Japan to hand out radiation meters to kids near crippled plant

From Junko Ogura, CNN

June 14, 2011 -- Updated 1111 GMT (1911 HKT)

Tokyo (CNN) -- Officials of Japan's hard-hit Fukushima city will begin handing out radiation measuring devices to 34,000 children in a plan to help calm fears about radiation.
Fukushima city is located about 60 kilometers (37 miles) from the Fukushima Daiichi Plant, which experienced full meltdowns at three reactors in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami on March 11.
The measuring devices, called dosimeters, will be given to the children for three months starting in September, officials said.
"We received the voice from the parents and citizens concerned about radiation exposure of the children. We decided to distribute them for the safety and assurance," said Masazo Kikuchi, officer of the city's education board.

The devices wil be given to nursery schools, kindergartens, elementary schools and middle schools in the city

Two U.S. troops killed in Iraq

Iraqi policemen man a checkpoint after blasts in June killed five U.S. soldiers. Moday's attacks have reportedly killed a further two.

Baghdad, Iraq (CNN) -- Two U.S. service members were killed Monday during operations in southern Iraq, the U.S. military said Tuesday.
There were no further details about the incident, and their names are being withheld pending notification of next of kin.
Violence has dropped dramatically in recent years in Iraq. 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.
However, U.S. troops have increasingly been targeted by roadside bombings and mortar attacks, largely in Baghdad and southern Iraq -- a Shiite stronghold.

Five American soldiers were killed June 6, the single largest loss of life among U.S. troops since 2009, and the military says that attack is likely the work Shiite militia trying to take credit for driving forces out of the country.

50-plus years later, Cuba publishes Che Guevara diary

People line up at a Havana store on Tuesday to buy "Diary of a Combatant," the diary of Ernesto "Che" Guevara.

Havana (CNN) -- More than 50 years after the fact, Cuba has published the diary that Ernesto "Che" Guevara kept during the armed struggle he waged alongside Fidel Castro from the Sierra Maestra mountains.
"Diary of a Combatant" recounts Guevara's experiences after coming ashore in Cuba on December 2, 1956, until shortly before the rebels declared victory on January 1, 1959.
According to Guevara's widow, Aleida March, the goal is "to show his work, his thoughts, his life, so that the Cuban people and the entire world get to know him and don't distort things anymore."
The book was edited by the Che Guevara Studies Center, which is directed by March, and published by Australia's Ocean Press/Ocean Sur.
Researchers said Guevara kept his diary in hand-written notebooks and that part of the reason they had put off publishing the diary was that some of the notebooks were missing.
"Where are the notebooks? We don't know and there are a lot of different versions," Maria del Carmen Ariet, a leading researcher from the Che Guevara Studies Center, said at a press conference to launch the book.
But she also said that much of the material was included in "Episodes of the Cuban Revolutionary War," a more polished account of his time in the Sierra Maestra mountains that Guevara published in 1963.
"We'd have to ask if he really wanted the 'Diary of a Combatant' published," she said.
Some of Guevara's other diaries have been commercially successful, most notably "The Motorcycle Diaries," the memoir of a 23-year-old medical student on a road trip in Latin America.
Guevara was born in Argentina in 1928 and met Castro in 1955 in Mexico City, where he was plotting his return to Cuba to overthrow Fulgencio Batista.
During the guerrilla fighting in the mountains, Guevara was the first subordinate to be promoted to the rank of "comandante" by Castro.

He went on to become Cuba¹s Central Bank chief before heading to Africa and then Bolivia to continue armed struggles. He was killed in 1967.

New Greek bank plan 'set to cost $29B'

(FT) -- A German-inspired plan to reschedule Greek debt could force eurozone governments to provide up to an extra €20bn ($29 billion) to avoid a meltdown of its financial sector, European finance ministers have been warned.
A briefing paper circulated by the European Commission, and seen by the Financial Times, warned the extra money may be needed to recapitalise Greek banks following a proposed maturity extension of Greek government bonds, which would be classified by rating agencies as a "selective default".
A further cash reserve may be required for emergency Greek bank liquidity if the European Central Bank refuses to accept downgraded bonds as collateral. Ministers have been told all the Greek collateral -- some €70bn -- might have to be replaced.
Opponents of Greek default, led by Europe's central bankers, warned of the German debt exchange plan's drawbacks.
"If despite everything you try to reduce the debt and you provoke a risk of default, you'll have to finance the entire Greek economy," said Christian Noyer, Bank of France governor.

Greece downgrade explained

Brothers torn apart by Greek crisis

Rate rise possible in Europe?

Trichet: Consider big picture on Greece

RELATED TOPICS

• Greece
• EU Economy

"All in all, the costs seem to outweigh the benefits," said Mario Draghi, incoming ECB president. The ministers, meeting in Brussels on Tuesday, are looking to involve private creditors in a new Greece rescue programme, to gain parliamentary support in countries such as Germany, the Netherlands and Finland without precipitating a disorderly default by Athens.
Ministers are considering three options for private sector involvement, which have been set out in a document circulated by the European Commission.
The most drastic is for a voluntary debt exchange, involving an extension of maturities on Greek government bonds to buy time for Athens to cope with its debt crisis. Wolfgang Schäuble, German finance minister, suggested a seven-year extension.
European officials calculate a successful debt exchange with 100 per cent participation would "virtually eliminate the need for official financing" for the next five-and-a-half years, on top of the €57bn still to be paid from Greece's €110bn rescue programme agreed last year.
But the plan could also leave the eurozone responsible for propping up Greece's financial system.
The second and third options are for a voluntary "rollover" of bonds, less likely to trigger a bond downgrade, and therefore favoured by the ECB and France, in particular.

