U.S: Shiite militia likely behind killings

An Iraqi police officer works at a checkpoint in Baghdad, a day after five U.S. soldiers were killed.A Shiite militia is claiming responsibility for the deaths of five soldiers in IraqOfficial: "We have been anticipating that we would see an increase in attacks"U.S. troops in Iraq have increasingly been targeted by roadside bombings and mortar attacksThe U.S. military says it will continue it efforts to find those responsible

(CNN) -- An attack that killed five American soldiers in Iraq is likely the work of a Shiite militia attempting to take credit for driving forces out of the country, the U.S. military said.

The attack was followed by a purported claim of responsibility for the killings by one such group.

The Monday killings were the single largest loss of life among U.S. troops in Iraq since 2009. More on the killings

They come as Iraq debates whether to request American soldiers stay beyond a January 1, 2012, deadline that requires 46,000 forces out of the country.

"We have been anticipating that we would see an increase in attacks as U.S. forces prepare to transition our mission," Army Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Buchanan, spokesman for U.S. Forces-Iraq, told CNN late Saturday in an e-mail.

"Our assessment is that groups like the Iranian-backed militias: Kataib Hezbollah, Asaib al-Haq, and the Promise Day Brigade, are attempting to claim credit for driving US forces out of Iraq to garner prestige by conducting these attacks."

Congressman reportedly asks Iraq to consider repaying U.S.

In a statement posted on one of its websites, Kataib Hezbollah claimed responsibility for the attack at Camp Loyalty, on the outskirts of Baghdad that killed five soldiers and wounded at least five others.

CNN cannot independently verify the legitimacy of the claim.

The U.S. military maintains that Kataib Hezbollah and the other Shiite militias are backed by Iran, a charge it has long denied.

U.S. troops have increasingly been targeted by roadside bombings and mortar attacks, largely in Baghdad and southern Iraq -- a Shiite stronghold.

While al Qaeda in Iraq -- predominantly Iraqi Sunni insurgents -- continue to launch strikes, the U.S. military has said that militia attacks against American troops are designed to flex their strength and take credit for an anticipated U.S. withdrawal at the end of the year.

In the e-mail, Buchanan said the U.S. military would continue to take steps to protect its troops in Iraq.

"We will not tire in our efforts to find the perpetrators and bring them to justice," he said.

Under a U.S.-Iraqi security pact, which set a timetable to withdraw American forces, U.S. troops must be out of Iraq by Jan. 1, 2012.

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is consulting with members of his government about whether to ask American troops to stay beyond the deadline, though the U.S. military says there has been no official request by al-Maliki to President Barack Obama about any such extension.

Many in Iraq are vehemently opposed to U.S. troops staying beyond the deadline.

Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has threatened to end a 2007 cease-fire and "escalate armed resistance" of his militia, if U.S. troops remain beyond the deadline.

CNN

Yemen's Saleh likely out of power this year: report (Reuters)

DUBAI (Reuters) – President Ali Abdullah Saleh is unlikely to stay in power through 2011 but violence in Yemen will increase while he clings on, a report said on Wednesday.

Global powers have been pressing Saleh to sign a Gulf-mediated deal to step down and stem spreading chaos in civil-war-threatened Yemen, a haven for al Qaeda militants and neighbor to the world's biggest oil exporter, Saudi Arabia.

"Saleh is unlikely to survive 2011 as president of Yemen; however the likelihood of a managed transition is decreasing, and an attempt to forcibly oust Saleh from power is becoming more likely," the Eurasia Group said in a report.

This week, there have been three main flashpoints in the country -- fighting in the capital, government troops gunning down protesters in Taiz in the south and a battle with al Qaeda and Islamic militants in the coastal city of Zinjibar.

The political risk think-tank said the most likely outcome for the crisis is for Saleh leaving power through a political deal he brokers from a position of weakness, or being ousted by force by breakaway military groups and tribal leaders.

The report cautioned: "Saleh leaving power early does not result in a functional Yemeni state that can reassert control over the country in the short term."

Saleh, a wily politician who has ruled the impoverished country for nearly 33 years, has faced months of street protests calling for his ouster while his forces have battled powerful tribal groups who have aligned themselves with the protesters.

