Clinton warns Iran against any bid to disrupt nuclear talks

WASHINGTON — US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday warned Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that he will fail if he tries to disrupt next week's UN nuclear talks.

Ahmadinejad has asked for a visa to travel to New York to lead his country's delegation to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) review conference, something US officials say they expect to approve.

Clinton, who will attend the gathering, said the Obama administration aims to use the conference to push for deeper nuclear disarmament, check the spread of atomic weapons and promote the peaceful use of civilian nuclear energy.

"That is the purpose of our going to New York," the chief US diplomat told reporters in Washington as she stood next to Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, with whom she had discussed the conference and other issues.

"I don't know the purpose that Iran sees, because their record of violations of the non-proliferation obligations that they assumed as a signatory to the NPT is absolutely indisputable," said Clinton.

She recalled that the Islamic Republic was exposed late last year for trying build a covert uranium enrichment plant near the holy city of Qom and that its atomic work has been found to violate UN Security Council resolutions.

"So if President Ahmadinejad wants to come and announce that Iran will abide by their non-proliferation requirements under the NPT, that would be very good news indeed and we would welcome that," the secretary of state said.

But if he believes "he can somehow divert attention from this very important global effort or cause confusion that might possibly throw into doubt what Iran has been up to... I don't believe he will have a particularly receptive audience," she said.

Iran is seen as a test case for the treaty, both because it resists UN demands to stop enriching uranium and because an Iranian bomb could set off an atomic arms race in the Middle East.

The United States charges that Iran is secretly developing atomic weapons but Iran says its program is to generate electricity.

Clinton's spokesman Philip Crowley said earlier that the State Department is still processing visas for the Iranian delegates asking to attend the conference.

He also told reporters that "a face-to-face meeting between a US diplomat and an Iranian diplomat is highly unlikely," when asked if such direct talks would take place at UN headquarters where 189 nations will be represented.

And Crowley said Clinton spoke by telephone earlier Thursday with Chinese State Councilor Dai Bingguo about the US-led push for tougher UN Security Council sanctions against Iran over its refusal to stop uranium enrichment.

China -- one of the five permanent, veto-wielding members of the 15-member council -- as well as current but temporary members Brazil, Turkey and Lebanon have been reluctant to embrace biting sanctions.

Iran has led an intensive worldwide diplomatic campaign to drive a wedge between supporters and opponents of sanctions on the council.

Top US arms control negotiator Ellen Tauscher has meanwhile set modest ambitions for the NPT review conference saying it would be successful even without a consensus final document.

"A final document can easily be blocked by the extreme agendas of a few," Tauscher said.

"A review conference that reaffirms the basic bargain at the heart of the treaty and demonstrates broad support for strengthening nonproliferation measures should be considered success," she added.

"A draft final document or a streamlined action plan that draws the support of all but a few outliers would meet this definition of success," she said.

Kevin James comedy "Zookeeper" moved to summer 2011

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – Sony Pictures took a good look at its recently acquired Kevin James comedy, "The Zookeeper," and saw summer sizzler written all over it.

As a result, the movie, which combines live action and animation, is moving from a scheduled October 8 release date to July 8, 2011.

By delaying the film's release, the studio stands to benefit from a more lucrative box-office play period.

The voice cast for the caged creatures includes Adam Sandler, Sylvester Stallone, Cher and Rosario Dawson.

Most production on the picture is complete, except for some visual effects involving the talking creatures -- who yack throughout "Zookeeper" with zookeeper James.

Sony recently acquired control of the project from MGM, its co-producer on "Zookeepers."

'Seinfeld' actor Alexander not cited after striking cyclist

LOS ANGELES – Police say "Seinfeld" actor Jason Alexander won't be cited after striking a 14-year-old bicyclist while driving in Los Angeles.

The boy suffered minor injuries.

Los Angeles police spokeswoman Norma Eisenman says Alexander hit the bicyclist at about 7:15 a.m. Tuesday in the Mid-City area.

Eisenman says the boy was in stable condition when he was taken to a hospital for examination. She had no additional details about the accident but said Alexander wasn't cited.

Alexander played neurotic neighbor George Costanza on "Seinfeld."

His publicist, Ron Hofmann, says Alexander acted responsibly by waiting for police and paramedics to arrive. He says Alexander is grateful that the boy wasn't seriously hurt.

US Coast Guard: oil leaking from sunken rig

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana — Oil is leaking from the ruptured well of a large rig that exploded, burnt and sank in the Gulf of Mexico earlier this week, the US Coast Guard said Saturday.

The Coast Guard estimated that up to 1,000 of barrels of oil, or 42,000 gallons (158,987 liters) were spewing each day from a riser and a drill pipe, prompting further concerns of damage to Louisiana's fragile ecosystem, already stressed by hurricanes and coastal erosion.

Officials confirmed the discovery a day after the Coast Guard said that no oil appeared to be leaking from the well head.

Coast Guard Eighth District commander Rear Admiral Mary Landry told reporters the leak likely began on Thursday, when the rig sank two days after an initial explosion tore through the Deepwater Horizon semi-submersible oil drilling platform.

The best case scenario is sealing off the pipe ruptures in a few days; the worst case scenario is a matter of months. The Coast Guard said it would take several days before they determine how to stop the pipe leaks 5,000 feet (1,525 meters) down in the Gulf waters.

Petty Officer Connie Terrell told AFP the oil sheen was now 20 miles (32 kilometers) in diameter about 40 miles (64 km) off the Louisiana coast. Over 33,700 gallons (127,570 liters) of oily water mix have been recovered in the cleanup effort so far, she said.

"This is a devastating spill," said Anne Rolfes, an environmental activist and founding director of the Louisiana Bucket Brigade, which is bracing for wild fowl rescue efforts should the miles-long mix of crude oil and diesel fuel reach Louisiana's fragile coastal wetlands.