One would be a co-ordinated rolling-over of bonds at maturity, probably organised by Athens itself, and designed to enable the broadest possible participation. The third option, likely to contribute the lowest level of private creditor participation in any rescue plan, is for an informal rollover of bonds.

Nepal's PM detonates its last landmine

Nepalese PM Jhala Nath Khanal, second from left, observes an army deminer outside Kathmandu on Tuesday.

Kathmandu, Nepal (CNN) -- With the detonation of the last landmine, Nepal on Tuesday became free of minefields, the United Nations said.
Nepal's Prime Minister Jhala Nath Khanal on Tuesday detonated the last of the minefields at an army base protecting a telecommunications tower near Kathmandu valley to mark the clearance of minefields in Nepal, U.N. spokesman John Brittain told CNN.
The Nepal Army had laid 53 minefields during the 10-year insurgency around army barracks and physical infrastructure like telecommunication towers and hydropower plants.
According to the U.N., Nepal is the second country in Asia after China to be minefield free.
Soldiers of the Nepal Army began clearing the mines with assistance from United Nations Mine Action Team in 2007.
Four people, including three women, were killed and 19 others wounded, including 10 women, by these mines since 2006, according to United Nations Mine Action Team.
The then-Maoist rebels had fought a 10-year insurgency from 1996 to 2006, during which more than 13,000 people were killed, to end centuries-old monarchy.
The Maoist rebels signed a peace deal in 2006 and took part in elections in 2008 following which Nepal became a republic.

But Nepal's peace process is yet to be completed with the Maoists and the other political parties yet to agree on the future of the 19,602 Maoist combatants living in camps across the country.

Israel denies student held in Egypt is a spy

Israel's foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman (pictured) says he has no idea why Ilan Grapel, 27, should be detained.

Cairo, Egypt (CNN) -- Israel's foreign minister Tuesday denied that an American-Israeli law student being held as a spy in Egypt worked for Israeli intelligence.
Avigdor Lieberman has no idea why Ilan Grapel, 27, should be detained, he told Israel Radio.
Grapel was apprehended Sunday and ordered held for 15 days on suspicion of spying for Israel, said Adel Saeed, a spokesman for Egypt's general prosecutor.
Grapel was taken into custody in a five-star hotel in downtown Cairo, Saeed said Sunday. Grapel's mother said he had been staying at a $9-a-night youth hostel.
Israeli diplomats visited Grapel on Tuesday, according to Egypt's Israeli embassy, and found him to be in good health. Israel continues working for Grapel's release, the embassy said.
Grapel's mother denied Monday that her son was involved in espionage, saying: "Law students don't have time to be spies."
"There is no chance he's a spy," Irene Grapel said from her home in New York. Her son, a former paratrooper in the Israel Defense Forces, holds dual U.S.-Israeli citizenship.
He worked briefly for St. Andrew's Refugee Services in Cairo, said its assistant director Fiona Cameron.
"Ilan Grapel worked for us for four days last week. We were unaware of his dual citizenship or of his military record," she told CNN Tuesday, saying he had been "thoroughly vetted before he came, though obviously not thoroughly enough."
The organization had "no reason to be suspicious of his activities" for the four days he'd been with them, she said.
She learned of Grapel's detention from his friends when she called them to ask why he hadn't shown up for work, she said.
Cameron said St. Andrew's had been "pro-actively in touch with the Egyptian authorities" about his case. St. Andrew's Refugee Services seeks to help "the isolated and vulnerable refugee communities in Egypt to come together for empowerment, education, community development and social services," according to its website.
Grapel is a rising third-year student at Emory University School of Law in Atlanta, school officials said Monday in a statement. "We are in touch with his family and are working with them to provide support and assistance," it said.
He is involved in the Emory Public Interest Committee as well as Emory Law's Pro Bono program, working with Student Legal Services, it said.
He traveled May 10 to Cairo to volunteer at St. Andrews, his mother said.
Though Grapel was working without pay, he received a public-service grant from Emory, which has no link to the organization, his mother said.
Grapel's IDF work could have been what led Egyptian authorities to focus on him, his mother said. "He loves the Arab culture. He loves the Arab religion," she said.
Grapel speaks Arabic, which he studied at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, and he spent his junior year at Ben Gurion University in Israel.
"He gravitates toward Arabic-speaking students on campus so he can speak with them, simply to use the language," Irene Grapel said.
She said she spoke Monday morning with her son, who told her he was being held at a security center in Cairo.
Saeed, the general prosecutor spokesman, said Grapel had participated in the Lebanon war of 2006 and was relieved of field combat duties after being injured. Investigators had been following his activities for months, Saeed said.
The Israeli government allegedly sent Grapel to Egypt after the January 25 revolution to take advantage of the security vacuum that then existed by recruiting others to provide the Israelis with military and political information, Saeed said.
The revolution forced former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak from power; he stepped down February 11.
The suspect, who was present at most of the protests, tried to incite sectarian violence between Muslims and Christians and encouraged demonstrators to engage in violence against the military, Saeed said. His goal was to foment chaos between the Egyptian people and the military, Saeed said.
The supreme state security prosecutor has questioned Grapel, and the general prosecutor will announce the results of the investigation when it is complete, Saeed said.
Egyptian newspapers carried the story on their front pages Monday alongside photos of Grapel republished from his Facebook account. "Egypt arrests Israeli Intelligence Officer, a big blow to the Israeli Mossad Intelligence Agency," one headline said.
Egypt and Israel signed a peace treaty in 1979.
The United States has been granted consular access to Grapel and is following the investigation to determine the exact charges, the State Department said Monday.
"We've confirmed that he was in good health, Mr. Grapel's family is aware of his arrest, and refer you to the government of Egypt for details on the charges against him," State Department spokesman Mark Toner said Monday.

