No change in Iran policy, WH insists

WASHINGTON: "There was no intention to change the position, and nothing the vice president said in any way indicates a change in U.S. position," said a White House official of Biden's remarks Sunday. "What he said and what chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Michael Mullen said taken together reflect our position, Israel is a sovereign nation, Israel is an ally and Israel has a right to defend itself and other countries cannot dictate how it defends itself. That being said, it would not be helpful if Israel were to act against Iran." Any interpretation that Biden's remarks signaled a change in U.S. policy is "spin," he added.Biden did, however, strike a different tone when answering a similar question back on April 7. Asked if he were concerned that Netanyahu might strike Iranian nuclear facilities, Biden told media, "I don't believe Prime Minister Netanyahu would do that. I think he would be ill advised to do that."How to account for the seeming discrepancy? "Any tonal difference is not intentional at all," the White House official said.Did Biden coordinate with the White House to pressure Iran to respond to the still-outstanding offer of talks with Washington? Again, the answer from the White House was no.Washington foreign-policy hands, however, were skeptical that the message was not quite deliberate.

Six dead, 40 wounded in Philippine bombing: police

JOLO, Philippines (AFP) — At least six people were killed and more than 40 wounded by twin bomb blasts in the Philippines Tuesday, in what officials described as coordinated attacks by Al Qaeda-linked militants.
The first bomb exploded in a commercial area on Jolo island, killing six people and wounding around 30, police said. It was followed around two hours later by car bomb blast next to a parked military patrol jeep in Iligan city.
The second blast wounded at least 10 people, including three soldiers, the military said.
Jolo, in the southern Philippines, is a stronghold of Abu Sayyaf Muslim rebels and local anti-terror task force chief Major General Juancho Sabban was quick to point the finger at the militant group.
"This is a signature bomb attack of the Abu Sayyaf," Sabban said, speaking on local radio. He said that the bomb was hidden beneath the saddle of a motorcycle that was parked outside a downtown hardware store.
The Abu Sayyaf has been blamed for a string of bombings and kidnappings, most recently of three Red Cross workers on the island in January. They are still holding one of them, an Italian.
Regional police spokesman Superintendent Bayani Gucela said six civilians were killed in the Jolo blast, while at least 30 others were wounded. Police in Iligan, also in the south, said at least 10 people were wounded there.
"The (Jolo) commercial district area was packed with people when the explosion happened," Sabban said on local radio. "All our doctors and nurses are already there in the area taking care of the victims."
Police disarmed another bomb near Jolo's Mount Carmel Catholic cathedral while a third suspicious package was also found and safely detonated.
"We have cordoned off the area and (are) setting up checkpoints," Sabban said.
Tuesday's bombings came just two days after a bomb exploded outside a Roman Catholic cathedral in Cotabato city, also in the south.
The number of deaths in that attack, which was blamed on the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), another Islamic rebel group, rose to six Tuesday, when one of the more than 50 people wounded died of his injuries, officials said.
President Gloria Arroyo's senior adviser for the south, Jesus Dureza, said the spate of bombings appeared to be coordinated. "This is no longer isolated, but orchestrated," Dureza told reporters in Cotabato.
He said foreign militants from the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) militant group had recently trained dozens of local bombers for missions in the south.
Since January, there had been about 56 bombings in the south, some of them targeting troops, but most of them killing or maiming civilians, he added.
Arroyo's spokeswoman, Lorelei Fajardo, said government remained open to resuming peace talks with the MILF, stressing that the authorities have yet to determine which group was behind the attacks.
"We strongly condemn the people behind this act of needless violence," Fajardo said in Manila. "Nothing could be accomplished through violence."
Sabban said it was not clear whether the Abu Sayyaf attack on Jolo was linked with the MILF attack, although both groups were known to have helped each other in the past.
The MILF has also admitted to training with the JI in the past, and military intelligence officials have said dozens of foreign militants remain in the south.
The Abu Sayyaf has been on the run from a military offensive launched after they kidnapped Italian aid worker Eugenio Vagni in January. A Filipina and a Swiss colleague abducted with Vagni were separately freed in April.
It is thought that Vagni is being held hostage in the dense jungles of Jolo, and the 62-year-old has been in poor health, according to the government.
In May, the island province's governor Abdusakur Tan escaped a roadside bomb attack by the Abu Sayyaf that wounded five of his bodyguards.

