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[OMEN]

A Venezuelan passenger plane with 46 people aboard went missing and likely crashed in a remote mountain region soon after taking off from an Andean city, authorities said.

Mountain villagers reported hearing a huge noise they thought could be a crash after the twin-engine plane flew out of the high-altitude city of Merida headed for the capital Caracas roughly 500km away, Civil Defence official Gerardo Rojas said.

"We have information of a possible finding," said National Civil Defence chief Antonio Rivero, although he added the plane was still officially listed as missing.

"We do not know what condition the passengers are in," he said.

Operated by local airline Santa Barbara, flight 518 had been out of contact with air traffic controllers for hours by late Thursday and search teams were heading to the rugged mountain region where the plane was thought to have come down.

Advance rescue teams travelled toward the Paramo Mifafi valley, a chilly area in a region of some snow-capped peaks of up to 4000m that is home to condors and hiking routes that make it popular with backpacker tourists.

Weather conditions and visibility were described as optimum at the time of take off by one air rescue official. He said teams would search by foot until first light, when two helicopters would be dispatched.

Venezuela's civil aviation authority said the plane was carrying 43 passengers and three crew members. The passenger list included a well-known Venezuelan political analyst and relatives of a senior government official, authorities said.

Family members who had waited for their loved ones to arrive in Caracas received help from state psychologists to deal with anxiety.

Reuters - Friday, 22 February 2008

[OMEN]

BURNING RAGE: Protesters gathered in front of the Serbian government building light torches during a mass protest rally against Kosovo's declaration of independence in Belgrade.
Serb rioters enraged by Kosovo's secession stormed the US embassy in Belgrade and set it on fire, leaving one person dead and drawing swift condemnation from Washington and the UN Security Council.

The US State Department said the lack of protection for its mission – riot police were nowhere to be seen when the attack began – was intolerable and demanded the Security Council respond.

"The members of the Security Council condemn in the strongest terms the mob attacks against embassies in Belgrade, which have resulted in damage to embassy premises and have endangered diplomatic personnel," the Security Council said in a unanimous statement.

Embarrassed, Serbia said it regretted what it called acts of isolated vandals who did not represent a nation which, while bitter at Kosovo's declaration of independence on Sunday, did not want further violence.

"The acts that were committed are absolutely unacceptable, absolutely regrettable," Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic said in an interview. "They hurt Serbia's image abroad."

Germany, Croatia and Britain also said their missions were vandalised. Local media added Bosnia's and Turkey's to the list.

Some 200,000 people attended the state-backed rally. Jeremic said police were overwhelmed by what was Serbia's biggest march since protesters stormed the old Yugoslav parliament building in 2000 to oust nationalist leader Slobodan Milosevic.

But just a few score rioters – many wearing balaclavas – attacked the US embassy for the second time in a week, forcing their way in while police were nowhere to be seen.

One man climbed up and ripped the Stars and Stripes off its pole. Other people jumped up and down on the balcony, holding up a Serbian flag as the crowd below of about 1000 people cheered them on, shouting "Serbia, Serbia".

Smoke billowed out of the embassy. Papers and chairs were thrown out of the windows, with doors wedged in the window frames and burning. American officials said only security personnel were at the embassy at the time, in a different area.

Riot police arrived later and fired teargas to disperse the crowds. A charred body was later found inside, probably of a protester; the embassy said its US staff were accounted for and Marines protecting it had not engaged in any fighting.

Hospital officials said around 150 people were injured in street clashes, including 30 police and some journalists.

At the United Nations, the statement by the 15-nation council recalled the inviolability of diplomatic missions but welcomed steps by Serbian authorities to restore order.

The council has been a battleground over Kosovo, with Russia refusing to accept Western moves to legitimise the mainly Albanian region's independence after nine years as a UN ward.

Serbia considers Kosovo its historic heartland and waged a diplomatic campaign against its secession on Sunday.

"As long as we live, Kosovo is Serbia," Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica had told the state rally, where Serbs of all ages listened to speeches and melancholic patriotic songs about Kosovo, seen as the birthplace of a proud medieval kingdom.

Washington said Kostunica later pledged there would be no repeat of the attacks, but an analyst said tension would remain.

Reuters - Friday, 22 February 2008

[OMEN]

An earthquake measuring 5.8 on the Richter scale struck off the west coast of Indonesia's Sumatra island on Friday, but there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties, the meteorology agency said.

The epicentre of the quake lay at a depth of 27km about 194km southwest of Bengkulu province, the meteorology and geophysics agency said.

