City Hall.
Police said five people, including a Chinese student, were arrested.
Scuffles broke out near the relay start between a group of 500 Chinese supporters and about 50 demonstrators criticizing Beijing's policies. The demonstrators carried a banner reading, "Free North Korean refugees in China." The students threw stones and water bottles as some 2,500 police tried to keep the two sides apart.
One Chinese student swatted at the demonstrators with a flagpole. Another student was arrested for allegedly throwing rocks, said an official at a police station near Olympic Park. The official asked not to be named because the probe was under way.
"The Olympics are not a political issue," said Sun Cheng, 22, a Chinese student studying the Korean language in Seoul. "I can't understand why the Korean activist groups are protesting human rights or other diplomatic issues."
Thousands of Chinese paced the torch on the 4 1/2-hour-long relay, some chanting, "Go China, go Olympics!"
Before the relay, two South Koreans who had been chosen to run said they would boycott it to protest China's actions in Tibet.
The torch arrived in Seoul from Japan, where Chinese supporters also outnumbered protesters who failed to disrupt the run.
After Seoul, the torch was scheduled to make its first-ever trip to North Korea for a relay Monday. Disruptions were not expected in the North, an authoritarian state that tolerates no dissent.
Officials from North Korea's Olympic Committee, the Pyongyang city vice mayor, and the Chinese ambassador to Pyongyang were at the airport early Monday to greet the torch's arrival, broadcaster APTN reported. A 12.4-mile (20-kilometer) relay will take place in the streets of Pyongyang on Monday.
1:19 PM
SEOUL, South Korea - The Olympic torch began its latest relay leg Sunday through the South Korean capital, where activists demanding that Beijing respect the rights of North Korean refugees in China vowed to disrupt the event.
One protester rushed at the torch shortly after the run began from Seoul's Olympic Park, built to commemorate the 1988 Summer Games here. He tried to unfurl a banner calling for better treatment of North Koreans in China, but before he got near the flame he was quickly whisked away by dozens of police surrounding the torch.
Some 8,000 officers were deployed across the city to guard the torch on its 24-kilometer (15-mile) run to City Hall.
The first runner _ Kim Kung-kil, head of the South's Korean Olympic Committee _ jogged out of the park surrounded by police on horseback, riding bicycles, in buses and jogging alongside him.
Hundreds of Chinese also paced the torch. They carried a large red national flag and some wore red clothes, and they chanted "Go China, go Olympics!"
Near the park as the relay began, minor scuffles broke out between a group of several hundred Chinese students and about 50 demonstrators criticizing Beijing's policies. The students threw stones and water bottles at the others as police tried to keep them apart.
No injuries or arrests were reported.
Demonstrations are common in South Korea. Police have gained experience in corralling large crowds in events from the 1980s pro-democracy movement to recent protests against a free-trade agreement with the United States.
Han Chang Kwon, head of a coalition of groups representing North Korean defectors in the South, decried Beijing's policy of deporting North Koreans caught fleeing their impoverished homeland and said activists would try to hinder the torch relay.
"While trying to improve its image with the Olympics, (China) keeps sending defectors to the North knowing they would be executed or sent to political prisons," Han said.
Two South Koreans who had been chosen to run in the torch relay said they would boycott the event to protest China's recent crackdown on violent protests against Chinese rule in Tibet.
The torch arrived in Seoul from Nagano, Japan, site of the 1998 Winter Games. Although there were some minor attempts to halt the run, anti-torch demonstrators were outnumbered by Chinese boosters.
After Seoul the torch was scheduled to be flown to North Korea for its first-ever run in the communist country Monday. The North is an authoritarian state that tolerates no dissent, and no disruptions were expected there.
12:02 PM
Thousands deploy ahead of Olympic torch relay in Seoul
SEOUL - THOUSANDS of riot police deployed for the South Korean leg of the Olympic torch relay on Sunday, as activists vowed to block the route to protest China's actions in Tibet and repatriation of North Korean refugees.
Police said they began posting some 8,300 officers along the 24-kilometre relay route from Olympic Park to City Hall in central Seoul. The relay is to start at 2.00pm (1pm Singapore time) and end at 7.00 pm (6pm Singapore time).
The tight security includes 20 police officers on bicycles and 120 police runners who will surround the Olympic flame, backed by officers on motorcycles, and in cars and helicopters.
A coalition of 63 rights, religious and conservative groups have said thousands are expected to take to the streets in protest.
'Police will maintain watertight security to make sure that everything goes smoothly,' a senior official handling the security said on Sunday.
'Police will immediately arrest anyone who tries to stop or disrupt the Olympic torch relay. We will deal sternly with such cases.'
The flame arrived at Seoul's Incheon airport early Sunday, amid tight security. No disruption was reported with hundreds of police at the airport.
The torch landed from Japan where protesters hurled rubbish and flares during its run on Saturday and brawled with Chinese supporters. At least four people were injured in the scuffles in the mountain resort of Nagano.
Earlier legs were also hit by protests, particularly in London and Paris, angering China which had hoped the worldwide relay would be symbolic of its rising status and pride in hosting the August Games.
Activists protesting against China's crackdown in Tibet and its policy of repatriating North Korean refugees have promised similar scenes in South Korea.
N. Korean defectors plan to disrupt
North Korean defectors plan to block bridges over the broad Han River, which the runners are scheduled to use. 'We're going to try to stop the relay at all costs,' Han Chang Kwon, who represents a defectors' group, said Friday.
'We have prepared several units of defectors who will desperately try to stop the progress of the relay when it crosses one of the main bridges.'
Human Rights Watch, a US-based rights group, said Seoul should use the occasion to urge Beijing to change its policy of repatriating North Korean refugees, who can face harsh punishment or even death on their return.
Many of the thousands of Chinese studying or working in South Korea also plan to turn out but they will welcome the torch, said Liu Yen of the Chinese Resident's Association Seoul Korea.
'We'll hold welcoming placards high and wave our national flags,' she told Yonhap news agency on Friday.
Saturday rally
Dozens of activists rallied on Saturday near Olympic Park ahead of the relay.
'We're going to try to stop the relay,' said refugee Choi Hye Jeong, who tearfully added she was tortured by North Korean authorities when Chinese officials forced her to return to her country several years ago.
'I get enraged every time I think of what they did to me. I won't let this relay happen as planned,' she told Yonhap.
Human rights lawyer Kim Sang-Chul said China has repatriated some 75,000 North Koreans over the last 15 years and vowed to stop the torch.
'China tries to promote itself as a civilised nation but what it's doing to the defectors is uncivilised,' he said.
The torch heads late on Sunday to North Korea, a close ally of China that has strongly criticised the overseas protests.
11:51 AM
Olympic torch bearers dashed past sporadic protests Saturday as heavy security marked the Japanese leg of the world relay _ streets lined by thousands of riot police and monitored by helicopters overhead.
Police guards in track suits surrounded the torch bearers and another 100 uniformed riot police trotted alongside six patrol cars and two motorcycles. They were backed up by thousands of other police.
Japanese officials said the high security was unavoidable, but it dissipated any festive mood in Nagano, which hosted the 1998 Winter Games.
Minor scuffling and protests broke out during the event.
Three men were arrested separately during the relay, each trying to charge the torch, and a fourth man was apprehended later after throwing eggs at a torch runner. A fifth hurled tomatoes at the flame. All were pounced on by police, police officials Akiko Fuseya and Chihiro Usui said.
National broadcaster NHK reported a smoke-emitting tube was thrown at the relay, but without effect. Marchers yelling "Free Tibet" crowded the streets near the route. And four people were slightly injured in different scuffles, fire officials said.
The starting point _ a last-minute substitution after a Buddhist temple pulled out _ was closed to the public, as were all rest stops along the way.
The relay leg ended at a Nagano park much as it had traversed the mountain resort _ amid a sea of both Chinese supporters and pro-Tibet demonstrators.
"I'm so glad that I could safely light up the cauldron," said marathon gold medalist Mizuki Noguchi, the final torch runner. "I ran as I wished for the success of the Beijing Olympics and peace."
The relay, making its 16th international stop, has been disrupted by protests or conducted under extremely heavy security at many sites since it left Greece.
The protests are largely in response to China's crackdown last month on protests in Tibet, which it has governed since the 1950s, and to demonstrate against China's human rights record.
The international route ends next week, with stops in South Korea on Sunday, North Korea on Monday and Vietnam on Tuesday. The flame arrives on Chinese soil on Wednesday in Hong Kong, for a long journey around the country before the Aug. 8 start of the games.
Japan took severe measures to ensure its 11.6-mile relay went smoothly.
But groups including Amnesty International and Reporters Without Borders planned to protest peacefully throughout the day. About 2,000 Chinese exchange students, meanwhile, swarmed Nagano to show their support.
"I hope there won't be any more problems. The Olympics are supposed to be about international unity," said Gao Rui, who came with his family waving Chinese flags.
Several hundred more, divided into pro-China and pro-Tibet factions, rallied in front of the train station. Some marchers yelled "Free Tibet" and waved Tibetan flags, crowding the streets along the route.
"I came from Tokyo to show my support for Tibet," said Toru Watanabe. "I'm glad it was peaceful, but it was impossible to see the torch."
Coinciding with the start of the relay, which began under a light rain, a prayer vigil was held at the largest Buddhist temple in Nagano, Zenkoji.
The 1,400-year-old temple, which was the showcase of the 1998 Olympics, last week declined to host the start of the relay, citing security concerns and sympathy among monks and worshippers for their Buddhist brethren in Tibet
11:48 AM
North Korean defectors vowed Saturday to disrupt the South Korean leg of the Olympic torch relay in protest of China's repatriation of refugees to the North where they could face execution.
The demonstration would add to the chorus of protests that has dogged the torch's global tour, focusing attention on unrest in Tibetan areas of China and Beijing's human rights record.
Han Chang Kwon, head of a coalition of groups representing North Korean defectors in South Korea, told The Associated Press that the protest at the Seoul relay on Sunday could become violent. He did not elaborate.
The flame was set to arrive in Seoul early Sunday from Japan and head to Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, on Monday.
Han said the defectors in South Korea were "boiling with anger" because some who escaped to China from the North had been repatriated, adding that he hoped the protest would give North Korean leader Kim Jong Il "a stroke."
"While trying to improve its image with the Olympics, it (China) keeps sending defectors to the North knowing they will be executed or sent to political prisons," Han said.
A South Korean aid group, Good Friends, claimed last month that the North executed 15 people in February for attempting to flee or helping others escape the country, and the Amnesty International urged Pyongyang to halt such summary executions.
North Korea has never acknowledged the practice, claiming any allegations of human rights abuses in the country are groundless and part of a U.S. attempt to overthrow the regime.
Police officials have said they will arrest anyone who tries to interrupt the torch relay, which will follow a 15-mile route from the Olympic Park in southern Seoul to City Hall.
They also plan to dispatch some 8,000 riot police to guard the flame, while deploying some 100 officers with marathon-running experience to run next to the torch in shifts.
The U.S. Embassy has advised its citizens to stay away from the route to avoid possible clashes.
Thousands of North Koreans are believed to be hiding in China after fleeing their homeland. On Friday, U.S.-based rights group Human Rights Watch urged South Korea to pay more attention to their plight.
On Saturday, heavy security and a large contingent of pro-China supporters thwarted protesters who tried to disrupt the Japanese leg of the Olympic torch relay in Nagano.
Five men were arrested, in all. Three were apprehended after trying to charge the torch, the fourth threw eggs and the fifth hurled tomatoes at the flame.
The international route ends next week, when the flame arrives in Hong Kong on Wednesday. It will then travel throughout China ahead of the Aug. 8 start of the games.
The relay, the longest in Olympic history, has been a lightning rod for anti-China protests, largely in response to China's crackdown last month on anti-government riots in Tibet, which it has governed since the 1950s.
North Korea, which tolerates no dissent, has vowed to make its leg of the relay the most secure and smooth.
China is the North's only major ally and provides its impoverished neighbor with food and energy aid
11:23 PM
N.Korean defectors vow to disrupt SKorea Olympic torch relay
SEOUL, South Korea - North Korean defectors vowed Saturday to disrupt the South Korean leg of the Olympic torch relay in protest of China's repatriation of refugees to the North where they could face execution.
The demonstration would add to the chorus of protests that has dogged the torch's global tour, focusing attention on unrest in Tibetan areas of China and Beijing's human rights record.
Han Chang Kwon, head of a coalition of groups representing North Korean defectors in South Korea, told The Associated Press that the protest at the Seoul relay on Sunday could become violent. He did not elaborate.
The flame was set to arrive in Seoul early Sunday from Japan and head to Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, on Monday.
Han said the defectors in South Korea were "boiling with anger" because some who escaped to China from the North had been repatriated, adding that he hoped the protest would give North Korean leader Kim Jong Il "a stroke."
"While trying to improve its image with the Olympics, it (China) keeps sending defectors to the North knowing they will be executed or sent to political prisons," Han said.
A South Korean aid group, Good Friends, claimed last month that the North executed 15 people in February for attempting to flee or helping others escape the country, and the Amnesty International urged Pyongyang to halt such summary executions.
North Korea has never acknowledged the practice, claiming any allegations of human rights abuses in the country are groundless and part of a U.S. attempt to overthrow the regime.
Police officials have said they will arrest anyone who tries to interrupt the torch relay, which will follow a 15-mile route from the Olympic Park in southern Seoul to City Hall.
They also plan to dispatch some 8,000 riot police to guard the flame, while deploying some 100 officers with marathon-running experience to run next to the torch in shifts.
The U.S. Embassy has advised its citizens to stay away from the route to avoid possible clashes.
Thousands of North Koreans are believed to be hiding in China after fleeing their homeland. On Friday, U.S.-based rights group Human Rights Watch urged South Korea to pay more attention to their plight.
On Saturday, heavy security and a large contingent of pro-China supporters thwarted protesters who tried to disrupt the Japanese leg of the Olympic torch relay in Nagano.
Five men were arrested, in all. Three were apprehended after trying to charge the torch, the fourth threw eggs and the fifth hurled tomatoes at the flame.
The international route ends next week, when the flame arrives in Hong Kong on Wednesday. It will then travel throughout China ahead of the Aug. 8 start of the games.
The relay, the longest in Olympic history, has been a lightning rod for anti-China protests, largely in response to China's crackdown last month on anti-government riots in Tibet, which it has governed since the 1950s.
North Korea, which tolerates no dissent, has vowed to make its leg of the relay the most secure and smooth.
China is the North's only major ally and provides its impoverished neighbor with food and energy aid.