On Friday, the Coast Guard officially ended the search for 11 workers who had been missing since the platform erupted into flames late Tuesday.

Some 700,000 gallons of diesel fuel were on board the platform before the blast, and it had been drilling 8,000 barrels, or 336,000 gallons, of oil a day, according to officials.

US still hopeful on Turkey-Armenia deal

WASHINGTON — The United States said Thursday it remained hopeful that Turkey and Armenia would move toward reconciliation despite Yerevan's halt to an accord that would end decades of hostility.

US officials said they had anticipated President Serzh Sarkisian's announcement that parliament would no longer consider ratifying the US-backed deal, but they welcomed his decision not to fully withdraw from the peace process.

"We are actually encouraged that, both in the case of Armenia and Turkey, they have taken pains to make sure the process doesn't collapse," State Department spokesman Philip Crowley told reporters.

"That gives us some reason for optimism that over the long term we can find ways to come back to it and try to push forward the protocols again," he said.

Crowley said that the United States had urged the two countries not to give up on reconciliation efforts on the sidelines of this month's nuclear summit in Washington.

"Neither side has walked away from the process, but I think we all recognize that we'll just need some time to... create some new momentum that allows the process to move forward," Crowley said.

Armenia's ruling coalition of three parties had earlier announced it was freezing ratification of the deal because "the Turkish side is refusing to ratify the protocols without preconditions and in a reasonable timeframe."

Ankara has said that process cannot move forward without progress in Armenia's conflict with Turkish ally Azerbaijan over the breakaway Nagorny-Karabakh region.

The neighbors have had hostile relations for decades because of the legacy of the 1915-1917 massacres of Armenians.

Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their kin perished in deportations and orchestrated killings during World War I but Turkey rejects the genocide label and says that 300,000 to 500,000 Armenians and at least as many Turks perished in civil strife as the Ottoman Empire crumbled.

Discovery returns to Earth

HOUSTON, Texas — Discovery made a safe return to Earth Tuesday after a two-week resupply mission to the International Space Station that broke new ground by putting four women in orbit for the first time.

The shuttle and its seven-member crew finally touched down at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 9:08 am (1308 GMT) after a series of earlier delays due to rain and fog.

"Welcome home. Congratulations on an outstanding mission," Mission Control said after the Discovery put more women in orbit than ever before, with three female crew joining one woman already on the space station.

"What a great mission," replied Discovery commander Alan Poindexter. "We enjoyed it."

The mission also marked the first time that two Japanese astronauts were in space at the same time, with Discovery mission specialist Naoko Yamazaki joining Soichi Noguchi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.

And it signaled a growing awareness among NASA's ground team and astronauts that the vaunted shuttle program is winding down, marking the end of an era in human spaceflight.

"It's a little bit bittersweet, but we do have to recognize that like anything else, there does have to be an end to any major program," said Pete Nickolenko, NASA's launch director, during a post-landing news briefing.

"We recognize that we are facing that, that we are coming up to it," he said.

Meanwhile, Bryan Lunney, the NASA flight director who supervised Discovery's descent and will also oversee the final shuttle flight, said it is a bit too early to get misty-eyed.

"For me, we are heads down focused on the mission, trying to make sure it's safe and successful," he said.

"I haven't gotten too philosophical or concerned about the future. I'm just taking care of business," Lunney said.

Discovery dropped from orbit Tuesday over the Pacific Ocean and followed a rare course that took it over much of the US upper Midwest and Southeast, leaving a glowing contrail for ground observers.

The shuttle's crew delivered nearly eight tonnes of scientific equipment and other supplies intended to fortify the orbiting science laboratory for operations well beyond the final shuttle flight.

The new research gear includes an Earth observation rack to hold cameras and spectral scanners for studies of the atmosphere, geological formations, and weather-induced crop damage.

Another new experiment monitors changes in the muscle and joint health of the astronauts in the absence of gravity. A new freezer will store specimens for medical and biological experiments.

During three spacewalks, two of the astronauts wrestled with bulky bolts to replace a boxy coolant tank that is essential to the long-term function of the station's life support systems.

Discovery has only one more flight before it is mothballed, while NASA counts just three more missions until it retires its entire shuttle fleet and embarks on a new phase in human spaceflight.

The US space agency will have to turn to Russia to transport Americans to the orbiting science laboratory while it tries to foster a commercial space taxi industry.

President Barack Obama has drawn fire for shelving plans outlined by his predecessor George W. Bush -- which he argues are too costly -- for NASA to develop a new generation of spacecraft for missions to the moon and Mars.

Shuttle Atlantis will fly next, with a lift off tentatively scheduled for May 14.

During its 12-day mission, six astronauts will deliver a Russian mini-research module and external spare parts, including power storage batteries, a communications antenna and a radiator as well as Canadian and European robot arm components.

Endeavour is to follow, with a launch scheduled for July 29. Its cargo includes the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, an internationally-sponsored physics investigation for the study of cosmic radiation and anti-matter.

If the scheduling holds, Discovery will lift off for the station on September 16 for the final shuttle flight carrying yet more cargo and a pressurized storage module.

South Africa confirm North Korea friendly, Estonia match called off

HERZOGENAURACH, Germany — World Cup hosts South Africa on Tuesday confirmed a second friendly during their training camp in Germany as they will take on North Korea on Thursday, April 22.

Bafana Bafana will take on the Asians at 6 p.m. local time with the match to be played at the SV Wehen Wiesbaden Stadium in Frankfurt.

North Korea had originally wanted to face South Africa at their training camp in Spain but changed their minds and will travel to Germany for the encounter.

The time and location of South Africa's friendly against China was also confirmed on Tuesday with the sides to do battle on Wednesday, April 28 at the Offenbach Kickers FC Stadium with kickoff at 8:30 p.m.