A local Padang resident said the tremors were felt strongly and people rushed out of their homes in panic.

The United States Geological Survey put the quake at a magnitude of 6.1

Indonesia suffers from frequent earthquakes as it lies in the so called "Pacific Ring of Fire", an area of intense seismic activity where a number of tectonic plates collide.

On Wednesday, a strong quake struck off Aceh province in northern Sumatra, killing at least three people and damaging buildings on the nearby island of Simeulue.

NZPA - Friday, 22 February 2008

[OMEN]

TOUGH TALK: Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe has come out fighting, calling former Finance Minister turned presidential rival Simba Makoni a prostitute ahead of next month's general elections
Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe derided a former ally now challenging him in general elections as a prostitute, and said he would win next month's polls by a landslide and humble the opposition.

Former Finance Minister Simba Makoni was expelled from Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF last week after registering to run as an independent in March 29 presidential, parliamentary and council elections.

"What has happened now is absolutely disgraceful. I didn't think that Makoni, after all this experience, would behave like this," Mugabe said in an interview broadcast on state television late on Thursday to mark his 84th birthday.

"I compared him to a prostitute. A prostitute could have done better than Makoni, because she has clients. Don't you think so?" said Mugabe.

In his hour-long interview, a relaxed-looking Mugabe also suggested some party officials had lacked the courage to openly express their views within the party.

The remarks were the veteran leader's first public comment on the break with Makoni, a reform-minded technocrat who has long been touted as a possible successor to Mugabe.

Makoni says he is backed by top officials in the ruling party and analysts say he could pose a strong challenge to Mugabe.

On becoming finance minister in 2000, Makoni pledged tighter fiscal discipline to restore relations with donors and he has suggested engaging with Western powers to ease Zimbabwe's economic hardship.

Mugabe has ruled the southern African country since independence from Britain in 1980 but critics say his economic mismanagement, and contested policies such as seizures of white-owned farms, have ruined the economy.

Annual inflation has surged to over 100,000 per cent, the official statistics office said on Wednesday, but Mugabe says the economy has been sabotaged by Western sanctions imposed to punish his land reforms.

The president, who denies opposition charges of rigging past elections, also said he would continue with his anti-British message during the election campaign until London ended what he said were plots for regime change in Zimbabwe.

Mugabe accused the West of funding the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in an effort to topple him and predicted a resounding defeat of the MDC.

He said there would be none of the post-election violence witnessed in Kenya after disputed December general elections there, because there were no ethnic tensions in Zimbabwe.

The government would continue to pursue its programme to transfer majority ownership in mines to locals and focus on full economic recovery after the polls, Mugabe added.

Reuters - Friday, 22 February 2008

Iam sure that Simba Makoni would rather be classed as a prostitute instead of a crazy Homicidal,Thieving,Murdering Bastard that will do anything to hold on to power and is responsible almost single handidly for Zimbabwe's decline from one of the most prosperous countries in Africa to the Third World State that it has become now....

[OMEN]

Turkish ground troops crossed into northern Iraq in their hunt for Kurdish PKK rebels, the military said on Friday, describing the start of a campaign one report said could last 15 days.

The White House said the United States had been informed in advance of Turkey's offensive and called on Ankara to limit the operation to "precise targeting" of the PKK rebels who have been using northern Iraq as a base to stage attacks in Turkey.

Iraq's government urged Turkey to respect its sovereignty and avoid any military action which would threaten security and stability.

"We do not expect these operations will expand because they are against the Iraqi and Turkish desire to have good relations," spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh told Reuters in Baghdad.

The European Union repeated its call for Turkey, which is seeking EU membership, to avoid "disproportionate" action.

Turkish television said troops, backed by warplanes and Cobra attack helicopters, had moved 25 km (16 miles) inside Iraq.

Turkish TV said 3000 to 10,000 soldiers had entered Iraq, but several Iraqi officials and a senior military official with US-led coalition forces in Baghdad tried to play down the operation, saying only a few hundred troops were involved.

"The Turkish Armed Forces, which attach great importance to Iraq's territorial integrity and stability, will return home in the shortest time possible after its goals have been achieved," the General Staff said in a statement posted on its website.

The General Staff did not specify the size of the operation, but released photographs of armed troops in white fatigues walking through snowy, mountainous Iraqi terrain.

A senior military source in southeast Turkey told Reuters: "Thousands of troops have crossed the border and thousands more are waiting at the border to join them if necessary."

CNN Turk television, citing unnamed security sources, said the operation would last 15 days.

