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[JohnCenaFan28]

Bolivian President Evo Morales has begun talks with opposition leaders in a bid to defuse a political crisis in the country.



Tight security surrounds the talks in Cochabamba, central Bolivia.

Observers from the Organisation of American States and the UN are monitoring the negotiations.

Long-standing political unrest erupted into violence last week as Mr Morales struggled to assert his authority in the east of the country.

An agreement which led to the talks was made on Tuesday.

In it, provinces whose governors oppose Mr Morales's left-wing reforms are to return to order.

There is also to be an impartial inquiry into the killing of 16 pro-government farmers in the northern region of Pando, the government said.

Land reforms

Rival groups have agreed to avoid discussing a draft constitution - which Mr Morales wants to rewrite - during the talks.

Governors opposing Mr Morales want him to abandon land reforms and recognise their ambitions for autonomy.

They also want to have more control over natural gas revenues in their areas.

Mr Morales says he wants to natural gas revenues to re-distribute Bolivia's wealth and give a greater voice to the country's large indigenous community.

"This may be the last chance to solve the country's problems in peace," said Mario Cossio, governor of the southern Tarija province, as he arrived at the talks.

Ruben Cuellar, an assembly delegate for the opposition Podemos party, said: "Granting autonomy means revising a host of issues in the constitution from land reform to health."

Talks between the two sides disintegrated eight months ago, and violence flared in recent weeks.

At least 30 people have been killed, mainly in the Pando region where Mr Morales declared a state of emergency last week.

Its governor, Leopoldo Fernandez, was arrested on Tuesday and transported to La Paz.

He is accused of hiring the hitmen who killed farmers on their way to a pro-government rally. He denies the charge.

As many as 100 people are reportedly still missing after the recent violence.

However, the fighting has now subsided and some blockades were lifted after the latest talks were agreed.

BBC News

[JohnCenaFan28]

A consortium of investors proposing to rescue airline Alitalia has withdrawn its takeover offer, raising fears the carrier may go into liquidation.



The Italian group, called CAI, dropped its bid after unions failed to back the deal before a 1400GMT deadline.

While four of Alitalia's unions had supported the deal, five had objected because of plans to cut 3,000 jobs.

Italy's flag-carrier has already warned that it is running out of funds to buy all the aviation fuel it needs.

Making its announcement, CAI said it expressed "profound disappointment".

"Further concessions would inevitably have put the realisation of the plan at risk," it said.

Cancelled flights

Italian Labour Minister Maurizio Sacconi said before the deadline that the future of Alitalia was "hanging by a thread".

While Italy's four main union organisations - CGIL, CISL, UIL and UGL - had signed up to the agreement with the CAI, five other unions had rejected the deal as "useless and provocative".

Those opposed to the package - SDL, ANPAC, UP, ANPAV and Avia - include pilots and cabin crews.

Their protests forced Alitalia, which is losing 2.1m euros ($3m; £1.7m) daily, to cancel 40 flights on Wednesday.

The head of the UIL union, Luigi Angeletti, attacked those unions that rejected the CAI offer.

"The company is dead and some of my colleagues want to be its undertakers," he said.

Government role

Under the CAI rescue proposal, the Italian consortium had put forward a 1bn-euro offer for the airline.

It wanted Alitalia to merge with Air One, the country's second-largest airline, while its 1.2bn-euro debt would be absorbed by a second firm, which would then be liquidated.

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has pledged to do all he can to save Alitalia, in which the Italian government holds a 49.9% stake.

In April, plans for the airline to be taken over by France-KLM collapsed when unions refused the accept the terms of the deal.

Alitalia suspended trading in its shares in June and filed for bankruptcy protection last month.

BBC News

[Slayer_X]

thanx

[Slayer_X]

This isnt even relavent anymore . hes just a scared old man .he probly did it . war is a brutal thing . why try him now?

[JohnCenaFan28]

Alitalia has cancelled a number of flights from Rome's Fiumicino airport, increasing fears that the carrier may soon go into liquidation.



The airline confirmed that a number of flights have been cancelled, but denied it had run out of aviation fuel.

On Thursday, a consortium withdrew a rescue offer for Alitalia due to opposition from trade unions.

Alitalia, which filed for bankruptcy protection last month, has warned it is low on cash to buy more fuel.

Reports say between 20 and 30 Alitalia flights have been cancelled.

Alitalia told the AFP news agency that the move was caused by "technical reasons".

'No alternative'

The CAI consortium's takeover offer was backed by three of Alitalia's nine unions, but six opposed the plans, due to plans to cut 3,000 jobs.

The Italian government insists that the CAI deal is the only way for Alitalia to avoid liquidation.

"There is no alternative to CAI," said Labour Minister Maurizio Sacconi.

"We need to return to the negotiating table because there is no-one else in the race."

There is little the government can now do, as state aid for airlines is illegal under European Union rules.

There were also reports on Friday that Italy's civil aviation authority may ground all Alitalia planes within 10 days from Monday unless the airline can show a new rescue plan.

