Manitoba to fight changes to Canadian Wheat Board

Rod Nickel – 1 hr 33 mins ago

WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) – The province of Manitoba will lead an advertising campaign to stop the federal government from stripping the Canadian Wheat Board of its monopoly on the Western Canadian grain trade, the provincial government said on Monday.

Canada's Conservative government plans to introduce legislation this autumn to end the Wheat Board's marketing monopoly on wheat, durum and barley by August 2012.

Manitoba has no direct say in the future of the Wheat Board, which is governed by federal law and controlled by government appointees and farmer-elected directors.

But Premier Greg Selinger said the province is joining the CWB and some farm groups in demanding that Ottawa hold a vote by farmers to decide the CWB's future, as required by the current legislation.

"With a farmer-controlled organization, it's fundamental that they have the say and the plebiscite."

Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz has refused to call a farmer plebiscite.

Selinger, who faces an election in autumn, said he would consider a lawsuit to stop the change only once the House of Commons has debated the new legislation.

The monopoly requires Western farmers to sell wheat, durum and barley only to the Wheat Board, unlike the open-market system for other crops. The board is the world's last major agricultural monopoly and has been in place since the Second World War.

Manitoba is one of the three major grain-producing provinces on the Western Prairies and its capital, Winnipeg, is where the Wheat Board's head office is located.

The province's left-leaning New Democratic Party government is concerned about a potential loss of 400 jobs at the Wheat Board under the new marketing system as well as reduced shipping through Manitoba's seldom-used Port of Churchill on Hudson Bay.

Canada is the world's biggest shipper of spring wheat, durum and malting barley, mostly through the Wheat Board.

The Conservative federal government has said that the Wheat Board can survive as a buyer of farmers' grain on a voluntary basis, but the board says it cannot compete with private grain handlers without its own capital and grain storage.

While the board is campaigning against the change, it is also privately talking with the Canadian government about a potential new role for it, said Wheat Board Chairman Allen Oberg.

"A strong and viable organization is possible, but the minister needs to have a business plan communicated to me and communicated to farmers," he said. "Our role is to identify what would be required for a new organization on the Prairies, which is what you would be creating."

The country's biggest grain handler, Viterra Inc, said last week it supports ending the monopoly, which it said would lead to greater returns for farmers, the industry and its own shareholders.

(Reporting by Rod Nickel; editing by Peter Galloway)

Syrian forces round up hundreds near northwest town

– Bloody Crackdown In Syria

AP – In this citizen journalism image acquired by the AP, Syrian refugees are seen inside Syria, near the …

By Khaled Yacoub Oweis – 2 hrs 10 mins ago

AMMAN (Reuters) – Syrian troops rounded up hundreds of people in a sweep through villages near Jisr al-Shughour on Monday, fleeing residents said, after President Bashar al-Assad's army retook the rebellious northwestern town.

Nearly 7,000 Syrians have fled the region around Jisr al-Shughour, seeking sanctuary in neighboring Turkey, while thousands more are sheltering in rural areas just inside Syria, activists say.

Monday's wave of arrests followed an assault by troops, tanks and helicopters to regain control of the town, one week after authorities said 120 security personnel were killed there in fighting they blamed on "armed groups."

Some residents said those killed were soldiers who had mutinied, refusing to shoot protesters and joining demonstrators calling for an end to Assad's rule.

The town of 50,000, just 20 km (12 miles) south of the Turkish border, is the latest focus of a military crackdown on the protests which have swept Syria for nearly three months and continue despite the deaths of hundreds of civilians.

Refugees from Jisr al-Shughour said the military was combing villages to the east of the town and arresting hundreds of men between the ages of 18 and 40, in a pattern seen in other military crackdowns since the unrest started in March.

Residents said the army unit that took the town was commanded by Assad's brother Maher.

Ahmad Yassin, 27, said he left his 7,000 sq meter plot of land east of Jisr al-Shughour early on Monday when a force of 200 soldiers and men wearing black came in armored personnel carriers and cars and poured petrol on the wheat crops.

"I tried to save my three cows but there was no time. I put my wife and two children in the car and drove straight to the border," he said.

His account of troops setting fire to crops echoed reports from other refugees, but the official state news agency has accused "armed terrorist groups" of burning land as sabotage.

Syrian rights groups say 1,300 civilians have been killed since the start of the uprising. One group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, says more than 300 soldiers and police have also been killed.

