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SAN'A, Yemen – Yemen on Thursday provided the most comprehensive account yet of contacts between al-Qaida and the Nigerian accused of trying to blow up a U.S. airliner, saying he may have met with a radical U.S.-born cleric who previously had contact with the alleged Fort Hood shooter.

In the weeks before the attempted airliner attack, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab met with al-Qaida operatives in a remote mountainous region that was later hit in an airstrike that targeted a gathering of the group's top leaders, Yemen's deputy prime minister said.

The account by Rashad al-Alimi, who oversees security issues in the government, filled in some of the blanks in Abdulmutallab's movements before his failed attempt to detonate explosives on a Christmas Day flight to Detroit.

But al-Alimi also raised new questions. He contended that Abdulmutallab was recruited by al-Qaida in Britain and that the 23-year-old received the explosives in Nigeria. U.S. officials say Abdulmutallab told FBI investigators that al-Qaida operatives in Yemen gave him the material and trained him in how to use it.

In a speech Thursday, President Barack Obama outlined three broad areas where U.S. agencies fell short in addressing the threat, failing to "connect the dots" that would have revealed Abdulmutallab was planning an attack. He also announced steps to prevent such failure again.

Abdulmutallab came to Yemen in August, ostensibly to study Arabic at a San'a language institute where he previously studied from 2004-2005. But he disappeared in September, and his whereabouts were unknown until he left the country Dec. 4.

Al-Alimi said that at some point during that period, the Nigerian met with al-Qaida in a sparsely populated area of Shabwa province amid high mountains some 200 miles southeast of the capital.

Among those he may have met with was the U.S.-born radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who has also been linked to the gunman who killed 13 people at Fort Hood in November.

"There is no doubt that he met and had contacts with al-Qaida elements in Shabwa ... perhaps with al-Awlaki," al-Alimi told reporters.

The Awlak tribe, to which the cleric belongs, dominates much of the area.

The 38-year-old cleric, born in New Mexico to Yemeni parents, is a popular figure among al-Qaida sympathizers, known for his English-language Internet sermons that preach jihad, or holy, against the West. A decade ago, while preaching at U.S. mosques, he associated with two of the 9/11 hijackers.

Al-Awlaki also exchanged dozens of e-mails with U.S. Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan in the months before Hasan allegedly carried out the Nov. 5 mass shooting at the Fort Hood, Texas Army post.

Later, al-Awlaki praised the attack on his Web site, which has since been shut down.

While Yemen calls al-Awlaki a spiritual adviser to al-Qaida militants, President Obama's top counterterrorism adviser, John Brennan, last week said he is "clearly a part of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula" trying to instigate terrorism.

On Dec. 24, the day before Abdulmutallab's alleged bombing attempt, Yemeni warplanes raided the Shabwa site, targeting a gathering of al-Qaida leaders that may have included al-Awlaki, as well as the head of al-Qaida's offshoot in Yemen and his deputy, al-Alimi said.

Al-Alimi said security forces tracked the group's leader, Naser Abdel Karim al-Wahishi, and his deputy Saeed al-Shihri, after the strike and they were in a "weak state." He would not clarify if that meant they were wounded, and said he could not confirm if they are alive. At least 30 militants were killed in the strike, Yemeni officials said.

The assault was one of a series of heavy airstrikes and raids Yemeni forces carried out last month. They were the biggest strikes in years by Yemen against al-Qaida in a new intensified alliance with the United States to uproot the terror group's offshoot here.

Officials in Britain have said he met with extremist there, but he was not seen as a threat.

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Portugal parliament votes to permit gay marriage

at 9:37 PM Posted by Beijing News

LISBON, Portugal – Portugal's parliament passed a bill Friday that would make the predominantly Catholic nation the sixth in Europe to permit gay marriage.

Conservative President Anibal Cavaco Silva is thought unlikely to veto the Socialist government's bill, which won the support of all left-of-center parties. His ratification would allow the first gay marriage ceremonies to take place in April — a month before Pope Benedict XVI is due on an official visit to Portugal.

Right-of-center parties opposed the change and sought a national referendum on the issue, but their proposal was rejected and the government's bill was passed by 125 votes to 99.

Gay rights campaigners applauded from the galleries, hugged and kissed outside the building and ate wedding cake.

"This law rights a wrong," Prime Minister Jose Socrates said in a speech to lawmakers, adding that it "simply ends pointless suffering."

Socrates said the measure is part of his effort to modernize Portugal where homosexuality was a crime until 1982. Two years ago his government lifted Portugal's ban on abortion, despite church opposition.

Gay marriage is currently permitted in Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Norway. Canada, South Africa and six U.S. states also permit it.

The bill removes a reference in the current law to marriage being between two people of different sexes.