The ash cloud from the Icelandic volcano caused the cancellation of a third friendly as Estonia have said they cannot leave their base in northern Europe for the planned match on Saturday, April 24.

Still, South African football officials are happy to have confirmed at least a second friendly for their Germany camp, which runs until the end of April.

"It has been difficult trying to get practice matches but now we are elated that we managed to secure DPR Korea," said South African team manager Sipho Nkumane, who held out hope the Estonia match may yet go ahead.

South African coach Carlos Alberto Parreira has complained recently about the lack of top-level friendly matches.

Nkumane said that was why games against the second teams of Nurnberg and amateur club SPVGG Greuther Furth were called off.

South Africa will also take on Denmark on June 5 in Johannesburg before opening the World Cup on June 11 against Mexico in Johannesburg. END

Furyk defeats Davis in PGA playoff

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, South Carolina — US veteran Jim Furyk has won his second PGA title in two months, defeating England's Brian Davis in a playoff to take the 5.7 million-dollar Heritage Classic.

Having gone two years without a victory, Furyk added the 1.026 million-dollar top prize to his victory in last month's Transitions Championship and boosted his career title total to 15.

Furyk won the sudden-death playoff on Sunday with a par on the first extra hole after Davis called a penalty on himself following a miserable approach.

"It was one of those things I thought I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. And I thought we'd check on TV, and indeed there was movement," Davis said.

Davis sank an 18-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole to equalize after he and Furyk each finished 72 holes on 13-under par 271. Davis fired a closing 68, one stroke under Furyk, who tapped in a four-footer for par to force the playoff.

"To have the tournament come down that way is definitely not the way I wanted to win," Furyk said. "It's obviously a tough loss for him and I respect and admire what he did.

"I want to react to the crowd and kind of wave and let them know, that 'Hey, I'm excited.' But I don't want it to take away from Brian."

The playoff began with a replay of the 18th but Davis could not match his good fortune from just minutes earlier.

Davis sent his approach over the green and off rocks before the ball landed at the base of the elevated green, where Furyk's ball sat at the back edge.

Furyk rolled his ball four feet from the cup, then Davis chipped from the marsh bed onto the green 30 feet beyond the hole.

After making the shot, Davis called rules officials over, saying he had struck a dead reed on his backswing before hitting the ball. Television replay confirmed he struck the loose impediment and a two-stroke penalty was imposed.

Davis missed the long putt for double bogey and shook hands with Furyk, who tapped in his par putt to complete the victory.

Furyk had opened the door to Davis with a bogey at the 14th but Davis took bogeys at the par-5 15th and par-4 16th to fall a stroke behind before his clutch birdie on the 72nd hole of the event.

England's Luke Donald and American Bo Van Pelt shared third on 274, one steoke head of Americans Kris Blanks and Ricky Barnes and Colombian Camilo Villegas.

Top general rejects claim Canada troops shot unarmed Afghan

OTTAWA — Canada's top military commander has rejected claims by a former translator in Afghanistan that Canadian troops shot and killed an unarmed Afghan three years ago.

Defence staff chief General Walt Natynczyk said in a letter late Friday to the head of a parliamentary commission that a Canadian Forces member followed appropriate "rules of engagement" when he fatally shot the man during on overnight June 18-19, 2007 raid of a compound where improvised explosive devices were being made for use against Kandahar airfield.

The man killed was "an armed individual (who) posed a direct and imminent threat to CF soldiers as they entered the compound," Natynczyk wrote in his letter to Kevin Sorenson, chair of the Special Committee on the Canadian Mission in Afghanistan.

"A shooter who was providing support to the operation identified the individual and assessed that he was a threat, and shot the individual," according to the general, who said the compound was being used as a staging area for attacks against the Kandahar airfield as well as strikes against Canadian and coalition forces.

"The actions of the shooter were an appropriate application of the rules of engagement and saved the lives of a number of Canadian Forces members that night."

The committee had heard testimony Wednesday from Malgarai Ahmadshah who alleged that in summer 2007, Canadian soldiers shot an unarmed man who they believed had been carrying a gun.

The soldiers then "panicked," sweeping through the neighborhood and arresting more than 10 people, said the Afghan-Canadian who was codenamed Pacha during his tenure as translator.

Ahmadshah said he had personally interrogated the detained Afghans at the insistence of Canadian troops to determine whether they had any links to the Taliban. He said they were "innocent men."

He delivered his testimony before a panel looking into claims that Canadian forces transferred detainees to Afghan authorities despite the risk that the prisoners would be tortured.

Ahmadshah said such transfers had taken place and accused the Canadian Forces of "subcontracting torture."

Canada has been roiled by accusations by a former Canadian diplomat in Afghanistan, Richard Colvin, who claims Ottawa ignored reports of torture submitted by prisoners held by Afghan security forces.

Avatar director vows to fight on for Amazon

WASHINGTON — Avatar director James Cameron vowed Friday to fight on for the indigenous people of the Amazon after a Brazilian court overturned a ruling that would have halted construction of a huge dam that would flood tribal lands.

"We are disappointed but we knew this would be a long battle," Cameron told AFP by phone during a brief visit to Washington.

"If Brazil lets me back in, I would love to come back down and work with the indigenous people I met" during several visits to the vast South American country after the release of Avatar, Cameron said.

"But I want to go back as a film-maker, not a sign-waver. I want to film the culture of the Kayapo Indians and let the world see how they live in harmony with the forest," he said, evoking strong parallels with Avatar.

The blockbuster movie tells the story of the peaceful Na'Vi people who live in harmony with nature on the planet Pandora and are forced to wage a bloody fight against strip-miners from Earth who have no compunctions about destroying the Na'Vi culture to get their hands on a precious mineral, unobtainium.

