Northern Ireland violence raises questions about paramilitary group (The Christian Science Monitor)

Dublin, Ireland – Homes and a Roman Catholic church in Belfast, Northern Ireland, came under attack last night in the city's worst night of sustained violence in recent years. And as riots erupted in a divided Catholic and Protestant area, many are asking why the Ulster Volunteer Force (UFV), the pro-British paramilitary organization being held responsible for the violence, has refused to go away despite having supposedly destroyed its weapons.

In a sign of the progress in combating sectarian divides, politicians from across the political spectrum have condemned the attacks, saying paramilitaries have no role in today's Northern Ireland.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland appealed to "anyone with any influence" work with them to stop future outbreaks of sectarian violence. Still, questions are being raised about the possible power struggles in the group that could disrupt the peace in the broader community.

The Short Strand, a small Catholic and republican enclave on the edge of predominantly Protestant and pro-British east Belfast, has long suffered from so-called “interface violence,” going back to the effective beginning of the Northern Ireland conflict in 1969.

RELATED: Think you know Europe? Take our geography quiz.

Willie Ward, who works at St. Matthew's, the local Catholic church in the area, witnessed the attacks.

“It was purely a sectarian attack on the Catholic community, and people came out to defend their homes,” he says. “Two to three hundred loyalists were attempting to climbs the walls of the church and local homes and attacking them with petrol bombs, stones, bricks and paint bombs."

Mr. Ward says locals – including some Protestant neighbors – are shaken: “The people here are afraid, we've had to move pensioners out of their houses. [The paramilitary members] also attacked a bus going through the area, one that included Protestants."

Chris Lyttle, a local lawmaker with the Alliance Party, which says it has no position on Northern Ireland’s place in the United Kingdom or a United Ireland, said that "the orchestrated violence in East Belfast is utterly destructive, unjustifiable, and unrepresentative of the new Northern Ireland. Those engaging in this rioting have nothing to offer the local community and we need political representatives from all backgrounds to take a firm and united stance against it.”

Sammy Douglas, a lawmaker with the pro-British Democratic Unionist Party, the largest group in the powersharing government, says he was "sad and dejected" after witnessing some of the "the worst [rioting] it's been since 1969."

Why is the paramilitary still around?Many are asking, however, why the paramilitary UVF is still in existence.

"For some weeks, there has been sporadic instances of antisocial stone-throwing across the interface in this area," said Belfast's Mayor Niall O Donnghaile, who is a member of the republican party Sinn Fein and a resident of the area. "Local community representatives and politicians have been trying to deal with it with some success. It is important that this good work continues.

"However, what happened last night was not antisocial behavior or a sectarian riot," he stated. "What happened was a well planned and orchestrated attack on the Catholic community in the Short Strand by the UVF."

He says that the UVF's activities in East Belfast have been a cause for concern for some time. "There has been a marked increase in UVF flag-flying, the painting of new paramilitary murals, and significant agitation around Loyal Order parades," Mr. O Donnghaile says.

The UVF, founded in 1966 – three years before the Northern Irish conflict started in earnest – was one of the two pro-British paramilitary organizations involved in the conflict. A total of 481 killings have been attributed to the group. A leading member, Bobby Moffet, was shot dead by members of his own organization in 2009. Earlier in 2009, the group declared it has decommissioned its weapons.

The Independent International Commission on Decommissioning, led by retired Canadian General John de Chastelain, oversaw the decommissioning process. Despite this, fears have arisen that a new generation is attempting to seize power within the organization – and is willing to return to sectarian violence in order to achieve it.

Brian Walker, a professor of Irish studies at Queen’s University Belfast, cautions against seeing the violence as part of a campaign to reignite the conflict.

“It appears to have been a manifestation of loyalist disaffection. The loyalist side is less well disciplined than the republican side. It’s hard to see it as a campaign, though the numbers involved [last night] are worrying,” he said.

A community activist working in Protestant east Belfast, who did not wish to be identified, told the Monitor the attacks were a result of a power struggle within loyalist paramilitarism.

“You have to look at what’s happening within the UVF: the loss of leadership and loss of control," he says. "The east Belfast [brigade of the] UVF is flexing its muscles."

RELATED: Think you know Europe? Take our geography quiz.

Yahoo! News

Earthquake rattles northern Chile (AP)

SANTIAGO, Chile – A 6.5-magnitude earthquake rattled a sparsely populated area of northern Chile on Monday, but there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

The quake's epicenter was located about 55 miles (90 kilometers) west of Calama in northern Chile, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

The earthquake at 12:35 p.m. local time (12:35 p.m. EDT; 1635 GMT) lasted about a minute and was felt most strongly in northern cities including Iquique, Alto Hospicio and Pica.