GULF NEIGHBOURS EXASPERATED

Members of his military and government started to abandon him in March after his troops killed dozens of protesters.

The breakaway military groups have called on others in the army to join them in opposition to the government but have not engaged in any major fighting with forces loyal to Saleh.

Saleh has also exasperated his rich Gulf Arab neighbors by three times agreeing to step down, only to pull out of a power transition plan at the last minute.

Analysts are worried that the instability in Yemen could embolden the al Qaeda wing in the country, which has targeted the United States and Saudi Arabia.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for a ceasefire between Saleh's forces and a powerful tribal group, after street fighting between the two last week killed at least 115 people.

"The Secretary-General is gravely concerned about the reports of excessive use of force by Yemeni security forces against unarmed demonstrators in Taiz and the escalating fighting in Sana and other cities leaving scores of civilians dead, wounded and displaced," he said in a statement.

(Additional reporting by Lou Charbonneau at the United Nations)

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Rivals likely to reach for Google's "Wallet" (AFP)

NEW YORK (AFP) – With the announcement of "Google Wallet" the Internet giant became the first player to dash into a future where people use smartphones as credit cards, but rivals are expected to cut its lead short.

EBay quickly threw up a hurdle in the form of a lawsuit accusing Google of building the mobile payments platform with trade secrets swiped from the online auction titan's PayPal financial transactions unit.

Apple, Amazon.com, eBay and Facebook are each believed to be working on ways to let people use smartphones to pay for items or services but Google was the first to introduce such a system, in the form of "Google Wallet."

At this point, the move is largely symbolic. A test version of the system will go to live in coming months in just two US cities, New York and San Francisco.

Google Wallet will work with Android-powered phones like Google's Nexus S equipped with near-field-communication (NFC) chips, serviced by US telecom Sprint and only at merchants that have partnered with Google for the launch.

Google partners on the mobile payment platform include major chains such as Macy's, Subway sandwiches, and American Eagle Outfitters clothing shops.

For Justin Post, financial analyst at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, being first into the market with Wallet positions the California Internet firm as an early leader in mobile payments.

"Google Wallet has big ambitions but also faces great obstacles, but (its operating system for mobile) Android and location-based search are key assets that could help launch the ecosystem," he said.

Within hours of the unveiling of Wallet on Thursday, eBay and PayPal filed a lawsuit charging that Google tapped into the online financial transaction service's know-how for the mobile payments project.

PayPal spent three years trying to work out a deal in which it would handle payments for Android smartphones, only to see Google scuttle the talks and hire PayPal lead negotiator Osama Bedier, according to court documents.

"Silicon Valley was built on the ability of individuals to use their knowledge and expertise to seek better employment opportunities, an idea recognized by both California law and public policy," a Google spokesman told AFP.

"We respect trade secrets, and will defend ourselves against these claims."

Bedier worked at the eBay-owned online financial services unit as a vice president of platform, mobile, and new ventures until being hired in January by Google.

Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster saw the lawsuit as "a sign that (PayPal and eBay) are nervous that they have big players coming after them."

Boston University professor of law Michael Meurer shared two possible theories based on the apparent merits of the freshly-filed lawsuit.

Bedier is either a bad guy who stole trade secrets or PayPal "is a bit desperate, sees that Google is going to enter their market in a big way and will try to do whatever it can to delay Google," Meurer theorized.

Even if the lawsuit fails, the litigation can disrupt Google's momentum as executives and engineers spend time testifying and PayPal perhaps tries to get the court to stall the service until matters are resolved.

No matter how the case plays out, Google can expect to see other Internet titans enter the mobile payments arena.

"It's nice to be first to market...but it's going to be a ramp-up and there are going to be different approaches to this," said PeekYou website founder Michael Hussey, who keeps watch on the Internet economy.

"Amazon is going to want something I'm sure...Apple definitely has got to do something," he continued.

Apple's beloved iPhones are already compatible with Square software for accepting credit card payments and rumors building ahead of an Apple developers conference in June include talk that the smartphones may get NFC chips.

Apple gadget fans already trust the California company with financial information and are in the habit of shopping at iTunes and the App Store.

