BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A suicide truck bomb killed at least 34 people leaving a mosque on Saturday, hours after Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki urged Iraqis not to lose faith if a U.S. military pullback resulted in more insurgent attacks.
Almost all U.S. soldiers will leave urban centers by June 30 under a security pact signed by Baghdad and Washington last year, and the whole force that invaded the country in 2003 must be gone by 2012.
"Don't lose heart if a breach of security occurs here or there," Maliki told leaders from the ethnic Turkmen community, reiterating a warning that insurgents were likely to try to take advantage of the U.S. pullback to launch more attacks.
Analysts warn there may also be a spike in violence by mainly Sunni Islamist insurgents, including al Qaeda, and other violent groups ahead of a parliamentary election next January.
Hours after Maliki spoke, a suicide bomber detonated a truck filled with explosives as worshippers left a Shi'ite Muslim mosque near the northern city of Kirkuk, a city contested by Arabs, Turkmen and Kurds and which sits over vast oil reserves.
Thirty-four people were killed, including women and children and about 150 civilians were wounded as dozens of clay homes in the area were flattened. Many people were feared trapped under the rubble, and the death toll was expected to rise.
There was chaos at Kirkuk's main Azadi Hospital, where ambulance sirens wailed as workers rushed blood-splattered civilians, including several children, into the wards.
Outside, security officials brandished assault rifles to stop traffic as pick-up trucks raced through the gates carrying more victims of the blast at the al-Rasul Mosque.
AL-QAEDA "USING NEW TACTICS"
Such attacks, including a string of devastating bomb blasts in April, have cast doubt on the ability of Iraqi security forces to take over after U.S. troops leave.
The bloodshed diminished significantly in May, and June has also seen fewer large-scale attacks.
It is not clear if that is due to the efforts of Iraqi police and soldiers, or if it means that insurgent groups, beaten back over the past two years in most of Iraq, now lack the organization and support to keep up the momentum.
Interior Ministry spokesman Major General Abdul-Karim Khalaf said al-Qaeda was resorting to paying people to fight for it. It had also turned to criminal activities to raise funds.
"It is a very important development. It shows al-Qaeda is starting to loss its impact," Khalaf told reporters. "Instead of recruiting people through faith or ideology, as it was in the past, now they are paying money to recruit people."
The sectarian bloodshed and insurgency unleashed by the invasion peaked in 2006/07, but volatile and ethnically mixed cities such as Mosul and Baquba remain dangerous.
Baghdad has also continued to see a steady stream of bombings and shootings and Kirkuk is viewed as a potential flashpoint for a broader conflict between Arabs and Kurds. Maliki, a Shi'ite, said the start of the U.S. withdrawal was a "great victory" for Iraq over foreign occupation.
"I, and you, are sure that many don't want us to succeed and celebrate this victory," he said. "They are getting themselves ready to move in the dark to destabilize the situation, but we will be ready for them, God willing." (source)
North Korea may launch a long-range ballistic missile towards Hawaii on American Independence Day, according to Japanese intelligence officials.
The missile, believed to be a Taepodong-2 with a range of up to 4,000 miles, would be launched in early July from the Dongchang-ni site on the north-western coast of the secretive country.
Intelligence analysts do not believe the device would be capable of hitting Hawaii's main islands, which are 4,500 miles from North Korea.
Details of the launch came from the Japan's best-selling newspaper, Yomiuri Shimbun.
Both Japanese intelligence and U.S. reconnaissance satellites have collated information pointing to the launch, according to the report.
It is understood the communist state is likely to fire the missile between July 4 and 8. A launch on July 4 would coincide with Independence Day in the States.It would also be the 15th anniversary of North Korean president Kim Il-Sung's death.
The Japanese newspaper also noted that North Korea had fired its first Taepodong-2 missile on July 4, 2006.
Officials had initially believed that North Korea might attempt to launch a similar device towards either Japan's Okinawa island, Guam or Hawaii.
But the ministry concluded launches toward Okinawa or Guam were 'extremely unlikely' because the first-stage booster could drop into waters off China, agitating Beijing, or hit western Japanese territory.
If the missile were fired in the direction of Hawaii, the booster could drop in the Sea of Japan.
