Police in Northern Ireland investigate possible bomb

(CNN) -- Police in Northern Ireland Tuesday were investigating a suspicious object underneath a car in Cookstown, Northern Ireland, authorities said.

The device appeared to have partially exploded.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland said Sweep Road in Cookstown was closed after "a security incident that came to light at 8 a.m.".

Authorities evacuated houses as military bomb disposal experts examined the device.

No other details were immediately available. CNN

Roadside bombs kill 4 in Baghdad

Baghdad, Iraq (CNN) -- A series of roadside bombings in Baghdad killed at least four people and wounded 21 others Tuesday, police said.

Three bombs went off in quick succession at about 3 p.m. in the predominantly Shiite Baghdad neighborhood of Bayaa, killing two people. A few minutes later, two more people died when a couple of bombs exploded near an Iraqi police patrol in the same area of southwestern Baghdad.

Bomb squads defused another two roadside bombs, officials said. CNN

Rights groups express concerns about WikiLeaks

Washington (CNN) -- Several humanitarian organizations have reached out to WikiLeaks to warn that the leaked documents it posts on its site could endanger the lives of civilians whose names appear in them, according to an e-mail exchange that apparently was leaked.

The e-mail exchange with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was meant as a "private discussion," according to Sarah Holewinski, the executive director of Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict, one of the five groups who wrote to Assange.

The other groups were Amnesty International-Afghanistan, the Open Society Institute, the International Crisis Group and the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Group. The Wall Street Journal revealed the discussions' existence Tuesday.

Holewinski said the groups were concerned about names that appeared in the already released leaked documents regarding Afghanistan, given the Taliban's increased targeting and killing of Afghans who cooperate with the international forces and other Western groups.

"It was a caution we were giving WikiLeaks," Holewinski said.

The groups asked WikiLeaks to redact names in the tens of thousands of secret documents already posted, as well as to be more careful to "protect civilians" in subsequent document reviews, according to an official from one of the other human rights groups. That official did not want to be identified because the e-mails were intended to be private.

In response, WikiLeaks' founder asked the groups to help vet the documents. CNN

Suicide bombers attack guest house in Afghan capital

Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Two suicide bombers attacked a guest house in central Kabul Tuesday, killing three people, said Afghanistan's Interior Ministry.

The house in the Taimani neighborhood was being used by a British security company, a local security service staff member told CNN.

Two drivers for the security company and a gate guard were killed, said Interior spokesman Zamari Bashari.

The two suicide bombers died as well, he added. CNN

Former Sen. Ted Stevens confirmed dead in Alaska plane crash

Stevens' family 'has just been notified that he did not survive' Monday's crash, his former chief of staff says. Ex-NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe was also among nine people aboard; his condition is unknown

By Kim Murphy, Los Angeles Times

Reporting from Seattle — 

Ted Stevens, the gruff and bullishly determined longtime former U.S. senator from Alaska, died in Monday crash of a small plane near a small fishing town on Alaska's Bristol Bay, a family spokesman confirmed Tuesday.

"The family has just been notified that he did not survive," said Mitch Rose, former chief of staff for Stevens, 86, who served 41 years in the Senate before being convicted on corruption charges and losing his seat in 2008. The charges were later dismissed because of prosecutorial misconduct.

Former NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe was also on the plane, which had a total of nine people on board, but there was no word on his condition.

Stevens and O'Keefe reportedly had been traveling to a luxury fishing lodge owned by Alaska telecom company GCI, where high-powered political guests are frequently wined and dined. The downed plane was spotted about 7 p.m. Monday 17 miles north of Dillingham, but rescuers were hampered by high winds and low clouds before getting to the scene Tuesday morning.

Nine people were aboard the private plane, a De Havilland DHC-3T Otter owned by telecom company GCI, that crashed Monday night 17 miles north of Dillingham, a small fishing town on Alaska's Bristol Bay that is now in the height of salmon fishing season. Rescuers were hampered from reaching the crash site overnight by bad weather, authorities said.

"The weather has been hampering pretty much everything going out to the scene," said Alaska State Troopers spokeswoman Megan Peters.

