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Pakistan’s top spy agency denied speculation Saturday that it helped unmask the CIA’s station chief in Islamabad, dismissing speculation it was retaliating for a U.S. lawsuit linking Pakistan’s intelligence chief to the 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai, India.

The CIA ordered its station chief out of Pakistan because his life was threatened after a Pakistani lawsuit revealed his name. His recall comes at a delicate time, as the White House presses Islamabad to rid its lawless tribal regions of safe havens for militants fighting in Afghanistan, where the U.S. is grappling with an exit strategy.

The station chief’s name was revealed by a Pakistani man threatening to sue the CIA over the deaths of his son and brother in a 2009 U.S. missile strike. The attorney involved with the legal complaint said he learned the name from Pakistani journalists. Pakistan’s spy agencies have kept ties to a number of Pakistani journalists as a way to influence coverage.

Questions have arisen as to whether a civil lawsuit filed last month in Brooklyn in connection with the 2008 Mumbai attacks may have raised tensions with Pakistan and spurred it to retaliate. The lawsuit lists Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha, the head of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence, as a defendant and accuses the ISI of nurturing terrorists involved in the Mumbai attacks, which left 166 people dead.

A Pakistani intelligence official dismissed any claims of ISI involvement in exposing the CIA official as “a slur.” He declined to offer any comment on the Brooklyn lawsuit and said it was entirely possible Pakistani journalists simply figured out the station chief’s identity on their own.

Such “unfounded stories can create differences between the two organizations,” the Pakistani intelligence official warned.

He also said the CIA has not directly accused the ISI of any wrongdoing in the matter. Like other intelligence officials, he requested anonymity because of the sensitive nature of his work and because he is not authorized to speak to media on the record.

The Associated Press learned about the station chief’s removal on Thursday but held the story until he was out of the region.

The CIA’s work is unusually difficult in Pakistan, an important but at times capricious counterterrorism ally.

The station chief in Islamabad operates as a virtual military commander in the U.S. war against al-Qaeda and other militant groups hidden along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. The chief runs the Predator drone program targeting terrorists and handles some of the CIA’s most urgent and sensitive tips.

The station chief also collaborates closely with Pakistani intelligence. The alliance has led to strikes on key militant leaders but has also been marred by spats between the two agencies. During the first term of President George W. Bush’s administration, Pakistan almost expelled a previous CIA station chief in a dispute about intelligence sharing.

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Article extracted from usatoday.com

A fire set off by rioting prisoners in an overcrowded facility near the Chilean capital has killed at least 81 inmates and left about 20 guards or inmates injured, officials say.

Early reports quoted officials as saying 83 people had been confirmed dead, but Santiago region Gov. Fernando Echeverria said the official toll was still 81.

The blaze broke out early Wednesday at the San Miguel prison, south of Santiago. Officials say inmates set fire to mattresses on the fourth floor of the No. 5 tower.

Chileans nationwide could hear the screams of dying inmates in the background as a prisoner used an illegal cellphone to call state television for help.

Relatives of inmates told state television that prison police had closed the gates to the prison, initially impeding access for firefighters.

Some relatives said they pleaded with authorities to let them rescue their loved ones themselves. They said they heard no news for hours, before officials appeared to read them a list, which only named some of the survivors.

National prison police director Luis Masferrer said the blaze broke out around 5:30 a.m. local time and was brought under control three hours later.

Chile’s health minister, Jaime Manalich, called the fire an “enormous calamity” after arriving at the prison, “probably the worst in the history of our penitentiary system. There’s a significant number of dead.”

Justice Minister Felipe Bulnes acknowledged that decades of overcrowding in the prison system played a factor in the high death toll and said officials were working to resolve the problem.

He admitted the San Miguel prison had been housing 1,960 inmates, but was only built to accommodate 1,100.

President Sabastian Pinera said prison overcrowding has left Chile with a “penitentiary system that isn’t worthy of our country.”