News of the launch would put 'enormous military pressure on the United States,' the Yomiuri said, citing the ministry report.
A spokesman for the Japanese Defense Ministry declined to comment on the report.
South Korea's Defense Ministry and the National Intelligence Service - the country's main spy agency - said they could not confirm it.
Tension on the divided Korean peninsula has risen markedly since the North, led by Kim Jong-il, conducted two nuclear tests this year in defiance of repeated international warnings
The first rocket, fired in April, was widely seen as a disguised long-range missile test. A second launch came on May 25.
U.S. satellite intelligence has shown that a missile launch pad had been erected at Dongchang-ri on North Korea's north-west coast.
General James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said it would take at least three to five years for North Korea to pose a real threat to the U.S. west coast.
The UN Security Council last week authorised member states to inspect North Korean sea, air and land cargo, requiring them to seize and destroy goods shipped that violate the sanctions against arms export.
On Saturday, in response to this declaration Pyongyang said it would bolster its nuclear programs and threatened war.
Growing tensions come as arms-watchdog the International Crisis Group (ICG) claimed North Korea has several thousand tonnes of chemical weapons it could mount on missiles.
The report from the non-government organisation said they believed the North's army have about 2,500 to 5,000 tonnes of chemical weapons which include mustard gas, sarin and other deadly nerve agents.
ICG also also warned South Korea may become a target.
'If there is an escalation of conflict and if military hostilities break out, there is a risk that they could be used. In conventional terms, North Korea is weak and they feel they might have to resort to using those,' said Daniel Pinkston, the ICG's representative in Seoul.
The North has been working on chemical weapons for decades and can deliver them through long-range artillery directed on Seoul which is home to about half of South Korea's 49 million people and via missiles that could hit all of the country. (source)
SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea has several thousand tonnes of chemical weapons it can mount on missiles that could be used on a rapid strike against the South, said a report released on Thursday by the International Crisis Group (ICG).
North Korea in recent weeks has raised tensions in North Asia, responsible for one-sixth of the global economy, with missile launches, threats to attack the South and a May 25 nuclear test that led to U.N. sanctions.
The report from the prestigious non-governmental organization said the consensus view is the North's army possess about 2,500-5,000 tonnes of chemical weapons that include mustard gas, sarin and other deadly nerve agents.
"If there is an escalation of conflict and if military hostilities break out, there is a risk that they could be used. In conventional terms, North Korea is weak and they feel they might have to resort to using those," said Daniel Pinkston, the ICG's representative on Seoul.
The North has been working on chemical weapons for decades and can deliver them through long-range artillery trained on the Seoul area -- home to about half of South Korea's 49 million people -- and via missiles that could hit all of the country.
"The stockpile does not appear to be increasing but is already sufficient to inflict massive civilian casualties on South Korea," the ICG report said.
The report said North Korea has also worked on a biological weapons program but Pinkston does not think Pyongyang has fully developed that weapons program.
In a separate report released simultaneously, the ICG said North Korea has deployed more than 600 Scud-type missiles that can hit all of South Korea and as many as 320 Rodong missiles that can strike Japan.
The ICG said earlier this year intelligence it acquired indicates the North has developed a nuclear warhead it could mount on an Rodong missile, and this latest report repeats the claim.
Many weapons experts believe the North is years away from being able to miniaturize a nuclear weapon to mount on a warhead and requires several more nuclear tests to develop one.
The ICG said the North's nuclear threat is the region's most urgent security issue but if progress is made on rolling back Pyongyang's atomic ambitions, there could be a way to find a solution to the threats posed by chemical and biological weapons.
MISSILE TESTS
North Korea has warned ships to stay away from waters off its eastern city of Wonsan until the end of the month, according to a Japan Coast Guard spokesman, which could indicate a possible missile test.
The North fired a barrage of short-range missiles off its east coast just after its nuclear test in May.
Separately, North Korea may be looking to test fire a long-range missile over Japan in the next few weeks, Japan's Yomiuri newspaper cited a defense ministry analysis as saying.
North Korea threatened to fire an intercontinental ballistic missile if the U.N. Security Council did not apologize for punishing Pyongyang for an April rocket launch, widely seen as a disguised missile test that violated U.N. resolutions.
