After storm deaths, search on for perfect warning

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The average tornado warning in the 1980s went out only after a twister was on the ground. Continuing advances in storm prediction have since enabled forecasters to warn people before a funnel cloud is upon them, giving them precious time to seek shelter.

Our better understanding of the nature of tornadoes such as those that have ripped through Oklahoma several times over the past month, killing dozens of people and injuring hundreds more, has still saved countless lives. And our further understanding of such violent weather patterns will no doubt save even more.

Some experts, though, acknowledge there is debate about whether there can be too much advance warning of tornado strike, and if this could lead people to take foolish risks such as trying to dart across town to pick up a loved one or taking to the open road to try to outrun a violent storm.

"There's a great philosophical discussion about what constitutes the ideal lead time," said Greg Carbin, a warning coordination meteorologist for the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla. "The more lead time the better, but the flip side of that is that accuracy and certainty in our predictions usually decrease with lead time."

Over the last five years, residents in the U.S. have been given an average lead time of 13 minutes between the issuance of a tornado warning and a confirmed tornado on the ground. That's a 17-minute increase from the 1980s, when tornado warnings were typically issued four minutes after a funnel had been spotted, said Lans Rothfusv, who is deputy chief of the warning research and development division at the National Severe Storms Laboratory in Norman.

Rothfusz credited the change to major advancements in technology, especially the introduction of the Doppler radar on the forecasting scene in the early 1990s.

So, is there a "sweet spot" or an ideal amount of warning time?

"While we strive for the longest warning time possible, the answer to that is: it depends," Rothfusv said. "It depends on the individual needs or the group needs."

Those in charge of hospitals, nursing homes or even stadiums filled with people, for example, would need significantly more time to prepare than a family that simply needs to get into the basement.

And while Rothfusv and other weather scientists will continue to work to increase warning times, they say finding the ideal amount of warning time must also involve the input of social scientists and experts in human behavior.

"For years we've been looking at this from the physical science side — better radars and better science, but we're at this interface where nature and humans intersect," he said. "What we're getting to is realizing we need to understand better how people respond to warnings. Maybe we could give people one hour. We need to know what the response may be."

When the widest tornado on record touched down May 31 about 30 miles west of Oklahoma City — an EF5 storm packing 295 mph winds at the edge of a metro area with 1.2 million residents — forecasters had already given residents nearly a half-hour to prepare for the threat.

With the additional time, and with the May 20 EF5 tornado that killed 24 people in Moore, another Oklahoma City suburb, still fresh in their minds, many panicked residents opted to flee their homes, and interstates and roadways became gridlocked with people trying to outrun the approaching storm. Many were encouraged by a local television meteorologist who warned viewers that if they couldn't get underground, they should leave the relative safety of their homes and drive south.

"They were saying that if you weren't below ground, you weren't going to survive it, (and) I was still shell-shocked from May 20," said Terri Black, a teacher's assistant from Moore who left her home and ended up trapped in traffic during the May 31 storm. "That was very instrumental in my decision (to flee)."

Twenty people died in the May 31 tornado and subsequent flooding, including several who were caught in their cars along a crowded interstate.

For the tornado that hit Moore, forecasters gave 16 minutes' notice before the twister touched down at Newcastle and moved northeast.

For those who live in Tornado Alley, the issuance of a tornado warning is an attention-grabber. It means that a tornado has either been spotted or that weather radars show low-level rotation in a storm suggesting a tornado is likely, and it usually prompts the sounding of emergency sirens in populated areas.

With hurricanes, Carbin said early warnings of up to 36 hours before landfall are often needed so residents of cities and towns in the path of the storm have time to evacuate, but tornadoes are a completely different, and highly unpredictable, weather phenomenon.

"With respect to tornadoes, nobody's talking evacuation as far as I know," Carbin said. "That's not possible given the short time scales with which tornadoes develop."

While the average lead time nationally is 13 minutes, Oklahomans and others in the Great Plains often receive more notice because the storms take longer to develop, so the telltale signs of a rotating storm appear earlier in the process. In areas that have smaller tornadoes — mountainous states in the West and those along the Eastern seaboard — twisters develop more quickly and cut into lead times.

The Storm Prediction Center had said for days prior to the May 20 and May 31 outbreaks that storms would likely develop. And when the days arrived, tornado watches — which mean conditions are ideal for tornadoes to develop — had been issued hours before the massive thunderstorms began to develop the rotation that spawned tornadoes. On May 31, the tornado watch area was a huge swath of central Oklahoma, from the Kansas state line to the Red River border with Texas. A tornado watch on May 20 spread across multiple states, making it virtually impossible for someone in the heart of the watch area to try and drive away from the storm's projected path.

"That's the nature of watches. An excess of 30,000 square miles is the average area for a watch," Carbin said. "I think evacuating from tornado watches is a completely unrealistic method of going about this. They're too large, and there's a likelihood of not being able to get out of the way in time."

___

Sean Murphy can be reached at www.twitter.com/apseanmurphy

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French journalists return home after Afghanistan hostage ordeal [VIDEO] (The Christian Science Monitor)

Paris Herve Ghesquiere and Stephane Taponier – Joy came to France this morning as the last two journalists held hostage under war conditions arrived home after 547 days in Taliban captivity. They said the ordeal raised their awareness of other hostages held “everywhere in the world.”

Herve Ghesquiere and Stephane Taponier of France 3 television started reporting in Afghanistan while embedded with a French military unit and were abducted in 2009 in the Kapisa Valley after visiting a town without the protection of troops, in order to get an authentic take on the area.

Today the two landed at a military air base outside Paris amid throngs of French journalists and hugged each other and family, answering questions in an ebullient moment. "We're doing really, really, really well," said Mr. Taponier, a cameraman who has worked in Gaza and Lebanon. “We stayed optimistic.”

When French Prime Minister Francois Fillon announced yesterday the release of the two at the National Assembly, that body erupted in a standing ovation. France has a famed tradition of patriotic emotion on the return home of captives. The release of a French-Colombian celebrity politician, Ingrid Betancourt, after six years held in the jungle brought a day of celebration two years ago.

The two France 3 journalists today described their ordeal as grueling due to poor conditions, lack of food, and uncertainty, but said they were not treated badly by their Taliban captors. Their translator, an Afghan national named Reza Din, was also released.

Winning hearts and minds in Afghanistan

“We were never threatened, never beaten, never tied up,” Taponier said. “But we were locked up 23 hours and 45 minutes [a day], with very little to eat, and always the same thing, ‘Afghan mountain special.’ It might sound stupid, food, but it's vital."

Mr. Ghesquiere, who worked in the Rwanda, Kosovo, and Balkan wars, said the experience has him thinking more of other unfortunates who are locked away or kidnapped. "There are many hostages in the world, I am really thinking about them,” he told colleagues today. “To be a hostage is complicated and difficult… I feel a deep emotion for them."

The two were released following a December intervention with Afghan President Hamid Karzai by French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe, as well as the announcement of a withdrawal of French troops this month after US President Obama’s decision to draw down US troop levels. The Paris-based Reporters San Frontiers says the two are the final professional journalists held hostage that they are aware of.

Unusually, for four months after their kidnapping the French government did not release the men’s names. The reason was to reduce pressure in negotiations, a tactic similar to that used by the New York Times in securing its reporter David Rhodes. It was the first time France had held back names of captives.

Perils of war reporting Journalists here later criticized French officials for insinuating, once their names were known, that the men were irresponsible and perhaps culpable, since they left their embed. The issue of operating independently in Taliban areas has been a sensitive and highly subjective one among foreign reporters in Afghanistan: The calculation pits the reporter’s experience and skill with a desire to achieve a thrilling or significant story and includes the risk of doing harm to local translators, civilians or troops that may be called to rescue.

In this case, the men had war reporting backgrounds. They worked for a highly regarded series on France 3 television called “Pieces a conviction,” an in-depth report akin to “Frontline” on US public television or “Assignment” on the BBC. Their Afghan report focused on a road reconstruction project in the French military zone to the east of Kabul and was planned for three months.

After it was posited today that French military officials warned the journalists not to go to the town they were captured in, Ghesquiere offered in a slight eruption that: "No one had warned us against going there… We didn't start out climbing the North Face of Everest wearing flip-flops, far from it… We didn't go there blindly… Let me make myself clear: No one told us anything."

GhesquierA? said he looked forward to returning to a normal life and that he did not want to a€?play the role of an ex-hostage.a€

--

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Police search Kabul hotel after Taliban attack kills 9 (Reuters)

KABUL (Reuters) – Afghan police sifted through one of Kabul's landmark hotels room by room on Wednesday for any more casualties, securing the building after an overnight assault by Taliban suicide bombers killed eight Afghan civilians and police and a foreigner.

The nine attackers, armed with rocket-propelled grenades and other weapons, stormed the heavily guarded Intercontinental hotel, frequented by Westerners and VIPs, before a NATO helicopter killed the remaining insurgents in a final rooftop battle that ended a raid lasting more than five hours.

The foreign victim was a Spanish civil aviation pilot, according to Spain's foreign ministry.

The brazen raid came only a week after President Barack Obama announced a phased withdrawal of combat troops to 2014, and it raised more doubts about the ability of Afghan security forces to battle insurgents.

