Tennessee mosque fire 'was arson', investigators say

A fire that damaged construction equipment at the site of a Tennessee Islamic centre has been ruled arson.

Officials in Murfreesboro have offered a $20,000 (£13,000) reward for help finding the person they say doused a lorry in diesel and then ignited it.

The FBI said it had yet to determine whether the fire was a hate crime and would not say if it has any suspects.

The Saturday incident came amid growing anti-Muslim animosity and opposition to new mosque building across the US.

The Islamic Center of Murfreesboro has outgrown its current space and is constructing a new campus.

Mosque leaders note Muslims have lived and worshipped in Murfreesboro without any problems.

BBC News

Powerful quake strikes near Christchurch, New Zealand

(CNN) -- A powerful predawn earthquake struck New Zealand on Saturday, causing water mains to break and some buildings to crumble, though there were no immediate reports of deaths or major damage, emergency officials said.

Roughly 100 people were being treated for minor bumps and cuts, and two people suffered more serious injuries, hospital officials said, just hours after the 7.0-magnitude earthquake hit near Christchurch.

"The house felt like it was on wheels, like it was rolling around on marbles," resident Hadlee Wright told CNN's "Rick's List".

Pictures he took of the city before daybreak show collapsed buildings and streets littered with bits of brick and rock.

The quake had a magnitude of 7.0, down from an initial assessment of 7.4, the U.S. Geological Survey said. It struck about 35 miles from Christchurch, the country's second-largest city, with a population of roughly 386,000 people.

CNN

10 armed Slovaks arrested in CAR

PRAGUE, Czech Republic, Sept. 3 (UPI) -- Central African Republic soldiers have detained 10 Slovak nationals allegedly caught while loading two cases with weapons and ammunition.

The men were originally thought to be Czech nationals, Pravo reported Friday. The Czech Embassy in Democratic Republic of Congo sought to verify their identities but was unable to do so.

The soldiers reportedly arrested the men in Nola, a town in southwestern Central Africa. Two men eluded capture. The rest were transferred to the capital Bangui and are being kept in detention.

The identity of the arrested Slovaks remains unclear.

UPI

Hezbollah denounces peace talks

BEIRUT, Lebanon, Sept. 3 (UPI) -- Hezbollah has denounced the Palestinian Authority for launching negotiations with Israel, saying "no one has the right to cede a grain of Palestine".

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah slammed the PA decision to enter direct peace talks with Israel, saying "these negotiations were born dead," Ynetnews reported Friday.

"Palestine from the sea to the river is the property of the Palestinian, Arab and Muslim people, and no one has the right to cede it, nor a grain or drop of water of it," Nasrallah said in a televised speech honoring "Jerusalem Day," marked by Shiites across the Muslim world.

Nasrallah spoke just hours after a number of explosions caused a large fire in a southern Lebanon village.

An army source said the blasts may have been triggered by an explosion at a weapons depot belonging to the Hezbollah terror group in the village of Shehabiyeh.

UPI

India edgy about Chinese ambitions

BANGALORE, India, Sept. 3 (UPI) -- Tensions between rising powers China and India are increasing, with Indian newspapers running articles about the "China threat".

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh recently convened a meeting of the Cabinet committee on security to review India's ties with China, while Defense Minister A.K. Antony has reviewed the country's security situation following reports suggesting the presence of Chinese soldiers in Kashmir, the Deccan Herald reported Friday. China denied it had soldiers in the disputed area.

Indian External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna told journalists that Chinese intentions in the Indian Ocean are being monitored closely as China has been showing "more than normal interest" in the region.

UPI

China denies troops in Gilgit-Baltistan

BEIJING, Sept. 3 (UPI) -- China has denied the presence of its troops in Gilgit-Baltistan, a disputed province in Kashmir claimed by both Pakistan and India.

In what many in New Delhi regard as a shift of position, Beijing voiced support of Pakistani claims on the disputed region by describing it in a statement as "a northern part of Pakistan," The Hindu reported Friday.

India views Gilgit-Baltistan as an integral part of Jammu and Kashmir that is under illegal Pakistani occupation. What is notable in China's pronouncement is that in the past Beijing avoided supporting either Indian or Pakistani claims to the disputed territory.

UPI

Radical Islam is world's greatest threat - Tony Blair

Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair has described radical Islam as the greatest threat facing the world today.