The rocket launched in April flew about 3,000 km (1,860 miles), well short of the 4,800 km needed to reach the Alaskan coast. The rocket, called the Taepodong-2, is designed to fly as far as U.S. territory.
Analysts say the North's defiant moves are aimed at building internal support for leader Kim Jong-il, who appears to be laying the foundation for his youngest son to take over the impoverished state. The 67-year-old leader of Asia's only communist dynasty is believed to have suffered a stroke last year.
North Korea responded to fresh U.N. sanctions to punish it for its nuclear test by saying at the weekend it would start a uranium enrichment program, which experts said could give it a second route to an atomic bomb, and weaponize all its plutonium, believed to be enough for at least six bombs. (source)
WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama for the first time voiced concerns about the way Iran's election was conducted, though he fell short of calls from some democracy activists that he formally denounce the vote.
Mr. Obama said Monday he was deeply troubled by the violence surrounding the election, but stressed it was up to the Iranian people to choose their leadership. He said he would maintain his policy of directly negotiating with Iran's leaders on its nuclear program, irrespective of the vote.
"It is up to Iranians to make decisions about who Iran's leaders will be. We respect Iranian sovereignty and want to avoid the United States being the issue inside of Iran," Mr. Obama said.
"What I would say to those people who put so much hope and energy and optimism into the political process, I would say to them that the world is watching and inspired by their participation, regardless of what the ultimate outcome of the election was," he said.
The fluid political developments inside Iran are putting Mr. Obama in an increasingly difficult diplomatic position, U.S. officials and regional analysts said. Mr. Obama has pledged both to support democracy in the Middle East and to engage directly with Tehran's clerical rulers over the future of Iran's nuclear program.
Mr. Obama, altering the structure of his Iran policy team, is preparing to move career U.S. diplomat Dennis Ross to the White House from the State Department, a U.S. official said. As a member of the National Security Council, Mr. Ross, the administration's point man on Iran and the Persian Gulf, is expected to maintain this role with "expanded responsibilities" tied to Arab-Israeli issues, the official said. He will report more directly to the president, rather than through Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Any push by Mr. Obama to overtly support Iranian opposition candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi could make diplomatic talks more difficult, while potentially painting Mr. Mousavi and his supporters as American puppets, these officials and analysts said.
Still, a number of Iranian opposition leaders, inside and outside Iran, are calling on Mr. Obama to lend more direct public support to Iranians challenging the vote that re-elected President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. These activists fear any near-term dialogue between the Obama administration and Mr. Ahmadinejad or Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei could result in legitimizing the Iranian regime and also validating the election results.
In his outreach so far to Iran, including in a speech on the Persian New Year, Mr. Obama has generally demurred on addressing democracy and human-rights issues while recognizing the rule of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Many Iranian activists say his stance will have to change.
"During the Iran New Year speech, he completely didn't address the human-rights issue. I think he got this wrong," said Hooshang Amirahmadi, president of the American-Iranian Council, which promotes dialogue. "If I was the U.S. government, I'd say this result calls for a coalition. The current system is wrong: it doesn't respond to the interests of the Iranian people."
Mr. Khamenei Monday ordered a probe into alleged irregularities in Iran's presidential vote -- a shift after his strong endorsement of Mr. Ahmadinejad's re-election over the weekend.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday joined world leaders in supporting an inquiry into the disputed presidential election in Iran.
"My position and that of the United Nations is that the genuine will of the Iranian people should be fully respected," Mr. Ban told reporters in New York.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said he was "profoundly troubled by the political situation in Iran." The French foreign ministry on Monday summoned the Iranian ambassador to the ministry to explain his government's actions, but the ambassador sent his press counselor in his place, according to an official at the French mission to the U.N. in New York.
State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said the U.S. was still evaluating the claims of election fraud, but reiterated the administration continued to have "doubts" about the returns.
Former U.S. officials said the Obama administration is walking an increasingly delicate line between supporting democracy in Iran and pursuing the abolition of Tehran's nuclear program. Any rupture of a dialogue between Tehran and the West could have implications for global security, these officials said. Israel has vowed to attack Iran's nuclear research sites if there isn't diplomatic progress to contain the nuclear program.(source)
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama says he believes supreme leader Ayatollah ali Khamenei has deep concerns about the civil unrest that has followed the hotly contested presidential election there.
