Gasoline shortage persists in Southeast

Three weeks after hurricanes blew out the power to Gulf Coast refineries, gasoline still is in short supply in Knoxville and many Southeast cities, forcing one Knoxville company to advise its Atlanta office staff to work from home to keep from driving on empty.

Knoxville gas retailers and wholesalers have received intermittent shipments of gas and diesel through the Colonial and Plantation pipelines serving the area, but many locations continue to be low or completely out of some or all grades. Local gas wholesalers and retailers expect gas supplies to return to normal by the end of October.

[I've not had probelms, but I've heard from friends who have.--Amanda]



U.S.-Syria talks may be step toward thaw

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The United States and Syria held a series of meetings this week, signaling a possible thaw between the two countries as the former seeks to peel the latter from its close ties with Iran.

No further meetings are planned between the two sides, said several senior State Department officials, who downplayed the expectations of a major breakthrough.

"You can't tell yet," one of the officials said. "It gave us a chance to raise our concerns directly, but the results will depend on what we see on the ground."




Syria denies UN nuclear watchdog access to military sites

Syria said on Friday it was cooperating fully with a UN inquiry into its nuclear activity but would not go as far as opening up military sites because this would undermine its national security.

Diplomats say the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has asked to examine several Syrian military installations, but the comments from Damascus clearly ruled this out.

The Vienna-based UN nuclear watchdog has been probing Syria since May over U.S. intelligence allegations that it almost built a secret, plutonium-producing reactor before Israel destroyed the site in an air strike a year ago.

Syria - an ally of Iran, which is the subject of a much longer-running, and now stalled, IAEA investigation - has denied having a clandestine nuclear program.




U.S. strategy in Afghanistan will fail, leaked cable says

PARIS: A coded French diplomatic cable leaked to a French newspaper quotes the British ambassador in Afghanistan as predicting that the NATO-led military campaign against the Taliban will fail. Not only that, but the best solution for the country will be the installation of an "acceptable dictator," the British envoy reportedly added.

"The current situation is bad, the security situation is getting worse, so is corruption, and the government has lost all trust," Sherard Cowper-Coles, the British envoy is quoted by Jean-François Fitou, the deputy French ambassador to Kabul and the author of the cable, as saying.

The two-page cable - which was sent to the Élysée Palace and the French Foreign Ministry on Sept. 2, and was leaked to the investigative and satirical weekly Le Canard Enchaîné, which printed excerpts in its Wednesday edition - said that the NATO-led military presence was making it harder to stabilize the country.

[newsflash! French want to give up. Details at 11.--Amanda]



UN General Assembly chief: Some Security Council members worse than Iran

Some members of the United Nations Security Council have done things "infinitely worse" than Iran, which is seeking a seat on the council, the president of the UN General Assembly said on Friday.

Miguel D'Escoto Brockmann, who was foreign minister in the left-wing Sandinista government that ruled Nicaragua from 1979-1990, was asked whether he thought Iran should be on the 15-nation Security Council when the country is under UN sanctions over its nuclear program.

"There are members of the Security Council right now who have done things infinitely worse than Iran could ever do," D'Escoto told a news conference.

When asked who he was referring to, D'Escoto, who has a history of criticizing U.S. administrations, quoted a Spanish saying: "For those who have the power of understanding, you need only a few words."



Blast Near Russian Base In South Ossetia Kills Seven

MOSCOW (Reuters) -- Seven Russian peacekeepers were killed and seven others wounded when a car filled with explosives blew up near their base in Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia, Russian news agencies reported.

They quoted a Russian Foreign Ministry source as laying the blame on unspecified forces "seeking to destabilize the situation" -- accusations clearly aimed at Tbilisi, which quickly denied it.

"Seven servicemen died, another seven were wounded," Interfax news agency quoted the peacekeepers' commander, Major General Marat Kulakhmetov, as saying.




Belarus Accepts EU Invite To October Talks

BRUSSELS (Reuters) -- The European Union has invited Belarusian Foreign Minister Syarhey Martynau to rare talks with EU counterparts this month, an EU spokeswoman has said.