The Egyptian authorities provided the United States with "almost immediate consular access" to Grapel, Toner said. "Our function, as they would in that case of any American citizen held overseas, is to provide them with consular services, work with local authorities to make sure he's being treated fairly under local law, provide information about the local legal system and facilitate communication with his family and friends."

Ash clouds from Chile volcano prompts more cancellations

(CNN) -- Ash clouds from a Chilean volcano continued to cause numerous flight cancellations in Australia and New Zealand Tuesday for at least one airliner.
Australia's national carrier Qantas said it had canceled flights to and from Adelaide and Tasmania but lifted its ban on flights to and from Melbourne. The airliner has also canceled flights to and from New Zealand Tuesday because of the ash cloud.
The company said it would resume flights to and from Adelaide on Wednesday and that all mainland Australian flights would run as scheduled on Wednesday, as well.
Virgin Australia announced on its website that flights to those same areas were expected to run on schedule Tuesday.
Is Chilean volcanic ash cloud hazardous?

Spread of ash from Chile volcano

Explainer: How ash affects aircraft engines

Air New Zealand had no announced cancellations on its website Tuesday.
The disturbance was caused after Chile's Puyehue-Cordon Caulle volcano erupted earlier this month.
In 1982, a British Airways 747 Jumbo suffered severe damage and had all four engines fail when it encountered ash from an Indonesian volcano.
The plane was able to restart some engines before making an emergency landing in Jakarta.
The U.S. Geological Survey says more than 80 commercial aircraft have unexpectedly encountered volcanic ash in flight and at airports in the past 15 years.

Ash ingested by jet engines may lead to the deterioration in performance and engine failure, the U.S. agency says.

Nicolas Cage settles lawsuit with his son's mother

Christine Fulton accused Nicolas Cage of breaking his promise to let her keep the Hollywood home where she raised their son, Weston Cage.

Los Angeles (CNN) -- Nicolas Cage and his ex-girlfriend agreed on a financial settlement to end a lawsuit that she filed against the actor over his promise to give her the home where she raised his son.
Christina Fulton's lawyer would not disclose the terms of the deal, but she called it "mutually satisfying" for both sides.
When a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy, who was escorting Cage out of the courthouse Tuesday afternoon, said to him "Long day, huh?" the actor grunted and said "Yeah."
Cage, Fulton and their lawyers spent much of the day mediating the case in the chambers of Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Teresa Sanchez-Gordon.
At one point, Judge Sanchez-Gordon walked into the courthouse hallway to consult with Fulton and her lawyers, with reporters standing nearby. It was the only public clue that a large sum of cash was about to change hands, although the amount is secret.
Fulton, the mother of Cage's 20-year-old son, filed her $13 million lawsuit two years ago, accusing Cage of breaking his promise to let her keep the Hollywood home where she raised Weston Cage. Although she is still living in the home, she faces eviction since Cage allowed it to go into foreclosure, she said in a recent CNN interview.
It was not revealed whether the lawsuit settlement would allow her to keep the house.
A huge federal tax debt and the falling value of his investments caused Cage to lose several other homes in the past two years.
Their son was placed on a psychiatric hold in a Los Angeles hospital for several days last week after a violent incident on a Hollywood sidewalk.
Fulton said the resolution of her lawsuit clears the way for her to seek a conservatorship of her son. The mother claims he needs special psychiatric care that he has not gotten since he moved out of her home after he turned 18.
Weston Cage issued a statement through his father's lawyer last week saying he didn't want "anything to do with my mother."
"Any problems that I have ever had is because of the relationship that I had with my mother," his statement said.
That drew a quick retort from Fulton: "My son is under a spell. He's under a trance. Weston would say whatever his dad wants him to say." She suggested that Cage's lawyer solicited it from her son while he was under a psychiatric hold at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center.
On Tuesday, Fulton said she would not be deterred from seeking control over her son.
"The right parent is not the most popular," Fulton said.

Earlier, Fulton called the quote, she called it "an absolute disgrace," suggesting that Cage's lawyer solicited a statement from her son while he was under a psychiatric hold at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center.

Spanish police website hit by Anonymous hackers

A member of Spain's Technological Investigation Board displays an Anonymous mask

The website of Spain's national police force has been briefly knocked offline by hacker collective Anonymous.

The attack on the site was carried out in retaliation for the arrest of three Spanish men the police claimed were 'core' members of the group.
The hackers managed to keep www.policia.es offline for about an hour from 2130 GMT on 12 June.
Spanish authorities would not confirm that Anonymous was behind the attack, saying only that the site was offline.
However, a statement was posted on a website linked to Anonymous, claimed responsibility for the hack, which it called #OpPolicia.
The group said it had used a distributed denial of service attack (DDoS) which bombards a target website with so much data that it becomes overwhelmed.
A spokesman for the Spanish police said the cause of the outage had not yet been established.
"A website can collapse if too many people try to access it at once. I cannot confirm the link with the Anonymous group," said the spokesman.
In its statement, Anonymous said the DDoS attack was a "direct response to the Friday arrests of three individuals alleged to be associated with acts of cyber civil disobedience attributed to Anonymous."
The group said DDoS attacks were a legitimate form of peaceful protest. Some of its members are thought to have carried out similar attacks on Turkish government websites to protest against net censorship.
Anonymous also denied that the men arrested were part of the "core" of Spanish members of the group.
"They did not arrest any core group, because we don't have a core group," said Anonymous in its statement.