"Avatar was based on real but abstract stories. It came out of articles in National Geographic and documentaries on TV.

"But after meeting the indigenous people of the Amazon with whom we communicated very clearly and emotionally, it's real for me. And it's personal," Cameron said.

After he had finished filming Avatar, the veteran film director and self-avowed environmentalist traveled several times to Brazil on fact-finding missions to "drill down and study the tectonic interface between progress pushing up against the natural world and bulldozing it out of the way."

"It's happening now and it's a reality for these people" in the Amazon, he said, adding that his visits to Brazil had helped to shine an international spotlight on the fight being waged by Amazon communities to preserve their forest and river communities.

"Through our visits, we were able to get the story on the front page of newspapers in the US, and I don't believe that the powers that be in Brazil really expected that kind of media scrutiny of a process they had tried to keep out of the public eye," Cameron said.

Sarah Polley's writes, directs romantic comedy to star Rogen, Williams

TORONTO — Sarah Polley's next film is a romantic comedy slated to star Seth Rogen and Michelle Williams.

"Take This Waltz," is about a young woman who struggles with her infidelities. Telefilm Canada says Polley will direct and produce the film, which begins production in July in Toronto.

The romantic comedy is Polley's followup to her poignant love story, "Away From Her," which earned her an Oscar nomination for best adapted screenplay in 2008.

The script for "Take This Waltz" landed on 2009's Black List, a compilation of Hollywood's best unproduced screenplays.

Polley next appears on the big screen in "Splice," a sci-fi horror in which she stars alongside Adrien Brody as a scientist whose genetic experiments create a new creature.

'Yes we can,' Michelle Obama tells young in Mexico

MEXICO CITY — US First Lady Michelle Obama met with her Mexican counterpart, danced with children and sought to inspire students during a solo trip aimed at reinforcing close ties with Mexico.

The US first lady discussed the treatment of migrants and youth drug addiction with Margarita Zavala at the presidential Los Pinos palace, a White House statement said, in a nation reeling from drug-related violence in which more than 22,700 people have died since the end of 2006.

Zavala's husband President Felipe Calderon has received growing support from the Obama administration in his brutal drug war, and Michelle Obama's trip followed a string of high-level visits to Mexico.

"We have to fight the (drug) war but keep looking at other ways to address the problem," she said in an interview on CNN in Spanish broadcast on Wednesday.

"Education is -- is also key to this issue," she added.

On her first international solo outing, after a brief stop on Tuesday in Haiti to show support three months after its devastating earthquake, the US first lady underlined that her foreign agenda would focus on young people.

"All you have to do is believe in yourself," Michelle Obama said in a speech to Mexican students which highlighted her and her husband's "modest" backgrounds.

"Yes we can. Gracias," she concluded.

Dozens of children, some in wheelchairs, earlier performed music for Obama as she visited Mexico City's National Museum of Anthropology.

"We're excited, even though we've performed before," said Maria Hernandez, a young violinist accompanying the choir.

Michelle Obama later jumped around and danced with children at a public elementary school funded by a US foundation, before hugging many of them.

"When it came for me to decide where to make my first solo international trip as the first lady, the choice was clear.. Mexico por supuesto (of course)," Obama said in her speech to students.

Some 12 million documented and undocumented Mexicans are estimated to live in the United States, which accounts for some 80 percent of Mexico's foreign trade.

The US first lady was to dine with the Mexican presidential couple on Wednesday, and to meet with community youth leaders and US embassy employees in Mexico City on Thursday, before traveling to an event on childhood obesity in San Diego, California.

Her visit came as the United States was drawn further into Mexico's battle against violent drug gangs, particularly along the 2,000-mile (3,200-kilometer) US-Mexico border.

Three US consulate-linked employees were shot dead in the border city of Ciudad Juarez in March and attackers tossed a grenade at the consulate in the northeastern city of Nuevo Laredo last week, causing no injuries.

The US State Department on Monday updated a travel advisory for Mexico, including a warning against unnecessary travel to some border areas.

In a sign of strengthening US-Mexico relations, the Mexican president and his wife will be the guests of honor at the second White House state dinner of Barack Obama's presidency next month, and Calderon will make a speech to a joint session of the US Congress.

Lockdown on Philippine island after deadly siege

ISABELA, Philippines — The capital of a southern Philippine island was under police and military lockdown Wednesday after a siege by Al Qaeda-linked militants left 15 people dead.

At least two military armoured personnel carriers patrolled the streets of Isabela city on Basilan island a day after Islamist militants from the Abu Sayyaf group set off bombs and attacked civilians.

Road blocks were also set up in and around the impoverished city of 150,000 people, where some shops remained closed for business a day after the violence.

"We are trying to get the situation back to normal, but we are implementing heightened security there now," regional military chief Lieutenant General Ben Dolorfino told AFP by phone from his base in Zamboanga city, near Basilan.

"Right now, we have two Marine companies and one from the Special Forces guarding the city, or around 300 men," he said.

At least 25 Abu Sayyaf militants wearing police and military camouflage uniforms on Tuesday set off two bombs that blew up a van and damaged a Roman Catholic church, in the worst attack by the group in months.

A third bomb placed near a judge's house and a bus terminal was safely detonated by soldiers.

The bombings sparked gunbattles around the city, with the militants targeting helpless civilians scampering to safety.

The city mayor, Cherry Akbar, said 15 people were killed in the violence, including five militants who apparently perished in the first blast. The dead also included three Marines, a policeman and six civilians.

Dolorfino said the attack appeared to have been well planned, noting that the police and military uniforms as worn by the gunmen were brand new.

He said military intelligence had received information ahead of Tuesday's siege that the Abu Sayyaf was plotting an attack.

"They were planning something big. This was well planned and apparently they were well funded," Dolorfino said.