"It's a slight change to the law, it's true," Socrates, the prime minister, said. "But it is a very important and symbolic step towards fully ensuring respect for values that are essential in any democratic, open and tolerant society: the values of freedom, equality and non-discrimination."

Like neighboring Spain, which introduced same-sex marriages four years ago, Portugal is an overwhelmingly Roman Catholic country and previous efforts to introduce gay marriage ran into strong resistance from religious groups and conservative lawmakers.

Paulo Corte-Real, head of a lobby group called Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transsexual Intervention, said Portugal had become a pioneering country in gay rights.

"This is a historic moment. We just hope the bill gets ratified quickly," he said.

Socrates said a referendum was not necessary because the gay marriage proposal was included in the Socialist Party's manifesto in last September's general election, when it was returned to power.

In 2001, a law allowed "civil unions" between same-sex couples which granted them certain legal, tax and property rights. However, it did not allow couples to take their partner's name, inherit their possessions nor their state pension, which is permitted in marriages.

A proposal from the Left Bloc and Green Party allowing gay couples to adopt children was voted down Friday. Gay campaigners said they would continue to fight for gay couples' parental rights.

The main opposition Social Democratic Party proposed granting non-married cohabiting couples of the same sex more rights, as in France, but its bill also was rejected.

bh

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Uganda lawmaker refuses to withdraw anti-gay bill

at 9:37 PM Posted by Beijing News

KAMPALA, Uganda – A Ugandan lawmaker on Friday refused to withdraw proposed legislation that would impose the death penalty for some gays and lesbians despite international condemnation and presidential opposition to a measure that could scare off foreign investors.

Lawmaker David Bahati said he will not heed a call late Thursday from the government to drop the proposed bill, as he feels such a measure is necessary in the conservative East African country.

On Thursday, Minister of State for Investment Aston Kajara said the government would ask Bahati to scrap the bill because they fear backlash from foreign investors. The bill, which Bahati proposed in September, has provoked criticism from gay-rights groups and protests in London, New York and Washington.

"I stand by the bill," Bahati said. "I will not withdraw it. We have our children in schools to protect against being recruited into homosexuality. The process of legislating a law to protect our children against homosexuality and defending our family values must go on."

That leaves the decision to the country's parliament, which will discuss the legislation in late February or early March.

Although President Yoweri Museveni has told colleagues he believes the bill is too harsh and has encouraged his ruling National Resistance Movement Party to overturn the death sentence provision, Information Minister Kabakumba Matsiko said the parliament will act independently of the presidency.

"The bill did not come from the executive," she said. "It is a private members bill."

Earlier this week, several lawmakers and officials from the ruling party said they will push to remove the death penalty statute, and have proposed instead that gays receive counseling to convert them to heterosexuality.

The proposed legislation would toughen Uganda's already strict laws against homosexuality, which are bolstered by Uganda's conservative society, which generally frowns on homosexuality.

Lawmakers outlawed gay marriage in 2005. The proposed legislation is being touted as an update to Uganda's old statutes against homosexuality, which date from the 1950s and do not address homosexuality by name, only what the law terms as "unnatural offenses" and "gross indecency."

The draft of the new bill says anyone convicted of a homosexual act — which includes touching someone of the same sex with the intent of committing a homosexual act — could face life imprisonment. Current legislation imposes seven years' imprisonment. Under the new law, the death sentence could apply to sexually active gays living with HIV or in cases of same-sex rape. The new law also expands its scope to include Ugandans living abroad, who can be extradited and punished.

Kajara said government officials worried the bill would scare off investors.

"Ever since the bill was tabled, there have been a lot of outcries not only here but from all over the world," he said. "There has been negative publicity on Uganda which is not good for investment. As government, we shall talk to the private member who brought it to parliament and request him to withdraw it."

The measure was proposed in Uganda following a visit by leaders of U.S. conservative Christian ministries that promote therapy for gays to become heterosexual. However, at least one of those leaders has denounced the bill, as have some other conservative and liberal Christians in the United States.

On the African continent, South Africa is the only country that allows gay marriage. However, some South African groups have rejected homosexuality as "un-African" and gangs carry out so-called "corrective" rapes on lesbians. A 19-year-old lesbian athlete was gang-raped, tortured and murdered in 2008.

The Catholic church in Uganda has said it supports the bill but not the death penalty provision. But a group of non-traditional churches has accused Museveni of siding with gays and maintains that the Bible supports killing gays. Anglican Archbishop of York John Sentamu, who is one of the global fellowship's most senior priests, has said he condemns the proposed law in his native country.

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Mexico cartel stitches rival's face on soccer ball

at 9:37 PM Posted by Beijing News

MEXICO CITY – The body of 36-year-old Hugo Hernandez was left on the streets of Los Mochis in seven pieces as a chilling threat to members of the Juarez drug cartel. A note read: "Happy New Year, because this will be your last."