10:59 PM
The teenage daughter of a Hamas chief was killed and eight people wounded in a dawn Israeli air raid on the Gaza Strip, Palestinian health officials and Hamas said on Saturday.
Maryam Talaat Maruf, 14, died when a missile hit her house in Beit Lahiya, north of Gaza City and the eight others wounded, the sources said.
Hamas, which controls Gaza, said "Israeli forces Saturday killed the daughter of Talaat Maruf," a leader of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the armed branch of the Islamist movement.
Witnesses said Maruf and his brother Hassan were detained by Israeli soldiers who entered the area supported by tanks.
An Israeli military spokeswoman said "the air force launched two raids on Saturday morning against armed elements in the northern Gaza Strip ... There were also exchanges of fire, but none of our people were hit."
Overnight, two members of Islamic Jihad were seriously wounded in another Israeli air strike on northern Gaza, the militant movement said.
At least 437 people, most of them Palestinian, have been killed since peace talks between the Israelis and Palestinians were resumed at a US-sponsored talks in November, according to an AFP count
11:18 AM
China's Olympic torch relay ignited more protests on its troubled world tour Friday, sparking demonstrations across this Japanese city despite the mobilization of thousands of riot police.
Dozens of demonstrators waved Tibetan flags protested as the flame arrived, and one self-proclaimed monk was arrested near the starting point of Saturday's relay. Reports said the man had a knife and was carrying a protest statement.
The relay _ making its 16th international stop _ has been disrupted by protests or conducted under extremely heavy security at many sites since it left Greece.
The protests are largely in response to China's crackdown last month on protests in Tibet, which it has governed since the 1950s, and to concerns over human rights issues in China.
The international route ends next week, with stops in South Korea on Sunday, North Korea on Monday and Vietnam on Tuesday. The flame arrives on Chinese soil on May 2 in Hong Kong, for a long journey around the country before the Aug. 8 start of the games.
Japan has taken severe measures to ensure its 11.6-mile relay goes smoothly. Buses full of riot police patrolled the city, while helicopters buzzed in the air.
Five police guards in track suits will surround the runners, and 100 uniformed riot police will trot alongside. The vacant lot where the relay will begin _ a last-minute substitution after a Buddhist temple pulled out _ will be closed to the public, as will be all rest stops along the way.
After arriving in Nagano by bus early Friday, the flame was spirited away to a hotel and put under heavy security. About 3,000 police have been mobilized.
Japanese officials said the security was unavoidable, and called for calm.
"In a festive environment where everyone can celebrate, we hope the Olympic torch relay will proceed smoothly," Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura said in Tokyo.
But the high-profile police presence has dissipated any festive mood in Nagano, which hosted the 1998 Winter Games.
"I have nothing against the relay itself, it's all the other stuff that is bothersome," said Hirotoshi Mizugami. "It will cause a lot of traffic jams and disrupt things here; they could have just as easily done it in Tokyo where they are better prepared for this sort of thing."
Groups including Amnesty International and Reporters Without Borders have announced plans to protest. About 2,000 Chinese exchange students were expected to show their support.
Zenkoji, the largest Buddhist temple in Nagano, last week declined to host the start of the relay, citing security concerns and sympathy among monks and worshippers for their religious brethren in Tibet. The 1,400-year-old temple also said it would co-host a prayer ritual for Tibet at the start of the relay.
The problems with the torch relay and reports of foiled terrorist plots in China have raised larger concerns of violence during the Beijing Games, the head of Interpol said Friday.
Ronald Noble told an international security conference that potential attacks could involve efforts to block transportation routes, interfere with competitions, assault athletes or destroy property during the Olympics.
In Vietnam, authorities expelled an American citizen of Vietnamese origin who planned to disrupt the relay there, state media reported. Vuong Hoang Minh, 34, was put on a flight to the U.S. on Thursday, the Vietnam News Agency said. It said Minh told authorities he planned to snatch the torch.
11:17 AM
Thousands of Chinese supporters and Japanese nationalists scuffled Saturday, injuring one Chinese student, as the Olympic torch ran through here on its troubled worldwide relay.
The streets of the central mountain town of Nagano were a sea of red Chinese national flags interspersed with dozens of large Tibetan flags, for the latest leg of the relay which has been marred by anti-Beijing protests.
Some right-wing groups waved Japan's old imperial flag and shouted, "Chinese, go home!"
One Chinese student at the rally suffered a cut to his forehead in a scuffle with Japanese nationalists. He was taken to a hospital but his injuries were not serious, a fire department official said.
The relay was briefly stopped as nationalists threw objects that media reports said were flares. Police immediately sealed off the area as furious Chinese shouted, "Arrest them! Arrest them!"
At another point, police tackled down one person who tried to jump into the road and seize the torch.
"At first I didn't think I would come here as I didn't have the time or money," said Xin Xin, a 24-year-old Chinese student wearing a Chinese flag.
"But many things happened this past week. We had to come here to support the Olympic games in China," he said.
The torch relay has been dogged by demonstrations against China's rule in Tibet and its human rights record, protests that have outraged China, which had hoped to make the Games a symbol of their nation's rising international clout.
China, under intense international pressure for dialogue over Tibet, announced Friday it would meet envoys of the Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, in the first talks since violence erupted there last month.
The Nagano leg kicked off in a parking lot rather than a celebrated Buddhist temple, which withdrew as the starting point in a protest over China's crackdown in predominantly Buddhist Tibet.
The Zenkoji temple instead held a prayer ceremony to mourn both Chinese and Tibetans killed in the recent unrest. Some 300 people prayed in silence as 20 orange-robed monks read out the names of victims and hit a gong.
Senichi Hoshino, head coach of Japan's Olympic baseball team, was the first of 80 runners to set off on the 18.7-kilometre (11.5-mile), four-hour relay, accompanied by two lines of Japanese police.
In keeping with Japanese government requests, only two Chinese guards were accompanying the torch. China has specially trained a crack squad to guard the flame, but their brusque treatment of demonstrators has caused controversy.
Police said late Friday they had made one arrest in Nagano, that of a man clad as an apprentice monk carrying a blade and a letter opposing the relay.
More than 3,000 police were deployed along the route in Nagano, the site of the 1998 Winter Olympics, which has raised security to a level usually accorded to Emperor Akihito.
Japan has been trying to repair relations with China, which remain uneasy due to war memories, and has pledged to ensure top security for the relay.
China is one of the main targets for Japan's far-right activists, who are notorious for noisy demonstrations.
"I support the Tibetans, Uighurs, Mongolians and Taiwanese who are against China. We support any group that's against Communist China," said Yasuhiro Yagi, a self-described Japanese right-wing activist.
Robert Menard, the founder of rights group Reporters Sans Frontieres (Reporters Without Borders), also travelled to Nagano where he planned to wear his trademark T-shirt showing the five Olympic rings as handcuffs.
But he hailed China's announcement that it would meet Dalai Lama aides.
"If opening dialogue with the Dalai Lama's people is a sign of a broader discussion by Chinese authorities on human rights and freedom of expression in China, then we'll take another look at our strategy," he told AFP
11:16 AM
Olympic torch arrives in Japan
TOKYO: The Olympic torch arrived on Friday in Japan on the latest leg of a worldwide relay hit by protests.
The chartered Beijing Olympic plane, emblazoned with the slogan "Journey of Harmony", flew into Tokyo's Haneda airport at 0600 GMT (2100 GMT Thursday) welcomed by some 30 people holding Chinese and Japanese flags.
The torch heads on Saturday to the central mountain town of Nagano, the site of the 1998 Winter Olympics.
"I am confident that the Beijing Olympics torch relay will be a success," Cui Tiankai, China's ambassador to Japan, said at the airport.
Japan has pledged tight security for the relay, where both Chinese residents and supporters of greater freedoms in Tibet plan to demonstrate.
A revered seventh-century Buddhist temple last week backed out of plans to be the starting point for the relay due to concerns about China's crackdown in predominantly Buddhist Tibet.
Earlier legs of the torch relay have been hit by protests, particularly London and Paris where chaotic scenes enraged the Chinese public.
The torch came to Japan from Canberra, where thousands of Chinese supporters took to the streets and Australian security tussled with Chinese torch escorts.
9:20 PM
The United Nations stopped distributing aid to the Gaza Strip on Thursday after running out of fuel as the Israeli terminal that supplies the besieged Palestinian territory remained shut.
"We have just stopped the distribution of all food aid to 650,000 Palestinian refugees in the Gaza Strip because of the lack of fuel in our storage in Gaza," said Adnan Abu Hasna, a spokesman for the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) office in Gaza.
"We also stopped transporting students and officials in the Gaza Strip," he told AFP. "Not a litre of fuel came from Israel," he added.
Israel, which maintains a punishing blockade on the impoverished territory, accused the Islamist Hamas movement of preventing distribution of one million litres of fuel (260,000 gallons) delivered about a week ago.
But UNRWA retorted that the stored fuel was not destined for UN agencies in Gaza, which buy their own supplies.
Israel suggested that the United Nations complain to Hamas, which controls Gaza.
"They should take it up with Hamas and demand they get fuel from the million litres stored on the Palestinian side of the border," foreign ministry spokesman Arye Mekel said.
"We did try today to transfer fuel directly to UNRWA but a farmers' demonstration supported by Hamas prevented us from doing so," he told AFP.
John Ging, who heads the UNRWA offices in Gaza, said Israel had promised to supply 100,000 litres of diesel and 20,000 litres of petrol to the United Nations.
"It is unacceptable that the UN should find itself having to consider suspending its humanitarian operations simply for a lack of fuel for its vehicles," EU Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Louis Michel said in a statement.
Israel stopped supplying petrol and diesel, and cut fuel supplies for Gaza's power plant by half after Palestinian militants attacked Nahal Oz two weeks ago, killing two Israeli civilian employees.
It resumed shipments of fuel for the power plant several days later, but again halted deliveries after another attack killed three Israeli soldiers near the crossing.
Israel has sealed the Gaza Strip off to all but very limited humanitarian aid since Hamas seized control of the territory from forces loyal to moderate president Mahmud Abbas last June.
A Hamas delegation announced after talks with Egyptian mediators in Cairo that the Islamist movement was ready to accept a phased truce that would only extend to the occupied West Bank in a second stage in return for an end to Israel's blockade.
Senior Hamas official Mahmud al-Zahar, a former Palestinian foreign minister, said the group was ready to accept the truce extending to West Bank after a six-month delay, Egypt's official MENA news agency reported.
In the past Israel has rejected a truce covering all of the Palestinian territories, saying that its operations in the occupied West Bank are essential to prevent militants from launching attacks inside the Jewish state.
On Wednesday, Robert Serry, the UN special envoy for the Middle East peace process, urged militants to stop attacking border crossings and called on Israel to lift its blockade.
Humanitarian agencies say Gaza, one of the world's most densely populated territories with 1.5 million people living on a narrow sliver of land, is on the brink of disaster.
Israel says its sanctions are necessary to pressure Hamas to end persistent rocket attacks.
The situation was highlighted on Wednesday at a UN Security Council session in New York that saw Western ambassadors walk out in protest after the Libyan delegate compared conditions in Gaza to those in Nazi death camps.
Ibrahim Dabbashi, Libya's deputy UN ambassador, said on Thursday the situation in Gaza is actually "worse" than in the Nazi camps.
"It is more than what happened in the concentration camps because there is the bombing, daily bombs in Gaza," Dabbashi told reporters. "It is worse."
Libya, the sole Arab member on the 15-member council, acts as a spokesman for the Arab group at the United Nations.
Israel's ambassador to the UN Dan Gillerman reacted furiously to Dabbashi's comments, saying that it showed that Libya remained a "terrorist" state despite its rapprochement with the West of the past five years.
"Libya is a very pertinent example of what happens when you let terrorists infiltrate the Security Council," he said
5:30 PM
Australian police tussled with Chinese torch escorts Thursday as the Olympic flame was run through Canberra to rowdy demonstrations by thousands of Chinese supporters and pro-Tibet protesters.
Seven people were arrested on the sidelines while centre-stage Australian police and the Chinese escorts, clad in blue-and-white tracksuits, physically played out a long-running dispute over who was in charge of security.
On several occasions, police pulled one of the escorts back from alongside the runner carrying the torch, until they appeared to reach a compromise as the relay continued its 16-kilometre (10-mile) route, television footage showed.
On Wednesday, Chinese and Australian officials openly disagreed at a press conference about the role of the Chinese attendants, who were described by top British Olympic official Sebastian Coe during the London leg as "thugs".
Canberra police chief Mike Phelan said the push and shove at the start of the relay between a Chinese flame attendant and a police officer was "a slight communications misunderstanding" and quickly sorted out.
"It was just simply technical communications about how far back and so on... and then once it was clearly articulated it wasn't a problem," he said.
"For fifteen-and-a-half kilometres of a 16-kilometre run it went quite well."
The torch, symbol of the Beijing Games, is on the Asian stretch of a world tour that began with protests in Greece when the flame was lit on March 24.
The flame became a focus of demonstrations over China's role in Tibet and its human rights record as it passed through Europe and the United States.
Australian police said seven people had been taken into custody during the noisy protests -- five Chinese supporters and two pro-Tibet demonstrators -- for interfering with the running of the relay.
They include one man who sat down on the road about 15 metres ahead of one of the torchbearers before he was pounced on by police. Phelan said all those arrested faced fines.
Australian officials described the relay as a "spectacular success" given the troubles which plagued the torch elsewhere, notably London and Paris.
Organisers Ted Quinlan said Australian and international Olympic officials "are stoked (very pleased) that something that looked like it was going down the tubes may have been turned around."
Australian Capital Territory Chief Minister Jon Stanhope said it was the best relay leg held since Beijing took control of the flame on March 24.
"It didn't go to custard, we didn't have it go onto buses, it wasn't shuffled off into warehouses, it wasn't truncated or abandoned after two kilometres. It ran its full course. It was peaceful."
Police kept the estimated 10,000 Chinese supporters largely away from the 2,000-strong pro-Tibet group, but tempers flared at several stages along the route, and there were reports of scuffles.
Stanhope said while some "enormously regrettable" incidents took place, it was unsurprising given the depth of feeling.
"One of the great successes of the relay was the opportunity it presented for those who wished to make a point, to express a point of view about China," he said.
Police said initial estimates were that the relay crowd swelled from 3,000 to more than 20,000 as the torch made its way around the city.
The relay ended after some three hours with former Olympic champion swimmer Ian Thorpe lighting a cauldron with his torch.
The flame's next stop is Nagano, Japan, where organisers have altered the route and mounted extra security to prevent the kind of disruption that marred earlier relay legs.