"I can tell you that we have the best search and rescue people pretty much anywhere. They do this pretty much every day, and if we can't get there, that means it's bad and unsafe," Peters said.

The National Transportation Safety Board has dispatched investigators from Anchorage and Washington, D.C. Board chairman Deborah A.P. Hersman is accompanying the team and will serve as spokesperson for the on-scene investigation, the agency said in a statement.

Several "good Samaritans," including a doctor, had reached the site earlier and were rendering emergency aid to the victims, added McHugh Pierre, director of the information office for the Alaska Department of Military and Veterans Affairs.

Stevens, 86, was the elder statesman of Alaska politics. The Republican served 41 years in the U.S. Senate before being convicted on corruption charges and losing his Senate seat in 2008.

The Justice Department later moved to set aside the conviction because of prosecutorial misconduct. Prosecutors admitted they had failed to hand over contradictory statements from a key witness that might have been exculpatory.

Stevens' former wife, Ann, died in a plane crash in 1978 that he survived. Los Angeles Times

Fears of al–Qaida return in Iraq as US–backed fighters defect

Al-Qaida is attempting to make a comeback in Iraq by enticing scores of former Sunni allies to rejoin the terrorist group by paying them more than the monthly salary they currently receive from the government, two key US-backed militia leaders have told the Guardian.

They said al-Qaida leaders were exploiting the imminent departure of US fighting troops to ramp up a membership drive, in an attempt to show that they are still a powerful force in the country after seven years of war.

Al-Qaida is also thought to be moving to take advantage of a power vacuum created by continuing political instability in Iraq, which remains without a functional government more than five months after a general election.

Sheikh Sabah al-Janabi, a leader of the Awakening Council – also known as the Sons of Iraq – based in Hila, 60 miles south of Baghdad, told the Guardian that 100 out of 1,800 rank-and-file members had not collected their salaries for the last two months: a clear sign, he believes, that they are now taking money from their former enemies.

"Al-Qaida has made a big comeback here," he said. "This is my neighbourhood and I know every single person living here. And I know where their allegiances lie now".

The Sons of Iraq grew out of a series of mini-rebellions against militants associated with al-Qaida that started in late 2006. They soon grew into a success story in Iraq, which was capitalised on by the then commanding US general, David Petraeus, who agreed to pay each member a $300 monthly salary and used the rebels as a tool to quell the boiling insurgency.

The US handed over control of the Sons of Iraq to the Iraqi government in late-2008. The programme since has been plagued by complaints about distrust and delays in paying salaries, as well as almost daily bombings or shootings targeting Awakening Council leaders and members across Iraq this year, which have troubled US commanders as their combat troops steadily leave the country.

Sheikh al-Janabi's cousin, Malik Yassin al-Janabi, a joint leader in Hila, became the latest victim today when he was killed by gunmen who shot him dead while he was driving, also wounding two of his guards.

A second Awakening Council leader, Sheikh Moustafa al-Jabouri, said disaffection among his ranks had reached breaking point as US combat forces increasingly depart, with most of his men not having been paid for up to three months and now facing a relentless recruitment drive by local al-Qaida members. The Guardian

America and Europe close the door on immigrants

Anyone aspiring to U.S. citizenship had better act now before it's too late. Soon merely being born in that country may not be enough to qualify for citizenship. Immigrants and foreigners are always subject to much greater scrutiny during hard times. They are sized up by the local population to determine whether they are an asset or a liability to the country, or even a threat.

This is what is happening in the United States right now. Republicans are determined to amend the U.S. Constitution, which provides for jus soli ("right of soil") citizenship. This means that any child born in the country, regardless of the parents' citizenship, automatically has the right to apply for a U.S. passport once of age. But for how much longer?

Senior Republicans in both houses of the Congress have backed their party's push to revise the 14th Amendment, which legalized birthright citizenship back in 1868. The first hearings on the issue are scheduled for September or October, when Congress reconvenes after the summer recess.

Senate Republicans believe that the amendment is allowing for an "invasion by birth canal". 

