17 dead in Yemen, Saleh loses US favour

SANAA — Yemeni security forces shot dead at least 17 protesters on Monday as Gulf states offered their mediation and Washington reportedly pulled the plug on embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

“The death toll has gone up to 17,” said Sadeq al-Shujaa, head of a makeshift field hospital at a square in central Taez after security forces opened fire on demonstrators marching on the local governorate headquarters.

Witnesses said the demonstrators stormed the courtyard of the governorate and that plainclothes gunmen and rooftop snipers also took part in the gunfire to push them back.

The bloodshed, a day after another protester was shot dead in Taez, 200 kilometres (125 miles) from the capital, sent the death toll to more than 100 in a crackdown on protests in the impoverished state since late January.

Saleh, a longtime US ally in Washington’s fight against Al-Qaeda, appears to be losing American support.

The US government is taking part in efforts to negotiate the president’s departure and a transitional handover of power, according to a report in the New York Times on Sunday.

US officials have told allies they see Saleh’s position as untenable due to the widespread protests, and believe he should leave office, the paper said. Negotiations on his departure had been launched more than a week ago.

The talks centred on a proposal for Saleh to hand over to a provisional government under his vice-president until new polls. The principle is “not in dispute”, an unnamed Yemeni official told the paper.

With the timing still to be worked out, the focus for Washington remains on keeping its Saleh-backed counter-terrorism operation in Yemen unaffected, the Times reported.

The opposition Common Forum on Saturday offered its “vision for a peaceful and secure transition of power”, calling on Saleh to hand power to Vice-President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi, who would be a caretaker president.

But the president, who has adopted a defiant tone over the past week, on Sunday told the opposition to end protests and remove roadblocks, offering a “peaceful transition of power through constitutional ways”.

Youth protesters staging sit-in protests, however, said they would accept nothing short of an end to Saleh’s autocratic rule along with the departure of top figures in his regime.

Oil-rich Gulf states also said late on Sunday that they are seeking to mediate between Saleh and the opposition.

“The countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council have agreed to begin contacts with the Yemeni government and opposition with ideas to overcome the current situation,” it said after a meeting of foreign ministers in Riyadh.

On the ground in Sanaa, soldiers who have sided with protesters intervened on Monday to prevent police from taking on thousands of demonstrators camped at a square in central Sanaa.

Thirteen people were shot and wounded late on Sunday as police clashed with tens of thousands of demonstrators in the Red Sea city of Hudaydah, according to witnesses.

Police opened fire as the protesters marched on the city’s main local government building, they said.

In renewed clashes on Monday in Hudaydah, witnesses reported that dozens of people were wounded by police gunfire and rocks, while hundreds needed treatment for tear-gas inhalation.

The demonstrations in Taez and Hudaydah were part of a renewed spurt of protests for Saleh to end his three-decade rule.

The tide appeared to turn against Saleh on March 18 when regime loyalists gunned down 52 demonstrators in Sanaa, sparking widespread condemnation abroad and a string of defections from his camp.

But boosted by two huge pro-regime rallies in the capital and previous US statements on the battle being waged against al-Qaeda in Yemen under its ally Saleh have produced shows of defiance by the president.

Purple Fruits May Stave off Diseases

Eating purple-coloured fruit such as blueberries could help ward off Alzheimers, Multiple Sclerosis and Parkinsons, media reports said. The foods said to be act by soaking up harmful iron compounds.

This theory is based on a scientific paper that looked at the chemical and biological actions of iron and chemicals that bind to it. The author summarises a body of evidence that suggests that a form of iron may play a role in many different diseases, also providing a number of simple predictions of how this might theoretically occur.

Crucially, this paper only presents a theory, and we do not yet know if the theory is true. Foods that might react with iron, such as blueberries, are also only mentioned in passing in this paper. Stronger evidence is needed to see whether iron plays a role in the development of diseases such as Alzheimers disease. If so this could be followed by studies looking at how food might intervene in the actions of iron.