Internet retail powerhouse Amazon is also, understandably, in a strong position to add a smartphone payments platform to its service.

Globally popular online social network Facebook has been improving smartphone features and weaving deals at local shops into its platform, making the ability to consummate transactions a natural next step.

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Obama, Netanyahu meeting likely to highlight tensions

Barack Obama's speech on the Middle East may make for a tense Friday meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House.The leaders meet during a week the White House has focused on the Middle EastPre-1967 borders of Israel should be starting point on a future Palestinian state, Obama saysNetanyahu: The basis for such borders would leave Israel "indefensible"

(CNN) -- U.S. President Barack Obama will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday at the White House in a session that could highlight tensions between the allies.

The leaders will meet a day after the president laid out his vision for the Middle East and North Africa in a speech at the State Department -- a message that was not enthusiastically received by the Israeli government.

In the speech, Obama said the pre-1967 borders of Israel should serve as the basis for negotiations in the formation of a future Palestinian state.

Those borders could be based on "mutually agreed swaps, so that secure and recognized borders are established for both states," the president said.

Before leaving for Washington, Netanyahu reacted coolly to the president's speech. He said the basis for such borders would leave Israel "indefensible" by putting major population centers beyond those borders.

The White House has been focused on Middle East issues this week, with Obama also meeting with Jordan's King Abdullah II on Tuesday.

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CIA says release of Osama bin Laden's photo likely

Washington (CNN) -- CIA Director Leon Panetta said Tuesday he thinks a photograph of Osama bin Laden's body will be released at some point, but that it is up to the White House to make the final call.

A senior administration official said that no decision has been made yet as to whether to release the photo.

"I just think it's important, they know we have it, to release it," Panetta said.

He did not know when the photograph might be made public.

Two Democratic senators, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Tuesday night they expected a photograph to be released shortly, but they did not have an exact time frame either.

Osama bin Laden's dead, now what?

An image of bin Laden's body could help to convince doubters about his death, but it could also inflame passions against the United States. U.S. officials have said they are weighing the appropriateness of such a release.

According to a senior U.S. official, the White House has received three sets of photographs. The first batch, which clearly show bin Laden's body, was taken at a hangar in Afghanistan, the official said.

The official described one of the images as a clear, but gruesome, picture of his face. Bin Laden is shown with a massive open head wound across both eyes, the official said, adding that the image would not be appropriate for the front pages of newspapers.

The other photos include the raid on the compound and bin Laden's burial at sea, according to the official.

Widely distributed photo is a fake

Tuesday, Sen. Diane Feinstein, chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said she saw no need to release an image since there is other evidence to prove bin Laden is dead.

"I just don't see a need to do it," she said. "The DNA has been dispositive."

But Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman said it may be necessary to release an image to erase any doubts.

"I've said unless al Qaeda acknowledged that bin Laden was dead, it was important for the United States to release pictures of his body to confirm he is dead," he said Tuesday.

CNN's Jessica Yellin and Ted Barrett contributed to this report.

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Ayman al-Zawahri likely al-Qaeda successor

The vacancy at the helm of al-Qaeda is expected to fall upon Ayman al-Zawahri, the 59-year-old Egyptian surgeon who has been Osama bin Laden's deputy commander from the very beginnings of their war on the United States. But he is widely viewed as a flawed successor.

Al-Qaida's No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahri, speaks during a video released Sept. 22, 2009.

Intel Center via, AP

Al-Qaida's No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahri, speaks during a video released Sept. 22, 2009.

He is seen as a bloodless executive director of the terrorist group who lacks the charisma, and within the sprawling terrorist network bid Laden left behindthe necessary unifying skills.

"I think he has a lot of detractors (within al-Qaeda)," said John Brennan, the White House assistant for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, "And I think you're going to start seeing them eating themselves from within."

"He'll try to take over. But he can't play the same role," says Jon Alterman, director of the Middle East Program for the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"Bin Laden was the name brand," Alterman says. "In the videos I've seen, bin Laden had a sort of self-assurance about him and Zawahri just comes across as angry."

The bespectacled graduate of Cairo University's medical school, Zawahri carries the same $25 million U.S. bounty on his head as did bin Laden. Like his leader, "the Doctor" ? as he is sometimes known ? is a perpetual target of U.S. operations and is believed to also be hiding in Pakistan.

