World News joined 5

[JohnCenaFan28]

Thanks for this story.

[OMEN]

SORRY: US President George W Bush has praised the courage of troops in Iraq, while expressing sorrow that the war has cost the lives of 4000 American soldiers.
US President George W Bush has expressed sorrow as the number of US troops killed in Iraq hit 4000, days after he marked the fifth anniversary of the unpopular war.

"One day people will look back at this moment in history and say 'thank God there were courageous people willing to serve' because they laid the foundation for peace for generations to come," Bush said after a roadside bomb killed four US soldiers, pushing the toll to the new milestone.

Recent opinion polls show around 60 per cent of US voters disapprove of Bush's handling of the war and roughly the same number believe the loss of American life was not worthwhile.

Last week, on the fifth anniversary of the US-led invasion, the Republican president said the United States was on track for victory.

Democratic presidential contenders Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton praised the heroism of US troops while promising that if elected they would come home.

Obama said the war should never have been waged and troops should be brought home soon. Clinton pledged to respond "by bringing a responsible end to this war, and bringing our troops home safely."

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain, who has said US troops could remain in Iraq for 100 years, told a veterans' group in Chula Vista, California, that his thoughts and prayers go out to families of troops killed in the war "every day, not just on the day that 4000 brave young Americans are sacrificed."

After a State Department briefing with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Bush, who will leave office in January, offered words of comfort for the families of the troops killed in Iraq.

"I hope their families know that citizens pray for their comfort and strength, whether they were the first one who lost their life in Iraq or recently lost their lives in Iraq," he told reporters.

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said: "Every single loss of a soldier, sailor, airman and Marine is keenly felt by us in the department, by military commanders, by families, friends, both in theatre and here at home."

Precise Iraqi casualties are not known but the widely cited human rights group Iraq Body Count said this month that up to around 89,300 civilians have been killed since 2003.

The war has cost the United States $US500 ($NZ635) billion.

The president chaired a meeting of his National Security Council on Monday and was briefed by Ryan Crocker, the US ambassador in Baghdad, and Gen. David Petraeus, the top US military officer in Iraq.

Bush and his advisers are trying to decide whether to continue to reduce troop levels in Iraq after last year's increase, which is credited with lowering violence there.

Some experts are urging a pause in troop reductions to avoid losing the gains made in recent months.

The deaths that pushed the US toll in Iraq to 4000 happened as new violence burst out, including sustained mortar fire against the US-protected "Green Zone" in Baghdad.

Whitman said that despite the new casualties, violence overall was down compared to last year.

"Both coalition and Iraqi security force casualties are down significantly from about May of '07," he said. "Iraqi civilian casualties has also been on a downward trend since December of '06."

"Would we like to reduce the casualties to nothing? Of course we would. Are there still going to be casualties in the days ahead? Most unfortunately there will be."

Reuters

[JohnCenaFan28]

Thanks for the story.

[JohnCenaFan28]

A big motorway pile-up in western Austria has left one person dead and 30 injured, police say.

The crash, involving at least 60 vehicles, was near the town of Seewalchen, on the main motorway linking Vienna and Salzburg.

A police spokesman said that low visibility caused by a major snowstorm was to blame for the accident.

Some victims were trapped in their vehicles, and falling snow was hampering rescue efforts.

Helicopters attempted to land at the scene, but some had to abort the rescue mission because of the heavy snowfall.

Around 40 Red Cross rescue vehicles have been sent to the scene, where they are working alongside the emergency services.

The Red Cross said a bus was involved in the incident.

At least five of the injured were in a serious condition and local hospitals have been put on stand-by to deal with the casualties.

The motorway has been closed in both directions.

This is not the first incident along this section of the motorway.

The Seelwachen to St Georgen section has seen several fatal crashes, mostly because of fog, in which 10 people have died since 2002.

BBC News

[JohnCenaFan28]

Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton has been challenged over claims that she came under sniper fire during a trip she made to Bosnia in the 1990s.

Video shown on US TV network CBS shows the then First Lady walking calmly from her plane. Her campaign has said she "misspoke" about landing under fire.

