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ManilaBoy45

Junior Member
Official: Chinese Frigate Locked Radar on Japanese Navy :(

Feb. 5, 2013 - 07:24AM |
By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

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TOKYO — A Chinese military frigate has locked its weapon-targeting radar on a Japanese navy vessel on at least one occasion, Japan’s defense minister said Feb. 5, in an apparent upping of the stakes in a bitter territorial row.

“On January 30, something like fire-control radar was directed at a Japan Self-Defense Maritime escort ship in the East China Sea. The defense ministry today confirmed radar for targeting was used,” Itsunori Onodera told reporters in Tokyo.

Onodera said a Japanese military helicopter was also locked with a similar radar a few days earlier.“Directing such radar is very abnormal,” he said. “We recognize it would create a very dangerous situation if a single misstep occurred.
 

delft

Brigadier
^^ You can post what ever news you desire.. but that ^^^ is not news to most of the World..this is..

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A Turkish newspaper wrote this morning that the attack was organised from The Netherlands and, looking at the assassination program of the US using drones and special forces, my Dutch center-right newspaper NRC declares itself deeply unhappy at the possibility of US government ordered murder in The Netherlands.
 

bladerunner

Banned Idiot
Its quiet ironic really as Australia has been one of the countries that have been most vocal in calling other countries, (China) sports cheats.

Doping scandal rocks Oz sport.

"Sydney - The use of banned drugs in Australian professional sport is "widespread", a year-long investigation has found, according to a report on BBC.

The Australian Crime Commission (ACC) said scientists, coaches and support staff were involved in the provision of drugs across multiple sporting codes, without naming any individuals.
In some cases, the drugs were supplied by organised crime syndicates, it said.

Home Affairs Minister Jason Clare said the findings were "shocking and will disgust Australian sports fans".

The president of the World Anti-Doping Agency, John Fahey, described them as "alarming" but not a surprise.

Announcing the findings at a news conference in Canberra, Mr Clare said that "multiple athletes from a number of clubs in major Australian sporting codes are suspected of currently using or having previously used peptides, potentially constituting anti-doping rule violations".

"It's cheating but it's worse than that, it's cheating with the help of criminals," he said.

The commission said it looked at the use of a new form of PIEDs (performance and image enhancing drugs) known as peptides and hormones, which provide effects similar to anabolic steroids.
"Despite being prohibited substances in professional sport, peptides and hormones are being used by professional athletes in Australia, facilitated by sports scientists, high-performance coaches and sports staff," it said.

"Widespread use of these substances has been identified, or is suspected by the ACC, in a number of professional sporting codes in Australia."

The use of illicit drugs in some sports was thought to be "significantly higher" than official statistics showed, it added.

In some cases, players had been administered with drugs not yet approved for human use, the report also said.

The commission found that organised crime syndicates were involved in the distribution of the banned substances - something Mr Clare, the home affairs minister, called particularly serious.

"Links between organised crime and players exposes players to the risk of being co-opted for match-fixing and this investigation has identified one possible example of that and that is currently under investigation," he said.

Because criminal investigations are under way the report does not go into details, our correspondent says.

The Aussie rules Australian Football League (AFL) and the National Rugby League (NRL) have said they are already working with the commission."

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icbeodragon

Junior Member
Its quiet ironic really as Australia has been one of the countries that have been most vocal in calling other countries, (China) sports cheats.

Doping scandal rocks Oz sport.

"Sydney - The use of banned drugs in Australian professional sport is "widespread", a year-long investigation has found, according to a report on BBC.

The Australian Crime Commission (ACC) said scientists, coaches and support staff were involved in the provision of drugs across multiple sporting codes, without naming any individuals.
In some cases, the drugs were supplied by organised crime syndicates, it said.

Home Affairs Minister Jason Clare said the findings were "shocking and will disgust Australian sports fans".

The president of the World Anti-Doping Agency, John Fahey, described them as "alarming" but not a surprise.

Announcing the findings at a news conference in Canberra, Mr Clare said that "multiple athletes from a number of clubs in major Australian sporting codes are suspected of currently using or having previously used peptides, potentially constituting anti-doping rule violations".

"It's cheating but it's worse than that, it's cheating with the help of criminals," he said.

The commission said it looked at the use of a new form of PIEDs (performance and image enhancing drugs) known as peptides and hormones, which provide effects similar to anabolic steroids.
"Despite being prohibited substances in professional sport, peptides and hormones are being used by professional athletes in Australia, facilitated by sports scientists, high-performance coaches and sports staff," it said.

"Widespread use of these substances has been identified, or is suspected by the ACC, in a number of professional sporting codes in Australia."

The use of illicit drugs in some sports was thought to be "significantly higher" than official statistics showed, it added.

In some cases, players had been administered with drugs not yet approved for human use, the report also said.

The commission found that organised crime syndicates were involved in the distribution of the banned substances - something Mr Clare, the home affairs minister, called particularly serious.

"Links between organised crime and players exposes players to the risk of being co-opted for match-fixing and this investigation has identified one possible example of that and that is currently under investigation," he said.

Because criminal investigations are under way the report does not go into details, our correspondent says.

The Aussie rules Australian Football League (AFL) and the National Rugby League (NRL) have said they are already working with the commission."

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Well at least they were willing to call themselves out on it.
 

broadsword

Brigadier
Its quiet ironic really as Australia has been one of the countries that have been most vocal in calling other countries, (China) sports cheats.

Doping scandal rocks Oz sport.

At the London Olympics, they were quiet on China, presumably because some of the Chinese swimmers trained in Australia.
 

bladerunner

Banned Idiot
At the London Olympics, they were quiet on China, presumably because some of the Chinese swimmers trained in Australia.


That's true, but then they performed poorly overall and not because of the Chinese. However over the last decade or so they certainly made a meal of the incident in Perth 1998 when customs picked up the Chinese swim team with growth hormone in their possession while on their way to compete at a meet.
Anyway, at this stage most of the suspicion is cast on Australian professional sports teams like AFL. Rugby League and Union and that would be like receiving a kick where it hurts most. I am currently mentally picturing several prominent sporting media hots/journos choking on their cornflakes.
 