By cbc.ca

The deadly fire broke out on the fourth floor of No. 5 tower at the San Miguel prison near Santiago, Chile, on Wednesday. (Aliosha Marquez/Associated Press)

European aircraft dumped tons of water over flames raging through tall trees in northern Israel as firefighters struggled for a second day Friday to contain the country’s worst-ever forest fire, which has killed 41 people and displaced thousands.

Authorities raised the possibility of arson, saying several small fires that broke out in the same general area but were quickly contained appeared to have been deliberately set.

But the cause of the main fire, whipped by strong winds through one of Israel’s few natural forests, remained unclear. Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovich told Channel 2 TV that if the big blaze did turn out to have several distinct centres, “then it would look like arson.”

But police chief David Cohen said later at a news conference that the fire broke out in a single centre and could have been caused by carelessness. Two Druze men arrested on suspicion they planned to set a smaller fire were cleared and released, Mr. Cohen said.

Flames nearly 30 metres high spread across a hilly pine forest toward the Mediterranean Sea, as the blaze reached the outskirts of Israel’s third largest city, Haifa. Helicopters and planes flew back and forth to the Mediterranean, scooping up sea water and dumping it on the fire. Turkish planes scattered white powdery material over the smoky hills. Banana trees were burned and cypress trees were stripped of their leaves with only thin trunks remaining.

One of the main country’s highways was closed to traffic as nearby trees smouldered and smoke billowed toward the Mediterranean coastline, with ash flying through the air and large red flames closing in on a hotel and a spa south of the city.

The eruption of the blaze Thursday overwhelmed Israel’s small firefighting force and prompted an unprecedented call for international help from a country better known for sending its own rescue teams and medical personnel to other countries’ disaster zones.

Yoram Levy, a spokesman for Israel’s fire and rescue service, said the fire was huge and that firefighters battling strong winds were having trouble accessing the mountains and valleys.

“We don’t have big aircraft that can carry a large amount of water,” Mr. Levy said. “It is not enough for a large-scale fire.”

Some 100 firefighters from Bulgaria arrived as well as fire extinguishing planes and crews from Greece and Britain, Israeli officials said. More aid was on its way from the United States, Russia, Egypt, Cyprus, Jordan, Spain, Azerbaijan, and Romania.

Turkey set aside tensions over Israel’s deadly raid on a Turkish Gaza-bound flotilla in May to lend a hand – though Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Ergodan underlined that the help didn’t mean ties were back to normal and said his country still wanted an apology for the raid and compensation for the victims.

Still, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu singled out Turkey for thanks as he expressed his appreciation to countries around the world for their help.

“We are amid a disaster of international proportions,” he said after an emergency Cabinet meeting to discuss the fire. “We have to admit that our firefighting services cannot handle a forest fire backed by such a strong wind. We don’t have the means for it.” Mr. Netanyahu then headed north to visit the injured in hospitals and inspect firefighting efforts.

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman told Israel Radio that he was hopeful the fire could be suppressed by Saturday night.

Defence Minister Ehud Barak ordered the military to make all its resources available for the effort, which was being co-ordinated by the Israeli air force. The military said it sent soldiers and equipment, including helicopters, bulldozers, medics and army units.

The scorched woodland accounted for only 18 square kilometers of land. But because only 7 per cent of Israel’s land is forested, this worst forest fire in Israel’s history was felt here as a deep national loss.

By theglobeandmail.com

Foreigners help fight Israeli forest fire

Thousands of Venezuelans fled their homes on Tuesday after landslides and swollen rivers killed at least 21 people and threatened to cause more damage.

The stormy weather closed most of the Opec member nation’s two largest oil refineries on Monday.  A source at state oil company PDVSA said they were slowly restarting on Tuesday.

Millions of poor Venezuelans live in unplanned, hillside shantytowns in Caracas and along the Caribbean coast. Sustained rain conjures up memories of a devastating 1999 landslide that killed at least 10,000 people.

Small mudslides toppled dozens of houses, and crushing cars and blocking roads this week. Most of the 21 died in landslides, while others were swept away by a river. The government has declared an emergency in three states and Caracas, cancelling school and opening hundreds of storm shelters.

