Seattle Post Intelligencer

US military deaths in Iraq at 3,910
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
As of Sunday, Jan. 6, 2008, at least 3,910 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. The figure includes eight military civilians. At least 3,178 died as a result of hostile action, according to the military's numbers.
The AP count is six higher than the Defense Department's tally, last updated Friday at 10 a.m. EST.
The British military has reported 174 deaths; Italy, 33; Ukraine, 18; Poland, 21; Bulgaria, 13; Spain, 11; Denmark, seven; El Salvador, five; Slovakia, four; Latvia, three; Estonia, Netherlands, Thailand, Romania, two each; and Australia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, South Korea, one death each.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107ap_iraq_us_deaths.html



Bomber kills 11 at Iraqi army festival
By BRADLEY BROOKS
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
BAGHDAD -- Three Iraqi soldiers threw themselves on a suicide attacker wearing an explosives vest at an Army Day celebration Sunday - an act of heroism the U.S. said likely prevented many more deaths. Iraqi police said at least 11 people were killed in the blast, the deadliest in a series of bombings in Baghdad.
One of the attacks in the capital killed an American soldier - one of two U.S. deaths announced on Sunday.
Shortly before the bomber struck the Army Day festivities, about two dozen Iraqi soldiers were standing outside the offices of a local non-governmental agency pushing for unity in Iraq. The troops, their AK-47 rifles raised in the air, chanted pro-army slogans and a common anti-insurgent taunt: "Where are the terrorists today?"

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107ap_iraq.html



Iraqi refugees in Turkey seek move to US
By OMAR SINAN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
ISTANBUL, Turkey -- Sinan Marogi is tiring of waiting.
The 25-year-old Iraqi refugee's money is running out. He lives in a tiny, shared studio - sleeping on the sofa, jobless and isolated in a country where he can't speak the language, hoping the United States will let him in.
But just thinking of getting to the States makes his face light up. He adds - with big smile - that he's staying single so "I'll be available for American women as soon as I get there."
It's when he thinks about his current life that that Mirogi, who fled Iraq after working for a U.S. contractor, gets dejected. He turns to his guitar - his "companion in loneliness," he calls it - and strums a sad Iraqi folk tune.
"We are supposed to knock on the (U.S.) embassy's doors, instead of the U.N.'s," he said, referring to his repeated interviews with the U.N. refugee agency, the first stop for Iraqis seeking resettlement in the United States. "Time is running out, as well as my money. I cannot work or ask for help from my parents, because I should be helping them, not the other way around."

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107ap_turkey_iraqi_refugees.html


Environmentalists push $1 million program to save urban trees
By LISA STIFFLER
P-I REPORTER
The shumard oak on a vacant lot in northwest Seattle was planted more than a century ago by Josephine Denny, a daughter of one of the city's founding families. Its trunk measured more than 3 feet across. The owner wanted it axed to make way for a house, even though the tree was on the edge of the property.
Across the lake in Kirkland, two old trees were also tagged to be cut down, squeezed out by development. One was a Western red cedar with drooping branches, a towering presence on the corner of the lot on Market Street. On an opposite corner stood a large old cypress.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/346352_trees07.html



Ice pioneer eyes farthest glaciers
By CHARLES J. HANLEY
AP SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea -- For 5,000 years, great tongues of ice have spread over the 3-mile-high slopes of Puncak Jaya, in the remotest reaches of this remote tropical island. Now those glaciers are melting, and Lonnie Thompson must get there before they're gone.
To the American glaciologist, the ancient ice is a vanishing "archive" of the story of El Nino, the equatorial phenomenon driving much of the world's climate.
More than that, the little-explored glaciers are a last unknown for a mountaineering scientist who for three decades has circled the planet pioneering the deep-drilling of ice cores, both to chronicle the history of climate and to bear witness to the death of tropical glaciers from global warming.
"No one knows how thick these remaining glaciers are," Thompson said of Puncak Jaya, or Mount Jaya. "We do know they are disappearing."

