Pakistan, No for anti-militant operations [ 573 ]

Pakistan snubs US over new Taliban offensive

Pakistan's army launched major anti-militant offensives last year BBC at 12:51 GMT, Thursday, 21 January 2010 Pakistan's army has said it will launch no new offensives on militants in 2010, as the US defence secretary arrived for talks on combating Taliban fighters. Army spokesman Athar Abbas told the BBC the "overstretched" military had no plans for any fresh anti-militant operations over the next 12 months. Our correspondent says the comments are a clear snub to Washington. The US would like Pakistan to expand an offensive against militants launching cross-border attacks in Afghanistan. Defence Secretary Robert Gates arrived in Pakistan on Thursday for his first visit since US President Barack Obama took office last year. 'Embarrassing' The one-day trip comes at a crucial time in the fight against al-Qaeda and the Taliban, with the US planning to commit 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan. You can't ignore one part of this cancer and pretend it won't impact closer to home Robert Gates US Defence Secretary Mr Gates was expected to tell Pakistan that it could do more against top Taliban leaders operating in its territory, some of whom are alleged to have close links to Pakistan's ISI intelligence service. The Pakistani army launched major ground offensives in 2009 in the north-west against Pakistani Taliban strongholds in the Swat region, last April, and in South Waziristan, last October. The militants have hit back with a wave of suicide bombings and attacks that have killed hundreds of people across Pakistan. In the capital, Islamabad, on Thursday, Maj Gen Abbas, head of public relations for the Pakistan army, told the BBC: "We are not going to conduct any major new operations against the militants over the next 12 months. "The Pakistan army is overstretched and it is not in a position to open any new fronts. Obviously, we will continue our present operations in Waziristan and Swat." 'Trust deficit' The BBC's Syed Shoaib Hasan in Islamabad says the comments are a clear brush-off to top US officials. Our correspondent adds they are embarrassing for Pakistan's shaky coalition government, and likely to further destabilise already-low ties with its US ally. He says it also threatens to render ineffective an expanded coalition troop deployment in Afghanistan, as the Taliban over the border would be relieved of any pressure from the Pakistan army. Before arriving in Islamabad, Mr Gates told reporters travelling with him from India: "You can't ignore one part of this cancer and pretend that it won't have some impact closer to home." His visit comes amidst a slight cooling in relations between the two allies. In an article published in a Pakistani newspaper on Thursday, Mr Gates referred to a "trust deficit". As well as talking with his counterpart, Ahmed Mukhtar, the US defence secretary is expected to meet Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and President Asif Zardari. Talks were also expected to focus on US drone strikes against militants near the Afghan border. Hundreds of people have died in the attacks, which have stoked deep resentment of the US among many Pakistanis. But our correspondent says Mr Gates will argue that drone strikes are the only effective measure against the Taliban. Pakistan has been an important US partner in South Asia since the 11 September 2001 attacks in the US.

Russian Baltic Fleet to be overhauled.....[ 572 ]

Moscow plans overhaul of Baltic Fleet, based off Poland

Now in Baku: 20:59 (GMT+04:00), Thursday , 21 January , 2010

The Russian Navy's plans to modernize its Baltic Fleet with equipment upgrades and streamlining of personnel should not be seen as a response to a US-Polish plan to locate a missile battery in the region, a Russian Defence Ministry spokesman said Thursday, DPA reported.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev plans to bring the ageing fleet up to the latest standards as well as cut thousands of jobs to shorten the chain of command, Interfax news agency reported.

But the modernization of the fleet, headquartered in the Kaliningrad enclave between Poland and Lithuania, had nothing to do with a US-Polish agreement to place a Patriot missile battery in Morag, a town just 100 kilometres from the Russian border, the Defence Ministry spokesman said.

The Russian state news agency Ria Novosti earlier quoted an unnamed high-level Navy official saying that Russian warships armed with long-range missiles would in the future patrol the region due to the US-Polish missile deal.

The US Patriot missiles soon to arrive in Poland are part of a deal proposed by former US President George Bush that gave Poland military aid in exchange for US hosting rights for an anti-missile shield.

Morag was chosen because it had good conditions to house the buildings, accommodation and technology that will come with the missile battery, Polish Defence Ministry spokesman Janusz Sejmej said Wednesday.

The battery will be manned by some 100 US soldiers, and will contain four to eight missiles. It is set to arrive in Poland in April and will take two months to set up.

The Obama administration's decision to abandon the original shield was viewed by some as a capitulation to Moscow, who had complained the system was aimed at them, rather than Iran.

Explosives found ,,,,,[ 571 ]

Explosives found at home of Virginia shooter

Bomb technicians discovered a "multitude" of explosives on Wednesday at the home of a man suspected in the shooting deaths of eight people.

Published: 11:31PM GMT 20 Jan 2010

Christopher Speight Photo: AP

Christopher Bryan Speight, a 39-year-old security guard, surrendered to police at daybreak after leading authorities on an 18-hour manhunt following the shootings at a house in rural central Virginia where deputies found a mortally wounded man and seven bodies.

As of late Wednesday, bomb squads had found and detonated seven explosives. The blasting was expected to continue into Thursday.

Speight had no weapons when he surrendered shortly after 7am Wednesday wearing a bulletproof vest over a black fleece jacket, camouflage pants and mud-caked boots.

Neither the sheriff nor a state police spokeswoman would disclose what Speight said when he gave up.

Authorities remained tight-lipped on most details surrounding the killings, including any possible motive. Nor did they immediately identify any of the victims or their relationship to the suspect. Authorities would say only that he knew his victims.