To drive home the point, the assailants skinned Hernandez's face and stitched it onto a soccer ball.

The gruesome find, confirmed Friday by Sinaloa state prosecutors, represents a new level of brutality in Mexico's drug war, in which torture and beheadings are almost daily occurrences.

Hernandez was taken to Sinaloa after being kidnapped Jan. 2 in neighboring Sonora state, in an area known for marijuana growing, said Martin Robles, a spokesman for Sinaloa prosecutors. The motive for his abduction was unclear.

His torso was found in a plastic container in one location; elsewhere another box contained his arms, legs and skull, Robles said. Hernandez's face, sewn onto a soccer ball, was left in a plastic bag near City Hall.

More than 15,000 people have been killed since President Felipe Calderon launched a crackdown on cartels three years ago. While the border cities of Ciudad Juarez and Tijuana have seen much of the violence, Sinaloa state is Mexico's drug-smuggling heartland and is the birthplace of the leadership of four of the six major cartels.

Often, victims are tortured and mutilated, in an attempt to intimidate rivals, officials and others who might represent a threat to the cartels.

Often, it works.

In the northern city of Saltillo, a major regional newspaper announced it would stop covering drug violence altogether after the body of a reporter was found Friday outside a motel with a threatening message. Valentin Valdes had recently written about the arrests of suspected drug traffickers.

"As of today we will publish zero information related to drug trafficking to avoid situations like the one we went through today," an editor of the newspaper Zocalo told The Associated Press. Tellingly, he asked that his name not be published.

Many Mexican news media have stopped covering anything that might be associated with drugs, or limit themselves to reporting on government news releases. At least 17 journalists have been killed in Mexico since 1992 in direct reprisal for stories, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists.

Valdes had written about the Dec. 29 arrests at the Marbella Motel of five alleged members of the Gulf drug cartel. He also covered the arrests Wednesday of five others who barged into the same hotel and stole the surveillance tapes.

The 28-year-old reporter was shot to death, and his body was dumped outside the Marbella Motel.

The Coahuila state Attorney General's Office said a handwritten message left next to his body read: "This is going to happen to everybody who doesn't understand, the message is for everybody."

Such threatening messages are frequently left by Mexican drug cartels.

The influence of cartels has increased to such an extent that on Friday all 60 policemen in the embattled town of Tancitaro were fired because they had failed to stop a series of killings and other crimes. Michoacan state police and soldiers will take over security duties in the town.

In December, eight government officials including the mayor of Tancitaro resigned their posts saying they had been threatened by drug traffickers.

Mexico's Ambassador to the United States, Arturo Sarukhan, said that "we have begun to see important results in the ability of U.S. government to detain the flows" of drug-related weapons and cash into Mexico over the two countries' border.

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Suspects in Egypt's Christmas slayings surrender

at 9:37 PM Posted by Beijing News

CAIRO – Three suspects in a drive-by shooting that killed six Christians in southern Egypt surrendered to police Friday, while authorities faced mounting pressure to resolve the sectarian dispute in the tense community reeling from a bloody Coptic Christmas Eve attack.

Egyptian security forces had blanketed the area between the village of Farshout and the town of Nag Hamadi, where the slayings occurred late Wednesday, blocking suspects from fleeing into nearby desert mountains, the state MENA news agency reported.

The troops then flushed the men out of dense sugar cane fields they were hiding in, and forced them to surrender, the report said.

In the Wednesday shooting in Nag Hamadi, just 40 miles 64 kilometers north of the famed Luxor ruins, gunmen had opened fire on a crowd of worshippers leaving a church after mass for Coptic Orthodox Christmas Eve. Six Christians and a Muslim security guard died in a hale of bullets.

The attack was the worst to target Christians in nearly a decade, and shocked Egypt's Christian community. Copts, who make up most of 8 million Christians in this country of 80 million people, celebrate Christmas according to the old, Julian calendar, on Jan. 7.

The attack also underscored the government's failure to address chronic sectarian strains in a society where religious radicalism is gaining ground. The Interior Ministry immediately called the shooting a revenge for the alleged November rape of a 12-year-old Muslim girl by a Christian man in the same town.

On Thursday, thousands of angry Christians went on a rampage in Nag Hamadi following the funerals of the six, clashing with police and smashing ambulances and shop windows. A brief calm followed but evaporated by nightfall Friday, when some 200 Copts gathered outside the local church demanding revenge and criticizing authorities for failing to protect their community.

"With our soul, our blood, we will defend the Cross," they shouted, then headed for main streets, breaking windows and clashing with Muslim residents. Police cordoned off the downtown area.

Witnesses said Muslims retaliated by torching a handful of Christian homes and shops in the town and a neighboring village. The witnesses spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.