The child of an upper middle-class family, he was drawn from an early age to extremism, arrested at age 15 for belonging to the then-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.

Zawahri was later linked to the assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and served three years in prison on a weapons charge.

He rose to lead the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, among the most violent of terrorist groups, and in the 1990s, joined with bin Laden to form al-Qaeda. The pair declared war on the United States in 1998.

Since 9/11, he has repeatedly issued videos denouncing and taunting the U.S. In the latest one made public in April, Zawahri urges Muslims to fight NATO and American forces in Libya.

With bin Laden located and killed, experts anticipate that Zawahri will be scrambling for now to figure out whom he can trust.

If he survives, the difficult task will be selling his leadership to increasingly dispersed and automonous factions within al-Qaeda.

"Zawahri has got to be nervous as hell,'' said Philip Mudd, former executive assistant director of the FBI's National Security Branch. "(He) is not Osama bin Laden. He's not The Man."

Tom Kean, co-chairman of the 9/11 Commission, which investigated the government's actions in the run-up to the 2001 attacks, said Zawahri's one hope is his historic link with al-Qaeda's now dead founder.

"I think he'll try to market his close association with bin Laden," Kean says.

Contributing: Kevin Johnson

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Likely 2012 Candidates Pile on Obama Over Budget Speech

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Though Republican candidates have been slow to formally enter the 2012 presidential race, the reaction to President Obama's budget speech Wednesday should leave no doubt the race for the White House is under way. 

Several likely, but undeclared, GOP candidates were swift to condemn the president's plan. Obama vowed to cut $4 trillion from the deficit over 12 years, through a combination of spending cuts and tax hikes on high-income Americans. 

"Today's speech was nothing more than window dressing," former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty said in a statement. 

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who just launched an exploratory committee and is positioning himself as the business-savvy alternative to Obama, went directly after the president's plan to raise taxes. 

"President Obama's proposals are too little, too late. Instead of supporting spending cuts that lead to real deficit reduction and true reform of Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, the president dug deep into his liberal playbook for 'solutions' highlighted by higher taxes," Romney said. 

Other potential candidates took to Twitter to express their outrage, mostly on taxes. 

"President Obama doesn't get it: The fear of higher taxes tomorrow hurts job creation today," Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour tweeted. 

"Unbelievable -- President Obama blaming deficit on tax cuts! We do NOT have a revenue problem; we have a spending problem," wrote Gary Johnson, the former New Mexico governor who is expected to soon throw his hat in the ring. 

Even the California Republican Party weighed in, accusing the president of trying to "tax our way out of deficit." 

Obama made reference to the 2012 candidates in his address at George Washington University, noting that they were championing the GOP budget proposal outlined by Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis. 

He challenged that proposal as unfair to seniors and the poor, and said he wanted to take a more balanced approach by rolling back the Bush tax cuts on those making above $250,000. He acknowledged the political difficulty in doing so. 

"Without even looking at a poll, my finely honed political instincts tell me that almost nobody believes they should be paying higher taxes," Obama said.

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Reid says government shutdown is likely

No agreement reached to avoid shutdownSTORY HIGHLIGHTSCongressional staffers have started to receive furlough noticesSenate Majority Leader Reid says he's pessimistic about the prospects for a budget dealPresident Obama is set to meet with Reid and Boehner again at the White HouseWithout an agreement, the federal government will shut down after Friday Washington (CNN) -- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid indicated Thursday that there is likely to be a government shutdown at the end of the week -- an outcome the Nevada Democrat blamed wholly on his Republican colleagues.

"It looks like it's headed in that direction," Reid said on the Senate floor when discussing the possibility of a shutdown. "The numbers are basically there, but I am not as nearly as optimistic -- and that's an understatement -- as I was" after a meeting Wednesday night with President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, at the White House.

Boehner disagreed with Reid's assessment of the numbers, declaring that there is "no agreement on numbers and no agreement on the underlying policies."

Reid said later that he was starting to question whether Boehner really wanted a deal.

If there is no deal by midnight Friday, when the current spending authorization measure expires, parts of the government will close down.

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