Syria has banned most foreign correspondents, making it difficult to verify accounts of events.

ARMY TAKES CONTROL

The government says the protests are part of a violent conspiracy backed by foreign powers to sow sectarian strife.

Army units "have taken total control of Jisr al-Shughour and are chasing remnants of the armed terrorist gangs in the woods and mountains," the Syrian news agency said on Sunday.

It said a soldier and two armed men were killed in clashes around the town. The army defused explosives planted on bridges and roads and uncovered mass graves holding mostly mutilated bodies of 12 security men killed by armed groups, it said.

Thousands of people from Jisr al-Shughour, located on a vital road junction, had already fled to Turkey before Sunday's assault. Turkey has grown increasingly critical of Assad and has now set up four camps to accommodate refugees.

In a sign of tension between Syria and Turkey, which had close trade and political ties before the crisis, supporters of Assad protested outside Turkey's embassy in Damascus on Sunday.

Turkey's Anatolian news agency said some people climbed the embassy walls and hung a Syrian flag, and Syrian security forces prevented some protesters from trying to lower the Turkish flag.

A resident said the crowd then tore down tourist posters on the outside wall of the embassy.

France, with British support, has led efforts for the United Nations Security Council to condemn Assad's repression of the protests but Russia and China have suggested they may use their veto power to kill the resolution.

A spokesman for British Prime Minister David Cameron said newly re-elected Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan welcomed British efforts to put pressure on Assad at the United Nations.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe has said Assad had lost the legitimacy to rule Syria.

The White House condemned the Syrian forces' latest violence in the "strongest possible terms" and said Assad should step aside if he will not lead a democratic transition.

Assad, who inherited power when his father died in 2000, has offered some moves aimed at appeasing protesters, lifting a 48-year state of emergency and promising a national dialogue -- steps which have been dismissed by many activists.

The privately owned Syrian newspaper Al-Watan said a committee formed to investigate the unrest had imposed a travel ban on the former governor of Deraa, where protests broke out on March 18, and its head of security. It said there would be "no immunity for people who committed crimes."

(Additional reporting by Alexandra Hudson in Guvecci, Turkey; Writing by Dominic Evans; editing by Tim Pearce)

Libyan rebels breakout towards Tripoli

AP – In this image taken from TV, showing rebel forces on the front line as they repel government troops......

By HADEEL AL-SHALCHI and MAGGIE MICHAEL, Associated Press – 50 mins ago

MISRATA, Libya – Government artillery rained down on rebel forces Monday but failed to stop their advance into key ground west of their stronghold at Libya's major port. As fighting raged for a fourth day, Germany's foreign minister paid a surprise visit to the rebel's de facto capital.

Guido Westerwelle met with officials of the Transitional National Council, telling members of the nascent rebel government that Germany recognized the council as "the legitimate representative of the Libyan people"

That position is similar to that of the United States, which has stopped short of outright diplomatic recognition of the council. The move was, nevertheless, another big diplomatic boost for the rebels and their four-month uprising to end Moammar Gadhafi's 40-year rule in the oil-rich North African country. Germany refused to participate in the NATO air mission over Libya and withheld support for the no-fly zone.

The rebels control roughly the eastern one-third of Libya as well as Misrata, the country's major port. The also claim to have taken parts of coastal oil center of Zawiya in the far west. That port city is 18 miles (30 kilometers) west of Tripoli and a prize that would put them in striking distance of the capital. Control of the city also would cut one of Moammar Gadhafi's last supply routes from Tunisia.

Despite rebel claims, government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim said late Sunday that Gadhafi forces had driven off the attackers, and reporters taken to Zawiya saw secure streets and the green national flag flying over a central square. The insurgents, for their part, claimed a high-ranking Gadhafi commander was badly wounded in the fighting.

"The wishful reporting of some journalists that the rebels are gaining more power and more control of some areas is not correct," he said.

In the major fighting near Misrata on Monday, an Associated Press photographer at the rebel front lines said they had pushed along the Mediterranean Sea to within 6 miles (10 kilometers) of Zlitan, the next city to the west of Misrata. A rebel commander said his forces, using arms seized from government weapons depots and fresh armaments being shipped in from Benghazi, planned to have moved into Zlitan, by Tuesday.

Ali Terbelo, the rebel commander, said other opposition forces already were in Zlitan, trying to encircle Gadhafi troops. If the rebels take the city they would be within 85 miles (135 kilometers) of the eastern outskirts of Gadhafi's capital, Tripoli.