Two security officials said some 20 people, including Christians, were arrested for arson late Friday. One official said several Christians were caught with fire bombs they used to torch their own homes. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press.

Human rights groups say sectarian violence has been on the rise in Egypt. Amnesty International said attacks on the Coptic Christian community left eight people dead in 2008.

Egypt's Prosecutor General Abdel-Maguid Mahmoud arrived in the stricken town Friday to take charge of the investigation, while security chiefs met to discuss ways to ensure violence doesn't erupt anew. Local Muslim leaders and government officials converged on the Nag Hamadi Diocese to offer their condolences.

Bishop Kirollos said he had feared the attack, which could have been prevented if security had been alert. The three suspects are known to have criminal records, according to state media.

Youssef Sidhom, editor of the Coptic Watani newspaper, said Egypt has a track record of rarely seeing justice through in sectarian attacks. He criticized authorities for labeling the attack a "revenge" and for organizing quick local reconciliation sessions instead of resolving the issues.

"In Egypt in such attacks ... there is no guarantee that arresting the culprits means they will be put on trial or are convicted," he said. "Judges are never presented with enough evidence to convict the killers, and they end up going free."

Clashes between Christians and Muslims occasionally occur in southern Egypt, mostly over land or church construction disputes and in recent years have spread to the capital. The Copts are limited in where they can build churches and must obtain government approval before expanding existing ones. The government insists Christians enjoy the same rights as Muslims.

Sidhom said a rising wave of Islamic radicalism has driven Christians toward more isolation and created a gap of trust between the communities.

In 2000, Christian-Muslim clashes touched off by an argument between a Coptic merchant and a Muslim shopper in a southern village left 23 people dead.

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Official: Jamaica to take in radical Muslim cleric

at 9:37 PM Posted by Beijing News

KINGSTON, Jamaica – A Jamaica-born Muslim cleric who has called for killing Americans, Hindus and Jews has not committed any crimes in his native country and the Caribbean island will take him in, the foreign affairs minister said Thursday.

It is unclear when Sheik Abdullah el-Faisal might arrive in Jamaica, where he lived before departing for Africa in early 2009 on a Jamaican passport, Minister Kenneth Baugh told Nationwide News Network radio. He did not know what route el-Faisal would take to Jamaica.

"As far as monitoring him, that will be left to the Ministry of National Security who have their program in place to maintain surveillance," said Baugh, without revealing specifics.

Kenya deported El-Faisal to Gambia on Thursday after several countries, including the United States, denied him a transit visa. Kenya's immigration minister said Gambian authorities have agreed to help el-Faisal find his way home.

Security agents will monitor el-Faisal's activities in Jamaica because of his history of calling for violence in other nations, according to Glenmore Hinds, Jamaica's assistant police chief. He would not disclose details, citing security protocols.

"We are working closely with our international partners on this subject," Hinds said during the same radio program.

The permanent secretary of Jamaica's Security Ministry, Richard Reese, referred security questions to police.

Gilbert Scott, former permanent secretary of the security ministry, said agents closely monitored el-Faisal during his time on the Caribbean island in 2007.

El-Faisal was born Trevor William Forrest in rural St. James parish and immigrated to Britain in the early 1980s. He was deported to Jamaica in May 2007 after serving time in a British prison for urging the killing of several religious groups.

El-Faisal once led a London mosque attended by convicted terrorists, and Britain has said that his teachings heavily influenced one of the bombers in the 2005 transport network attacks in London that killed 52 people.

Mustafa Muhammad, the head of Jamaica's Muslim community, has said he is extremely concerned about el-Faisal's return and plans to meet with community leaders.

He said Jamaica's poverty and lack of security might make it easy for people to infiltrate their community.

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American mother, baby killed by elephant in Kenya

at 9:37 PM Posted by Beijing News

NAIROBI, Kenya – Sharon Brown was hiking with family and her 1-year-old daughter in a Kenyan nature reserve when suddenly their unarmed guide froze in his tracks. Around a corner was an elephant.

The guide shouted to turn back, but it was too late. The elephant — which was protecting a calf nearby — gored the young American mother, tossed her in the air and dragged her body into the forest, a relative said. The baby, who was flung out of her carrier, also died.

"We watched helplessly," Brown's brother-in-law, Rick LeVert, said of the tragic end to what was supposed to have been a scenic nature walk in the forest surrounding the lodge where the family was staying near Mount Kenya National Park.

The 38-year-old New York native and her husband Jeff had decided to take the guided hike Monday with their baby, Margaux, after being told by the owner of the Castle Forest Lodge that it was safe for such a young child, said LeVert, who accompanied them with his wife Libby.