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1106ap_glacier_quest.html



Levee breaks amid West Coast storms
By MARTIN GRIFFITH
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
FERNLEY, Nev. -- Still more snow piled up Sunday in the Sierra Nevada, where at least 5 feet had fallen from a storm that contributed to flooding in Fernley, killed at least three people and blacked out thousands of customers.
Forecasters predicted more rain and snow Sunday, but without the severity of the weather that has pounded the three-state region for three days.
Winter storm warnings remained in effect for some mountainous areas and the main highway through the Sierra Nevada was closed during the night. Residents were warned of possible mudslides in parts of rain-soaked Southern California where slopes had been denuded by the fall's wildfires.
One hiker was missing in snow-covered mountains in Southern California, and four snowmobilers were missing in heavy snow in the mountains of southern Colorado.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110ap_winter_storm.html?source=mypi



Plane crash in Alaska kills at least 6
By JEANNETTE J. LEE
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- A small plane crashed Saturday in waters off Kodiak island in southern Alaska, killing six of the 10 people on board, authorities said.
The Piper Navajo Chieftain crashed soon after take off at 1:48 p.m. in shallow waters, according to the Coast Guard. The pilot radioed that he would be turning the plane around, according to Clint Johnson, an investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board.
"Just after takeoff, the pilot reported an undisclosed problem to tower," he said. "We don't know why he tried to come back."
A private float plane from a fish processing company pulled four people from the wreckage. One person died trying to swim the roughly 300 yards to shore, said State Troopers spokeswoman Megan Peters.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110ap_plane_crash.html



Ex-Indonesia dictator's health improves
By ZAKKI HAKIM
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
JAKARTA, Indonesia -- Indonesia's former dictator Suharto was responding well to dialysis treatment Sunday but remains in critical condition, his doctor said.
Suharto, 86, was admitted Friday to Pertamina Hospital with swollen intestines, a dangerously low heart rate and anemia.
Suharto had stable blood pressure and swelling of his lungs and intestines had been reduced by a blood transfusion and ongoing dialysis, said Dr. Joko Raharjo, one of dozens of physicians treating the former strongman.
"He has stabilized," Raharjo said. "He is still in critical condition because he is now supported by medicines and equipment."
Suharto needs a second pacemaker, but must make a greater recovery before he can safely be sedated for the procedure, doctors said.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1104ap_indonesia_suharto.html



Thai military says security improving
By SUTIN WANNABOVORN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
BANGKOK, Thailand -- Thailand's military insisted Saturday that security was improving in the country's restive south and that peace would come to the region in 2008, despite New Year's Eve bombings that injured dozens.
Authorities have detained more than 800 insurgents over the past 12 months in a stepped-up offensive against rebels in the Muslim-dominated south, army spokesman Akara Thiprote said.
The violence has claimed nearly 2,700 people in the southernmost provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat, and some parts of neighboring Songkhla, since a long-simmering Islamic separatist insurgency flared up in January 2004.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1104ap_thailand_southern_violence.html



Missing South Korean sailor found dead
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SEOUL, South Korea -- One of the 14 sailors missing from a cargo ship that sank off South Korea's south coast last week was found dead Saturday, the Coast Guard said.
Local fisherman found the body in their net at a site 12 miles from where the cargo ship sank Dec. 25, the Coast Guard said in a statement.
Family members later identified the body as that of Ye Heung-rak, 54, the Coast Guard said.
Ye was one of 15 sailors aboard the ship, which sank in bad weather off the coast of Yeosu, 280 miles south of Seoul, while carrying 2,000 tons of nitric acid.
One crew member was rescued hours after the accident, but 13 others were still missing.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1104ap_skorea_sailor.html



Saving Earth saves you money
Seattle often pays consumers back for buying green
By ROBERT McCLURE
P-I REPORTER
Around Seattle, it's easier being green -- because often it pays, or at least costs less.
Local governments and utilities around here offer a variety of rebates for citizens and businesses who save energy, save water, even build eco-friendly buildings.
While a recent Associated Press survey found cities around the country starting to offer such eco-rebates, it's been a way of life in Seattle for decades. Seattle City Light first launched its program in 1977.
"The rest of the country is now starting to step in where we've been for a long time," said Scott Thomsen, a City Light spokesman. "It's not just good for the environment. It's good for our customers."
And it's paying dividends: Right now City Light is paying part of the cost of cut-rate, super-efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs that consumers can pick up at Home Depot, Bartell Drugs, Costco or Fred Meyer -- some for less than $1 apiece, discounted up to $8. Final numbers aren't in for last year, but retailers anticipated selling a half-million bulbs in the continuing "Twist and Save" project, conserving enough juice to power 18,000 homes, City Light officials say.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/346177_rebates05.html