Lagarde, Carstens on IMF shortlist

France's Christine Lagarde and Mexico's Agustin Carstens are on the shortlist to lead the IMF, while Israel's central bank chief, a last-minute entry, has been ruled out on age grounds.

The determined backing of crisis-mired Europe makes Lagarde the odds-on favorite to become International Monetary Fund managing director after her countryman Dominique Strauss-Kahn resigned on May 18 to fight sexual assault charges in New York.
Carstens, the Mexican central bank chief who has tried to break the 65-year European lock on the position, acknowledged as much to a Washington audience.

Governor of Mexico's Central Bank Agustin Carstens speaks at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington. Carstens has suggested that the French favorite for the IMF job Christine Lagarde had conflicting interests.

"The chances of Christine Lagarde getting elected are quite high. I'm sure that she will make a good managing director," he said at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.
The two were the only ones named late Monday when the IMF released the short list after nominations closed on Friday.
The IMF did not explain why Israel's Stanley Fischer, who only declared himself at the last minute, was not on the list.
But by the Fund's bylaws, his age at 67 put him two years over the official limit for a new managing director, and obtaining a change or variance to the rules would have been a difficult process, while the executive board has given itself two weeks to reach a consensus on a new head.
The Israeli central bank governor expressed "regret" about his disqualification, saying the age restrictions were "not relevant today".
"I was hoping that the IMF board of directors would change its regulations, not only for the sake of my candidacy, but also for the sake of future candidates for the position of managing director," he added.
Two other potential candidates, a South African minister and Kazakhstan's central bank head, dropped out on Friday, both saying Lagarde was certain to be chosen in an arrangement that has always favored the Europeans.
The board said it would meet with the pair in a bid to make a choice by June 30.
Lagarde, France's finance minister, and Carstens, who spent three years as IMF second deputy managing director from 2003-2006, have crisscrossed the globe seeking endorsements from the major economies whose weight is strongest in the IMF process.
Both have strong credentials, but only Lagarde, 55, has picked up major support, foremost from the powerful European bloc, where she has been deeply involved in dealing with fiscal crises.
She has gained momentum in recent days with official support from Egypt, Indonesia, and a number of African countries.
Carstens has only garnered the express support of a dozen Latin American countries, which, notably, do not including Brazil or Argentina.
But the United States and Japan have yet to name their favorite; nor have the increasingly crucial BRICs emerging economies, Brazil, Russia, India and China.
Carstens, 53, has lobbied US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner in Washington for his backing.
Geithner remains uncommitted but thinks that Carstens "has a strong mix of financial talent and political skills, making him an exceptionally capable candidate to head the IMF," said a Treasury spokeswoman.
Carstens, an orthodox, University of Chicago-trained economist, suggested Lagarde could be too deeply involved in Europe's fiscal problems to be the unbiased, unsentimental leader the IMF requires.
With Greece's debt situation and a 110-billion-euro (160-billion-dollar) IMF-European Union rescue on the rocks, critics say the IMF needs someone who is not so wedded to the eurozone.
"There could be a conflict of interest," Carstens told the Peterson Institute audience.
"We'd have a situation where the borrowers dominate a creditor institution. I think that's an issue we should consider."
Lagarde has stressed her independence and ability to serve the Fund's entire membership in trying to woo supporters.
The BRICs haven't shown their hands, but "in private they have already conceded that they are mostly likely to back Lagarde," said Brookings Institution analyst Domenico Lombardi.
They see her "as an important backstop to the European crisis," he added.
Lagarde's candidacy nevertheless faces a potential problem.
On Friday, a French court postponed a decision on whether to investigate her role in an alleged abuse-of-power scandal until July 8 -- after the target date for deciding the next IMF head.
"Lagarde's legal entanglements could throw her candidacy off track, opening up the race," said Eswar Shanker Prasad, a Cornell University professor and former IMF researcher.

Turkish police raid hacker group

Turkish police have arrested 32 people suspected of belonging to a cabal of hackers who sabatoged government websites to protest against Internet censorship, the Anatolia news agency reported on Tuesday.

Thousands take part in a march in Istanbul last month against a possible internet filter system that government announced in February and plans to implement in August

Nine minors arrested in the sweep were subsequently released, Anatolia said.
The arrests came in a Monday raid in several Turkish cities against the international hackers group Anonymous, which rose to fame with a series of attacks on websites linked to the Church of Scientology.
The group gained further prominence after launching retaliatory attacks on companies perceived to be enemies of the whistle-blowing website Wikileaks.
Last week, on the eve of legislative elections in Turkey, Anonymous hacked several Turkish websites, including that of the Turkish telecoms authority TIB, which regulates Internet use and helped develop the government's Internet censorship programme.
Turkey has blocked access to thousands of websites, particularly those with sexual content or material considered insulting to Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey.
In November, a Turkish court quashed a three-year ban on the popular video hosting site Youtube, which was the fifth most popular site in the country until it was closed for showing clips deemed disrespectful to Ataturk.
The Vienna-based Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe has voiced repeated concern over Turkish policies that restrict access to information, which some suggest are hampering Ankara's progress towards EU membership.