"[EU foreign-policy chief] Javier Solana invited him to come in a phone conversation they had this morning," Solana's spokeswoman Cristina Gallach said, adding that the minister had accepted.





Russia to stage largest air force war games since Soviet times

Russia will stage its largest air force war games since Soviet times next week in the latest stage of the Kremlin's strategy to show off the country as a military superpower reborn.

Their progress watched closely by increasingly jittery western militaries, dozens of nuclear bombers will take part in the exercise. Tu-95 Bear bombers will fire cruise missiles at targets in sub-Arctic Russia for the first time since 1984.

While Russia insists that the war games are not meant as a gesture of aggression, the West is growing increasingly uneasy about the scale of the manoeuvres.

The aerial exercises, which will take place close to American airspace in Alaska, are part of a month-long war game known as Stability 2008 that Russia claims is the biggest for 20 years.




Montenegro Split Over Kosovo, Protests Threatened

PODGORICA (Reuters) -- Montenegro's parliament has passed a resolution that the opposition sees as a first step towards recognizing the independence of Kosovo, a sharply divisive issue in the former Yugoslav republic.

Opposition pro-Serbian parties said they would call on their followers to stage street protests if parliament recognizes Kosovo, which declared independence from Serbia in February.

"You have a historical responsibility to decide whether you will preserve the dignity of Montenegro or stab a bloody knife in the back of sister Serbia," Amfilohije Radovic, Serbian Orthodox bishop in Montenegro, said in a letter to President Filip Vujanovic.

The text of the ruling coalition's resolution on "the necessity to speed up the processes of joining the European Union and NATO" says it will "serve as a guideline for the country's policy on the Kosovo issue."




N Korea 'restoring nuclear plant'


North Korea has continued to restore its disabled nuclear reactor, the US has said, despite the attempt of a top US envoy to persuade it not to do so.

North Korea is moving equipment it had put into storage back to the Yongbyon reactor, the US State Department said.

The US envoy, Christopher Hill, ended a visit to North Korea saying talks had been substantive, but gave few details.

North Korea has recently gone back on an aid-for-disarmament deal, saying the US has failed to meet its obligations.



'Abbas to meet with Assad in Damascus'

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is planning to visit Damascus in a week and a half, Army Radio reported Friday.

According to a senior official in the PA, Abbas is expected to meet with Syrian President Bashar Assad. The two are slated to discuss recent indirect talks between Syria and Israel, as well as a possible rapprochement with Hamas.

The Jerusalem Post could not confirm the report.

Meanwhile, MK Ahmed Tibi (UAL) told the Reuters news agency that Abbas is already holding secret talks with Assad, and that the two leaders were working to coordinate policies on diplomatic issues.




Military to split Nigerian town

The military has been called in to help split up a town in south-east Nigeria after bloody clashes between two communities, the state government says.

A curfew has been declared for three months while hundreds of families are separated and resettled.

Other attempts to prevent people from the Ezza and Ezillo communities in Ebonyi State fighting over land rights have failed, the authorities said.

At least 18 people have been killed over the last five months.




Indian PM to visit Japan for nuclear talks: official

TOKYO (AFP) — Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will visit Japan this month for talks on nuclear energy cooperation and a free-trade deal as the two countries expand ties, officials said Friday.

Singh will meet with his Japanese counterpart Taro Aso and have an audience with Emperor Akihito during his October 21-23 visit, a Japanese foreign ministry statement said.

Aso, a former foreign minister who became Prime Minister last week, is a strong supporter of cementing Japan's relationship with fellow democracy India, partly to balance Tokyo's often uneasy ties with China.

Singh is expected to discuss nuclear energy issues in Japan, which reluctantly backed a nuclear technology deal between India and the United States despite New Delhi's refusal to sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty.




India stampede death toll rises

An enquiry into a stampede at a Hindu temple in the north-western Indian state of Rajasthan on Tuesday has revealed that 224 people were killed.

