World News joined 6

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http://www.news.com.au/common/imaged...5882684,00.jpg
Anonymous ... protestors outside the Church of Scientology building in the Sydney
THOUSANDS of internet users using the moniker "Anonymous" protested outside Church of Scientology buildings across the US and Europe today after protests in Australia yesterday.

Members of Anonymous, a loose collection of internet users who declared "war" on the church last month, claim to have staged demonstrations in almost 100 cities across four continents in the last 24 hours.

The number of protestors in cities including Sydney, Melbourne, Auckland, London, Manchester, Dublin, Stockholm, New York, Detroit and Washington were put at between 6000 and 8000 on an internet forum used by members of the group.

Yesterday around 150 people demonstrated outside the Church of Scientology in Sydney, while up to 200 attended a similar protest in Melbourne and 150 in Adelaide.
Protestors claimed the church financially exploited its members and suppressed free speech. In an open letter posted online, an Anonymous member said the group's aim was to remove the church's tax-exempt status as a religion and that members would not use violence to achieve their goals.

Most of the protestors wore masks or costumes and said they had chosen to remain anonymous to avoid the threat of legal action or retribution from the church, which has branded the group as "cyber-terrorists".

David Gerard, who was involved in demonstrations against the church in Australia in the 1990s, said Scientologists tried to intimidate protestors by threatening legal action against them and threatening to have them investigated.

"They try to intimidate protestors by threatening to investigate them, taking photos of them and so on... (I received) legal threats from them, defamatory leaflets put out about me and attempts to get me fired from my job," he said.

In a statement released yesterday, the Church of Scientology condemned the actions of Anonymous and said it was the group itself that was suppressing free speech by attacking Scientology websites.

"Anonymous is perpetrating religious hate crimes against Churches of Scientology and individual Scientologists for no reason other than religious bigotry," the church said.

"It is Anonymous that has repeatedly attempted to suppress free speech through illegal assaults on church websites so as to prevent internet users from obtaining information."

"They have also engaged in other harassment including threats of violence in telephone calls, fax transmissions and emails, not to mention the Anonymous mailing of white powder to dozens of our churches."

Most mainstream media outlets have ignored the protests, which have instead been documented by internet users on social networking and community websites.

A search for "Scientology" and "protest" on photo website Flickr returns almost 2000 images, while entering the terms into Google's Blog Search returns 4363 results. Video footage from Anonymous protests in more than 25 cities have been posted to YouTube in the last day.

The worldwide protests were organised to fall on the birthday of Lisa McPherson, who died while in the care of a branch of the church in 1995. Criminal charges filed against the church over Ms McPherson's death were dropped in 2000.

The protests in Australia were probably the biggest anti-Scientology demonstrations ever organised the country, Mr Gerard said.

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News AU

I wonder if Kellie saw that:shifty:

Thanks for this.

Sounds bad for the US... thanks for this.

Thanks for this.

Wow, sounds terrible. Thanks.

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GUNNED DOWN: Medical personnel move a stretcher carrying East Timor's President Jose Ramos-Horta from an ambulance into Royal Darwin Hospital.
East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta, who was shot in the stomach by rebel soldiers at his home in Dili, is on life support under an induced coma, an Australian medical spokesman has said.

"He is in a critical condition on full life support, with a ventilator for breathing, and under an induced coma," said a spokesman for CareFlight medical evacuation organisation, after Ramos-Horta landed in Darwin for medical treatment.

Rebel leader Alfredo Reinado was killed in the assault and an East Timor soldier was also seriously wounded, military spokesman Domingos da Camara said. The New Zealand Government later said it could not confirm Reinado was dead.

The East Timor military said attackers in two cars were involved in the early-morning raid on the president's isolated home.

International security forces, including New Zealand troops, later placed a cordon around the house and were patrolling Dili's streets to prevent fresh violence.

About the same time, Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao's convoy was ambushed as he was driven to work in Dili.

New Zealand Defence Minister Phil Goff said Gusmao was either uninjured or only slightly wounded in the early morning attack, which has prompted fears East Timor will again descend into the factional violence that left 37 dead in a 2006 rebellion, led by Major Reinado.

Goff said 20 to 35 soldiers were on standby at Burnham to boost the New Zealand contingent in Dili if the attacks sparked a return to violence.

There are about 170 Defence Force personnel and 25 Kiwi police in Timor.