IMF shortlists Christine Lagarde and Agustin Carstens

Christine Lagarde is the front runner in the race to head the fund

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has shortlisted two candidates to take over as its managing director.

French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde and Governor of the Bank of Mexico Agustin Carstens will fight it out for the top job.
The post became available after the former head of the IMF Dominique Strauss-Kahn resigned.
Mr Strauss-Kahn was arrested in the US last month on charges of an alleged sexual assault.
He has denied the charges.
Football score The IMF said it expects to complete the selection process by 30 June.

Agustin Carstens Governor, Bank of Mexico

"The Executive Board will meet with the candidates in Washington DC and, thereafter, meet to discuss the strengths of the candidates and make a selection," the fund said.

Ms Lagarde is considered by many as the front runner for the post.
She is backed by the European Union and in recent days she has also won the support of Egypt, Indonesia, and the United Arab Emirates.
Mr Carstens has the support of Latin American countries.
However, he acknowledged that his rival had the edge in the race.
"I'm not fooling myself. It's like starting a soccer game with a 5-0 score," Mr Carstens said during an appearance at the Peterson Institute for International Economics on Monday.
Conflict of interest However, Mr Carstens said that if a European candidate is appointed to the post, it may result in a conflict of interest, given the ongoing debt-crisis in some of the European countries.
"We could have a situation where borrowers dominate the institution," he said.
Mr Carsten said that the European debt-crisis had snowballed into a big problem over the years and the region needed a fresh perspective in order to solve the problem.
"What will help me is precisely to have a fresh pair of eyes," he said.
"Also someone coming from the outside can in a way speak of their mind more frankly and I think that will be an advantage," he added.
Ricardo Ochoa, head of international affairs at Mexico's finance ministry, said that Mr Carstens' experience as the head of the country's central bank, would allow him to be more sensitive to the problems of countries which needed IMF aid.
"He has been on the other side of the table," Mr Ochoa told the BBC.
"Mexico already has been in the situation where important reforms have to be implemented, and I think that puts him in a situation - to have a more understanding and more sensitive IMF," Mr Ochoa added.

Tunisia Ben Ali: Trial to begin in absentia on 20 June

Mr Ben Ali, seen with his wife in this photo from 2009, ruled Tunisia for 23 years

Tunisia's ousted President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, who fled to Saudi Arabia in January, is to go on trial in absentia on 20 June.

Announcing the date, interim Prime Minister Beji Caid Essebsi said Saudi Arabia had not replied to requests to hand him over.
Charges range from conspiring against the state to drug trafficking.
A lawyer for the Mr Ben Ali, whose 23-year rule ended in mass protests, has dismissed the trial as a "masquerade".
Both the former leader and his wife, Leila Trabelsi, face charges.
His overthrow inspired protesters across the Arab world, from Egypt to Yemen.
'Sacrificial lamb' "I am announcing it for the first time, the trial will start on the 20th," Mr Essebsi told al-Jazeera TV.
"He will be tried in a military and in a civilian court."
The Tunisian authorities say the first charges will relate to the discovery of cash, weapons and drugs in presidential palaces, AFP news agency reports.
Almost 2kg (4.4lb) of drugs, believed to be cannabis, and $27m (£16.4m; 18.7m euros) in cash were allegedly found.
The authorities are also investigating cases of murder, abuse of power, trafficking of archaeological artefacts and money laundering.
Speaking recently to AFP, Mr Ben Ali's lawyer in France, Jean-Yves Le Borgne, poured scorn on the charges.
The former leader was "tired of being made a sacrificial lamb by lies and injustice", he said.
"The searches conducted in his official and personal offices are just stage-dressing designed to discredit him," he added.
"The case that Tunisia is building against him is nothing but a masquerade which serves no purpose other than to mark a symbolic break with the past."
Several members of Mr Ben Ali's family and some of his closest allies were arrested shortly after he was forced out.
A number of European countries have also frozen assets belonging to the ex-leader.

Gaza unemployment levels 'among worst in world'

Real wages have fallen 34% in the last five years in Gaza, the report says

Gaza's unemployment rate was among the world's highest, at 45.2% in late 2010, the UN has found, as Israel's blockade of the territory enters its fifth year.

Real wages meanwhile fell by more than a third, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said.
The report says that private businesses have been hardest hit by the continuing ban on virtually all exports.
Israel imposed sanctions in 2006 after Gaza militants snatched Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
'Disturbing' The blockade tightened a year later when Hamas ousted rival Palestinian organisation Fatah from the territory.
UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness said of the report in a statement: "These are disturbing trends and the refugees, who make up two-thirds of Gaza's 1.5 million population, were the worst hit."
The unemployment figure, for the second half of 2010, was a slight improvement on the 45.7% jobless rate during the same period in 2009.

Chris Gunness UNRWA

But it was an increase from the first half of 2010, when a temporary building boom boosted jobs.

The report says that while private businesses have suffered most, the Hamas-run public sector is one of the few areas where there has been economic growth, with the government employing tens of thousands of people.
Mr Gunness said the research had found that since 2007 Hamas had been able to increase public employment by at least one fifth.
"If the aim of the blockade policy was to weaken the Hamas administration, the public employment numbers suggest this has failed," Mr Gunness added.
Israel says the measures against Gaza are necessary to stop weapons smuggling and to put pressure on Hamas, but the UN insists the restrictions amount to collective punishment of Gaza's population.
The blockade was eased by Israel last year in response to international pressure, after nine Turkish activists were killed in an Israeli raid on a convoy of aid ships seeking to enter the territory.
Restrictions at Gaza's border with Egypt have been eased since the ousting of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak this year.
A change of policy by Cairo has seen the southern border crossing at Rafah opened daily for civilian traffic, but not for trade.
Although Hamas won Palestinian legislative elections in January 2006, it refuses to recognise Israel or to renounce violence and is designated in the West as a terror organisation.