Protesters have flayed China's crackdown on unrest in Tibet, which exiled Tibetan leaders say claimed more than 150 lives. Beijing rejects such figures, saying Tibetan "rioters" killed 20 people
3:09 PM
CANBERRA, Australia - Runners bearing the Olympic torch completed a 10-mile relay through the Australian capital Thursday, cheered by thousands waving Chinese flags and unimpeded by pockets of pro-Tibet protests that led to several arrests.
Crowds lined downtown streets for the Canberra relay on the cool and sunny autumn day as police manned crowd-control barriers, making good on a vow that nothing would stop the torch from finishing its journey.
The event began without major incident as a half-dozen officers — in jogging pants, T-shirts and baseball caps — formed a loose cordon around the runner. Overhead, an airplane sky writer wrote the words "Free Tibet" in white letters.
A momentary scare came an hour into the relay when a man leaped out from the crowd and sat cross-legged about 35 feet in front of the runner. Police quickly hauled him away and the runner didn't stop.
It was the closest any protester came to the torch, which was carried through Canberra's wide tree-lined boulevards by 80 runners.
Nearly three hours after the start, five-time gold medal winner Ian Thorpe completed the final leg by lighting a ceremonial cauldron.
Officials claimed a victory because it largely avoided the chaotic protest scenes that marred the portions held in Europe and the United States.
"We obviously feared the worst," local government spokesman Jeremy Lasek said. "We feel right now relieved but elated — we think we've pulled it off."
Protests of China's human rights record and its crackdown on anti-government activists in Tibet have turned the relay into a contentious issue for the Olympic movement. Many countries have changed routes and boosted security along the flame's six-continent journey to the Aug. 8-24 games in Beijing.
Officials estimated more than 10,000 people — mostly China supporters — attended the relay route and parks in Canberra. China supporters strongly outnumbered those carrying Tibetan flags or placards criticizing Beijing's human rights record. At some places, chanting of "One China" broke out. At others, eager supporters waving Chinese banners tried to keep up with the relay.
Away from the route, three Tibetan women blocked the street in front of Parliament and a protester shouted "stop killing in Tibet." Police led all four away.
Shortly before the start, dozens of China supporters faced off against a group carrying blue-colored flags representing the China's Muslim minority Uighurs and minor scuffling erupted. Police said at least one person was arrested. Soon afterward, Tibetan activists set alight a Chinese flag and one person was arrested.
At one point, three protesters jumped crowd-control barricades and walked along the route waving "Free Tibet" signs. They were chased by a larger group carrying Chinese flags that tried to cover up the signs with the flags.
"They mobbed the sign. They were really aggressive, insulting and swearing," said Marion Vecourcay, one of the activists.
Seven people in total were detained during the day and will likely face charges of causing a public disturbance, said police spokeswoman Laura Keating.
Pro-Tibet groups said about 500 people showed up in Canberra for peaceful protests. In response, Chinese student groups organized bus trips from Sydney and other cities for those wanting to support the relay.
"We didn't expect this reaction from the Chinese community which is obviously a well-coordinated plan to take the day by weight of numbers," Ted Quinlan, the chief organizer of the Australia relay, told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
Security had been boosted — officials say the expense doubled in recent weeks to $1.9 million — along a route that had been shortened. But it still threaded along a 10-mile path past Parliament House and within 200 yards of the Chinese Embassy.
George Farley, chairman of the Australia Tibet Council, had urged the crowd not to be violent, even if provoked.
There were small protests Wednesday in Sydney and Canberra with a handful of arrests.
In Nepal, authorities forced an American mountaineer with a "Free Tibet" banner in his bags off Mount Everest. Chinese climbers carrying the Olympic torch plan to ascend their side of the world's tallest peak in the early days of May.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
8:27 PM
The International Space Station orbits Earth after the undocking of space shuttle Endeavour during the STS-123 mission.
There may be only one place in the universe which can be the subject of 300,000 and counting photos and still never get old. It is the same place that astronauts spend hours upon hours of their free time watching, for months, yet still can't get enough. It's not a distant galaxy, or a spectacular nebula. It's simply home -- our planet Earth.
Of all the things astronauts speak of after their flights, the view of Earth remains their most consistent, indescribable, awe-inspiring constant.
Imagine looking out your window and seeing the planet pass below at 17,500 miles per hour every day, circling it each 90 minutes. That's the view for astronauts living and working on the International Space Station for six months at a time, orbiting 220 miles above the ground. Every day is Earth Day aboard the station.
The station provides an incomparable vantage point from which to observe, monitor and even discover Earth. A high quality optical window, located in the U.S. Laboratory, Destiny, was designed just for that purpose.
"Astronaut photographs of Earth are taken from the human perspective from space,” said Sue Runco, Earth remote sensing scientist at Johnson Space Center. “Just the fact of seeing Earth as another human sees it, is why people often can relate to them much greater than they can to satellite imagery."
Astronauts are trained in meteorology, geology, oceanography and environmental science in advance of their mission to maximize their observations of Earth. They use an array of professional digital cameras and lenses to capture the images, and, more recently, high-definition video.
A team of scientists on the ground helps the crews identify upcoming photo opportunities. The scientists send daily messages to the crew with specific times, locations and background on the areas of interest. Those areas can range from coral reefs to alpine glaciers to smog over industrial regions.
The unique documentation has become a valuable asset to researchers who use the data to help illustrate changes over time. By comparing photos from space of areas of interest, they can develop maps of land cover change, identify changes in Earth’s atmosphere and document changes in water levels, vegetation or even urban sprawl.
Their photos also serve as the “eyes of the world” – giving us never seen before images of hurricanes from above or squall lines as they develop. Unlike satellites, astronauts can actively search and identify new developments below them. During Expedition 13, Flight Engineer Jeff Williams was the first person to identify an erupting volcano of which even ground scientists were unaware.
"Astronaut photography of Earth has some unique aspects that aren't found in most satellite imagery,” said Runco. “There is a person behind the camera, and they use their judgment and training to pick the features they will photograph and the angle they will use. Because of their orbit tracks and variable imaging times the lighting will be different which emphasizes different features. They operate in a mode of real-time discovery to see features of interest and document them in a way that is not possible with satellites.”
Because it must rely on as few supplies as possible, the space station uses several very green principles in its daily operations. Water aboard the complex is recycled, not for drinking use, but to provide air for the complex. The water is split into hydrogen and oxygen. The oxygen is then used for breathing air while the hydrogen is vented overboard. All the electrical power on the station is generated by more than a half-acre of solar panels. Future systems may also even recycle the crew's exhaled breath -- combining the carbon dioxide scrubbed from the cabin atmosphere with hydrogen to create additional water.
Learning to use resources onboard the ISS for sustainable living is a smaller version of learning about the larger space platform, Earth, its resources, changes, and effects on sustainable living
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
11:24 PM
MY SCHOOL DO THIS VERY FUNNY ONE LEH.YESTWERDAY AND MONDAY IS EL AND CL THEN MUST WAIT UNTILL NEXT WEDNESDAY THEN CAN HAVE MATHS EXAM
DUNNOE WHY DUN DO ALL IN ONCE HAVE EXAM THEN CAN NEXT WEEK COMPLETE LIAO
REGRETTED GOING TO 1N3 SIANZZ SO BORING AND ALWAYS KANA TEACHER DETENTION AND SCOLDING SIANZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
8:15 PM
The postmaster, however, seemed to have been infected by the Chinese officials around him, refusing to give much information beyond the fact that it would cost five 5 yuan (72 U.S. cents) - EVEREST BASE CAMP - Sub-zero temperatures and altitude sickness were bad enough, but a lack of information about just when a special Olympic flame would start up Mount Everest made journalists doubly miserable at Base Camp on Tuesday.
More than 24 hours after arriving at the foot of the world's highest mountain, 10 foreign and 19 Chinese journalists had no clearer idea of when the assault on the summit from Tibet would begin, if it had not already.
The Everest flame is separate from the globetrotting Olympic torch that was paraded in Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City on Tuesday evening, the last international leg of a relay that has been dogged by protests and counter-protests over Tibet.
Officials are determined that this most prestigious stage of the global parade will not be spoilt by demonstrations.
All that was heard at Base Camp was the official mantra -- "the torch will go up Mount Qomolangma on a day in May when the weather conditions are most suitable" -- and educated guesses as to exactly when -- Wednesday's 100-day countdown to the Beijing Games and Thursday's Labour Day holiday being the favourites.
"We are trying our best to give you information," said Liu Xuan, deputy director of the Tibet Information Office at the only press briefing on Tuesday. "We are hiding nothing."
Off the record, several of the large band of minders and interpreters accompanying the media admitted that there was an official silence because of security concerns.
A Japanese journalist who attempted to walk towards Base Camp proper on Tuesday afternoon was turned back by an armed security official.
GRIM
No other expeditions have been allowed on the northern, Tibetan side until the torch has reached the top of the Everest.
Teams of climbers on the southern, Nepali side have had most of their communication equipment removed and will not be able to summit until mid-May, according to various climbing websites.
Nepal deported a U.S. national and banned him from climbing in the country for two years after he was found carrying a pro-Tibet banner on an expedition to the Everest last week, a Nepal Tourism Ministry spokesman said on Tuesday.
The temporary media trailer camp, dominated by the imposing pyramid of the 8,848-metre peak, has comforts that many Everest expeditions could only have dreamed of.
But for those unused to sub-zero temperatures, a whipping wind and the most basic of sanitary facilities, it can be grim: especially after a rise from 54 metres above sea level to more than 5,000 metres in less than four days.
Two victims of altitude sickness left the camp on Monday evening and, despite an ambulance crashing and causing a minor head wound to a nurse, they were said to be "well" in the town of Shigatse.
One of the two, Hong Kong television journalist and sometime-actor Wang Xi wanted to return to Base Camp on Wednesday, according to his colleague.
As the day wore on, concern about altitude sickness turned the routine greeting "How are you?" into a serious enquiry, and admonitions to "drink more water" and "get plenty of rest" bounced back and forth across the camp.
The Mount Qomolangma post office, which claims to be the highest in the world, was doing brisker trade on Tuesday than it has since foreigners were banned from Tibet after deadly riots in the regional capital, Lhasa, last month.
The postmaster, however, seemed to have been infected by the Chinese officials around him, refusing to give much information beyond the fact that it would cost five 5 yuan (72 U.S. cents) to have him put his official stamp on a postcard.
4:24 PM
KABUL - Five suspected Taliban militants blew themselves up in a house close to Kabul's old city on Wednesday, avoiding capture by besieging Afghan security forces, an Interior Ministry official told Reuters.
Security forces surrounded a house where the suspected militants were holed up during the night and clashes erupted. The five militants inside blew themselves up as security forces closed in on them, said an Interior Ministry official who declined to be named.
3:44 PM
OUTSIDE GARMSER, Afghanistan - Marines stormed into a Taliban-held town before daybreak Tuesday, trading gunfire with insurgents on the ground and using helicopter gunships to destroy a militant compound in one of Afghanistan's most violent regions.
Several hundred Marines, many of whom have fought in Iraq, reportedly met light resistance in the assault, which is the farthest south in years that American troops have operated in Helmand province.
The goal is to stretch NATO's presence into an area where illegal opium poppy fields are plentiful and the Taliban is strong. British troops man a small base on Garmser's northern edge but insurgents rule the countryside south of the outpost all the way to the Pakistan border.
No Marines suffered injuries, said their commander, Maj. Tom Clinton Jr. There was no immediate word on whether any insurgents were killed or wounded.
An 11-year-old Afghan boy suffered a chest wound from the explosion of a rocket that insurgents apparently fired at Marines, Clinton said. The boy was flown to a British base for surgery. His condition wasn't immediately known.
"We haven't seen anybody who isn't carrying a gun," Clinton said of the mostly deserted town. "They're trying to figure out what we're doing. They're shooting at us, letting us know they're there."
The assault on Garmser was the first major task undertaken by the 2,300 Marines of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which arrived in April from Camp Lejeune, N.C., for a seven-month deployment.
Clinton, the American commander at Forward Operating Base Dwyer, a British base 10 miles west of Garmser, said militants and Marines exchanged fire in two parts of the town.
Attack helicopters "obliterated" a compound used as a base by the insurgents, said Clinton, 36, of Swampscott, Mass. He said he didn't if anyone was killed by the airstrike.
The wounded boy was brought to Marines by the boy's father and two Afghan men who wouldn't identify themselves, which Clinton labeled "suspicious." Much of Garmser has been abandoned by civilians, and up to 100 Taliban fighters were in the town or outlying areas, he said.
The Marines reported finding rockets and bomb-making material and detonated a roadside bomb. Commanders said they expected insurgents to plant more bombs.
Many of the men in the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit served in 2006 and 2007 in Ramadi, capital of Anbar province in western Iraq. The vast region was once the stronghold of al-Qaida in Iraq before the militants were pushed out in early 2007.
Capt. John Moder, 34, a company commander from North Kingstown, R.I., said before the assault began that the experience in Iraq would affect how his men fight in Afghanistan.
"These guys saw a lot of progress in Ramadi, so they understand it's not just kinetic (fighting),but it's reconstruction and economic development," he said.
The Marines' mission is the first carried out by U.S. forces this far south in Helmand province in years. An operation late last year to take back the Taliban-held town of Musa Qala in northern Helmand involved U.S., British and Afghan troops.
Helmand is the world's largest opium poppy-growing region and has been a flashpoint of the increasingly violent insurgency the last two years. British troops, who are responsible for Helmand, have fought in fierce battles in Helmand's north.
Most U.S. troops operate in eastern Afghanistan, along the border with Pakistan. Britain, with 7,500 soldiers, and Canada, with 2,500 in neighboring Kandahar province, have not had enough manpower to tame the south.
More than 8,000 people died in insurgency-related violence in Afghanistan last year, according to an Associated Press tally. Taliban fighters have increasingly relied on roadside bombs and suicide attacks since being routed in ground battles.
3:00 PM
OUTSIDE GARMSER, Afghanistan - Marines stormed into a Taliban-held town before daybreak Tuesday, trading gunfire with insurgents on the ground and using helicopter gunships to destroy a militant compound in one of Afghanistan's most violent regions.
Several hundred Marines, many of whom have fought in Iraq, reportedly met light resistance in the assault, which is the farthest south in years that American troops have operated in Helmand province.
The goal is to stretch NATO's presence into an area where illegal opium poppy fields are plentiful and the Taliban is strong. British troops man a small base on Garmser's northern edge but insurgents rule the countryside south of the outpost all the way to the Pakistan border.