In the port city of Iquique, some people fled from shaking buildings into the streets, but there were no reports of victims or damage, state television reported.

Chile's national emergency office said no emergencies were reported related to the quake.

The Chilean navy's oceanography service said that the quake did not pose any threat of triggering a tsunami.

Yahoo! News

Tanks deploy in east, Syrians flee northern town (Reuters)

AMMAN (Reuters) – Thousands of Syrians fled the historic town of Maarat al-Numaan to escape troops and tanks thrusting into the north in a widening military campaign to crush protests against President Bashar al-Assad.

In the tribal east, where Syria's 380,000 barrels per day of oil is produced, tanks and armored vehicles deployed in the city of Deir al-Zor and around Albu Kamal on the border with Iraq, a week after tens of thousands of people took to the streets demanding an end to Assad's autocratic rule.

"Cars are continuing to stream out of Maarat al-Numaan in all directions," one witness told Reuters by phone. "People are loading them with everything, blankets, mattresses on roofs."

Syrian forces pushed toward the town of 100,000 that straddles the main north-south highway linking Damascus with Syria's second largest city Aleppo, after arresting hundreds of people in villages close to Jisr al-Shughour, near the border with Turkey, residents said.

The government said security had been restored in Jisr al-Shughour after fighting earlier this month in which it said 120 security personnel were killed, and urged residents who fled the military crackdown on the rebellious town to return.

Witnesses said residents assisted by deserting security forces had attacked a police compound in Jisr al-Shughour 10 days ago after police killed 48 civilians. About 60 police, including 20 deserters, were killed.

A statement issued after a cabinet meeting on Tuesday also said Syria's Red Crescent aid organization would coordinate with Turkey "to facilitate the return of Syrian citizens."

More than 8,500 Syrians have sought sanctuary in Turkey, which has set up four refugee camps across the border from Jisr al-Shughour.

A 36-year-old Syrian who gave his name as Ahmed fled with his wife and six children to Turkey after learning troops had arrived in Jisr al-Shughour, near a village where he resides.

"We came here to protect our family. We're not against them (security forces) but they fight us like we were infidels," Ahmed, sunburnt and dressed in a dirty tracksuit, told Reuters in a narrow street in the Turkish border village of Guvecci.

A Turkish Red Crescent official, who requested anonymity, said more tent camps were being prepared at the eastern end of the 800 km border, near the Turkish city of Mardin, far from where the current influx of refugees is concentrated.

The state-run Anatolian news agency said an envoy from Assad, Hassan Turkmani, would visit Turkey on Wednesday for talks with Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan. The Turkish leader had developed a close rapport with Assad but has grown increasingly critical of his military crackdown.

MOST RESIDENTS HAVE FLED

In Damascus, thousands of Assad supporters lined one of the capital's main thoroughfares and lifted a 2,300-meter-long tri-color Syrian flag, while waving pictures of the president.

Syrian rights groups say 1,300 civilians have been killed since the start of the uprising in March against Assad, whose family have ruled Syria for 41 years. One Syrian rights group, says more than 300 soldiers and police have also been killed.

The U.N Human rights office accused Syrian security forces on Wednesday of brutally repressing protests through executions, mass arrests and torture.

Around 70 percent of Maarat al-Numaan's residents have fled, Othman al-Bedeiwi, a pharmacy professor there told Reuters by telephone on Tuesday. He said helicopters, which also fired at protesters on Friday, had been ferrying troops to a staging camp in Wadi al-Deif, several kilometers from the town.

Syria has banned most foreign correspondents since the unrest began, making it difficult to verify accounts of events.

On the edge of a limestone massif in a relatively prosperous agricultural area, Maarat al-Numaan is a center of Muslim pilgrimage with a rebellious history.

It was the site of the massacre of thousands of men, women and children by Crusader forces in 1099. In modern times, the town was focus of a brutal campaign to crush Islamist and leftist challengers to Bashar's father, the late Hafez al-Assad.

In the eastern province of Deir al-Zor, witnesses said several tanks deployed inside the provincial capital, on the Euphrates river, after security forces pulled out from the streets last week.

But protests continued and a violent confrontation occurred this week between Assad supporters and protesters during which several people were seriously wounded, they added.

Rights campaigners said around 20 tanks and armored vehicles also deployed around the town of Albu Kamal to the east of Deir al-Zor city, but said there were no troops inside the town. Albu Kamal is also an official crossing point to Iraq.