Republican 2012 hopefuls open debate in New Hampshire

The debate is being held in New Hampshire, a crucial early primary state

Seven Republican presidential hopefuls have attacked President Barack Obama's economic record in the first major debate of the 2012 campaign.

The candidates for the party's nomination also focused criticism on his 2010 overhaul of the healthcare system, pledging to repeal "Obamacare".
They refrained from attacking one another, preferring to hit at Mr Obama.
Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney is the front-runner in the field bidding to challenge Mr Obama.
The first Republican primary elections do not take place until February.
The president's handling of the economy and healthcare reform quickly drew criticism, while his policies in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya were also expected to draw fire during the debate at Saint Anselm College.
'Obamacare' anger Early on Mr Romney said Mr Obama had "failed" America, while former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said a new president was needed to end what he termed "the Obama depression".
Minnesota Representative Michele Bachmann, a favourite of the anti-tax Tea Party movement, said she had filed regulatory paperwork to enter the race officially, and criticised Mr Obama's marquis effort to establish a universal healthcare programme.
"His report card right now has a big failing grade," Ms Bachmann said. "President Obama is a one-term president."
In addition, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum said Mr Obama's regulatory policies were "oppressive" and pledged to "unshackle" business.
Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty said Mr Obama was a "declinist" who viewed America as "one of equals around the world".
Congressman Ron Paul of Texas faulted the US Federal Reserve's anti-inflationary monetary policy for America's economic woes.
Former pizza restaurant mogul Herman Cain of Georgia called for the elimination of the federal capital gains tax to stimulate job growth.
Social concerns When the debate turned to social issues, traditionally a key concern of Republican voters, five out of seven of the candidates said they would support an amendment to the US constitution banning same-sex marriage.

Mitt Romney is the current front-runner in the Republican field

Ron Paul said he opposed one, but added that governments should not be involved in marriage policy at all.
Mr Cain said individual states should be allowed to decide same-sex marriage policy on their own.
Mr Romney and Mr Santorum said they opposed a law passed in December 2010 to allow gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military.
Mr Gingrich said that the US Army and Marine Corps overwhelmingly opposed ending the ban on gays in the military, so he too opposed doing so.
However, a 2010 Pentagon survey of 115,000 service members found that 70% believed the impact on their units would be positive, mixed or of no consequence at all.
Other issues discussed included abortion, immigration and the place of church and faith both in the state and in the life of a president.
Romney's rival? The candidates declined early opportunities to hit at Mr Romney, who has led in early polling but has been criticised for signing a healthcare policy while governor of Massachusetts that is conceptually similar to Mr Obama's programme.
Mr Gingrich's nascent campaign was hit last week by the resignation of most of his senior campaign staff, who cited strategic differences with the presidential hopeful.
Former US Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman was not at the debate but is expected to formally declare his candidacy soon.
There is still much speculation about whether former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, who has possibly the best name recognition of any of the field, will run for president.
Despite high unemployment in the US, Mr Obama heads most polls against the Republican hopefuls - although a recent ABC-Washington Post poll showed him in a surprise dead heat with Mr Romney.
Former White House press secretary Robert Gibbs is appearing on TV interviews hoping to counter criticism of Mr Obama.
He told CNN that the declared candidates so far did not have a track record of creating jobs, and said that economic pain in the US began under the Republican presidency of George W Bush before Mr Obama took office.
The state of New Hampshire is an important early-voting state and is expected to hold its primary election to pick a candidate in February 2012.

Tribunal Chamber Suspends Retraction Order for Prosecutor [-At least some judges still use their heads!]

Andrew Cayley, British co-prosecutor to the U.N.-backed Khmer Rouge genocide tribunal, greets the crowd during a meeting with local officials and residents in Pailin, (file photo, Photo: AP)

Kong Sothanarith, VOA Khmer
Phnom Penh Monday, 13 June 2011

"...Cayley’s public statements could not be retracted and were already part of the public domain."

The Pre-Trial Chamber of the UN-backed Khmer Rouge tribunal on Monday delayed an order from investigating judges that the court’s international prosecutor retract public statements about a controversial case at the court.

Chamber judges said the prosecutor’s remarks, which outlined several investigation sites and other details in Case 003, were already public and that a retraction ahead of an appeals decision would not erase them from the public record.

The decision comes amid increased scrutiny of the investigating judges’ office, which has seen a staff exodus since April, when it brought a hasty conclusion to Case 003—a case Prime Minister Hun Sen opposes.

International prosecutor Andrew Cayley said in a public statement last month he would file for further investigation in the case, including further investigation of key crime sites and questioning of the two suspects.

The investigating judges countered with an order for him to retract portions of the statement they said had revealed confidential information, an order Cayley appealed against.

Judge Prak Kimsan, head of the Pre-Trial Chamber, said in the decision Monday that Cayley’s public statements could not be retracted and were already part of the public domain.

The chamber ordered a suspension of the investigating judges’ order ahead of a full decision on Cayley’s appeal. Tribunal spokesman Dim Sovannarom confirmed the decision.

Chhang Youk, director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia, said the decision bolstered support for the prosecution’s work and exposed the “weakness” of the office of the investigating judges.