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bd popeye

The Last Jedi
VIP Professional
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BIG BEAR LAKE, Calif. (AP) — A police officer and a pair of soon-to-be newlyweds were dead.

Another officer, riddled with bullets, was in intensive care.

Two more police were shot at but got away, one of them grazed by gunfire. Two innocent and uninvolved women were shot by police who feared a dangerous suspect.

And despite a massive manhunt that touched three states and Mexico, the heavily armed ex-Los Angeles police officer believed behind the rampage, who promised in his rambling writings to bring "warfare" to police and their families, remained free.

"We don't know what he's going to do," said Cindy Bachman, spokeswoman for the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department, one of many law enforcement agencies whose primary purpose has become finding Christopher Dorner, 33. "We know what he's capable of doing. And we need to find him."

As darkness fell, the search that had extended across California from the U.S.-Mexico border through Nevada, from suburban streets to military bases, had narrowed in on a cold, snowy mountain 80 miles east of Los Angeles where Dorner's burned truck was found.

But tracks that surrounded the truck and hours of door-to-door searching around Bear Mountain Ski Resort had turned up nothing, and authorities conceded that the whereabouts of Dorner, also a former Naval reservist and onetime college running back, remained a mystery.

"He could be anywhere at this point," said San Bernardino County Sheriff John McMahon, who had 125 deputies and police officers and two helicopters searching the community of Big Bear Lake, where light snow fell early Friday morning.

The saga began Sunday night, when Monica Quan and her fiance, Keith Lawrence, were found shot in their car at a parking structure at their condominium in Irvine. Quan, 28, was an assistant women's basketball coach at Cal State Fullerton. The couple had no known enemies and there was no evidence of robbery.

The following morning in National City, Calif. near San Diego, some of Dorner's belongings, including police equipment and paperwork with names related to the LAPD, were found in a trash bin.

The LAPD was notified of the find, and two days later informed Irvine police of an angry manifesto written by a former officer and posted on Facebook.

"We didn't have it very long," Irvine police Lt. Julia Engen said. "Obviously it took us a while to digest."

The rant promised to "bring unconventional and asymmetrical warfare" to police and named among many others Randal Quan, a former LAPD captain turned attorney who represented Dorner in his unsuccessful attempts to keep the police job he lost in 2008 for making false statements.

Randal Quan was also Monica Quan's father.

"Bing bing bing, the dots were connecting," Engen said. "These names are somehow associated to Mr. Quan, who just lost his daughter the prior day. The dots connected. OK, now we've got a name of somebody to look at. That's when the discovery was connected."

On Wednesday night, Irvine and Los Angeles police announced they were searching for Dorner, declaring him armed and "extremely dangerous." Hours later, they learned they were all too correct.

Two LAPD officers en route to provide security to one of Dorner's possible targets were flagged down by a resident who reported seeing the suspect early Thursday at a gas station in Corona. The officers then followed a pickup truck until it stopped. The driver, believed to be Dorner, got out and fired a rifle, police said. A bullet grazed an officer's head.

Later, two officers on routine patrol in neighboring Riverside were ambushed at a stoplight by a motorist who drove up next to them and opened fire with a rifle. One died and the other was seriously wounded but was expected to survive, said Riverside police Chief Sergio Diaz.

He said news organizations should withhold the officers' names because the suspect had made clear that he considers police and their families "fair game."

Thousands of heavily armed officers patrolled highways throughout Southern California, while some stood guard outside the homes of people police said Dorner vowed to attack. Electronic billboards, which usually alert motorists about the commute, urged them to call 911 if they saw him.

At a news conference held amid heightened security in an underground room at police headquarters, Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck urged Dorner to surrender.

"Of course he knows what he's doing; we trained him. He was also a member of the Armed Forces," he said. "It is extremely worrisome and scary."

While in the Naval Reserves, Dorner earned a rifle marksman ribbon and pistol expert medal. He was assigned to a naval undersea warfare unit and various aviation training units, according to military records, taking a leave from the LAPD to be deployed to Bahrain in 2006 and 2007.

He wrote that he would "utilize every bit of small arms training, demolition, ordinance and survival training I've been given," the manifesto read.

The nearly 10,000-member LAPD, a force Dorner was part of from 2005 to 2008, dispatched officers to protect more than 40 potential targets, including police officers and their families. The department also pulled officers from motorcycle duty, fearing they would make for easy targets.

The hunt also led to two errant shootings in the pre-dawn darkness Thursday.

LAPD officers guarding a target named in the manifesto shot and wounded two women in suburban Torrance who were in a pickup truck, authorities said. Beck said one woman was in stable condition with two gunshot wounds and the other was being released after treatment.

"Tragically we believe this was a case of mistaken identity by the officers," Beck said.

Minutes later, Torrance officers responding to a report of gunshots encountered a dark pickup matching the description of Dorner's, police said. A collision occurred and the officers fired on the pickup. The unidentified driver was not hit and it turned out not to be the suspect vehicle, they said.

In San Diego, where police say Dorner tied up an elderly man and unsuccessfully tried to steal his boat Wednesday night, Naval Base Point Loma was locked down Thursday after a Navy worker reported seeing someone who resembled Dorner.

Navy Cmdr. Brad Fagan said officials believe Dorner had checked into a base hotel on Tuesday and left the next day without checking out. Numerous agencies guarded the base on Thursday. Fagan said Dorner was honorably discharged and that his last day in the Navy was last Friday.

Nevada authorities also joined the search, because Dorner owns a house nine miles from the Las Vegas Strip, according to authorities and property records.

In Big Bear, Dorner's pickup was taken to be processed at a crime lab Thursday evening and examined by investigators from multiple agencies.

Jackie Holohan, who runs a vacation rental company in Big Bear Lake, said visitors weren't dissuaded from coming to the mountain resort despite the intensive manhunt.

"The only ones who have called want to make sure if they can get up the mountain," Holohan said.

The manhunt was affecting some local businesses. A couple of fast food restaurants shut their doors and only took drive-in customers, and the main shopping avenue had light foot traffic.

