World News joined 5

[OMEN]

All Turkish troops involved in a major ground offensive against Kurdish PKK rebels inside northern Iraq have withdrawn to Turkey, Iraq's foreign minister told Reuters.

Turkey sent thousands of troops into remote, mountainous northern Iraq on February 21 to crush rebels of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) who use the region as a base for attacks on Turkish territory. Washington feared the incursion could destabilise an area of relative stability in Iraq.

"All the Turkish troops have withdrawn and gone back to the Turkish side of the international border. We welcome this, we think this is the right thing for Turkey to do," Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zabari said.

Earlier a senior Turkish military source said some troops had returned to bases in Turkey after completing their mission, but that no full withdrawal had begun.

A US official in Baghdad told Reuters: "We are seeing a limited portion of the troops that had entered Iraq moving back toward Turkey. (It's) too early to call this a withdrawal."

Turkey's political and military leaders have said the operation will continue for as long as necessary but have come under pressure from the United States, their NATO ally, to keep the campaign as short and carefully targeted as possible.

On Thursday, US President George W. Bush urged Turkey to end the land offensive swiftly.

Washington, like Ankara and the EU, brands the PKK a terrorist organisation, and has been supplying intelligence to the Turkish military on the PKK in Iraq. But it fears that a prolonged campaign could stoke regional instability.

Turkey's military says it has killed 237 rebels in the eight-day ground offensive and suffered the loss of 24 soldiers. The PKK says it has killed more than 100 Turkish troops but has not given a figure for its own casualties.

PRESSURE MOUNTING

During a brief visit to Ankara on Thursday, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said he had failed to obtain a timetable for a Turkish withdrawal.

It is Turkey's first major ground offensive into northern Iraq in a decade.

Turkey's government had insisted the ground operation, backed by warplanes, tanks, long-range artillery and attack helicopters, would continue until PKK bases were erased and the rebels no longer posed a threat to Turkey.

The General Staff said it would make a statement on Friday regarding the reports of a withdrawal.

Iraqi Kurds, long suspicious of neighbouring Turkey, fear it is seeking to undermine the autonomy of Iraq's oil-rich Kurdistan region. Ankara says it wants only to end terrorism.

The PKK has been fighting for decades for ethnic rights and self-rule in the mainly Kurdish southeast of Turkey.

But Turkish pressure has gradually squeezed it out of the country, forcing it base itself in a remote, mountainous part of northern Iraq that is outside the control of the semi-autonomous northern Iraqi Kurdish administration.

Turkish leaders have come under domestic pressure to crack down on the estimated 3,000 PKK members who stage deadly cross-border attacks against Turkish military and civilians.

Ankara blames the separatist movement for the deaths of nearly 40,000 people since 1984.

A senior Turkish military source said earlier this week that around 10,000 troops were involved in the operation in Iraq, mainly centred around the Zap valley, a PKK stronghold. Some Turkish media reported that Zap had fallen.

Reuters

[OMEN]

Barack Obama holds a slight lead on Hillary Clinton in Texas and has almost pulled even in Ohio before contests that could decide their Democratic presidential battle, according to a Reuters/C-SPAN/Houston Chronicle poll released.

The contests on Tuesday are crucial for Clinton, a New York senator and former first lady fighting to halt Obama's streak of 11 consecutive victories in their battle for the Democratic nomination for the November 4 presidential election.

Obama, an Illinois senator, has a 6-point edge on Clinton in Texas, 48 percent to 42 percent. He trails Clinton 44 percent to 42 percent in Ohio -- well within the poll's margin of error of 3.8 percentage points.

In the Republican race, front-runner John McCain holds commanding leads over his last major rival, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. McCain, an Arizona senator, has built an unassailable advantage in delegates who will pick the nominee at the Republican Party convention in September.

The poll, conducted by Zogby International, found McCain with big double-digit margins over Huckabee in Texas and Ohio.

Among Democrats, Obama has a big edge with voters in both states who made their decision within the last month. Clinton led comfortably in both states among voters who decided more than a month ago.

Other opinion polls show tightening races in both states, where Clinton enjoyed big leads just a few weeks ago.

"All the momentum is clearly with Obama," pollster John Zogby said. "The clearest indicator is the line of demarcation between those who decided early and those who are deciding late. The question is whether she can stem the tide."

In Ohio, 9 percent of Democrats said they were still uncertain of their vote. In Texas, 7 percent of Democrats were not yet sure, leaving plenty of room for late swings.

CLINTON'S BASE OF SUPPORT

Clinton's slight advantage in Ohio was built among some of her core constituencies, including women, older voters, Democrats, Catholics, union households and voters outside the state's three biggest cities.

Obama, who would be the first black U.S. president, leads in Ohio among independents, young voters, higher-income voters and blacks.

In Texas, the two are essentially tied among Democrats, while Clinton has big leads in the heavily Hispanic southern and western portions of the state.

Clinton, who would be the first woman president, has a double-digit advantage among Hispanics in Texas. They could account for one-third or more of the state's primary voters.

"The question in Texas is who turns out to vote, and how big is the Hispanic turnout," Zogby said.