“The rains will carry on for the next three days at least,” Vice President Elias Jaua told state television.

Long lines formed in poor Caracas neighbourhoods as officials registered families to be housed in temporary accommodations including hotels, government offices and even the presidential palace.

Vice President Elias Jaua said 5,600 people were forced to leave their homes because of the rains.

Most of the oil-producing state of Falcon was hit by flooding, which caused a small oil spill near the Cardon and Amuay refineries, which have a combined capacity of 955,000 barrels per day.

The main units of Amuay, which can produce 645,000 bpd, restarted on Tuesday, a source at the refinery complex said. Cardon will take up to 10 days to operate normally after a power cut knocked out its industrial services on Monday.

The source, who asked not to be named because he was not authorised to speak, said shipments from the two refineries had not been affected.

The Andean Development Corporation, a regional development bank, said it authorised a US$100 million (NZ$134 million) donation to Venezuela to help deal with the disaster.

By stuff.co.nz

FOOD DROP: A helicopter prepares to drop water and food for flood victims in Barlovento, about 48 km east of Caracas, Venezuela. At least 21 have died and thousands have been forced from their houses after weeks of downpours that have caused flooding and mudslides in the country.

INCHON, South Korea — As they left behind gutted homes, scorched trees, and rubble-strewn streets, residents of the tiny South Korean island shelled by North Korea told harrowing tales yesterday of fiery destruction and narrow escapes.

Ann Ahe-ja, one of hundreds of exhausted evacuees from Yeonpyeong Island arriving in the port of Inchon on a rescue ship, said Tuesday’s artillery barrage that killed four people — two of them civilians — had caught her by surprise.

“Over my head, a pine tree was broken and burning,’’ Ann told AP Television News. “So I thought, ‘Oh, this is not another exercise. It is a war.’ I decided to run. And I did.’’

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called the shelling of the island near the two nations’ disputed maritime border one of the “gravest incidents’’ since the Korean War.

South Korean troops remained on high alert. In Washington, President Obama pledged to “stand shoulder to shoulder’’ with Seoul and called upon China to restrain its ally, North Korea.

The United States has more than 28,000 troops in South Korea to guard against North Korean aggression. The troops are a legacy of the bitter three-year conflict that ended in a truce, not a peace treaty, in 1953.

Seoul and Washington reaffirmed plans to hold joint military exercises this week in the Yellow Sea, just 70 miles south of Yeonpyeong. The White House said the aircraft carrier USS George Washington would take part.

The Obama administration urged China to press North Korea to halt provocative action, saying Beijing has a duty to tell Pyongyang that deliberate acts “specifically intended to inflame tensions in the region’’ are not acceptable.

China said late yesterday that it was highly concerned about the artillery exchange and urged restraint.

China “feels pain and regret about an incident causing deaths and property losses and is worried about the developments,’’ Hong Lei, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, said in a statement.

Diplomats for countries on the UN Security Council said there had been no request for the 15-member council to hold a full, formal meeting about the shelling, but said some informal bilateral talks were being held.

About 10 homes suffered direct hits and 30 were destroyed in the midafternoon barrage, according to a local official who spoke by telephone from the island just seven miles from the North Korean shore. About 1,700 civilians live on Yeonpyeong alongside South Korean troops stationed there.

“I heard the sound of artillery, and I felt that something was flying over my head,’’ said Lim Jung-eun, 36, who fled the island with three children, including a 9-month-old strapped to her back. “Then the mountain caught on fire.’’

Many evacuees had spent the night in underground shelters and embraced tearful family members on arrival in Inchon.

The shower of artillery from North Korea was the first to strike a civilian population. In addition to the two marines killed, the bodies of two men, believed in their 60s, were pulled from a destroyed construction site, the coast guard said. At least 18 people — most of them troops — were injured.

The skirmish began after North Korea warned the South to stop carrying out military drills near their sea border, South Korean officials said.