Sheriff's officials said deputies and officers had combed some 200 homes in the area and intended to search some 200 more, with extreme wariness knowing they were likely to be treated as targets as well as hunters.

Dorner's writings suggested he did not expect to live through the ordeal.

"Unfortunately, I will not be alive to see my name cleared," he wrote at one point in his manifesto, later saying, "Self-preservation is no longer important to me. I do not fear death as I died long ago."

___

Associated Press writers contributing to this report include Jeff Wilson, Bob Jablon, Greg Risling, Shaya Tayefe Mohajer, Linda Deutsch and John Antczak in Los Angeles, Ken Ritter in Las Vegas, and Elliot Spagat and Julie Watson in San Diego.

Abdollah reported from Los Angeles. She can be reached on Twitter at
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TerraN_EmpirE

Tyrant King
Not Quite Breaking news Japan Gets it on Both ends... I so did not mean it that way.

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Tensions Flare as Japan Says Russian Planes Entered Airspace
By HIROKO TABUCHI
Published: February 7, 2013
TOKYO — Japan said that Russian fighter planes violated its airspace briefly on Thursday, and it scrambled its own military jets in response. The episode caused a flare in tensions in a longstanding territorial dispute that had been relatively quiet in recent months.

Russia denied the accusation, which came on the day each year that is set aside in Japan for rallies supporting the country’s claims to an island chain near the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido. The islands have been controlled for decades by the Soviet Union and then Russia.

The Japanese government issued a “severe protest” with the Russian Embassy in Tokyo, and it demanded that Moscow investigate.

The rally and the reported incursion underscore the tangled history of territory in Northeast Asia and the friction it causes. Japan is embroiled in disputes over two separate groups of islands with South Korea and China. Of the three, the conflict over the northern islands has been the least problematic in recent months, while the frequent brinkmanship over the islands claimed by Japan and China has led to fears that cat-and-mouse games among the nations’ boats and planes could turn more serious.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan was attending one of the yearly rallies on the islands controlled by Russia when he was informed of the claims of the intrusion in Japanese airspace. Just before the news, he said he was “determined to do everything in our power” to resolve the dispute in Japan’s favor.

Although Mr. Abe is hawkish and is pushing for more military spending, other prime ministers have also attended rallies over the islands, known as the Northern Territories in Japan and the Southern Kuriles in Russia. Mr. Abe told Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin, in a phone call in late December that the bond between Japan and Russia was “one of the most promising bilateral relationships” and that his administration would “prioritize strengthening ties” with Russia.

Japan and Russia have argued over the three islands and a group of islets for years, a dispute that has kept the two nations from signing a treaty to end their hostilities in World War II.

Soviet troops seized the islands and islets, which are in rich fishing grounds and are thought to lie near underwater oil and gas reserves, in the final days of the war.

A Japanese Defense Ministry official, Yasunari Oyama, said that four Japanese air force jets scrambled after two Russian jets veered into Japanese airspace for a little more than a minute.

Mr. Oyama said it was not immediately clear whether the episode was intentional or accidental. The planes were flying off the northwest tip of Hokkaido, while the disputed islands are off the northeast tip, and Russian planes have routinely skimmed along Japanese airspace off the west coast since the cold war.

Still, Mr. Oyama said that Tokyo considered Russia’s actions “unacceptable.” It was the first intrusion by Russian jets into Japanese airspace in five years, he said.

As president in 2010, Dmitri A. Medvedev became the first Russian or Soviet leader to visit the disputed islands. He made it clear that Russia had no plans to give up the territory.

The sparring on Thursday came just days after Japan said a Chinese frigate had aimed a weapon-targeting radar on a Japanese warship in the East China Sea, where the two nations are embroiled in their separate islands dispute. Mr. Abe has called China’s actions — sending patrol boats or planes to the area almost daily — “dangerous” and “provocative.”

Capt. Roman Martov, a spokesman for Russia’s eastern military district, said military planes flew a planned exercise in the area of the disputed islands but did not enter Japanese airspace, according to RIA Novosti, the state-owned Russian news agency.

“The Pacific Fleet’s naval aviation flies in this region regularly, and in strict compliance with international law, using airspace without violating the borders of other states,” the news agency quoted Captain Martov as saying. He said airplanes practiced antiship maneuvers in the Sea of Okhotsk on Thursday, as well as flying in difficult weather.

Andrew Kramer contributed reporting from Moscow.
In a Related but not quite Related Story....
February 8, 2013
China Denies Directing Radar at Japanese Military
By CHRIS BUCKLEY
HONG KONG — China on Friday denied guiding a radar capable of aiding weapon strikes at a Japanese naval vessel and helicopter near disputed islands, instead accusing Japan of fanning tensions, in the latest exchange to lay bare festering discord between the two countries.

The Chinese Ministry of Defense’s account of the two episodes stood bluntly at odds with one given on Tuesday by Japan’s Ministry of Defense, which said that on Jan. 30 a Chinese military vessel trained a radar used to help direct weapons on a Japanese naval destroyer near the islands in the East China Sea. Japan also said that a Chinese frigate directed the same kind of radar at one of its military helicopters on Jan. 19.

Because using such “fire-control” radar can precede an attack, the Japanese defense minister, Itsunori Onodera, said that a misstep “could have pushed things into a dangerous situation.”

China’s first substantial response to the accusations amounted to a wholesale denial — which only deepened the puzzle of what happened, and who made any of the alleged decisions to use the radar. Japan promptly rejected the statement.

When Chinese naval vessels encountered the helicopter and destroyer in the East China Sea, their radar had “maintained normal observational alertness, and there was no use of fire-control radar,” said a statement issued on the Chinese defense ministry’s Web site issued by state media late on Thursday. It did not explain what was meant by “normal observational alertness.”

“The Japanese claim that Chinese naval vessel fire-control radars had aimed at a Japanese vessel and craft is out of step with the facts,” said the Chinese defense ministry.

The Chinese defense ministry accompanied its denial with accusations that Japan was to blame for any unnervingly close encounters between their ships and aircraft in the East China Sea area.