Ankara blames the PKK for the deaths of nearly 40,000 people since it began an armed struggle for a Kurdish homeland in southeast Turkey in 1984. Washington and the EU, like Turkey, classify the PKK as a terrorist organization.

Turkey appeared to be seeking to deal the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) a crushing blow before weather conditions improve, which would allow rebels to cross back into Turkish territory.

A PKK spokesman said rebels had clashed with the troops.

"There are severe clashes. Two Turkish soldiers have been killed and eight wounded. There are no PKK casualties," Ahmed Danees, head of foreign relations for the PKK, told Reuters by satellite phone from an undisclosed location in northern Iraq.

It was not possible to independently verify his statement.

Iraq's foreign minister played down the operation.

"There has not been any major incursion or land invasion. ... What is going on is around a few hundred Turkish forces have crossed the border looking for the PKK or their bases," Hoshiyar Zebari told Reuters by telephone.

A senior military officer with US-led coalition forces based in Baghdad made a similar estimate of the number of troops involved. "A few hundred, at most," the source said.

Turkish financial markets weakened slightly on news of the operation.

NATO member Turkey says it has the right under international law to hit PKK rebels who shelter in northern Iraq and have mounted attacks inside Turkey that have killed scores of troops. Turkey says some 3000 PKK rebels are based in Iraq.

"I sincerely believe that this operation will contribute to Iraq's stability and peace in the region," Turkish President Abdullah Gul said in a statement.

The EU and the United States have in the past raised concerns that a major offensive could destabilize the region, though they have not criticized recent small cross-border raids.

"We understand the concerns of Turkey ... but we think this action is not the best response," EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana told a news conference in Slovenia.

The central Baghdad government, which has little sway over mainly Kurdish northern Iraq, has repeatedly called for a diplomatic solution.

"We urged them (Turkey) to work directly also with the Iraqis, including Kurdish government officials, in determining how best to address the threat of the PKK," White House spokesman Scott Stanzel told reporters.

"I understand that Turkish authorities had notified Iraqi authorities simultaneously (about the operation)," he said.

Turkey launched several major land offensives in the 1990s into northern Iraq against the separatist movement.

"Militarily, even 50,000 troops in the 1990s were not able to destroy the PKK, but psychologically this operation could be quite effective. It has taken the PKK by surprise," said Gareth Jenkins, an Istanbul-based expert on Turkish security issues.

Reuters - Saturday, 23 February 2008

[OMEN]

A Venezuelan passenger plane slammed into the sheer face of an Andean mountainside shortly after takeoff from this tourist city and all 46 people on board were killed, officials said on Friday.

Rescuers rappelled from helicopters to search for remains in the shattered wreckage lodged 4000m above sea level. Only the tail of the Santa Barbara airline plane could be seen from the air.

"This plane was found completely wrecked, smashed against the face of one of the mountains," civil defence chief Antonio Rivero said. "Unfortunately everyone aboard died."

The twin-engine plane crashed 10km from the mountain tourist city of Merida after taking off for the capital Caracas on Thursday before dusk in a notoriously difficult region to navigate.

Authorities said they did not know what caused the plane to crash among mountain peaks that are often covered in snow and known for its condors and adventure hiking trails.

In Thursday's crash, the weather was good, the roughly 20-year-old plane had a solid maintenance record and no history of technical problems. The pilot was experienced and had specialised training for flying through the Andes.

There was no evidence the pilot made distress calls before crashing with 43 passengers and a crew of three aboard.

A well-known Venezuelan political analyst, a local mayor, relatives of a senior government official and an American woman working at the Venezuelan arm of financial services company Stanford Financial Group died in the crash, authorities said.

The passenger list also included an 11-year-old boy.

Olivia Gil, a relative of a woman on board, fought back tears behind wide sunglasses but kept up hope for a miracle.

"They have given us the news that there's nothing there, that there are no survivors but now rescuers are going in to look," she said, adding with a shrug, "We just don't know."

Freddy Belisario, an insurance company worker, considered himself a survivor. He had been scheduled to take the flight but moved up his trip by a few hours "on an impulse."

"It's a day when I was not on the list (to die). My time was not due," he told Reuters, adding he would not be flying for a while because "I don't want to push my luck."

Family members who had waited for the passengers to arrive in Caracas received help from psychologists to deal with anxiety. They were set to fly near to the crash site.

Pilots need special training to fly from Merida's airport because the city is so tightly hemmed in by mountains that planes must make steep ascents at takeoff.

Visibility at dusk becomes so difficult planes are only allowed to take off during daylight. The plane involved in Thursday's incident was the day's last flight out.