U.S. to deploy tanks in Afghan war: report

WASHINGTON: The United States is sending battle tanks to Afghanistan for the first time in the nine-year-old war against the Taliban, the Washington Post reported on Friday.

Citing unnamed U.S. officers and defense officials, the paper said General David Petraeus, commander of the U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, approved the deployment last month.

“The deployment of a company of M1 Abrams tanks, which will be fielded by the Marines in the country’s southwest, will allow ground forces to target insurgents from a greater distance, and with more of a lethal punch, than is possible from any other U.S. military vehicle,” the Post said.

The initial deployment calls for 16 tanks to be used in parts of Helmand province, where fighting rages between Marines and Taliban guerrillas, the paper said.

It said Canadian and Danish troops have used a

U.S. to deploy tanks in Afghan war: report

WASHINGTON: The United States is sending battle tanks to Afghanistan for the first time in the nine-year-old war against the Taliban, the Washington Post reported on Friday.

Citing unnamed U.S. officers and defense officials, the paper said General David Petraeus, commander of the U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, approved the deployment last month.

“The deployment of a company of M1 Abrams tanks, which will be fielded by the Marines in the country’s southwest, will allow ground forces to target insurgents from a greater distance, and with more of a lethal punch, than is possible from any other U.S. military vehicle,” the Post said.

The initial deployment calls for 16 tanks to be used in parts of Helmand province, where fighting rages between Marines and Taliban guerrillas, the paper said.

It said Canadian and Danish troops have used a

Taliban in Talks with Hamid Karzai Govt

The Taliban and the government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai have begun high-level talks over a negotiated end to the war in the country, the Washington Post said.

Citing unnamed Afghan and Arab sources, the paper said the talks are believed, for the first time, to involve representatives authorized by the Quetta Shura, the Afghan Taliban group based in Pakistan, and Taliban leader Mohammad Omar.

“They are very, very serious about finding a way out,” a source close to the talks told the paper, referring to the Taliban.

Omar and other Taliban leaders on both sides of the border have insisted for years that no peace talks were possible before foreign fighters had left Afghanistan.

But sources said that the leadership knows “that they are going to be sidelined,” and was negotiating to ensure their positions were protected.

“They know that more radical elements are being promoted within their rank and file,” the source said.

“All these things are making them absolutely sure that, regardless of their success in the war, they are not in a winning position.”

The negotiations involve agreements to allow Taliban leaders positions in the Afghan government and the withdrawal of US and NATO forces, the newspaper said.

But the talks are believed to exclude representatives of the Haqqani group, which the Post said was the target of recently escalated US drone attacks.

US General David Petraeus, the commander of NATO troops in Afghanistan, said last week that the Taliban was approaching the Afghan government and foreign forces with “overtures” about quitting the fight.

Britain bans Dr. Zakir Naik: report

LONDON: Britain has banned a radical Indian preacher, who claimed that “every Muslim should be a terrorist,” from entering the country, a paper reported Friday, citing the interior minister.

Zakir Naik, a 44-year-old television preacher, had been due to give a series of lectures in London and northern England but new Home Secretary Theresa May decided to bar him, said the paper.

“I have excluded Dr Naik from the UK,” said May, cited by the paper. “Numerous comments made by Dr Naik are evidence to me of his unacceptable behaviour.

“Coming to the UK is a privilege not a right and I am not willing to allow those who might not be conducive to the public good to enter the UK.”

May, a Conservative politician who became home secretary in the new government last month, has the power to exclude or deport an individual if she believes their presence in Britain could be dangerous.

Naik had been filmed on a website making inflammatory comments, interior ministry sources told the newspaper.

According to the daily, in a web posting from 2006, he said: “Beware of Muslims saying Osama bin Laden is right or wrong. I reject them… we don”t know.

“But if you ask my view, if given the truth, if he is fighting the enemies of Islam, I am for him. I don”t know what he”s doing. I”m not in touch with him. I don”t know him personally. I read the newspaper.

“If he is terrorising the terrorists, if he is terrorising America the terrorist, the biggest terrorist, every Muslim should be a terrorist.”