Speight, who was jailed while awaiting charges, co-owned and lived in the home where some of the bodies were found.

Police were alerted to the bloodbath when they found the mortally wounded man on the side of a road. Then sheriff's deputies discovered seven more bodies – three inside the house and four just outside.

When officers converged on the area, the suspected shooter fired a high-powered rifle at a state police helicopter, rupturing its gas tank and forcing it to land.

The shots revealed his location, and more than 100 police swarmed into the woods until Speight gave up the following morning.

Police said Speight appeared to have had weapons training, but there was no information suggesting he had served in the military.

St. Nicholas Cathedral returns to Russia[ 570 ]

St. Nicholas Orthodox Cathedral in Nice returns to Russia

(RIA NOVOSTI) 20-1-10,

The Nice Superior Court in France has declared Russia to be the rightful owner of St. Nicholas Orthodox Cathedral.

The Supreme Court of Nice announced its decision on property rights to the Cathedral of St. Nicholas claimed by Russia and the Orthodox Association of Nice.

"Russia is the rightful owner of the territory, the cathedral, as well as all its properties," the chair of the Nice Municipal High Court said.

The Patriarchate of Moscow claimed the cathedral should be returned to the Russian state, the successor to the tsarist regime.

However, the Russian Orthodox Association of Nice (ACOR) opposed the claim, arguing the cathedral belongs to the Orthodox Church of Constantinople.

The ACOR said it will make an appeal to a court in the French city of Aix-en-Provence.

The church was originally the property of Tsar Nicholas II, however, it was given to the archbishop of St. Petersburg with a 99-year lease, which expired on December 31, 2007.

Inside the Roman Catholic Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary where Christmas Eve Midnight Mass was held

In 2007, the Cote d'Azur region, which includes Nice at its center, declared the contents of the church part of the national patrimony which meant no part of it could be removed from France without the permission of the Ministry of Culture.

The construction of the original Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow began in 1839 as a mark of religious gratitude for the 1812 victory over Napoleon.

St. Nicholas Cathedral, the largest Russian Orthodox Cathedral outside Russia, was built in 1912 in Nice and opened by Tsar Nicolas II, who also funded the construction, in the same place where his uncle Prince Nicolai Alexandrovich died in 1865. The cathedral is rich with icons, woodwork, and frescos.

It was established for the large Russian community that lived in the French Riviera and in Nice at the beginning of the 20th century.

The cathedral is a popular tourist attraction with up to 200,000 people visiting it annually.

Last year, a Russian Orthodox Church dedicated to St. Nicholas in the Italian city of Bari was returned to Russian ownership. The church was built in the beginning of the 20th century to welcome Russians coming to the city to visit the 11th-century Basilica of St. Nicholas, where the saint's relics lie.

St. Nicholas, a fourth-century bishop, was famous for his generosity. He later developed into the figure of Santa Claus in some countries. In 1087, his remains were stolen from the ancient Turkish city of Myra by sailors from Bari.

Munich Airport bomb scare [ 569 ]

German police: Munich Airport bomb scare may have been false alarm

January 20, 2010 -- Updated 2128 GMT

A security officer patrols with a sniffer dog at Munich Airport's Terminal 2 on Wednesday.

Berlin, Germany (CNN) -- A bomb scare that affected about 100 flights at Munich Airport in Germany on Wednesday may have been a false alarm, German police told CNN.

Police launched a huge manhunt Wednesday after a passenger appeared to flee from security officers when his laptop computer bag tested positive for explosives, they said.

Police originally said authorities wanted to take the man in for further testing after his bag set off suspicions, but he ran. They said a bomb squad was testing the bag to see if it really contained explosives.

But authorities later said the man may simply have been in a hurry, grabbed his things and left the airport.

They do not have the laptop case, they said.

They are still trying to find the man, they said, but are no longer describing the search as a huge manhunt.

Police earlier said they were reviewing airport security videos to try to figure out where the man went. It was not clear if that was what caused them to change their evaluation of the situation.

Police did not know which flight the man was booked on.

Part of the airport was shut down after the suspect fled, but was later reopened.

All planes in the area of Terminal 2, where the incident took place, were evacuated and all luggage was removed, police said. The passengers had to leave the secure area and be rescreened, an airport representative told CNN, adding that the airport was otherwise operating normally.

About 100 flights were affected by the security measures. Some were canceled and others were delayed, the airport said, adding that activity has slowly begun to return to normal.

The airport Web site was still showing some delays to flights leaving Terminal 2 several hours after the incident.

The incident took place as a United States Senate committee debated the foiled Christmas Day attack aboard a plane bound from Amsterdam in the Netherlands to Detroit, Michigan.

The committee chairman, Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Connecticut, said it is "infuriating" that the December 25 suspect, Nigerian Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab, was able to board the plane in the Netherlands with a U.S. visa.

Janet Napolitano, secretary of homeland security, said AbdulMutallab "was not on the no-fly list, which would've flagged him to be prevented from boarding, nor was he on the selectee list, which would've flagged him for secondary screening."

"Furthermore, the physical screening performed by foreign authorities at airports in Nigeria and the Netherlands did not detect explosives on his body," Napolitano said. "As this incident underscores, aviation security is increasingly an international responsibility."

She said top Homeland Security Department officials are embarking on a multicontinent tour to meet with international counterparts about airline and airport security. She said she would leave Wednesday evening for Spain and a meeting with European Union officials.