Children "arriving" in America via this "canal" are referred to as "anchor babies," who make it easier for their non-citizen parents to obtain legal residency and eventually citizenship.

The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) has calculated that over 450,000 children of illegal immigrants "steal" U.S. citizenship every year, adding to the burden on U.S. taxpayers.

"People come here to have babies," Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham said. "They come here to drop a child. It's called 'drop and leave.' That shouldn't be the case. That attracts people here for all the wrong reasons".

But amending the U.S. Constitution is no simple matter. America's founding fathers were wise and had no illusions about the unruly masses. They protected their laws by double and triple lock to prevent voters from making impulsive and ill-advised decisions about the country's fundamental laws under the influence of heated rhetoric, leaving future generations to regret it.

Adding, revising or repealing an amendment requires two-thirds of both houses of Congress and three-fourths of the states to approve. The U.S. Constitution will turn 223 this September, and around 10,000 amendments have been proposed over that time; yet, only 27 eventually passed, while six more still have not been ratified by the states. Most of the amendments concern people's rights and liberties, or the election and terms of the president and members of Congress.

The United States started "closing the door" for the first time in 1882, when it restricted Chinese immigration. Since 1917, immigrants have been required to know rudimentary English; in 1920, immigration quotas were introduced; in 1924, all immigrants were required to have visas issued by a U.S. consulate.

The last time U.S. lawmakers dealt with immigration was in 1965, when they passed the Immigration and Nationality Act, which set quotas for the eastern and western hemispheres rather than for specific countries.

Whether the Republican-backed amendment will pass is unclear. It has as many opponents as supporters. Yet, the numbers of supporters have been growing lately due to the prolonged recession. America's attitude toward immigrants is changing. This nation of immigrants is beginning to show signs of moving toward the internal passport system we have in Russia. In Arizona and Virginia, police officers now can check the immigration status of anyone they suspect of being in the country illegally, even if they have not committed a crime -- something that was unheard-of until now. Admittedly, in Arizona this law is pending a court decision on its constitutionality.

All Americans used to see the logic behind the practice that most U.S. states still abide by. Why check people's papers if they have not committed a crime? Indeed, what right do law enforcement officers have to do so, if the country is not in a state of emergency or at war?

But the gloomy public sentiment is playing into the Republicans' hands. Congress is preparing for a big election in November, when all 435 seats in the House of Representatives and 37 of the 100 seats in the Senate will be contested. Many Americans now consider President Barack Obama a liar who has failed to keep his campaign promises, while others view the Republicans as their saviors from the Democrats' rule. RIA Novosti

Bolivian protesters cut off town from world for two weeks

(CNN) -- Bolivia's president wants a peaceful solution to a two-week-old protest by residents of a remote Andean city who have cut off all roads, train and air traffic with the rest of the world, a government spokesman said Tuesday.

About 6,000 of the 16,000 residents in Potosi, in southwestern Bolivia, have mounted the blockade. They say President Evo Morales has abandoned them after they supported his presidential bid four years ago. The protesters have blocked all the roads into town, as well as the rail line to neighboring Chile. On Saturday, the villagers also closed down the airport.

Some protesters also launched a hunger strike, which has been joined by Potosi Province Governor Felix Gonzalez and other officials as well as union leaders.

Presidential spokesman Ivan Canelas said Tuesday the government has no intention of mounting a military operation to end the blockade and urged protesters to come to the negotiating table.

The protesters "should put aside their intransigence, end their pressure tactics and partake in dialog as the best path to solve the region's demands," Canelas said at a news conference. "Thousands of children are harmed because schools are closed, as are the health centers and the food markets".

More than 100 foreign tourists are believed trapped in the area, news reports said. CNN

Kingdom to spend SR1.44 trillion in 9th Plan

JEDDAH: The Council of Ministers on Monday endorsed the Ninth Five-Year Development Plan (2010-14), which has allocated SR1.44 trillion ($385 billion) for various infrastructure and welfare projects. The amount is 67 percent more than the previous plan.

Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, who presided over the Cabinet meeting, urged all government departments to implement all projects earmarked in the plan within their specific periods, and give top priority to those projects that are directly linked with improving the standard of living of citizens.