No Marines suffered injuries, said their commander, Maj. Tom Clinton Jr. There was no immediate word on whether any insurgents were killed or wounded.
An 11-year-old Afghan boy suffered a chest wound from the explosion of a rocket that insurgents apparently fired at Marines, Clinton said. The boy was flown to a British base for surgery. His condition wasn't immediately known.
"We haven't seen anybody who isn't carrying a gun," Clinton said of the mostly deserted town. "They're trying to figure out what we're doing. They're shooting at us, letting us know they're there."
The assault on Garmser was the first major task undertaken by the 2,300 Marines of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which arrived in April from Camp Lejeune, N.C., for a seven-month deployment.
Clinton, the American commander at Forward Operating Base Dwyer, a British base 10 miles west of Garmser, said militants and Marines exchanged fire in two parts of the town.
Attack helicopters "obliterated" a compound used as a base by the insurgents, said Clinton, 36, of Swampscott, Mass. He said he didn't if anyone was killed by the airstrike.
The wounded boy was brought to Marines by the boy's father and two Afghan men who wouldn't identify themselves, which Clinton labeled "suspicious." Much of Garmser has been abandoned by civilians, and up to 100 Taliban fighters were in the town or outlying areas, he said.
The Marines reported finding rockets and bomb-making material and detonated a roadside bomb. Commanders said they expected insurgents to plant more bombs.
Many of the men in the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit served in 2006 and 2007 in Ramadi, capital of Anbar province in western Iraq. The vast region was once the stronghold of al-Qaida in Iraq before the militants were pushed out in early 2007.
Capt. John Moder, 34, a company commander from North Kingstown, R.I., said before the assault began that the experience in Iraq would affect how his men fight in Afghanistan.
"These guys saw a lot of progress in Ramadi, so they understand it's not just kinetic (fighting),but it's reconstruction and economic development," he said.
The Marines' mission is the first carried out by U.S. forces this far south in Helmand province in years. An operation late last year to take back the Taliban-held town of Musa Qala in northern Helmand involved U.S., British and Afghan troops.
Helmand is the world's largest opium poppy-growing region and has been a flashpoint of the increasingly violent insurgency the last two years. British troops, who are responsible for Helmand, have fought in fierce battles in Helmand's north.
Most U.S. troops operate in eastern Afghanistan, along the border with Pakistan. Britain, with 7,500 soldiers, and Canada, with 2,500 in neighboring Kandahar province, have not had enough manpower to tame the south.
More than 8,000 people died in insurgency-related violence in Afghanistan last year, according to an Associated Press tally. Taliban fighters have increasingly relied on roadside bombs and suicide attacks since being routed in ground battles.
2:54 PM
Nepal has also asked climbers not to carry any non-essential items on expeditions to the 8,850 metre (29,035 feet) - KATHMANDU - Nepal deported a U.S. national and banned him from climbing in the country for two years, after he was found carrying a pro-Tibet banner on an expedition to the Everest last week, an official said on Tuesday.
Nepal, which regards Tibet as part of China, has restricted access to Mount Everest between May 1 and 10 and posted armed soldiers to discourage protests against the Olympics torch when it is taken to the summit by Chinese authorities next month.
The ascent of Everest is the highlight of a torch parade that has been dogged by protests and counter-protests over Tibet on its journey around all five inhabited continents to raise the curtain on August's Beijing Games.
The Everest flame is separate from the globetrotting torch, which passed through the streets of the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, on Monday and is due to be paraded in Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City on Tuesday.
Nepal has also asked climbers not to carry any non-essential items on expeditions to the 8,850 metre (29,035 feet) peak, the world's tallest.
But security forces frisking mountaineers at the Everest base camp found a pro-Tibet banner in one of the bags of William Brant Holland. It was not clear what the banner said.
Holland was deported on Monday. Tourism ministry spokesman Prem Kumar Rai said he had also been banned from any climbing in Nepal for two years.
Nepal has seen almost daily anti-China protests which police initially broke up with beatings. But, of late, they have been using little force in the face of criticism from rights groups such as the Amnesty International.
Beijing, a key donor to impoverished Nepal's economic development, has urged Kathmandu to prevent Tibetan protests.
More than 20,000 Tibetans have lived in settlements across mountainous Nepal since fleeing their homeland after a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959.
2:52 PM
KATMANDU, Nepal - Nepal has imposed a near-blackout on communications on its side of Mount Everest, trekking company officials said Tuesday, hours after the government acknowledged it had deported an American mountaineer caught at base camp with a "Free Tibet" banner.
The government has also ordered a BBC news crew from the Everest base camp, the broadcaster reported.
The news comes as Nepal, not wanting to hurt relations with Beijing, tries to enforce a strict ban on protests during China's upcoming Olympic torch relay to the summit of the world's highest mountain. Dozens of armed Nepalese soldiers have been posted at Mount Everest's base camp and at Camp 2, a lower stop for mountaineers.
The border between the two countries cuts across the 29,035-foot summit.
U.S. mountaineer William Brant Holland of Midlothian, Va., was expelled from Nepal for violating regulations, Tourism Ministry official Krishna Gyawali said Tuesday.
Holland, who left Nepal on Monday for home, was found with the banner at the Everest base camp last week and told to leave the mountain. When he arrived in the capital of Katmandu, he was questioned by officials, who ordered him to leave the country for violating a ban on anti-China activities.
He also has been banned from all mountaineering activities in Nepal for the next two years.
Holland was the first climber expelled from the mountain to prevent protests during the planned torch relay by Chinese climbers to the Everest summit ahead of the Beijing Olympics.
The relay, expected to start soon, will take place on the Chinese side of the mountain. But Nepal's government, under pressure from Beijing, has posted soldiers on its side and banned climbing near the summit from May 1-10.
Police and soldiers have been ordered to stop protests on the mountain using whatever means necessary, including weapons, although the use of deadly force is authorized only as a last resort.
A British Broadcasting Corp. team, meanwhile, was told Monday by Nepalese officials to leave the Everest base camp. A report on the BBC's Web site said they were "politely but firmly" told to leave.
Only climbers with permits to climb Everest are allowed to stay in the base camp area.
Soldiers and officials have also banned the use of satellite phones and radios on the mountain, and have forbidden photography at higher elevations, according to the BBC and trekking company employees in Katmandu. The trekking company employees spoke on condition of anonymity because they didn't want to alienate government officials.
Climbers are allowed occasional use of e-mail, but only under the supervision of authorities, the employees said.
Government officials declined to comment on communications restrictions.
Climbers will not be allowed to go past Everest's Camp 2 _ at 21,325 feet _ until after the Chinese finish their torch run, which is expected to take place in May. The harsh weather on Everest usually allows only two brief windows, normally lasting anywhere from a couple of days to a week, when conditions are favorable enough for a push to the summit.
There are already dozens of mountaineers on Everest for the popular spring climbing season. Climbers spend weeks acclimatizing before attempting the summit. There are even more people on Nepal's southern section of the mountain this season because the Chinese side is completely off-limits to foreign climbers.
The threat of protests on Everest comes from the thousands of Tibetan exiles who have been living in Nepal for years. They have been holding almost daily anti-China protests in front of the United Nations office and the Chinese Embassy in Katmandu.
Police broke up yet another of their protests Tuesday outside the Chinese Embassy's visa office, detaining 130 people.
They chanted "Free Tibet," "China is killer" and "China is lying" as they were taken away by policemen in vans and trucks.
The U.N. and international rights groups have criticized Nepal for using what they say is excessive force in stopping the demonstrations. Police have beaten protesters with batons and dragged them through the streets while detaining them.
2:44 PM
HONG KONG - The Olympic torch has arrived in Hong Kong after the Chinese territory deported at least seven activists who planned to protest the flame.
The torch returned to Chinese soil Wednesday after a 20-nation relay overseas.
Before the flame came to Hong Kong, authorities deported three pro-Tibet protesters after they arrived at the airport Tuesday.
Four other activists who planned to protest China's human rights record have been turned away since the weekend.
Police say about 3,000 officers will guard the flame Friday when it begins the Hong Kong leg of its relay.
SECOND NEWS
Olympic torch arrives in Hong Kong as rights fears mount
Wednesday • April 30, 2008
The Olympic torch landed in Hong Kong at the start of its journey through China Wednesday, but its arrival has raised fears over freedom of speech as protesters are barred from the city.
The torch arrived in Hong Kong International Airport from Hanoi, just 100 days ahead of the Beijing Games in August, and following its troubled journey around the world.
It will be held in an undisclosed location until Friday, when it will be run through the financial hub and then Macau before snaking its way through the Chinese mainland to the capital Beijing.
The Hong Kong leg will take in the city's spectacular Victoria Harbour and the venues for the summer's equestrian events, which will be held here.
The 120 torchbearers will include acting heartthrob Andy Lau, members of the three wealthiest tycoon families and Hong Kong's only gold medal Olympian, windsurfer Lee Lai-shan.
Friday is expected to provide the last chance for anti-China protesters -- including pro-Tibetan groups -- to target the relay, as it passes from the relatively open former British colony to the more restrictive mainland.
However, a handful of activists have been prevented from entering the city in the past few days, raising concerns that the city's much-cherished freedom of speech laws are being compromised.
"We think it is bizarre that the Hong Kong government are so oversensitive to protect the torch at the expense of people's rights," said Mak Yin-tiny, general secretary of the Hong Kong Journalists' Association after writer Zhang Yu was prevented from entering the territory on Tuesday.
Zhang, general secretary of the writers's group Independent Chinese Pen Centre and a Chinese citizen, was scheduled to address a World Press Freedom Day event that had been planned before the relay schedule was announced, Mak told AFP.
Three pro-Tibet campaigners who were planning events to coincide with the relay were also detained and then flown out of the southern Chinese city on Tuesday, the groups said in statement.
Free Tibet Campaigner Matt Whitticase, along with two members of the Students for a Free Tibet group, had planned to address reporters over major violence that broke out in Lhasa in March, sparking a clampdown by Chinese authorities.
"Denying me entry not only represents a slap in the face for the concept of 'one country, two systems', it also demonstrates yet again that China clearly has much to hide in Tibet," he said.
The relay has been dogged by activists in cities including London and Paris during its journey around the world protesting over China's crackdown in Tibet and its human rights record.
Hong Kong, a wealthy financial centre that was returned to China by colonial power Britain in 1997, has its own more liberal legal and economic arrangements under the 'one country, two systems' agreement brokered before the handover.
The latest deportations come after three people, including a Danish sculptor and rights campaigner, were barred from entering the city on Saturday.
A spokeswoman for Hong Kong's immigration department said she would not comment on individual cases, adding it had "the responsibility to uphold effective immigration control so as to ensure Hong Kong's public interest."
"The department will handle all entry applications in accordance with the law and prevailing policy and having due regard to individual circumstances," the spokeswoman said.
American actress Mia Farrow, who is pushing China to help stop violence in Sudan's conflict-riven Darfur region, is expected to arrive in Hong Kong Thursday before addressing reporters on Friday.
Farrow will give a speech entitled "Darfur and the Olympics" to the Foreign Correspondents' Club here. — AFP
2:36 PM
BEIJING (AFP) - - Police shot dead an alleged Tibetan independence "insurgent" in northwest China, state press said Wednesday, the first official admission that authorities killed anyone during recent unrest.
A policeman was also killed in the gun battle on Monday in a Tibetan populated area of Qinghai province, Xinhua news agency reported.
Tibet's government-in-exile says more than 200 people have been killed in a huge Chinese military and police crackdown on protests against China's rule of the Himalayan region that began on March 10.
Until Wednesday's report, the Chinese authorities had insisted they had not killed anyone in the crackdown and blamed Tibetan "rioters" for the deaths of 20 people.
Monday's incident occurred after police went in pursuit of the leader of a handful of "insurgents seeking Tibetan independence", Xinhua reported, citing the Qinghai public security department.
The group had tried to incite Tibetan herders in Dari County to protest on March 21, a week after major protests erupted in Tibet's capital, Lhasa, according to Xinhua.
"After a month-long investigation, the police moved on Monday to arrest the suspected leader. The suspect resisted arrest and gunfire broke out," Xinhua reported, citing the department.
"The officer was killed in the gun battle, and other officers returned fire, killing the suspect."
Xinhua identified the police officer as Lama Cedain, but did not release the name of the alleged "insurgent" who was killed.
1:51 PM
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1:49 PM
KABUL (AFP) - - Around 26 Taliban have been killed in military action in Afghanistan, officials said Monday, including a dozen when troops repelled a mass attack on several US and Afghan bases.
Australia meanwhile announced earlier it had lost a soldier in a Taliban attack in the southern province of Uruzgan on Sunday. The country is one of about 40 with troops in Afghanistan to fight back the extremist Taliban.
Between 30 and 40 insurgents attacked five bases in the eastern province of Kunar on Sunday with artillery, machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, the US-led coalition said in a statement.
The military forces responded, including with military aircraft, and a dozen insurgents were killed and a dozen more wounded, it said.
Another six rebels were killed Monday when security forces fought back a Taliban attack on a coalition and Afghan army convoy in the central province of Ghazni, provincial government spokesman Zia Wali Zadran told AFP.
Six more were killed and 18 wounded in a military operation in a different area of the same province late Sunday, Zadran said.
The coalition also announced that two insurgents were killed in the eastern province of Nangarhar on Sunday when international and Afghan troops fought back after being attacked during an operation.
A member of the Afghan security forces was also killed, it said in a statement. Four suspected insurgents were arrested. The operation was to track down a man involved in suicide attacks.
Militants had also attacked a high-profile military parade in Kabul Sunday, missing President Hamid Karzai but killing a tribal chief and a parliamentarian. A 10-year-old boy was also killed.
Authorities said Monday that investigations were continuing into the daring attack and people rounded up afterwards were being questioned.
1:48 PM
OUTSIDE GARMSER, Afghanistan - U.S. Marines in helicopters and Humvees flooded into a Taliban-held town in southern Afghanistan's most violent province early Tuesday in the first major American operation in the region in years.
Several hundred Marines, many of them veterans of the conflict in Iraq, pushed into the town of Garmser in predawn light in an operation to drive out militants, stretching NATO's presence into an area littered with poppy fields and classified as Taliban territory.
U.S. commanders say Taliban fighters have been expecting an assault and have been setting up improvised explosive devices in response. It wasn't known how much resistance the Marines would face in Garmser, where the British have a small base on the town's edge but whose main marketplace is closed because of the Taliban threat.
The assault in Helmand province _ backed by U.S. artillery in the desert and fighter aircraft in the sky _ is the first major task undertaken by the 2,300 Marines in the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which arrived last month from Camp Lejuene, North Carolina for a seven-month deployment. Another 1,200 Marines arrived to train Afghan police.