He made the remark in a BBC interview marking the publication of his memoirs.

Mr Blair said radical Islamists believed that whatever was done in the name of their cause was justified - including the use of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons.

Mr Blair, who led Britain into war in Afghanistan and Iraq, denied that his own policies had fuelled radicalism.

Asked about the argument that Chechens, Kashmiris, Palestinians, Iraqis and Afghans were resisting foreign occupation, he said Western polices were designed to confront radical Islamists because they were "regressive, wicked and backward-looking".

The aim of al-Qaeda in Iraq was "not to get American troops out of Baghdad [but] to destabilise a government the people of Iraq have voted for", he told the BBC's Owen Bennett Jones in a World Service interview.

BBC News

Ukraine to have Europe's lowest taxes - PM

Ukraine will have the lowest taxes in Europe after a new tax code is adopted, Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said on Friday.

The government is to submit an amended tax code to the national parliament, the Supreme Rada, by Sunday.

"We will set low taxes, perhaps the lowest in Europe," he said, adding that the code's main principle was the liberalization of tax legislation.

The code establishes zero taxation for small businesses for a period of five years and the same zero rate will apply to the hospitality sector and light industry for 10 years.

Owners of apartments and houses with a floor area of more than 100 square meters in town and 200 meters in rural areas will pay a real estate tax at a rate of $1.25 per square meter.

Azarov said a mere 5% of the country's population would be subject to the real estate tax.

RIA Novosti

Beer salvaged from Baltic shipwreck may be world's oldest

Divers have found a handful of bottles of beer that has been preserved in a shipwreck at the bottom of the Baltic Sea since the 19th century, Finnish media reported.

The valuable collection of drinks is not the first to be recovered from the wreck off Finland's Aland Islands. Earlier this year, 70 bottles of what may be the world's oldest drinkable champagne were salvaged.

"At the present moment, we believe these bottles are the oldest ones in the world. It looks like we saved not only the oldest champagne in the world, but also the oldest beer," said Rainer Juslin, spokesman for the local government of Aland.

The constant temperatures and low light levels in the ship, which is resting at a depth of around 50 meters, created the ideal storage conditions for the beer. Underwater pressure has not allowed sea water to get into the bottles.

Experts have not yet estimated the value of the find.

The date of shipwreck still remains a mystery. Scientists suggest that it could be a Nordic sailing ship which sank in the early 19th century while sailing to the Gulf of Finland from Gdansk in Poland or Copenhagen in Denmark. Some believe the ship was destined for the Russian imperial court.

RIA Novosti

Russia to decide on French warship purchase by yearend

Russia will make a final decision on whether to buy a French Mistral-class amphibious assault ship by the end of the year, the Russian ambassador to France said on Friday.

Russia is holding talks with France on the purchase of Mistral-class warships on a 2+2 scheme whereby Russia will buy one or two French-built Mistrals and build another two under license at home.

"Very serious negotiations have been ongoing since March and we need to decide whether or not to buy [them]," Alexander Orlov said.

He said under Russian laws, "any such purchases are to be made through a tender," adding that France had fairly good chances to win it.

"That is, of course, if they make a more interesting offer," he said.

RIA Novosti

Number of injured in Tajikistan police station blast rises to 30

The number of people injured in Friday morning's explosion at a police station in northern Tajikistan has risen to 30, with one police officer killed and one unaccounted for, police said.

Earlier reports said 25 people were injured when a GAZ-24 car exploded after crashing into the main building in the yard of a police station in the Central Asian country's second largest city of Khujand.

The blast, which occurred at about 8:10 a.m. (03:10 GMT), completely destroyed the right section of the building housing the local organized crime department, the Tajik Interior Ministry said.

There was no information on the driver involved in the suicide car bombing.

RIA Novosti

Workload forces Russian governor to send son to British school

Kirov Region Governor Nikita Belykh said he had to send his son to a boarding school in Britain because of the demands of his official position.

"When I go out to work, he is still asleep, and when I get back, he is already asleep," Belykh wrote in his Livejournal blog, referring to his 7-year-old son, Yury.

"Neither I nor my wife can spend as much time with Yury as we should at his age," he added.

Belykh, a former leader of the Union of Right Forces, was appointed governor by President Dmitry Medvedev in December 2008.