Aides to Barack Obama, her rival to be the party's presidential nominee, argue she overstates her foreign experience.

Rivalry between the pair has increased ahead of 22 April's Pennsylvania vote.

Meanwhile, presumptive Republican nominee John McCain addressed the nation's economic concerns at a campaign event in California on Tuesday.

The Arizona senator is keen to counter arguments that he lacks experience in that field, as the US economic downturn continues.

'Heads down'

The row over Mrs Clinton's 1996 Bosnia visit follow a speech she made on Iraq last week, in which she described herself and her daughter Chelsea being at some risk as they arrived.

She said: "I remember landing under sniper fire. There was supposed to be some kind of a greeting ceremony at the airport, but instead we just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base."

The video clip played by CBS on Monday shows Mrs Clinton and Chelsea walking across the tarmac smiling and waving before stopping to shake hands with Bosnia's acting president and meet an eight-year-old girl.

The Obama campaign issued a statement which carried links to the clip on the YouTube video networking site.

Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor said in a statement that the story "joins a growing list of instances in which Senator Clinton has exaggerated her role in foreign and domestic policy-making".

Clinton campaign spokesman Howard Wolfson said Mrs Clinton "misspoke" on one occasion about the incident.

In her book, she described how the airstrip greeting had been cut short because of sniper fire on a nearby hillside - and that was the account she had given many times, he said.

Options open

Mrs Clinton is continuing to campaign in Pennsylvania this week, while Mr Obama has taken a brief holiday from the campaign trail.

He is to embark on a six-day bus tour across the state on Friday, his aides said.

Mr Obama is ahead of Mrs Clinton in terms of the number of delegates won in primary elections so far.

The delegates will choose in August which candidate is to be the party's nominee in November's presidential election, standing against Mr McCain.

Mr McCain, speaking in Orange County in southern California on Tuesday, said he would leave all options open for dealing with current US economic troubles and would "not allow dogma to override common sense".

"I will not play election-year politics with the housing crisis," he said.

"I will evaluate everything in terms of whether it might be harmful or helpful to our effort to deal with the crisis we face now."

BBC News

[OMEN]

Militants loyal to Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr have clashed with Iraqi security forces in Basra and Baghdad for a second day in fighting that has killed more than 50 people and wounded hundreds.


The fighting between government forces and Sadr's followers has spread to other towns in the south where Sadr wields wide influence, as a ceasefire he imposed on his Mehdi Army militia last August unraveled.

US officials say the ceasefire has been a major factor in a reduction in violence in recent months in Iraq where Shi'ite militias have been vying for control in some cities, including oil-rich Basra.

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who has traveled to Iraq's second largest city Basra to oversee a military operation to impose government control, said fighters would be spared if they surrendered within 72 hours. Sadr has threatened a countrywide "civil revolt" if attacks on his followers continue.

The worst fighting was in Basra, where a health official said 40 people had been killed and 200 wounded.

In the capital, a health official said 14 people were killed and more than 140 wounded in clashes in Sadr City, the Shi'ite slum named for the cleric's slain father.

Three US citizens working for the US government in Baghdad were seriously wounded in a mortar attack in the Green Zone, the diplomatic and government compound, a US embassy spokeswoman said.

Police said Sadr fighters had seized control of seven districts in the southern town of Kut. A Reuters witness heard heavy clashes near a government building in the town centre.

The crackdown on Sadr militia is the largest operation yet conducted by Iraq's military without US or British support, an important test as Washington aims to bring 20,000 troops home and British forces disengaged in the Shi'ite south last year.

Basra police said heavy gunbattles restarted early Wednesday in five districts of Basra after a brief lull. Mortars or rocket attacks regularly struck Iraqi security checkpoints and bases.

Ground commander Major-General Ali Zaidan said his forces had killed more than 30 militants on the first day of the operation, which began before dawn on Tuesday. More than 25 were wounded and around 50 were captured, he said.

"The operation is still going on and will not stop until it achieves its objectives," he said. "It is on the same scale as yesterday."