Deir al-Zor province borders Iraq's Sunni heartland. The two sides are linked by family ties and trade routes that preceded the creation of the two states by colonial powers in the 1920s.

France and Britain have been pushing for a U.N. Security Council resolution to condemn Assad's repression of the protests. But Russia and China have suggested they might use their veto power to kill the resolution.

As well as the refugees inside Turkey, more than half of whom are women and children, activists say another 10,000 are sheltering inside Syria close to the border.

Fleeing refugees described shootings by troops and Alawite gunmen loyal to Assad, known as "shabbiha," and the burning of land and crops in a scorched earth policy to subdue people of the region after large protests. The government has accused "armed groups" of burning crops in an act of sabotage.

(Additional reporting by Tulay Kardeniz in Guvecci, Turkey; Simon Cameron-Moore in Ankara; Editing by Dominic Evans and David Stamp)

Yahoo! News

Syrian forces round up hundreds near northern town (Reuters)

AMMAN (Reuters) – Syrian troops rounded up hundreds of people in a sweep through villages near Jisr al-Shughour on Monday, fleeing residents said, after President Bashar al-Assad's army retook the rebellious town.

Nearly 7,000 Syrians have already fled the region around Jisr al-Shughour, seeking sanctuary in neighboring Turkey, while thousands more are sheltering close to the frontier in rural areas just inside Syria, activists say.

Monday's wave of arrests followed an army assault on the northwestern town, with troops backed by helicopters and tanks regaining control one week after authorities said 120 security personnel were killed in fighting they blamed on "armed groups."

Some residents said the killings followed a mutiny, or a refusal by some troops to shoot protesters who had joined nationwide demonstrations calling for an end to Assad's rule.

Refugees from Jisr al-Shughour, sheltering on the Syrian side of the border with Turkey, said the military was combing villages to the east of the town and arresting hundreds of men between the ages of 18 and 40, in a pattern seen in other military crackdowns since the unrest started in March.

One person who escaped from Jisr al-Shughour, called Khaled, said two mosques had been hit by tank shelling and the bodies of three fleeing residents, a man, a woman and a child laid on a road 2 km north of the town near a packing material factory.

Mustafa, a 39-year-old mason who fled on Sunday, said there were nine bodies in Jisr al-Shughour and seven on the outskirts.

"This would be a relatively light death toll," one activist in Damascus said. "The shelling and firing have been indiscriminate and we have been fearing a higher death toll,"

Syrian rights groups say 1,300 civilians have been killed since the start of the uprising. One group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, says more than 300 soldiers and police have also been killed.

ARMY TAKES CONTROL

The government says the protests are part of a violent conspiracy backed by foreign powers to sow sectarian strife.

Army units "have taken total control of Jisr al-Shughour and are chasing remnants of the armed terrorist gangs in the woods and mountains," the Syrian news agency said on Sunday.

It said a soldier and two armed men were killed in clashes around the town. The army defused explosives planted on bridges and roads, and uncovered mass graves containing mostly mutilated bodies of 10 security men killed and buried by armed groups.

Syria has banned most foreign correspondents, making it difficult to verify accounts of events.

A man identifying himself as a Syrian army defector, whose comments were streamed on the Internet and translated by Britain's Sky News television, said anti-government forces had set traps to delay the military advance and let people escape.

"We waited to get about 10 percent of the population out. The remaining 90 percent had already managed to leave," the man, identifying himself as Lieutenant-Colonel Hussein Harmoush, told the online Ugarit News video news channel.

Thousands of people from the town of 50,000 people, located on a vital road junction, had already fled to Turkey, about 20 km (12 miles) away, before Sunday's assault.

Turkey has grown increasingly critical of Assad in recent weeks and has now set up four camps to accommodate refugees.

In a sign of tensions between the countries, which had close trade and political ties before the crisis, supporters of Assad protested outside the Turkish embassy in Damascus on Sunday.

Turkey's Anatolian news agency said some people climbed the embassy walls and hung a Syrian flag, and Syrian security forces prevented some protesters from trying to lower the Turkish flag.

A resident said the crowd, which had earlier marched past the French and British embassies, then tore down tourist posters on the outside wall of the Turkish embassy.

France, with British support, has led efforts for the United Nations Security Council to condemn Assad's repression of the protests. Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said last week Assad had lost the legitimacy to rule Syria.

Assad, who inherited power when his father died in 2000, has offered some moves aimed at appeasing protesters, lifting a 48-year state of emergency and promising a national dialogue -- steps which have been dismissed by many activists.