"We were told several times that the walk was suitable for a mother with a baby. At no time did someone say there was a risk of an elephant charging," LeVert said.

Melia van Laar of the Castle Forest Lodge said by e-mail Thursday that the hike is suitable for a mother and young child, and that "we always do" warn guests about dangers. She said a written warning was posted on an information board.

The group had been walking over flat terrain looking at mushrooms and ants, LeVert said, when it began to rain. They headed toward a more forested area where they hiked for about an hour before the guide hesitated at a blind corner.

"At that point he turned and yelled 'Go back!'" LeVert said. "Sharon, who was next to me, turned and slipped on wet ground and a branch. I helped her up, and ... 15 to 20 meters yards up the trail was the elephant."

"It was not a lone elephant. It was a mother with a calf. We turned and we began to run. It was clear to everyone if we stayed on the path we had no chance," LeVert said. "I yelled to Sharon to come with me. I went to the left side, she went to the right side."

The elephant charged to the right, ramming into Brown, then throwing her into the air and dragging her into the forest. Margaux was tossed from her baby carrier. She was barely alive, but the family immediately knew Brown had been killed.

The elephant, making growling noises, backed up about 50 yards, allowing family members to creep toward Brown's body, LeVert said. Because she could not be saved, the family decided to leave her body and make the trek back to the lodge to try to save Margaux; the baby died en route.

LeVert said the family blamed the lodge staff for not warning them about potential dangers and for failing to provide adequate emergency help after the tragedy.

"We're not stupid. We know we were in the wild and anything could happen. But the guide did not hesitate and said the walk was suitable. The owner did not hesitate and said the walk was suitable," he said.

However, because Castle Forest lies just outside the boundary of Mt. Kenya National Park, the family was with a hotel guide who was not allowed to carry a gun, said Kentice Tikolo, a spokeswoman for the Kenya Wildlife Service. Only park rangers can carry guns.

At the lodge, LeVert said the owner did not have any emergency contact numbers for medical authorities or the Kenya Wildlife Service. Van Laar said her lodge does have emergency contacts but they weren't programmed into her phone because she never had to call them. She added that she stayed with the family the whole time.

Tikolo, the spokeswoman for the Kenya Wildlife Service, said the elephant's aggression likely came from the fact that the calf was present.

Deaths caused by animals are common enough in Kenya that the government has a set rate to pay families in the case of such killings — about $2,600, a large sum for rural Kenyans. The government pays $660 for injuries caused by animals.

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Brrr: Parents fight for sleds as Europe shivers

at 9:37 PM Posted by Beijing News

PARIS – Snow settling near France's Mediterranean shores. German parents battling to buy sleds. British horse races called off over too much ice.

A European cold snap — awfully cold in some places — saw snow clog roads and airports Friday, knock out electricity and induce hoorays from schoolchildren kept home from school. The low temperatures, prompted by an Arctic weather system, are set to continue through the weekend.

Britain, already deep in its longest cold spell in nearly 30 years, registered its chilliest night yet this season: minus 22.3 degrees Celsius minus 8.1 Fahrenheit in the Scottish Highlands village of Altnaharra.

British authorities have used up so much grit on icy roads that on Friday they started to run out, leaving thousands of secondary roads and sidewalks untreated and turning them into sheets of black ice that stretched for blocks. Poland, too, saw shortages of salt for spilling on streets.

Gatwick Airport officials said 18,000 tons of snow had been removed from runways in recent days. A dozen flights were canceled out of Marseille-Provence airport in southern France. France's busiest airport, Charles de Gaulle, planned to cancel 25 percent of its flights on Saturday.

France's weather service issued an avalanche warning for the Alps and the Pyrenees for this weekend after days of heavy snowfall and strong winds. Some travelers abandoned plans to head to the ski slopes because of closed roads.

Last weekend, avalanches killed seven people in Switzerland at the start of its ski season.

For desperate parents from Britain to Berlin, the biggest challenge hasn't been snow-choked roads but finding a sled.

Manufacturers of all types of snow-slipping vehicles, from traditional wooden-runner sleds to plastic bobsleds with breaks, are thrilled at the boom after years of fearing they had become victims of global warming.

"There hasn't been a run on sleds like this one since at least 25 years," said Michael Ress, owner Ress Kutschen sled factory in Schwebheim, Germany.

Ress' eight employees are currently working at maximum capacity, putting together 100 beech-wood sleds per day. The entire forthcoming production of this season's 3,000 sleds, which go for euro35 $50, already has been sold in advance.

"We're running out of supplies," said Ress, adding that he was forced to order certain metal parts from Asia because his usual German suppliers were out of stock.

In London, the harsh weather dominated Friday's Cabinet meeting. British union officials pleaded with employers to offer hot drinks to people working outside. A charity call center set up to help the elderly cope with the snow and ice was shut down because workers could not get to the office.

