U.S. military will conduct an anti-submarine warfare exercise with South Korea early next month

The U.S. military will conduct an anti-submarine warfare exercise with South Korea early next month, sending a message to the North that Washington is committed to defending its ally, the Pentagon said on Wednesday.Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said the joint exercise, which is likely to annoy regional power China, would be conducted off the western coast of the Korean Peninsula and was aimed at defending against “sub-surface” attacks, particularly following the sinking of one of the south’s warships in March.

“This exercise certainly sends a clear message to North Korea that the U.S. is committed to the defense of the Republic of Korea,” Whitman told reporters. “Our commitment is unequivocal.”Asked about China’s likely negative reaction, Whitman said Beijing had no reason to view the joint series of exercises as a threat to its security.

“These exercises are intended to deter North Korea from future destabilizing attacks such as that which occurred with Cheonan,” he said, referring to the sinking of the South Korean warship earlier this year, which was blamed on Pyongyang.The North has denied involvement in the sinking of the Cheonan, which killed 46 sailors, and sees the latest string of joint exercises as a provocation by its neighbor and Washington.After Seoul competed drills near a disputed maritime border off the west coast this month, the North retaliated by firing a barrage of artillery shells in the same area.

SUCCESSION JITTERS

Relations across the divided peninsula have become more fraught following the attack on the Cheonan and there also is growing concern in Washington over the North’s increasingly unpredictable behavior.U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said last week that recent provocations by the North should be seen in the context of tensions surrounding the succession of leader Kim Jong-il, who is expected to hand over power to his youngest son.

Gates said Kim’s youngest son was probably seeking to “earn his stripes” with the North Korean military and he was concerned that there were more attacks ahead.The latest military exercise, planned for early September, followed a visit by Gates and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Seoul last month, Whitman said.The exercise will focus on anti-submarine warfare tactics, techniques and procedures and was designed specifically to improve the readiness and proficiency of U.S. and South Korean forces against potential sub-surface attacks, he said.Whitman said the exercise was still in the planning stages and declined to provide details on which U.S. ships might be involved or the scope or length of the exercise.As the North’s only major ally, China has called the U.S. drills a threat to both its security and regional stability.After a joint U.S.-South Korea naval drill in the Sea of Japan last month, China conducted its own heavily publicized military exercises.(Reuters)

Cuba U.S. Military jurors fly to Guantanamo Bay to hear 1st war-crimes trial under Obama

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba U.S. military officers were flying in Sunday to serve as jurors in war-crimes proceedings as the Guantanamo tribunal system geared up for one of its busiest weeks under President Barack Obama.The Pentagon is holding military commission sessions this week for two detainees: a young Canadian going on trial for the slaying of a U.S. soldier in Afghanistan and an aide to Osama bin Laden who is to be sentenced after pleading guilty in a deal with prosecutors.

The tribunal system that ground to a halt after Obama took office is coming alive with lawyers, human-rights observers and more than 30 journalists who are at the U.S. Navy base in southeastern Cuba to attend Monday’s proceedings in two courtrooms.Obama has introduced some changes designed to extend more legal protections to detainees, but the tribunals’ long-term future remains cloudy as the president struggles to fulfill a pledge to close the prison altogether.

The trial for Omar Khadr, the Toronto-born son of an alleged al-Qaida financier, is expected to begin Tuesday following pretrial hearings.It is to be the first trial under Obama and only the third at Guantanamo, where the system that former President George W. Bush established for prosecuting terror suspects after the 9/11 attack has faced repeated legal setbacks and challenges.Khadr is accused of lobbing a grenade that killed U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Speer of Albuquerque, New Mexico, during a 2002 firefight in Afghanistan. He faces a maximum life sentence if convicted of charges including murder, conspiracy and spying.

His lawyers deny he threw the grenade and argue that Khadr, the last Westerner at Guantanamo, deserves leniency because he was only 15 when he was captured. They contend the prosecution rests on confessions extracted following abuse that included sleep deprivation and threats of rape.”President Obama has decided to write the next sad, pathetic chapter in the book of military commissions and unfortunately the president is starting the military commissions with the case of a child solder,” Army Lt. Col. Jon Jackson, Khadr’s attorney, said at a news conference Sunday.

Khadr said in a May letter to one of his Canadian lawyers, Dennis Edney, that he was resigned to a harsh sentence from a system that he called unfair.”It might work if the world sees the U.S. sentencing a child to life in prison, it might show the world how unfair and sham (sic) this process is,” Khadr wrote.