"I don't think there was a failure of intelligence on our part because we were pursuing certain leads (ahead of the attack)."

Basilan Bishop Martin Jumoad condemned the attack and called on his flock to remain calm.

"We condemn this inhuman attacks in the strongest possible terms," Jumoad told AFP. "We appeal for the public to remain calm because God will not fail us."

He said this was the first time that the Santa Isabel Cathedral had been targeted since it was built in 1970.

"The church is 70 percent damaged. We won't be able to hold mass here temporarily," he added.

The Abu Sayyaf is a small gang of Islamic militants on the US government's list of foreign terrorist organisations.

It was founded in the 1990s with seed money from Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network to fight for an independent Muslim state in the south of the mainly Catholic nation, Philippine military intelligence officials say.

The most brutal of several armed Muslim groups in the south, the Abu Sayyaf is also blamed for the country's worst terrorist attacks, including a 2004 bombing of a ferry that killed over 100 on Manila Bay.

Press both Iran, Israel on nukes: Egypt

WASHINGTON — Egypt called Monday for world powers to press both Iran and Israel on nuclear weapons, saying that the Middle East should be a zone free of the ultra-destructive arms.

Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit, who is representing Egypt at a major summit in Washington on nuclear security, voiced hope that diplomacy rather than sanctions would dissuade Iran from nuclear weapons.

But he said the so-called P5 -- the five permanent members on the Security Council -- should press Israel on its refusal to join the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

"Let's also try to convince the P5 to bring Israel onboard. You see, you have possibly today two emerging threats" in the Middle East, Gheit told the "PBS Newshour" on US public television.

"We are eager that we do not have a nuclear Iran, as well as we do not want to see a nuclear Israel. We want a zone that is free of nuclear weapons -- and it can be done," he said.

Israel is widely believed to have nuclear weapons but maintains a policy of strategic ambiguity, refusing to confirm or deny its arsenal.

Iran is part of the NPT but Western powers believe it is in violation of the treaty and is pursuing nuclear weapons. The clerical regime insists it is only seeking the peaceful use of nuclear energy.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the last minute pulled out of the Washington summit, reportedly out of concern that Arab states and Turkey would shift the focus to Israel and away from its arch-enemy Iran.

Gheit dismissed Netanyahu's concerns, saying that the summit was meant to address nuclear security and not specifically the NPT.

Holbrooke, Petraeus meet Karzai in Kabul

KABUL — US envoy Richard Holbrooke and senior general David Petraeus on Sunday met President Hamid Karzai in Kabul at a conference reviewing US civilian and military involvement in Afghanistan.

The three men sat together at the start of a two-day conference to discuss what NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said were the "shared challenges and opportunities ahead" in the war-torn country.

The event, involving senior US and Afghan officials, plus key allied partners, comes after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in January unveiled a long-term, non-military plan to stabilise Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Holbrooke, whose office produced the strategy, is Washington's special representative for both countries while Petraeus oversees US military involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The plan envisages a "surge" of civilian experts who in Afghanistan would help rebuild the fractured farm sector, implement governance programmes and the reintegration of extremists into society.

Washington's ambassador to Kabul, Karl Eikenberry, on Saturday unveiled a 40-million-dollar US-funded programme to improve governance in southern and eastern areas most affected by the insurgency

The United States is expected to provide the bulk of additional troops for a planned offensive against the Taliban in the south to try to bring an end to the increasingly bloody eight-year war.

Holbrooke's visit had been in doubt after he underwent tests in New York this week for possible blocked arteries but doctors gave him the all-clear to travel.

It also comes as both Kabul and Washington seek to draw a line under a row sparked by Karzai's claims that foreign governments were behind the massive fraud in last year's elections that returned him to power.

American teen aims for Everest record

KATHMANDU — Scores of climbers will attempt to reach the summit of Mount Everest during the brief climbing season this May, but Jordan Romero is probably the only one who has brought his algebra homework.

If he succeeds, the 13-year-old from Big Bear, California, will be the youngest person ever to stand on the world's highest peak -- an ambition he has harboured since he saw a mural of the mountain at school, aged just nine.

"I do feel a bit nervous, but I'm way more excited," Jordan told AFP in Kathmandu on Sunday before starting his journey to Everest Base Camp.

"It's something I've always wanted to do before I die -- I just happen to be doing it at this age. I happen to be going for a world record. But I just want to climb it."

Jordan, who climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in Kenya aged 10, is also hoping to become the youngest person ever to climb the highest mountains on all seven continents -- with Everest the final hurdle.

From Kathmandu, he and his father and stepmother -- both keen climbers -- will drive over the border to Tibet, from where they will attempt to climb the 8,848-metre (29,029-foot) peak via the north-east ridge.

To prepare, Jordan has been training hard for the past year, climbing the mountains of his native California carrying a heavy back pack and sleeping in a specially created tent that simulates the effects of altitude.

The decision to allow a child to climb a mountain that has claimed the lives of many adult mountaineers has sparked criticism, with some observers saying Jordan is too young to assess the risks.

But he defends the decision, saying he has a strong support team and will turn back rather than taking any unnecessary risks.

The team will spend several weeks acclimatising in Tibet before making their attempt on the summit between May 15 and May 25, when the weather is typically at its best on the mountain.

In the meantime, Jordan has stocked up on movies and has plenty of school work to keep him occupied.

"I'm on independent study while I'm here, so I'll be writing a journal every day," he says.

"I have to read some books and do some book reports. And I have a big stack of algebra to get through."

Canadian Church tried to keep abuse secret: letter

OTTAWA — Canadian bishops sought to hide a pedophile priest's crimes by urging the Vatican not to promote him, according to a 1993 letter obtained Friday by AFP, in the latest revelations to rock the Church.