When Seoul refused and fired artillery into disputed waters — away from the North Korean shore — the North retaliated by shelling Yeonpyeong.

Seoul responded by unleashing its own barrage of howitzers and scrambling its fighter jets.

North Korea, laying out its version of events, said the army warned the South several times that firing “a single shell’’ in its waters would draw a “prompt retaliatory strike.’’

In Pyongyang, residents boasted that the exchange showed off their military’s strength and ability to counter South Korean aggression.

By boston.com

Survivors of the artillery exchange arrived yesterday at the port in Inchon, South Korea, from Yeonpyeong Island. (Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)

The pilot of an Air India flight that crashed in May, killing 158 passengers, slept through more than half the flight and woke up disoriented when it was time to land the aircraft, an investigative panel has concluded.

The Court of Inquiry appointed by the Indian government to investigate the May 22 crash concluded that flight Commander Zlatko Glusica was disoriented and his reactions were slow while bringing the aircraft in for a landing at Mangalore airport, Hindustan Times newspaper reported.

A government official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, confirmed that the newspaper report was accurate, but said the report would be made public only after it was presented to the Indian Parliament.

The Air India Express flight from Dubai to Mangalore in southern India overshot a hilltop runway, crashed and plunged over a cliff, killing 158 people instantly. Eight people survived the crash.

The panel examined information contained in the digital flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder of the aircraft, which were found at the crash site.

The panel said that Glusica reacted late and did not follow many standard operating procedures during the landing.

Glusica was suffering from “sleep inertia” after his nap and was “disoriented” when the plane began its descent at Mangalore airport.

The data recorders caught the sound of heavy nasal snoring and breathing, Hindustan Times said.

The co-pilot, HS Ahluwalia, is heard repeatedly warning Glusica to abort the landing and try the procedure again. The last words captured by the recorders as the plane crashed were those of one of the pilots saying, “Oh my God.”

Glusica, a native of Serbia, had more than 10,200 hours of flying experience, while Ahluwalia had clocked in 3,650 hours.

By telegraph.co.uk

The Air India Express flight from Dubai to Mangalore in southern India overshot a hilltop runway, crashed and plunged over a cliff, killing 158 people instantly

China’s official Xinhua News Agency said the death toll of a fire that engulfed a highrise apartment building in Shanghai, China’s business centre, has risen to 42.

Monday’s fire occurred in a building under renovation. Previous reports said at least eight people had died and more than 90 were injured.

A witness said building materials caught fire, and the blaze spread to scaffolding and then to the 28-storey building, which houses a number of retired teachers, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

More than 80 fire trucks were called to battle the blaze, Shanghai state television said, and streams of water could be seen flowing into the building, which appeared to be gutted.

The fire appeared to have been put out about six hours later, and firefighters could be seen taking bodies from the building.

Photos posted online showed a man clinging to the scaffolding. A building resident identified as Mr. Zhou told Hong Kong broadcaster Phoenix TV that he and his wife were napping in their 23rd floor apartment when they smelled smoke. He said they climbed down the scaffolding four storeys before being rescued by firefighters.

At one point, helicopters could be seen hovering over the building, and witnesses said at least one resident was rescued, but thick smoke hampered further efforts. By evening, the helicopters were gone.

A doctor at Shanghai’s Jing’an Hospital surnamed Zhang said more than 20 seriously hurt people had been admitted.

The state-run news website Eastday.com cited a construction worker surnamed Qian who escaped from the 28th floor as saying crews were installing energy-saving insulation when the fire occurred.

Qian said thick, rolling smoke clouds surrounded the building and the room she was in filled with smoke, making it difficult to breathe, the report said. She said she called the city’s emergency hot line and then used a wet towel to cover her mouth and nose as she ran down a fire escape.

By cbc.ca

More than 80 fire trucks were called to fight a fire that engulfed a highrise apartment building in Shanghai, China's business centre. (Xinhua/Associated Press)

JAKARTA, Indonesia — Indonesia’s most volatile volcano spewed clouds of ash high into the sky Wednesday, forcing some international airlines to again cancel flights and U.S. President Barack Obama to cut short his visit.