Maj. Tom Clinton, the American commander at Forward Operating Base Dwyer, a British outpost 16 kilometers (10 miles) west of Garmser, said the Taliban had undoubtedly seen the Marines moving into the area in recent days.
But he said the fact that the Marines were assaulting the town by helicopter and were moving through by foot was likely a surprise.
"There's all kinds of reports of (Taliban) commanders telling their guys to grab their stuff and get out there" to fight, said Clinton, 36, of Swampscott, Massachusetts. "It's no secret they know we're here. It's just a question of when and where" an assault would happen.
The Marines' mission is the first carried out by U.S. forces this far south in Helmand province in years. An operation late last year to take back the Taliban-held town of Musa Qala on the north end of Helmand involved U.S., British and Afghan forces.
Helmand province is the world's largest opium poppy growing region and has been a flashpoint of the increasingly violent insurgency the last two years. British troops _ who are responsible for Helmand _ have faced fierce battles on the north end of Helmand.
Most U.S. troops operate in the east, along the border with Pakistan, but Britain _ with 7,500 troops _ and Canada _ with 2,500 troops in neighboring Kandahar province _ have not had enough manpower to tame the south.
More than 8,000 people died in insurgency related violence last year. Militants set off more than 140 suicide bombs. Taliban fighters have been increasingly relying on roadside bombs and suicide attacks after being routed in force-on-force battles in the past.
"I think if it was me I'd be laying a ton of IEDs down and leaving some guys behind to shoot and run. I don't expect a lot of leaders to stay around," Clinton said of the number of fighters the Marines might face.
Marines had prepared on Monday by cleaning weapons and handing out grenades. The leader of one of three companies involved _ Charlie Company commander Capt. John Moder _ said his men were ready.
"The feeling in general is optimistic, excited," said Moder, 34, of North Kingstown, Rhode Island. "They've been training for this deployment the last nine months. We've got veteran leaders."
Many of the men in the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit served in 2006 and 2007 in Ramadi, the capital of the Anbar province in western Iraq. The vast region was once al-Qaida in Iraq's stronghold before the militants were pushed out in early 2007.
Moder said that experience would inform how his men fight in Afghanistan. "These guys saw a lot of progress in Ramadi, so they understand it's not just kinetic (war fighting) but it's reconstruction and economic development."
But on the initial assault, Moder said his men were prepared to face mines and improvised explosive devices and "anybody that wants to fight us."
One Marine in Charlie Company, Corp. Matt Gregorio, a 26-year-old from Boston, alluded to the fact the Marines have been in Afghanistan for six weeks without carrying out any missions. He said the mood was "anxious, excited."
"We've been waiting a while to get this going," he said
1:32 PM
HO CHI MINH CITY (AFP) - - Vietnam's largest city on Tuesday readied for its leg of the troubled Olympic torch relay, eager to ensure a smooth event as some activists announced peaceful anti-Chinese protests.
The Beijing Olympic flame arrived in Ho Chi Minh City late Monday from North Korea, ahead of the relay that was set to start under tight security at 6:30 pm (1130 GMT), 101 days before the start of the Games.
Some 60 runners will carry the torch from the downtown Opera House along a secret route 10 to 13 kilometres (six to eight miles) long to the Military Zone 7 Competition Hall stadium near the international airport, officials said.
The former Saigon is home to Vietnam's largest ethnic Chinese community.
Security was expected to be tight, but city officials did not announce how many police would be deployed and remained tight-lipped about other details following the detentions last week of several anti-China activists.
Pro-Tibet rallies have dogged the relay in cities including London, Paris and Canberra, but Vietnam's mostly young and nationalist activists are driven by the country's own long-simmering dispute with its northern neighbour.
Both Beijing and Hanoi are among claimants to the Spratly and Paracel island chains in the South China Sea, in a dispute that late last year triggered a series of street rallies rarely seen in Vietnam, a one-party state.
The communist leaders of Vietnam and China routinely stress their comradely ties, and Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung last week promised China's visiting Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi to stage a trouble-free torch relay.
The premier warned that "hostile forces" would seek to disrupt the event, using a standard term from the communist lexicon for pro-democracy activists.
Vietnamese police have questioned and detained some activists and Friday expelled Vietnamese-American chemical engineer Vuong Hoang Minh, who was caught with T-shirts bearing slogans including "A Gold Medal for Oppression."
Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders on Wednesday called on Vietnam to free blogger Nguyen Hoang Hai, a member of the online Union of Independent Journalists, who Vietnamese state media said was detained for tax evasion.
The small but vocal Vietnamese political activist community, based both inside the country and overseas, has made no secret of its plans to stage non-violent rallies in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi.
Taiwan-based architecture student Le Trung Thanh, who uses the weblog name "Blacky," wrote an open letter to Dung last week, announcing plans for a protest and asking for police "to ensure order and the safety of protesters."
"If we keep silent, it means we agree to lose Hoang Sa and Truong Sa" he wrote, using the respective Vietnamese names for the Paracels and Spratlys, rocky island chains that have stirred strong passions in Vietnam.
Hundreds of youths took to the streets outside Chinese diplomatic missions here in December, in small protests that Vietnam briefly tolerated before deploying thousands of riot police in coming weeks to prevent repeat rallies.
Vietnam was ruled as a southern vassal state by China for about a millennium and was then repeatedly invaded by successive dynasties.
Most Vietnamese folk heroes are leaders who fought back northern invaders.
China and Vietnam fought their last border war in 1979, but the leaders in Hanoi and Beijing, two of the world's five remaining communist governments, have since normalised relations and become strong economic partners.
1:30 PM
Vietnam's largest city on Tuesday readied for its leg of the troubled Olympic torch relay, eager to ensure a smooth event as some activists announced peaceful anti-Chinese protests.
The Beijing Olympic flame arrived in Ho Chi Minh City late Monday from North Korea, ahead of the relay that was set to start under tight security at 6:30 pm (1130 GMT), 101 days before the start of the Games.
Some 60 runners will carry the torch from the downtown Opera House along a secret route 10 to 13 kilometres (six to eight miles) long to the Military Zone 7 Competition Hall stadium near the international airport, officials said.
The former Saigon is home to Vietnam's largest ethnic Chinese community.
Security was expected to be tight, but city officials did not announce how many police would be deployed and remained tight-lipped about other details following the detentions last week of several anti-China activists.
Pro-Tibet rallies have dogged the relay in cities including London, Paris and Canberra, but Vietnam's mostly young and nationalist activists are driven by the country's own long-simmering dispute with its northern neighbour.
Both Beijing and Hanoi are among claimants to the Spratly and Paracel island chains in the South China Sea, in a dispute that late last year triggered a series of street rallies rarely seen in Vietnam, a one-party state.
The communist leaders of Vietnam and China routinely stress their comradely ties, and Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung last week promised China's visiting Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi to stage a trouble-free torch relay.
The premier warned that "hostile forces" would seek to disrupt the event, using a standard term from the communist lexicon for pro-democracy activists.
Vietnamese police have questioned and detained some activists and Friday expelled Vietnamese-American chemical engineer Vuong Hoang Minh, who was caught with T-shirts bearing slogans including "A Gold Medal for Oppression."
Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders on Wednesday called on Vietnam to free blogger Nguyen Hoang Hai, a member of the online Union of Independent Journalists, who Vietnamese state media said was detained for tax evasion.
The small but vocal Vietnamese political activist community, based both inside the country and overseas, has made no secret of its plans to stage non-violent rallies in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi.
Taiwan-based architecture student Le Trung Thanh, who uses the weblog name "Blacky," wrote an open letter to Dung last week, announcing plans for a protest and asking for police "to ensure order and the safety of protesters."
"If we keep silent, it means we agree to lose Hoang Sa and Truong Sa" he wrote, using the respective Vietnamese names for the Paracels and Spratlys, rocky island chains that have stirred strong passions in Vietnam.
Hundreds of youths took to the streets outside Chinese diplomatic missions here in December, in small protests that Vietnam briefly tolerated before deploying thousands of riot police in coming weeks to prevent repeat rallies.
Vietnam was ruled as a southern vassal state by China for about a millennium and was then repeatedly invaded by successive dynasties.
Most Vietnamese folk heroes are leaders who fought back northern invaders.
China and Vietnam fought their last border war in 1979, but the leaders in Hanoi and Beijing, two of the world's five remaining communist governments, have since normalised relations and become strong economic partners. — AFP
3:03 PM
BAGHDAD (AFP) - - Fierce clashes between Shiite militiamen and US and Iraqi forces in eastern Baghdad killed at least 38 people, including 22 who died when a US tank fired on attackers, the American military said Monday.
Others died when troops responded after they were attacked with small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades in Sadr City, the Baghdad bastion of the Mahdi Army militia of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, statements issued Monday said.
The major attack on the checkpoint was carried out by "a large group of criminals engaging with small-arms fire" at around 6.35 pm (1535 GMT) on Sunday.
"US soldiers used 120 mm fire from M1A12 Abrams tanks and small arms fire to kill the 22 criminals, forcing remaining enemy forces present to retreat," the military said.
"The criminals' small arms fire was ineffective and there were no US soldier or Iraqi security force casualties in the attack."
The latest deaths bring to at least 439 the number of militiamen and civilians killed in a month of clashes in Sadr City, where violence erupted after Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki ordered a countrywide crackdown on militias, starting in the southern oil city of Basra.
At least 15 US soldiers have died in Baghdad since the clashes began.
2:56 PM
BEIJING, China – Recent demonstrations along the torch relay route and reports of disrupted plots to attack the Beijing Olympics have made the issue of safety and security at the event an even greater priority not just for China, but for all athletes and visitors, Secretary General Ronald K. Noble today told the International Conference on Security Co-operation for the Olympic Games.
Speaking in Beijing at the final conference on security preparations for the Games before they begin in August, Secretary General Noble said INTERPOL and its 186 member countries remained committed to helping the Chinese authorities ensure the Beijing Summer Olympics pass as safely as possible.
2:47 PM
PESHAWAR - PAKISTAN on Monday released an ailing pro-Taleban leader who sent thousands of fighters against the US-led invasion of Afghanistan, and swiftly signed a peace pact with his hardline group, officials said.
The freeing of Sufi Muhammad and the subsequent deal was the most significant move yet by the new government to broker peace with Islamic militants along the volatile frontier.
It marked a break from President Pervez Musharraf's policy of using force.
Muhammad, believed to be in his 70s, is the father-in-law of the current militant leader in Pakistan's northwestern Swat Valley which fell into the hands of Islamists last year, prompting a bloody army operation to wrest it back.
However it was not immediately clear if Mullah Fazlullah had agreed to lay down arms as a result of the pact.
Fazlullah's spokesman could not be reached for comment late on Monday, and experts expressed doubt that the younger militant leader, reportedly at odds with Muhammad, would change his ways.
British FM backs talks with Pakistan militants
ISLAMABAD - BRITISH Foreign Secretary David Miliband on Monday backed the new Pakistani government's talks with militants, but added that there should only be reconciliation with those who renounce violence.
Mr Miliband arrived on a two-day official visit to Pakistan on Sunday and has met President Pervez Musharraf, new premier Yousaf Raza Gilani and top officials in North West Frontier Province bordering Afghanistan.
... more
'I think Maulana Fazlullah will continue with whatever he is doing,' said Mr Mehmood Shah, former security chief for Pakistan's tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.
Muhammad founded the Tehrik Nifaz-e-Sharia Mohammed - or Movement for the Enforcement of Islamic Law - which sent thousands of volunteers to fight in Afghanistan against the US-led invasion that toppled the Taliban regime in 2001.
Mr Musharraf outlawed the group in early 2002. Muhammad was arrested as he returned to Pakistan then sentenced in November 2002 on a weapons charge.
The deaths of many of his followers in the Afghan fighting hurt Muhammad's popularity. The group resurfaced under the leadership of Fazlullah, who won a large following through firebrand preaching over an illegal FM radio station but alienated people by resorting to violence.
Peace pact
Provincial government spokesman Faridullah Khan said the peace pact was signed on Monday evening by Muhammad's deputy and eight other clerics, and four officials, including three provincial government ministers.
Under the six-point agreement, which covers Swat and neighboring districts, Muhammad's group renounces attacks on the government but can peacefully seek the implementation of Shariah, or Islamic law.
Under one clause, the agreement says the government has the right to 'act against' militants who attack the government.
The pact was announced hours after the government released Muhammad from hospital in Peshawar where he had spent the last five months of his detention because of poor health.
He left under police escort, accompanied by followers wearing black turbans who shielded his face - apparently to prevent him being photographed. He later met with the province's chief minister.
The federal government, led by the party of slain premier Benazir Bhutto, which won power in February elections, and the allied administration in North West Frontier Province led by a Pashtun nationalist party, wants to use a combination of dialogue and development to curb the militancy that has exploded in the region over the past year.
That marks a shift from the more aggressive approach that Mr Musharraf's military regime took with US support since Pakistan joined the war on terror after the Sept 11 attacks.
Western nations have voiced support for dialogue if the militants renounce violence, but the release of Muhammad could cause some unease.
Officials at the US Embassy in Islamabad could not be immediately reached for comment late on Monday.
Military not involved in government's decision
Pakistan army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said on Monday the military was not involved in the government's decision to release Muhammad and no decision has been made to withdraw the army from Swat.
He said 90 per cent of the valley was peaceful, but that the army was still conducting occasional search operations against militant holdouts and had recently set up a checkpoint at Fazlullah's former headquarters to stop followers from slipping back in the area.
Fazlullah's spokesman has previously said hostilities would cease if Shariah was adopted and the government released Muhammad.
Fazlullah tapped into popular frustration over official corruption and failings in the justice system. His group wants a Taleban-like system in Pakistan, including compulsory beards for men, mandatory veils for women and the outlawing of music and television.
His dispute with the government is seen as less intractable than that of Taleban fighters in the tribal regions of Waziristan, where US officials believe al-Qaeda leaders are hiding.
Mr Talat Masood, a retired general and security analyst, said the deal with Muhammad demonstrated the new government's willingness to try dialogue with militants, and could increase pressure on Fazlullah and others to eschew violence and seek peace.
'But it's a long way before you can make any judgment as to whether this is a success,' he said, noting that previous peace efforts with Taleban militants have failed.
'We have to see ... to what extent both parties are going to abide by the agreement and whether the militants use this period to consolidate,' he said.
In a sign of continuing insecurity, Pakistani security forces clashed on Monday with gunmen to recover two UN employees who were kidnapped on a key road linking Pakistan to Afghanistan.