A spokesman for the military commissions prosecutors, Navy Capt. David Iglesias, said the defendant’s age may be considered at sentencing if Khadr is convicted but has no legal bearing on his prosecution.”What you look to is did he know what he was doing,” Iglesias said. “We’ll let the evidence speak for itself.”The U.S. Supreme Court last week rejected a last-ditch request to halt the trial on grounds the system is unconstitutional.

In the other case, a military panel will begin deliberations as early as Monday on a sentence for Ibrahim Ahmed Mahmoud al-Qosi, a Sudanese detainee who pleaded guilty last month to one count each of conspiracy and providing material support for terrorism.Al-Qosi was accused of acting as accountant, paymaster, supply chief and cook for al-Qaida during the 1990s when the terrorist network was centered in Sudan and Afghanistan. He allegedly worked later as a bodyguard for bin Laden.

The 50-year-old from Sudan faced a potential life sentence if convicted at trial. Terms of the plea deal, including any limits on his sentence, have not been disclosed. Iglesias said it may remain sealed even after the case is resolved.Both detainees have been held at Guantanamo since 2002.(AP)

immigration to be one factor that is very complicated problem for McCain in election

Reporting from Mesa, Arizona .As a candidate for president, Republican John McCain lamented his party’s tough talk on illegal immigration. “In the long term, if you alienate the Hispanics, you’ll pay a heavy price,” he told a group of Milwaukee businessmen in October 2006.Back then, some strongly favored walling off the U.S. Mexico border to address the problem, but not McCain. “I think the fence is least effective,” the Arizona senator said.

Lately, however, McCain has transformed himself from a champion of broadbased reform — who spoke of illegal immigrants as “God’s children,” deserving of love and compassion — into a fierce advocate for the kind of crackdown he once scorned.In a recent TV ad, McCain blamed illegal immigrants for all manner of problems facing his state: “smuggling, home invasions, murder.” It is time, he said, for Washington to “complete the danged fence.”Facing his toughest reelection fight in years, McCain’s future may hinge on whether voters see him as honest or opportunistic.

Old allies are dismayed. “Someone who was a visionary … has gone from being very large to very, very small,” said Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez (DIll.), who worked with McCain and the late Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Edward M. Kennedy on a bipartisan immigration overhaul bill.Old foes are dismissive. Among them is former Rep. J.D. Hayworth, McCain’s main rival in the August primary and a longtime adversary. “An electionyear conversion,” Hayworth said.

The more important verdict, however, rests with voters like Linda StapleyWilliams, 60, a retired high school teacher and GOP activist in Mesa. She wonders: “Did he change his position as he was exposed to new information? Because that can be an admirable thing. Or did he change his opinion because the outcry was so overwhelming and there was no way he was going to get reelected if he didn’t?”

McCain — who holds a comfortable, if not overwhelming, lead in polls — declined to be interviewed. Last month he told the Arizona Republic it was “a political ploy” to say he changed his immigration stance.For years, McCain criticized Washington for failing to control the border, pushed for stiffer law enforcement and worked to pry federal dollars loose to help Arizona pay the costs of illegal immigration. But that was only part of the solution, he said many times.

“Congress cannot take a piecemeal approach to a national security crisis,” McCain said in a Senate floor speech in September 2006. “I believe the only way to truly secure our border and protect our nation is through the enactment of comprehensive immigration reform.”Working with Democrats, McCain introduced an enforcement bill in 2005 that included a guestworker program and a provision allowing citizenship for illegal immigrants who learned English, paid a fine, underwent background checks and waited several years before seeking permanent residence.

The legislation was strongly backed by President George W. Bush and passed the Senate with bipartisan support. But the measure drew fierce criticism from grassroots Republicans angry at what they considered amnesty. The bill was killed in the House.Even so, McCain’s coauthorship continues to antagonize many back home.

On a recent hot afternoon, a group of seven GOP women gathered in Mesa over cold drinks to talk about McCain. All were pleased with his harder line, including support for Arizona’s stringent new law against illegal immigration — though some found him more believable than others. None would consider voting for McCain had he not repudiated the 2005 immigration bill.”That’s a dealbreaker,” said Sharon Giese, 63, one of two Arizona representatives on the Republican National Committee. Others nodded.