Government stake

Under the CAI rescue proposal, the Italian consortium had put forward a 1bn euro ($1.4bn; £790m) offer for the airline.

It wanted Alitalia to merge with Air One, the country's second-largest airline, while its 1.2bn euro debt would be absorbed by a second firm, which would then be liquidated.

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has pledged to do all he can to save Alitalia, in which the Italian government holds a 49.9% stake.

In April, plans for the airline to be taken over by Air France-KLM collapsed when unions refused to accept the terms of the deal.

Alitalia shares were suspended in June and the airline is being run by a special administrator following its move into bankruptcy protection last month.

BBC News

[JohnCenaFan28]

The US military says seven people, including three women civilians, have been killed in an air strike in Iraq.



The US said it was targeting insurgents in the village of al-Dawr, near Tikrit north of Baghdad, where Saddam Hussein was captured in 2003.

Witnesses are quoted as saying the attack happened after US troops had surrounded a compound in the village.

The village is home of a former leader of the Baath party, Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, who is still a fugitive.

A military statement said those killed included four suspected insurgents and three women. A child was pulled from the rubble of the building and was treated at a nearby US base.

It said the target was a man believed to be the leader of a bombing network in the area north of Baghdad.

Reports quote Iraqi officials and neighbours saying that the family whose members were killed in the air strike had no connection to the insurgency.

The US said its forces surrounded the compound and called for its occupants to surrender after the main suspect, who was armed, had shown "hostile intent" at a doorway and been shot dead by troops.

However, nobody emerged from the building for about one hour "despite multiple warnings" the statement said, and the troops called in the air strike.

"Sadly, this incident again shows that the terrorists repeatedly risk the lives of innocent women and children to further their evil work," said US military spokesman Colonel Jerry O'Hara.

BBC News

[JohnCenaFan28]

Stone-throwing protesters have disrupted the opening of a right-wing conference against the building of a giant mosque in Cologne, Germany.



The demonstrators blocked two leaders of the Pro-Cologne movement from entering the conference venue, pursuing them as they sought refuge on a boat.

The "anti-Islamification" event has drawn speakers from across Europe. Its main event is a march on Saturday.

But opponents are predicting a massive counter-demonstration.

German nationalist leaders had hoped to give a press conference at a building in Cologne, but were barracked by a crowd of dozens, and turned away by a city official on orders from the mayor.

They sought refuge on a boat on the Rhine river, which demonstrators then pelted with stones and paintballs. Police arrested several of them, the Associated Press reported.

The Pro-Cologne group said it was trying to build a "European, patriotic, populist right-wing movement", and said it expected politicians from Belgium, Austrian and Italy to attend its conference.

The centrepiece is a rally on Saturday against the building of a large, domed mosque, with two 55m (177ft) minarets, in the city's heavily immigrant Ehrenfeld district.

Construction has been approved by the city council and is due to begin by the end of the year.

Cologne Mayor Fritz Schramma called on the city's inhabitants to give the right-wingers "the cold shoulder".

Gabriele Hermani, a spokeswoman for the interior ministry condemned the conference saying: "We believe that such an event organised by populists and extremists in Cologne is damaging to the good co-operation between the city and its Muslim citizens."

BBC News

[JohnCenaFan28]

A top Islamic militant suspected of involvement in the wave of bomb attacks on Indian cities has been killed in a shoot-out in Delhi, police say.



They say the man identified as Atif was killed with another man in a "fierce exchange" of gunfire at a house in the mainly Muslim Jamia Nagar district.

Two Indian policemen were injured in the operation and a third suspect was captured alive.

At least 20 people died in a multiple bomb attack on Delhi last week.

Serial bombings

News channels showed an ambulance taking away a bloodied person from the crowded site of Friday's gun battle.

A large contingent of policemen had surrounded the four-storey home where the suspected militants were supposed to be hiding, witnesses told the BBC.

Delhi Police Commissioner YS Dadhwal said that one of the men killed was a senior leader of the Indian Mujahideen, a group which claimed responsibility for last weeks serial bombings in the capital.

The group, which is relatively unknown, is also believed to be behind similar attacks in the cities of Jaipur and Ahmedabad.

"The police were firing at the fourth and top storey of the building," one eyewitness said.

"A lot of people had gathered around the building."

Police arrived at the house after receiving information that some "suspected militants" were hiding there, senior Delhi police official Karnail Singh told reporters.

"They opened fire on the police when we approached the house," he said.

"Two of our men, including an inspector, were injured."

The two militants were killed during the ensuing gun battle and one was arrested, he added.

On Wednesday, Delhi police issued sketches of three men who they believe were involved in the attacks.

About 90 people were injured when the five devices went off in busy shopping areas within minutes of each other.

On Thursday, India revealed plans to upgrade its intelligence-gathering ability following a spate of bombings.

A new centre will be established to research surveillance and preventative measures and become a focus for counter-terrorism strategies.

BBC News

[Kenpachi Zaraki]

Well one Inspector who was injured later died in the hospital.God Bless his soul. More suspects have been arrested.

[John]

Thanks For The News!