One paramilitary soldier was killed and four were wounded in the fighting in Khyber tribal region, said Mohammed Iqbal, a local government official. The two employees of the World Food Programme, both Pakistanis, escaped unharmed, he said.
Pakistan's ambassador to Afghanistan was abducted in the same region on Feb 11 as he headed by road to Kabul.
The ambassador, Tariq Azizuddin, appeared on a video aired on Saturday on Al-Arabiya television saying he was kidnapped by Taleban militants, and urging the government of Pakistan to take steps for his release.
1:23 PM
SEOUL (AFP) - - After a troubled worldwide trip the Beijing Olympic torch Monday began its journey through the capital of communist North Korea, where thousands were mobilised to show support for close ally China.
TV footage showed crowds dressed in their best clothes packing the streets of Pyongyang as the torch began its 20-kilometre (12 mile) relay route. It was the first time the Olympic flame had been carried in North Korea.
In some other cities, the relay has sparked rowdy protests against China's policies on Tibet and other issues, but North Korea clamps down sharply on any dissent and the Pyongyang leg was guaranteed to run smoothly.
Reclusive leader Kim Jong-Il was absent from the launch ceremony at the Tower of the Juche Idea -- named after the impoverished state's guiding ideology of juche or self-reliance.
De facto head of state Kim Yong-Nam handed the torch to the first runner, a hero of one of the nation's greatest sporting triumphs.
"I am very honoured to have been chosen for this at my advanced age," Japan's Kyodo news agency quoted Pak Du-Ik, 71, as saying on Sunday.
Pak was a key member of the country's football team which advanced to the 1966 World Cup quarter-finals.
The torch has been dogged by demonstrators since the Olympic flame was lit last month, with critics of China's military crackdown in Tibet and its human rights record severely disrupting the Paris and London legs of the relay.
Organisers in many other countries have been forced to surround the torch with unprecedented security to ensure a smooth passage.
North Korea had earlier promised to "astonish the world" with its handling of the relay and criticised the overseas protests.
Radio Pyongyang on Monday slammed the demonstrations as "an open challenge to the spirit and charter of the Olympics," according to Seoul's Yonhap news agency.
During the South Korean leg Sunday, demonstrators including North Korean defectors staged protests against China's forced repatriation of refugees from the North.
There were sporadic clashes in Seoul between protesters and thousands of Chinese students.
China sends back all those North Koreans it catches as economic migrants, a policy strongly criticised by rights groups. Refugees face severe punishment, or even a death sentence in some cases, on their return.
In Pyongyang, men in dark suits and women in traditional hanbok gowns waved artificial bunches of kimjongilia, a national flower named after the leader, as the relay got under way at 10:15 am.
Banners reading "Beijing 2008" were hung on both sides of the route.
A total of 80 people were due to carry the torch along the route, which ends at Kim Il-Sung Stadium at around 3:00 pm (0600 GMT).
Official media has said they include "officials of merit," famous athletes, working people, overseas Koreans and foreign residents.
Kyodo said almost three-quarters of the runners are North Koreans and the rest are Chinese nationals, including ambassador Liu Xiaoming.
The torch had arrived in North Korea early Monday by chartered plane direct from Seoul, to a welcome from nearly 1,000 locals and Chinese students.
The flame will be taken to Vietnam after North Korea and then to Hong Kong and Macau, before starting the final leg of the relay in mainland China.
1:22 PM
PYONGYANG, North Korea - The Olympic torch held its first-ever run Monday in authoritarian North Korea, where the flame was assured of a trip free of the anti-Chinese protests that marked other legs of the relay.
An attentive and peaceful crowd of thousands watched the start of the relay in Pyongyang, some waving Chinese flags, in live footage from broadcaster APTN. The event was presided over by the head of the country's rubber-stamp parliament who often acts as a ceremonial state leader, Kim Yong Nam.
The North, an ally of communist neighbor China, has been critical of disruptions to the torch relay elsewhere and has supported Beijing in its crackdown against violent protests in Tibet. North Korea is one of the world's most tightly controlled countries, where citizens are not allowed to travel freely and civil rights are restricted by the iron-fisted regime.
Kim passed the torch to the first runner Pak Du Ik, who played on North Korea's 1966 World Cup soccer team that made a historic run to the quarterfinals. As he began the 20-kilometer (12-mile) route through Pyongyang, thousands more cheering people lined city streets waving pink paper flowers and small flags with the Beijing Olympics logo.
The relay began from beneath the large sculpted flame that tops the obelisk of the Juche Tower, which commemorates the national ideology of "self-reliance" created by the country's late founding President Kim Il Sung, father of current leader Kim Jong Il. The younger Kim was not seen at the event.
The U.N. children's agency UNICEF had been asked to participate in the North Korean leg of the relay but withdrew in March, saying that it wasn't sure the event would help its mission of raising awareness of conditions for children.
The North's children are often the most at-risk for starvation in the regular food shortages that plague the country. The problem is expected to be more severe this year due to poor harvests caused by massive floods last summer that wiped out large swaths of the country's most productive farmland.
The torch arrived earlier Monday in North Korea by plane from rival South Korea, where China's treatment of North Korean refugees sparked protests against the relay.
On Sunday, clashes broke out in Seoul near the relay start between a group of 500 Chinese supporters and about 50 demonstrators criticizing Beijing's policies, carrying a banner reading, "Free North Korean refugees in China." The students threw stones and water bottles as some 2,500 police tried to keep the two sides apart.
One Chinese student swatted at the demonstrators with a flagpole. Another student was arrested for allegedly throwing rocks, police said.
South Korea's Deputy Foreign Minister Lee Yong-joon expressed strong regret over the clashes in a meeting Monday with China's ambassador to Seoul, Ning Fukui.
Ning also said he regretted the "extreme behavior" by some young Chinese and expressed his condolences to police and a journalist who was injured, the South's Foreign Ministry said.
Police said four other people were arrested for trying to disrupt the relay
Authorities deployed some 8,000 police _ some riding horses and bicycles _ to protect the torch.
One North Korean defector poured gasoline on himself in the middle of a street along the route and tried to set himself on fire, but police quickly surrounded him and carried him away. The man, 45-year-old Son Jong Hoon, had led an unsuccessful public campaign to save his brother from execution in the North, where he was accused of spying after the two met secretly in China
1:20 PM
SEOUL, South Korea - Chinese students clashed with anti-Beijing demonstrators at the Olympic torch relay Sunday in Seoul, throwing rocks and punches at the latest troubled stop on the flame's round-the-world journey.
Thousands of police guarded the torch from protesters blasting China's treatment of North Korean refugees. Nonetheless, a North Korean defector tried to set himself on fire to halt the relay.
The small groups of anti-torch demonstrators were far outnumbered by seas of red-clad Chinese supporters waving red national flags, who took to the streets of the South Korean capital to defend the torch.
Police deployed 8,000 officers, some running beside the flame while others rode horses and bicycles with the relay through the 1988 Olympics' host city.
On other legs of the torch relay, it was China's crackdown on violent protests against Chinese rule in Tibet that triggered attempts to disrupt the run heralding the August games. But in South Korea, many critics focused on Beijing's treatment of defectors who try to escape their lives of hardship in the North.
Thousands of North Koreans have fled across the loosely controlled Chinese border and many remain in hiding in China. If caught, they are deported by Chinese authorities and face likely imprisonment in life-threatening conditions back in the North.
The man who tried to immolate himself, 45-year-old Son Jong Hoon, had led an unsuccessful public campaign to save his brother from execution in the North, where he was accused of spying after the two met secretly in China. About an hour into the relay, Son poured gasoline on himself in the middle of a street, but police quickly surrounded him and carried him away before he could set himself alight.
Two other demonstrators tried to storm the torch to interrupt the relay but failed to hinder its 24-kilometer (15-mile) trip from Olympic Park _ built in honor of the 1988 Summer Games _ to City Hall.
Police said five people, including a Chinese student, were arrested.
Scuffles broke out near the relay start between a group of 500 Chinese supporters and about 50 demonstrators criticizing Beijing's policies. The demonstrators carried a banner reading, "Free North Korean refugees in China." The students threw stones and water bottles as some 2,500 police tried to keep the two sides apart.
One Chinese student swatted at the demonstrators with a flagpole. Another student was arrested for allegedly throwing rocks, said an official at a police station near Olympic Park. The official asked not to be named because the probe was under way.
"The Olympics are not a political issue," said Sun Cheng, 22, a Chinese student studying the Korean language in Seoul. "I can't understand why the Korean activist groups are protesting human rights or other diplomatic issues."
Thousands of Chinese paced the torch on the 4 1/2-hour-long relay, some chanting, "Go China, go Olympics!"
Before the relay, two South Koreans who had been chosen to run said they would boycott it to protest China's actions in Tibet.
The torch arrived in Seoul from Japan, where Chinese supporters also outnumbered protesters who failed to disrupt the run.
After Seoul, the torch was scheduled to make its first-ever trip to North Korea for a relay Monday. Disruptions were not expected in the North, an authoritarian state that tolerates no dissent.
Officials from North Korea's Olympic Committee, the Pyongyang city vice mayor, and the Chinese ambassador to Pyongyang were at the airport early Monday to greet the torch's arrival, broadcaster APTN reported. A 12.4-mile (20-kilometer) relay will take place in the streets of Pyongyang on Monday.
1:19 PM
SEOUL, South Korea - The Olympic torch began its latest relay leg Sunday through the South Korean capital, where activists demanding that Beijing respect the rights of North Korean refugees in China vowed to disrupt the event.
One protester rushed at the torch shortly after the run began from Seoul's Olympic Park, built to commemorate the 1988 Summer Games here. He tried to unfurl a banner calling for better treatment of North Koreans in China, but before he got near the flame he was quickly whisked away by dozens of police surrounding the torch.
Some 8,000 officers were deployed across the city to guard the torch on its 24-kilometer (15-mile) run to City Hall.
The first runner _ Kim Kung-kil, head of the South's Korean Olympic Committee _ jogged out of the park surrounded by police on horseback, riding bicycles, in buses and jogging alongside him.
Hundreds of Chinese also paced the torch. They carried a large red national flag and some wore red clothes, and they chanted "Go China, go Olympics!"
Near the park as the relay began, minor scuffles broke out between a group of several hundred Chinese students and about 50 demonstrators criticizing Beijing's policies. The students threw stones and water bottles at the others as police tried to keep them apart.
No injuries or arrests were reported.
Demonstrations are common in South Korea. Police have gained experience in corralling large crowds in events from the 1980s pro-democracy movement to recent protests against a free-trade agreement with the United States.
Han Chang Kwon, head of a coalition of groups representing North Korean defectors in the South, decried Beijing's policy of deporting North Koreans caught fleeing their impoverished homeland and said activists would try to hinder the torch relay.
"While trying to improve its image with the Olympics, (China) keeps sending defectors to the North knowing they would be executed or sent to political prisons," Han said.
Two South Koreans who had been chosen to run in the torch relay said they would boycott the event to protest China's recent crackdown on violent protests against Chinese rule in Tibet.
The torch arrived in Seoul from Nagano, Japan, site of the 1998 Winter Games. Although there were some minor attempts to halt the run, anti-torch demonstrators were outnumbered by Chinese boosters.
After Seoul the torch was scheduled to be flown to North Korea for its first-ever run in the communist country Monday. The North is an authoritarian state that tolerates no dissent, and no disruptions were expected there.
12:02 PM
Thousands deploy ahead of Olympic torch relay in Seoul
SEOUL - THOUSANDS of riot police deployed for the South Korean leg of the Olympic torch relay on Sunday, as activists vowed to block the route to protest China's actions in Tibet and repatriation of North Korean refugees.
Police said they began posting some 8,300 officers along the 24-kilometre relay route from Olympic Park to City Hall in central Seoul. The relay is to start at 2.00pm (1pm Singapore time) and end at 7.00 pm (6pm Singapore time).
The tight security includes 20 police officers on bicycles and 120 police runners who will surround the Olympic flame, backed by officers on motorcycles, and in cars and helicopters.
A coalition of 63 rights, religious and conservative groups have said thousands are expected to take to the streets in protest.
'Police will maintain watertight security to make sure that everything goes smoothly,' a senior official handling the security said on Sunday.
'Police will immediately arrest anyone who tries to stop or disrupt the Olympic torch relay. We will deal sternly with such cases.'
The flame arrived at Seoul's Incheon airport early Sunday, amid tight security. No disruption was reported with hundreds of police at the airport.
The torch landed from Japan where protesters hurled rubbish and flares during its run on Saturday and brawled with Chinese supporters. At least four people were injured in the scuffles in the mountain resort of Nagano.
Earlier legs were also hit by protests, particularly in London and Paris, angering China which had hoped the worldwide relay would be symbolic of its rising status and pride in hosting the August Games.
Activists protesting against China's crackdown in Tibet and its policy of repatriating North Korean refugees have promised similar scenes in South Korea.
N. Korean defectors plan to disrupt
North Korean defectors plan to block bridges over the broad Han River, which the runners are scheduled to use. 'We're going to try to stop the relay at all costs,' Han Chang Kwon, who represents a defectors' group, said Friday.
'We have prepared several units of defectors who will desperately try to stop the progress of the relay when it crosses one of the main bridges.'
Human Rights Watch, a US-based rights group, said Seoul should use the occasion to urge Beijing to change its policy of repatriating North Korean refugees, who can face harsh punishment or even death on their return.
Many of the thousands of Chinese studying or working in South Korea also plan to turn out but they will welcome the torch, said Liu Yen of the Chinese Resident's Association Seoul Korea.
'We'll hold welcoming placards high and wave our national flags,' she told Yonhap news agency on Friday.
Saturday rally
Dozens of activists rallied on Saturday near Olympic Park ahead of the relay.
'We're going to try to stop the relay,' said refugee Choi Hye Jeong, who tearfully added she was tortured by North Korean authorities when Chinese officials forced her to return to her country several years ago.
'I get enraged every time I think of what they did to me. I won't let this relay happen as planned,' she told Yonhap.
Human rights lawyer Kim Sang-Chul said China has repatriated some 75,000 North Koreans over the last 15 years and vowed to stop the torch.
'China tries to promote itself as a civilised nation but what it's doing to the defectors is uncivilised,' he said.
The torch heads late on Sunday to North Korea, a close ally of China that has strongly criticised the overseas protests.
11:51 AM
Olympic torch bearers dashed past sporadic protests Saturday as heavy security marked the Japanese leg of the world relay _ streets lined by thousands of riot police and monitored by helicopters overhead.