Mesa typifies the changes in Arizona over the last decade or so, with its explosive growth and influx of Latinos. Once a faroff satellite of Phoenix, Mesa has become the state’s thirdmost populous city, with about 460,000 residents. (That’s more than Cleveland or Miami.)Much of the community has the feel of an upscale oasis. Broad streets, laid out in the grid pattern favored by Mesa’s Mormon founders, are lined with tidy subdivisions and earthtoned shopping centers, a cool mist drifting from the redtile rooftops.

But the heavily Latino neighborhoods near downtown show all the signs of incipient urban decay: empty homes, slashes of graffiti, bars on windows, weeds poking through cracked sidewalks.Since taking a harder line on illegal immigration, the Arizona senator’s future may hinge on whether voters see him as honest or opportunistic.Mesa’s Latino population soared over the last decade, three times faster than the total population, to more than 115,000 residents. Today, 1 in 4 people living in Mesa is Latino, up from 1 in 5 in 2000, according to Tony Sissons, a Phoenix demographics expert.But the Republican women were adamant their support for tough border enforcement has nothing to do with race. Rather, they said, it has everything to do with following the law.

“I feel for the people in Mexico because I know they want the best for the families,” said Heather Sandstrom, 52, a retired TV newscaster. “I think it’s great if they want to immigrate here…. We’d love to have you. But do it legally.”McCain used to say the same thing. In recent months, however, he has made the kind of provocative statements he once condemned. Instead of lamenting the “human tragedy” of illegal bordercrossers dying in the desert, as he did in 2008, he accuses undocumented foreigners of deliberately crashing into other cars — apparently so they can flee when pursuing officers stop to tend accident victims.

“Arizona is under siege in many respects,” McCain said in a recent Fox News appearance. “We have broken borders. We have people flooding across. We have drug cartels inflicting incredible damage.”In fact, statistics suggest that Arizona is safer than it was in the 1990s, when the tide of illegal immigration began to surge. New FBI figures rate Phoenix as one of the four safest big cities in America. From 2008 to 2009, data show, violent and property crimes fell nearly 9% in Mesa and surrounding suburbs.

For many, however, the numbers don’t compute; the news is filled with crime stories linked to suspected illegal immigration or drug trafficking: the killing of a cattle rancher near the Mexico border, the shooting of a sheriff’s deputy in Pinal County.

The Republican women lamented the changes they have seen over the last few years: more day laborers hustling on more street corners, schools increasingly burdened by children who can’t speak English, hospitals filled with illegal immigrants receiving free medical care.”It’s just not fair,” said retiree Carol Jacobsen, 71, who moved to Arizona from the Midwest in 2001. “They’re getting a free ride.”

In 2007, McCain and Kennedy tried to reach agreement on a new immigration bill. By then, McCain was seeking the GOP presidential nomination and being pummeled for his immigration stance; his campaign nearly collapsed that summer, about the same time overhaul efforts died on Capitol Hill.Although McCain rallied to win the nomination, the outcry convinced him that border security had to be addressed before other steps could be considered.

Some who worked with McCain on comprehensive legislation hope he will resume talks once the election is past. (Assuming he wins.) “I don’t think this has staying power with him, mentally or in his heart,” Gutierrez said of McCain’s current position.

That’s what worries Son Hee Williamson, who emigrated legally, she stresses from South Korea nearly 40 years ago. She likes the senator’s tougher approach to illegal immigration. “But I don’t know if he’s going to keep that promise” if reelected, the GOP activist said.She is still deciding who to support in August.

small plane crashed into a commercial building in Suffolk County, the state of New York, USA

New York A small plane crashed into a commercial building in Suffolk County, the state of New York, USA, Saturday, injuring two people and thus make the whole building was on fire, police said as quoted by Xinhua news agency. The Cessna, with two chairs, knocking over Varsity Plumbing Supplies companies on Saturday afternoon just outside Long Island MacArthur Airport, according to a local television station WABC, which quoted some official sources.

The accident happened just after 15:00 local time, Saturday. According to initial information from the police radio, airplane and building is on fire, and two people suffered serious injuries. According to the most recent information, the fire had been extinguished, and one victim was taken to hospital by air and another brought by ambulance. Media reports, quoting a U.S. statement Federal Aviation Administration, said the pilot was practicing landing at Long Island MacArthur Airport when the plane went down, about 800 meters from the runway.

explosions that rocked the business area in Bangkok on Thursday night killed three people and wounded more than 70

Bangkok – A series of explosions that rocked the business area in Bangkok on Thursday night killed three people and wounded more than 70, said Thailand’s Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban.”Three people were killed and more than 70 others injured,” said Thaugsuban told reporters.

