International

Afghan bomber kills 14, including 3 U.S. troops

(USA Today) A suicide bomber driving a motorcycle packed with explosives rammed his bike into a patrol of Afghan and international forces on Monday morning in eastern Afghanistan, killing at least 14 people, including three U.S. troops and their Afghan translator, officials said.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the blast.

The bomber struck a group of Afghan police and international troops shortly after they got out of their vehicles to walk through a market area in Khost city, the capital of Khost province, said provincial government spokesman Baryalai Wakman.

Six civilians and four police officers were killed in the blast, Wakman said.

Coalition spokesman Maj. Adam Wojack would only confirm that three NATO service members and their translator died in a bombing in the east on Monday, without giving an exact location or the nationalities of the dead.

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Abbas accuses Israel of ‘ethnic cleansing’

(AP via Yahoo News) Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas accused Israel of ethnic cleansing Thursday for building settlements in east Jerusalem.

“It is a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Palestinian people via the demolition of their homes,” Abbas said in his speech to the U.N. General Assembly.

Shortly after, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rebuked Abbas in his own address to the assembly.

“We won’t solve our conflict with libelous speeches at the U.N.,” Netanyahu said.

Israel conquered the eastern part of Jerusalem from Jordan during the 1967 Mideast War. It later annexed it but the move has not been internationally recognized. The Palestinians want east Jerusalem to the capital of their future state in the West Bank.

Abbas also said he has opened talks on a new bid for international recognition at the U.N., but didn’t specify exactly when he will ask the General Assembly to vote.

“Intensive consultations with the various regional organizations and the state members” were underway, he said.

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US ambassador killed in consulate attack in Libya

(Raleigh News Observer) A mob enraged by a film ridiculing Islam’s prophet killed the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three other Americans in a fiery attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi. President Barack Obama strongly condemned the violence, vowed Wednesday to bring the killers to justice and tightened security at diplomatic posts around the world.

The attack that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens – the first U.S. diplomat to die in the line of duty since 1979 – came on Tuesday’s 11th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist strike and presented a new foreign policy crisis for the United States in a region trying to recover from months of upheaval.

Libya’s interim president, Mohammed el-Megarif, apologized for what he called the “cowardly” assault on the consulate, which also killed several Libyan security guards in the eastern city. Violence also flared in Egypt, where crowds protesting the film at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo climbed its walls and tore down an American flag, which they replaced briefly with a black, Islamist flag.

The protests were touched off by an obscure movie made in the United States by a filmmaker who calls Islam a “cancer.” Video excerpts posted on YouTube depict the Prophet Muhammad as a fraud, a womanizer and a madman in an overtly ridiculing way, showing him having sex and calling for massacres.

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Americans tune out Afghan war as fighting rages on

(My Way via AP) It was once President Barack Obama’s “war of necessity.” Now, it’s America’s forgotten war.

The Afghan conflict generates barely a whisper on the U.S. presidential campaign trail. It’s not a hot topic at the office water cooler or in the halls of Congress – even though more than 80,000 American troops are still fighting here and dying at a rate of one a day.

Americans show more interest in the economy and taxes than the latest suicide bombings in a different, distant land. They’re more tuned in to the political ad war playing out on television than the deadly fight still raging against the Taliban. Earlier this month, protesters at the Iowa State Fair chanted “Stop the war!” They were referring to one purportedly being waged against the middle class.

By the time voters go to the polls Nov. 6 to choose between Obama and presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney, the war will be in its 12th year. For most Americans, that’s long enough.

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Report: Obama OKs support for Syrian rebels

(USA Today) President Obama approved an additional $12 million in humanitarian assistance to Syria today, amid reports that he has also authorized covert aid to rebels who are seeking to topple the regime of Bashar Assad.

White House officials also bashed Assad over the decision by peace envoy Kofi Annan to step down in the face of the Syrian government’s continuing violence against its people.

“It is disgusting and really highlights the absolute requirement that — for the future of the Syrian people — Assad must step aside,” said White House spokesman Jay Carney.

Carney also said Annan’s resignation “highlights the failure in the United Nations Security Council of Russian and China to support meaningful resolutions against Assad that would have held Assad accountable.”

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S. Korea, US begin military exercise: spokesman

(AFP) SEOUL — South Korea and the United States Monday began a major military exercise, a Seoul spokesman said, despite North Korea’s threats of possible retaliation.

A spokesman for the Joint Chiefs of Staff said the annual Key Resolve drill had started but gave no details. The computerised command post exercise will continue until March 9.

The North’s National Defence Commission has denounced the annual drill — which will be followed by joint air, ground and naval field training exercise Foal Eagle from March 1 to April 30 — as a “silent declaration of war”.

“Our army and people will foil the moves of the group of traitors to the nation and warmongers at home and abroad for a new war with a sacred war of our own style,” the commission, the North’s top ruling body, said on Saturday.