Japan was “deliberately creating a tense atmosphere and misleading international opinion,” the Chinese defense ministry said.

Later on Friday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry also dismissed Japan’s assertions as “spun out of thin air,” and argued that they were intended to rekindle tensions. “We have no choice but to stay highly vigilant about Japan’s true intentions,” Hua Chunying, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, told reporters.

The contested islands are called the Diaoyu in China and the Senkaku in Japan. They are controlled by Japan, but China and Taiwan maintain that history and international law give them rightful claim.

Long-standing tensions over the disagreement flared in September, when the Japanese government bought three of the five islands from a private owner, a step that China said amounted to a provocative denial of its territorial claims. Torrid and sometimes violent protests broke out in dozens of Chinese cities.

In the months since, the Chinese government has underscored its claim to the islands by sending government vessels and military ships and aircraft in their vicinity in a cat-and-mouse contest with Japanese Coast Guard ships. Tensions mounted in January, when both countries sent fighter jets over the East China Sea at the same time.

In Tokyo, Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga responded Friday at a news conference, saying, “We cannot accept China’s explanation.”

“We urge China to take sincere measures to prevent dangerous actions which could cause a contingency situation,” he said.

Japan earlier said that Russian fighter planes had briefly entered its airspace on Thursday, prompting it to scramble its own aircraft. Russia denied any incursion.

For all China’s vehemence, the statement by its defense ministry about the radar suggested that senior officials in Beijing want to avoid an escalating quarrel, said Denny Roy, a senior fellow at the East-West Center in Honolulu who researches security issues in the Asian region.

“I think it’s a positive development that the Chinese would deny doing this, as opposed to saying, ‘Yes we did it, and we’ll do it again, and maybe we’ll do more than that next time,’ ” said Mr. Roy. “For the Chinese to not want to be portrayed as an aggressor, I think, is a good sign.”

China’s opaque and deeply secretive politics made it difficult to say whether any decision to use the fire-control radar came from the top of the Communist Party leadership or lower rungs of the military, Mr. Roy said. Many experts believe that “such a decision is not likely to be made by the local commander,” he said.

“But that doesn’t discount the possibility that somebody caught up in a situation could make the decision themselves,” Mr. Roy said.

Bree Feng and Patrick Zuo contributed research from Beijing.
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February 7, 2013
Battling Self-Immolations, China Makes More Arrests
By CHRIS BUCKLEY
HONG KONG — The police in a restive Tibetan area have arrested 12 people and detained dozens more accused of playing a part in acts of self-immolation by Tibetan monks and others protesting Chinese rule, the state-run news media said Thursday, as the government stepped up its campaign of attributing the protests to a plot inspired by the exiled Dalai Lama.

The announcement of the crackdown in Qinghai Province in western China comes as the number of self-immolations reported in Tibetan parts of the country over the past four years approached 100, a somber milestone that has appeared to spur efforts by the Chinese police and officials to crack down on people and groups seeking greater freedom for Tibetans.

China’s state-run Xinhua news agency said that since November, the police in Huangnan, a heavily Tibetan prefecture of Qinghai, have formally arrested 12 suspects and detained 58 other people over self-immolations in the area.

One of those arrested, whose Tibetan name is rendered as Puhua in the Chinese-language report, was charged with homicide and accused of giving speeches encouraging self-immolations at funerals for people who died by engulfing themselves in fire, the news agency report said. It did not give details about the other suspects, when they were held by the police or the accusations against them.

Like other official Chinese reports on the self-immolations, Xinhua presented them as the outcome of a conspiracy inspired by the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, and groups outside China seeking to challenge the Communist Party’s hold over Tibetan regions in the country. The Dalai Lama has not made any explicit statements in support of the acts, and his supporters have dismissed the accusations as groundless attempts to divert attention from the failings of Chinese rule.

The Xinhua report said the self-immolations were “incited by the Dalai’s clique abroad and then implemented within the country, with photos and other personal information about the self-immolators then sent abroad to stir up attention.”

The self-immolations began in February 2009 as protests against Chinese policies that many Tibetans see as a threat to their traditional homeland and Buddhist beliefs. Reports and pictures of the protests and other acts of defiance against Chinese authorities have been spirited out of the areas to advocacy groups abroad. At least 81 Tibetans died after their protests, according to the International Campaign for Tibet, a group based in London that advocates self-rule for Tibet.

The Voice of America broadcast service on Wednesday denied accusations made by a Chinese television program and newspaper that Voice of America encouraged Tibetan self-immolations. Many self-immolations have occurred in traditionally Tibetan areas of provinces next to the Tibetan Autonomous Region, the administrative area that China established in 1951. Qinghai Province is among those areas, as are parts of Sichuan and Gansu Provinces.

Chinese courts rarely find in favor of suspects in crime cases, and the latest reported arrests and detentions are likely to end in at least some trials and convictions. A court in Sichuan Province imposed heavy sentences on Jan. 31 on two Tibetans after declaring them guilty of urging eight people to burn themselves. Three of those people died.

Despite the Chinese government’s crackdown, there have already been three self-immolations by Tibetans this year. The second one died.