Santa Barbara is a small airline that covers domestic routes and has seven Merida flights a day. The plane was an ATR 42-300, a turboprop built by French-Italian company ATR.

The ATR 42 series has been involved in at least 17 accidents since first flying in 1984, according to the Aviation Safety Network, a private air safety monitoring agency.

The French Bureau of Investigation and ATR team of specialists were going to Venezuela to assist the Venezuelan Investigation Authorities, the plane's manufacturers said.

ATR is a joint venture between EADS and Finmeccanica.

Thursday's was the second major air accident in Venezuela this year. Last month, 14 people, including eight Italians and one Swiss passenger, died when a plane crashed into the sea close to a group of Venezuelan islands.

Reuters - Saturday, 23 February 2008

[OMEN]

Africa's top diplomat has pushed Kenya's feuding parties to reach a speedy deal after the government agreed in principle to create a prime minister's post to help end a deadly post-election crisis.

"The weekend will be crucial. We hope that next week we'll have something which can be agreed," the newly elected chairman of the African Union Commission, Jean Ping, said in Nairobi.

The opposition has demanded a powerful role as executive premier for leader Raila Odinga, who accuses President Mwai Kibaki of rigging the December 27 poll.

Kibaki's team says he won fairly and accuses the opposition of instigating riots and ethnic violence that killed 1000 people, displaced 300,000 and wrecked Kenya's image as a stable business, tourism and transport hub.

The government agreed on Thursday to set up a new post of prime minister. But both sides have yet to thrash out the most contentious issue of how much power it will have.

After a late start to Friday's session of talks, both sides were meeting into the evening at a Nairobi hotel.

Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) has withdrawn an earlier call for Kibaki to resign, but is threatening to resume street protests if its demands are not met.

"If by Wednesday ... no tangible outcome is achieved from the mediation process, party members are hereby called upon to prepare for immediate mass civil disobedience," ODM member of parliament Ababu Namwamba told a news conference.

Despite the ultimatum, chief mediator Kofi Annan said he was beginning to see "light at the end of the tunnel".

The government has predicted a deal in days.

Ping, elected at an AU summit in Ethiopia this month, is the latest in a succession of high-powered visitors who have pushed Kenyan leaders towards common ground.

"I am confident ... things are moving towards a good direction," he said after meeting the opposition and Kibaki.

Pressure has grown on both sides of the political divide to reach a lasting deal to end turmoil that has horrified locals, neighbouring states and world powers alike.

"The most effective way to get these issues solved is for the leaders to feel pressure from their own people," US President George W. Bush said on his way home from an Africa tour where the crisis was on high on the agenda.

"We'll help. We send people over and we'll stay engaged."

Odinga left Kenya on Friday on a private trip to Nigeria, but that was not expected to have a bearing on the talks. He told local radio there he was just visiting friends.

Although the east African nation has been relatively calm for a fortnight, the ODM protests ultimatum has stoked fears of a resumption of the post-election bloodshed.

Earlier demonstrations often descended into looting and tribal attacks, and were met with a tough police response.

The crisis has laid bare issues of land, ethnicity, wealth and power that have plagued Kenya since British colonial rule, and have often been exploited by politicians since then.

Reuters - Saturday, 23 February 2008

[OMEN]

The UN nuclear watchdog says Iran has failed to explain Western intelligence reports showing explosives and missile work linked to the production of atomic bombs and that this is a "serious concern".

But the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) also said Iran had increased cooperation with UN inspectors in the past few months.

The United States, which has accused Iran of having a secret programme to build nuclear weapons, said Tehran had failed to meet UN demands and that it would go on pressing for new sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

Senior diplomats from Britain, France, Germany, the United States, China and Russia would meet in Washington on Monday to discuss the next steps over Iran's nuclear programme, Western officials said.

The IAEA findings, which also said Iran had failed to clear up all outstanding questions by an agreed February deadline, may be branded negative on balance by big powers and spur the UN Security Council to adopt more sanctions as early as next week.

Iran, which says its nuclear programme is only for power generation to meet the growing demands of its economy, hailed the IAEA's comments as a victory because it said the watchdog had found Tehran was pursuing peaceful activities.

The IAEA said in a report Iran was being more open with UN monitors than before but that Tehran was testing technology that could give it the means to enrich uranium much faster.

In unusually strong wording, the IAEA said Iran had not so far explained documentation pointing to undeclared efforts to "weaponise" nuclear materials by linking uranium processing with explosives and designing of a missile warhead.

"In the last four months, in particular, we have made quite good progress in clarifying the outstanding issues," IAEA Director Mohamed ElBaradei said in a statement accompanying the report, assembled by senior IAEA inspectors.