An AP reporter with rebel forces said shelling was intense Monday morning with rockets and artillery and mortar shells slamming into rebel lines west of Dafniya at a rate of about 7 each minute. Dafniya is about 20 miles (30 kilometers) west of Misrata

Officials at Hikma Hospital in Misrata said government shelling killed seven and wounded 49 on Sunday. New casualty figures were not available but ambulances were rushing from the Dafniya line back into Misrata.

The rebel thrust at Zawiya and movements farther east — near Misrata and Brega — suggested the stalemated uprising had been reinvigorated, and that Gadhafi's defenders may become stretched thin.

"Over the past three days, we set fire under the feet of Gadhafi forces everywhere," Col. Hamid al-Hasi, a rebel battalion commander, told AP. He said the rebels attacked "in very good coordination with NATO" to avoid friendly-fire incidents. "We don't move unless we have very clear instructions from NATO."

Rebels encountered a major setback, however, near the eastern oil town of Brega on Monday. Suleiman Rafathi, a doctor at the hospital in the town of Ajdabiya where the casualties were taken, said 23 rebels were killed and 26 wounded in a government ambush about 22 miles (35 kilometers) east of Brega.

The front lines between Brega and Ajdabiya have been relatively quiet in recent weeks, while fighting has raged in western Libya.

Rebel fighters appear to be rebounding with help from the NATO blockade of ports still under government control and alliance control of Libyan airspace. Both have severely crimped the North African dictator's ability to resupply his forces. And his control has been hard hit by defections from his military and government inner circle.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton spoke again against the Libyan regime, telling the nations of Africa on Monday to sever links Gadhafi despite his long support and patronage for many African leaders.

In a speech on Monday to diplomats at the African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, Clinton said Africa should join most of the rest of the world in abandoning Gadhafi. She said the Libyan leader has lost all legitimacy to rule because of attacks on his own citizens.

She's urged all African leaders to demand that Gadhafi accept a ceasefire and then leave Libya. She also said they should expel pro-Gadhafi Libyan diplomats from their countries, suspend the operations of Libyan embassies and work with the Libyan opposition.

The rebel council also won recognition from the United Arab Emirates, adding a wealthy, influential Arab state to the handful of nations thus far accepting the insurgents as Libyans' sole legitimate representatives.

In a lighter moment, the Libyan leader was shown playing chess with the visiting Russian head of the World Chess Federation. The federation is headed by the eccentric Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, who until last year was the leader of Russia's predominantly Buddhist republic of Kalmykia. He once claimed to have visited an alien spaceship.

Libyan state television showed Gadhafi, dressed all in black and wearing dark sunglasses, playing chess Sunday evening with his Russian guest.

Russia's Interfax news agency quoted Ilyumzhinov as saying Gadhafi told him he has no intention of leaving Libya despite international pressure.

It was unclear where the chess game took place. Gadhafi's compound in the center of Tripoli has been under NATO bombardment and was hit again Sunday.

Gadhafi had not been seen in public since mid-May, and Ilyumzhinov told him how pleased he was to find him healthy and well.

Clinton warns Africa of China's economic embrace

Andrew Quinn – Fri Jun 10, 4:15 pm ET

LUSAKA (Reuters) – Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Friday warned Africa that China does not always have its interests at heart as economic ties expand, and offered the United States as an alternative.

Clinton arrived in Zambia to begin a five-day Africa trip that will also take her to Tanzania and Ethiopia to highlight the Obama administration's drive to help African countries meet challenges ranging from HIV/AIDS to food security and accelerate often impressive economic growth.

She quickly zeroed in on the fast expanding clout of China, which pumped almost $10 billion dollars in investment into Africa in 2009 and has also seen trade soar as Beijing buys oil and other raw materials to fuel its booming economy.

"The United States does not see these Chinese interests as inherently incompatible with our own," Clinton told reporters in Lusaka, adding that Washington believed everyone benefited as Beijing assumes "a greater and more responsible role" in world affairs.

"We are however concerned that China's foreign assistance and investment practices in Africa have not always been consistent with generally accepted international norms of transparency and good governance, and that it has not always utilized the talents of the African people in pursuing its business interests," she said.

Clinton's comments echo Washington's concern that China's quick economic push into Africa -- including billions of dollars in development aid unfettered by political or economic requirements -- risk scuttling efforts to help the continent develop a more mature and transparent economy.