Deep snow in Lanarkshire, Scotland, left Alec Allison using a tractor to clear it from the roads of his farm. But that didn't help his sheep. At one point, he used a long stick to search snowdrifts where he found and freed one of his sheep.

In Merseyside in northwest England, construction workers helped rescue a flock of swans trapped in a frozen lake. The RSPCA animal welfare organization said it had received about 100 calls since Wednesday reporting ducks and swans stuck in ice on ponds and lakes.

In France, snow piled up from Normandy to Marseilles on the Mediterranean shore. Some 30 centimeters 11.8 inches of snow fell on Arles and Avignon in southern France, according to the regional traffic center, and snowdrifts piled higher than a meter 3.3 feet. Snowstorms cut electricity to thousands of homes.

Much of Spain was also shivering. A nature park in the normally temperate Murcia region in the southeast turned on heaters at a pen housing three giraffes more accustomed to savannah-like climes.

Baetz reported from Berlin. Associated Press writers Gregory Katz and Jill Lawless in London, Ariel David in Rome, Ian MacDougall in Olso, Louise Nordstrom in Stockholm, Daniel Woolls in Madrid, Karel Janicek in Prague contributed to this report.

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Migrants riot in southern Italian town

at 9:37 PM Posted by Beijing News

ROSARNO, Italy – Hundreds of migrant workers, most of them Africans, went on a rampage Friday in a southern Italian town in a second day of rioting, with authorities reporting at least 37 wounded, including 18 police officers and five migrants.

Violence ebbed and flared throughout Friday in Rosarno, a town near the western coast of Calabria in the "toe" of the Italian peninsula. The clashes in the volatile area had begun a day earlier, when two migrants were wounded by pellet fire, said a top police official, Renato Cortese, in the regional capital.

Police reinforcements were being sent in the next hours, likely during the night, with the exact number still being decided, the Interior Ministry said.

Friday evening, another two migrants were wounded in the feet and legs by pellet fire, and three more were seriously injured when they were beaten with metal rods, police and hospital officials said.

The two migrants shot Friday were in the hamlet of Laureana di Borrello, 10 kilometers 6 miles from Rosarno, said Cortese. There was no information about the attacker.

Officials at Santa Maria degli Ungheresi Hospital in the nearby town of Polistena said one of the migrants beaten by metal rods had surgery for a kidney injury and another was treated for an eye socket injury, and the third wounded in the attack was taken to another hospital for brain surgery.

The rioting began after Thursday's shooting, in which two men — one from Nigeria, the other from Togo — were lightly injured. The foreigners angrily blamed that shooting on racism, and groups of protesters stoned police, attacked residents and smashed shop windows and cars.

Friday, angry migrants, mostly from African nations, some armed with metal bars or wooden sticks, scuffled with police and residents in the streets of Rosarno.

Other residents were holed up in their homes, state radio reported, and schools and shops were shuttered.

"I'd say you could step out and buy some bread only because you have to eat, but if I had to choose I wouldn't go out for an evening stroll," said Cortese, asked by the AP in a telephone interview how dangerous Rosarno's streets were.

Police said late Friday evening that at least 37 people had been injured, including the five migrants, 14 residents and 18 police officers.

A young mother with a bruise under an eye and a bandage on the side of her head, told state TV a group of migrants started smashing her car. The woman said that, fearful for the safety of her small children, she managed to drive about two meters 6 feet, before her attackers pushed her car into a wall. Terrified, she fled with her family, and the assailants set her car afire, she said.

With television cameras rolling in the streets, some residents shouted that they wanted the migrants to leave the town.

An exact number of arrests was not available because the clashes were continuing, although they were "under control," said the paramilitary Carabinieri police press office.

Earlier, the Interior Ministry said seven migrants had been arrested.

The Italians arrested included one who tried to hit a migrant with a bulldozer as the rioters headed toward the town's center. Another Italian resident was taken into custody after trying to hit a migrant with a car, the Italian news agency ANSA reported from Rosarno, a town of 15,000 people.

Agazio Loiero, the governor of the Calabria region, told Sky TV said that the violence was "unacceptable" but the migrants had been "strongly provoked."

Ariel David reported from Rome. Associated Press reporter Marco Pedersini contributed to this report from Rome.

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3 Malaysian churches attacked in 'Allah' dispute

at 9:37 PM Posted by Beijing News

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – Religious tensions in Muslim-majority Malaysia turned violent Friday with firebomb attacks on three churches following a court decision that allows Christians to translate God as Allah.

"Allah is only for us," said a poster waved at one of at least two protests outside mosques in Kuala Lumpur on Friday, the Muslim holy day.