Israel set to accept ”quid pro quo” Gaza deal

LONDON: Israel is set to accept a plan under which it would ease its Gaza blockade in return for the international community agreeing a limited probe into a deadly flotilla raid, it was reported Wednesday.

The Daily Telegraph reported that Britain last week circulated a document outlining proposals to ease the blockade. It quoted an unnamed Western source close to the talks with Israel saying: “A quid pro quo deal is in the offing”.

Israel has outlined plans to hold probes into the legality of its naval blockade of Gaza and the raid last week on an aid flotilla, which was bidding to break it, which killed nine people.

It is reportedly considering setting up an investigative team made up of Israeli jurists and former diplomats as well as two foreign observers.

This would fall short of the independent, international investigation several world leaders have called for.

On the blockade, the Daily Telegraph said Israel has been asked to ease access into Gaza at crossings and allow the UN to convey material needed to rebuild 60,000 homes destroyed or damaged in the 2008-09 Gaza war.

“Israel could be flexible about items reaching the civilian population,” said an unnamed Israeli official quoted by the paper.

Officials deny there is a link between their willingness to cooperate and matters related to the inquiry, the paper said.

The United States said Tuesday it backed international participation in a probe into the highly controversial flotilla raid, echoing similar remarks by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

Meanwhile, 21 Asian and Middle Eastern states expressed “grave concern and condemnation” over the raid at a security summit in Istanbul.

Turkey, whose citizens died on the flotilla, has said normalisation of ties with Israel would be “out of the question” if it failed to agree to an international probe.

Thai girl, 5, killed in grenade attack

YALA: A five-year-old girl was killed and 23 people were wounded in a grenade attack by suspected militants in Thailand”s troubled south, police said Wednesday.

Two men on a motorbike hurled the grenade at an army truck near Yala central mosque as people gathered for an evening market, but missed the target, killing the girl and leaving two of the injured in critical condition.

More than 4,100 people have died during a six-year anti-government insurgency across the Muslim-majority southern provinces, led by a shadowy mix of separatist militants who never publicly state their goals.

The region was an autonomous Malay Muslim sultanate until it was annexed in 1902 by mainly Buddhist Thailand and tensions have simmered there ever since, flaring up into the current insurgency in January 2004.

Israel set to accept Gaza deal: report

LONDON: Israel is set to accept a plan under which it would ease its Gaza blockade in return for the international community agreeing a limited probe into a deadly flotilla raid, it was reported Wednesday.

The British daily reported that Britain last week circulated a document outlining proposals to ease the blockade. It quoted an unnamed Western source close to the talks with Israel saying: “A quid pro quo deal is in the offing”.

Israel has outlined plans to hold probes into the legality of its naval blockade of Gaza and the raid last week on an aid flotilla which was bidding to break it which killed nine people. It is reportedly considering setting up an investigative team made up of Israeli jurists and former diplomats as well as two foreign observers.

On the blockade, the newspaper said Israel has been asked to ease access into Gaza at crossings and allow the UN to convey material needed to rebuild 60,000 homes destroyed or damaged in the 2008-09 Gaza war.

“Israel could be flexible about items reaching the civilian population,” said an unnamed Israeli official quoted by the paper. Officials deny there is a link between their willingness to cooperate and matters related to the inquiry, the paper said.

Most Guantanamo detainees low-level fighters: report

Most detainees held at the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba are low-level guerrilla fighters, The Washington Post reported, citing a previously undisclosed government report.
Only about 10 percent of the 240 detainees held at Guantanamo when President Barack Obama took office in January 2009 were leaders, operatives and facilitators involved in plots against the United States, the paper reported.
The rest were largely rank-and-file fighters, while about five percent could not be categorized at all, the paper noted. According to The Post, the final report by the Guantanamo Review Task Force obtained by the paper recommended that 126 of the detainees be transferred either to their homes or to a third country.
But it also said 36 detainees should be prosecuted in either federal court or a military commission, while 48 should be held indefinitely under the laws of war, the paper reported. According to The Post, the report was completed in January but sent to select committees of the US Congress this past week.

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