Yury went to a school in Kirov last year, but Belykh said another factor in the decision was that he wanted Yury to grow up a normal boy, something he said could not happen in a Russian school because he would have a "special status" there as governor's son.

Belykh also said there were simply "no decent boarding schools in Russia that would ensure a child's all-round education and development".

RIA Novosti

Snoop Dogg jumps on anti-cybercrime wagon

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 3 (UPI) -- Rapper Snoop Dogg, once a criminal, is now a crime-stopper, teaming with U.S. Internet security company Symantec on the "Hack is Wack" video contest.

In "Hack is Wack," contestants can upload anti-cybercrime rap videos that will be judged for creativity, originality and message, hackiswack.com said.

Snoop Dogg, real name Cordozar Calvin Broadus, was a Crip gang member while in high school in the Los Angeles area and did a six-month jail stint for cocaine possession shortly after his high school graduation. Since then, he's had several run-ins with law enforcement personnel.

The contest runs until Sept. 30.

UPI

3 men allegedly tortured in Sri Lanka

SYDNEY, Sept. 3 (UPI) -- Three Sri Lankans expelled by Australia were jailed and tortured after being returned to their home country, Amnesty International alleged Friday.

Two of the men, Sumith Mendis and Lasantha Wijeratne, were sent to a hospital Wednesday following the alleged mistreatment at the hands of Sri Lankan authorities, the rights group said. The status of the third man wasn't clear.

Authorities said the men were being held for their involvement in a people-smuggling operation. They had been denied refugee status by Australia in 2009.

"This is an appalling situation that calls into question the actions of both the Sri Lankan and Australian governments," Madhu Malhotra, Amnesty International's deputy director for Asia, said in a release.

UPI

Baby killed by hospital mistake

CINCINNATI, Sept. 3 (UPI) -- The Ohio hospital where a 7-month-old boy died when his body was mistakenly flushed with alcohol has been "upfront" about the mistake, officials say.

Tressel Meinardi died Aug. 21 during surgery at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. O'dell Owens, the Hamilton County coroner, said the hospital has been honest with both his office and the baby's family, The Cincinnati Enquirer reported Thursday.

"They were very upfront," he said. "They said, 'We've got to figure out how alcohol was used instead of water'".

Scott and Emilie Meinerdi of Richmond, Ind., have refused to comment on their son's death. Greg Boyce, pastor of Fountain City Wesleyan Church in Richmond, described them as "very forgiving".

UPI

U.S., China hold 'backdoor' military talk

BEIJING, Sept. 3 (UPI) -- Chinese and U.S. defense experts discussed military ties between the two countries despite a freeze on military exchanges since January, officials said.

A senior Chinese general met with the head of a leading U.S. think tank Thursday to discuss the building of strong military ties, China's Xinhua news agency reported.

"A sound and stable China-U.S. military relationship is good for bilateral strategic trust and regional peace and stability," Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Ma Xiaotian told John Hamre, president of the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Hamre, who served as the U.S. deputy secretary of defense during the Clinton administration, is in China at the invitation of the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations.

UPI

U.S., South Korea schedule more war drills

SEOUL, Sept. 3 (UPI) -- South Korean and U.S. forces will hold another joint drill as a show of force against North Korea, officials said, as North Korea again threatened retaliation.

Anti-submarine warfare exercises in the Yellow Sea off the Korean Peninsula's west coast, to be held Sunday to Thursday, are in response to the March 26 sinking of a South Korean warship by North Korea, Yonhap news agency reported.

The exercises "are designed to send a clear message of deterrence to North Korea, while improving overall allies' anti-submarine warfare capabilities," U.S. Forces Korea said in a statement.

The five-day drills will involve about 20 U.S. and South Korean vessels including two U.S. guided-missile destroyers, USS Curtis Wilbur and USS Fitzgerald, as well as a fast-attack U.S. submarine.

UPI

'Pretty girl' suffers acid attack

PORTLAND, Wash., Sept. 3 (UPI) -- A woman who recently moved to Vancouver, Wash., says she does not understand why a stranger threw acid in her face in her new hometown.

Bethany Storro, 28, gave a news conference from her hospital bed Thursday at the Oregon Burn Center in North Portland, The Portland Oregonian reported.

"I have no enemies ... I don't get it," she said. "But I can't let what she did to me wreck my life. That's not fair. But in time, I'm going to forgive her".