The official death toll, meanwhile, climbed by more than 40 to 191.

Disaster officials said earlier figures had not included people who died of respiratory problems, heart attacks and other illnesses linked to the fiery mountain.

Mount Merapi, located in the heart of Java island, roared back to life two weeks ago, shooting searing clouds of gray soot and debris up to six kilometres into the air almost daily, with lava and rock cascading down its slopes.

More than 350,000 people have been evacuated to cramped emergency shelters.

Obama sliced several hours off his whirlwind 24-hour tour to Indonesia over concerns about the volcanic ash, which has been carried by westerly winds toward the capital, Jakarta. He flew to South Korea for the Group of 20 summit.

Safety concerns also prompted several international carriers to again cancel flights into and out of Jakarta, 450 kilometres from Merapi, said Syaiful Bahri, who oversees operations at the airport.

Among them were Cathay Pacific, Value Air and Qantas.

Merapi has erupted many times in the last century, killing more than 1,400. On Friday, it experienced its most explosive blast in more than a century. At least one yet-to-be evacuated village was incinerated, setting on fire houses, trees and fleeing residents.

Muhammad Anshori, a disaster official, said Wednesday the official death toll since the first eruption on Oct. 26 had climbed to 191 — up from 153 earlier in the day.

Another 600 have been hospitalized, some with burns covering 95 percent of their body.

More than 340,000 people living along its slopes and villages near the base have been evacuated, he said. They are now living in more than 80 government camps. Many complain about poor sanitation, saying the toilets and water are filthy.

Indonesia, a vast archipelago of 235 million people, is prone to earthquakes and volcanoes because it sits along the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” a horseshoe-shaped string of faults that lines the Pacific Ocean.

By ctv.ca

Indonesian soldiers search for victims of Mount Merapi eruption in Cangkringan, Indonesia, Wednesday, Nov 10, 2010. (AP Photo)

A suicide car bomber blew himself up as a NATO convoy passed his vehicle on the outskirts of the capital on Friday, killing one civilian and wounding two troops, officials said.

NATO said one Afghan civilian was killed in the blast near the entrance to a coalition base south of Kabul. The Afghan Defense Ministry said an Afghan soldier and a NATO service member were wounded in the explosion.

The Hizb-i-Islami group that operates under the leadership of warlord and former Afghan Prime Minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar claimed responsibility for the attack.

“The bombing has been carried out by one of our men,” Harun Zarghun, a spokesman for Hizb-i-Islami, told The Associated Press. “The attack is part of our campaign to oust American forces from Afghanistan.”

The attack slightly damaged a Humvee but destroyed the vehicle driven used by the suicide bomber, AP Television News footage showed.

Although suicide bomb attacks are becoming commonplace in southern and eastern parts of Afghanistan, where NATO is fighting the Taliban, increased security has made them less frequent in the capital.

In eastern Afghanistan, a NATO service member was killed in an insurgent attack, the coalition said. Neither the nationality of the service member nor any other details were released. So far this year, 626 U.S. and international troops have died in Afghanistan, according to a count by The Associated Press.

Also on Friday, the coalition killed at least seven insurgents in an airstrike on a Taliban command center in the Naw Zad district of Helmand province in the south. Afghan and NATO troops continue to battle a resilient insurgency in Helmand while Afghan officials work to improve governance and rush development into the region.

Intelligence information and tips from local citizens led the coalition to the location, which insurgents use as a meeting site. In the past few days, numerous armed insurgents had been seen coming and going from the location, the coalition said.

NATO said that on Thursday at least 15 militants were killed by in a fierce round of fighting in Helmand province and 15 more were detained during three overnight operations targeting Taliban leaders across Afghanistan.

The heavy fighting erupted in Sangin district after a member of a joint Afghan and coalition patrol was struck by a homemade bomb, the coalition said. Insurgents continued to attack as a coalition helicopter evacuated casualties. The coalition force called in air support and the insurgents were killed by missiles, a 30mm cannon and artillery fire.