Obama repeated Tuesday at a news conference his "deep concerns" about the disputed balloting. He said he believes the ayatollah's decision to order an investigation "indicates he understands the Iranian people have deep concerns."
But at the same time, Obama said it would not be helpful if the United States was seen by the world as "meddling" in the issue.
The president did say, however, that he worries "when I see violence directed at peaceful protesters, when I see peaceful protest being suppressed." (source)
CAIRO (AP) - Iranian authorities are restricting all journalists working for foreign media from firsthand reporting on the streets.
The rules cover all journalists, including Iranians working for foreign media. It blocks images and eyewitness descriptions of the protests and violence that has followed last week's disputed elections.
The order issued Tuesday limits journalists for foreign media to work only from their offices, conducting telephone interviews and monitoring official sources such as state television.
It comes as foreign reporters in Iran to cover the elections began leaving the country. Iranian officials say they will not extend their visas.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran's Islamic leadership is prepared to conduct a limited recount of disputed presidential elections, a spokesman said Tuesday, drawing the ruling clerics deeper into a showdown that began with street clashes and quickly moved to the highest levels of power.
The announcement comes after Iran's state radio reported earlier Tuesday that seven people were killed during clashes in the Iranian capital the previous day - the first official confirmation of deaths linked to the wave of protests and street battles following last week's disputed election.
The offer by the Guardian Council for a targeted tally - from specific voting sites where fraud has been alleged - is the first direct action by authorities to address claims of irregularities by opponents of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. But it also offers further hints that the non-elected ruling clerics are seeking to calm the protest anger and keep the dissent from spreading into their rarified world.
It was not immediately clear when such a count could begin or how many voting sites would be included. The recount also falls short of calls by reformist challenger Mir Hossein Mousavi to completely annul Friday's vote, which he says was marred by fraud and robbed him of victory.
Hundreds of thousands of Mousavi's backers poured through Tehran on Monday in a massive show of unity - that ended in bloodshed when seven people were killed in a confrontation with pro-regime militiamen.
The Iranian state radio report said the deaths occurred during an "unauthorized gathering" at a mass rally after protesters "tried to attack a military location." It gave no further details, but it was a clear reference to crowds who came under gunfire Monday after trying to storm a compound for volunteer militia linked to Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard.
Any widening of protests by the opposition could begin to challenge the ruling clerics and the true centers of power in Iran.
Mousavi, who served as prime minister in the 1980s, has formally laid out his allegations in a letter to the Guardian Council and in talks with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say in all critical matters and policies.
Unlike past student-led demonstrations against the Islamic establishment, Mousavi has the ability to press his case with the highest levels and could gain powerful allies. Some influential clerics have expressed concern about possible election irregularities and a fierce critic of Mousavi, former President Hashemi Rafsanjani, is part of the ruling establishment.
A spokesman for the Guardian Council, Abbas Ali Kadkhodaei, was quoted on state television as saying the recount would be limited to voting sites where candidates claim irregularities took place. There was no immediate word from Mousavi on the announcement, but he said Monday he was not hopeful that the council would address his charges because he believes they are not neutral and have already indicated support for Ahmadinejad.
The 12-member Guardian Council includes clerics and experts in Islamic law. Its role includes certifying election results. Kadkhodaei did not rule out the possibility of canceling the results, saying that is within the council's powers. However, nullifying an election would be an unprecedented step. The council is closely allied to Khamenei, who ordered an examination into the fraud allegations although he had initially welcomed Ahmadinejad's victory.
Claims of voting irregularities went to the council after Ahmadinejad's upset victory in 2005, but there was no official word on the outcome of the inquiry, and the vote stood.
The council must certify ballot results and also has the apparent authority to nullify an election. The council also serves as a constitutional watchdog and vets candidates running in elections.
The shootings came at the end of the rally by opponents of Ahmadinejad who defied an official ban to march through the city.
The deaths also raise the prospect of further defiance from crowds claiming that Mousavi was the rightful election winner. The protest movement has shown no signs of easing with Mousavi's backers reportedly planning to gather in a Tehran square later Tuesday where pro-Ahmadinejad crowd also have called a rally to demand punishment of "rioters."