Zambian President Rupiah Banda, whose country has attracted Chinese investment in mining and in May received a $180 million dollar loan to upgrade a major road, said Africa's ties with Beijing were healthy and long-standing.

"Our country has been in a close relationship with China since before independence (in 1964)," Banda said, adding that Beijing had helped many African countries weather the recent financial crisis.

NO INTEREST IN WORLD BANK JOB

Clinton's trip has been overshadowed by news that she has been in discussions with the White House about moving on next year to become the first female head of the World Bank.

Reuters on Thursday quoted three sources familiar with the matter as saying these discussions were under way, but the White House and State Department denied it and Clinton herself on Friday said it was incorrect.

"I have had no discussions with anyone. I have evidenced no interest to anyone. I do not have any interest, and am not pursuing that position," Clinton said.

Revelations about Clinton as a potential Bank nominee are sensitive because they come during a period of significant foreign policy challenges for the Obama administration.

In Lusaka, Clinton grooved with an ululating chorus of African businesswomen who have benefited from U.S. help at a meeting on AGOA, the U.S. program signed into law by her husband, former President Bill Clinton, in 2000 to give trade preferences for some 37 eligible African countries.

"The most successful development program is one that will someday make itself unnecessary," Clinton said, describing a range of U.S. programs aimed at strengthening governance and accountability and supporting grassroots economic growth.

To get there, she said Africa's leaders still needed to deliver on promises to cut local trade barriers, streamline regulation and expand opportunities, particularly for women.

U.S. officials want Congress to extend AGOA when it expires in 2015, but say it is time to take a hard look at ways to address nagging bureaucratic and infrastructure problems, widespread corruption and often lopsided trade.

More than 10 years into AGOA, U.S. trade with sub-Saharan Africa remains small, accounting for just over 1 percent of total U.S. exports and about only 3 percent of U.S. imports.

Oil from countries such as Nigeria and Angola accounted for 91 percent of the $44 billion in U.S. imports from AGOA countries in 2010, raising questions about how U.S. trade benefits can be used to encourage more diversification.

(Editing by Alison Williams)

Fighting erupts in Zlitan, Turkey offers Gaddafi exit

Reuters – U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton meets with Mahmoud Jibril, executive bureau chairman of …

By Sherine El Madany – 2 hrs 54 mins ago

BENGHAZI (Reuters) – Heavy fighting between pro-Gaddafi troops and rebels broke out in a Libyan city just 160 kilometres east of Tripoli, potentially opening the coastal road to the capital, just as cracks appeared among NATO allies.

Gaddafi forces also shelled for the first time the world heritage-listed city of Gadamis, some 600 kilometres southwest of the capital on the Tunisia and Algerian border, opening a new front in the five-month long civil war.

World powers gave mixed signals on how the deadlocked civil war might play out, with Russia trying to mediate reconciliation. Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday he had offered a "guarantee" to Gaddafi if he left Libya, but received no reply.

With diplomacy stalling, rebels said fighting was erupting on new fronts.

Ahmed Bani, a military spokesman in Benghazi, told Reuters clashes had broken out in Zlitan on Thursday and resumed on Friday with Gaddafi forces killing 22 rebels.

Zlitan is one of three towns that are under government control between the rebel-held Misrata and the capital and were it to fall could act as a stepping stone to allow the anti-Gaddafi uprising to spread from Misrata, the biggest rebel outpost in western Libya, to Gaddafi's stronghold in Tripoli.

"Large numbers of troops are surrounding Zlitan from all directions and are threatening its residents with having their women raped by mercenaries if they do not surrender," Bani said, adding the rebels controlled parts of the city.

GADAMIS OASIS TOWN ATTACKED

Rebels also said the oasis town of Gadamis with a population of about 7,000 people, mainly Berber, was under attack after an anti-government protest in the old Roman city on Wednesday.

"Gadamis is being shelled by Gaddafi forces, according to witnesses in the town," spokesman Juma Ibrahim said from the rebel-held town of Zintan in the Western Mountains region.

"This is a retaliation to anti-regime protests," he said.

The old town was de-populated by Gaddafi in the 1990s and its inhabitants moved into modern buildings. It was not clear if the attack targeted the old town, a labyrinth of narrow, underground passages and houses known as the "Pearl of the Desert."

The accounts in Zlitan and Gadamis could not be independently verified and the Gaddafi government did not immediately comment.