The Dalai Lama fled his homeland in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese Communist forces that entered Lhasa, his seat of power, in 1951. Many Tibetans revere the Dalai Lama, who is 77, and observers have said that when he dies, contention could intensify between the Chinese government and his supporters about designating his successor.
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8 February 2013 Last updated at 11:01 ET
Mali conflict: 'First suicide bombing' in Gao
A suicide bomber has blown himself up in the northern Mali town of Gao - the first since French-led troops began their assault on Islamist militants.
The attacker approached a group of soldiers on a motorbike before detonating an explosive belt, injuring one of them, witnesses said.
An al-Qaeda offshoot has claimed responsibility for the attack in the north's most populous city.
Meanwhile, rival army factions have exchanged fire in the capital, Bamako.
Heavily-armed regular soldiers attacked a camp of elite "Red Beret" paratroopers, reportedly leaving many injured.
The violence broke out on the day the first group of European Union military instructors arrived in Bamako to train up Mali's deeply-divided army.
In Paris, the UN's cultural agency Unesco said it planned to help rebuild 11 mausoleums and tombs that were destroyed by the militants when they fled the historic city of Timbuktu.
An initial cost of the damage to the city's rich cultural heritage has been put at $4-5m but Unesco warns that the figure could rise once its experts begin to assess the damage.
Mines check
The suicide bomber detonated his explosives after approaching a checkpoint on the outskirts of Gao at about 06:30 GMT, witnesses said.
It is the first known suicide attack in Mali since France sent some 4,000 troops into the north on 11 January to help the Malian army oust the militants.
The Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (Mujao), an offshoot of al-Qaeda, claimed responsibility for the attack "against the Malian soldiers who chose the side of the miscreants, the enemies of Islam", and vowed to carry out further attacks.
The BBC's Mamadou Moussa Ba in Gao says there is an increased military presence in the city, with patrols and checkpoints run by troops from France, Mali and neighbouring Niger.
He says there are fears that mines could have been left in the town, with schools and the town hall in particular being checked carefully.
On Thursday, there were unconfirmed reports that four Malian soldiers had been killed by a landmine on a road near Gao, with one of the militant groups saying it had carried out the attack.
'Strategic town'
Witnesses said the Bamako base of the "Red Beret" paratroopers was stormed by soldiers allied to the leadership of the coup.
Nearby residents fled in panic as sounds of heavy gunfire and smoke emanated from the barracks on the Niger river.
A doctor at the scene told the Associated Press that at least one person had died and five were wounded, but this has not been confirmed.
The Red Beret paratroopers protected President Amadou Toumani Toure before he was ousted in a military coup in March 2012, and have been largely sidelined since then.
They had reportedly mutinied over attempts to disperse them as a force before sending them to join the fight against the Islamists.
One local resident said the incident had made her ashamed to be Malian.
"I don't understand how at a moment when French and African forces are here to fight our war in our place... Malian soldiers, instead of going to fight at the front, are fighting over a stupid quarrel," Assa told Reuters.
The fighting has coincided with the arrival of 70 EU trainers, who are the first of an eventual 500 military instructors deployed to build up the Malian army.
Colonel Bruno Heluin, commander of the group, said the aim was to "enable the Malian army to hold all the nation's territory, and so that Mali can have a good army at its disposal, prepared to engage".
French troops have retaken control of the north's main towns, and are now, along with some 1,000 Chadian troops led by the president's son, moving into the mountains near the Algerian border where the militants are reported to have fled.
They said on Friday they had taken Tessalit, a strategic town in the mountains with its own airport.
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French troops begin withdrawal from Timbuktu
By Baba Ahmed and Krista Larson - The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Feb 7, 2013 19:46:15 EST
TIMBUKTU, Mali — French troops began to withdraw from Timbuktu Thursday after securing the fabled city as they ramped up their mission in another northern Mali city, searching for Islamic extremists who may be mixing among the local population.

French military spokesman Col. Thierry Burkhard said Thursday that the operation to secure Gao is still under way, nearly two weeks after French and Malian troops moved into the area. New clashes nearby raised questions about how solid a hold the French military has on the strategic area.

There is a risk of “residual presence” of terrorists mixed among the population, Burkhard said from Paris. Extremists fired rocket launchers at French troops near Gao on Tuesday.

France launched a military operation in Mali on Jan. 11 to help the Malian government restore control. Islamic extremists linked to al-Qaida had imposed severe rule in northern Mali then started pushing toward the capital last month.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told a group of journalists Thursday that the military operation “so far has been effective and successful.”

“All these jihadists and armed groups and terrorist elements — seemingly — they have fled somewhere,’ he said. “Our concern is that they may come back. As you have seen yesterday, they are hitting back in some areas. It is good that Timbuktu and Gao and all these major cities have been cleared.”

In a sign of heightened security, authorities briefly detained three Tuareg men in Gao on Thursday who were stopped after they did not have their identity papers. The men, who came from a nearby village, were in Gao because they had missed their bus to a nearby market. The mayor intervened and the men were released.

Meanwhile French troops began to draw out of Timbuktu, after greater successes in securing the desert city.

Soldiers in fatigues could be seen pushing an artillery cannon onto the barge crossing the Niger River, located on the southern perimeter of Timbuktu. France has commandeered the river crossing, and on Thursday small convoys of military vehicles were lining up, waiting for the barge, including armored cars, trucks covered with camouflage-colored tarps, and vehicles loaded with supplies, like cartons of bottled water.

While the population of Timbuktu is anxious, worrying that the departure of French troops will open the door for the Islamists to return, French military officials said they had fulfilled their mission here.

“We have succeeded in handing over the majority of our responsibilities to the Malian army and now she will assume our duties. But we will not leave the city of Timbuktu completely,” said Capt. Franck, an official with the French operation codenamed Serval, after a sub-Saharan wildcat. He gave only his first name in keeping with military protocol.

He said some French forces will stay because “once we are gone, these people will come back in order to trouble the population. At the same time, we can’t stay indefinitely.”

French president Francois Hollande has said France could begin withdrawing its 4,000 troops from Mali as early as March. Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius reiterated that stance Thursday, saying the administration was sticking to its schedule and emphasizing the need for political as well as military action.

“Our objective cannot be achieved with arms only,” Fabius said in an interview on French television BFM.

Fabius said France had carefully studied foreign interventions elsewhere in the world before undertaking the Mali mission. “It’s not Afghanistan, it’s not Somalia, but there are nonetheless lessons to be learned.”

Still for residents of this desert capital of Timbuktu, which was subjected to 10 months of often-brutal Shariah rule, the departure of the troops is premature.

“It really worries me to see the French military leave right away,” said Abdel Kader Konta, the village chief of Korioume, the locality from which the troops were embarking onto the barge. “We think it’s too early for them to leave because the Islamists have not fully quit the city. Some of the Islamists have simply shaved their beards and blended into the population. Before the French leave, they should assure themselves that security has been restored.”