Official: US hints at talks on SKorean missiles

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The United States is open to talks on the possibility of South Korea developing ballistic missiles capable of striking all of North Korea, a South Korean Defense Ministry official said Tuesday.
A senior general at the U.S. command in Seoul told deputies to South Korean lawmakers last week that the allies can discuss the revision of a 2001 accord barring the South from developing missiles with a range of more than 186 miles (300 kilometers), the ministry official said.
He spoke on condition of anonymity, citing department policy, and refused to identify the U.S. general. The U.S. military command in Seoul said it could not immediately confirm the remarks.
South Korean politicians and experts have called for the improvement of their country's missile capability, citing North Korea's increasing missile and nuclear threats.
North Korea carried out its second nuclear test in May. On Saturday it test-fired a barrage of ballistic missiles into waters off its east coast, its biggest display of missile firepower in three years.
The North deploys hundreds of missiles that have all of South Korea and Japan within their striking range. In April, the North test-launched a long-range rocket believed capable of reaching Alaska.
The restriction on the South's missile capability was imposed due to concerns over a regional arms race. Under a 1979 accord with the U.S., South Korea had been barred from developing a missile with a range longer than 110 miles (180 kilometers) until 2001 when it was allowed to extend the range to 186 miles (300 kilometers).
In April, Prime Minister Han Seung-soo told the National Assembly it was time "to review" the restriction and discuss the matter with the U.S., days after the North test-fired a long-range rocket that flew over Japan and landed in the Pacific Ocean.
The missile accord still allows South Korea to develop a cruise missile without range restriction as long as its payload is under 1,100 pounds (500 kilograms). Cruise missiles can be intercepted more easily than ballistic missiles due to their slower speed, experts say.
Media reports say South Korea has been developing a cruise missile with a range of 930 miles (1,500 kilometers).
South Korea does not publicize the location of its missile facilities so it is difficult to know how much of North Korea is currently within range.
The distance from Seoul to the northernmost part of North Korea is about 400 miles (640 kilometers). The North Korean capital of Pyongyang is about 120 miles (200 kilometers) from Seoul.
North Korea's Saturday missile tests drew more international censure when the U.N. Security Council issued a condemnation after a closed meeting Monday in New York.
Uganda U.N. Ambassador Ruhakana Rugunda, who holds the council's rotating presidency, said members "condemned and expressed grave concerns" at the missile launches, which violate U.N. resolutions and "pose a threat to regional and international security."
The Security Council passed Resolution 1874 last month to punish North Korea after its May 25 nuclear test. The country, already banned from conducting ballistic missile tests under previous resolutions, is also forbidden from selling arms and weapons-related material.
The resolution allows other countries to request boarding and inspection of North Korean ships suspected of transporting illicit cargo, though the vessels do not have to give permission. North Korea is believed to earn money from selling missile technology and weapons.
The first North Korean ship to be subject to possible searches under the resolution has likely arrived back home after leaving port last month, the South Korean Defense Ministry official said.
The Kang Nam 1 is believed to have entered the port of Nampo on North Korea's western coast late Monday, the official said. He said South Korea was trying to obtain confirmation of the vessel's return.
The U.S. Navy had tracked the cargo vessel. The ship, which was believed destined for Myanmar, suddenly turned back on June 28.
A U.S. admiral said the Kang Nam's aborted journey demonstrates that efforts are working to enforce U.N. sanctions.
"I think that's an indication of the way the international community came together," Adm. Gary Roughead, the chief of Naval operations, said Monday in Seoul.
Speculation has included the possibility the Kang Nam 1 was carrying weapons, possibly to Myanmar. The ship has been suspected of transporting banned goods to the Southeast Asian country in the past.
Associated Press Writer Ron DePasquale at United Nations headquarters in New York contributed to this report.