Under the new plan, the king said, the lion’s share of government spending (50.6 percent) is set aside for the manpower development sector that covers education and training. Social development and health care will receive 19 percent of total allocations, economic resource development 15.7 percent, transportation and telecommunications 7.7 percent while municipal services and housing 7.0 percent.

Economy and Planning Minister Khaled Al-Gosaibi said the five-year plan was prepared in line with a long-term strategic vision aimed at achieving sustained development. Apart from fighting poverty, it focuses on providing housing, employment, education, health care and other services and facilities.

“Increasing economic growth, improving the living standards and quality of life of citizens, and achieving balanced development of the Kingdom’s regions are some of the plan’s main objectives,” the minister said.

It will also help strengthen the Kingdom’s competitiveness and transform it into a knowledge-based economy. It has also given importance to youth issues, he added.

“We expect that the per capita income would grow from SR46,200 in 2009 to SR53,200 by 2014,” he said. The private sector is expected to grow by 6.6 percent annually while nonoil sectors by 6.3 percent and investment 10.4 percent.

He also pointed out that the Saudi workforce would increase from 47.9 percent in 2009 to 53.6 percent in 2014, bringing down the unemployment rate from 9.6 percent to 5.5 percent. Arab News

Gates announces cuts as part of Pentagon efficiencies initiative

WASHINGTON (Aug. 9, 2010) -- Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates is putting meat on the bones of his initiative to reform the way the Pentagon does business and to eliminate duplicative, unnecessary overhead costs.

During a Pentagon news conference today, Gates said the steps he is taking will help the U.S. military fight the wars it faces now, and help ready the force for the wars it may face in the future. With these moves, the secretary said, he wants to instill a culture of saving in the department.

Money saved with these efficiencies will go back into funding needed military capabilities. "To be clear, the task before us is not to reduce the department's top-line budget," Gates said. "Rather, it is to significantly reduce its excess overhead costs and apply the savings to force structure and modernization".

President Barack Obama has programmed in real growth of between 1 and 2 percent into future years' defense budgets, but that is not enough to maintain today's warfighting capabilities and modernize, which requires roughly 2 to 3 percent real growth. The savings in overhead are crucial to making up that difference, Gates said.

Earlier this year, the secretary tasked the services to find $100 billion in overhead savings over the next five years. "This exercise is well under way, as the services are evaluating their programs and activities to identify what remains a critical priority and what is no longer affordable," he said. "They are all planning to eliminate headquarters that are no longer needed and reduce the size of the staffs that remain".

Gates also authorized the services to consider consolidation or closure of excess bases and other facilities. It is a measure of Gates' determination to save money that he has proposed this, he noted, since Congress has made it almost impossible to close bases. "But hard is not impossible, and I hope Congress will work with us to reduce unnecessary costs in this part of the defense enterprise," he said.

The secretary also announced a number of immediate steps he will take. Gates said he will reduce the funding for support contractor personnel by 10 percent a year for the next three years.

Gates is freezing the number of office of the secretary of defense, defense agency and combatant command manpower positions at the fiscal 2010 levels for the next three years. He said this is just a first step to studying these leadership organizations. U.S. Army

Medvedev Targets Overpriced Medical Equipment

President Dmitry Medvedev ordered the government to prepare amendments to a law on government purchases after regional authorities bought CT scanners for as much as four times their factory price.

"This is an absolutely cynical, impudent theft of state funds. I am personally giving an order to the Prosecutor General's Office and the Investigative Committee to ensure that all who were involved in this are severely punished," Medvedev said.

Konstantin Chuichenko, head of the president's audit department, told Medvedev on Tuesday that inspections had revealed that many regions paid as much as 90 million rubles ($3 million), through middlemen, for equipment whose factory price was only 16 million rubles ($533,000).

The scandal comes as the government pours billions of dollars into upgrading medical equipment throughout the country as part of Medvedev's modernization agenda.

The Prosecutor General's Office said it has opened 17 criminal cases in connection with the purchase of 170 CT scanners.