"Now there is heavy gunfire and I have heard the sounds of explosions. I also saw a group of gunmen planting roadside bombs," said Abbas, a Basra resident who would only give his first name.

Several mortar rounds struck a police compound in Basra where prisoners were being held. Seven police and three prisoners were wounded.

FACTIONS

Two powerful factions of Iraq's Shi'ite majority, the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council and Sadr's followers, are fighting for power in Basra along with a smaller Shi'ite party, Fadhila. Sadr's followers say the security forces and US-led troops are siding with the Council against them.

British forces, which patrolled Basra for nearly five years, withdrew to a base outside the city in December and have not been involved in the fighting.

Washington aims to bring 20,000 of its 160,000 troops home by July after a build-up of troops reduced violence dramatically last year. But violence has increased in the past few months.

Maliki's government is under pressure to show it can maintain security on its own. US Democratic candidates who hope to succeed President George W Bush next January are calling for a speedy withdrawal from an unpopular war.

Several towns in southern Iraq were under curfew as authorities sought to prevent further outbreaks of violence.

"We have a shortage of doctors because the American troops are not letting them into Sadr City," said Ali Bustan, general director of the health office for eastern Baghdad.

Sadr, an influential leader who has not been seen in public for months, issued a statement calling on Iraqis to stage sit-ins all over Iraq and said he would declare "civil revolt" if attacks by US and Iraqi forces continued.

Streets in Basra were largely empty except for Iraqi security forces, and shops remained closed. At least four Iraqi helicopters could be seen hovering over the city.

"The situation is so tense. I did not go to work today. Nobody is going to work," said Kareem, a Basra resident who would only give his first name. "There are gunmen at every intersection."

An official with Iraq's Southern Oil Company said fighting had not affected Basra's oil output or exports, which provide the vast majority of government revenues.

Reuters

[JohnCenaFan28]

Thanks for the news.

[OMEN]

Five people are missing after an apartment building in Norway's western coastal town of Aalesund collapsed.

Media reports said about 21 people lived in the building and that several had been taken to hospital with minor injuries.

Police said the chances of finding more survivors were slim.

Police said a rock slide had contributed to the disaster.

"We early on knew that part of the mountain had come off, but whether that is the direct or indirect cause, is uncertain," police spokesman Magne Tjoennoey.

The apartment block, which was built against a mountainside, moved several metres, several eyewitnesses told public broadcaster NRK.

The lower floors of the building then caught fire, hampering rescue workers as they searched for those missing, police said.

"We are currently not inside the building, which is crushed," Tjoennoey said, adding expert help was on the way.

A second rockslide in the area had prompted the police to evacuate a number of nearby buildings, the police said.

Reuters

[JohnCenaFan28]

Thanks for the story.

[OMEN]

Nato forces have sent jets to escort two Russian long-range air force bombers patrolling neutral skies near Alaska.

Russia's military has resumed its Cold War practice of flying regular patrols far beyond its borders, and in the last year has also sent turbo-prop Tu-95s over US naval aircraft carriers and the Pacific island of Guam.

Accompanied by two Il-78 refueling tankers, the two Tu-95 "Bear" bombers flew for 15 hours over the Arctic and Pacific oceans, Interfax news agency quoted Russian Air Force spokesman Alexander Drobyshevsky as saying.

"In the course of the air patrol, long-range aviation aircraft were escorted by Nato jets in the region of Alaska," said Drobyshevsky.

Originally designed to drop nuclear bombs, the Tu-95, Russia's equivalent of the US air force's B-52, is a Cold War icon refitted for surveillance and maritime patrols.

Russia, in the eighth year of an economic boom driven by high global oil prices, has raised military funding after years of neglect following the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The Russian navy has finished construction of mothballed submarines and restarted large-scale naval exercises that shortages of fuel and spare parts had made a rarity.

Analysts say the Kremlin is using its reviving military might to support a policy of projecting Russia's power again on the world stage.

But some military observers say the Russian armed forces are still hampered by a shortage of combat-ready assets and that the exercises are primarily a public relations exercise.

Reuters