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US preparing for military intervention in Syria?

(RT.com) The US and other NATO countries could soon launch a ground assault on Syria. The final decision will be made soon, following this week’s Tunis conference where allied countries will meet to discuss possible scenarios of military intervention.

Sources in Washington tell Israeli news agency Debka that the Pentagon is currently drafting the approach they want America to take in the Syria ordeal, and once it is ready for the president, Obama could approve military action. Debka adds, however, that the decision will also depend on what US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton takes away from this week’s Tunis conference.

Representatives from 80 countries across the glove are expected to descend on Tunis on Friday under the name “Friends of Syria.” Should Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar and the UAR support a western intervention in Syria, Clinton could offer an endorsement to the Pentagon, who will in turn finish their draft for war plans and send them to the White House for approval. According to Debka’s sources, UK, France, Italy and Turkey also prepare to send their troops into Syria.

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Iran suspends oil exports to France, UK

(CNN) Iran’s oil ministry announced Sunday that it had stopped crude exports to British and French companies.

The order came several days after Iran threatened to cut oil exports to some European Union countries in retaliation for sanctions put in place by the EU and the United States in January, a ministry spokesman said in a statement.

“Iran has no difficulty in selling and exporting its crude oil. … We have our own customers and have designated alternatives for our oil sales. We shall sell to new customers, who will replace French and UK companies,” ministry spokesman Ali Reza Nikzad-Rahbar said.

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Iran launches Spanish TV channel

(Guardian UK) Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has officially launched a Spanish-language satellite TV channel, saying it would deal a blow to “dominance seekers” – remarks that were an apparent dig at the US and the west.

Iran’s broadcasting company said Hispan TV, the first Spanish-language channel airing from the Middle East, will broadcast news, documentaries, movies and Iranian films 24 hours a day.

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Iran steps up threats to shutter Strait of Hormuz

TEHRAN, Iran (USA Today via AP) – Two Iranian lawmakers on Monday stepped up threats their country would shutter the strategic Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s crude flows, in retaliation for oil sanctions on Tehran.

The warnings came as EU nations agreed in Brussels on an oil embargo against Iran as part of sanctions over the country’s controversial nuclear program. The measure includes an immediate embargo on new contracts for Iranian crude and petroleum products while existing ones are allowed to run until July.

Iran has repeatedly warned it would choke off the strait if sanctions affect its oil sales, and two lawmakers ratcheted up the rhetoric on Monday.

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Saudi Nuclear Deal with China?

(Washington Times) China fired a ground-based anti-satellite missile into space in January 2007, destroying a weather satellite and causing tens of thousands of pieces of debris to threaten orbiting spacecraft. A U.S. and Russian satellite collision in 2009 also has been mentioned as a reason for seeking space operations guidelines.

SAUDI NUCLEAR WATCH

U.S. intelligence agencies are closely watching Saudi Arabia for signs that the oil-rich kingdom will seek to develop nuclear weapons, amid tensions in the region centered on Iran’s nuclear program.

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Russia says strike on Iran would be ‘catastrophe’

(The Times of India) Russia on Wednesday warned that a military strike on Iran would be a “catastrophe” with the severest consequences which risked inflaming existing tensions between Sunni and Shiite Muslims.

“As for the chances of this catastrophe happening, you would have to ask those constantly mentioning it as an option that remains on the table,” foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said when asked on the chances of military action.

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Iran Threatens U.S., Persian Gulf Cities with Missile Attacks

(USA News) Iran might pound Persian Gulf cities with ballistic missiles and use swift boats to attack American war ships in an attempt to dissuade a U.S. attack on its nuclear arms sites, a new report states.

[Iran Flexes Military Muscle in Persian Gulf.]

Tehran likely would employ a mixed game plan against the U.S. military consisting of “advanced technology” and “guerilla tactics,” according to a research organization with close ties to the Pentagon.

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US denies killing Iran nuclear scientist with magnetic bomb

(MSNBC) TEHRAN, Iran — Updated at 1:15 p.m. ET: The Obama administration is denying any role in the killing of an Iranian university professor working at a key nuclear facility. White House spokesman Tommy Vietor said the U.S. “had absolutely nothing to do” with Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan’s death and the U.S. condemns “all acts of violence, including acts of violence like what is being reported today.”

Published at 9:46 am ET: Two assailants on a motorcycle attached a magnetic bomb to the car of an Iranian university professor working at a key nuclear facility, killing him and wounding two people on Wednesday, a semiofficial news agency reported.

The attack in Tehran bore a strong resemblance to earlier killings of scientists working on the Iranian nuclear program.

Hillary Clinton: Iran’s Straits of Hormuz threats ‘provocative and dangerous’

(Telegraph UK) Calling it “the lifeline” that moves oil and gas around the world, US Secretary of State says Iran’s threats to close the Strait of Hormuz were “provocative and dangerous.”

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