Meanwhile, local media reported Monday that a group of UN legal advisers for the office have left it dismayed, following the judges’ April 29 conclusion of Case 003.

Critics of the conclusion order say it signaled an unwillingness of the office to fully pursue the politically sensitive case.

Taliban deny blasts that killed 39

Pakistan's Taliban on Sunday denied responsibility for twin bomb blasts that ripped through a crowded market in the northwestern city of Peshawar, killing 39 people and injuring dozens.

The attack, one of the deadliest in a series to hit Pakistan since US Navy SEALs killed Osama bin Laden in May, devastated the Khyber Super Market district which includes a hotel, shops and student accommodation.

A small initial blast at around 11:30 pm local time Saturday drew onlookers and emergency services before a second more powerful blast, believed to be from a suicide strike, detonated and was heard for miles around.

"Death toll has risen to 39 in the blasts as four wounded people died in hospital,'' senior local police official Ijaz Khan told AFP, adding that the explosions were just four minutes apart.

"The first blast was quite small but as people gathered close to the site of the explosion, the second one, which was real big one, went off.''

Nearly 4,500 people have been killed across Pakistan in attacks blamed on Taliban and other Islamist extremist networks based in the nearby tribal belt since government troops stormed a radical mosque in Islamabad in 2007.

Volcano grounds Australia flights

Ash from Chile's volcanic eruptions prompted Australian airlines to ground some domestic services and flights to New Zealand Sunday, stranding tens of thousands of people after plumes drifted across the Pacific.

A cloud of ash billowing from the Puyehue volcano near Osorno in southern Chile. The volcano, which rumbled to life on June 4 for the first time since 1960, is high in the Andes mountains, near the border with Argentina.

Strong winds have carried the ash clouds 9,400 kilometres (5,800 miles) across the Pacific Ocean to New Zealand since Chile's Puyehue volcano erupted more than a week ago, and they are now entering Australian airspace.

National carrier Qantas cancelled all flights to and from the southeastern island of Tasmania and all flights to and from Christchurch, Queenstown and Wellington in neighbouring New Zealand.

It later extended the groundings to all flights to and from the southern Australian city of Melbourne and those to and from New Zealand's Auckland, affecting around 30,000 passengers in total.

No intercontinental flights were immediately hit as none were scheduled to land in Melbourne on Sunday evening.

"We believe that it's absolutely the right thing to ground these services. We will put them back up in the air as soon as possible but it's a safety first approach for our customers," Qantas spokeswoman Olivia Wirth told ABC radio.

Qantas said it had taken the precautionary measure until it knew more about the density of the cloud and its possible impact on aircraft.

The Australian Associated Press (AAP) news agency said Qantas would reassess the situation early Monday.

The airline's offshoot Jetstar has also grounded flights for Tasmania and New Zealand, as well as some flights within New Zealand.

Regional rival Virgin Australia said it was suspending all domestic and international flights to and from Melbourne from Sunday, after cancelling five flights between Australia and New Zealand earlier in the day.

Air New Zealand has said it will adjust flight routes and altitudes to avoid the plumes, which New Zealand's Civil Aviation Authority has warned will be at 20,000-30,000 feet, the cruising altitude for both jet and turboprop aircraft.

The authority said Saturday New Zealand airspace might be affected for at least a week, given that the volcano was still erupting.

With thousands of passengers stranded on both sides of the Tasman Sea, Air Services Australia said the cloud had already reached Australian airspace and could affect air traffic for the next few days.

"While the main ash cloud is expected to pass to the south of the Australian mainland it has reached airspace in southern Tasmania and the south island of New Zealand," the authority said in a statement.

"The northern edge of the cloud is expected to reach Victoria, southern New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory (Canberra), but it is also diffusing.

"This part of the ash cloud is not expected to impact south-east Australia beyond a day, but other parts of the ash cloud are being closely watched in case they move over Australia."

Andrew Tupper, head of Australia's Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre, said he expected the ash cloud to move towards Australia's east coast over the next day, although the plumes were breaking apart.

"It's got a very strong satellite signal and it's right up there with the big, big eruption clouds," he said.

"It will keep going. I would suspect it will do a loop of the globe."

Flights to and from Australia are from time to time disrupted by volcanic eruptions in the Pacific, but Tupper said this was the first time in about two decades that an ash cloud was expected to cross the continent itself.

"It's pretty major," he said.

The volcanic eruptions have already prompted the cancellation of several flights across South America.

Eurogroup backs Greek restructure

Eurogroup head Jean-Claude Juncker on Saturday backed Germany's proposal of a "soft restructuring" of Greece's debt with a voluntary contribution from private-sector creditors.

Eurogroup President Jean-Claude Juncker, pictured in April 2011, has backed a "soft restructuring" of Greece's debt with a voluntary contribution from private-sector creditors, as Germany wants.