"On that score, Iran in the last few months has provided us with visits to many places that enable us to have a clearer picture of Iran4s current programme," said ElBaradei.

"However, that is not in my view sufficient," he said.

ElBaradei said one crucial requirement was for Iran to implement the IAEA's Additional Protocol, which allows snap inspections that could verify that Tehran is not engaged in secret bomb work beyond declared civilian atomic energy sites.

Another issue was Iran's failure so far to address Western intelligence, published for the first time by the report, about coordination between uranium processing, missile warhead design work and high-explosives tests, he said.

"The issue is still critical for us to be able to come to a determination as to the nature of Iran4s nuclear programme."

ElBaradei said Iran should heed UN Security Council demands for a suspension of all uranium enrichment activity as a major step towards easing mistrust.

But he expressed satisfaction UN inspectors had been able to clarify all outstanding past issues about the programme, except for weapon making, in the past few months because Iran had provided credible answers that had been withheld earlier.

"We are disappointed with Iran's continued failure to comply with its UN Security Council obligations and calls by the IAEA to suspend all proliferation-sensitive nuclear activities," said senior US official Kate Starr.

"While we welcome the progress the IAEA has made on some issues, until Iran meets its obligations the international community can have no confidence that Iran's nuclear programme is peaceful," said Starr, a spokeswoman for the White House National Security Council.

In Tehran, Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili told a news conference: "(The IAEA report) is another document which proves the Iranian nation was right about the nature of its nuclear activities.

"This report showed that our activities are peaceful."

Reuters - Saturday, 23 February 2008

[JohnCenaFan28]

Thanks for this.

[Black Widow]

By PETER BERNARD, News Channel 8, And RAY REYES, The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 21, 2008

A Lithia family says a cuddly, programmable Elmo doll revealed its dark side yesterday after fresh batteries were installed.

Instead of singing songs or reciting the favorite color of its 2-year-old owner, James Bowman, the doll started making death threats, the family says.

With a squeeze of its fuzzy belly, the Sesame Street character now says, in a sing-song voice, "Kill James." "It's not something that really you would think would ever come out of a toy," said Melissa Bowman, James' mother. "But once I heard, I was just kind of distraught."

The Elmo Knows Your Name doll, which connects to a computer to learn certain phases and names, recently ran out of battery power, Bowman said.

About an hour after she put new ones in, "I noticed exactly what it was saying," Bowman said. "And my son was repeating exactly what it was saying."

Bowman said Elmo is James' favorite character. James even has Elmo slippers, but the malfunctioning, death-threat-spouting Elmo Knows Your Name doll is now being kept away from her son, Bowman said.

"This is his absolute favorite toy," she said. "So we've been going through a lot of hassle because he's trying to climb up the counter and up the closets to get it."

Fisher-Price, the toy company that manufactures the dolls, said it will issue the Bowmans a voucher for a replacement doll. The company said it will examine James' model for the source of the problem and check whether other Elmos are experiencing the same malfunction.

tbo.com

[Bad Boy]

lmao... a doll makin death threats... wtf has this world come to?

[JohnCenaFan28]

:o That's really weird...

[JohnCenaFan28]

Parts of a child's body have been found by police at a former children's home in Jersey.



Police believe more bodies may be found at Haut de la Garenne in St Martin, which is at the centre of an inquiry into alleged child abuse.

The remains are thought to date from the early 1980s but the police have not confirmed whether it was a boy or girl.

The investigation involves the abuse of boys and girls aged between 11 and 15, since the 1960s.

Jersey police began investigating allegations of abuse in November last year.

The investigation involves several government institutions and organisations in Jersey, with the Haute de la Garenne home and Jersey Sea Cadets the main focus of the inquiry.

The search of the site began on Tuesday using a sniffer dog and ground radar.

Jersey's Deputy Chief Police Officer, Lenny Harper, who is in charge of the investigation, said detectives "think there is the possibility they may find more remains".

Mr Harper said: "This morning just after 09.30 we discovered what appears to be the partial remains of a child.

"The status of the inquiry obviously has now changed."

He told a news conference: "We're in close touch with more specialist assistance from the UK.

"As I said the status of the inquiry has now changed to a potential major crime inquiry concerning a possible homicide."

'Get in touch'

Former Jersey Health Minister Senator Stuart Syvret urged anyone who was at Haut de la Garenne to come forward.

His concerns last year about alleged child abuse in Jersey institutions led to an independent review of child care services by Jersey's parliament, the States of Jersey.

Mr Syvret told BBC News: "It's essential those with concerns call it, or get in touch with the police.