The privately-owned Al-Watan newspaper said on Monday a committee formed to investigate the unrest had imposed a travel ban on the former governor of Deraa, where protests broke out on March 18, and its head of security. It said there would be "no immunity for people who committed crimes."

Residents said the army unit attacking Jisr al-Shughour was commanded by Assad's brother Maher and employed the same tactics used to crush protests in other areas.

The United States has accused Syria's government of creating a "humanitarian crisis" and urged it to halt its offensive and allow immediate access by the International Committee for the Red Cross to help refugees, detainees and the wounded.

(Writing by Dominic Evans; Editing by Peter Millership)

Yahoo! News

Syrian forces attack northern town, residents flee (Reuters)

AMMAN (Reuters) – Syrian tanks and helicopters stormed the town of Jisr al-Shughour on Sunday, residents said, and state television reported heavy clashes between army troops and gunmen opposed to President Bashar al-Assad.

More than 5,000 Syrian refugees have crossed the border and a UNHCR spokesman said the Red Crescent was preparing a fourth camp with room for 2,500 more. Witnesses said some 10,000 Syrians were sheltering near the border.

The assault on Jisr al-Shughour, astride a strategic road in northwest Syria, is the latest action by the armed forces to crush demands for political freedom and an end to oppression that pose an unprecedented challenge to Assad's 11-year rule.

Residents said earlier that most of the town's 50,000 people had fled toward the Turkish border about 20 kms away and tanks and helicopters were shelling and machinegunning the town.

Damascus has banned most foreign correspondents from the country, making it difficult to verify accounts of events.

"Heavy confrontations are raging between army units and members of armed organizations taking up positions in the surroundings of Jisr al-Shughour and inside it," state television said.

Army units defused bombs and explosive charges planted by gunmen on bridges and roads into the town, it said. "Two members of the armed organizations were killed, large numbers of them arrested, and lethal weapons in their possession were seized."

State television said the forces uncovered mass graves of security men killed and buried by armed groups in Jisr al-Shughour and said their bodies bore marks of "atrocities." It did not give details.

The government said last week that "armed gangs" had killed more than 120 security personnel in the town after large demonstrations there. Refugees and rights groups said the dead were mutinous soldiers, shot for refusing to fire on civilians.

"When the massacre happened in Jisr al-Shughour the army split, or they started fighting each other and blamed it on us," a woman refugee, who refused to give her name, told Turkish news channel NTV.

MOST RESIDENTS LEFT

A senior Western diplomat in Damascus told Reuters: "The official version is improbable. Most people had left Jisr al-Shughour after seeing the regime's scorched earth policy, shelling and the heavy use of armor in the valley."

"The refugee exodus into Turkey is continuing and the numbers are higher than those officially counted so far."

Asked if there were clashes in the town Mustapha, a 39-year-old mason who fled early on Sunday, told Reuters "What clashes? The army is shelling the town from tanks. Everyone has been fleeing.

"Even if we did have guns, what are they going to do in front of artillery? Syria is a tightly controlled dictatorship and all of a sudden the regime says Jisr al-Shughour is armed to the teeth. They are lying. They are punishing us for wanting freedom."

Residents said the army unit was commanded by Assad's brother Maher and was copying the tactics used in other centers to crush protesters demanding an end to Assad's autocratic rule.

The United States accused the Syrian government of creating a "humanitarian crisis" and called on it to halt its offensive and allow immediate access by the International Committee for the Red Cross to help refugees, detainees and the wounded.

Turkey has provided camps for refugees and sent the wounded to hospitals, but restricted access to the refugees, saying this is to protect their privacy.

Bassam, a tiler who fled to Turkey as troops approached the town, showed mobile phone camera footage of a dead man, between 18 and 25 years old, with a bullet wound in his leg, and a large exit wound in his stomach. He lay on a bloodied cloth.

Another picture showed a young man who had been shot in the head. He said the two were killed just outside Jisr al-Shughour by troops under the command of Maher.

"There are only a few people left. I escaped on my motorcycle through dirt tracks in the hills," he told Reuters.

He said troops burned wheat crops in three villages near Jisr al-Shughour in a scorched-earth policy aimed at crushing the resistance of protesters in the area.

Other refugees said troops killed or burned cows and sheep and burned crops on farmland around the village of Sarmaniya, south of Jisr al-Shughour.

The state news agency said "armed terrorist groups" had burned land in Idlib province as part of a sabotage scheme.