Five grenades were fired in the direction of mass pro-government demonstrators, who were face to face with the masses “Red Shirt”, a group of anti-pemerntah protestors, in the heart of the Thai capital, said several officials and eyewitnesses.Meanwhile, the Red Shirt group denied responsibility for a series of deadly grenade attack on Thursday night.”Whoever is doing these attacks want people to think that the M79 was done by the Red Shirt. We never attack people who are innocent,” said a leader of anti-government protest movement, Jatuporn Prompan.

He rejected government accusations that the grenades were fired with the M79 grenade launcher from the Red Shirt area in the direction of pro-government demonstrators who gathered at nearby locations.Red Shirt launch mass anti-government rally in Bangkok in mid-March that sparked fierce clashes with security forces on 10 April, which killed 25 people and wounding more than 800. ( AFP)

E-2C Hawkeye aircraft crashes into Arabian Sea

One person is missing after a US navy radar plane supporting operations in Afghanistan ploughed into the Arabian Sea.The E-2C Hawkeye aircraft “was returning from conducting operations in support of Operation Enduring Freedom” when it malfunctioned, the Bahrain-based Fifth Fleet said in a statement.The crew “performed a controlled bailout” from the plane when it went down in the northern Arabian Sea on its way to the USS Dwight D Eisenhower aircraft carrier.

The navy says three crew members were rescued and have returned to the carrier “alive and well”.”Search and rescue efforts are continuing for the missing aviator and are expected to continue through the night or until he or she is found,” said public affairs officer Lieutenant Matthew Allen.The crash is under investigation.The US navy says the E-2C is used to provide “all-weather airborne early warnings, battle management and command and control functions”.Based on US aircraft carriers, the E-2C is also used for “ground surveillance, strike coordination and communications relay”.According to the US navy website, an E-2C costs $US80 million.

general who led the army to victory in Sri Lanka's civil war and then was roundly defeated in his bid for the presidency appeared before a court-martial

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka  The general who led the army to victory in Sri Lanka’s civil war and then was roundly defeated in his bid for the presidency appeared before a court-martial Tuesday on allegations of sedition, the military said.Military spokesman Major General Prasad Samarasinghe said Sarath Fonseka and his lawyer appeared before a three-member panel for the hearing at the country’s navy headquarters.

Samarasinghe said Fonseka faces charges that he prepared the groundwork for his presidential campaign while still in military uniform.A second charge that Fonseka violated regulations in purchasing military ware will be taken up Wednesday, he said.The military proceeding against former army chief has been condemned by the opposition and human rights groups, who accuse the government of retaliating against a man who dared challenge President Mahinda Rajapaksa in his re-election bid.

“Sarath Fonseka’s arrest continues the Rajapaksa government’s postelection crackdown on political opposition,” said Sam Zarifi, Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific Director.Police used tear gas and batons to disperse a protest in support of Fonseka and arrested 14 people, according to a member of Fonseka’s party, the Democratic National Alliance.

The proceedings against Fonseka were shrouded in secrecy. Reporters were barred from the event, and the military did not release details of the proceedings.Fonseka’s wife, Anoma, said she opted not to attend the hearing because the charges against her husband were “a joke.”Soon after Fonseka’s arrest on Feb. 8, government officials went public with various allegations against him including a plot to assassinate Rajapaksa and capture power. But they are not among the official charges.Fonseka’s supporters have denied the charges brought against him, saying the government is punishing the retired general for challenging Rajapaksa and is attempting to cow the opposition before April 8 parliamentary elections.

Police used tear gas to disperse a protest against the court-martial in the town of Panadura, south of the capital, Colombo, according to Democratic National Alliance party member Nalindra Jayatissa.He said 14 protesters were arrested and two others were hospitalized after being beaten by police.Police spokesman Prishantha Jayakody said he would not comment until he receives a report from local police.

Rajapaksa and Fonseka were once strong allies in their campaign to defeat the Tamil Tiger rebels and end their 25-year armed campaign for an independent state.After routing the rebels last May, both were hailed as heroes by the country’s Sinhalese majority. But they quickly turned on each other. Fonseka quit the army, challenged Rajapaksa in the Jan. 26 election and lost by 18 percent.His arrest has raised concerns that Rajapaksa’s government is using all the levers of power to quash any opposition to its rule.