SpongeBob snowmen melt as Ill. warms
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BELVIDERE, Ill. -- SpongeBob's melting. So are Patrick, Squidward, Gary and Plankton.
The massive made-from-snow replicas of the cast of the Nickelodeon cartoon "SpongeBob SquarePants" aren't expected to survive this week's record-setting warm weather.
Dave King spent more than 30 hours crafting the full-color snowmen in his front yard as a way to entertain his children.
"It was everything in my front yard, everything in my neighbor's driveway, everything in my driveway," the Belvidere resident said. "We were filling the pickup truck full of snow and backing it up and dumping it."
The snowy SpongeBob, the yellow sponge who calls a pineapple under the sea home, is nearly 13-feet tall.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1120ap_odd_melting_snowmen.html?source=mypi



Ice slows cleanup in flooded Nev. town
By MARTIN GRIFFITH
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
FERNLEY, Nev. -- Hundreds of homes sat in as much as 8 feet of water Sunday following a canal rupture as freezing weather spread sheets of ice over yards and streets, hindering efforts to get the water to drain away.
Nearly 300 homes were damaged when the canal's bank gave way following heavy rainfall produced by the West Coast storm system that had piled snow as much as 11 feet deep in the Sierra Nevada.
Thousands of customers were blacked out across the West and many of them in California could remain in the dark for days because the storm ripped down nearly 500 miles of power lines, utility officials said Sunday.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110ap_winter_storm.html



Bhutto is posthumous Parade mag cover
By KAREN MATTHEWS
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
NEW YORK -- An interview with Benazir Bhutto before the former Pakistani prime minister was assassinated was important enough to keep on the cover of Parade magazine, the magazine's publisher said Sunday - even though the publication had already gone to print when Bhutto was killed.
Randy Siegel said Parade went to press on Dec. 21 and was already on its way to the 400 newspapers that distribute it when Bhutto was killed in a Dec. 27 shooting and bombing attack at a campaign rally in her country.
The Web version of the story was updated, Siegel said, but it was too late to change the magazine. He said the only option other than running the outdated article would have been asking newspapers not to distribute the magazine at all.
"We decided that this was an important interview to share with the American people," he said.
In the interview, Bhutto says that her enemies want her dead.
"I am what terrorists most fear, a female political leader fighting to bring modernity to Pakistan," Bhutto told author Gail Sheehy, who interviewed her weeks earlier. "Now they're trying to kill me."

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110ap_bhutto_magazine_cover.html



PARADE EXCLUSIVE
'A Wrong Must Be Righted'
An interview with Benazir Bhutto
By Gail Sheehy
Published: December 27, 2007
Editor's note: The assassination of Pakistan’s Benazir Bhutto on Dec. 27 occurred after PARADE’s Jan. 6 issue went to press.
Bhutto’s murder adds more danger and confusion to the already chaotic situation in this region. Pakistan is vital to U.S. security interests and the global fight against terrorism. In late November, PARADE sent Contributing Editor and best-selling author Gail Sheehy to Pakistan to interview former Prime Minister Bhutto as she campaigned through the country. Bhutto told Sheehy that she had long been a target of terrorists as well as the Musharraf government. She knew she could be murdered at any time.
PARADE’s Jan. 6 interview with Bhutto is one of the last interviews of her complex life.
After her assassination, PARADE immediately posted the entire interview online, and Sheehy appeared on network and cable TV news shows to discuss her face-to-face conversations with Bhutto.

http://www.parade.com/benazir_bhutto_interview.html



Pakistan: Militants kill 8 tribal elders
By SADAQAT JAN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Suspected Islamic militants fatally shot eight tribal leaders involved in efforts to broker a cease-fire between security forces and insurgents in Pakistan's volatile northwest, authorities said Monday.
The men were killed in separate attacks late Sunday and early Monday in South Waziristan, a mountainous region close to Afghanistan where al-Qaida and Taliban militants are known to operate, a security official and the military said in a statement.
The suspected insurgents killed three of the men in a market in Wana, the region's main town, while the other five were killed in attacks on their homes, the security official said. The men were scheduled to meet each other on Monday in Wana to discuss the negotiations, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to media.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1104ap_pakistan_militant_attacks.html?source=mypi