Also in Helmand, a joint force captured several suspected insurgents in Musa Qala district Thursday while going after a senior Taliban leader known for trafficking in weapons and explosives.

In neighboring Kandahar province, Afghan and coalition forces detained other suspected insurgents in Panjawi district while pursuing a member of the Taliban suspected of transporting bomb parts and other weapons between Pakistan and Kandahar, the largest city in the south.

In the third operation, which was conducted in Khost province in the east, security forces also detained insurgents while looking for a member of the al-Qaida-linked Haqqani network who supplies weapons, vehicles and materials to militant fighters in the area.

In total, 15 suspects were apprehended in the overnight operations, NATO said.

The coalition also reported that two Taliban bomb makers were captured Thursday in an area of Kandahar province near the Pakistan border where NATO has been trying to disrupt insurgent supply routes. Through intelligence tips, the coalition tracked the two to a compound in Spin Boldak where they were apprehended. Numerous bomb components, including detonation switches, were confiscated at the site.

Associated Press writer Asif Shahzad contributed to this report from Islamabad, Pakistan.

By kansascity.com

The destroyed remains of a vehicle used by a suicide bomber is seen as a U.S. military vehicle is being towed away after being hit by a suicide car bomber on the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan, Friday, Nov. 12, 2010.

Hurricane Tomas soaked Haiti’s crowded earthquake survivors’ camps and swamped coastal towns on Friday, triggering flooding and mudslides that killed at least seven people.

The center of the storm had cleared Haiti’s northern coast by nightfall and Haitian authorities believed the worst was over but meteorologists warned there was still a threat from ongoing rain.

“Now that, relatively speaking, Haiti has escaped the danger, we have to continue to be vigilant,” Haitian President Rene Preval said at the presidential palace.

Four people died in the southwestern province of Grande Anse, two in South province and one at Belle Anse in South-East province, said Haiti’s civil protection director, Alta Jean-Baptiste.

Scattered flooding was reported in the coastal towns of Les Cayes, Jacmel and Leogane.

In the capital Port-au-Prince, still scarred from a devastating January 12 earthquake, hundreds of thousands of homeless quake survivors huddled under rain-drenched tent and tarpaulin shelters in muddy encampments. The quake killed more than a quarter of a million people.

The United Nations and relief agencies have gone on maximum alert to prepare for the risk of another humanitarian catastrophe in the Western Hemisphere’s poorest nation, which is already reeling from a deadly cholera epidemic on top of the widespread quake destruction.

The U.N.’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said the storm could have dealt a far worse blow.

“We have been incredibly lucky on this one. The flooding is still serious, particularly in Leogane, because of the cholera situation …. For once Haiti has been lucky,” said OCHA spokeswoman Imogen Wall.

Out of the 1.3 million quake survivors in the capital’s temporary camps, only some were able to evacuate to more secure structures with family or friends, or in schools or government shelters.

Wind from Tomas blew down some tents at camps for displaced people in the southern coastal city at Jacmel, and a river burst its banks in Leogane, pouring water into the town west the capital.

In Port-au-Prince, many people went about their business on Friday amid intermittent rain.

“Heavy rains did not come but I’m still not happy because my home has lots of holes in it and a lot of water got inside,” said Solange Louis-Charles, 40, as she washed plates outside her house, which was made of corrugated iron and tarpaulins.

At 8 p.m. (0000 GMT), the center of the storm was north of Haiti, about 135 miles east of Guantanamo, Cuba, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. It had crossed into the Atlantic and was headed for the Turks and Caicos Islands and southeastern Bahamas.

Its top winds had dropped to 75 miles per hour (120 km per hour) but it was expected to strengthen again before starting to fizzle on Sunday. Tomas was still a Category 1 hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale, but just barely.

By reuters.com

A Haitian walks under the rain in the early morning while Hurricane Tomas passes in Port-au-Prince November 5, 2010.