Suspected US attack kills 12 in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistani intelligence officials say suspected U.S. missiles have hit a training camp run by Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud, killing 12 insurgents and wounding some others.
Four intelligence officials said the two missiles flattened a compound in the Makeen area of South Waziristan on Tuesday. They said local militants had pulled out twelve bodies from the rubble.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to media.

Moulana Muhammad Ali Jauhar

It is difficult to come across in history men of the calibre of Maulana Muhammad Ali Jauhar. Maulana Jauhar was unique in many respects: A lover of the land, lover of liberty, lover of Islam, and lover of highest absolute values, who would stake his life to gain his cherished objectives. Well-versed in the learnings of both east and west, Maulana rose to be a political leader of high repute, a poet of great eminence, a journalist par excellence, an orator of captivating impact, and more than all a humanist, whose sensitive heart would react emotionally to the sorrows and sufferings of man. Maulana Jauhar was the finest flower of the Islamic renaissance. His thought process was pregnant with the basic Islamic values; steadfastness in faith (Iman), equilibrium (Islam) and benevolence (Ihsan). The concept of certainty (yaqin-e-kamil) invites the thought to ultimate reality, which is eternal Beauty, its nature being self-expression, got reflected in the mirror of the universe because of love, Love is appreciation of beauty, and beauty is perfection. Thus a single concept of certainty leads to the basic absolute values of truth, beauty, love and perfection. Likewise, the equilibrium (Shariah) fixes the laws or code of conduct, which the Islamic creed preaches, such as salat, saum, zakat and haj. But faith and belief, the code and the creed alone do not complete the message of Islam, which expects the faithful to serve a cause, which is to exist for others (Ihsan). It calls for immense sacrifice, (sidq-e-khaleel), intense love (Ishq-e-Rasool), indomitable courage (Zor-e-Haidar) and limitless patience (Sabr-e-Hussain). Maulana Jauhar was an embodiment of this essence of Islam, which he both preached and practised. Maulana's life can be summarised in four phases; the first phase is his youthful life until 1912; the second phase is from 1912 to 1919 when the Balkan and the world war set his tone against the colonials; the third phase is from 1919 to 1924, when he was at the summit of national movement; and the last phase is from 1924 to 1930, when dejected and disappointed at the trends of events both within the country and abroad, he vowed never to return to a slave country like India but to seek a resting place from where the Prophet of Islam had ascended the heavens. In the first phase his bubbling energy and fertility of mind witnessed a prodigy shaping himself into that fascinating figure, where he would become a lover of all good things of life, a poet to open the inner recesses of heart; an orator of golden tongue; a graduate of reputed Aligarh College; an Honours from Oxford University; a master of English language; a critique of Shakespeare; an impeccable youth of western style; an admirer of western learning and culture; a good friend of British Civil Servants, catching the eye even of the Viceroy; in short a fine product of what Mill and Macaulay had envisioned. It is in this phase that he became a journalist to edit the legendary paper, Comrade, which would make King George V restless, if it did not reach him on time. It is strange that God had injected into this Muslim that potential which would shake the whole world. Then the Maulana came out with its Urdu equivalent, Hamdard, which too moved multitudes. How fortunate was the Millat that if Maulana Azad was igniting fire through his Al-Hilal and Al-Balagh from Calcutta, Maulana Jauhar was crossing swords through Hamdard in Delhi with the empire which had a stranglehold over the Islamic World. Both Azad and Jauhar had been struck with that passionate zeal and zest of the Islamic creed; with that profound depth of Islamic learning and culture; and with that crusading urge to liberate the land from the foreign clutches so that both seemed to redeem the dream of Tipu Sultan. In the second phase this resolve of resistance to foreign hold was concretised when the Balkan and the World War I broke out. What little love for the West was still there in Jauhar's hearts was all changed to a bitter fight against the English when they set their eyes on the Ottoman Empire. Like a fierce tiger Maulana pounced on the English in the columns of Comrade, never