Earlier figures had put the number of dead to be around 147 people.

Officials say the higher number has emerged because fatality figures from five hospitals dealing with the tragedy have only just been compiled.




Army bombs headquarters of rebels in Sri Lanka

NEW DELHI: The Sri Lankan military appeared close to making its final push on rebel territory on Thursday, as its air force's jets pounded the headquarters of the country's guerrilla group.

Both sides, which routinely provide conflicting accounts of clashes, agreed roughly on what happened. It signaled a turning point in the prolonged conflict.

The guerrilla group, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, or LTTE, said in a statement that its peace secretariat, which was its main political office, was bombed around midday. The Sri Lankan military confirmed the strike as well, with the defense secretary, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, reporting that ground troops were three miles from the rebel headquarters, in the northern town of Kilinochhi.

"It is the beginning of the end of LTTE terrorists," Rajapaksa said.




Taiwanese 'brawl' over bad milk

Taiwan's health minister has been admitted to hospital after being allegedly attacked by opposition MPs over the tainted Chinese milk scandal.

Yeh Ching-chuan was pushed around and grabbed by the neck as he tried to leave parliament, according to lawmakers from the governing party.

Hospital staff say he suffered heart palpitations and dizziness.

The opposition, which is angry at the government's response to the milk scandal, denies its MPs attacked him.



Tainted milk from China turning up worldwide

Russian food inspectors have found nearly two tons of Chinese dry milk believed to be contaminated with melamine, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported Friday, the same day that the list of tainted products grew in other nations as well.

ITAR-Tass quoted Russia's chief epidemiologist, Gennady Onishchenko, as saying that the milk was seized in the eastern city of Khabarovsk, on the Chinese border.

The Vietnamese Health Ministry has discovered the industrial chemical in 18 food products imported from China and three other countries, and has ordered them recalled and destroyed, officials said Friday.

And health officials in the Philippines found melamine in 2 of 30 milk products from China tested for the chemical. The Philippine government had halted imports and sales of Chinese milk products pending inspections last week.

Australian food regulators recalled Chinese-made Kirin Milk Tea after tests found that the drink contained melamine. It is the fourth product withdrawn from the country's stores as a result of the tainted-milk scandal.




Saudi cleric favours one-eye veil

A Muslim cleric in Saudi Arabia has called on women to wear a full veil, or niqab, that reveals only one eye.

Sheikh Muhammad al-Habadan said showing both eyes encouraged women to use eye make-up to look seductive.




Bush to sell Taiwan $6 billion in arms

WASHINGTON: The Bush administration announced plans Friday to sell $6 billion in arms to Taiwan, a decision sure to anger China and one that could complicate stalled North Korean disarmament efforts.

The announcement of the package, which includes Apache helicopters and Patriot III anti-missile missiles, came in a notification to Congress posted on the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency Web site. The State Department said lawmakers, who were expected to leave Friday to campaign for November elections, had 30 days to comment on the proposed sale. Without objections, the deal is completed.

The arms package enjoys support among senior lawmakers. China, however, vehemently opposes the U.S. provision of weapons to Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its territory and has threatened to invade should the self-governing island ever formalize its de facto independence.




Iraq: Government takes command of Sons of Iraq

Iraq's Shi'ite-led government took command Wednesday of thousands of US-backed mostly Sunni fighters who turned against al-Qaida, pledging to integrate them into public life in recognition of their help in quelling violence.

About 100,000 fighters, known as Sons of Iraq or Awakening Councils, had been under US military supervision and were paid by the Americans for the last two years.

The fighters came under Iraqi military control Wednesday and will receive their first payments from the government in November. Over time, the government plans to find them jobs in the army, police or elsewhere in the public sector.




Power shortage haunts India as nuclear deal cleared

Power outages that stretch hours are a regular event in Shaila Kapoor's life in a smart suburb of energy-hungry India's national capital.

"It's a nightmare," said Kapoor, a teacher. "We've power back-up (from a battery) but it doesn't last long and then we either literally drip from the heat or drive to a mall."