Curious onlookers gathered near the river crossing to watch the French departure, which is expected to be phased over five days. Several had long faces, despondent with worry.

“People think that the Islamists have left. But we think they are still here,” said fisherman Baba Ali Sampana, who had stopped to watch their departure, standing next to his fishing canoe. “The French military should not leave right now.”

Further north in the area of Kidal French Mirage 2000 and Rafale fighter jets had been hammering targets including the Islamic extremists’ logistical depots and training camps. Burkhard said fighters flew around 30 sorties during the night of Feb. 2-3, striking 20 targets.

French troops are in control of the Kidal airport, while the city and surroundings are patrolled by some of the 1,800 Chadian troops taking part in the operation.

On Wednesday, France asked the Security Council to consider establishing a U.N. peacekeeping operation in Mali. France’s U.N. Ambassador Gerard Araud told reporters that he started discussions on the issue during closed council consultations on Mali, but insisted that a U.N. force would deploy only when security conditions permit.

In December, the council resolution had authorized an African-led force known as AFISMA to support Malian authorities in recovering the north — an area the size of Texas — but had set no timeline for military action. The unexpected move by the al-Qaida-linked extremists pushing southward, and France’s intervention, are forcing the Security Council to revamp its plan.

Larson reported from Gao, Mali. Associated Press reporter Greg Keller in Paris contributed to this report.

8 February 2013 Last updated at 02:50 ET
Mexico boy shot in back by US patrol, post-mortem shows
A Mexican teenager shot dead last year was hit from behind by several bullets when US Border Patrol agents opened fired, a post-mortem report shows.
Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez, 16, was in Nogales - on the Mexican side of the border with the US state of Arizona - when he was killed in October.
US officials say a border guard fired when his patrol was pelted by rocks thrown by suspected drug smugglers.
Mexico has complained that the use of lethal force was excessive.
'Strong case'
A lawyer acting for the teenager's family released a copy of the medical examiner's report on Thursday.
The document said that Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez had been hit from behind in the head, neck and body.
It also stated that there were several other bullet injuries, suggesting that they may be exit wounds.
"I'm not saying it's a clear case of excessive force, but it is a very strong case for excessive use of force," lawyer Luis Parra was quoted as saying by the Associated Press news agency.
"The border patrol agent who was firing could have easily taken cover," Mr Parra added.
Reports suggest that the teenager's family is now considering filing a lawsuit.
The US authorities said soon after the 10 October 2012 incident that the suspected drug smugglers first abandoned a haul of drugs, ran back across the border and then started throwing stones at the border patrol.
It said that the border agent had opened fire only after the suspects ignored orders to stop.
The FBI is currently investigating the shooting and declined to comment on the post-mortem report. Border Patrol officials also declined to comment, AP reported.
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This does not look good... No.

Speaking of Troubling.
Brennan: Drones used only for major threats
By Kimberly Dozier - The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Feb 7, 2013 17:35:10 EST
WASHINGTON — CIA Director-designate John Brennan strongly defended anti-terror attacks by unmanned drones Thursday under close questioning at a protest-disrupted confirmation hearing. On a second controversial topic, he said that after years of reading classified intelligence reports he still does not know if waterboarding has yielded useful information.

Despite what he called a public misimpression, Brennan told the Senate Intelligence Committee that drone strikes are used only against targets planning to carry out attacks against the United States, never as retribution for an earlier one. “Nothing could be further from the truth,” he declared.


Referring to one American citizen killed by a drone in Yemen in 2011, he said the man, Anwar al-Alawki, had ties to at least three attacks planned or carried out on U.S. soil. They included the Fort Hood, Texas, shooting that claimed 13 lives in 2009, a failed attempt to down a Detroit-bound airliner the same year and a thwarted plot to bomb cargo planes in 2010.

“He was intimately involved in activities to kill innocent men women and children, mostly Americans,” Brennan said.

In a sign that the hearing had focused intense scrutiny on the drone program, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., told reporters after the hearing that she thinks it may be time to lift the secrecy off the program so that U.S. officials can acknowledge the strikes and correct what she said were exaggerated reports of civilian casualties.

Feinstein said she and a number of other senators are considering writing legislation to set up a special court system to regulate drone strikes, similar to the one that signs off on government surveillance in espionage and terror cases.

Speaking with uncharacteristic openness about the classified program, Feinstein said the CIA had allowed her staff to make more than 30 visits to the CIA’s Langley, Va., headquarters to monitor strikes, but that the transparency needed to be widened.

“I think the process set up internally is a solid process,” Feinstein said, but added: “I think there’s an absence of knowing exactly who is responsible for what decision. So I think we need to look at this whole process and figure a way to make it transparent and identifiable.”

In a long afternoon in the witness chair, Brennan declined to say if he believes waterboarding amounts to torture, but he said firmly it is “something that is reprehensible and should never be done again.”

Brennan, 57 and President Obama’s top anti-terrorism aide, won praise from several members of the committee as the day’s proceedings drew to a close, a clear indication that barring an unexpected development, his confirmation as the nation’s next head of the CIA is on track. The panel will meet in closed session next week to permit discussion of classified material.

Brennan bristled once during the day, when Sen. James Risch, R-Idaho, accused him of having leaked classified information in a telephone call with former government officials who were preparing to make television appearances.

“I disagree with that vehemently,” the nominee shot back.

Brennan made repeated general pledges to increase the flow of information to members of the Senate panel, but he was less specific when it came to individual cases. Asked at one point whether he would provide a list of countries where the CIA has used lethal authority, he replied, “It would be my intention to do everything possible” to comply.

He said he had no second thoughts about having opposed a planned strike against Osama bin Laden in 1998, a few months before the bombings of two U.S. embassies. The plan was not “well-grounded,” he said, adding that other intelligence officials also recommended against proceeding. Brennan was at the CIA at the time.

Brennan was questioned extensively about leaks to the media about an al-Qaida plot to detonate a new type of underwear bomb on a Western airline. He acknowledged trying to limit the damage to national security from the disclosures.