to compromise again with the colonials, who were out to dismember the Turkish Empire, and to keep India under their thumb. Maulana Jauhar or Maulana Azad, both of them were put behind bars for five years from 1914 to 1919. Those who doubt the Muslim loyalty to the land and the degree of their patriotism and nationalism should read the pages of Comrade, Hamdard, Al-Hilal and Al-Balagh. Maulana Jauhar's five years in jail (1914-19) made him an inveterate foe of the colonials. His mind revived the memory of the crusades of Salahuddin Ayubi. The severe contest between the Crescent and the Cross was again on, in which the Cross had all the guns and the Crescent had all the pens. The Maulana joined the prestigious club of Islamic thinkers and writers such as Muhammad Abdul Wahab of Najad, Jamalud Afghani, Sheikh Muhammad Abduhu, Rasheed Raza, Shakeeb Arsalan, Abdul Qadir Maghribi and Mustafa Kamal Pasha. Maulana enters into the third phase of his life (1919-1924) when his fight against the west was intensified. This is the golden period of his life when he was at the peak of his glory. He joined hands with Gandhiji and initiated the Khilafat movement of epic importance. India witnessed a new upsurge of nationalism when the distinction between the Mahatma and the Maulana was wiped off. The two went about the country setting fire to the foreign goods and exciting people to join the non-violent non-cooperation movement. The satyagraha was a unique event of history. Never had the Muslims come so close to Hindus, and never had the Hindus supported so whole-heartedly a Muslim cause such as Khilafat. The excitement of the period was something like the days of the French Revolution which had unchained the tigers of emotion and had harnessed the horses of reason. The imperial throne seemed tottering in India. The Hindu-Muslim unity, the main architect of which was Maulana Jauhar, was about to snatch the brightest jewel from the British crown, when suddenly Mustafa Kamal of Turkey turned the table against the Khilafat movement. That single act changed the course of world history. The British stabilised their position in India, sent all leaders to jail, fanned the fire of Hindu-Muslim disunity and got the lease of life to stay in India for two more decades. The only solid gain the Muslims got in this phase was the establishment of Jamia Millia Islamia, of which Maulana Jauhar was its first chancellor. He would teach Islamic History to the students in such a manner as though Hazrat Umar had appeared again in his second birth. This phase did not last long. The Hindus and the Muslims reverted to their old game of fighting each other. The Maulana was disappointed at these events. The Indian National Congress itself fell into factions of pro-changers and non-changers. The Shuddhi movement was all in its fury, only to excite Tabligh among the Muslims. The drama of Hindu-Muslim riots was taking its toll, solving bitter seeds of discord only to reap the fruits of the holocaust of 1947. Maulana's last phase (1924-30) is extremely tragic. The rise of Swaraj Party, the revival of Hindu Mahasabha, Urdu-Hindi conflict, Shuddhi Sanghattan, Tanzim-o-Thabligh, Nehru report, Jinnah's fourteen points, retreat of Gandhiji into constructive programme away from politics, subtle game of the English and disunity and rudderless drift of the Muslims, all shattered the dreams of Maulana Jauhar, who was itching for a Finale, which would make him ever live in history. That opportunity came in the form of the Round Table Conference in London, whither he went with the avowed object of either to bring home freedom or never to return empty-handed. The conference Halls reverberated with the thunder of his speeches. Perhaps since the days of Haidar and Tipu whose invasion of Carnatic had made Edmund Burke electrify the British audience by his fiery oratory, they had not known the thunder and the glow of a passionate soul which could rise to sublime heights even to excel Edmund Burke. Islam has produced mighty souls, but not in recent times the like of Muhammed Ali Jauhar. His last wish never to return home without freedom was fulfilled, for he went to that celestial world of peace and joy, which is beyond the flight of time, and beyond the realm of death. While going he carried the casket of his soul in its pristine purity only to report to the Almighty, "Oh God! You are a witness, that I did my duty, while in mortal frame, to uphold the banner of your Majesty, your grace, your mercy, and your graciousness."

Where Have All The Dolphins Gone This Summer?

Researchers from the wildlife conservation charity Marinelife are extremely concerned about what it is NOT seeing this summer in the Bay of Biscay.