It needed a NATO helicopter to finally finish off the attackers, and NATO trainers helped oversee the Afghan police response to the raid.

After several explosions, attackers entered the hotel late on Tuesday and made their way to the ballroom, a hotel receptionist said.

Some carried tape recorders playing Taliban war songs and shot at anyone they saw. Guests jumped from second and third floors to escape, the receptionist told Reuters, asking not to be identified.

"The police are still searching room by room to see if there are any casualties or any threats," Kabul police chief Ayoub Salangi told reporters.

Eight people were wounded in the attack, according to the Interior Ministry.

There have been insurgent attacks at a hotel, guesthouse and a supermarket in Kabul over the past year, although the capital has been relatively quiet compared with the rest of the country.

The timing of the attack, suggested similarities with other raids meant to show the Taliban retain the ability to strike at will despite gains made by NATO-led troops over the past 18 months.

Some guests included provincial governors attending a conference due to begin on Wednesday over the transition of civil and military responsibility from foreign forces to Afghans, two Afghan officials said.

Last week, Obama announced plans for an initial withdrawal of 10,000 U.S. troops from Afghanistan by the end of this year, with another 23,000 to leave by the end of 2012, sparking concern the Afghan security forces were not ready to take over.

But President Hamid Karzai said the plan stood.

"This insurgent attack cannot stop our security transition process," Karzai said in a statement.

LATE-NIGHT ATTACK

Hours after the attack began, some foreign hotel guests were driven away in diplomatic vehicles while others waited on a street outside the hotel as the sun rose over Kabul.

Reuters witnesses heard at least seven blasts over the course of more than five hours, with bursts of gunfire heard.

Three insurgents were shot dead while six blew themselves up.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said several fighters from the Islamist group had attacked the hotel.

Mujahid, who spoke to Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location, said heavy casualties had been inflicted.

The Taliban often exaggerate the number of casualties in attacks against Western and Afghan government targets.

One blast was heard at the start of the attack and then three more about an hour later, one of the Reuters witnesses said. Bursts of gunfire were heard over the same period and flares lit up the sky.

Reuters television footage showed police firing tracer rounds into the air as other officers moved through the hotel.

Power was cut in the hotel and in surrounding areas after the attack.

The hotel, built on a hill in western Kabul with fortifications around it, was for years the city's main hotel and is often used for conferences and by Westerners.

Violence has flared across Afghanistan since the Taliban announced the start of a spring offensive at the beginning of May.

The last big attack on a major Kabul hotel used by foreigners was in January 2008, when several Taliban gunmen killed six people in a commando-style raid on the city-center Serena hotel.

The increase in violence comes as NATO-led forces prepare to hand security responsibility to Afghans in seven areas from next month at the start of the gradual transition that will end with all combat foreign troops leaving by the end of 2014.

The two-day conference to discuss the transition was due to begin in a government building in the center of the city on Wednesday. Officials said the conference would go on despite the attack.

Violence across Afghanistan in 2010 the worst since the Taliban were ousted by U.S.-backed Afghan forces in late 2001.

(Additional reporting by Hamid Shalizi, Omar Sobhani and Ahmad Masood; Editing by Robert Birsel)

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Police search Kabul hotel after Taliban attack kills 9 (Reuters)

KABUL (Reuters) – Afghan police sifted through one of Kabul's landmark hotels room by room on Wednesday for any more casualties, securing the building after an overnight assault by Taliban suicide bombers killed eight Afghan civilians and police and a foreigner.

The nine attackers, armed with rocket-propelled grenades and other weapons, stormed the heavily guarded Intercontinental hotel, frequented by Westerners and VIPs, before a NATO helicopter killed the remaining insurgents in a final rooftop battle that ended a raid lasting more than five hours.

The foreign victim was a Spanish civil aviation pilot, according to Spain's foreign ministry.

The brazen raid came only a week after President Barack Obama announced a phased withdrawal of combat troops to 2014, and it raised more doubts about the ability of Afghan security forces to battle insurgents.

It needed a NATO helicopter to finally finish off the attackers, and NATO trainers helped oversee the Afghan police response to the raid.

After several explosions, attackers entered the hotel late on Tuesday and made their way to the ballroom, a hotel receptionist said.

Some carried tape recorders playing Taliban war songs and shot at anyone they saw. Guests jumped from second and third floors to escape, the receptionist told Reuters, asking not to be identified.

"The police are still searching room by room to see if there are any casualties or any threats," Kabul police chief Ayoub Salangi told reporters.

Eight people were wounded in the attack, according to the Interior Ministry.

There have been insurgent attacks at a hotel, guesthouse and a supermarket in Kabul over the past year, although the capital has been relatively quiet compared with the rest of the country.

The timing of the attack, suggested similarities with other raids meant to show the Taliban retain the ability to strike at will despite gains made by NATO-led troops over the past 18 months.

Some guests included provincial governors attending a conference due to begin on Wednesday over the transition of civil and military responsibility from foreign forces to Afghans, two Afghan officials said.

Last week, Obama announced plans for an initial withdrawal of 10,000 U.S. troops from Afghanistan by the end of this year, with another 23,000 to leave by the end of 2012, sparking concern the Afghan security forces were not ready to take over.

But President Hamid Karzai said the plan stood.

"This insurgent attack cannot stop our security transition process," Karzai said in a statement.

LATE-NIGHT ATTACK

Hours after the attack began, some foreign hotel guests were driven away in diplomatic vehicles while others waited on a street outside the hotel as the sun rose over Kabul.

Reuters witnesses heard at least seven blasts over the course of more than five hours, with bursts of gunfire heard.

Three insurgents were shot dead while six blew themselves up.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said several fighters from the Islamist group had attacked the hotel.

Mujahid, who spoke to Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location, said heavy casualties had been inflicted.

The Taliban often exaggerate the number of casualties in attacks against Western and Afghan government targets.

One blast was heard at the start of the attack and then three more about an hour later, one of the Reuters witnesses said. Bursts of gunfire were heard over the same period and flares lit up the sky.

Reuters television footage showed police firing tracer rounds into the air as other officers moved through the hotel.

Power was cut in the hotel and in surrounding areas after the attack.

The hotel, built on a hill in western Kabul with fortifications around it, was for years the city's main hotel and is often used for conferences and by Westerners.

Violence has flared across Afghanistan since the Taliban announced the start of a spring offensive at the beginning of May.

The last big attack on a major Kabul hotel used by foreigners was in January 2008, when several Taliban gunmen killed six people in a commando-style raid on the city-center Serena hotel.

The increase in violence comes as NATO-led forces prepare to hand security responsibility to Afghans in seven areas from next month at the start of the gradual transition that will end with all combat foreign troops leaving by the end of 2014.

The two-day conference to discuss the transition was due to begin in a government building in the center of the city on Wednesday. Officials said the conference would go on despite the attack.

Violence across Afghanistan in 2010 the worst since the Taliban were ousted by U.S.-backed Afghan forces in late 2001.

(Additional reporting by Hamid Shalizi, Omar Sobhani and Ahmad Masood; Editing by Robert Birsel)

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Austin hotel closing after third falling-glass incident

Falling-glass incident is the third in recent weeks involving the Austin, Texas, hotelHotel says it will close while it replaces all balcony glass; guests are being relocatedThe hotel is being sued over a June 10 incident in which two people were injuredRead more about this story from CNN affiliate KXAN-TV.

(CNN) -- The W Austin hotel is closing indefinitely after glass fell from the balcony panels of the Austin, Texas, building for a second day in a row and the third time in recent weeks, the hotel's parent company announced Tuesday.

The hotel will be closed "until further notice" as the glass panels are replaced, the hotel's parent company said in a statement Tuesday. Guests of the hotel are being relocated to other hotels.

"We are replacing every piece of balcony glass on the building," Stratus Properties CEO Beau Armstrong said in the statement.

The incident occurred the same day a lawsuit was filed against the hotel on behalf of two people who were injured June 10 when glass from a broken panel rained down on them in the hotel pool, CNN affiliate KXAN-TV reported.

According to the lawsuit, the hotel had been warned of the problem before the incident but failed to respond, KXAN reported.

Just after 5 p.m. Tuesday, three panels fell from the south side of the building, a day after panels fell on cars parked below on 3rd Street, KXAN reported.

The W Hotel in midtown Atlanta was the site of a fatal accident on May 28, when two women crashed through a 10-floor window and one fell to her death. According to a preliminary investigation, the friends were "play fighting" when they smashed into the window and fell.

In the days following that incident, an Atlanta police spokesman said in a statement officers were not looking at the glass in the windows as a factor and had "no reason to believe this was anything other than a tragic accident."

In a statement Tuesday, W Austin stressed that the Austin and Atlanta incidents were "completely unrelated."

"They involve two dissimilar types of buildings that were built at different times," the statement said. "The incident at the W Austin involved balcony glass on empty condos above the hotel and the incident at the W Atlanta Midtown involved a guestroom window."

CNN

Police search Kabul hotel after Taliban attack kills 10 (Reuters)

KABUL (Reuters) – Afghan police sifted through one of Kabul's landmark hotels room by room on Wednesday for any more casualties or security threats after an overnight assault by Taliban suicide bombers killed 10 Afghan civilians and police.