On May 7 of last year, The Associated Press reported that the CIA thwarted an ambitious plot by al-Qaida’s affiliate in Yemen to destroy a U.S.-bound airliner, using a bomb with a sophisticated new design around the one-year anniversary of the killing of Osama bin Laden. The next day, the Los Angeles Times reported that the would-be bomber was cooperating with U.S. authorities.

During Thursday’s hearing, Risch and Sen. Dan Coats of Indiana were among those who contended Brennan had inadvertently revealed that the U.S. had a spy inside Yemen’s al-Qaida branch when, hours after the first AP report appeared, he told a group of media consultants that “there was no active threat during the bin Laden anniversary because ... we had inside control of the plot.”

The hearing was interrupted repeatedly at its outset, including once before it had begun. Eventually, Feinstein briefly ordered the proceedings halted and the room cleared so those re-entering could be screened to block obvious protesters.

Brennan is a veteran of more than three decades in intelligence work, and is currently serving as Obama’s top counter-terrorism adviser in the White House. Any thought he had of becoming CIA director four years ago vanished amid questions about the role he played at the CIA when the Bush administration approved waterboarding and other forms of “enhanced interrogation” of suspected terrorists.

On the question of waterboarding, Brennan said that while serving as a deputy manager at the CIA during the Bush administration, he was told such interrogation methods produced “valuable information.” Now, after reading a 300-page summary of a 6,000-page report on CIA interrogation and detention policies, he said he does “not know what the truth is.”

The shouted protests centered on CIA drone strikes that have killed three American citizens and an unknown number of foreigners overseas.

It was a topic very much on the mind of the committee members who eventually will vote on Brennan’s confirmation.

In the hours before the hearing began, Obama ordered that a classified paper outlining the legal rationale for striking at U.S. citizens abroad be made available for members of the House and Senate intelligence panels to read.

It was an attempt to clear the way for Brennan’s approval, given hints from some lawmakers that they might hold up confirmation unless they had access to the material.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said he was encouraged when Obama called him on the telephone to inform him of his decision. But he said that when he went to read the material he became concerned the Department of Justice “is not following through” on the presidential commitment. Prodded to look into the matter, Brennan said he would.

Wyden made the drone strikes the main focus of his time to question Brennan, asking at one point what could be done “so that the American people are brought into this debate and have a full understanding of what rules” are for their use.

Brennan said the day’s hearings were part of that effort, and he said he backs speeches by officials as a way to explain counter-terrorism programs. He said there is a “misimpression by the American people” who believe drone strikes are aimed at suspects in past attacks. Instead, he said, “we only take such actions as a last resort to save lives” when there is no other alternative in what officials believe is an imminent threat.

Fewer than 50 strikes took place during the Bush administration, while more than 360 strikes have been launched under Obama, according to the website The Long War Journal, which tracks the operations.

Associated Press writers Julie Pace, Lara Jakes, Donna Cassata and David Espo contributed to this story.

Else Where Under a Blanket of Snow TNEE Posts
8 February 2013 Last updated at 10:01 ET
US north-east braces for 'historic' snowstorm
The flurries are falling around the US north-east, which is braced for a "potentially historic" storm that could see up to 3ft (91cm) of snow in some areas.
Power cuts and transport chaos are expected as blizzards from the Great Lakes descend on parts of New England.
Thousands of flights in the area have already been cancelled, and people have been stocking up on food and supplies.
Winds of up to 75mph (120km/h) were expected to create deep drifts.
The National Weather Service said the combination of two weather systems from the polar and sub-tropical jet streams would produce a "potentially historic" storm.
Overnight Friday travel would be "extremely hazardous, if not impossible," it added.
Blizzard warnings are in effect for parts of New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut, and extend into New Hampshire and Maine.
'Stay home'
At least 3,700 flights have been cancelled in anticipation of the storm, according to airline tracking website FlightAware.
Amtrak said its north-east trains from New York to Boston would stop running on Friday afternoon.
In Boston, where schools were preemptively closed on Friday, Mayor Thomas Menino urged businesses to consider allowing staff to stay home to reduce the risk of commuters getting stranded.
"We are hardy New Englanders, let me tell you, and used to these types of storms," said Mr Menino.
"But I also want to remind everyone to use common sense and stay off the streets of our city. Basically, stay home."
Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick ordered all non-essential state employees to stay indoors, and suggested that private businesses do the same.
Boston is forecast to get 3ft of snow, which would far exceed the city's record snowfall of 27.6in (70cm) in 2003.
Fuel shortages are being reported from Connecticut to New York City as motorists queue at petrol station forecourts to fill up their vehicles, as well as generators and snow blowers.
In New York City, which is expecting up to 12in, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said snow ploughs and 250,000 tonnes of salt were being put on standby.
"We hope forecasts are exaggerating the amount of snow, but you never can tell," Mr Bloomberg said.
Some neighbourhoods in the city are still recovering from Sandy, an October storm that brought recording flooding to the US east coast.
One power utility firm in New York's Long Island criticised for its response to Sandy said it was preparing its grid for the storm and getting crews and equipment ready to respond to outages.
While schools and transportation in the city remain open for now, Mr Bloomberg advised New Yorkers to stock up on supplies, including medicine.
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I Officially Declare This Storm "SNOW OF THE DEAD!!" Remember a Snow Shovel makes a great Anti Zombie weapon. * WHACK*
 

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[/h]

By ARTURO RODRIGUEZ Associated Press
LA PALMA, Canary Islands February 10, 2013 (AP)

A lifeboat from a British-operated cruise ship fell upside down into the sea at port in Spain's Canary Islands during a safety drill, killing five crew members and injuring three others Sunday, officials said. About 1,400 passengers were on board, but none were involved in the accident.

Thomson Cruises confirmed the incident involving the Thomson Majesty ship on the island of La Palma, saying "there have sadly been five crew fatalities and three crew injuries." One of the three injured was discharged from a hospital, and the other two were also expected to be allowed to leave the medical facility.

Investigators were trying to determine what caused the lifeboat to plummet into the water.

Rescue personnel were called to the dockside at 1205 GMT (7:05 a.m. EST) after "a lifeboat with occupants had fallen overboard from a cruise ship docked at the pier of Santa Cruz port in La Palma," a regional government statement said.