The letter written by an Ontario bishop, made public as part of a civil suit, comes amid the growing scandal over the Catholic Church's alleged inaction over sex abuse cases against children in the past decades.

In the four-page letter, Canadian church officials warned Pope Benedict XVI's envoy to Canada not to promote Monsignor Bernard Prince, now 75, to the Episcopate nor present him with Papal honours in order to avoid charges and a public trial.

Prince was defrocked and sentenced by an Ontario court in 2008 to four years in prison for abusing 13 boys between 1964 and 1984. He is due to be released in 2012.

At the time the letter was written on February 10, 1993, Prince had recently been posted to the Vatican as a high-ranking official working with missionary societies, where he worked until his retirement in 2004.

The year before Prince was sent to Rome, a 34-year-old man complained to the diocese that the priest had molested him when he was a child. Ontario bishops learned of further victims later.

"A promotion of any kind would indicate to the (original) victim that he is being further victimized," late Bishop Joseph Windle of Pembroke, Ontario said in the letter to the Apostolic Nunciature in Ottawa.

"And hence we could anticipate that a charge would be laid and a public trial would follow," he said. "The consequences... would be disastrous, not only for the Canadian Church but for the Holy See as well."

"It is a situation which we wish to avoid at all costs."

Windle, who died in 1997, also said he had the backing of "all of the bishops of Ontario who are aware of this situation (and there are several)," mentioning six by name.

The Vatican is currently reeling from large-scale child sex abuse scandals around the world, including in the United States, Ireland, Germany and Norway.

Senior clerics were accused of protecting guilty clergy by moving them to other parishes -- where they sometimes offended again -- instead of handing them over to authorities to be tried.

The 82-year-old pope has himself faced allegations that as a cardinal heading the Vatican's watchdog for morals and doctrinal issues, and earlier as the archbishop of Munich, he failed to take action against predator priests.

Looking back, Windle said he initially did "not object to him (Prince) being given another chance (in Rome) since it would remove him from the Canadian scene."

"At that time, we were under the impression that the incident was isolated, in the distant past, and there was little or no danger of any scandal ever emerging," he said in his letter.

But "four or five" new cases had since been brought to light, he wrote.

According to Robert Talach, a lawyer for several of the victims, Prince had preyed on boys mostly in Wilno, a Polish settlement 180 kilometers (110 miles) west of Ottawa where he grew up.

"One redeeming factor is that it would appear that the victims involved are of Polish descent and their respect for the priesthood and the Church has made them refrain from making these allegations public or laying a criminal charge against a priest," Windle had commented in the 1993 letter.

Talach told AFP six civil suits against Prince have been settled and 10 more are to go to court in 2012.

Talach's own clients -- eight in total -- are each claiming two million dollars in damages from Prince and his former diocese.

Megan Fox protests school budget cuts with comedy

LOS ANGELES – Megan Fox and her sometime boyfriend, actor Brian Austin Green, are protesting California school budget cuts in a new video online.

In a video posted Wednesday on the comic Web site FunnyorDie.com, Fox urges viewers to "call, write and annoy the governor until he cries for his mommy."

She says more than $17 billion has been cut from state educational programs over the past two years, and Green says the "terminators in Sacramento" plan to cut another $2.5 billion.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell said last month that budget cuts have caused a 17 percent jump in the number of school districts facing financial uncertainty.

Fox and Green's 3 1/2-minute video had been viewed more than 66,500 times by Wednesday afternoon.

___

On the Net:

http://www.funnyordie.com

Augmented reality puts the squeeze into virtual hugs

MEGEVE, France — Now you really can reach out and touch someone through the Internet, with the help of a wearable robot designed by a husband-and-wife team of scientists based in Japan.

Five years in the making, the device aims to inject a little physicality into online chatter, boosting the emotional quotient of virtual exchanges between flesh-and-blood people.

Forget emoticons, those annoying little smiley :-) or frowning :-( faces added to text messages with key strokes.

The quickened thump of an angry heart beat, a spine-tingling chill of fear, or that warm-all-over sensation sparked by true love -- all can be felt even as your eyes stay glued to a computer screen.

The proof-of-concept robot, dubbed iFeel_IM! ("I feel therefore I am"), was presented on Saturday at the first Augmented Human International Conference, held in the French Alps ski resort of Megeve.

A two-day gathering of engineers and scientists, many from Japan, compared notes on cutting edge research in a field called augmented reality, the realtime enhancement of experience through virtual, interactive technology.

Smart phones that tell you not just where you are but what you are looking at, or Terminator-like visual overlays of data for soldiers in battle are both examples.

Several research teams in Megeve also unveiled breakthroughs in the use of brain waves -- captured by electrodes placed on the head -- to operate computers or decipher emotions.

But Dzmitry Tsetserukou, an assistant professor at Toyohashi University of Technology in Japan, said his aim was to boost feeling, to add a human-like sense of touch to the incorporeal ether of cyberspace.

"We are steeped in computer-mediated communication -- SMS, e-mail, Twitter, Instant Messaging, 3-D virtual worlds -- but many people don't connect emotionally," he said in an interview.

"I am looking to create a deep immersive experience, not just a vibration in your shirt triggered by an SMS. Emotion is what give communication life."

For now, his prototype robot is a collection of sensors, small motors, vibrators and speakers woven into a series of straps similar to a parachute harness, minus the parachute.

Connected to a computer, the device can simulate several types of heart beat, a realistic hug, the tickling sensation of a butterfly stomach, and a tingling feeling along the spine. It can also generate warmth.

While he could have added a mechanism for sexual arousal, Tsetserukou decided doing so would ultimately distract from his focus on emotion boosting.

Software written by his colleague (and wife) Alena Neviarouskaya, a researcher at the University of Tokyo, ferrets out the emotional messages embedded in written text, triggering the appropriate touch sensation in the robot in realtime.