"Having spoken to people who were at Haut de la Garenne, this discovery is not surprising.

"I am frankly very apprehensive about what else they will find."

Haut de la Garenne started life in 1867 as the Industrial School, for "young people of the lower classes of society and neglected children".

It is now Jersey's Youth Hostel and featured as a police station in the TV series Bergerac.

BBC News

[JohnCenaFan28]

Prosecutors in Saudi Arabia have begun investigating 57 young men who were arrested on Thursday for flirting with girls at shopping centres in Mecca.



The men are accused of wearing indecent clothes, playing loud music and dancing in order to attract the attention of girls, the Saudi Gazette reported.

They were arrested following a request of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.

The mutaween enforce Saudi Arabia's conservative brand of Islam, Wahhabism.

Earlier in the month, the authorities enforced a ban on the sale of red roses and other symbols used in many countries to mark Valentine's Day.

The ban is partly because of the connection with a "pagan Christian holiday", and also because the festival itself is seen as encouraging relations between the sexes outside marriage, punishable by law in the kingdom.

The Prosecution and Investigation Commission said it had received reports of such "bad" behaviour by 57 young men at a number of shopping centres in the holy city of Mecca, the Saudi Gazette said.

The guardians of some of the men defended their actions, however, saying they would regularly get together at the weekend to have fun without ever violating laws governing the segregation of the sexes, it added.

BBC News

[JohnCenaFan28]

Iraq's foreign minister has warned that any escalation of Turkey's operation against Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq could destabilise the region.



Hoshyar Zebari said the "limited" raid into a remote, uninhabited area should end "as soon as possible".

And the Kurdish regional leader said a "massive resistance" would be mounted if civilians were attacked.

Both Turkey and the rebels have given conflicting casualty figures. The US and the UN have urged restraint.

Correspondents say the aim is to isolate rebels of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, PKK, and to prevent them using northern Iraq as a launch-pad for attacks on Turkish soil.

More than 30,000 people have been killed since the PKK began fighting for a Kurdish homeland in south-eastern Turkey in 1984.

The US, the EU and Turkey consider the PKK to be a terrorist organisation.

Infrastructure targeted

Turkey said its ground forces had crossed the border to tackle rebels late on Thursday after an air and artillery bombardment.

Ankara says 79 Kurdish rebels and seven Turkish soldiers have been killed in two days of fighting. Rebels said they had killed 22 Turkish soldiers - with "not more than five" PKK soldiers wounded. There is no confirmation.

Reports from Turkey on the size of the assault force have varied from 3,000 to 10,000 soldiers.

Without confirming any figures, PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan, however, has said the offensive is limited in scale and troops will return as soon as possible.

Iraq's foreign minister said his government had only had been informed of the Turkish incursion "in the last minute" - and did not approve it.

"This is a limited military incursion into a remote, isolated and uninhabited region," Mr Zebari told BBC.

"But if it goes on, I think it could destabilise the region, because really one mistake could lead to further escalation."

Mr Zebari said despite a Turkish promise to Baghdad that Turkish troops would "avoid targeting the infrastructure", a number of bridges had already been destroyed.

A PKK fighter at a camp inside Iraq, near the Turkish border, in December 2007
PKK fighters are known to use northern Iraq as a base

Kurdish region leader Massoud Barzani said the regional government would not be a part of the conflict between the Turkish government and the PKK fighters.

"But at the same time, we stress that if the Turkish military targets any Kurdish civilian citizens or any civilian structures, then we will order a large-scale resistance," a statement from Mr Barzani's office said.

Turkey has carried out at least one ground incursion, as well as frequent air and artillery strikes, against suspected PKK targets in Iraq since parliament authorised the army to act in October 2007.

But this operation's timing is unusual as the mountainous border area is still covered with heavy snow, the BBC's Sarah Rainsford reports from Istanbul.

Nor have there been any major PKK attacks inside Turkey for some time, she adds.

Washington said it had been informed of the incursion in advance and that it had urged the Turks to limit their action to precise targeting of rebel Kurdish targets.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon expressed concern about the situation.

"The protection of civilian life on both sides of the border remains the paramount concern," he said.

BBC News

[JohnCenaFan28]

The leaders of the divided Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities have voiced optimism that they can make progress towards reunification of the island.



The Cyprus President-elect, Demetris Christofias, said he had asked the UN to arrange a meeting with Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat.

Mr Christofias was speaking just hours after his election victory.

Decades of diplomatic efforts have failed to reunite the communities, who are separated by a UN buffer zone.