Many Muslims are angry about a Dec. 31 High Court decision overturning a government ban on Roman Catholics' using "Allah" for God in the Malay-language edition of their main newspaper, the Herald.

The ruling also applies to the ban's broader applications, such as Malay-language Bibles, 10,000 copies of which were recently seized by authorities because they translated God as Allah.

"We will not allow the word Allah to be inscribed in your churches," a speaker shouted over a loudspeaker at the Kampung Bahru mosque.

The Herald says its Malay edition is read mainly by Christian indigenous tribes in the remote states of Sabah and Sarawak.

But the government contends that making Allah synonymous with God may confuse Muslims and ultimately mislead to them into converting to Christianity, a punishable offense in Malaysia despite a constitution that guarantees freedom of religion.

It suggests using "Tuhan," but Christians say Tuhan is more like "Lord," and can't replace "Allah."

Leading Muslim scholars, activists and opposition politicians have supported the Christians' right to call God Allah, and Friday's protests were relatively small, with most of the congregation ignoring them.

Still, the unprecedented church attacks compounded the difficulties for a country that prides itself on having managed to maintain broad harmony among a mix of racial and religious gaps. About 9 percent of Malaysia's 28 million people are Christian, including 800,000 Catholics, most of whom are ethnic Chinese or Indian. Muslims are 60 percent.

Minorities have long complained of discrimination. The government refuses to allow construction of new churches and temples, court verdicts in religious disputes usually favor Muslims, and an array of laws guarantee preferential treatment for Malays, the dominant and largely Muslim ethnic group, in jobs, housing and education.

"The distrust has always been there but now the minorities in Malaysia feel that they are under siege," said James Chin, who teaches political science at the Monash University in Malaysia.

The Allah ban is unusual in the Muslim world. The Arabic word is commonly used by Christians to describe God in such countries as Egypt and Syria. The confiscated Bibles came from neighboring Indonesia, an overwhelmingly Muslim country.

Bassilius Nassour, a Greek Orthodox bishop in Damascus, called the Malaysian government's position "shameful."

"It shows Malaysia to be a backward, pagan state because God teaches freedom for everyone, and the word 'Allah' is for everyone," he said.

Some government critics suggest the Allah ban is designed to win back Muslim voters who deserted Prime Minister Najib Razak's United Malays National Organization party in the 2008 general election — a charge Najib denies. He condemned the church attacks and promised the government would "take whatever steps it can to prevent such acts."

Since the court ruling, hateful comments and threats against Christians have been posted widely on the Internet, but the attacks in suburban Kuala Lumpur, the capital, mark the first time that the Allah controversy has resulted in vandalism.

Associated Press writers Eileen Ng, Julia Zappei and Sean Yoong contributed to this report.

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Shots fired at leading Iranian opposition figure

at 9:37 PM Posted by Beijing News

TEHRAN, Iran – Pro-government demonstrators opened fire on the car of one of Iran's opposition leaders and shattered his windows, but he escaped unharmed from the rare armed attack on a top reformist, his Web site reported on Friday.

Hard-liners called last week for the execution of opposition leaders, raising tensions that could spark a cycle of political violence beyond even the government's control.

Mahdi Karroubi blamed authorities after shots were fired at his car late Thursday from a crowd of about 500 government supporters surrounded by police in the town of Qazvin, some 90 miles 140 kilometers west of Tehran.

At the time of the shooting, Karroubi was leaving a house he was staying in while visiting a friend in the town, and government supporters were rallying outside the building. Karroubi's bodyguards, who were with him at the time of the incident, did not return fire. They were also unharmed.

"God knows why a hand, which should defend people and the country, opens fire on the people," Karroubi said. The shots shattered the carwindows, reported Sahamnews Web site.

Karroubi ran in June's disputed presidential election that the opposition says Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won by fraud. Unrest began immediately following the government announcement declaring Ahmadinejad the victor, with mass street protests followed by a ferocious government crackdown. The opposition says more than 80 protesters have been killed in the crackdown, but the government puts the number of confirmed dead at less than 40.

In late December, protests gained momentum again and clashes between security forces and opposition supporters killed at least eight people — the worst violence since the height of the unrest in the summer.

The shooting against Karroubi, however, was unusual. Karroubi's car was pelted by a brick-wielding mob in December. In 1999, another pro-reform politician, Saeed Hajjarian, was shot in the face and paralyzed.

The attack raised concerns that the political turmoil rocking Iran could be spiraling out of the government's control. An editor of a reformist Web site in Tehran said he feared for Karroubi's life.

"It was not just a single threat," the editor said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. "It's a move for the physical elimination of Karroubi and other opposition leaders."

None of Iran's official or semiofficial news outlets reported on the shooting on Karroubi.

Since the bloodshed last month, death threats against opposition leaders have increased, with pro-government demonstrations last week calling for the execution of Karroubi and the top opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi.