Pakistani lawyers for five young Americans accused of contacting militants over the Internet and plotting terrorist attacks sought their release on bail

SARGODHA,Pakistani lawyers for five young Americans accused of contacting militants over the Internet and plotting terrorist attacks sought their release on bail on Tuesday, saying the prosecution lacked evidence.The students, in their 20s and from the U.S. state of Virginia, were detained in December in the central Pakistani town of Sargodha, 190 km (120 miles) southeast of the capital.They have not been formally charged, but could face lengthy prison terms if found guilty.The case of the Americans has underscored global security dangers posed by the Internet as militants use cyberspace to evade tighter international security measures and plot holy war.

A defense lawyer for the five, who appeared in an anti-terrorism court in Sargodha, requested bail, saying allegations against them were “vague”.”No substantial evidence is available to show their guilt,” the lawyer, Mohammad Shahid Kamal Khan, told reporters.

“It’s a violation of their legal and fundamental rights to keep them in confinement,” he said, adding he expected the court to decide on the bail request on Wednesday.The five told the court earlier they only wanted to provide fellow Muslims in Afghanistan with medical and financial help.

They have accused the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation and Pakistani police of torturing them and trying to frame them.Pakistani authorities have denied the accusations of mistreatment, which the five repeated on Tuesday, saying authorities were trying to force then back to the United States on “phony charges”.

“We have been threatened to be tortured again if we continued to speak out the truth,” one of the five wrote on a piece of tissue paper dropped from a police van as they arrived at court.Khalid Farooq, the father of one of the accused, said they were innocent. “There is no question about that,” he said.Two of the five are of Pakistani origin, one of Egyptian, one of Yemeni and one of Eritrean origin. They were arrested days after arriving in Pakistan.

Police have said emails showed they contacted Pakistani militants who had planned to use them for attacks in Pakistan, a front-line state in the U.S.-led war against militancy.Pakistan is struggling against al Qaeda-linked militants and is under pressure from Washington to help stabilize neighboring Afghanistan, where a Taliban insurgency is raging.The United States says Pakistan must crack down harder on militants who cross into Afghanistan and attack U.S.-led troops. (Reuters)

Navy SEALs accused of punching accused Falluja plotter

Three U.S. Navy SEALs face criminal charges after the alleged mastermind of one of the most notorious crimes against Americans in Iraq accused them of punching him after his capture, the military said Wednesday.Ahmed Hashim Abed — thought to be behind the slayings and mutilation of four U.S. contractors in Falluja in 2004 and captured in summer — made the accusations against the three servicemen, said Lt. Col. Holly Silkman, a spokeswoman for U.S. Central Command.A civilian lawyer for one of three SEALs said his client and the other SEALs declined a nonjudicial resolution to the case, a step sometimes called a “captain’s mast.” The servicemen say they did not harm the detainee in any way and they want their names cleared in a court-martial so they can continue their careers in the Navy, said the attorney, Neil Puckett.

Because the charges against Petty Officer 2nd Class Matthew McCabe, Petty Officer Jonathan Keefe and Petty Officer Julio Heurtas are the military equivalent of misdemeanors, they will go before a special court-martial, which is for less serious offenses than those heard in a general court-martial. If found guilty, they could be sentenced to a maximum of a year in a military prison, demotion to the lowest Navy rank, a cut in pay and a bad conduct discharge.But if found innocent of all charges, they would be able to continue their careers with no record of the case in their personnel files.The three SEALs are with their unit in Norfolk, Virginia. They will make an initial appearance before a military judge on December 7. The court-martial is scheduled to begin in January.

The attorney said he expects the SEALs will not waive their constitutional right to confront the accuser in court, which could cause a logistical challenge. Abed is believed to be in a U.S. military detention center overseas, and it is unclear if the military would want him brought to the United States for the court-martial.The four contractors, one of whom was a former Navy SEAL, were working for the Blackwater company when they were attacked in Falluja in 2004. After they were killed with hand grenades and rifles, their bodies were set on fire and dragged through the streets. The bodies of two of them were hung from a bridge in Falluja, an image that was broadcast around the world.Four days after the attack, the U.S. Marines launched a major offensive inside Falluja, in part to help find the killers.