China party expels 500 over child rules
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BEIJING -- Authorities in central China have expelled 500 people from the Communist Party for defying the country's one-child policy, state media said Monday.
More than 93,000 people in Hubei province violated the policy last year, including hundreds of officials, lawmakers and political advisers, the official Xinhua News Agency said.
China has been trying to crack down on officials and the wealthy who ignore its strict family planning laws. Expulsion from the party could end a political career or prohibit promotions.
Xinhua said 395 offenders were dismissed from their posts, but it wasn't immediately clear if they were included in the 500 who were expelled from the Communist Party. It also wasn't clear if the offenders were additionally penalized. Fines are another common punishment for violating the one-child policy.
Under the policy, implemented in the late 1970s, most urban couples are limited to one child and rural families to two to control population growth and conserve natural resources.
China's 1.3 billion people account for 20 percent of the world's total. The government has set growth targets, pledging to keep the population under 1.36 billion in 2010, and under 1.45 billion in 2020.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1104ap_china_family_planning.html



Attacks on Chinese activists raise fears
By WILLIAM FOREMAN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
SHENZHEN, China -- Huang Qingnan lifts his hospital sheets and shows a long scar below his left hip. His right thigh needed stitches and surgeons fought to mend muscle and tendon gashed in his calf.
The 34-year-old labor activist was stabbed repeatedly by knife-wielding thugs, one in a series of attacks that experts and workers' rights advocates fear may signal a worrying new trend - privatized intimidation.
Once it would have been the communist government going after activists such as Huang. Today, he's less worried about the government and more about gangsters he believes are being hired by China's rough new capitalists to cow troublesome workers.
"The attack happened so fast," Huang said, lying in bed on the 19th floor of the Shenzhen Second People's Hospital. "It lasted just a minute or so, but I lost so much blood that I blacked out. Everything went blank."
A week before the November assault, another Shenzhen labor activist, Li Jinxin, was badly beaten, according to the Southern Metropolis Daily, a state-run newspaper. The paper said at least two others had been attacked around the same time. Shenzhen is a southern boomtown in Guangdong, one of China's most prosperous and industrialized provinces.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1104ap_china_attacks_on_activists.html



Drugs most commonly used in executions
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The three drugs most commonly used in lethal injections in the United States:
-Sodium thiopental, an anesthetic that is supposed to leave the inmate unconscious and unable to feel pain.
-Pancuronium bromide, a paralytic that is intended to prevent involuntary muscle movements.
-Potassium chloride, used to stop the heart.
Critics of the three-drug combination say that if the executioner administers too little anesthetic or makes mistakes in injecting it, the inmate could suffer excruciating pain from the other two drugs. But those involved in the execution might be unable to tell because the paralyzing drug would prevent any expression of pain.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1154ap_lethal_injection_drugs.html



States' methods of executions
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON -- If the Supreme Court decides that the three-drug combination most commonly used in lethal injection executions should be scrapped, 14 states could be forced to change their law to restart executions.
Other states easily could switch to a single drug, as critics of the current combination want, or use a different means of execution.
Nebraska is the only state that has electrocution as its only method of execution.
A look at methods of executions and the states using them, plus a list of states where legislation might be required before resuming lethal injections:
LETHAL INJECTION (35 states): Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Wyoming.
STATES THAT COULD REQUIRE LEGISLATION TO RESUME LETHAL INJECTIONS (14 states): Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Wyoming.
ELECTROCUTION (9 states): Alabama, Arkansas (only for crimes committed before July 4, 1983), Florida, Kentucky (only for inmates sentenced before 1998), Nebraska, Oklahoma (if lethal injection unconstitutional), South Carolina, Tennessee (only for crimes committed before 1999), Virginia.
GAS (4 states): Arizona (only for inmates sentenced before Nov. 1992), California, Missouri, Wyoming (if lethal injection unconstitutional).
HANGING (3 states): Delaware, New Hampshire (only if lethal injection can't be given), Washington.
FIRING SQUAD (3 states): Idaho, Oklahoma (only if both lethal injection and electrocution are found unconstitutional), Utah (only for inmates who chose it before 2004).
NO DEATH PENALTY (14 states and the nation's capital): Alaska, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey (death penalty abolished in December), New York (death penalty law declared unconstitutional by state court), North Dakota, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1154ap_lethal_injection_glance.html