In a message posted on his Web site, Mousavi said he will not attend the rally and asked his supporters to "not fall in the trap of street riots" and "exercise self-restraint."
The deaths Monday occurred on the edge of Tehran's Azadi Square. An Associated Press photographer saw gunmen, standing on a roof, opening fire on a group of demonstrators who tried to storm the militia compound.
Angry men showed their bloody palms after cradling the dead and wounded who had been part of a crowd that stretched more than five miles (nearly 10 kilometers).
The march also marked Mousavi's first public appearance since shortly after the election. He said he was willing to "pay any price" in his demands to overturn the election results.
Ahmadinejad, meanwhile, arrived in Russia on Tuesday to attend a summit.
A Web site run by Iran's former reformist vice president, Mohammad Ali Abtahi, said he had been arrested by security officers, but provided no further details. Abtahi's Web site, popular among the youth, has reported extensively on the alleged vote fraud.
Saeed Hajjarian, a prominent reformist, has also been detained, Hajjarian's wife, Vajiheh Masousi, told The AP Tuesday. Hajjarian is a close aide of former reformist President Mohammad Khatami.
The huge rally Monday - and smaller protests around the country - display the resolve of Mousavi's backers and have pushed Iran's Islamic establishment into attempts to cool the tensions after days of unrest.
The death toll reported Tuesday could be a further rallying point in a culture that venerates martyrs and often marks their death with memorials. One of Mousavi's Web sites said a student protester was killed early Monday in clashes in Shiraz in southern Iran but there was no independent confirmation of the report.(source)
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Protesters battled police and shouted their opposition from the rooftops Sunday, but President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad dismissed the unrest as little more than "passions after a soccer match" and brought huge crowds to a rally to defend his landslide re-election.
Just after sundown, cries of "death to the dictator" echoed through Tehran as thousands of backers for Ahmadinejad's rival, Mir Hossein Mousavi, heeded a call to bellow from the roofs and balconies. The deeply symbolic act recalled the shouts of "Allahu Akbar," or God is Great, to show opposition to the Western-backed monarchy before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
The scenes summed up the showdown over the disputed elections: an outwardly confident Ahmadinejad exerted control, while Mousavi showed no sign of backing down and could be staking out a new role as powerful opposition voice.
His charges that Friday's vote was riddled by fraud brought sympathetic statements from Vice President Joe Biden and other leaders. Mousavi made a direct appeal with Iran's ruling clerics to annul the result, but the chances were considered remote.
With his wide network of young and middle-class backers, Mousavi could emerge as a leader for Iran's liberal ranks and bring internal pressure on Ahmadinejad and Iran's theocracy to take less confrontational policies toward the West.
But the struggle Sunday was on the streets in the worst unrest in Tehran since student-led protests 10 years ago.
Demonstrators were back on the streets with the same tactics: torching bank facades and trash bins, smashing store windows and hurling rocks at anti-riots squads in Tehran. Police responded with baton-wielding sweeps—sometimes targeting bystanders—and the regime shut down text messaging systems and pro-reform Internet sites.
There was no official word on casualties.
Authorities detained top Mousavi aides, including the head of his Web campaign, but many were released Sunday after being held overnight.
Iran's deputy police chief, Ahmad Reza Radan, told the official Islamic Republic News Agency that about 170 people have been arrested. It was not known how many remained in custody.
Mousavi has urged his supporters to channel their anger into peaceful acts of dissent. But the official clampdown on the Internet links blunted the reach of the message. At the same time, Mousavi went to the pinnacle of power to try to reverse the election decision.(source)
A high-level transatlantic row has broken out over the Obama administration's failure to consult Britain over the transfer of four Guantánamo Bay inmates to Bermuda.
David Miliband has telephoned Hillary Clinton, US Secretary of State, to express the government's disappointment at the deal.
British officials were informed the four Chinese Uighurs were heading to the United Kingdom's oldest dependency only as they boarded their plane for Bermuda on Wednesday night.
A British diplomat said: "The Foreign Secretary registered his surprise. It was a regrettable mistake. Bermuda, the UK and the US now need to work together to fix it and make sure it doesn't happen again."