Senior cleric Kazem Sedighi appeared to give the green light Friday for people to take matters into their own hands against opposition figures.

"I am concerned that people will lose patience if the legal apparatus does not conduct its affairs in a timely manner," Sedighi said during Friday's sermon in Tehran. He also claimed some of the 500 protesters arrested around the Shiite holy day of Ashoura Dec. 27 were intoxicated.

Also during Friday prayers, hard-line lawmaker Gholam Ali Haddad Adel appeared to lash out Karroubi, accusing him of serving the enemies of Iran. Authorities have repeatedly accused the United States and Britain of fomenting Iran's unrest and supporting the opposition.

"Why did you pave the ground for the plots of foreign enemies?" said Adel, an ally of Iran's supreme leader. "You damaged the reputation of the system," he added, without mentioning Karroubi by name, and warned those going against the establishment "will melt like snow under rays of the sun."

Tehran's prosecutor said Friday a German national and a Syrian reporter for Dubai TV who were among those detained during the latest opposition protests in December would soon be released, but gave no timeframe.

This version CORRECTS New approach; UPDATES overlines; corrects that EU removed MEK from terror list last year sted this year.

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Latest shot in hummus war: Israel doubles record

at 9:37 PM Posted by Beijing News

JERUSALEM – Israel has taken the upper hand in a new kind of Mideast conflict, one in which bullets are replaced by chickpeas.

Using a satellite dish on loan from a nearby broadcast station, cooks in an Arab town near Jerusalem whipped up more than four metric tons of hummus, the chickpea paste that is a staple — and a near-religious obsession — for many in the Middle East.

The cooks doubled the previous record for the world's biggest serving of hummus, set in October by cooks in Lebanon. That record broke an earlier Israeli record and briefly put Lebanon ahead.

Hundreds of jubilant Israelis, a mix of Arabs and Jews, gathered around the giant dish in the town of Abu Ghosh near Jerusalem on Friday, many of them dancing as a singer performed an Arabic love song to the beige chickpea paste.

Just after midday, an adjudicator sent from London by Guinness World Records, Jack Brockbank, confirmed that the Israeli chefs now held the record. He put the exact amount of hummus in the giant dish at 9,017 pounds 4,090 kilograms.

Lebanon and Israel have officially been at war for six decades. Three months ago, when the Lebanese chefs prepared their record-breaking dish, they called it a move to reaffirm ownership of a Lebanese food they claimed had been appropriated by Israelis.

"Lebanon is trying to win a battle against Israel by registering this new Guinness World Record and telling the whole world that hummus is a Lebanese product, it's part of our traditions," Fady Jreissati, the Lebanese organizer, said at the time.

The driving force behind the Israeli hummus dish, Jawdat Ibrahim, an Israeli Arab restaurateur who became a millionaire after winning a lottery in the U.S., played down the conflict, saying "competition is a healthy thing."

"Today we have the hummus. Hopefully, we will have the talks for peace in our region," he said.

The hummus war has been simmering for some time. In 2008, a group of Lebanese businessmen announced plans to sue Israel to stop it from marketing hummus and other regional dishes as Israeli.

Lebanese tourism minister Fadi Abboud told The Associated Press that his country plans to beat the new record in the spring with an even bigger plate of hummus prepared on the border with Israel. "This way they can learn how to do hummus," he said.

"We have no objection that other people do hummus but they should know that it is Lebanese. They Israelis should find a name other than hummus because this is a Lebanese name," Abboud said.

Many in the Arab world see Israel as a Western implant in the region, though a majority of Israel's population is of Middle Eastern and North African descent. The chefs responsible for Friday's record were from the country's one-fifth Arab minority.

Israel launched two major military operations against Lebanon, targeting guerrillas threatening Israel's northern border, in 1982 and in 2006. Both campaigns left widespread devastation in Lebanon.

On Friday, a newscaster on Israel's Army Radio referred to the hummus clash as the "third Lebanon war."

___

Associated Press Writer Bassem Mroue in Beirut contributed to this report.

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CIA bomber's wife says war must go on against US

at 9:37 PM Posted by Beijing News

ISTANBUL – The Turkish wife of a Jordanian doctor who killed seven CIA employees in a suicide attack in Afghanistan says her husband was outraged over the treatment of Iraqis at Abu Ghraib prison and the U.S.-led invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Defne Bayrak, the wife of bomber Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, said in an interview with The Associated Press that his hatred of the United States had motivated her husband to sacrifice his life on Dec. 30 in what he regarded as a holy war against the U.S.

Bayrak also said Friday, "I think the war against the United States must go on."

Turkish police questioned and released Bayrak on Thursday. But she says police confiscated a book she had written called "Osama bin Laden the Che Guevera of the East."

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