A small, white two-hulled lifeboat could be seen capsized beside the large ship. Around 1,400 passengers were aboard at the time of the Thomson Majesty ship, but were not in any way involved in the accident, authorities said.

The ship had been due to sail Sunday afternoon to the Portuguese port of Funchal on the mid-Atlantic island of Madeira.

Three of the dead were Indonesian men, one was a Filipino man and another was a man from Ghana, authorities said. The injured were all men, two aged 30 and another, a Greek national, was 32. They were taken by ambulance to the general hospital of La Palma.

The local authorities of La Palma canceled Carnival festivities that had been due to be held on the island Sunday, but said they would go ahead as planned on Monday.
 

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VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict shocked the world on Monday by saying he no longer had the mental and physical strength to cope with his ministry, in an announcement that left his aides "incredulous" and will make him the first pontiff to step down since the Middle Ages.

The German-born Pope, 85, hailed as a hero by conservative Roman Catholics and viewed with suspicion by liberals, told cardinals in Latin that his strength had deteriorated recently. He will step down on February 28 and the Vatican expects a new Pope to be chosen by the end of March.

Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said the Pope had not decided to resign because of "difficulties in the papacy" and the move had been a surprise, indicating that even his inner circle was unaware that he was about to quit.

The Pope does not fear schism in the Church after his resignation, the spokesman said.

The Pope's leadership of 1.2 billion Catholics has been beset by child sexual abuse crises that tarnished the Church, one address in which he upset Muslims and a scandal over the leaking of his private papers by his personal butler.

The pope told the cardinals that in order to govern "...both strength of mind and body are necessary, strength which in the last few months, has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me.

"For this reason, and well aware of the seriousness of this act, with full freedom I declare that I renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome, Successor of Saint Peter."

He also referred to "today's world, subject to so many rapid changes and shaken by questions of deep relevance for the life of faith."

The last Pope to resign willingly was Celestine V in 1294 after reigning for only five months, his resignation was known as "the great refusal" and was condemned by the poet Dante in the "Divine Comedy". Gregory XII reluctantly abdicated in 1415 to end a dispute with a rival claimant to the papacy.

"NO OUTSIDE PRESSURE," JUST ADVANCING AGE

Before he was elected Pope, the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was known by such critical epithets as "God's rottweiler" because of his stern stand on theological issues.

But after several years into his new job Benedict showed that he not only did not bite but barely even barked.

In recent months, the pope has looked increasingly frail in public, sometimes being helped to walk by those around him.

Lombardi ruled out depression or uncertainty as being behind the resignation, saying the move was not due to any specific illness, just advancing age.

The Pope had shown "great courage, determination" aware of the "great problems the church faces today", he said, adding the timing may have reflected the Pope's desire to avoid the exhausting rush of Easter engagements.

There was no outside pressure and Benedict took his "personal decision" in the last few months, he added.

Israel's Chief Rabbi praised Benedict's inter-faith outreach and wished him good health. The Archbishop of Canterbury, head of the Anglican Church, said he had learned of the Pope's decision with a heavy heart but complete understanding.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the Pope's decision must be respected if he feels he is too weak to carry out his duties. British Prime Minister David Cameron said: "He will be missed as a spiritual leader to millions."

The pontiff would step down from 2 p.m. ET on February 28, leaving the office vacant until a successor was chosen to Benedict who succeeded John Paul, one of history's most popular pontiffs, the spokesman said.

Elected to the papacy on April 19, 2005 when he was 78 - 20 years older than John Paul was when he was elected - Benedict ruled over a slower-paced, more cerebral and less impulsive Vatican.

But while conservatives cheered him for trying to reaffirm traditional Catholic identity, his critics accused him of turning back the clock on reforms by nearly half a century and hurting dialogue with Muslims, Jews and other Christians.

Under the German's meek demeanor lay a steely intellect ready to dissect theological works for their dogmatic purity and debate fiercely against dissenters.

After appearing uncomfortable in the limelight at the start, he began feeling at home with his new job and showed that he intended to be Pope in his way.

Despite great reverence for his charismatic, globe-trotting predecessor -- whom he put on the fast track to sainthood and whom he beatified in 2011 -- aides said he was determined not to change his quiet manner to imitate John Paul's style.

A quiet, professorial type who relaxed by playing the piano, he managed to show the world the gentle side of the man who was the Vatican's chief doctrinal enforcer for nearly a quarter of a century.

The first German pope for some 1,000 years and the second non-Italian in a row, he traveled regularly, making about four foreign trips a year, but never managed to draw the oceanic crowds of his predecessor.

The child abuse scandals hounded most of his papacy. He ordered an official inquiry into abuse in Ireland, which led to the resignation of several bishops.

STRING OF SCANDALS

Scandal from a source much closer to home hit in 2012 when the pontiff's butler, responsible for dressing him and bringing him meals, was found to be the source of leaked documents alleging corruption in the Vatican's business dealings, causing an international furor.

He confronted his own country's past when he visited the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz.

Calling himself "a son of Germany", he prayed and asked why God was silent when 1.5 million victims, most of them Jews, died there during World War Two.

Ratzinger served in the Hitler Youth during World War Two when membership was compulsory. He was never a member of the Nazi party and his family opposed Adolf Hitler's regime.

But his trip to Germany also prompted the first major crisis of his pontificate. In a university lecture he quoted a 14th century Byzantine emperor as saying Islam had only brought evil to the world and that it was spread by the sword.

After protests that included attacks on churches in the Middle East and the killing of a nun in Somalia, the Pope later said he regretted any misunderstanding the speech caused.

In a move that was widely seen as conciliatory, in late 2006 he made a historic trip to predominantly Muslim Turkey and prayed in Istanbul's Blue Mosque with a Turkish Mufti.

But months later, former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami met the Pope and said wounds between Christians and Muslims were still "very deep" as a result of the Regensburg speech.

(Writing by Peter Millership; editing by Janet McBride and Ralph Boulton)
 
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