A senior State Department official said this diplomatic understatement masked a real anger over the Obama administration's oversight among British officials, telling ABC News: "They're pissed".
The State Department denied it had bypassed Britain but admitted that it dealt directly with Bermuda, a territory under the sovereignty of the UK, which is responsible for foreign policy and security.
Ian Kelly, State Department spokesman, said: "We understand that there are some concerns about some of the details of the resettlement, and we're confident that we can work these things through with the government of the UK."
Britain's anger is directed principally at Ewart Brown, the Bermudan premier. But the UK's responsibility for the security of Bermuda is well known to US diplomats and the decision to ignore this could be a sign of diminished British clout in Washington.
Mr Brown said that the Uighurs, a Muslim minority from China's Xinjiang province would be "provided with the opportunity to become naturalised citizens and thereafter afforded the right to travel and leave Bermuda, potentially settling elsewhere".
Adbul Nasser, one of the four freed Uighurs, hailed Bermuda's decision.
"Today you have let freedom ring," he said in a statement.(source)
A supporter of Iran's moderate presidential candidate Mirhossein Mousavi holds a piece of paper that reads "We write Mousavi, they read Ahmadinejad" during post-election unrest in Tehran June 13, 2009.
Several foreign news organisations complained Sunday that Iranian authorities were blocking their reporters from covering protests against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's re-election. German public television channels ZDF and ARD said their reporters were not allowed to broadcast their reports, while the BBC said the signals of its Persian services were being jammed from Iran.
The Dubai-based Arab news channel Al-Arabiya in Tehran was forbidden from working for a week and Dutch broadcaster Nederland 2 said its journalist and cameraman were arrested and ordered to leave the country.
Foreign media converged in Iran to cover Friday's presidential election, whose official result sparked violent protests in Tehran after Ahmadinejad was declared the winner by a landslide.
Violence erupted for a second day on Sunday as supporters of Ahmadinejad's closest challenger Mir Hossein Mousavi clashed with riot police. Mousavi denounced the election as a fraud and called for the vote to be annulled.
The editors in chief of German public television channels ZDF and ARD sent a letter to the Iranian ambassador in Berlin accusing Iranian authorities of barring their reporters from doing their work.
ARD correspondent Peter Mezger can no longer leave his hotel while ZDF journalist Halim Hosny and his colleagues have not been allowed to report on the events, their chief editors wrote.
"We see a breach of freedom of the press and democratic principles," their editors said in their letter.
Iranian authorities had already barred the journalists from filming and broadcasting their images in recent days, the editors said.
ARD and ZDF insisted that they would "continue to report on the events in Iran" in a "critical, fair and independent" manner.
"We would have liked to broadcast the story of our correspondent Halim Hosny, but the Iranian authorities forbade journalists from working," ZDF said in its nightly news programme.
The British Broadcasting Corporation said the satellites it uses for its Persian television and radio services had been affected since Friday by "heavy electronic jamming" which had become "progressively worse."
Satellite technicians had traced the interference to Iran, the BBC said.
BBC Arabic television and other language services had also experienced transmission problems, the corporation said.
"Any attempt to block BBC Persian television is wrong and against international treaties on satellite communication. Whoever is attempting the blocking should stop it now," said BBC World Service director Peter Horrocks.
"It seems to be part of a pattern of behaviour by the Iranian authorities to limit the reporting of the aftermath of the disputed election.
"In Tehran, (BBC world affairs editor) John Simpson and his cameraman were briefly arrested after they had filmed material for a piece," he added.
Dutch public broadcaster Nederland 2 said NOVA journalist Jan Eikelboom and cameraman Dennis Hilgers, who had been in Iran for several days covering the election, were detained and ordered to leave the country.
They "were filming in front of the headquarters of Mousavi, Ahmadinejad's main rival, when they were arrested by police," the channel said in a statement.
"They were pushed against a wall and their tapes were seized. Their filming permits were withdrawn and they have to leave the country immediately," it said.
The Arab news channel Al-Arabiya said that its correspondent, who has been in Tehran for the past four months, had been "informed verbally" of the decision to shut down his office for a week.
"We are not allowed to do any coverage. No reason was given, and there was no earlier warning," executive editor Nabil al-Khateeb told AFP. "I believe it is due to the current state of unrest."