In the besieged port city of Misrata, a doctor at the Hekma hospital said 31 people were killed and 110 wounded in government shelling on Friday.

The fighting comes after the United States accused some NATO allies on Friday of failing to pull their weight in the campaign against Muammar Gaddafi's forces, as the Libyan leader kept up shelling of the rebel-held town of Misrata.

"The mightiest military alliance in history is only 11 weeks into an operation against a poorly-armed regime in a sparsely-populated country -- yet many allies are beginning to run short of munitions, requiring the U.S., once more, to make up the difference," Defense Secretary Robert Gates said in a valedictory speech at NATO headquarters in Brussels.

Gates's exasperation has been echoed by rebels, who control the east of the country and some other areas but do not appear to pose an imminent threat to Gaddafi's rule.

TURKISH GADDAFI GUARANTEE

Turkey, which is a member of NATO, said Gaddafi had no way out, but to leave Libya and offered the him an exit.

"We ourselves have offered him this guarantee, via the representatives we've sent. We told him we would help him to be sent wherever he wanted to be sent. We would discuss the issue with our allies, according to the response we receive. Unfortunately we still haven't got a response from Gaddafi."

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, appearing at the Abu Dhabi meeting of the Libya contact group on Thursday, said talks were under way with people close to Gaddafi who had raised the "potential" for a transition of power but added: "There is not any clear way forward yet."

Under pressure to come up with plans for a transitional government while still in disarray, the rebels have said the onus is on foreign powers to hasten assistance.

"Our people are dying," rebel Oil and Finance Minister Ali Tarhouni said. "So my message to our friends is that I hope they walk the walk."

Gaddafi describes the rebels as al Qaeda terrorists and says foreign intervention is a front for a grab at the country's oil.

Mikhail Margelov, Russia's Africa envoy, who travelled to Benghazi on Friday, said he would go to Tripoli as soon as NATO provided a corridor through its Libyan no-fly zone.

(Additional reporting by Peter Graff in Tripoli, Joseph Nasr in Rabat; Writing by John Irish; Editing by Ralph Boulton)

"Twilight" sequel shines brightest at MTV awards

Reuters – Actress Reese Witherspoon poses for photographers at the premiere of Water for Elephants at the Westfield, …

By Dean Goodman – Mon Jun 6, 1:19 am ET

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The MTV Movie Awards are turning into a free infomercial for the "Twilight" movie franchise.

For the third year in a row, the vampire romance was named best movie at the light-hearted -- and frequently X-rated -- salute to Hollywood's biggest crowd-pleasers.

"The Twilight Saga: Eclipse," which led the field with eight nominations, ended up with five awards. In a replay from last year Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart won for best male and female performance, respectively

The real-life couple won the award for best kiss, which Pattinson celebrated by running into the audience to smooch his co-star Taylor Lautner. Pattinson won an additional prize for best fight -- sharing the tub of gold popcorn with Bryce Dallas Howard and Xavier Samuel.

With categories such as those, nobody would ever confuse the MTV event with the self-congratulatory Academy Awards. The real point of the show is to promote upcoming buzzworthy movies targeted at MTV's youthful demographic.

Indeed a sneak preview screened of the fourth "Twilight film, "Breaking Dawn, Part 1," which opens November 18. Other exclusive clips were shown of the supernatural thriller "Super 8," which opens Friday, and "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2," which opens July 15.

The awards are determined by fans' online votes, which probably accounts for Justin Bieber's win in the best jaw dropping moment category for his 3D concert film "Never Say Never." The Canadian teen idol beat seemingly edgier scenes from such films as "Black Swan" and "127 Hours."

The producers of "The Social Network" probably will not lose too much sleep wondering why Aaron Sorkin's Oscar-winning script lost the best line from a movie category to the critical bomb "Grown Ups." The winning quote, "I want to get chocolate wasted," was uttered by child actress Alexys Nycole Sanchez.

Ribald humor was the order of the night, thanks largely to host Jason Sudeikis. The "Saturday Night Live" comic directed a joke about oral sex to a mortified Selena Gomez, Bieber's 18-year-old girlfriend.

He also referenced the alleged nude photos circulating online of presenter Blake Lively when he introduced "what I believe is the real Blake Lively, but she won't confirm it."

The "Gossip Girls" actress, who has denied the self-portraits are of her, came backstage to pose for photos, but refused to answer any questions.