Among Republicans, McCain leads Huckabee 62 percent to 19 percent in Ohio and 53 percent to 27 percent in Texas. The other remaining candidate, Texas Rep. Ron Paul, had 11 percent in Texas and 8 percent in Ohio.

McCain could come close to clinching the nomination with big wins in the two states. Vermont and Rhode Island also vote on Tuesday.

The rolling poll was conducted Tuesday through Thursday, with most of the survey coming after Tuesday night's combative debate in Ohio between the two Democrats that featured a series of sharp exchanges on health care, trade and Iraq.

Clinton returned to Texas on Thursday night after announcing she had raised $35 million in February, her biggest month of fundraising. That gives her the resources to continue the nominating fight if she can pull out wins on Tuesday.

The poll of 708 likely Democratic voters in Ohio and 704 in Texas had a margin of error in both states of 3.8 percentage points. The poll of 592 likely Republican voters in Ohio and 605 voters in Texas had a margin of error in both states of 4.1 percent.

In a rolling poll, the most recent day's results are added and the oldest day's results are dropped to track changing momentum. The poll will continue until Tuesday.

Reuters

[Black Widow]

A MAN has admitted trying to have sex with a goat - but believed he wouldn't get caught because "animals couldn't talk".

New Zealand's Rangiora District Court was told the pensioner, who managed to protect his identity, took the goat round the back of his farm and tried to commit a sex act with it.

The court was told that there were complications - and according to reports, "he did up his trousers, patted the goat and walked off".

A police spokeswoman said: "He was contrite, but said he was unable to stop the behaviour."

The 68-year-old North Canterbury man pleaded guilty to attempting to commit bestiality with a goat.

He faces sentencing on March 12.

the sun

[Glorious Maxxwell]

There's a attempted Bestiality law??? :rofl:

Honestly it should be if you didn't do it or you did it...

And on a side note, a comedian named Dave Attel mused during one of his shows a Barely Legal type of magazine for Goat Bestiality, Hilarious shit right there

[JohnCenaFan28]

:sick: That's disgusting...

[JohnCenaFan28]

Thanks for this.

[JohnCenaFan28]

Thanks for this.

[JohnCenaFan28]

Thanks for the read.

[JohnCenaFan28]

Thanks for this.

[JohnCenaFan28]

At least 54 Palestinians and two Israeli soldiers have been killed in one of the deadliest days of fighting in Gaza since troops withdrew in 2005.



Doctors said at least eight were children and up to 16 were militants. Israel said most were militants.

More than 150 Palestinians - and seven Israelis - have been injured. Israel says it wants to stop rocket attacks, but about 50 hit Israel on Saturday.

Palestinian leaders have called for international protection.

The UN Security Council is meeting in emergency session at the request of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

However, the BBC's Laura Trevelyan at the UN says diplomats will have problems agreeing a statement on the crisis that is acceptable to both the Arab grouping and the US - a staunch ally of Israel.

As the Security Council was assembling reports came in that an Israeli air strike in Gaza City had destroyed the empty offices of Hamas leader Ismail Haniya, prime minister in the territory's unrecognised government.

Battle of words

Mr Abbas earlier said the Israeli raids were "more than a holocaust".

Israelis inspect a hole in the roof of a flat after it was it with a rocket fired in the coastal city of Ashkelon.
Israel says it wants to end the agony caused by militant rockets

He was apparently alluding to controversial remarks made on Friday by Israel's Deputy Defence Minister Matan Vilnai, who said Palestinians risked a "shoah" - the Hebrew word for a big disaster as well as for the Nazi Holocaust.

Mr Vilnai's colleagues insisted he had not meant "genocide".

Khaled Meshaal, Hamas's exiled leader in Syria, went further, calling Israel's actions "the real holocaust".

The Israeli raids began after a rocket fired by Hamas militants killed an Israeli student in the southern town of Sderot, the first such death in nine months, on Wednesday.

More than 80 Palestinians have been killed since then.

In a statement on Saturday, Israel's Defence Minister Ehud Barak blamed Hamas for the killings.

"We are not happy about civilians being hurt in Gaza," Mr Barak said.

"Hamas and those who fire rockets at Israel are responsible and they will pay the price."

Air raids

Israel has said it may launch a full-scale attack on Gaza in response to militant rocket attacks.

The BBC's Katya Adler in Jerusalem says Israel's leaders have been under pressure from some quarters to launch a ground invasion.

Map

However, a recent opinion poll has indicated a majority of Israelis favour a truce with the Islamist movement Hamas, which controls Gaza.

Tanks and troops have made an incursion into northern Gaza, encountering resistance from Palestinian militants, as Israeli planes made several air raids.

On one occasion, a house east of the Jabaliya refugee camp was struck - two children, a brother and sister, were killed.

Later, a 15-year-old girl and her 16-year-old sister were also killed.

In another attack, a mother was killed as she was preparing breakfast for her children, medical workers said.

And a resident of Jabaliya told the Associated Press news agency that one of his relatives had been killed.

"His body is still lying on the ground," he said. "Ambulances tried to come, but they came under fire."

BBC News