Israeli fuel cuts force Gaza blackouts
By IBRAHIM BARZAK
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- With winter deepening, Gazans will be forced to live without lights and electric heaters for eight hours a day because Israel has cut fuel supplies to the territory's only electric plant in half, Gaza's top energy official warned Sunday.
Israel said the purpose of the cutback was to nudge Palestinians to call on militants to stop their daily rocket attacks on southern Israel. But Gazans charged they have become the target of unfair punishment, and 10 human rights groups took that argument to the Israeli Supreme Court.
The power outages, which will rotate across Gaza, come just days ahead of President Bush's visit to the region in an effort to promote recently restarted peace talks between Israel and the moderate Palestinian government in the West Bank.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107ap_israel_palestinians.html



4 suspects in Turkey bombing released
By C. ONUR ANT
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
ISTANBUL, Turkey -- Authorities released four suspects Sunday who had been detained after a deadly bomb attack in a predominantly Kurdish city of southwest Turkey, a local official said.
The bomb, which had been packed in a parked car, exploded Thursday in Diyarbakir as a military bus carrying soldiers passed by. Five people were killed, including four high school students, and 68 people were wounded, including more than 30 soldiers.
No one claimed responsibility for the attack, but Turkish officials quickly blamed separatist Kurdish rebels. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Saturday that the attack, in which plastic explosives were used, bore the hallmark of the rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1103ap_turkey_explosion.html



Report: French president to remarry
By JAMEY KEATEN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
PARIS -- Recently divorced President Nicolas Sarkozy will marry his former supermodel girlfriend next month, a French newspaper reported Sunday.
The weekly Le Journal Du Dimanche, citing unidentified sources, said Sarkozy gave Carla Bruni a heart-shaped diamond engagement ring in December and that the pair would wed on Feb. 8 or 9.
The presidential palace declined to comment on the report.
Sarkozy, who divorced his wife Cecilia in October, has flaunted his relationship with Bruni on recent holidays in Egypt and Jordan, drawing criticism that he is being too loose with the presidential image.
Political analyst Dominique Moisi said that a Sarkozy proposal to Bruni could be an effort to head off any future controversies, and its speed would fit with his personality as a busy man in a hurry.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1103ap_france_sarkozy.html



Georgian president wins second term
By MISHA DZHINDZHIKHASHVILI
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
TBILISI, Georgia -- Mikhail Saakashvili won a second term as Georgia's president Sunday in an election that thousands of opposition protesters denounced as fraudulent, threatening instability in this former Soviet republic once considered a beacon of reform.
For the pro-Western Saakashvili, the prospect of unrest is an ironic echo of the mass demonstrations that swept him into office four years ago as a champion of democracy fighting rigged elections.
An observer mission from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe gave the election a mixed assessment, calling it a significant step for democracy while pointing to an array of violations. Russia, which vies with the West for influence in Georgia, sharply criticized the vote.
Saakashvili nearly 53 percent of Saturday's vote - narrowly clearing the 50 percent threshold needed to avoid a runoff election - said Central Elections Commission head Levan Tarkhnishvili. His main challenger, Levan Gachechiladze, had 27 percent.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1103ap_georgia_presidential_election.html



Warlord's delegation at Congo talks
By EDDY ISANGO
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
GOMA, Congo -- One of Congo's fiercest warlords sent a delegation on Sunday to meet with members of the government on the first day of peace talks in the provincial outpost of Goma.
The delegation of 10 rebels loyal to Laurent Nkunda, who commands an army of over 1,000 men, arrived in Goma under the guard of U.N. troops. The rebels declared a cease-fire last week.
Although Congo last year held its first free election in over 40 years, the enormous, jungle-covered country has struggled to control its lawless eastern province, where numerous militias vie for land.
A spokesman for the delegation said its No. 1 concern is the continued presence in Congo of the extremist Hutu militia FDLR, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Rwanda. The militia fled to the forested hills of eastern Congo after being chased out of neighboring Rwanda, where it is accused of orchestrating the 1994 genocide of half a million Tutsis.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1105ap_congo_peace_talks.html