Other nonfamily-friendly moments saw Justin Timberlake grabbing Mila Kunis' breasts. She reciprocated by grabbing his crotch. The daredevil stars of "Jackass" made homoerotic references to Donald Trump, and footage screened of dogs engaging in sex.

(Editing by Vicki Allen)

Army's 101st pays high price for Afghan surge year

AP – In this April 30, 2011 photo, soldiers from the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, look …

By KRISTIN M. HALL, Associated Press – Sun Jun 5, 11:18 am ET

JALALABAD, Afghanistan – The soldiers of the Army's famed 101st Airborne Division deployed to Afghanistan confident their counterinsurgency expertise would once again turn a surge strategy into a success but are headed home uncertain of lasting changes on the battlefield.

As the division's 24,000 soldiers return to Fort Campbell from their one-year deployment, doubts remain in the military that security in Afghanistan can last without a significant U.S. military presence for years. The division brought effective counterinsurgency lessons from Iraq, but is still waiting to see whether those strategies can take hold in Afghanistan.

What progress was made in improving security and governance came at a high price: The division known as the Screaming Eagles lost 131 soldiers, the most killed in a single deployment for the unit since Vietnam, with many more wounded or injured. The 101st has been a force in America's major conflicts since World War II, when it was first formed for the 1944 Allied invasion of Normandy.

In the eyes of many of the troops returning to Fort Campbell on the Kentucky-Tennessee line, they spent the year chasing ghosts across mountain ridges and feeling frustrated by the slow pace of the nearly ten-year war.

"It is very hard to see change," said Capt. Tye Reedy. "It was very hard to get that across to my soldiers."

The 101st had plenty of veterans from the Iraq troop surge in 2007, where they learned to protect the population and isolate them from the enemy, a counterinsurgency approach drafted by Gen. David Petraeus, who once led the division during the invasion of Iraq.

While the Iraq surge was credited with scoring progress in that war, many of the division's leaders said their challenge in Afghanistan was to keep soldiers focused in the face of setbacks.

"They have to accept that it was worth it," said Col. Andrew Poppas, commander of the 1st Brigade Combat Team, which lost 39 soldiers. "It was a fight that needed to happen and no soldier died in vain."

When explaining what the division accomplished in the year at war, the division's commander, Maj. Gen. John F. Campbell, can rattle off statistics from memory — thousands of weapons caches found, thousands of insurgent fighters killed and dozens of districts with improved security. But the one figure he often ends with is the number of soldiers under his command who were killed.

Campbell kept notecards with the names and photos of each soldier, held together by a rubber band in his uniform's pocket. By the end of the deployment, the stack was as thick as a paperback book.

On six different occasions over the year, the division lost five or more soldiers in a single event, including a helicopter crash, suicide attacks and heavy fighting.

Campbell described those losses in military lingo. "We had some very, very kinetic events," he said after arriving home at Fort Campbell. But he said the hardships bonded the troops in an indelible way.

"Each time you go visit those soldiers after one of those things, they are there fighting for their buddy on their left or right," Campbell said.

Some of the heaviest fighting came near the end of their deployment in early spring as they attempted to wrest control from insurgents who were coming over the Pakistan border in eastern Afghanistan.

"My company, or my two platoons, we landed on 150 hardened Taliban fighters and lost three men, injured another three," said Reedy, 28, commander of Charlie Company, 2-327 Infantry, 1st Brigade Combat Team. "That's one operation on the border."

In addition to fighting, troops also worked to train their Afghan military counterparts. But the relationship was strained at times, especially after incidents like one in November when a lone gunman from the Afghan Border Police shot and killed six soldiers from the division.

Cpl. Andrew Barnett, 28, from B Company, 2-327 Infantry Regiment, said trusting Afghans was difficult, especially when his unit got an intelligence report that indicated Afghan soldiers were communicating with insurgent fighters about their positions at a combat outpost in Kunar province.

"It's kind of frustrating because we're supposed to be nice and friendly and try to help them out, and we've got these guys who have infiltrated or are paying their buddies to give information," Barnett said

But 101st soldiers also took pride in helping develop the Afghan military and police into professional forces as the number of AWOL soldiers decreased and Afghan leaders took more independent control over security. That will likely be the division's lasting legacy after this year in Afghanistan.

As Reedy looks back on the tour, he tries to remind his soldiers that counterinsurgency isn't a quick fix.