Human rights groups say security forces have killed more than 1,100 Syrian civilians in increasingly bloody efforts to suppress demonstrations calling for Assad's removal, political freedom and an end to corruption and poverty.

The Syrian protests were inspired by uprisings against other entrenched autocrats in the Arab world.

At the United Nations Russia and China snubbed Security Council talks called on Saturday to discuss a draft resolution condemning Syria's bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protesters, U.N. diplomats said.

Largely Sunni Muslim Turkey had backed Syria's ruling hierarchy -- members of the minority Alawite sect -- but has been increasingly critical of Assad's use of force to quell the protests.

Thousands of people were gathering on the Syrian side of the border, according to an activist helping coordinate the movement of refugees. "The border area has turned practically into a buffer zone," said Abu Fadi. "There are 7,000 to 10,000 people here now."

(Additional reporting by Alexandra Hudson in Guvecci, Turkey; editing by Tim Pearce)

Yahoo! News

Syrian troops seal restive northern town (AP)

BEIRUT – Syrian tanks sealed a restive northern city Saturday, and activists said they expected an all-out government assault on the region near the Turkish border.

President Bashar Assad has sent heavy armor, including tanks, and thousands of troops to the region as he struggles to crush a nearly three-month uprising against his family's 40-year rule. Human rights groups say more than 1,300 people have died in the government crackdown.

The military operation in the mostly deserted town of Jisr al-Shughour is in response to what the government claims were attacks by "armed groups" that killed more than 120 officers and security personnel. Refugees reaching Turkey said the chaos erupted as government forces and police mutinied and joined the local population against Assad forces.

Syrian state television on Saturday said army units arrested several leaders of the alleged armed groups in the area of Jisr al-Shughour, a city of about 40,000. About 80 percent of the population has fled, with more than 4,000 Syrians taking sanctuary across the Turkish frontier.

Syrian troops backed by dozens of tanks have been operating in the area for several days, securing towns and villages on their way to Jisr al-Shughour.

Undaunted by the continuing and brutal crackdown, protests extended to every major city Friday, and activists said 36 people were killed when security forces opened fire during demonstrations across the country. The dead included 20 from the northern Idlib province, home to Jisr al-Shughour.

Twenty-five miles (40 kilometers) to the southeast in the town of Maaret al-Numan, thousands of protesters overwhelmed security forces and torched the courthouse and police station. The army responded with tank shells, a Syrian opposition figure told The Associated Press by telephone, speaking on condition of anonymity, fearing retribution.

Syrian TV appeared to confirm at least part of the report, saying gunmen opened fire on police stations, causing casualties among security officials.

Backed by helicopters and tanks, the troops responsible for most of Friday's violence were believed to be from an elite division commanded by Assad's younger brother, Maher. The decision to mobilize his unit against the most serious threats to the Assad regime could be a sign of concern about the loyalty of regular conscripts.

Syria's brutal crackdown has angered the leader of neighboring Turkey, who accused the Assad regime of "savagery."

A Turkish official at Altinozu on the Turkish side of the border said capacity was near full at the camp there and newcomers would be taken to a third camp at Boynuyogun. Workers on Saturday were putting the final touches to the camp there, welding fences around the camp and laying power lines.

"We don't expect the inflow to end rapidly. The news we are hearing is that there are more people waiting to get in on the other side," said UNHCR spokesman Metin Corabatir.

In an interview with Turkey's NTV television late Friday, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he would discuss events in Syria with Assad "in a very different way" after Turkey's general elections on Sunday. Erdogan has hardened his tone against the Syrian regime, accusing Maher on Thursday of "chasing after savagery."

Turkey has vowed to keep it's border open to fleeing refugees.

Confirming information out of Syria is difficult. Communications are cut in areas where the uprising is strongest. Syrians who speak openly face retribution from the regime, and foreign journalists have been expelled.

___

AP writer Selcan Hacaoglu contributed to this report from Boynuyogun Village, Turkey.

Yahoo! News

Syria says 120 forces dead in tense northern town (AP)

BEIRUT – Armed men attacked Syrian security forces in a tense northern city on Monday, state television said, and 120 policemen and security forces were killed in a region where the army has carried out days of deadly assaults on protesters calling for the end of President Bashar Assad's rule.

Communications were cut to the area around Jisr al-Shughour on Monday and the details of the attack were impossible to verify, but there have been unconfirmed reports in the past by residents and activists of Syrians fighting back against security forces.

The government promised a "decisive" response, setting the stage for an even stronger government crackdown against a popular uprising that began in mid-March and poses the most potent threat in years to the 40-year regime of the Assad family.