The correspondent of Spanish public channel TVE said during a live broadcast Saturday that police had confiscated a video of one the protests. (source)
As rioting escalated Sunday in the wake of Iran's disputed elections, an officer attacked aman near Tehran University.
TEHRAN -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sunday defended his weekend election victory while security forces cracked down on opposition leaders and demonstrators, who staged a second day of violent protests across the capital and in other Iranian cities.
The standoffs represent the biggest domestic unrest since authorities put down student riots at Tehran University a decade ago.
In some parts of town, black smoke, ash and shattered glass covered the main roads and sidewalks. Along several roads in both uptown and downtown Tehran, many banks -- all government-owned -- had been attacked the previous night, and their glass windows and doors smashed. Public property such as bus stops and street signs were vandalized. At Mohseni Square in north Tehran, three buildings were burned completely.
Mr. Ahmadinejad's defeated challenger, Mir Hossein Mousavi, said in a statement he was under house arrest and banned from appearing in public. Neither statement has been confirmed by the government. In a post on his Web site, Mr. Mousavi called for a peaceful demonstration on Monday afternoon and asked the police to issue him a permit.
The Obama administration and its European allies openly questioned the results of Iran's presidential vote but also reaffirmed their commitment to pursue direct talks with Tehran over its nuclear program, irrespective of the electoral outcome.
Vice President Joe Biden said early Sunday he had doubts about whether the election was free and fair. But speaking on NBC's "Meet the Press," he said the U.S. and other countries need more time to analyze the vote and said the U.S. must accept "for the time being" Tehran's claim that Mr. Ahmadinejad won the contest.
The election result was "a matter for the Iranian authorities to address," British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said Saturday. "Our priority is that Iran engages with the concerns of the world community, above all on the issue of nuclear proliferation."
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier condemned the Iranian government crackdown on opposition protesters as "unacceptable."
Arab Reaction
Across the Arab world and in Israel, reaction was mixed. The results dealt a blow to some Arab officials, who have grown increasingly alarmed by Iran's regional ambitions and hoped Mr. Ahmadinejad's ouster might rein in Tehran.
But others in the region said it could also speed up a key goal: international consensus for tough action against Iran's nuclear program.
"You're not going to waste months and months trying to understand where the new guy is coming from," said one Arab official.
Israeli analysts said that the messy vote validates Israel's perceived threat from Iran and increases Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's leverage with Washington. Mr. Netanyahu argues that Iran, not Israel-Arab peace talks, should be the focus of American Mideast policy.
Mr. Mousavi was considered by Western leaders as easier to negotiate with. He had a more pragmatic, moderate approach than Mr. Ahmadinejad and had said he would open Iran to foreign investments, reform the economy and pursue peaceful relations with the West and the U.S. Mr. Ahmadinejad hails from the ultraconservative camp, favoring populist economic policies and taking a more defiant stance abroad.
Even if security forces are able to contain protests in coming days, the chaotic election fallout still poses a significant challenge for the clerical establishment that rules the Islamic Republic.
Mr. Mousavi's allegations of widespread vote rigging are raising legitimacy questions at home and abroad, and threaten to haunt Mr. Ahmadinejad's next four years in office.
At his news conference Sunday, Mr. Ahmadinejad called his re-election "real and free."
Rajanews, a Web site affiliated with Mr. Ahmadinejad's campaign, carried a number of congratulatory articles and called the election "the victory of honesty over deception."
Iran's Interior Ministry, in a televised news conference late Saturday afternoon, said Mr. Ahmadinejad had won about 63% of the votes cast, to Mr. Mousavi's 34%, according to ministry figures. Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei endorsed the results.
With few other details released about the results and no independent monitors at polling stations, it's difficult to gauge the allegations of fraud.
Preliminary results started rolling in just hours after polls closed, raising immediate skepticism because results don't legally have to be announced for 12 hours.
Mr. Mousavi said nearly five million voters were told stations had run out of ballots and couldn't vote. He also said thousands of his election-day monitors weren't given credentials by the Interior Ministry and were banned from entering polling stations.