Prime Minister Helen Clark said she was shocked by the shooting of the Nobel Peace prize winner.

"It does underline how fragile the security situation in East Timor is, and we would certainly urge people in East Timor at this time to remain calm and not to descend into the kind of terrible trouble and carnage which has characterised the country in recent times."

Goff said details of the attacks were murky, despite the fact a rapid response team attached to the New Zealand contingent already in Timor was first on the scene at the presidential home.

It had even been impossible to confirm Reinado was dead.

"Members of the international security force have reportedly seen his body, though ... there is another report I've received that suggested from a different source that he'd been seen elsewhere."

The attacks seemed to be co-ordinated assassination attempts, but could also be part of a wider coup plot.

"The fact that the attacks took place on both the prime minister and the president suggests that these were attempts to assassinate both leaders," Goff said.

"That's the most obvious interpretation, but obviously, the definitive interpretation can only be placed on it when the full facts are known to us."

It was not known why Reinado was at Ramos-Horta's house, though it could have been part of government efforts to make peace with the rebel, who was wanted for murder.

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- With Dominion Post

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US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said he backed a brief pause in US troop cuts in Iraq once an initial pullout of five combat brigades has been completed in July.

Troop levels in Iraq are a big US political issue, particularly in a presidential election year, and the comments by Gates provoked swift criticism from Democrats. Both leading Democrats want a speedy withdrawal, while Republicans have said US commanders should decide when it is safe to pull out.

"The notion of a brief period of consolidation and evaluation probably does make sense," Gates told reporters in Baghdad, endorsing publicly for the first time an idea discussed by the US commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus.

Asked how long this period of evaluation would last, Gates said: "That's one of the things we are still thinking about."

Senator Barack Obama, who is battling Senator Hillary Clinton to become the Democratic nominee in November's US presidential election, condemned Gates' stance.

"We cannot wage war without end in Iraq while ignoring mounting costs to our troops and their families, our security and our economy," Obama said in a statement.

Since the US-led invasion nearly five years ago, 3,960 US troops have been killed in Iraq, with civilian deaths estimated at 81,000 to above 88,000.

Clinton's response was similarly scathing.

"It is clear that in the absence of a military solution, which I think this announcement today obviously confirms, the Iraqi government will not take the steps that were expected and even demanded" of it to take charge, she said in a statement.

Last year US President George W Bush ordered 30,000 extra troops to Iraq to curb rampant sectarian violence between the Shi'ite Muslim majority and Sunni Arabs that had taken the country to the brink of civil war.

But US force levels have begun to drop because of improvements in security and as more Iraqi forces are deployed. The number of US troops in Iraq will be 130,000 by July, the same as before additional deployments began in early 2007.

In an interview with Reuters after he met Gates, Petraeus advocated a cautious approach to cutting American forces.

"We're going to cut one quarter of our combat power in a period of overall 6-8 months," said Petraeus, who will give closely watched testimony to Congress in early April about Iraq.

"That's a very substantial reduction and we want to be prudent in what we do following that so we don't jeopardize the gains that our troops and our Iraqi partners have fought so hard to achieve."

Troop levels are also a challenge for US military chiefs, who have seen forces severely strained by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Any drawdown in Iraq could reduce that strain.

In a sign of the political sensitivity in Washington of Iraq troop numbers, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino did not back Gates' support for a pause in force reductions.

"I don't know if he endorsed anything. The quote I read was that he was considering that and thinking it might be the direction he would think he'd want to head in terms of his own recommendation," Perino said in Washington.

Violence has fallen across Iraq, with attacks down 60 per cent since last June, but bombings and sectarian killings have continued on a smaller scale.

Shortly before Gates left Baghdad, two car bombs exploded in the city, killing at least 15 people, Iraqi police said.

CBS News said two journalists working for the US television network in the city of Basra had gone missing.

"All efforts are under way to find them," CBS said, declining to identify the two and the circumstances surrounding their disappearance.

On Sunday, one of the bloodiest days for months, militants killed more than 50 people, mainly in the north, where al Qaeda militants regrouped after being driven from former strongholds in western Anbar province and around Baghdad.

The US military calls Sunni Islamist al Qaeda the greatest threat to Iraq's security and blames it for most major bombings.

Commenting on the improved security, Gates said al Qaeda had been routed in Iraq but the situation remained fragile.