Mr Talat congratulated Mr Christofias on his election triumph and said "I believe that it won't be a surprise if we solve the problem by the end of 2008".

Mr Talat also called on Mr Christofias, a left-wing leader, to resume negotiations as soon as possible.

Decades-old division

The Greek and Turkish Cypriots have been divided since 1974, when Turkey sent troops into the north, after a coup by Greek Cypriots who wanted union with Greece.

map

Greek Cypriots rejected a UN peace plan in a referendum in 2004, while Turkish Cypriots accepted it.

The BBC's Tabitha Morgan in Cyprus says significant issues that have scuppered all previous diplomatic initiatives remain to be tackled. These include the Turkish troop presence in the north of the island.

Mr Talat said he did not want a repeat of 2004, when the Greek Cypriots "hid their real agenda until the last minute".

Speaking to Reuters news agency, Mr Christofias said: "I've already contacted the representative of the United Nations in Cyprus... the very first step will be an exploratory meeting with Mr Talat."

Earlier, the European Commission urged Mr Christofias to work towards a deal.

Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso called on him to "grasp this chance and without delay start negotiations" under United Nations auspices.

The island's partition has long stood as an obstacle to Turkey's bid to join the EU, and remains a source of contention between Nato allies Turkey and Greece.

The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus is only recognised by Turkey.

Support for talks

Mr Christofias defeated rival right-winger Ioannis Kasoulides in a second round of voting on Sunday.

Mr Kasoulides congratulated his rival and offered to help find a solution to the division of Cyprus.

The two men had emerged neck-and-neck from the first round of the election, which saw the defeat of President Tassos Papadopoulos.

Official figures showed Mr Christofias, who heads the communist Akel party, won 53.36% of the vote to Mr Kasoulides's 46.64% in Sunday's second round.

Mr Christofias is likely to find that any progress on reunification will be slow and difficult, our correspondent says.

Many sensitive issues remain unresolved, including the return of refugees, security and the constitution.

The president-elect has already made an alliance with the party of the defeated Mr Papadopoulos - the man who firmly rejected the last UN plan to solve the Cyprus problem.

BBC News

[JohnCenaFan28]

The director of the UN's World Food Programme has said it is considering plans to ration food aid because of rising prices and a shortage of funds.



Josette Sheeran told the BBC that the WFP needed increased contributions from donors to make sure it could meet the needs of those who already rely on it.

She said it also faced growing demands from countries like Afghanistan, where people were now unable to afford food.

Food prices rose 40% last year because of rising demand and other factors.

Earlier this month, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said the rising price of cereals such as wheat and maize had become a "major global concern".

The FAO estimated poor countries would see their cereal import bill rise by more than a third this year. Africa as a whole is expected to see a 49% increase.

The organisation has called for urgent action to provide farmers in poor countries with improved access to seeds and fertiliser to increase crop production.

'Growing needs'

In an interview with the BBC on Monday, Ms Sheeran said the WFP was holding talks with experts to decide whether food aid would need to be stopped or rationed if new donations did not arrive at the agency in the short term.

The former US undersecretary of state said she hoped the cuts could be avoided, but warned that the agency's budget requirements were rising by several millions of dollars a week because of the higher food prices.

"If food is twice as expensive, we can bring half as much in for the same price and the same contribution," she said.

"It will take increased contributions to make sure we can meet those already assessed needs."

Ms Sheeran said there was an urgent need for the funding shortage to be addressed because "in many places, we are the only source of food for some people".

"We're also seeing some new growing needs in some places like Afghanistan, where people are being thrown into food insecurity just simply due to the higher food prices."

She said those who had been hardest hit so far were people in developing countries who were living on 50 US cents (£0.25) a day, 80-90% of which was already being spent on food.

Wheat
Global wheat prices have risen 83% in the past year

"In some of these developing countries, prices have gone up 80% for staple food," she added. "When you see those kinds of increases, they are simply priced out of the food markets."

Even middle-class, urban people in countries such as Indonesia, Yemen and Mexico were increasingly being priced out of the food market or forced to sacrifice education and healthcare, she warned.

Ms Sheeran said Egypt had just widened its food rationing system after two decades and Pakistan had reintroduced ration cards after many years.

China and Russia were meanwhile imposing price controls, while Argentina and Vietnam were enforcing foreign sales taxes or export bans, she said.

The WFP's ability to mitigate the impact of rising food prices has also been hampered by a significant decrease in the past five years of supplies of "in-kind food aid" - food produced abroad and delivered to vulnerable people in emergencies.

In-kind food aid peaked in 2000, when there were large surpluses and low prices for cereals.