Late Sunday, Mr. Mousavi released a copy of a letter he wrote to the Guardian Council -- an appointed body of clerics who supervise the government -- asking them to nullify the election results. Mohsen Rezaie, a conservative candidate, wrote a letter to the Interior Ministry demanding it release the breakdown of votes in each polling station across the country.
As of Sunday, the Guardian Council had yet to reply and it wasn't clear whether the Interior Ministry would comply with Mr. Rezaie's request.
Mr. Mousavi's supporters say they plan to fight until Mr. Ahmadinejad's government is toppled and new elections are called. The new administration is set to take office Aug. 11.
Mehdi Karroubi, another candidate and cleric reformist, took off his cleric's robe in protest of the results, according to one of his advisers. Removing one's robe was considered a highly political move by clerics during the revolution. In a statement, Mr. Karroubi told the public to keep protesting peacefully.
Battle With Police At Tehran University Sunday afternoon, following a celebratory rally and news conference by Mr. Ahmadinejad, protesters pelted riot police with stones.
Students were barricaded inside the campus screaming "death to the dictator," as special-forces units on motorcycles threw tear-gas canisters over the fence, and students threw big rocks back at the police. Gunshots were fired into the air.
Students dragged pieces of wood, desks and piles of paper from buildings and set them on fire. Students and protesters outside the campus clashed with antiriot police and paramilitary Basiji forces, trained volunteers in plainclothes who are unleashed during civil protests.
One 29-year-old, interviewed at the scene, rushed from his office nearby to look for his younger sister, a student at Tehran University. As he approached the fence, he said, a Basiji held a canister of pepper spray to his face and sprayed him directly in the eye.
"They have no shame, they have no dignity. How dare they do this to the people?" the man yelled.
"My shoulders are numb, they hit me with the electric baton," said another young man. As students exchanged stories, a group of policemen holding batons ran down the sidewalk toward them.
"They're coming, they're coming," some of the students shouted and ran up the road. A few stood there defiantly until the police caught up to them. They threw one man to the ground and began beating him as he screamed.
Less than a block away from the clashes at Tehran University, Mr. Ahmadinejad held a victory rally and spoke to supporters, who waved Iranian flags.
"We love him because he supports justice and Islam," said Zahra, a 23-year-old woman who had come from downtown Tehran with her husband to cheer the president. She called the protesters "sore losers" and said it was justified for the government to crack down on them.
At his news conference, Mr. Ahmadinejad defended the security services' response, comparing it to police fining rowdy soccer fans for rioting after a match.
"Someone is mad [about the results of the game] and crosses a red line," he said, adding: "I am not happy when people cross a red line and get fined. If only they hadn't crossed it."
Phone Service Cut Iranian security forces, deployed heavily across the city, have so far appeared to be capable of containing the flare-ups, often using a heavy hand. By late Sunday, there were no reports of fatalities, but sporadic phone and Internet service made passing information difficult.
Mobile-phone service was suspended by authorities on Saturday and Sunday night. SMS texting, a cheap and reliable way of communicating across Iran, was also out.
Meanwhile, the government appeared to intensify a broad crackdown on opposition leaders. Security forces on Saturday arrested up to 100 prominent reformists in a late-night raid on the headquarters of the country's main reformist political party.
The members had called an emergency meeting late at night. Authorities told the detainees they were being arrested for provoking and orchestrating civil disobedience and unrest in the country.
Mohammad Reza Khatami, brother of former President Mohammad Khatami, was also arrested near his house, according to a person familiar with the situation. He was questioned and released a few hours later.
Iranian universities -- in the middle of final exams -- suspended classes for a week as of Saturday, students said, while many shops remained closed.
It was Mother's Day in Iran Sunday, but the flower shops that were open said their sales were far less than what they normally sold. One florist in central Tehran, at a cross section where both sides clashed, said he had sheltered more protesters than catered to customers. He had had only six orders of bouquets and planned to close shop early.(source)
Just your average Zen Baptist, admitting upfront to being a (mostly) reconstructed hillbilly.
If you can't understand the attitude or perspective I come from, it's safe to say that we're from different realities.
If you can't start off the conversation with a respectful question about how/why I came to the particular perspective I did, and then find some way that you can relate to it, then I don't have any time to entertain your issues.
Give respect, get respect.
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Website - http://twoshacks.com.
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