"Everything we do every day is building toward the end state," Reedy said. "Leaving it a little better for the next unit and then they build on it."

China says it's not behind Google email hacking

AP – FILE - In this July 17, 2006 file photo, Google workers walk by a Google sign at company headquarters …

1 hr 4 mins ago

BEIJING – China denied it supports hacking activities and said it is part of global efforts to combat computer security threats Thursday, a day after Google disclosed some of its email users suffered hacking attacks that orginated within the country.

Google disclosed Wednesday that personal Gmail accounts of several hundred people, including senior U.S. government officials, military personnel and political activists, had been breached.

Google traced the origin of the attacks to Jinan, China, the home city of a military vocational school whose computers were linked to an assault 17 months ago on Google's systems.

China is firmly opposed to activities that sabotage Internet and computer security, including hacking, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told reporters Thursday.

Hong said hacking was a global problem and Chinese networks had also been targeted by hackers, but he gave no specifics. He said China was working to crack down on the problem, but he didn't respond when asked whether it would investigate this specific incident.

"Allegations that the Chinese government supports hacking activities are completely unfounded and made with ulterior motives," Hong said.

U.S. authorities were investigating Google's disclosure, the coordinator for cyber issues at the U.S. State Department said Thursday in London. Christopher Painter said the hacking illustrated a problem of attribution in cyberspace.

"The issue of attribution and knowing whether a state or non-state actors are involved is a huge problem in cybersecurity," Painter told The Associated Press on the sidelines of a conference. He declined further comment on the Google claim.

Google said all of the hacking victims have been notified and their accounts have been secured.

This time around, the hackers appeared to rely on tactics commonly used to fool people into believing they are dealing with someone they know or a company that they trust. Once these "phishing" expeditions get the information needed to break into an email account, the access can be used to send messages that dupe other victims.

China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, which has a hand in regulating the Internet, referred questions about the allegations to another regulatory agency, the State Council Information Office, which did not respond to the questions.

The Pentagon said Thursday it had very little information since the reported breaches involved personal accounts rather than government email. And since the accounts were not official, the U.S. Department of Defense was unaware if the targeted individuals were defense employees, the statement said.

The latest attacks aren't believed to be tied to the more sophisticated assault last year. That intrusion targeted the Google's own security systems and triggered a high-profile battle with China's Communist government over online censorship.

The tensions escalated amid reports that the Chinese government had at least an indirect hand in the hacking attacks, a possibility that Google didn't rule out.

The previous break-in prompted Google to move its Chinese-language search engine off the mainland so it wouldn't have to censor content that the government didn't want the general public to see. The search engine is now based in Hong Kong, which isn't subject to Beijing's censorship rules.

China's official Xinhua News Agency blasted Google in an unsigned commentary on Thursday saying the company "provided no solid proof" to support its claims that the hack attacks originated in China.

Xinhua said Google's compaints had "become obstacles for enhancing global trust between stakeholders in cyberspace."

Hundreds missing in African coast boat accident

By the CNN Wire Staff

June 2, 2011 10:01 a.m. EDT

(CNN) -- As many as 270 Libyan refugees were missing in the sea after the overcrowded boat they were in encountered bad weather, the Tunisian state-run TAP news agency reported.

The Tunisian coast guard responded to the rescue call regarding the fishing trawler, which became disabled Wednesday night near the Kerkennah Islands. The ship was reportedly taking some 800 refugees from Libya to the Italian island of Lampedusa, TAP reported.

An official told the agency that between 200 and 270 people were missing. At least two bodies had been recovered, the agency reported.

People on the boat began pushing each other in a panic to reach the lifeboats when they ran into high waves and winds, TAP said.

Lampedusa, the closest Italian island to Africa, has become a destination for tens of thousands of refugees seeking to enter the European Union.

More than 30,000 migrants and refugees from Tunisia and Libya have risked this dangerous journey to Lampedusa since last February.

Lampedusa and Malta, both islands less than an hour's flight from the North African coast, have borne the brunt of the subsequent wave of migration.

At one point, the population of migrants vastly outnumbered the tiny population of Lampedusa, which numbers less than 6,000.

Yemen fighting intensifies, U.S. envoy in talks

By Mohamed Sudam and Mohammed Ghobari

SANAA (Reuters) – Forces loyal to President Ali Abdullah Saleh battled with tribal fighters in Yemen's capital Thursday in overnight clashes that killed dozens as a U.S. envoy flew around the region to try and stop a civil war.