"The inspection uncovered several instances of abuse of authority on the part of officials using funds from the federal budget. … The biggest share of violations in this field is linked with the use of fly-by-night companies and middlemen," said Marina Gridneva, a spokeswoman for the Prosecutor General's Office, Interfax reported.

Inspectors found that the Tula region paid 79.6 million rubles for a CT scanner whose normal price was only 16 million to 20 million rubles.

Prosecutors said tenders for state orders are held in such a way that they exclude companies from providing competitive products. The Moscow Times

Medvedev Targets Overpriced Medical Equipment

President Dmitry Medvedev ordered the government to prepare amendments to a law on government purchases after regional authorities bought CT scanners for as much as four times their factory price.

"This is an absolutely cynical, impudent theft of state funds. I am personally giving an order to the Prosecutor General's Office and the Investigative Committee to ensure that all who were involved in this are severely punished," Medvedev said.

Konstantin Chuichenko, head of the president's audit department, told Medvedev on Tuesday that inspections had revealed that many regions paid as much as 90 million rubles ($3 million), through middlemen, for equipment whose factory price was only 16 million rubles ($533,000).

The scandal comes as the government pours billions of dollars into upgrading medical equipment throughout the country as part of Medvedev's modernization agenda.

The Prosecutor General's Office said it has opened 17 criminal cases in connection with the purchase of 170 CT scanners.

"The inspection uncovered several instances of abuse of authority on the part of officials using funds from the federal budget. … The biggest share of violations in this field is linked with the use of fly-by-night companies and middlemen," said Marina Gridneva, a spokeswoman for the Prosecutor General's Office, Interfax reported.

Inspectors found that the Tula region paid 79.6 million rubles for a CT scanner whose normal price was only 16 million to 20 million rubles.

Prosecutors said tenders for state orders are held in such a way that they exclude companies from providing competitive products. The Moscow Times

Moscow smog from wildfires eases, gives temporary relief for residents

Concentration of carbon monoxide in Moscow's air has abated, however may slightly increase in the evening, an expert from the State Environmental Protection Organization Mosekomonitoring said on Tuesday.

"Currently, the concentration of carbon monoxide in Moscow is within the norm," she said.

Rain in several of Moscow's districts has helped disperse the smog that has been suffocating Muscovites over the last few days.

"But there is a probability that the concentration of harmful substances will slightly rise by evening," she added.

An emergency situation caused by wildfires and burning peat bogs in Moscow region have continued unabated for the last couple of weeks.

Even Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin took part in extinguishing forest fires on Tuesday in Ryazan Province on board an amphibious firefighting airplane. RIA Novosti

Police employee attacked in N. Ireland

COOKSTOWN, Northern Ireland, Aug. 10 (UPI) -- A civilian police employee in Northern Ireland survived without injury Tuesday when a booby-trap bomb went off on his car as he drove to work.

The device was the third in a week aimed at security forces in Northern Ireland, the Belfast Telegraph reported. All three bombs are believed to have been planted by dissident republicans.

A residential area in Cookstown was evacuated for several hours. Investigators said the bomb only partially detonated.

John McNamee, chairman of the Cookstown District Council and a member of the republican party, Sinn Fein, called the bombing "another futile attack by marginalized individuals who have little support in the nationalist community". UPI

Amnesty International criticizes Afghan civilian deaths

LONDON, Aug. 10 (UPI) -- Nine years after the beginning of the U.S.-led Operation Enduring Freedom, the issue of civilian casualties in Afghanistan is moving increasingly to the forefront.

In the wake of the release of a U.N. report outlining an increase in civilian targeted killings in Afghanistan by anti-government forces, Amnesty International, in a news release issued Tuesday, called for the Taliban and other insurgent groups to be investigated and prosecuted for war crimes.

The human rights non-governmental organization's Asia-Pacific Director Sam Zarifi said: "The Taliban and other insurgents are becoming far bolder in their systematic killing of civilians. Targeting of civilians is a war crime, plain and simple.