Kenya's unrest takes violent toll
By TODD PITMAN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
KACHIBORA, Kenya -- Armed with bows and arrows and automatic weapons, hundreds of attackers poured through the camp where the terrified had sought refuge Sunday. They fired into the air, sparking a brief gunbattle with police before fleeing into the hills.
Hours later, after the bodies of a woman and her baby shot dead were carted away, aid agencies arrived to hand out emergency sacks of food to the hungry masses.
It sounds like a scene from war-ravaged Congo or Darfur. But this is Kenya, a country long known for welcoming refugees from troubled neighbors - not producing them.
A week of postelection violence has left at least 250,000 people homeless, shattering the East African country's image as a haven for those fleeing conflict.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1105ap_kenya_on_the_brink.html



Kenyan police accused of killings, arson
By KATHARINE HOURELD
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
NAIROBI, Kenya -- Noor Adam begged police to spare his children as he lay bleeding from a bullet wound in front of his shop but they set fire to his store anyway, burning to death his 7-year-old daughter and teenage son inside.
The Nairobi shopkeeper says he was targeted by police from a rival tribe - underscoring how riots that began as opposition protests have sent simmering ethnic tensions boiling over and how some police appear to have fueled rather than tamped the violence.
More than two dozen Kenyan civil organizations say police have taken to using extraordinary force, and in some cases carried out extrajudicial executions, in the face of riots sparked by anger over alleged election fraud. Police deny the accusations.
The unrest began when supporters of opposition leader Raila Odinga accused President Mwai Kibaki of rigging the Dec. 27 vote but soon exploded into widespread ethnic clashes, pulling in many more than Kibaki's Kikuyu tribe and Odinga's Luo, and leaving more than 300 people dead.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1105ap_kenya_police_violence.html



Kenyan opposition leader open to talks
By MICHELLE FAUL
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
NAIROBI, Kenya -- Kenya's opposition leader on Sunday signaled he is willing to share power with the government he accuses of rigging elections, but at the same time called for mass rallies - a move that threatens renewed bloodletting.
Weary Kenyans, some hungry and homeless after a week of violence marked by ethnic clashes, prayed for peace and begged their leaders to break the political deadlock.
"This fighting is meaningless," said Eliakim Omondi, 17, at a Lutheran church in Nairobi's Kibera slum that was torched last week. "I wish they would just talk and square everything so the fighting will stop."
Pastor Dennis Meeker urged congregants kneeling before a charred cross to "be with those who tried to kill you and destroy you." A woman dropped to the floor screaming "Forgive the people who attacked our church!"

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1105ap_kenya_elections.html



Chavez waits for word on hostage release
By CHRISTOPHER TOOTHAKER
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
CARACAS, Venezuela -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Sunday he is waiting to hear from Colombia's largest rebel group about two rebel-held hostages that the guerrillas promised to release to the leftist leader last month.
Chavez lamented that his initiative to help free the hostages - former congresswoman Consuelo Gonzalez and former vice presidential candidate Clara Rojas - failed when rebels said last week that operations by Colombia's U.S.-backed military had prevented a planned handover.
"We continue waiting for new contacts for the liberation of Clara and Consuelo," Chavez said during his weekly television and radio program "Hello President."

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1102ap_venezuela_colombia_hostages.html



DNA: Orphan is Colombian hostage's son
By JOSHUA GOODMAN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
BOGOTA, Colombia -- Leftist rebels had promised to hand over a 3-year-old along with the child's mother and a third hostage, raising hopes that a rescue effort spearheaded by Venezuela's president would succeed.
But the result of a DNA test on Friday was downright soap opera material: It revealed that the boy, Emmanuel, had spent the last two years not in a jungle rebel camp, but in a Bogota foster home.
The result was a setback for those involved in the now-tabled rescue operation, as well as a major embarrassment for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.
The story of Emmanuel has transfixed Colombia since a Colombian journalist first reported in a 2006 expose book that the child was born to one of the rebels' most prominent hostages, former vice presidential candidate Clara Rojas, as the product of a relationship with one of her captors, reportedly a rank-and-file guerrilla named Rigo.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1102ap_colombia_child_hostage.html

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