The eight attackers, armed with rocket-propelled grenades and other weapons, stormed the heavily guarded Intercontinental hotel, frequented by Westerners and VIPs, before a NATO helicopter killed the remaining insurgents in a final rooftop battle that ended a raid lasting more than five hours.

The brazen raid came only a week after President Barack Obama announced a phased withdrawal of combat troops to 2014, and it raised more doubts about the ability of Afghan security forces to battle insurgents.

It needed a NATO helicopter to finally finish off the attackers, and NATO trainers helped oversee the Afghan police response to the raid.

After several explosions, attackers entered the hotel late on Tuesday and made their way to the ballroom, a hotel receptionist said.

Some carried tape recorders playing Taliban war songs and shot at anyone they saw. Guests jumped from second and third floors to escape, the receptionist told Reuters, asking not to be identified.

"The police are still searching room by room to see if there are any casualties or any threats," Kabul police chief Ayoub Salangi told reporters.

Eight people were wounded in the attack, according to the Interior Ministry. Two policemen were among the 10 dead.

There have been insurgent attacks at a hotel, guesthouse and a supermarket in Kabul over the past year, although the capital has been relatively quiet compared with the rest of the country.

The timing of the attack, suggested similarities with other raids meant to show the Taliban retain the ability to strike at will despite gains made by NATO-led troops over the past 18 months.

Some guests included provincial governors attending a conference due to begin on Wednesday over the transition of civil and military responsibility from foreign forces to Afghans, two Afghan officials said.

Last week, Obama announced plans for an initial withdrawal of 10,000 U.S. troops from Afghanistan by the end of this year, with another 23,000 to leave by the end of 2012, sparking concern the Afghan security forces were not ready to take over.

But President Hamid Karzai said the plan stood.

"This insurgent attack cannot stop our security transition process," Karzai said in a statement.

LATE-NIGHT ATTACK

Hours after the attack began, some foreign hotel guests were driven away in diplomatic vehicles while others waited on a street outside the hotel as the sun rose over Kabul.

Reuters witnesses heard at least seven blasts over the course of more than five hours, with bursts of gunfire heard.

Some insurgents were shot dead by police while others blew themselves up.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said several fighters from the Islamist group had attacked the hotel.

Mujahid, who spoke to Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location, said heavy casualties had been inflicted.

The Taliban often exaggerate the number of casualties in attacks against Western and Afghan government targets.

One blast was heard at the start of the attack and then three more about an hour later, one of the Reuters witnesses said. Bursts of gunfire were heard over the same period and flares lit up the sky.

Reuters television footage showed police firing tracer rounds into the air as other officers moved through the hotel.

Power was cut in the hotel and in surrounding areas after the attack.

The hotel, built on a hillside in western Kabul with fortifications around it, was for years the city's main hotel and is often used for conferences and by Westerners.

Violence has flared across Afghanistan since the Taliban announced the start of a spring offensive at the beginning of May.

The last big attack on a major Kabul hotel used by foreigners was in January 2008, when several Taliban gunmen killed six people in a commando-style raid on the city-center Serena hotel.

The increase in violence comes as NATO-led forces prepare to hand security responsibility to Afghans in seven areas from next month at the start of the gradual transition that will end with all combat foreign troops leaving by the end of 2014.

The two-day conference to discuss the transition was due to begin in a government building in the center of the city on Wednesday. Officials said the conference would go on despite the attack.

Violence across Afghanistan in 2010 the worst since the Taliban were ousted by U.S.-backed Afghan forces in late 2001.

(Additional reporting by Hamid Shalizi, Omar Sobhani and Ahmad Masood; Editing by Robert Birsel)

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TSA stands by officers after pat-down of elderly woman in Florida

A 95-year-old woman was held up by TSA officers at a Florida airport, her daughter saysThe agents forced the cancer-stricken woman to take off her adult diaper, she addsThe TSA insists its officers "acted professionally and according to proper procedure"The woman's daughter says those procedures should be changed

(CNN) -- The Transportation Security Administration stood by its security officers Sunday after a Florida woman complained that her cancer-stricken, 95-year-old mother was patted down and forced to remove her adult diaper while going through security.

Reports of the incident took hold in social media, with scores of comments on the topic and reposts appearing hourly on Twitter Sunday afternoon.

The TSA released a statement Sunday defending its agents' actions at the Northwest Florida Regional Airport.

"While every person and item must be screened before entering the secure boarding area, TSA works with passengers to resolve security alarms in a respectful and sensitive manner," the federal agency said. "We have reviewed the circumstances involving this screening and determined that our officers acted professionally and according to proper procedure."

TSA pat downs 6-year-old child

Jean Weber told CNN's Fredricka Whitfield on Sunday that the security officers may have been procedurally correct, but she still does not believe they were justified, especially given her mother's frail condition.

"If this is your procedure -- which I do understand -- I also feel that your procedure needs to be changed," she said.

Weber said the two were traveling June 18 from northwest Florida to Michigan, so her mother could move in with relatives before eventually going to an assisted living facility.

"My mother is very ill, she has a form of leukemia," Weber said. "She had a blood transfusion the week before, just to bolster up her strength for this travel."

While going through security, the 95-year-old was taken by a TSA officer into a glassed-in area, where a pat-down was performed, Weber said. An agent told Weber "they felt something suspicious on (her mother's) leg and they couldn't determine what it was" -- leading them to take her into a private, closed room.

Soon after, Weber said, a TSA agent came out and told her that her mother's Depend undergarment was "wet and it was firm, and they couldn't check it thoroughly." The mother and daughter left to find a bathroom, at the TSA officer's request, to take off the adult diaper.

Weber said she burst into tears during the ordeal, forcing her own pat-down and other measures in accordance with TSA protocol. But she said her mother, a nurse for 65 years, "was very calm" despite being bothered by the fact that she had to go through the airport without underwear.

Eventually, Weber said she asked for her mother to be whisked away to the boarding gate without her, because their plane was scheduled to leave in two minutes and Weber was still going through security.

By this weekend, the 95-year-old woman -- who was not identified by name -- was doing "fine" in Michigan, where her niece and her family "was treating her like royalty because they love her so much."

"My mother is a trouper," Weber said.

This is not the first time that the TSA's pat-downs of passengers have come under fire, nor the first time that the agency has rallied behind its officers and policy.

Last year, the administration announced it was ramping up the use of full-body scanning and pat-downs to stop nonmetallic threats, including explosives, from getting on planes. The goal is to head off attacks such as the one allegedly attempted in Christmas 2009 by Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab, who allegedly had a bomb sewn into his underwear on a flight from the Netherlands to Michigan.

The TSA estimates that only 3% of passengers are subjected to pat-downs -- and then only after they have set off a metal detector or declined to step into a full-body scanner. Yet the new policy has triggered an uproar online and in airports, from a relatively small but vocal number of travelers who feel their rights and privacy were being violated.

But the federal safety agency hasn't backed down, making some adjustments but no major changes to its policy.

"Every traveler is a critical partner in TSA's efforts to keep our skies safe," Administrator John Pistole, who ordered the new approach, said last fall. "And I know and appreciate that the vast majority of Americans recognize and respect the important work we do."

More recently, outrage erupted over a video-recorded pat-down of a 6-year-old passenger last April at New Orleans' airport. The video, which was posted on YouTube, shows the girl protesting the search by a female security officer at first, though she complies quietly while it is underway.

Pistole addressed this controversy at a Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee meeting last week, explaining the pat-down was ordered because the child had moved while passing through a body imaging machine. He told committee members that "we have changed the policy (so) that there'll be repeated efforts made to resolve that without a pat-down."

The next day, TSA spokesman Greg Soule said that the new policy -- which will apply to children age 12 and younger -- is in the process of being rolled out. It will give security officers "more options," but does not eliminate pat-downs as one of them.

"This decision will ultimately reduce -- though not eliminate -- pat-downs," Soule said.

CNN

Casey Anthony murder trial resumes after abrupt delay

(CNN) -- Casey Anthony, charged with killing her 2-year-old daughter in 2008, underwent examinations by three psychologists over the weekend after her defense team filed a motion to determine her competency to proceed, the judge in her trial said Monday.

All three psychologists found Anthony competent, Orange County Chief Judge Belvin Perry said out of the jury's presence. Their reports will be sealed, he said.

It was implied -- but not expressly stated -- that the motion was the reason for the abrupt recess Perry called on Saturday. The resumption of the trial Monday was delayed for more than half an hour as attorneys huddled in Perry's chambers.

Anthony's defense team is trying to discredit the prosecution theory that the Orlando woman rendered her daughter Caylee unconscious with chloroform, duct-taped her mouth and nose, and stored the body in her car trunk for a few days before dumping it in the woods. Anthony, 25, is charged with seven counts, including first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse and misleading police. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against her.

The defense says Caylee accidentally drowned in the family pool and that Anthony and her father, George, panicked and covered it up. George Anthony has denied that theory.