"We will deal strongly and decisively, and according to the law, and we will not be silent about any armed attack that targets the security of the state and its citizens," said Interior Minister Ibrahim Shaar.

Jisr al-Shughour, about 12 miles (20 kilometers) from the Turkish border, has been the latest focus of Syria's military, whose nationwide crackdown on the revolt has left more than 1,200 Syrians dead, activists say. The town was a stronghold of the country's banned Muslim Brotherhood in the 1980s. Human rights groups said at least 42 civilians have been killed there since Saturday.

Syria's government has a history of violent retaliation against dissent, including a three-week bombing campaign against the city of Hama that crushed an uprising there in 1982. Jisr al-Shughour itself came under government shelling in 1980, when it was a stronghold of the banned Muslim Brotherhood, with a reported 70 people killed.

Monday's state television report said the officers were ambushed as they responded to calls from residents for protection from the armed groups. It said 20 policemen were initially killed, and then the groups blew up a post office and attacked a security post, killing other forces.

The report said the armed groups were hiding in homes and firing at security forces and civilians alike, using residents as human shields.

The TV reports could not be independently confirmed. The Syrian government has severely restricted the media and expelled foreign reporters, making it nearly impossible to independently verify events.

Details of the operations in Jisr al-Shughour and nearby Khan Sheikhoun have been sketchy and attempts to reach residents of the town were unsuccessful.

Human rights activist Mustafa Osso cast doubt on the government accounts.

"The protesters have so far been peaceful and unarmed," he said. Osso said there were unconfirmed reports of a few army deserters who switched sides and were fighting security forces.

Ahead of Monday's report, another activist said gunmen had successfully kept security forces out of the area, but he had no details. Fearing retaliation, the activist requested anonymity.

Yahoo! News

Ash to hit northern Europe, but volcano dying down (Reuters)

LONDON/REYKJAVIK (Reuters) – Northern Europe is set to again bear the brunt of air traffic disruption from Icelandic volcanic ash on Wednesday after 500 flights were canceled on Tuesday, but experts said the eruption was rapidly dying down.

The ash from the Grimsvotn volcano has caused far fewer problems than ash from an Icelandic volcano last year, when more than 10 million people were hit by a six-day European airspace shutdown. Airlines put their revenue loss at $1.7 billion.

But the new volcano has exposed disarray among the people who decide on aviation safety as they try to apply new rules to avoid the en masse shutdown of airspace last year.

Budget airline Ryanair was again vocal in its criticism and airline association IATA said more coordination was needed.

In Iceland, volcano experts had good news for airlines as they said the eruption was petering out.

"The eruption is nearing its death throes. It's not over yet, but it's dying," geophysicist Bjorn Oddson told local news portal Visir.

For Wednesday, Eurocontrol, the Brussels-based agency responsible for some of the world's busiest air corridors, said forecasts showed the ash cloud may affect parts of Denmark, southern Norway and southwest Sweden.

"This would have some impact on flights," it said. Its Twitter feed said new forecasts showed "no fly zone limited to south DK (Denmark), north DE (Germany) and partly Iceland."

Germany's meteorological service warned that the ash cloud could cause temporary airport closures in Hamburg and Bremen from midnight, and later possibly Berlin.

Traffic in Scotland and northern England was the main ash victim on Monday, but Britain said it thought this would ease. UK air traffic control body NATS said ash was expected over Britain from the early hours of Wednesday.

"At the moment we think Glasgow and Edinburgh will be affected throughout this afternoon but should be returning to normal tomorrow morning," British Transport Secretary Philip Hammond told BBC TV.

Among travelers affected were U.S. President Barack Obama, who left Ireland for Britain late on Monday ahead of schedule.

The Barcelona soccer team flew to London early for Saturday's Champions League final against Manchester United.

NEW RULES STILL IMPERFECT

Eurocontrol said the around 500 flights canceled on Tuesday were out of the about 29,000 expected that day.

But the new procedures that lie behind the avoidance of a shutdown of airspace put the onus on airlines to make judgments on whether it is safe to fly through ash, in coordination with the forecasting authorities and civil aviation bodies.

Showing the problems, sources told Reuters that a British research plane designed to sample ash remained grounded for a second day in a wrangle over its deployment.

The rules are also not accepted by all, with Germany backing a tougher stance for the sake of safety, aviation sources said.

"The potential for a patchwork of inconsistent state decisions on airspace management still exists ...," IATA director general Giovanni Bisignani said in a statement.

Ryanair said it had safely sent two planes into what authorities had deemed high ash zones over Scotland.