Police released a sketch Thursday of the assailant based on Storro's description, KPTV reported.

Storro said she was getting something from her car Monday evening in Vancouver when she was approached by a woman who also seemed to be in her late 20s.

UPI

Toxic bacteria present in Greek lake

ATHENS, Greece, Sept. 3 (UPI) -- A type of bacteria that can present a toxic threat exists in the waters of a lake in northern Greece, scientists say.

The bacteria, which can form a dangerous algal bloom on the surface of the water, has existed in Lake Kastoria for two decades, but recent DNA tests confirmed the bacteria, called microcystis, produces toxins that could a pose a risk to public health, Kathimerini newspaper reported.

Experts from the Biology Department at Thessaloniki's Aristotle University say they could not determine whether the concentration of the bacteria in the water is currently at a potentially dangerous level.

They have urged the establishment of a group of international researchers who could examine the state of the water and suggest solutions to the problem.

UPI

Pope to tell young people of Hitler Youth

VATICAN CITY, Sept. 3 (UPI) -- Pope Benedict XVI plans to use his own experience in the Hitler Youth in his message to young people at the next World Youth Day, the Vatican said Friday.

Officials released a partial text of the message the pope has written for the gathering, scheduled for Aug. 16-21 in Madrid, the Italian news agency ANSA reported. He plans to tell young people they must rely on faith and the values found in the Gospels, that job-hunting and economic security are "great and pressing problems" but not the most important issues in life.

Benedict, born in Germany as Josef Ratzinger, was forced to join the Hitler Youth when he turned 14 in 1941. His father was a devout Catholic who opposed the Nazi Party, and the pope has said he dodged meetings of the youth organization.

UPI

Mozambique police fire rubber bullets at Maputo rioters

Police have fired rubber bullets and tear gas at protesters in parts of the Mozambique capital on the third day of riots over rising food prices.

Elsewhere, Maputo was calm, with shops and businesses reopening and long queues of people waiting to buy bread and petrol.

Ten people have been killed and 443 injured since the riots began, Health Minister Ivo Garrido said on Friday.

There have also been clashes in the central city of Chimoio.

Six people were shot by police there after protesters tried to stop markets opening, Lusa news agency says.

The latest violence in Maputo was in the suburbs of Benfica and Hulene on the city's outskirts.

However, the BBC's Jose Tembe in the city says Friday's clashes were relatively minor and the police say they have restored order.

The protests began after the price of bread rose by at least 20% in one of the world's poorest countries.

Trade and Industry Minister Antonio Fernando told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme that the government was striving to make the country less dependent on imported food.

BBC News

Pakistan suicide bombing kills 59, injures 160, police say

Islamabad, Pakistan (CNN) -- The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for a suicide bomb Friday in southwestern Pakistan that killed 59 people and wounded 160.

Qari Hussain, a senior member of the group -- also known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP -- said the attack avenged the deaths of Sunni religious leaders by Shiites. The TTP also claimed responsibility this week for a trio of suicide attacks Wednesday during Shiite processions in Lahore, which killed 31 people.

The blast in the city of Quetta occurred during an Al Quds day rally, an annual event in the Arab and Muslim world that criticizes Israeli policies toward Palestinians.

Dramatic television images showed what appeared to be the blast, followed by heavy gunfire and people dispersing. Images also showed many casualties being treated.

The U.S. Justice Department announced this week that a key TTP leader, Hakimullah Mehsud, has been charged for his alleged involvement in the killings of seven U.S. citizens at an American military base in Afghanistan in 2009 and the attempted Times Square bombing this year. A $5 million reward is being offered for information leading to the capture of Mehsud and another top Pakistani Taliban leader, Wali Ur Rehman, U.S. officials said.

CNN

Face-to-face Mideast talks open

WASHINGTON: After a day of ceremony and separate meetings at the White House with US President Barack Obama, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas sat down together Thursday to begin direct talks for the first time in nearly two years for the establishment of a Palestinian state.

The negotiations between the parties got under way Thursday with US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton describing Netanyahu and Abbas as the people who could make the "long-cherished dream a reality." At a ceremony in the State Department's ornate Benjamin Franklin room, Clinton said the Obama administration was committed to helping the two sides find a solution to the Middle East problem, but stressed that after decades of failed attempts, the heavy lifting must be done by both Netanyahu and Abbas. "I know the decision to sit at this table was not easy," Clinton said. "We understand the suspicion and skepticism that so many feel”.