On Monday, jurors heard testimony from Orange County Sheriff's Office Detective Yuri Melich, the lead investigator in the case. Defense attorney Jose Baez questioned Melich in an effort to cast doubt on the thoroughness of the investigation.

Under questioning, Melich acknowledged that he did not subpoena George Anthony's cell tower records, showing where he was when calls were made or received. Asked whether that might have helped investigators, Melich said it would have, "if I had had a reason to believe it would play a part in this case, which at the time I did not."

He said he also did not seize a computer belonging to Roy Kronk, the meter reader who discovered Caylee's remains in a wooded area near the Anthony home on December 11, 2008. Melich testified he had no reason to do so.

Melich also said that cadaver dogs were not deployed on George and Cindy Anthony's cars, only on Casey Anthony's. On cross-examination, prosecutor Linda Drane Burdick asked Melich whether anyone ever reported that either of those cars smelled like a dead body. He said no.

Saturday had been planned as an extended weekend work day in the trial. But Perry ordered a recess over the sudden emergence of what one analyst said must be a major issue.

"Obviously it's big, and obviously it's troublesome and obviously it's something that can't be disclosed," HLN legal analyst Linda Kenney Baden said.

Perry emerged from his chambers Saturday morning after nearly an hour of discussions with lawyers both in and out of the courtroom to announce the day's planned testimony would be canceled.

He said only that the delay was due to a legal issue unrelated to complaints prosecutors raised Saturday morning about expected testimony from Kenneth Furton, a chemistry expert the defense had planned to call.

Defense attorney J. Cheney Mason said media speculation on a potential mistrial or plea deal was false.

In what has become a familiar strain during the trial, prosecutor Jeff Ashton complained to Perry on Saturday that defense attorneys didn't disclose Furton's plans to testify about things that weren't contained in his initial report provided to prosecutors or mentioned in his formal interview with them.

Perry has previously admonished Baez for failing to disclose planned testimony to prosecutors, going so far as to say he will consider contempt proceedings against Baez once the trial is over.

Furton was to testify about explanations for vile odors and the presence of chloroform in the trunk of Casey Anthony's car, where prosecutors claim she stored the body of her daughter before dumping the remains in a wooded field.

Chloroform can be given off in small amounts by a decomposing body. One prosecution expert described the levels of the substance in the trunk of Anthony's white Pontiac Sunfire as "shockingly high." Several witnesses also testified for the state about odors that they said smelled like the unmistakable scent of human decomposition.

Furton did not provide specific alternative explanations for the presence of odors or chloroform in his initial report or in his interview with prosecutors, Ashton complained.

"Once again we are in the position of experts having supplemented their opinions without notifying the state," Ashton said.

Attorneys indicated to Perry they had reached an agreement on Furton, but did not say whether the agreement involved his testifying.

Perry hinted at his frustration Saturday.

"You would think this would have grown old by now, but I guess some things never change," he said.

Saturday marked the end of the fifth week of testimony in the trial, which began with opening statements on May 24.

Perry originally told jurors, who are being housed in an Orlando hotel shielded from media coverage of the trial, that the trial could last six to eight weeks.

On Friday -- before Saturday's delay -- Baez said he expected the defense to rest on Wednesday or possibly Thursday. That would leave room for a rebuttal case from the prosecution and closing statements before the Independence Day holiday.

It is unclear how Saturday's delay will affect those plans.

Caylee was not reported missing to police until July 15, 2008, when Casey Anthony's mother, Cindy Anthony, tracked down her daughter and demanded answers regarding Caylee's whereabouts. Prosecution witnesses described Anthony's behavior in the month after Caylee was last seen as nonchalant, testifying that she spent time with her boyfriend, went shopping and to nightclubs -- but told no one her daughter was missing.

Baez said in his opening statement that Anthony behaved as she did because years of sexual abuse by her father had conditioned her to conceal the truth and hide her pain.

George Anthony has denied the claims that he abused his daughter or helped conceal his granddaughter's death.

In Session's Michael Christian and Jean Casarez contributed to this report.

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After Iraq and Afghanistan, Is Negotiation Inevitable in Libya? (Time.com)

As NATO's war in Libya entered its 100th day on Monday, an end to the conflict may be in sight - but not necessarily a decisive one. Military and diplomatic signs point increasingly towards some measure of compromise by both sides in shaping an outcome that neither the regime nor the rebels would have countenanced when their struggle began. Rebel forces who have been consolidating their hold on villages in mountains to the West of Tripoli launched a furious assault Sunday on the approaches to the capital, but were repelled by forces loyal to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. The regime appears unable for the foreseeable future to restore control over those - slowly growing - parts of the country where rebel forces have broken Gaddafi's iron grip, yet the rebels and their NATO backers so far appear unable to deal the regime's forces a knockout blow. And while the rebel forces may be growing in confidence, the commitment of the Western allies that have enabled rebel advances is clearly finite.

The intensification of fighting so close to the capital suggests that both sides may be aware that the clock is ticking down towards what may be an inevitable negotiated solution, and are doing their best to shape it to their advantage. Recent comments by British military commanders and Defense Secretary Robert Gates underscore the sense that the European NATO members responsible for the air war will be hard-pressed to continue the campaign much beyond the current summer, and diplomatic support for the military intervention is ebbing fast: Italy last week called for a suspension of hostilities, although that suggestion was quickly squelched by NATO partners; the African Union, China, Russia and the Arab League have begun to retract their endorsement of a military campaign they authorized to protect Libyan civilians, but which has morphed unmistakably into a regime-change operation. And President Obama is under fire from both sides of the aisle over U.S. involvement in the campaign. (See exclusive photos of Libya's rebels.)

Such are the limits on rebel military strength that NATO's decision-making may be decisive - it seems unlikely right now that the rebels could press the fight without outside intervention. And the Western powers that have intervened in Libya may have plenty of reasons to press for a compromise.

The Europeans are increasingly focused on the diplomatic arena, where an African Union delegation headed by South Africa's President Jacob Zuma is pressing the regime to negotiate a solution that involves sidelining Gaddafi himself, even if the rump of his regime is included in a new political process. The South Africans reported progress at the weekend, at least in as much as they claimed Gaddafi had agreed to stay out of peace talks involving his regime. The AU appears to be pushing for a cease-fire that would establish a transitional government - presumably composed of elements of the current regime (although not Gaddafi himself) and of the rebel leadership in Benghazi - and a mechanism for a democratic transformation.

Last week, Gaddafi was rumored to be considering leaving Tripoli in what some said was some sort of agreement in which he would accept some form of internal exile while a new political process was worked out. But both the regime and the rebel leadership dismissed such talk. (See "Death, Prison or Exile: Gaddafi Is Out of Options.")

Even if there are weeks of intense fighting ahead, NATO's calendar and the shifting diplomatic terrain, as well as the regime's resilience after more than three months of pummeling by the Western alliance, suggest that the endgame is afoot.

And while NATO clearly needs a rapid solution, it's not only the haste prompted by the limits of Western military commitment to Libya that points towards a compromise outcome. The Western experience of regime-change in both Iraq and Afghanistan suggests that any solution that entirely excludes the old regime is a recipe for protracted instability, and possibly even failure.

The exclusion of the Ba'athists and the Sunni base of the old regime from the post-Saddam political order - and the summary dissolution of the old Iraqi army - made inevitable an insurgency that has tied down U.S. forces in Iraq for eight years. Those decisions left tens of thousands of men who had been vested in the old order, still well armed and organized, with plenty of incentive to destabilize the new one, in which they had no stake. (See pictures from the Battle for Libya.)

In Afghanistan, the Taliban were scattered by the U.S. invasion, but not destroyed. As reviled as they were by many in the society, they retained a base in the Pashtun south. And they were excluded from the creation of a new political order, heavily tilted in favor of the ethnic Tajiks, Uzbeks and Hazaras of the Northern Alliance. The new arrangement, which installed India's Afghan allies at the expense of Pakistan's erstwhile proxy, also gave Islamabad an incentive to ensure its failure. And almost ten years later, some 100,000 U.S. troops remain in Afghanistan facing an insurgency that has grown stronger over the past four years.

The lesson for Libya is obvious: Even if Gaddafi were killed in a Western air strike, or if he fled to the desert or abroad, the many thousands of Libyans who have fought for his regime would have to be incorporated in shaping a new political order in Libya. Indeed, bringing the war to an end by a negotiated settlement, as NATO clearly intends, all but guarantees that the outcome will not be a simple transfer of power from Gaddafi to the rebel leadership in Benghazi. The question of how much power the regime, even without the Colonel, maintains in the transition is one that will be settled not only in talks, but more importantly on the battlefield. Which is why the fighting is likely to be intense in the days and weeks ahead, in what may well be the Libya war's final crescendo.

See TIME's exclusive photos on the ground in Tripoli.

Watch "Libyan Rebels Have Passion, Lack Order."

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Twelve wounded after suicide bomber hits Iraq police station (Reuters)

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – At least 12 people were wounded when a suicide bomber in a wheelchair blew himself up at a police station in the northern outskirts of Iraq's capital on Sunday, a spokesman for the Baghdad operations command said.

Major General Qassim al-Moussawi said the bomber set off his explosives vest in the police chief's office at the station in Tarmiya, 25 km (15 miles) north of Baghdad.