"You have to ask why a combination of bureaucratic incompetence in the CAA (Civil Aviation Authority) and the Met Office last night shut the skies over Scotland ...," Ryanair chief Michael O'Leary told BBC television.

Technically, Britain and Ireland have ruled out closing their airspace for now but the new rules only give pilots discretion to fly through the worst-risk areas if airlines had submitted an approved safety case, which the CAA said none had.

WORST OF ERUPTION OVER

In Norway, helicopter services to North Sea oil operations faced problems. Denmark shut a small area of its airspace.

After being warned that ash could reach western France, the French aviation authority said in a statement it was "very optimistic" about the coming days, with French airspace only very marginally affected.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy is due to host Obama and other G8 leaders in northern France this week.

Met Office meteorologist Halldor Bjornsson told Reuters that the signs of less activity were the fact that radar showed the ash plume was down to 5 km or less and that seismic data measuring eruptions also showed a tailing off.

"It all fits in with the same picture that the worst of this eruption is over," he told Reuters.

He said the ash now drifting over Europe was the ash from the powerful, first stage of the eruption and that the current height of the plume meant no new ash was feeding the cloud.

Grimsvotn erupted on Saturday and smoke belched as high as 20 km (12 miles) into the sky.

The eruption is the volcano's most powerful since 1873 and stronger than the volcano that caused trouble last year.

(Writing by Patrick Lannin, Simon Johnson, Tim Hepher; additional reporting by Carmel Crimmins and Conor Humphrey in Dublin, Philip Blenkinsop in Brussels, Oslo newsroom, Mette Fraende in Copenhagen and Niklas Pollard in Stockholm; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall/Maria Golovnina)

Yahoo! News

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Massacre in northern Guatemala leaves 29 dead (AP)

By SONIA PEREZ and LAUREN VILLAGRAN, Associated Press Sonia Perez And Lauren Villagran, Associated Press – Sun May 15, 11:23 pm ET

GUATEMALA CITY – Assailants killed at least 29 people — decapitating most of the victims — on a ranch in a part of northern Guatemala plagued by drug cartels, national police said Sunday.

The massacre took place early Sunday in the town of Caserio La Bomba in Peten province near the Mexico border, according to National Civil Police spokesman Donald Gonzalez. Among the 29 dead were two children and two women.

It is one of the worst massacres since the end of Guatemala's 36-year civil war in 1996.

Gonzalez said police are investigating whether the attack is related to Saturday's killing in Peten of Haroldo Leon, the brother of alleged Guatemalan drug boss Juan Jose "Juancho" Leon.

"Juancho" Leon was killed in 2008 in an ambush that Guatemalan authorities blame on Mexico's Zetas drug cartel, which has increasingly wrested control of the drug trade outside Mexico, at times by eliminating their competition.

Guatemalan police said the victims of Sunday's massacre were bound and their bodies showed signs of torture. They were believed to have worked on the farm. Police found a message written in blood at the scene saying: "Salguero, we're coming for you." Police did not say who Salguero was.

Authorities said soldiers were searching the area for the unidentified assailants and didn't offer a motive for the attack.

"This is a terrible event that we must clarify and investigate regardless of the consequences, whoever is the author of this massacre," said Guatemala Prosecutor General Claudia Paz y Paz.

Late Sunday, authorities said they had found a wounded survivor of the massacre, who stayed alive by pretending to be dead. But officials did not release any details of what the survivor said.

Guatemala is a major transshipment point for drugs, the U.S. State Department said in its latest narcotics report. Its weak law enforcement, rampant corruption and proximity to Mexico have drawn Mexican drug cartels into its border regions.

In February, the government lifted a two-month-long state of siege that it had declared in Alta Verapaz province, which neighbors Peten province, during which security forces were sent to quell drug-related violence.

The state of siege gave the army emergency powers — including permission to detain suspects without warrants — and resulted in the arrest of at least 20 suspected members of the Zetas.

The Zetas are a group of ex-soldiers who began as hit men for Mexico's Gulf drug cartel before breaking off on their own, quickly becoming one of Mexico's most violent organized crime groups and spreading a reign of terror into Central America. They are notorious for their brutality, including beheading rivals and officials. Authorities have linked them to a series of massacres and mass graves in northern Mexico.

The Zetas began controlling cocaine trafficking in the Alta Verapaz region in 2008 after killing "Juancho" Leon.

___

Associated Press writer Lauren Villagran contributed to the report from Mexico City.