It distinguishes joy, fear, anger and sadness with 90 percent accuracy, and can parse nine emotions -- adding shame, guilt, disgust, interest and surprise -- nearly four out of five times, according to a peer-review study presented at the conference.

"This is really state of the art, there is nothing this accurate," said Tsetserukou.

Subjects tested the system in the online, three-dimensional environment known as Second Life, inhabited by avatars manipulated by individuals sitting before their computers.

In a demonstration, two people wearing iFeel_IM! robots communicated at distance through the medium of their avatars.

The words "I am happy to see you" triggers a warm sensation in the person spoken to, and as the avatars hug in their virtual world, the act is mirrored in reality by a squeezing sensation around the waist.

Tsetserukou compared the system to the blockbuster Avatar, and especially the film Surrogates, set in a future when humans stay at home plugged into a cocoon while their healthier, more handsome doppelgangers venture forth into the real world.

"In a few years, this could be a mobile system integrated into a suit or jacket," he said. "It's not that far away."

Shuttle glitch as Discovery antenna packs up

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida — A crucial antenna on the space shuttle Discovery failed to operate Monday when it reached orbit, complicating docking procedures with the International Space Station, NASA said.

The US space agency said the loss of the Ku-band communications antenna was no cause for alarm as the shuttle had other methods of communicating with the ground and multiple back-up systems for the radar system used for docking.

"The dish-shaped antenna is used for high data rate communications with the ground, including television, and for the shuttle's radar system that is used during rendezvous with the International Space Station," the statement said.

"Discovery can safely rendezvous and dock with the station and successfully complete all of its planned mission objectives without use of the Ku-Band antenna, if needed."

The shuttle also has S-band and UHF antennae that can transmit voice and data information on different wavelengths to NASA officials at mission control in Houston, Texas.

The International Space Station has its own Ku-band system for transmitting television images to the ground and that can be used to transmit views of the shuttle after it has docked, NASA said.

"Flight controllers are continuing to troubleshoot the problem with Discovery's Ku-band antenna while also formulating plans to conduct the mission without use of the shuttle Ku system if necessary," the statement said.

NASA said the Ku antenna is also normally used for inspections on the second day of missions to determine if there has been any damage to the shuttle reaching orbit.

"If the Ku still is not working tomorrow, the crew will record all of the inspection video and play it back after docking with the station, using the station's Ku antenna," the space agency said.

"The crew will monitor the video in real time tomorrow and will note the time stamps of any areas of concern."

Discovery blasted off Monday toward the International Space Station, for a historic mission that put more women in orbit than ever before and two Japanese astronauts in space simultaneously for the first time.

NASA had earlier described Monday's dawn launch as nearly "picture perfect" with officials expressing satisfaction about the relative absence of debris that might have risked damaging the shuttle.

Discovery's arrival at the International Space Station is tentatively scheduled for Wednesday and will be one of the final missions for the shuttle program, which will be shuttered later this year.

Astronauts dock at International Space Station

MOSCOW — A Russian rocket carrying three astronauts from Russia and the United States docked at the International Space Station (ISS) Sunday, the Russian flight control centre said.

The Soyuz rocket, which blasted off early Friday, docked at 0925 (0525 GMT), an official from the centre said in a report by the Interfax news agency.

The rocket left from Russia's Baikonur cosmodrome in the Kazakh steppe carrying Russian cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov and Mikhail Korniyenko and US astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson.

The mission will join Russian Oleg Kotov, Soichi Noguchi of Japan and US astronaut Timothy Creamer in the ISS.

The crew will now spend six months in orbit, during which time Korniyenko, a former policeman, will celebrate his 50th birthday.

Both Korniyenko and Skvortsov are making their first trip to space, while NASA astronaut Caldwell Dyson flew on the Space Shuttle Endeavour to the ISS in 2007, spending 12 days in space.

The ISS, which orbits 350 kilometres (220 miles) above Earth, is a sophisticated platform for scientific experiments, helping test the effects of long-term space travel on humans, a must for any trip to distant Mars.

The US health care battle: The Sequel

BOSTON, Massachusetts — President Barack Obama and his Republican foes are plunging anew into toxic health care politics, in a fresh struggle to dictate public opinion seven months before congressional elections.

Obama signed the historic new health law a week ago, but he is selling the reforms to voters as vigorously as ever, almost like someone who sold a house but keeps returning to tell the new owner what a good deal he got.

Republicans meanwhile are beginning to cast their health care attack as an economic argument, after failing to thwart Obama's top domestic priority, arguing the new law will kill jobs amid high unemployment.

Obama's countrywide sales pitch landed in the northeastern state of Maine on Thursday, where his health care triumph stirred young supporters captivated by his change crusade but whipped grass roots conservatives into a frenzy.

Feisty and energized, Obama stressed aspects of the reform which will come into force quickly, and may prove to be popular.

He says students will be able to stay on their parents' insurance until their mid 20s, notes children will soon no longer be denied coverage if they are already sick, and points out tax breaks for hard-pressed small businesses.

First-term presidents traditionally fare badly in mid-term congressional elections, and Democrats fear heavy losses in November.

"Mid terms are tough ... but we are going to surprise a lot of people," said Tim Kaine, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee on Thursday.

Though polls show America split on the health law, Obama hopes to win voters over by November, and leave Republicans on the wrong side of the issue.

"My attitude is go for it, you try and repeal it," Obama said.

"I want these members to come out of Congress and say 'you know what we are going to take away your tax credits, essentially raise your taxes.'"

Later, at a Democratic fundraiser in Boston, Obama mocked Republicans, and a favorite target -- political pundits -- who said the year-long battle on health care would be his downfall.

"Well, it turns out health reform wasn't my Waterloo," he said of a new law which will approach universal health coverage in America for the first time.