"This is the initial toll and we expect it to rise," Moussawi told Reuters.

He said the 12 wounded included nine policemen and three civilians.

An Interior Ministry source put the toll at two killed and 17 wounded, including nine policemen.

Attacks against Iraqi security forces have been increasing as the country's army and police prepare to take total responsibility for security ahead of a full withdrawal of U.S. troops by December, more than eight years after the invasion.

Insurgents launched at least eight attacks on police in Baghdad and northern Mosul on Wednesday, using a combination of guns and explosives.

Bombings and killings remain a daily occurrence in Iraq as security forces fight a stubborn insurgency, although overall violence has dropped since the height of sectarian fighting in 2006-7.

(Reporting by Muhanad Mohammed; Writing by Serena Chaudhry; Editing by Louise Ireland)

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Chinese activists silent after release

Activist Hu Jia and his wife, Zeng Jinyan, pose in their home on the outskirts of Beijing in 2007.Hu Jia's wife says in a Twitter post that he is safe and needs to restAi Weiwei declines to answer questions from reporters outside his homeArtist Guo Jian says police visit him regularly and agents shadow him in the streetsActivists say the Chinese government is targeting dissidents, intellectuals and artists

Beijing (CNN) -- Chinese authorities released prominent human rights activist Hu Jia Sunday, days after freeing renowned dissident artist Ai Weiwei.

"A sleepless night -- Hu Jia arrived at home at 2:30. He's safe and I'm very happy," Zeng Jinyan, Hu's wife, said in a Twitter post Sunday morning. "He needs to rest for a while."

Hu, 37, denounced China's human rights record in a series of articles ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and was later sentenced to 3.5 years in prison for "inciting to subvert state power." Ai, the conceptual artist turned government critic, was released Wednesday on bail after authorities detained him for nearly three months for tax evasion, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

The seemingly positive news, however, has been dampened by the noticeable silence of both once-outspoken activists.

While Ai declined to answer questions from reporters outside his home early this week, police Sunday guarded entrances to Hu's apartment compound and patrolled surrounding streets. Zeng, his wife, appeared unreachable via phone or the internet.

Zeng told CNN Friday that authorities started 24-hour surveillance on her several days before Hu's expected return. In an interview last December, she predicted a virtual prisoner's life for the couple in their housing complex, called Freedom City.

"Hu Jia told me that he won't change, and police told him they may put him under house arrest in that case," she said. "I'm prepared for it."

"As long as there's no democracy or the rule of law in China, our situation won't change at all."

Last year's Nobel peace laureate Liu Xiaobo, also a rights activist, was convicted of the same crime as Hu. Liu is still serving an 11-year jail term.

Activists say the Chinese government, worried about potential uprisings inspired by the Arab Spring, has been increasingly tightening its grip on freedom of expression, targeting not only political dissidents but also intellectuals and artists.

Guo Jian said he has noticed such chilling effects from his studio at the Songzhuang art village, not far from Hu's home.

The veteran artist has been working on a startling installation piece that shows the very symbol of state power being bombed and razed. In the still-untitled diorama, model warplanes hang by thin threads fly over a miniature Tiananmen Square. The heart of Beijing is dotted with bulldozers and tanks, with the iconic Tiananmen Gate and Chairman Mao's mausoleum smashed and half-destroyed.

"The police have sent someone to say, don't show your work or don't let other people know about it," he said. "They're really worried about what I'm doing."

Guo, 48, says for the first time in his 20-year career, police now visit him regularly and plainclothes agents sometimes shadow him on the streets.

Pointing to his unfinished diorama, Guo says the authorities' outdated mentality and methods -- silencing perceived dissent through intimidation and detention -- only reinforce the message in his work: the potentially explosive consequences of suppressing people's voices for too long.

While he feels heartened by the release of fellow-artist Ai and activist Hu, Guo remains concerned about the current crackdown and doesn't see it ending anytime soon.

"Even though we got someone back, the fear is there," he said.

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Activist: Syria kills 2 protesting after funerals (AP)

BEIRUT – Syrian forces opened fire at funerals for slain political protesters, a human rights activist said Sunday, leaving two more people dead as Syria tries to subdue weeks of demonstrations against President Bashar Assad.

The two were killed Saturday in al-Kaswa, a suburb of the Syrian capital, Damascus, said Rami Abdul-Rahman, the London-based director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Security forces opened fire when the funerals for protesters killed on Friday turned into protests themselves, he said.

Footage posted online by activists showed dozens of people in a Saturday funeral procession for three of the dead in al-Kaswa, shouting "Allahu Akbar!" or "God is great!" and "Bashar, get out!"

One person was also killed Saturday in Damascus' Barzeh neighborhood and two were killed in the village of al-Quseir, near the Lebanese border, Abdul-Rahman said.

Hundreds of Syrians, some with gunshot wounds, crossed into neighboring Lebanon late last week fleeing the crackdown. The new arrivals joined thousands of other Syrians who fled to Lebanon in May and early June.

The military's recent sweep through northwestern Syria, where armed resistance flared in early June, also has sent more than 11,700 refugees fleeing across the border to refugee camps in Turkey.

Syrian activists said 20 people were killed in Friday demonstrations across Syria, including two children aged 12 and 13.

The opposition says some 1,400 people have been killed in recent months as the government has cracked down on the movement demanding an end to four decades of autocratic Assad family rule.

Syria's military spokesman, meanwhile, said in a CNN television interview that 1,300 members of security forces have been killed in the months-long unrest, during which the government has repeatedly said its forces have been attacked by "armed gangs."

Maj. Gen. Riad Haddad's statement, like the reports by anti-regime activists, could not be independently verified, since Damascus has banned foreign reporters from Syria and put restrictions on local journalists' reporting.

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After decades of war, Sudan's Abyei defies quick fixes (Reuters)

KHARTOUM/JUBA (Reuters) – When Abdeljalil Abdelrahim talks about Abyei, a war-scarred region in central Sudan prized by northern nomads for its grazing land, he has no doubt it belongs to the north.

"Abyei has been part of the north historically," the 41-year-old laborer said as he unloaded jerricans of food oil in a dusty Khartoum suburb. "If there is a war over it, I'll be fighting alongside my government, alongside the north."

Some 1,200 kilometres (750 miles) south in Juba, 36-year-old Abel Garang, from the southern Dinka tribe like most of Abyei's permanent residents, is just as certain the region is southern. "Abyei belongs to the south. It's our land, it's our place."

South Sudan will split away to form a new nation on July 9, but north and south have yet to agree who owns Abyei, stirring fears a long-running quarrel over the region will sour the secession and could spark a broader conflict.

In a power play ahead of the split, Khartoum sent tanks and troops into Abyei on May 21, outraging the southern government, human rights groups and regional and global powers who called it a violation of the 2005 deal that ended Sudan's long civil war.

The move followed an attack on a convoy of northern troops and U.N. peacekeepers which the north blamed on the south and which the U.N. said was likely to have been carried out by southern police or soldiers.

As Khartoum moved in, tens of thousands of villagers fled south in a panicked exodus to escape looting and burning.

Last week the two sides agreed to withdraw troops from Abyei and bring in Ethiopian peacekeepers, but the area's symbolic and emotional potency could make it a sore point for years to come.

"This could be the start of another prolonged bout of internationally-backed mediation, or it could be the first shot in a long border war," Douglas Johnson, a Sudan expert and former member of the Abyei Boundaries Commission, said.

A return to war, which neither north or south Sudan can afford, would destabilize the region by sending refugees back into neighbors like Kenya and Ethiopia and creating a security vacuum in the heavily-armed south.

ETHNIC DIVISIONS

A volatile mix of politics, history and oil has fueled conflict over Abyei, a microcosm for the ethnic and religious divisions behind a civil war that claimed some 2 million lives.

The Dinka Ngok people, part of the south's main ethnic group, live and farm the land all year round. The northern Arab Misseriya nomads use it for part of the year to graze cattle.

A major sticking point has been a dispute over who should be allowed to vote in a referendum over whether the region would join the north or the south after the split.

Southerners, many of whom see holding the plebiscite as a major concession in itself, say Abyei's permanent residents should decide, meaning it would be mostly up to the Dinka.

"They (the Misseriya) are guests who came to graze. What kind of guests invade?" one Juba resident said.

Northern officials like Rabie Abdelati, a senior member of the north's ruling National Congress Party (NCP), dismiss this as discrimination. "As you know, a nomad is a citizen," he said.

The importance of both constituencies means neither side is likely to budge soon, analysts say. Many Ngok Dinka hold high-ranking posts in the south, and the Misseriya were powerful allies for the NCP during the civil war.

Abyei also contains one significant oilfield, Defra.

Although the region has just a sliver of Sudan's reserves, Khartoum stands to lose up to three-quarters of the country's current output of about 500,000 barrels per day when the south secedes, and so may try to hold on to as much as it can.

In the worst case, analysts and aid workers predict a replay of the Ethiopia-Eritrea war, when two other regional countries took up arms over a border dispute after a similar split.

"The Abyei crisis could produce a much wider and deadlier war after July 9 if it isn't addressed before then," John Prendergast, a former U.S. State Department official who co-founded the anti-genocide Enough Project, said.