Yahoo! News

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Clashes leave two dead in northern Iraq

Demonstrators face security personnel in Mosul on Tuesday. They protested the U.S. troop presence in Iraq and other issues.NEW: One person killed and 30 others are injured after a roadside bomb attack in Kirkuk NEW: 8 Pakistanis are killed and 7 wounded when a bus flips while driving in Anbar provinceAt least one protester killed and 21 wounded during demonstrations in MosulThe demonstrators were protesting a possible extension of American forces in the country

Baghdad, Iraq (CNN) -- At least two people were killed and dozens wounded in two unrelated attacks across northern Iraq on Tuesday, according to police and local journalists.There also was a bus crash in Anbar province that left eight people dead.

In the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, one person was killed and 30 others were injured after three roadside bombs exploded in rapid succession, according to police.

The incident occurred when a sticky bomb attached to an oil tanker exploded in the Arafa area in northeastern Kirkuk, setting the tanker ablaze.

When Iraqi security forces arrived to investigate, three roadside bombs exploded, injuring at least eight police officers, police said.

In an incident in the northern ciy of Mosul, at least one protester was killed and 21 were wounded after security forces opened fire on demonstrators, police said.

The incident occurred in the city's Bab al-Hadeed area, where throngs of people gathered in the latest demonstration after weeks of protests across the region.

The demonstrators were protesting the possibility of American troops staying in the country beyond the end of 2011. Although the U.S. combat mission in Iraq officially ended last year, roughly 50,000 American troops are expected to remain until the end of the year to train, assist and advise Iraqi troops.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki told reporters Tuesday that "the internal security situation does not need" an extension. "As for the external defense of Iraq's sovereignty, then Iraq still suffers from shortages and Iraqi military still needs weapons to defend its sovereignty."

Al-Maliki stressed that the future of American involvement in Iraq requires what he called a national agreement reflective of the wants of what are at times disparate parlimentary factions.

"The government has not submitted anything yet," he said.

Protesters also are demanding the release of those who allegedly have been detained for years without facing charges. They also called for an improvement of basic government services.

Tuesday's shooting reflects a second day of violence in the northern Iraqi city.

After the incident, local officialssaid provincial Gov. Atheel al-Nujaifi called for acts of civil disobedience across the province in response to the shootings.

"Nineveh governor has reacted to these attacks by ordering to shut down all government institutions in the province on Tuesday," said Nineveh provincial council member Lamya Ahmed al-Dabbagh.

CNN was not immediately able to reach al-Nujaifi for comment.

The "Nineveh provincial council approved the governor's decision," al-Dabbagh said, threatening to take "different measures" if the attacks continued.

Tuesday's shooting means two protesters have been killed and 30 others wounded by Iraqi security forces in less than 24 hours, according to police and provincial council officials.

On Monday, one protester was killed and nine others were wounded when Iraqi security forces used live bullets to disperse hundreds of protesters who rallied in the city's al-Ahrar square.

A representative for the security forces could not be immediately reached for comment. But authorities have often said that such gatherings offer opportunities for terrorist organizations, including al Qaeda.

Others said the gatherings are meant to be nonviolent.

"Since April 9, thousands of angry demonstrators have been rallying in Nineveh province and holding sit-ins," al-Dabbagh said. "The protesters have been very peaceful, but the military operation command has received an order from (al-Maliki) to end the demonstrations."

CNN cannot independently confirm that claim.

On Friday, nearly 6,000 protesters flooded Mosul, defying a curfew imposed one day earlier by military authorities.

Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Friday that Iraqi officials have not asked the Obama administration to push back the withdrawal deadline. Any discussion about a change in the timetable would be considered, he indicated, but would need to begin soon.

"There is no country from Iraq's neighbors (which) is thinking of sending its troops to Iraq," al-Maliki said. "Therefore Iraq's sovereignty is protected by the fact that there is nobody in the current circumstances and changes who would enter and violate Iraq's sovereignty."

Mosul is about 420 kilometers (261 miles) north of Baghdad. A largely Sunni city, it has been a hotbed of ethnic and sectarian strife.

In a deadly incident in Anbar province, eight Pakistanis were killed and seven others were wounded on Tuesday when their bus flipped over while driving on a highway, according to police officials in Ramadi.

The bus carried Shiite pilgrims who were driving from Syria to Karbala, a holy city about 240 kilometers west of Baghdad.

When Iraqi police arrived, gunmen opened fire using small arms. During the ensuing clash, one police vehicle was set ablaze while another was taken by the gunmen.

The attackers then fled the scene, police said.

No injuries were reported.

Ayham Omer contributed to this report.

CNN

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.