But angry anti-Obama demonstrators outside the rally hinted at political divides over health care. Several men held up banners reading "Repeal and Replace Obama."

The president admitted later: "This country is still divided."

Obama's deputy spokesman Bill Burton said the president was determined to debunk what the White House sees as Republican misinformation over the law.

"Nobody thought that overnight the bill would get passed and suddenly people would understand all the benefits," Burton said.

Obama is also repaying political debts to Democratic lawmakers who cast tough votes on health care despite an angry public mood.

When a woman yelled out "Thank You" at his health care rally in Portland, the president gave a shout out to Maine's two Democratic members of the House of Representatives.

"Thank Chellie and Mike, they voted for it," Obama said, referring to local lawmakers Chellie Pingree and Michael Michaud.

The Republican message on health care is also evolving: leading party figures, among them Republican Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell, are beginning to refer to the new law as the "health spending bill."

"America?s job creators, already struggling in a down economy, didn't ask for the mandates, red tape and new taxes they'll have to shoulder as a result of the health spending bill," McConnell said Thursday.

Republicans seek to make Democrats, as the party in power, pay the price for high unemployment and an uncertain return to growth, in November.

Basing their attack on economics may also help them, should health care on its own be a less potent issue by the time polling day comes around.

"At the end of the day, I think the Republicans may be disappointed as to the extent that the health care issue is a driver of things in November," said Christian Potholm, professor of political science at Bowdoin College, Maine.

History may eventually applaud Obama for passing health care reform, but so far he seems to have garnered little political benefit.

A Washington Post poll late last month found that 48 percent of respondents backed Obama's handling of health care while 49 percent disapprove, reflecting a country split down the middle despite Obama's vow to heal political divides.

But the president snapped back at the pundits and pollsters on Thursday, with the words "It's only been a week!"

3 children hurt in Israeli air raids on Gaza: hospital

GAZA CITY — Three children were injured by flying glass as Israeli F16 fighter planes flew six raids against the Gaza Strip overnight, hospital staff, witnesses and Hamas officials said Friday.

The three children, aged two, four and 11, were hit by flying glass in a raid on the Sabra district, in the western part of Gaza City, said Moawiya Hassanein, head of the Palestinian emergency services in Gaza.

The air strikes came after the latest in a series of rocket attacks from Gaza into southern Israel, when one landed in town of Ashkelon late Thursday, causing damage but no casualties, said the Israeli army.

Three Israeli air strikes targetted an area west of Khan Yunis, in the southern part of the Palestinian territory controlled by Hamas. Two of the missiles hit a guard post of Hamas's armed wing, the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades.

A fourth raid destroyed a worskhop in the refugee camp of Nusseirat, in central Gaza.

In two other air raids, Israeli fighters targetted points in the west of Gaza City, completely destroying a small dairy factory in the Sabra district, said witnesses.

The attacks were carried out by F16 fighters, the witnesses said.

Israel's armed forces have launched regular air raids on the Gaza Strip in recent weeks, responding to repeated rocket attacks into Israel from Gaza-based militants.

As well as the attack late Thursday, Palestinian militants also fired a rocket into southern Israel on Wednesday evening. One such attack killed a Thai labourer on an Israeli kibbutz, or collective farm, on March 18.

Palestinian militants have fired more than 40 rockets or mortars into Israel since the beginning of the year, nearly 20 of them in March alone, according to Israeli army figures published Thursday.

In recent days, Israeli ground forces have also clashed with Palestinian militants along the border with Israel.

On Tuesday, a Palestinian teenager was killed and several others were wounded as Israeli troops fired on protestors near the Gaza border.

The incident happened as Israeli Arabs and Palestinians marked "Land Day", the annual commemoration of Israel's killing of six Arab citizens during a 1976 protest against land confiscations.

And an Israeli officer and soldier were killed during fierce clashes last weekend.

Following the deaths, Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz, from the governing rightwing Likud party, told public radio: "Sooner or later we will liquidate the military regime of the pro-Iranian Hamas which controls the Gaza Strip."

The present surge in violence is the worst since the end of the 22-day Israeli assault on the territory launched in December 2008 that killed some 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis.

Security high as Russian rocket rolled out for launch

BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan — Armed interior ministry forces patrolled the train tracks at Russia's Baikonur cosmodrome on Wednesday, amid heightened security ahead of a launch to the International Space Station.

The Soyuz rocket set to blast off on Friday was rolled out of its hangar and out across the barren Kazakh steppe under tighter than normal security two days after a pair of suicide bombers killed dozens in the Moscow metro.

Base officials told journalists at the site to expect tighter-than-normal controls on their movements and security personnel were carrying out document checks throughout the facility in contrast to routine practice.

Security is always high at strategically-sensitive Baikonur, the historic launch site where Yuri Gagarin blasted off in 1961 to become the first human in space, but security was visibly tighter than usual following the bombings.

Sniffer dogs checked the tracks for improvised explosive devices and a helicopter swooped low overhead in the pale early morning light as the 50-metre (160-foot) vessel was dragged to the launch pad by an aging locomotive.

Russian cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov and Mikhail Kornienko, together with US astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson, are to take off Friday on a six month mission which will bring the ISS back up to its six person long-term capacity.

Among the key aims of their mission are the repair of the water recovery system apparatus on the ISS, which has been faltering in recent weeks, and to bring additional life support systems, NASA spokesman Rob Navias told AFP.

Their arrival comes less than a week before the US space shuttle Discovery is set to arrive at the ISS, which will cut short the amount of time the crew will have to acclimatize to conditions aboard the station.

Russia built the Baikonur cosmodrome on the arid plains of Kazakhstan in Soviet times and has continued to use the site under a rental deal since Kazakhstan became independent after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.