A PEACEFUL SOLUTION

If you strip away the politics and history, Abyei may not seem worth all the bloodshed. A flat area about the size of Connecticut dotted with huts made of mud and stick, it has been pummeled by war and has only basic infrastructure.

Many still see hope for a peaceful resolution.

When the north seized Abyei, the south's President Salva Kiir told its Dinka residents not to despair -- Abyei would remain their land "whatever it costs us," he said. But there seemed to be little appetite to return to armed conflict.

Analysts said this could be a political calculation aimed at securing northern recognition of the south's independence, but many also see a weakening enthusiasm for war over Abyei, especially among a younger generation less steeped in conflict.

In the north, too, where inflation and a depreciating currency are presenting fresh economic challenges, there may be less zeal to fight for the distant region than there once was.

When asked what Abyei meant to him, one 24-year-old tourism worker in Khartoum just shrugged. "Frankly, we don't need any problems from the south here in the north," he said as he sat with friends by a juice stand. "We need a peaceful solution."

(Writing by Alex Dziadosz; editing by Philippa Fletcher)

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After Beheading, Indonesia Bans Maids from Work in Saudi Arabia (Time.com)

A woman, beheaded by the sword thousands of miles from home. This, at last, proved too much for Indonesia. For years, this Southeast Asian nation has been sending its citizens to work in Saudi Arabia and, for years, migrant workers there complained of poor working conditions, abuse and violence. But the surprise execution of Ruyati binti Sapubi, a 54-year old maid accused of killing her female employer, seems to have shocked the country into action. Indonesian authorities, who say Ruyati was routinely abused, are outraged they were not informed of the sentence. They announced on Thursday that Indonesia will stop sending maids to the kingdom - at least for now.

The outcry over Ruyati's life and death in Saudi Arabia has cast a rather bright light on what is all-too-often dismissed as a private matter: the use and abuse of foreign domestic workers. A vast body of research confirms what we all basically know - there are literally millions of people, mostly women, working in others people's houses. In Saudi Arabia alone, there are 1.5 million foreign domestic workers. Many enjoy decent conditions. Many do not. (See pictures of Saudi women.)

Saudi Arabia is a dangerous place for far too many foreign domestic workers. In 2008, a Human Rights Watch report documented widespread abuse of Asian maids in Saudi households. The organization found that women were routinely subjected to wretched working conditions, as well as emotional, sexual and physical abuse. "She beat me until my whole body burned. She beat me almost every day," one Indonesian woman told them. "She would beat my head against the stove until it was swollen." Since most maids are housebound and far from home, it can be difficult, if not impossible, to get help. If they do seek aid, the system is stacked against them, activists say.

Unfortunately, this is not just a Saudi Problem - it's a global one. In march, I wrote about a similar dispute between Indonesia and Malaysia. After several high-profile acts of violence against domestic workers, Indonesia was forced to stop women from seeking work as maids in Malaysia. The problem, as I noted then, is that banning Indonesian women from working in Malaysia, or Saudi Arabia, doesn't, in itself, force host countries to reform. Rather, as in the case of Indonesia and Malaysia, the reduction in the number of Indonesian migrants opened the market to women from poorer countries like Cambodia. (See pictures of Indonesia.)

Eventually, Malaysia agreed to prosecute some of its worst offenders, including a woman who assaulted her housemaid with scissors and a hammer. This type of legal and diplomatic pressure is an important first step. To this end, International Labor Organization (ILO), recently past the first-ever convention on the rights of domestic workers. The document affirms domestic workers' rights to a minimum wage, a weekly day off and a limit to their working hours. It also obliges governments to protect then from violence. However, in order for the convention to be binding, countries must adopt it - and not all will. And, as I've written before, fair laws do not guarantee fair treatment. Until 'house work' is valued and female workers are treated with dignity, foreign domestic workers will continue to suffer.

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London shares jump after EU deal on Greek debt (AFP)

LONDON (AFP) – Share prices jumped in early London trade on Friday after Europe reached a deal to avoid a Greek debt default.

London's benchmark FTSE 100 index climbed 78.01 points or 1.38% to at 5,752.39 at 8:29 am.

Greece, the EU and the IMF agreed early Friday on the final details of a 28 billion euros ($40 billion) savings plan that Athens needs to implement over the next five years in order to obtain cash to pay off its immediate debts.

The European Commission said the deal among international backers on the ground in Athens now has to be "translated into concrete legislative measures" by Greece.

However, investors are still nervous as they wait to see if Prime Minister George Papandreou can get his austerity measures though parliament next week.

But energy stocks were weak after the International Energy Authority's decision to release 60 million barrels of oil from emergency reserves, dealers said.

The agency said it made the move to make up for lost output in Libya and to give the global economy relief from high energy prices. It is only the third time the Paris-based group has taken such a step.

On the London market, natural resources stocks were the biggest gainers, with Antofagasta gaining 3.07% to 1,275 pence, Randgold adding 2.77% to 5,015 pence, Xstrata rising 2.73% to 1,277.50 pence and Kazakhmys up 2.72% to 1,285 pence.

Satellite communications operator Inmarsat was the only FTSE-100 faller, shedding 0.79% to 562.50 pence.

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Obama to visit Fort Drum after announcing troop withdrawal

Washington (CNN) -- President Barack Obama goes on the road Thursday to sell his plan to withdraw 33,000 U.S. forces from Afghanistan.

He will meet with soldiers from the 10th Mountain Division at Fort Drum, New York -- many of whom have recently returned from Afghan deployments.

France announced on Thursday that it would follow suit, saying it "will initiate a progressive withdrawal of troops in Afghanistan, and will follow a timetable comparable to the withdrawal of the American troops."

French President Nicolas Sarkozy's office said the withdrawal will be done in consultation with NATO allies and the Afghan government.

All French soldiers could be out of Afghanistan by 2013, French Defense Minister Gerard Longuet told France Info radio Thursday.

Obama announced Wednesday night that all the additional U.S. forces he ordered to Afghanistan in December 2009 will be home within 15 months.

In a nationally televised address from the East Room of the White House, Obama said 10,000 of the "surge" forces would withdraw by the end of this year, and the other 23,000 would leave Afghanistan by September 2012.

Calling the deployment of the surge "one of the most difficult decisions that I've made as president," Obama said the military campaign was "meeting our goals" in Afghanistan and the drawdown would begin "from a position of strength."

"Al Qaeda is under more pressure than at any time since 9/11," Obama said. "Together with the Pakistanis, we have taken out more than half of al Qaeda's leadership. And thanks to our intelligence professionals and special forces, we killed Osama bin Laden, the only leader that al Qaeda had ever known. This was a victory for all who have served since 9/11."

At the same time, Obama said the Afghanistan drawdown and the simultaneous winding down of the war in Iraq would help the United States begin to refocus attention and resources on efforts to resolve economic and other problems and to unify a politically divided nation.

"America, it is time to focus on nation building here at home," the president said.

Afghanistan's defense ministry said Thursday it "respects the decision of the U.S. government and the U.S. people" and is ready to take up the slack as U.S. forces begin to pull out.

"Based on quantity and quality developments, the ... Afghan National Army is ready to cover the gap," the ministry said.

The Taliban called Obama's announcement "only ... a symbolic step which will never satisfy the war weary international community or the American people."

"The assertion of American leaders about making headway in Afghanistan and Obama's proclamation of them being in a stronger position are nothing more than baseless claims and propaganda," the group said in a statement released Thursday.

The troop withdrawals from Afghanistan will begin next month, as Obama promised when he ordered the surge in a speech 18 months ago at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York.

After the departure of all the surge forces, the total U.S. military deployment in Afghanistan will be slightly fewer than 70,000 troops.

Obama's time frame will give U.S. commanders another two "fighting" seasons with the bulk of U.S. forces still available for combat operations.

It also will bring the surge troops home before the November 2012 election in which Obama will seek a second term.

Initial reaction was varied, with outgoing Defense Secretary Robert Gates supporting Obama's decision while congressional leaders were divided between those who wanted a faster withdrawal and others calling for caution in leaving Afghanistan.

"It's important that we retain the flexibility necessary to reconsider troop levels and respond to changes in the security environment should circumstances on the ground warrant," said House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, in a statement. "Congress will hold the administration accountable for ensuring that the pace and scope of the drawdown does not undermine the progress we've made thus far."

Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, was more blunt, saying: "This is not the 'modest' withdrawal that I and others had hoped for and advocated."

Democratic colleagues of Obama expressed support for starting the withdrawal but said more troops should be included and they should depart faster than the president announced.

"It has been the hope of many in Congress and across the country that the full drawdown of U.S. forces would happen sooner than the president laid out -- and we will continue to press for a better outcome," House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-California, said in a statement.

Two candidates for the Republican presidential nomination to run against Obama next year expressed reservations about the withdrawal strategy, but differed in their reasoning.

"We all want our troops to come home as soon as possible, but we shouldn't adhere to an arbitrary timetable on the withdrawal" from Afghanistan, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney said in a statement. "This decision should not be based on politics or economics."