India's massive electricity crunch is a key reason why the government said it was determined to go ahead with a controversial civilian nuclear technology pact with Washington that was cleared by the US Congress and Senate this week.

The deal's approval was the icing on the cake for India after the 45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group lifted an embargo on civilian atomic trade with the country last month.




BHPB blames power shortages for drop in SA production

BHP Billiton said power shortages in South Africa had caused a decline of 8.2% in total production at its three aluminium smelters.

The three smelters, two in South Africa and one in neighbouring Mozambique have a combined capacity of some 1.43Mt, or about 3.7% of world output.





US Military: Iraqi Killed in Helicopter Collision
US military: 2 Black Hawks collided while landing in northern Baghdad, killing 1 Iraqi

Two U.S. helicopters collided while landing at a base in Baghdad on Saturday, killing one Iraqi soldier and wounding four people, including two Americans, the military said. It was the second helicopter crash in two weeks.

The U.S. military said hostile fire did not appear to be the cause.

Also Saturday, the military said it killed an al-Qaida in Iraq leader suspected of masterminding one of the deadliest attacks in Baghdad, several other recent bombings and the 2006 videotaped killing of a Russian official.




Cabinet votes today on Russia's claim to Jerusalem property

At Sunday's meeting the cabinet will discuss a proposal to transfer ownership of Sergei's Courtyard in downtown Jerusalem's Russian Compound to the Russian government.

The proposed move is the culmination of four years of negotiations, after then-Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is currently his country's prime minister, laid claim to the site on behalf of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Sergei's Courtyard currently houses offices of the Agriculture Ministry and the Nature and National Parks Protection Authority, and the Jerusalem branch of the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel.

On Monday, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will begin a two-day trip to Moscow. Israeli officials expect the Russians to raise the question of the transfer of Russian church property in Jerusalem.




U.S. Navy Says Surrounded Somali Pirates Attempt Four Attacks in 24 Hours


MOGADISHU, Somalia — There have been four failed pirate attacks in the last 24 hours off the lawless Somali coast despite the presence of six American warships guarding a hijacked ship full of weapons, a U.S. navy spokeswoman said today.

Navy Commander Jane Campbell, from the 5th Fleet in Bahrain, says three attacks were averted because crew members escaped at high speed.

Another attack was foiled because the pirates were badly prepared: The ladder they had brought to climb onto the ship was too short.

["Ha ha!"/Nelson --Amanda]




Tiger kills railway employee in Uttar Pradesh

Lucknow, Oct 4 (IANS) A tiger killed a railway employee and mauled two others in Uttar Pradesh Saturday, an official said.
...
The animal attacked and killed the employee about one kilometre away from the railway station when he was returning home after work, the official said.

The big cat also injured two people, who tried to rescue the employee from its claws.



Christianity spreads by 'house churches' in China

Zhao Xiao, a former Communist Party official and convert to Christianity, smiles over a cup of tea and says he thinks there are up to 130 million Christians in China. This is far larger than previous estimates.

The government says there are 21 million (16 million Protestants, 5 million Catholics). Unofficial figures, such as one given by the Center for the Study of Global Christianity in Massachusetts, put the number at about 70 million.

But Zhao is not alone in his reckoning. A study of China by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, an American think tank, says indirect survey evidence suggests many unaffiliated Christians are not in the official figures.

And according to China Aid Association, a Texas-based lobby group, the director of the government body that supervises all religions in China, said privately that the figure was indeed as much as 130 million in early 2008.



***

[How come hurricanes never turn up anything neat for me? --Amanda]


Big fossil found in Ike-ravaged home’s front yard

CAPLEN, Texas — A homeowner whose beachfront property in Texas was destroyed during Hurricane Ike has found a football-size fossil tooth in the debris.

Dorothy Sisk asked her colleague, Lamar University paleontologist Jim Westgate, to accompany her to her Bolivar Peninsula home after Ike hit. Together they found something unusual in the remains of Sisk’s front yard: a six-pound fossil tooth.