Ferocious street fighting in Sanaa which grew out of protests against Saleh's rule since January has killed at least 135 people in the past 10 days, calling into question the future of an impoverished Arab state already near economic disaster.

Saleh has reneged on deals brokered by regional leaders to secure a peaceful end to his nearly 33 years in power. President Barack Obama's top counter-terrorism adviser arrived in the region Wednesday to reinforce the drive to oust him.

Global powers worry that chaos in Yemen, home to an ambitious militant group known as al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and bordering the world's biggest oil exporter Saudi Arabia, would raise risks for world oil supplies.

Saleh's special forces were deployed to help "clean up" a ministry held by tribal forces, the defense ministry said, as battles near the airport briefly grounded flights.

Abdelqawi al-Qeysi, a spokesman for the Hashed tribal federation said: "The weapons that America gave them to fight terrorism are being used against civilians."

The outside world has had little leverage on events in Yemen, where tribal allegiances are the most powerful element in a volatile social fabric, analysts said.

Saudi Arabia, which has strong, longstanding ties with Yemeni tribes, is likely to try to apply another round of pressure on Saleh to step aside to avert disaster in a country of 23 million that is awash with guns.

Even before the wave of protests against his rule, Saleh was struggling to quell a separatist rebellion in the south, a Shi'ite insurgency in the north and al Qaeda militancy.

U.S. envoy John Brennan left Saudi Arabia Thursday for more talks on Yemen in the United Arab Emirates, a U.S. official in Saudi Arabia said. He will seek the help of the two countries' leaders to pressure Saleh to accept the exit deal.

DIVIDED CAPITAL, FRACTURED COUNTRY

Yemen is engulfed in multiple conflicts, with street battles between tribal groups and Saleh's forces in Sanaa, popular unrest across the country and fighting against AQAP and other Islamist militants who seized the coastal city of Zinjibar.

One constant factor is Yemen's crippling poverty. Jobs and food are scarce, corruption is rampant and about 40 percent of the population struggles to live on less than $2 a day.

In Sanaa, pro-Saleh forces have been fighting the powerful Hashed tribal confederation led by Sadeq al-Ahmar, with mortars, machineguns and rocket-propelled grenades for nearly two weeks.

The capital is split, with Saleh loyalists holding the south against tribesmen and renegade military units in the north.

Residents said dozens were likely to have been killed in the most recent round of fighting, mostly for control of government buildings and near the compounds of Saleh's tribal foes.

Civilians have been fleeing the city in the thousands, hurriedly packing possessions into their cars.

"It felt as if the artillery shells were flying next to my head ... My wife, my daughter were screaming. It was horrible," resident Sadeq al-Lahbe said before leaving.

"There is no electricity, no water and violent strikes shaking the house. Is this life?"

Security forces raided offices used by the opposition Suhail TV and confiscated equipment, an opposition official said.

The state news agency Saba said several gunmen were arrested at the office, which it said was used to attack nearby areas in the Hasaba district, the scene of intense street clashes.

In Taiz, about 200 km (120 miles) south of Sanaa, Yemeni soldiers fired warning shots at demonstrators protesting against a government they blame for bringing Yemen to the brink of ruin.

The U.N. human rights envoy said this week her office was investigating reports that Yemeni soldiers have killed at least 50 protesters in Taiz since Sunday.

The United States and others have been pressing Saleh to accept a Gulf-led agreement to step down in return for immunity from prosecution. But the wily veteran has exasperated them by agreeing to it three times, only to renege at the last minute.

Embassies have closed, diplomats have left and a refugee crisis may develop, with civilians fleeing Zinjibar and other towns. Oman has tightened patrols on its border with Yemen.

"The key risk for the region is either a prolonged stalemate (in Yemen) or a continued deterioration into a power vacuum," said Christian Koch, director of international studies at the Gulf Research Center in Dubai.

"This would accelerate the disintegration of the military institutions, intensify tribal conflicts and divisions, heighten the threat from extremist groups like AQAP by allowing them to spread their influence and possibly plan operations, and spark further separatist tendencies," he said.

(Reporting by Mohammed Mukhashaf in Aden, Khaled al-Mahdi in Taiz, Alister Bull in Washington and Sara Anabtawi, Firouz Sedarat and Nour Merza in Dubai; writing by Jon Herskovitz; editing by Alistair Lyon)