In his own statement, former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, who was Obama's ambassador to China until recently, called for shifting the Afghanistan mission to "a focused counterterror effort which requires significantly fewer boots on the ground than the president discussed tonight."

"We need a safe but rapid withdrawal, which encourages Afghans to assume responsibility, while leaving in place a strong counterintelligence and special forces effort proportionate to the threat," Huntsman said.

The killing of bin Laden in early May and the success in reversing Taliban momentum in the southern provinces of Helmand and Kandahar enabled the beginning of a troop withdrawal that will culminate with handing over security responsibilities to Afghan forces in 2014, the senior administration officials said on condition of not being identified.

Gates -- along with Afghan war commander Gen. David Petraeus -- had pushed for an initial drawdown of 3,000 to 5,000 troops this year, according to a congressional source. Gates also urged the president to withdraw support troops only -- not combat troops.

Obama, however, ultimately decided to adopt the more aggressive withdrawal plan. The senior administration officials said Obama's withdrawal schedule fell within the range of options presented to him by Petraeus.

In a statement after Obama's speech, Gates said it was "critical" that U.S. forces continue to "aggressively" carry out the surge strategy of degrading the capability of the Taliban while bolstering Afghan security forces.

"I support the president's decision because it provides our commanders with enough resources, time and, perhaps most importantly, flexibility to bring the surge to a successful conclusion," Gates said, signaling Pentagon control in deciding which U.S. forces to withdraw.

Public exhaustion with the conflict is reflected in recent public opinion polls. Nearly three-quarters of Americans support the United States pulling some or all of its forces from Afghanistan, according to a June 3-7 CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey.

That figure jumped 10 points since May, likely as a result of the death of bin Laden, pollsters said.

The United States has spent roughly $443 billion on the war in Afghanistan, according to budget analysts. According to Travis Sharp, a researcher at the Center for a New American Security, the troop reductions Obama announced would bring a savings of about $7 billion in fiscal year 2012.

Senior administration officials told CNN that planning for the announcement began in January, when the president summoned top members of his national security team into the Oval Office and tasked them with coming up with a plan for the drawdown.

The calculations that went into the drawdown decision included the fact that "remarkable" and "unexpected" progress had been made degrading al-Qaeda's infrastructure in its bases in the tribal regions of Pakistan over the prior 18 months, one of the officials said.

Additionally, the Taliban have been rolled back from their heartland regions in southern and southwestern Afghanistan, both in northern and southern Helmand Province and around the key city of Kandahar, which had been their de facto capital. This progress fulfilled the administration's pledge to reverse the momentum of the Taliban, which had been one of the key rationales for the surge.

Another factor favoring the drawdown was the growth in Afghan army and police forces of 100,000 men in the past year, the officials said.

CNN's Saskya Vandoorne, Barbara Starr, Ted Barrett, Deirdre Walsh, Tom Cohen, Alan Silverleib and Brianna Keilar, Ben Brumfeld and CNN National Security Analyst Peter Bergen contributed to this report.

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China artist Ai Weiwei stays quiet after freed on bail (Reuters)

BEIJING (Reuters) – The dissident Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, whose detention in April ignited an international uproar, was released on bail Wednesday under conditions likely to keep the outspoken critic of Communist Party controls silent for now.

"I can't say anything more, because I'm on bail," Ai told reporters who had gathered outside his home after his release was reported by China's official Xinhua news agency.

His abrupt release came days before Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao heads to Europe, where Berlin and other capitals have been critical of Beijing's secretive detention of Ai and dozens of other rights advocates, lawyers and dissidents.

But the Chinese government cast its apparent backdown as a vindication of their controversial case. Xinhua said Ai was freed "because of his good attitude in confessing his crimes as well as a chronic disease he suffers from," citing the police.

A company that police said he controlled "was found to have evaded a huge amount of taxes and intentionally destroyed accounting documents, police said," according to Xinhua.

"The decision comes also in consideration of the fact that Ai has repeatedly said he is willing to pay the taxes he evaded," said the report.

Family members and supporters have said the outspoken 54-year-old artist was a victim of a crackdown on political dissent that intensified after overseas Chinese websites in February called for protests in China to emulate anti-authoritarian uprisings in the Arab world.

China's courts and police are firmly controlled by the ruling Communist Party, and it is unusual, but not unprecedented, for authorities to back away from a potential prosecution in a high-profile case like this.

"Without the wave of international support for Ai, and the popular expressions of dismay and disgust about the circumstances of his disappearance, it's highly unlikely the Chinese government would have released him," said Phelim Kine, a researcher with Human Rights Watch, a New York-based advocacy group.

The United States, Germany, Britain and other governments voiced concern about Ai's secretive detention without formal notification to his family. Chinese Premier Wen will visit Britain and Germany, as well as Hungary.

"I'm perfectly fine. My health is fine," Ai, notably thinner after his months in detention, said in brief comments to Britain's ITV news service. He thanked his supporters.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's chief spokesman Steffen Seibert said she welcomed Ai's release. "Today's release on bail can only be a first step. Now the case against Ai WeiWei has to be cleared in a constitutional and transparent way," he added.

State Department spokesman Mark Toner also said Ai's release was welcome, adding: "But there's obviously more individuals who are being held, so we want to see the release of all these people."

RETURNED HOME, HEALTH OKAY

Ai (whose name is pronounced "Eye Way-way") was detained at Beijing airport on April 3, igniting an outcry about China's tightening grip on dissent, which has triggered the detention and arrest of dozens of rights activists and dissidents.

The bearded, burly contemporary artist was the most internationally well-known of those detained, and his family has repeatedly said that he was targeted by authorities for his outspoken criticism of censorship and Communist Party controls.

Amnesty International said Ai's release was an "important" but limited step, and urged Beijing to release other activists and dissidents held in the recent crackdown that has relied heavily on extra-judicial detentions.

"His release can be seen as a tokenistic move by the government to deflect mounting criticisms," said Catherine Baber, the Asia-Pacific deputy director for Amnesty, in emailed comments.

"It is vital that the international outcry over Ai Weiwei be extended to those activists still languishing in secret detention or charged with inciting subversion," she said.

In China, bail can be used to release suspects on condition that they do not break laws for a stipulated time, and that condition may discourage Ai from speaking out or resuming his campaigning against government targets.

"There are well-grounded concerns that the conditions for Ai Weiwei's release will be onerously restrictive," said Kine, the Human Rights Watch researcher.

The well-known British sculptor Anish Kapor said foreign artists should still not show their work in China for now.

"While I am thankful that he has been released, I do not think that artists should present their work in China until the situation has been resolved," he said in an emailed statement about Ai's release.

(Additional reporting by Paul Eckert in Washington; Writing by Sanjeev Miglani; Editing by Ron Popeski and Alistair Lyon)

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Greece prepares to slash budget after confidence vote

Athens, Greece (CNN) -- Greece is set to press ahead with new taxes, public-sector job cuts and the sale of everything from airports to gaming licenses after Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou narrowly survived a confidence vote early Wednesday.

Papandreou is planning to cut 150,000 government jobs, slash the salaries of those who keep their posts, and slap new taxes on property, yachts and swimming pools.

He's trying to win confidence from international lenders in order to get a second bailout package to keep the government from defaulting on debts.

But the austerity package is very unpopular. Weeks of protests forced Papandreou to shuffle his cabinet last week, leading to the confidence vote, which he won 155-143.

European markets were slightly down Wednesday morning, though it was not clear if that was in response to the Greek vote.

International lenders have demanded Greece cut spending, lay off public workers, increase taxes and raise 50 billion euros ($71 billion) through selling off state-owned enterprises in exchange for another bailout deal for the cash-strapped nation.

Analysts warn that a Greek default could cripple the euro, the European Union's common currency, and send shock waves throughout the world economy.

"If Greece were to default, I think the idea that you could contain that would be fanciful," former British finance minister Alistair Darling told CNN Wednesday.

"It's a bit like saying, 'Let's let Lehman's go bust again and wait and see what happens," he said, referring to the investment bank that collapsed in 2008, adding fuel to the global recession.

An acute crisis in Greece would lead to a chain effect that "probably wouldn't stop in Europe," he warned. "It would have a feedback to American banks and so on."

Greek lawmakers are slated to vote on the privatization plan and further tax increases, pension cuts and layoffs on June 30, and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso warned Greece risks being abandoned by both Europe and the International Monetary Fund if it fails to act.

"There is no alternative to this program. Let's face it," Barroso told CNN on Tuesday. "And that's why it has to be clear. We need Greece to deliver, and if Greece wants this program of support, Europe is ready to support it."

Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos said Tuesday he was encouraged by support he received from main opposition leader Antonis Samaras on the austerity plan, which Venizelos said he would take to Eurogroup ministers July 3.

Harsh reforms designed to help reduce Greece's enormous budget deficit have so far led to tax hikes and public-sector job losses alongside already record-high unemployment. Papandreou faces opposition from within his own ruling socialists over the austerity measures.

Airports, highways and state-owned companies as well as banks, real estate and gaming licenses will all go on the auction block.

On June 9, the Cabinet approved a tough five-year plan for 2011-15 and introduced a bill in Parliament to put austerity measures into effect. The government proposes reducing the public-sector workforce by 150,000; workers will also face changes in working hours, practices and wages, and the plan also sets out changes to social benefits, including pensions and unemployment aid.