Police guards in track suits surrounded the torch bearers and another 100 uniformed riot police trotted alongside six patrol cars and two motorcycles. They were backed up by thousands of other police.
Japanese officials said the high security was unavoidable, but it dissipated any festive mood in Nagano, which hosted the 1998 Winter Games.
Minor scuffling and protests broke out during the event.
Three men were arrested separately during the relay, each trying to charge the torch, and a fourth man was apprehended later after throwing eggs at a torch runner. A fifth hurled tomatoes at the flame. All were pounced on by police, police officials Akiko Fuseya and Chihiro Usui said.
National broadcaster NHK reported a smoke-emitting tube was thrown at the relay, but without effect. Marchers yelling "Free Tibet" crowded the streets near the route. And four people were slightly injured in different scuffles, fire officials said.
The starting point _ a last-minute substitution after a Buddhist temple pulled out _ was closed to the public, as were all rest stops along the way.
The relay leg ended at a Nagano park much as it had traversed the mountain resort _ amid a sea of both Chinese supporters and pro-Tibet demonstrators.
"I'm so glad that I could safely light up the cauldron," said marathon gold medalist Mizuki Noguchi, the final torch runner. "I ran as I wished for the success of the Beijing Olympics and peace."
The relay, making its 16th international stop, has been disrupted by protests or conducted under extremely heavy security at many sites since it left Greece.
The protests are largely in response to China's crackdown last month on protests in Tibet, which it has governed since the 1950s, and to demonstrate against China's human rights record.
The international route ends next week, with stops in South Korea on Sunday, North Korea on Monday and Vietnam on Tuesday. The flame arrives on Chinese soil on Wednesday in Hong Kong, for a long journey around the country before the Aug. 8 start of the games.
Japan took severe measures to ensure its 11.6-mile relay went smoothly.
But groups including Amnesty International and Reporters Without Borders planned to protest peacefully throughout the day. About 2,000 Chinese exchange students, meanwhile, swarmed Nagano to show their support.
"I hope there won't be any more problems. The Olympics are supposed to be about international unity," said Gao Rui, who came with his family waving Chinese flags.
Several hundred more, divided into pro-China and pro-Tibet factions, rallied in front of the train station. Some marchers yelled "Free Tibet" and waved Tibetan flags, crowding the streets along the route.
"I came from Tokyo to show my support for Tibet," said Toru Watanabe. "I'm glad it was peaceful, but it was impossible to see the torch."
Coinciding with the start of the relay, which began under a light rain, a prayer vigil was held at the largest Buddhist temple in Nagano, Zenkoji.
The 1,400-year-old temple, which was the showcase of the 1998 Olympics, last week declined to host the start of the relay, citing security concerns and sympathy among monks and worshippers for their Buddhist brethren in Tibet
11:48 AM
North Korean defectors vowed Saturday to disrupt the South Korean leg of the Olympic torch relay in protest of China's repatriation of refugees to the North where they could face execution.
The demonstration would add to the chorus of protests that has dogged the torch's global tour, focusing attention on unrest in Tibetan areas of China and Beijing's human rights record.
Han Chang Kwon, head of a coalition of groups representing North Korean defectors in South Korea, told The Associated Press that the protest at the Seoul relay on Sunday could become violent. He did not elaborate.
The flame was set to arrive in Seoul early Sunday from Japan and head to Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, on Monday.
Han said the defectors in South Korea were "boiling with anger" because some who escaped to China from the North had been repatriated, adding that he hoped the protest would give North Korean leader Kim Jong Il "a stroke."
"While trying to improve its image with the Olympics, it (China) keeps sending defectors to the North knowing they will be executed or sent to political prisons," Han said.
A South Korean aid group, Good Friends, claimed last month that the North executed 15 people in February for attempting to flee or helping others escape the country, and the Amnesty International urged Pyongyang to halt such summary executions.
North Korea has never acknowledged the practice, claiming any allegations of human rights abuses in the country are groundless and part of a U.S. attempt to overthrow the regime.
Police officials have said they will arrest anyone who tries to interrupt the torch relay, which will follow a 15-mile route from the Olympic Park in southern Seoul to City Hall.
They also plan to dispatch some 8,000 riot police to guard the flame, while deploying some 100 officers with marathon-running experience to run next to the torch in shifts.
The U.S. Embassy has advised its citizens to stay away from the route to avoid possible clashes.
Thousands of North Koreans are believed to be hiding in China after fleeing their homeland. On Friday, U.S.-based rights group Human Rights Watch urged South Korea to pay more attention to their plight.
On Saturday, heavy security and a large contingent of pro-China supporters thwarted protesters who tried to disrupt the Japanese leg of the Olympic torch relay in Nagano.
Five men were arrested, in all. Three were apprehended after trying to charge the torch, the fourth threw eggs and the fifth hurled tomatoes at the flame.
The international route ends next week, when the flame arrives in Hong Kong on Wednesday. It will then travel throughout China ahead of the Aug. 8 start of the games.
The relay, the longest in Olympic history, has been a lightning rod for anti-China protests, largely in response to China's crackdown last month on anti-government riots in Tibet, which it has governed since the 1950s.
North Korea, which tolerates no dissent, has vowed to make its leg of the relay the most secure and smooth.
China is the North's only major ally and provides its impoverished neighbor with food and energy aid
11:23 PM
N.Korean defectors vow to disrupt SKorea Olympic torch relay
SEOUL, South Korea - North Korean defectors vowed Saturday to disrupt the South Korean leg of the Olympic torch relay in protest of China's repatriation of refugees to the North where they could face execution.
The demonstration would add to the chorus of protests that has dogged the torch's global tour, focusing attention on unrest in Tibetan areas of China and Beijing's human rights record.
Han Chang Kwon, head of a coalition of groups representing North Korean defectors in South Korea, told The Associated Press that the protest at the Seoul relay on Sunday could become violent. He did not elaborate.
The flame was set to arrive in Seoul early Sunday from Japan and head to Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, on Monday.
Han said the defectors in South Korea were "boiling with anger" because some who escaped to China from the North had been repatriated, adding that he hoped the protest would give North Korean leader Kim Jong Il "a stroke."
"While trying to improve its image with the Olympics, it (China) keeps sending defectors to the North knowing they will be executed or sent to political prisons," Han said.
A South Korean aid group, Good Friends, claimed last month that the North executed 15 people in February for attempting to flee or helping others escape the country, and the Amnesty International urged Pyongyang to halt such summary executions.
North Korea has never acknowledged the practice, claiming any allegations of human rights abuses in the country are groundless and part of a U.S. attempt to overthrow the regime.
Police officials have said they will arrest anyone who tries to interrupt the torch relay, which will follow a 15-mile route from the Olympic Park in southern Seoul to City Hall.
They also plan to dispatch some 8,000 riot police to guard the flame, while deploying some 100 officers with marathon-running experience to run next to the torch in shifts.
The U.S. Embassy has advised its citizens to stay away from the route to avoid possible clashes.
Thousands of North Koreans are believed to be hiding in China after fleeing their homeland. On Friday, U.S.-based rights group Human Rights Watch urged South Korea to pay more attention to their plight.
On Saturday, heavy security and a large contingent of pro-China supporters thwarted protesters who tried to disrupt the Japanese leg of the Olympic torch relay in Nagano.
Five men were arrested, in all. Three were apprehended after trying to charge the torch, the fourth threw eggs and the fifth hurled tomatoes at the flame.
The international route ends next week, when the flame arrives in Hong Kong on Wednesday. It will then travel throughout China ahead of the Aug. 8 start of the games.
The relay, the longest in Olympic history, has been a lightning rod for anti-China protests, largely in response to China's crackdown last month on anti-government riots in Tibet, which it has governed since the 1950s.
North Korea, which tolerates no dissent, has vowed to make its leg of the relay the most secure and smooth.
China is the North's only major ally and provides its impoverished neighbor with food and energy aid.
10:59 PM
The teenage daughter of a Hamas chief was killed and eight people wounded in a dawn Israeli air raid on the Gaza Strip, Palestinian health officials and Hamas said on Saturday.
Maryam Talaat Maruf, 14, died when a missile hit her house in Beit Lahiya, north of Gaza City and the eight others wounded, the sources said.
Hamas, which controls Gaza, said "Israeli forces Saturday killed the daughter of Talaat Maruf," a leader of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the armed branch of the Islamist movement.
Witnesses said Maruf and his brother Hassan were detained by Israeli soldiers who entered the area supported by tanks.
An Israeli military spokeswoman said "the air force launched two raids on Saturday morning against armed elements in the northern Gaza Strip ... There were also exchanges of fire, but none of our people were hit."
Overnight, two members of Islamic Jihad were seriously wounded in another Israeli air strike on northern Gaza, the militant movement said.
At least 437 people, most of them Palestinian, have been killed since peace talks between the Israelis and Palestinians were resumed at a US-sponsored talks in November, according to an AFP count
11:18 AM
China's Olympic torch relay ignited more protests on its troubled world tour Friday, sparking demonstrations across this Japanese city despite the mobilization of thousands of riot police.
Dozens of demonstrators waved Tibetan flags protested as the flame arrived, and one self-proclaimed monk was arrested near the starting point of Saturday's relay. Reports said the man had a knife and was carrying a protest statement.
The relay _ making its 16th international stop _ has been disrupted by protests or conducted under extremely heavy security at many sites since it left Greece.
The protests are largely in response to China's crackdown last month on protests in Tibet, which it has governed since the 1950s, and to concerns over human rights issues in China.
The international route ends next week, with stops in South Korea on Sunday, North Korea on Monday and Vietnam on Tuesday. The flame arrives on Chinese soil on May 2 in Hong Kong, for a long journey around the country before the Aug. 8 start of the games.
Japan has taken severe measures to ensure its 11.6-mile relay goes smoothly. Buses full of riot police patrolled the city, while helicopters buzzed in the air.
Five police guards in track suits will surround the runners, and 100 uniformed riot police will trot alongside. The vacant lot where the relay will begin _ a last-minute substitution after a Buddhist temple pulled out _ will be closed to the public, as will be all rest stops along the way.
After arriving in Nagano by bus early Friday, the flame was spirited away to a hotel and put under heavy security. About 3,000 police have been mobilized.
Japanese officials said the security was unavoidable, and called for calm.
"In a festive environment where everyone can celebrate, we hope the Olympic torch relay will proceed smoothly," Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura said in Tokyo.
But the high-profile police presence has dissipated any festive mood in Nagano, which hosted the 1998 Winter Games.
"I have nothing against the relay itself, it's all the other stuff that is bothersome," said Hirotoshi Mizugami. "It will cause a lot of traffic jams and disrupt things here; they could have just as easily done it in Tokyo where they are better prepared for this sort of thing."
Groups including Amnesty International and Reporters Without Borders have announced plans to protest. About 2,000 Chinese exchange students were expected to show their support.
Zenkoji, the largest Buddhist temple in Nagano, last week declined to host the start of the relay, citing security concerns and sympathy among monks and worshippers for their religious brethren in Tibet. The 1,400-year-old temple also said it would co-host a prayer ritual for Tibet at the start of the relay.
The problems with the torch relay and reports of foiled terrorist plots in China have raised larger concerns of violence during the Beijing Games, the head of Interpol said Friday.
Ronald Noble told an international security conference that potential attacks could involve efforts to block transportation routes, interfere with competitions, assault athletes or destroy property during the Olympics.
In Vietnam, authorities expelled an American citizen of Vietnamese origin who planned to disrupt the relay there, state media reported. Vuong Hoang Minh, 34, was put on a flight to the U.S. on Thursday, the Vietnam News Agency said. It said Minh told authorities he planned to snatch the torch.
11:17 AM
Thousands of Chinese supporters and Japanese nationalists scuffled Saturday, injuring one Chinese student, as the Olympic torch ran through here on its troubled worldwide relay.
The streets of the central mountain town of Nagano were a sea of red Chinese national flags interspersed with dozens of large Tibetan flags, for the latest leg of the relay which has been marred by anti-Beijing protests.
Some right-wing groups waved Japan's old imperial flag and shouted, "Chinese, go home!"
One Chinese student at the rally suffered a cut to his forehead in a scuffle with Japanese nationalists. He was taken to a hospital but his injuries were not serious, a fire department official said.
The relay was briefly stopped as nationalists threw objects that media reports said were flares. Police immediately sealed off the area as furious Chinese shouted, "Arrest them! Arrest them!"
At another point, police tackled down one person who tried to jump into the road and seize the torch.
"At first I didn't think I would come here as I didn't have the time or money," said Xin Xin, a 24-year-old Chinese student wearing a Chinese flag.
"But many things happened this past week. We had to come here to support the Olympic games in China," he said.
The torch relay has been dogged by demonstrations against China's rule in Tibet and its human rights record, protests that have outraged China, which had hoped to make the Games a symbol of their nation's rising international clout.
China, under intense international pressure for dialogue over Tibet, announced Friday it would meet envoys of the Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, in the first talks since violence erupted there last month.
The Nagano leg kicked off in a parking lot rather than a celebrated Buddhist temple, which withdrew as the starting point in a protest over China's crackdown in predominantly Buddhist Tibet.
The Zenkoji temple instead held a prayer ceremony to mourn both Chinese and Tibetans killed in the recent unrest. Some 300 people prayed in silence as 20 orange-robed monks read out the names of victims and hit a gong.
Senichi Hoshino, head coach of Japan's Olympic baseball team, was the first of 80 runners to set off on the 18.7-kilometre (11.5-mile), four-hour relay, accompanied by two lines of Japanese police.
In keeping with Japanese government requests, only two Chinese guards were accompanying the torch. China has specially trained a crack squad to guard the flame, but their brusque treatment of demonstrators has caused controversy.
Police said late Friday they had made one arrest in Nagano, that of a man clad as an apprentice monk carrying a blade and a letter opposing the relay.
More than 3,000 police were deployed along the route in Nagano, the site of the 1998 Winter Olympics, which has raised security to a level usually accorded to Emperor Akihito.
Japan has been trying to repair relations with China, which remain uneasy due to war memories, and has pledged to ensure top security for the relay.
China is one of the main targets for Japan's far-right activists, who are notorious for noisy demonstrations.
"I support the Tibetans, Uighurs, Mongolians and Taiwanese who are against China. We support any group that's against Communist China," said Yasuhiro Yagi, a self-described Japanese right-wing activist.
Robert Menard, the founder of rights group Reporters Sans Frontieres (Reporters Without Borders), also travelled to Nagano where he planned to wear his trademark T-shirt showing the five Olympic rings as handcuffs.