"What a difference you made – al Qaeda routed, insurgents co-opted. Levels of violence of all kinds dramatically reduced," he said in a brief speech to US troops in Baghdad.

But Petraeus said al Qaeda remained "very lethal" despite having sustained severe blows.

Many Sunni Arab fighters, once-dominant under late Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and from whose ranks insurgents drew support, have since switched sides, joining US-backed neighbourhood security units to fight al Qaeda and patrol their own districts.

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Reuters

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The Australian federal government will this afternoon reveal the exact wording of its apology to the stolen generations.

The wording will be revealed in federal parliament after 7pmNZT, just hours before Prime Minister Kevin Rudd gets to his feet in the House of Representatives tomorrow to deliver the long-awaited apology.

Mr Rudd said the government was trying to balance the expectations of the opposition with those of indigenous people.

"Remember who our audience is, which is indigenous people, (who want) to have an apology registered with them through the parliament," he said.

The opposition is annoyed the government is taking so long to formalise the apology, with frontbencher Joe Hockey labelling it a debacle.

"If this is indicative of the way the government is going to run the parliament then it says that this government is arrogant in the very early days of its term in office," Mr Hockey said.

Late yesterday, Mr Rudd said there would be further discussions with the opposition before the wording was released.

"Prior to (the motion being moved in parliament) we hope to have a further round of discussion with the opposition on language," he said.

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AAP

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The Pentagon has charged the alleged planner of the September 11 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, and five others with murder and conspiracy and asked that they be executed if convicted.

The charges, which must be approved by a Pentagon appointee who oversees the war court at Guantanamo before a trial can be ordered, are the first from that court alleging direct involvement in the 2001 attacks on the United States and the first involving the death penalty.

Mohammed, a Pakistani national better known as KSM, has said he planned every aspect of the September 11 attacks. But his confession could be problematic if used as evidence because the CIA has admitted it subjected him to "waterboarding," a simulated drowning technique.

The procedure is widely considered to be torture and the rules of the court at the Guantanamo prison camp prohibit the use of evidence obtained through torture, as does an international treaty the United States has signed.

Air Force Brig. Gen. Thomas Hartmann would not rule out the use of evidence gathered during the CIA's interrogation of Mohammed.

"The question of what evidence will be admitted, whether (involving) waterboarding or otherwise, will be decided in the court," he said.

Suspects were also charged with terrorism, violating the laws of war and targeting civilians.

"The defendants will face the possibility of being sentenced to death," Hartmann told reporters.

The charges sought by the Pentagon include conspiring with al Qaeda to attack and murder civilians and 2,973 counts of murder for those killed in the September 11 attacks, when four hijacked passenger planes slammed into New York's World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania.

Mohammed also said he was responsible for a 1993 attack on New York's World Trade Center, the bombing of a nightclub in Bali, Indonesia, and an attempt to down two US airplanes using shoe bombs. He also confessed to the beheading of US journalist Daniel Pearl.

The White House was not involved in the decision to seek the death penalty, according to Hartmann and a spokeswoman for President George W Bush.

Military prosecutors want to try all six defendants together. In addition to Mohammed, the Pentagon wants to try Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, Mohammed al-Qahtani, Ramzi Binalshibh, Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi and Walid bin Attash.

Hartmann said the trials would be "as completely open as possible." He also said the defendants and their legal counsel would see all evidence, including any classified evidence, used against them in court.

"There will be no secret trials. Every piece of evidence, every stitch of evidence, every whiff of evidence that goes to the finder of fact, to the jury, to the military tribunal, will be reviewed by the accused," he said.

Mohammed was arrested in Pakistan in March 2003 and handed over to the United States. He is one of 15 "high-value" al Qaeda prisoners previously held in CIA custody and later sent to Guantanamo, most of them in 2006.

The US military began sending captives to Guantanamo, a US naval base on the southeast tip of Cuba, in January 2002 and hopes to eventually try 80 of the 275 who remain.

The widely criticised Guantanamo tribunals are the first US war crimes tribunals since World War 2.

They were established after the September 11 attacks to try non-US captives whom the Bush administration considers "enemy combatants" not entitled to the legal protections granted to soldiers and civilians.

They currently operate under authority of a law Congress passed in 2006, after the US Supreme Court struck down the first version.

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Reuters