Protests against those plans turned violent June 15 as demonstrators threw gasoline bombs at the Finance Ministry and police fired tear gas at protesters, police said. But Papandreou did not change course, telling lawmakers over the weekend, "The government must stop spending more than it takes in."

According to the Finance Ministry, these measures will help achieve 28.3 billion euros ($40.5 billion) in cuts from 2012 to 2015 and shrink Greece's public deficit to less than 3% of gross domestic product, in accordance with the EU target.

CNN's Diana Magnay and Richard Allen Greene and journalist Elinda Labropoulou contributed to this report.

CNN

After brutal weekend, a small break

(CNN) -- Thousands of firefighters battling to control dangerous wildfires in Arizona will get a small measure of relief this week as winds calm and humidity levels rise, the National Weather Service said Monday.

Critical conditions are forecast Monday across large sections of New Mexico and Texas, and to a lesser extent in Oklahoma and Kansas. On Sunday, critical to extreme conditions could be found in those four states, plus Arizona, Colorado, Utah and Nevada.

Arizona bore the brunt of Sunday's fiery conflagration as flames outpaced firefighters' efforts.

The Monument Fire -- which U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell has deemed the nation's No. 1 priority, putting it first in line for any air, ground or other resources -- jumped Highway 92 late Sunday afternoon at Carr Canyon heading east, according to the Cochise County website.

"We've had a hard day today, with things that we didn't want to happen," fire spokesman Bill Paxton said Sunday night. "The bull came out of the pen."

Thanks to dry, windy conditions, the fire broke through four contingency lines, including going over to the other side of the highway, said Paxton, part of the national Interagency Incident Management Team.

"Everything aligned for a massive push," he said. "It's really hard on the community here."

The Cochise County Sheriff's Office broadened the evacuation zone east to the San Pedro River, reports InciWeb, an online interagency database that tracks fires, floods and other disasters.

On Sunday evening, the website noted the fire had burned at least 26,956 acres and was 27% contained. More than 1,000 personnel -- as well as 100 engines and nine helicopters -- were battling that blaze, which had destroyed 44 homes and 18 other structures from its start June 12 through Sunday.

The weather has hardly been cooperating in the fight, with humidity at 7% and temperatures topping 96 degrees. The National Weather Service forecast winds should weaken somewhat in the early part of this week, to between 7 mph and 13 mph in Sierra Vista, Arizona, though temperatures were still expected to remain in the 90s or higher all week.

People living in Sierra Vista were ordered to leave Sunday while firefighters conducted burn-out operations in an attempt to stop the fire moving that way, CNN's Thelma Gutierrez reported from the area.

Even as the flames spread, some Sierra Vista residents turned to their faith.

"There are disasters, calamities and tragedies," Tucson Bishop Gerald Kicanas said during a special weekend service at St. Andrew the Apostle Church, reported CNN affiliate KGUN-TV in Tucson.

"We are with them in solidarity," Kicanas said. "We pray for an end to the fire, we pray for the safety of our firefighters and we pray that the monsoon rains will come and free us from these terrible fires that have been so devastating."

The church is taking donations for fire victims.

Will Posko said he is housing several people in his home.

"Our hearts go out to those people," Posko told KGUN. "We all have to help one another in this community."

Parishioner Tom Felix said the community's spirit and support overwhelmed him.

"Coming here ... and just seeing everybody, my goodness that's beautiful faith," he told KGUN.

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer has issued emergency declarations for the Monument Fire and another blaze, Horseshoe II, making Cochise County eligible for $100,000 toward response and recovery expenses.

In Texas, critical fire weather conditions were predicted across much of the state Monday, the Texas Forest Service said.

The forest service is battling 20 wildfires, with 12 new large blazes reported Sunday. Some 500 homes are threatened in Jasper County, the service said, and 163 have been evacuated in Walker County.

Nationwide, wildfires have burned almost as many acres in the first half of 2011 as were recorded by the National Interagency Fire Center for all of last year.

The agency website reports 3.1 million acres in the United States had been ignited by wildfires as of May 31, compared with 3.2 million burned acres cited in the organization's year-end report in November 2010.

One Arizona blaze that started May 29 has mushroomed into a historically large wildfire. Known as the Wallow Fire, it has burned 519,319 acres and was 51% contained as of Sunday evening.

This fire caused power outages Sunday in Arizona cities Blue and parts of Alpine, Nutrioso and Greer, the Navopache Electric Cooperative reported on its website. Generators are powering some of the company's New Mexico customers as well as those in Alpine, Arizona.

Residents of Luna, New Mexico, were ordered to evacuate Saturday afternoon after the blaze jumped containment lines along U.S. 180, according to InciWeb.

But fire public information officer Rich Szlauko had some good news, saying that in terms of bringing the Wallow Fire under control, "Everything is starting to look pretty good."

Some 3,600 people continue to battle the blaze, in the face of winds Sunday measuring 20 mph to 30 mph, he said.

But even with marginally improved conditions, authorities across the Southwest and southern Plains enforced expanded evacuations as flames cut off power to communities.

CNN's Ed Payne and Greg Botelho contributed to this report.

CNN

Afghanistan says will deal with IMF crisis after summer holiday (Reuters)

KABUL (Reuters) – Afghanistan said on Sunday it won't be able to address a key International Monetary Fund concern over a looming cash crisis, sparked by a corruption scandal at a failed bank, for more than a month because lawmakers are on holidays.

Reuters reported on Friday that the IMF had rejected Afghanistan's plans to deal with the failed Kabulbank and other broader financial concerns, a step that automatically blocked the payment of $70 million in aid from foreign donors.

Diplomats involved in negotiations between aid-reliant Afghanistan, international donors and the IMF said Kabul had failed to address the fund's concerns and now fear a "cash crunch" as soon as next month.

Finance Minister Omar Zakhilwal said Afghanistan relied on aid for about 40 percent of its operating budget and for all of its multi-billion dollar reconstruction and development projects. He said the government would "exert every energy to reach a satisfactory agreement with donor countries."

"Suspending aid delivery will naturally cause difficulties for a country like Afghanistan," Zakhilwal said in a statement, the government's first official response since the latest tranche of aid was withheld.

"So far, our difficulties are not at a level to cause us serious and immediate concern. I ask my compatriots not to be influenced by negative propaganda by some foreign media in this very critical stage in our history," he said.

The wages of hundreds of thousands of civil servants are at risk, adding more tension and political uncertainty just as foreign forces begin handing over security control to Afghans in a gradual process that will end with all foreign combat troops leaving by the end of 2014.

No payments have been made by donors into the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust fund (ARTF), the main vehicle for international aid to Afghanistan, for the past three months.

Payments to the ARTF have been suspended because of the continued lack of an IMF support program, which is a seal of approval most donors need before pledging aid.

The IMF has been reviewing its support program for Afghanistan since September.

The IMF and Afghan President Hamid Karzai's government are at loggerheads over Kabul's handling of the crisis over the failed Kabulbank and Afghanistan's fractured financial system.

Karzai's cabinet met 11 days ago and the Finance Ministry sent a letter containing proposals to address two outstanding issues -- parliamentary approval of a supplementary budget and the auditing of a second Afghan bank -- to the IMF.

Diplomats told Reuters the IMF rejected Kabul's proposals as inadequate to guard against future abuses.

On Sunday, Afghanistan's Ministry of Finance said Kabul "agrees in principle with both demands," however parliamentary approval was needed for a supplementary budget.

"The Ministry of Finance will present a supplemental budget request to parliament immediately after the parliamentary summer vacations," the statement said.

Afghan lawmakers began their 45-day summer recess on June 5. Lawmaker Mirwais Yasini said there were no plans to reconvene parliament to deal with the Kabulbank crisis.

$900 MILLION AT RISK

Corruption, bad loans and mismanagement cost the politically well-connected Kabulbank, Afghanistan's biggest private lender, hundreds of millions of dollars in what Western officials in Afghanistan openly call a classic Ponzi scheme.

Kabulbank has about $926 million in outstanding loans, of which around $900 million is considered to be at risk. Afghan officials say about $347 million will be recovered, but donors want more aggressive action on asset recovery.

The bank doled out nearly half a billion dollars in unsecured, undocumented loans to a roster of Kabul's elite, including ministers, relatives of Karzai and a vice-president, and a powerful former warlord, anti-corruption officials say.

Zakhilwal said the IMF had asked the Afghan parliament to make a commitment to approve a supplementary budget so that money spent by Afghanistan's central bank bailing out Kabulbank could be repaid.

There has been no mention yet of how much that might be or where it might come from, but international donors fear Afghanistan, one of the poorest and most corrupt countries in the world, might dip into its limited cash reserves.

The withholding of aid began with a warning shot when the British government refused to pay 85 million pounds ($137.5 million) in promised aid in March. The ARTF was also expected to funnel about $200 million to support the Afghan government's recurrent costs.

That represents about 25 percent of Afghanistan's non-security wages bill, most of it in teachers' salaries.

(Additional reporting by Hamid Shalizi; Editing by Nick Macfie)

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