But he hailed China's announcement that it would meet Dalai Lama aides.
"If opening dialogue with the Dalai Lama's people is a sign of a broader discussion by Chinese authorities on human rights and freedom of expression in China, then we'll take another look at our strategy," he told AFP
11:16 AM
Olympic torch arrives in Japan
TOKYO: The Olympic torch arrived on Friday in Japan on the latest leg of a worldwide relay hit by protests.
The chartered Beijing Olympic plane, emblazoned with the slogan "Journey of Harmony", flew into Tokyo's Haneda airport at 0600 GMT (2100 GMT Thursday) welcomed by some 30 people holding Chinese and Japanese flags.
The torch heads on Saturday to the central mountain town of Nagano, the site of the 1998 Winter Olympics.
"I am confident that the Beijing Olympics torch relay will be a success," Cui Tiankai, China's ambassador to Japan, said at the airport.
Japan has pledged tight security for the relay, where both Chinese residents and supporters of greater freedoms in Tibet plan to demonstrate.
A revered seventh-century Buddhist temple last week backed out of plans to be the starting point for the relay due to concerns about China's crackdown in predominantly Buddhist Tibet.
Earlier legs of the torch relay have been hit by protests, particularly London and Paris where chaotic scenes enraged the Chinese public.
The torch came to Japan from Canberra, where thousands of Chinese supporters took to the streets and Australian security tussled with Chinese torch escorts.
9:20 PM
The United Nations stopped distributing aid to the Gaza Strip on Thursday after running out of fuel as the Israeli terminal that supplies the besieged Palestinian territory remained shut.
"We have just stopped the distribution of all food aid to 650,000 Palestinian refugees in the Gaza Strip because of the lack of fuel in our storage in Gaza," said Adnan Abu Hasna, a spokesman for the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) office in Gaza.
"We also stopped transporting students and officials in the Gaza Strip," he told AFP. "Not a litre of fuel came from Israel," he added.
Israel, which maintains a punishing blockade on the impoverished territory, accused the Islamist Hamas movement of preventing distribution of one million litres of fuel (260,000 gallons) delivered about a week ago.
But UNRWA retorted that the stored fuel was not destined for UN agencies in Gaza, which buy their own supplies.
Israel suggested that the United Nations complain to Hamas, which controls Gaza.
"They should take it up with Hamas and demand they get fuel from the million litres stored on the Palestinian side of the border," foreign ministry spokesman Arye Mekel said.
"We did try today to transfer fuel directly to UNRWA but a farmers' demonstration supported by Hamas prevented us from doing so," he told AFP.
John Ging, who heads the UNRWA offices in Gaza, said Israel had promised to supply 100,000 litres of diesel and 20,000 litres of petrol to the United Nations.
"It is unacceptable that the UN should find itself having to consider suspending its humanitarian operations simply for a lack of fuel for its vehicles," EU Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Louis Michel said in a statement.
Israel stopped supplying petrol and diesel, and cut fuel supplies for Gaza's power plant by half after Palestinian militants attacked Nahal Oz two weeks ago, killing two Israeli civilian employees.
It resumed shipments of fuel for the power plant several days later, but again halted deliveries after another attack killed three Israeli soldiers near the crossing.
Israel has sealed the Gaza Strip off to all but very limited humanitarian aid since Hamas seized control of the territory from forces loyal to moderate president Mahmud Abbas last June.
A Hamas delegation announced after talks with Egyptian mediators in Cairo that the Islamist movement was ready to accept a phased truce that would only extend to the occupied West Bank in a second stage in return for an end to Israel's blockade.
Senior Hamas official Mahmud al-Zahar, a former Palestinian foreign minister, said the group was ready to accept the truce extending to West Bank after a six-month delay, Egypt's official MENA news agency reported.
In the past Israel has rejected a truce covering all of the Palestinian territories, saying that its operations in the occupied West Bank are essential to prevent militants from launching attacks inside the Jewish state.
On Wednesday, Robert Serry, the UN special envoy for the Middle East peace process, urged militants to stop attacking border crossings and called on Israel to lift its blockade.
Humanitarian agencies say Gaza, one of the world's most densely populated territories with 1.5 million people living on a narrow sliver of land, is on the brink of disaster.
Israel says its sanctions are necessary to pressure Hamas to end persistent rocket attacks.
The situation was highlighted on Wednesday at a UN Security Council session in New York that saw Western ambassadors walk out in protest after the Libyan delegate compared conditions in Gaza to those in Nazi death camps.
Ibrahim Dabbashi, Libya's deputy UN ambassador, said on Thursday the situation in Gaza is actually "worse" than in the Nazi camps.
"It is more than what happened in the concentration camps because there is the bombing, daily bombs in Gaza," Dabbashi told reporters. "It is worse."
Libya, the sole Arab member on the 15-member council, acts as a spokesman for the Arab group at the United Nations.
Israel's ambassador to the UN Dan Gillerman reacted furiously to Dabbashi's comments, saying that it showed that Libya remained a "terrorist" state despite its rapprochement with the West of the past five years.
"Libya is a very pertinent example of what happens when you let terrorists infiltrate the Security Council," he said
5:30 PM
Australian police tussled with Chinese torch escorts Thursday as the Olympic flame was run through Canberra to rowdy demonstrations by thousands of Chinese supporters and pro-Tibet protesters.
Seven people were arrested on the sidelines while centre-stage Australian police and the Chinese escorts, clad in blue-and-white tracksuits, physically played out a long-running dispute over who was in charge of security.
On several occasions, police pulled one of the escorts back from alongside the runner carrying the torch, until they appeared to reach a compromise as the relay continued its 16-kilometre (10-mile) route, television footage showed.
On Wednesday, Chinese and Australian officials openly disagreed at a press conference about the role of the Chinese attendants, who were described by top British Olympic official Sebastian Coe during the London leg as "thugs".
Canberra police chief Mike Phelan said the push and shove at the start of the relay between a Chinese flame attendant and a police officer was "a slight communications misunderstanding" and quickly sorted out.
"It was just simply technical communications about how far back and so on... and then once it was clearly articulated it wasn't a problem," he said.
"For fifteen-and-a-half kilometres of a 16-kilometre run it went quite well."
The torch, symbol of the Beijing Games, is on the Asian stretch of a world tour that began with protests in Greece when the flame was lit on March 24.
The flame became a focus of demonstrations over China's role in Tibet and its human rights record as it passed through Europe and the United States.
Australian police said seven people had been taken into custody during the noisy protests -- five Chinese supporters and two pro-Tibet demonstrators -- for interfering with the running of the relay.
They include one man who sat down on the road about 15 metres ahead of one of the torchbearers before he was pounced on by police. Phelan said all those arrested faced fines.
Australian officials described the relay as a "spectacular success" given the troubles which plagued the torch elsewhere, notably London and Paris.
Organisers Ted Quinlan said Australian and international Olympic officials "are stoked (very pleased) that something that looked like it was going down the tubes may have been turned around."
Australian Capital Territory Chief Minister Jon Stanhope said it was the best relay leg held since Beijing took control of the flame on March 24.
"It didn't go to custard, we didn't have it go onto buses, it wasn't shuffled off into warehouses, it wasn't truncated or abandoned after two kilometres. It ran its full course. It was peaceful."
Police kept the estimated 10,000 Chinese supporters largely away from the 2,000-strong pro-Tibet group, but tempers flared at several stages along the route, and there were reports of scuffles.
Stanhope said while some "enormously regrettable" incidents took place, it was unsurprising given the depth of feeling.
"One of the great successes of the relay was the opportunity it presented for those who wished to make a point, to express a point of view about China," he said.
Police said initial estimates were that the relay crowd swelled from 3,000 to more than 20,000 as the torch made its way around the city.
The relay ended after some three hours with former Olympic champion swimmer Ian Thorpe lighting a cauldron with his torch.
The flame's next stop is Nagano, Japan, where organisers have altered the route and mounted extra security to prevent the kind of disruption that marred earlier relay legs.
Protesters have flayed China's crackdown on unrest in Tibet, which exiled Tibetan leaders say claimed more than 150 lives. Beijing rejects such figures, saying Tibetan "rioters" killed 20 people
3:09 PM
CANBERRA, Australia - Runners bearing the Olympic torch completed a 10-mile relay through the Australian capital Thursday, cheered by thousands waving Chinese flags and unimpeded by pockets of pro-Tibet protests that led to several arrests.
Crowds lined downtown streets for the Canberra relay on the cool and sunny autumn day as police manned crowd-control barriers, making good on a vow that nothing would stop the torch from finishing its journey.
The event began without major incident as a half-dozen officers — in jogging pants, T-shirts and baseball caps — formed a loose cordon around the runner. Overhead, an airplane sky writer wrote the words "Free Tibet" in white letters.
A momentary scare came an hour into the relay when a man leaped out from the crowd and sat cross-legged about 35 feet in front of the runner. Police quickly hauled him away and the runner didn't stop.
It was the closest any protester came to the torch, which was carried through Canberra's wide tree-lined boulevards by 80 runners.
Nearly three hours after the start, five-time gold medal winner Ian Thorpe completed the final leg by lighting a ceremonial cauldron.
Officials claimed a victory because it largely avoided the chaotic protest scenes that marred the portions held in Europe and the United States.
"We obviously feared the worst," local government spokesman Jeremy Lasek said. "We feel right now relieved but elated — we think we've pulled it off."
Protests of China's human rights record and its crackdown on anti-government activists in Tibet have turned the relay into a contentious issue for the Olympic movement. Many countries have changed routes and boosted security along the flame's six-continent journey to the Aug. 8-24 games in Beijing.
Officials estimated more than 10,000 people — mostly China supporters — attended the relay route and parks in Canberra. China supporters strongly outnumbered those carrying Tibetan flags or placards criticizing Beijing's human rights record. At some places, chanting of "One China" broke out. At others, eager supporters waving Chinese banners tried to keep up with the relay.
Away from the route, three Tibetan women blocked the street in front of Parliament and a protester shouted "stop killing in Tibet." Police led all four away.
Shortly before the start, dozens of China supporters faced off against a group carrying blue-colored flags representing the China's Muslim minority Uighurs and minor scuffling erupted. Police said at least one person was arrested. Soon afterward, Tibetan activists set alight a Chinese flag and one person was arrested.
At one point, three protesters jumped crowd-control barricades and walked along the route waving "Free Tibet" signs. They were chased by a larger group carrying Chinese flags that tried to cover up the signs with the flags.
"They mobbed the sign. They were really aggressive, insulting and swearing," said Marion Vecourcay, one of the activists.
Seven people in total were detained during the day and will likely face charges of causing a public disturbance, said police spokeswoman Laura Keating.
Pro-Tibet groups said about 500 people showed up in Canberra for peaceful protests. In response, Chinese student groups organized bus trips from Sydney and other cities for those wanting to support the relay.
"We didn't expect this reaction from the Chinese community which is obviously a well-coordinated plan to take the day by weight of numbers," Ted Quinlan, the chief organizer of the Australia relay, told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
Security had been boosted — officials say the expense doubled in recent weeks to $1.9 million — along a route that had been shortened. But it still threaded along a 10-mile path past Parliament House and within 200 yards of the Chinese Embassy.
George Farley, chairman of the Australia Tibet Council, had urged the crowd not to be violent, even if provoked.
There were small protests Wednesday in Sydney and Canberra with a handful of arrests.
In Nepal, authorities forced an American mountaineer with a "Free Tibet" banner in his bags off Mount Everest. Chinese climbers carrying the Olympic torch plan to ascend their side of the world's tallest peak in the early days of May.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
8:27 PM
The International Space Station orbits Earth after the undocking of space shuttle Endeavour during the STS-123 mission.
There may be only one place in the universe which can be the subject of 300,000 and counting photos and still never get old. It is the same place that astronauts spend hours upon hours of their free time watching, for months, yet still can't get enough. It's not a distant galaxy, or a spectacular nebula. It's simply home -- our planet Earth.
Of all the things astronauts speak of after their flights, the view of Earth remains their most consistent, indescribable, awe-inspiring constant.
Imagine looking out your window and seeing the planet pass below at 17,500 miles per hour every day, circling it each 90 minutes. That's the view for astronauts living and working on the International Space Station for six months at a time, orbiting 220 miles above the ground. Every day is Earth Day aboard the station.
The station provides an incomparable vantage point from which to observe, monitor and even discover Earth. A high quality optical window, located in the U.S. Laboratory, Destiny, was designed just for that purpose.
"Astronaut photographs of Earth are taken from the human perspective from space,” said Sue Runco, Earth remote sensing scientist at Johnson Space Center. “Just the fact of seeing Earth as another human sees it, is why people often can relate to them much greater than they can to satellite imagery."
Astronauts are trained in meteorology, geology, oceanography and environmental science in advance of their mission to maximize their observations of Earth. They use an array of professional digital cameras and lenses to capture the images, and, more recently, high-definition video.
A team of scientists on the ground helps the crews identify upcoming photo opportunities. The scientists send daily messages to the crew with specific times, locations and background on the areas of interest. Those areas can range from coral reefs to alpine glaciers to smog over industrial regions.
The unique documentation has become a valuable asset to researchers who use the data to help illustrate changes over time. By comparing photos from space of areas of interest, they can develop maps of land cover change, identify changes in Earth’s atmosphere and document changes in water levels, vegetation or even urban sprawl.
Their photos also serve as the “eyes of the world” – giving us never seen before images of hurricanes from above or squall lines as they develop. Unlike satellites, astronauts can actively search and identify new developments below them. During Expedition 13, Flight Engineer Jeff Williams was the first person to identify an erupting volcano of which even ground scientists were unaware.
"Astronaut photography of Earth has some unique aspects that aren't found in most satellite imagery,” said Runco. “There is a person behind the camera, and they use their judgment and training to pick the features they will photograph and the angle they will use. Because of their orbit tracks and variable imaging times the lighting will be different which emphasizes different features. They operate in a mode of real-time discovery to see features of interest and document them in a way that is not possible with satellites.”
Because it must rely on as few supplies as possible, the space station uses several very green principles in its daily operations. Water aboard the complex is recycled, not for drinking use, but to provide air for the complex. The water is split into hydrogen and oxygen. The oxygen is then used for breathing air while the hydrogen is vented overboard. All the electrical power on the station is generated by more than a half-acre of solar panels. Future systems may also even recycle the crew's exhaled breath -- combining the carbon dioxide scrubbed from the cabin atmosphere with hydrogen to create additional water.
Learning to use resources onboard the ISS for sustainable living is a smaller version of learning about the larger space platform, Earth, its resources, changes, and effects on sustainable living