"By being here today, you each have taken an important step toward freeing your peoples from the shackles of a history we cannot change," Clinton said. "To those who criticize this process, I ask you to join us in this effort".

After their 90-minute talks, Netanyahu and Abbas agreed to resume their negotiations in the Middle East on Sept. 14 and 15 and every two weeks thereafter, US special envoy George Mitchell said.

The two leaders agreed that the negotiations "can be completed in one year and that the aim of the negotiations is to resolve all core issues," he said, referring to security, borders, the status of Palestinian refugees and the fate of Jerusalem.

"The parties agreed that a logical next step would be to begin working on achieving a framework agreement for permanent status," Mitchell said.

"The purpose of a framework agreement will be to establish the fundamental compromises necessary to enable them to flesh out and complete a comprehensive treaty that will end the conflict and establish a lasting peace," he said.

Speaking at the start of the negotiations, Clinton said the US "cannot and will not impose a solution" to the conflict.

Arab News

Ukraine ties rejuvenated by 'epochal' state visit

The agreements marked a new beginning in the relationship between the two countries, which had come to a standstill under Ukraine's previous president Viktor Yushchenko.

Apart from boosting their political relationship, the two sides also signed 12 agreements on technology, infrastructure and credit cooperation, including programs of cooperation in exploring and using space for peaceful purposes in 2011-2015.

An agreement was also signed securing China's credit support to a 30-km railway project and construction of auxiliary facilities for an airport in Ukraine's capital, Kiev, which will take three years before completion. The railway project, contracted to a Chinese firm, will cost $950 million and construction will begin next year.

The two countries also agreed to push forward trade deals to approximately $10 billion in 2012, about five times that of 2009.

China has always attached importance to ties with the East European country, which bridges Asia and Europe.

Strategically located it has strong cultural and political links with the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) as well as trade links with the European Union (EU).

Good relations with China were established under a former president, Leonid Kuchma. However, during the reign of the "Orange team", led by Yushchenko, Sino-Ukrainian relations deteriorated.

In April, Yanukovych, who became Ukraine president in February, and Hu met in Washington and agreed to the Ukrainian president's visit to China.

The visit, which local papers are describing as "epochal", "historical", or, "extraordinary", has been viewed by analysts from both countries as a strategic move both politically and economically for the two nations to secure their ties in a changing regional landscape.

"Ukraine is the second largest country of the CIS. Geographically, it serves as China's gateway to Europe. Therefore the strategic location of Ukraine is significant," said Wang Lijiu, researcher of the institute of Russia studies under the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations.

China Daily

Russia's Transneft head says privatization would be terrible

Privatization of Russia's oil transportation monopoly Transneft will be disastrous, President Nikolai Tokarev said on Friday, adding the government would not allow it.

"This (the privatization) would be the most terrible thing that could happen to Transneft. I am sure the government would not allow the sale of Transneft," Tokarev told a news conference.

Three foreign investment funds, the company's minority shareholders, voiced the idea of selling a 25 percent state of Transneft on the open market.

In July, the Economic Development Ministry crossed Transneft out from the list of 2011-2013 privatizations compiled by the Finance Ministry.

Tokarev also said Transneft had no plans to hike oil transportation tariffs in 2011.

RIA Novosti

600,000 offer Ramadan prayers in Makkah

Some 600,000 Muslims crowded into the Grand Mosque in Islam's holiest city of Makkah for prayers on the last Friday of the Ramadan holy month, mosque officials said.

In all more than a million worshippers were in the mosque and surrounding areas, Said al Mansoori, a spokesman for the commission governing Makkah and Madina told AFP.

The two cities have swollen with worshippers from Saudi Arabia and around the world undertaking the umrah which peaks during Ramadan.

The Muslim fasting month ends on September 9 with the holiday of Eid al Fitr.

The month's last Friday, the Muslim holy day, is considered especially blessed.

Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz was in Makkah on Friday to inaugurate a $187 million expansion of the Zamzam waterworks which serves up to worshippers the celebrated holy water from a spring beneath the city.

The new system can filter up to five million litres (1.3 million gallons) of Zamzam water per day.

Emirates Business