"The Afghan people are crying out for justice and have a right to accountability and compensation. There is no practical justice system in Afghanistan now that can address the lack of accountability. So the Afghan government should ask the International Criminal Court to investigate war crimes and crimes against humanity that may have been committed by all parties to the conflict".

Bolstering its case, Amnesty International said it received reports that tribal elders in Kandahar, Zabul, and Khost provinces have been fleeing fearing becoming targets of the Taliban. Speaking on condition of anonymity, a Kandahar journalist told Amnesty International investigators: "The elders are threatened and if they don't cooperate with the Taliban they are killed. Then the Taliban will just tell the village that the elder was an American spy and that is why he was killed".

The issue of mounting civilian casualties caused by International Security Assistance Forces and NATO troops has also entered the American political debate over the course of the war, intensified by the last month's release of thousands of secret documents about the war on the WikiLeaks Web site. UPI

NASCAR to race twice in Kansas in 2011

KANSAS CITY, Kan., Aug. 10 (UPI) -- The Kansas Speedway will be the site of two NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races next year, the track owner said Tuesday.

In addition to the fourth race of the 2011 championship chase, which will be run Oct. 9, the Kansas Speedway will have a race June 5. The move comes at the request of International Speedway Corp., which asked NASCAR to move one race from Fontana, Calif., to Kansas City, Kan. ISC owns both tracks.

"The second cup date to Kansas Speedway will provide a huge incremental economic benefit for the state as well as the local community," ISC Chief Executive Officer Lesa France Kennedy said. "Last studies indicated that a second Cup date will provide an additional $100 million annually in economic benefits".

The Kansas Speedway 2010 NASCAR race is set for Oct. 3. UPI

Dragboat driver killed in Okla. crash

AUGUSTA, Ga., Aug. 10 (UPI) -- A Michigan drag boat racer was killed when his boat disintegrated in a crash during a race on Oklahoma's Grand River, authorities said.

John Haas, 55, a 30-year competitor on the drag boat racing circuit, died from internal injuries in the 200 mph crash Saturday, the Augusta (Ga.) Chronicle reported.

Haas had recently piloted his Speed Sport Special to victory in the 25th annual Augusta Southern Nationals.

"We're just in shock," Dayton Sherrouse, chairman of the Southern Nationals, said. "It is very, very sad".

"He had been coming here a long time," Sherrouse said. "This year, after he won, there was a long line of kids wanting to get pictures taken with him and get T-shirts signed. He was very patient and nice to all of them". UPI

Israel again razes Bedouin village

Jerusalem (CNN) -- On the eve of the holy month of Ramadan, Israeli police re-entered a Bedouin village Tuesday to repeat the demolition of homes they had razed only a few days earlier.

Israeli police closed off entrances to Al-Araqeeb, in southern Israel's Negev Desert, and tore down houses that had been partially rebuilt in the past week, confiscated water tanks, attacked livestock and arrested five people, said Talab El-Sana, an Arab member of the Knesset.

Even the village sign was taken down, he said. And villagers, who were getting ready for Ramadan, set to begin Wednesday, resorted to the cemetery for shelter.

Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said police were removing sheds that were built illegally.

According to Israeli civil rights groups, more than a 150,000 Bedouins live in villages like Al-Araqeeb, not recognized by the Israeli government, not provided with any municipal services.

Israel insists the villagers don't own the land or have building permits and the demolitions were in response to a court order. CNN

Bail set as cursing, beer-grabbing flight attendant grabs spotlight

New York (CNN) -- A flight attendant whose profanity-laced tirade has turned him into a folk hero of sorts was in court Tuesday.

Steven Slater, of Queens, New York, was expected to post $2,500 bail after being charged Tuesday morning. Authorities say he grabbed some beer and triggered an inflatable emergency chute for a dramatic exit at a JFK Airport terminal in New York.

New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said it "appears" Slater was quitting during his intercom flameout on Monday.

"It's a strange way to quit, let's put it that way," he said. "I don't think he'll be able to come back".

His angry screed over the JetBlue plane's intercom was apparently prompted after a passenger cursed at and shoved or hit Slater. And it's getting an unexpected level of support from folks sympathetic to its "Take This Job and Shove It" bent. CNN