The US, the world's largest donor of food aid, has since reduced its surplus and instead chosen to provide funding to international agencies.

BBC News

[JohnCenaFan28]

US Democratic front-runners Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have traded accusations over a photo of Mr Obama circulating on the internet.



The picture, sent to the Drudge Report website, shows Mr Obama wearing traditional African dress during a visit to Kenya in 2006.

The Obama camp said it was circulated by Mrs Clinton's staff as a smear. Mrs Clinton's team denied the accusation.

The row comes as the rivals campaign for two crucial primaries next week.

Analysts say Mrs Clinton needs to win the contests, in Texas and Ohio, to remain in the race to choose the Democratic candidate for November's presidential election.

'Fear-mongering'

The photograph shows Mr Obama - whose father came from Kenya - wearing a white turban and a white robe presented to him by elders in the north-east of the country.

According to the Drudge Report, which published the photograph on Monday, it was circulated by "Clinton staffers".

Some Clinton aides have tried in the past to suggest to Democrats that Barak Obama's background might be off-putting to mainstream voters.

A campaign volunteer was sacked last year after circulating an email suggesting, falsely, that Mr Obama was a Muslim.

But the BBC Justin Webb in Ohio says the photograph - coming at this pivotal moment in the campaign - is being seen by the Obama team as particularly offensive.

His campaign manager, David Plouffe, accused Mrs Clinton's aides of "the most shameful, offensive fear-mongering we've seen from either party in this election".

The accusation was dismissed by Mrs Clinton's campaign manager Maggie Williams.

"If Barack Obama's campaign wants to suggest that a photo of him wearing traditional Somali clothing is divisive, they should be ashamed," she said.

"Hillary Clinton has worn the traditional clothing of countries she has visited and had those photos published widely."

Mrs Williams did not address the question of whether staffers circulated the photo.

BBC News

[JohnCenaFan28]

The man tipped to become the next Russian president has vowed his country will "stick to" its support for Serbia in opposing Kosovo's independence.



Deputy PM Dmitry Medvedev was in Belgrade for talks with Serb President Boris Tadic and PM Vojislav Kostunica.

Although its focus is mainly economic, the visit is seen as a sign of support for Serbia's view on Kosovo, the BBC's Bethany Bell in Belgrade says.

Kosovo's declaration of independence sparked protests in Serbia last week.

"We proceed from the assumption that Serbia is a united country, whose jurisdiction covers the whole of its territory, and we shall stick to this principled stand," Mr Medvedev said during his meeting with Mr Kostunica, Russian news agency Itar-Tass reported.

Mr Medvedev's comments, and the timing of his visit, will be seen as evidence that Russia's foreign policy is unlikely to change once serving President Vladimir Putin steps down.

Mr Putin's term in office has seen a marked deterioration in relations with the West, most recently over the issues of Kosovo and Nato's ambitions in former eastern bloc states like Poland and the Czech Republic.

'Flagrant cynicism'

Mr Medvedev is the favourite to take over from Mr Putin after next Sunday's presidential election in Russia.

According to Itar-Tass, he said Kosovo's declaration of independence was "absolutely at variance with international law".

He said he and Mr Kostunica had "made a deal to coordinate together our efforts in order to get out of this complicated situation".

A deal between Russian gas giant Gazprom and Serbian state enterprise Serbiagas on a planned gas pipeline in Serbia was signed during the visit, Russian news agency Interfax reported.

Our correspondent says Russia has emerged as Serbia's strongest ally in the country's opposition to Kosovo's independence.

On Sunday the Russian foreign ministry accused the United States of "flagrant cynicism" in recognising Kosovo's declaration of independence a week ago.

The statement followed a comment by US Assistant Secretary of State Nicholas Burns, who accused Russia of aggravating tensions over the Kosovo issue.

The US and most European countries have supported Kosovo's declaration of independence.

Border posts row

Also on Monday, Belgrade government ministers arrived in Kosovo, where they were scheduled to visit Serbian communities to press their message that Belgrade still regards Kosovo as its own.

There had been suggestions that Mr Samardzic might be denied entry until he apologised for comments seemingly condoning violence.

Mr Samardzic described the burning down of two border posts on 19 February by crowds of Kosovan Serbs as "legitimate" acts.

Two days later, Western embassies were attacked in Belgrade, acts Mr Samardzic blamed on the US for accepting Kosovo's declaration of independence on 17 February.

"The US is the major culprit for all troubles since 17 February," Mr Samardzic told the state news agency Tanjug.

"The root of violence is the violation of international law."

BBC News