"There will be no total restructuring," he told a German radio station. "The governments are agreed on that, ECB support for such an option could not be obtained."
"There must be a soft and voluntary restructuring," the Luxembourg prime minister told RBB radio. "Creditors need to participate ... but that must happen on a voluntary basis."
Juncker, who serves as president of the group comprising the finance ministers of the 17-state eurozone, added: "You cannot impose participation by private creditors without, and against, the ECB."
The European Central Bank has until the end of the month to decide a second bailout for Greece but remains divided over the role of the private sector.
Germany wants a second rescue package to include contributions by private creditors, banks and investment funds as the price of Berlin's involvement.
Diplomats say the need is estimated at more than 90 billion euros -- one-third to come from eurozone nations and the IMF, one-third from sell-offs of Greek state assets and the final 30 billion or so from the bank rollovers.
The latter two components are uncertain, and it is also uncertain whether the headline 90 billion figure includes remaining tranches of the existing 110 billion euro ($160 billion) package mustered last year.
Despite the landmark bailout, Greece's 350-billion-euro debt load has only got heavier as a deeper-than-expected recession last year weighed on government income.
The executive European Commission said Friday it was considering "the feasibility of a voluntary debt rescheduling or reprofiling", while heeding ECB warnings to avoid sparking alarm on markets.
The eurozone is in a race against time after European Union and International Monetary Fund experts warned that 12 billion euros of emergency loans needed in July can only realistically be paid out if a new longer-term financing deal is sealed at a June 23-24 meeting of EU leaders.
Asked about German reluctance to help Greece once again, Juncker said it was "totally erroneous (to) think that the Germans are the only paymasters".
"They are not bleeding more than others" in the affair, he said, recalling also that Germany and France were "the first to fail to respect the Stability (and Growth) Pact" aimed at maintaining fiscal discipline.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said meanwhile that Berlin had no option but to help other countries in financial difficulty or its own recovery might be jeopardised.
"That is why we say we cannot allow the uncontrolled bankruptcy of a country, but we must see how we can increase the competitiveness of countries which are in difficulty, how we can make it possible for them to reduce their debts, and also to show solidarity."
"We can do nothing which endangers world -- and hence German -- recovery," she said in her weekly broadcast address.
However an opinion poll carried out by the broadcaster ZDF showed 60 percent of Germans opposed to new aid for Greece.
Germany's new central bank president Jens Weidmann warned Greece that international creditors will pull out aid if it fails to pursue painful cuts to tackle its huge deficit as promised.
"Greece's capacity for (debt) payment depends foremost on the attitude of the government and the people," the hawkish Bundesbank chief told Welt am Sonntag daily in an interview to be published on Sunday.
"A lot of aid has been given, but under strict conditions such as massive and swift privatisations. If these commitments are not upheld, there will no longer be a basis for additional aid," he said.
In other comments, Dutch central bank president Nout Wellink told public radio that private banks should not be forced to contribute to a second Greek bailout.
"We have to support Greece, we have to get it back on track," he said. "But you cannot force banks, they have to do it out of their own will."
Belgian Finance Minister Didier Reynders called on the private banking, insurance and pension funds to help Greece out to the tune of 25 billion euros.
"If necessary we will apply some gentle pressure on these private investors," he warned in an interview with the Flemish-language daily De Morgen.

Africa terror chief killed

The presumed head of Al-Qaeda in east Africa, Fazul Abdullah Muhammad, was killed in Mogadishu, Kenya's police chief said on Saturday, confirming a report from Somali Islamist Shebab rebels.

An FBI poster shows black and white photos and (at the bottom) age-enhanced and retouched pictures of Fazul Abdullah Muhammad -- one of the the organisation's 22 "most wanted terrorists". The Comoros-born Muhammad was killed in Mogadishu, Kenya's police chief said, confirming a report from Somali Islamist Shebab rebels.

Fazul Abdullah, 38, is thought to have planned the massive US embassy truck bombings in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam in 1998 and had a $5 million bounty on his head.
"We have received that communication from authorities in Somalia. We have been told that there were two terrorists who were killed in Somalia on Wednesday last week," Kenyan Police Commissioner Mathew Iteere told AFP.
Iteere said the identity of one of the two had "been given as Fazul Muhammad ... That is what we have been told by our counterparts in Somalia."
"One of the men that was killed near Mogadishu was Fazul Abdullah, may Allah bless his soul. He is not dead as thousands like him are still in the fight against the enemy of Allah," a senior Al Shebab commander had earlier this week told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Officials with the Somali Transitional Government (TFG) said the men were killed at a roadblock on Tuesday night.
"Our forces fired on two men who refused to stop at a roadblock. They tried to defend themselves when they were surrounded by our men," a TFG military commander, Abdikarim Yusuf, told AFP.
"We took their ID documents, one of which was a foreign passport," he said, adding that an investigation was underway.
The incident happened on the north western outskirts of the Somali capital, a regional security source said.
The two men were driving in a pick-up truck full of medicine, laptops and mobile phones.
The same source said the two appeared to have taken the wrong turning and ended up in an area under TFG control when they were trying to reach a Shebab position.
A Somali source close to the investigation said the man identified as Fazul was in possession of a South African passport in the name of Daniel Robinson and which gave his date of birth as 1971.
The passport, issued April 13, 2009, indicated that its bearer left South Africa for Tanzania on March 19 and was granted a visa there. The Tanzanian visa was the only one in the passport.
The man was also in possession of $40,000 in cash, the same Somali source said. He appeared to have come from Lower Juba in southern Somalia where he was heading a group of foreign fighters under the name of "Abu-Abdirahman the Canadian."
Contrary to normal practice when such incidents occur, the bodies of the two men were picked up by the Somali intelligence services and given to US officials for identification.
Fazul Abdullah, who was born in the Comoros islands, joined Al-Qaeda in 1991 and was believed to be behind the August 1998 embassy bombings that killed a total of 224 people in the worst atrocity by Al-Qaeda until the September 2001 attacks.
From 2002 he was put in charge of Al-Qaeda's operations in the whole of east Africa. That same year he planned anti-Israeli attacks in Mombasa that left 15 dead.
On January 8, 2007 he survived a US raid that left dozens of people dead at Ras Kamboni in southern Somalia.