Back Again....

Nyahahahaha.....time to get back again.....
it's already December...how fast O.O
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Israel approves inquiry into Gaza flotilla raid

JERUSALEM – Israel's Cabinet on Monday approved an investigation into the navy's deadly raid on a flotilla carrying pro-Palestinian activists bound for blockaded Gaza that will include two respected foreign observers in a step aimed at countering worldwide criticism of the operation.

Israel has been under heavy pressure to carry out an impartial inquiry into the events of May 31, when naval commandos clashed with activists on board a Turkish ship headed to Gaza. Nine Turkish activists were killed, and dozens of people, including seven soldiers, were wounded.

Israel has rejected calls for an international investigation, saying the United Nations and other global bodies have a long history of bias against the Jewish state.

But in consultation with its key ally, the United States, Israel agreed to add two high-ranking foreign observers to bolster the credibility of the probe: David Trimble, a Nobel peace laureate from Northern Ireland, and Canada's former chief military prosecutor, retired Brig. Gen. Ken Watkin.

Trimble is a member of a pro-Israel faction in Britain's House of Lords. Watkin has been a visiting fellow in the human rights program at Harvard Law School.

Before Monday's Cabinet vote, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was confident the makeup of the commission would blunt the international criticism and prove Israel handled the affair responsibly.

"I am convinced that the commission's uncovering of the facts will prove that the goals and actions of the state of Israel and the Israeli military were appropriate defensive actions in accordance with the highest international standards," he said.

The White House has backed Israel's inquiry into the raid, calling it "an important step forward."

The naval commandos clashed with the activists after landing on the deck of the Turkish ship from helicopters.

Israel says the ship was carrying dozens of trained militants who had prepared to confront the soldiers. It has released videos showing the activists attacking the soldiers with clubs, metal pipes and knives.

The activists say they were only defending themselves, and some members of the international community, particularly Turkey, have accused Israel of using excessive force and acting illegally in international waters.

There was no immediate international reaction to Monday's Cabinet decision.

Hah! I'm back!!

I'm coming back! I'm very sorry because i was so busy for a week(T.T). So i couldn't write the post about news...
Starting on Monday i'll write about news again....
Arigatou gozaimasu

Bicycle bomb kills Afghan policeman

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AFP) – A remote controlled bicycle bomb killed at least one policeman and wounded 15 civilians in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar on Saturday, police and a provincial spokesman said.

The bomb detonated as police were getting out of a vehicle close to the provincial governor's office and the offices of the Afghan Red Crescent, the spokesman for the provincial governor, Zalmai Ayobi, told AFP.

Three children were among the 15 wounded.

NATO and US-led forces have announced a massive counter-insurgency operation in Kandahar, the spiritual home of the Taliban during their rule over the country prior to 2001.

The Taliban are trying to topple the Western-backed government of President Hamid Karzai. A three-day peace conference in Kabul attended by tribal elders and religious leaders ended Friday with a call to militants to lay down their arms.

The conference, called to advise Karzai on how to make peace with the Taliban, demanded the establishment of a "powerful commission" to lead talks with the militants.

Rwanda names gorillas on World Environment Day

KINIGI, Rwanda (AFP) – Rwanda hosted UN World Environment Day Saturday with a ceremony to name 11 endangered baby mountain gorillas in which Internet users worldwide were for the first time able to take part.

The annual naming has been held since 2005 in Rwanda, but this was the first year in which people have been able to give their online suggestions for naming two of the infant apes.

The ceremony took place Saturday at the foot of the mist-capped Virunga volcanoes that straddle the borders of Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, and which are home to about half of the world's 700 mountain gorillas.

Hollywood star and guest of honour, the Oscar-nominated US actor Don Cheadle, announced that the name chosen by Internet users across the globe was "Zoya."
Zoya refers to life and light in several languages: it means "shining" in India, "alive" in Greek, and "twilight" in Iranian.

The name selected by children across the planet and given to another baby gorilla was "WakaWaka", which means "to light up" in the Swahili language, another guest of honour, acclaimed wildlife photographer Luo Hong, said.

The Rwanda Development Board organised this year's ceremony to coincide with World Environment Day after the country was chosen by the United Nations Environment Programme to host the 2010 event.

In attendance alongside Cheadle and Luo Hong were Rwandan President Paul Kagame and UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner, who called Rwanda "a pioneer in green economic growth with a true commitment to a cleaner development model".

He said UNEP had "joined forces with partners to contribute to gorilla conservation and provide hundreds of solar lights for Rwandan villagers and schoolchildren".

A statement from UNEP said this year's World Environment Day raised more than 85,000 dollars for gorilla conservation in addition to the funding for solar lighting.

The ceremony is "part of an effort to heighten awareness of the situation of the mountain gorillas of Rwanda and of the region that are endangered," the Rwanda Development Board said.

Previous naming ceremonies "have greatly contributed both to promoting tourism in Rwanda and to getting Rwandans to understand the benefits of protecting the environment in general," Rwanda's top tourism and national parks official, Rica Rwigamba, said in a statement.

Gorilla tracking is a major draw for tourists in Rwanda, with visitors paying 500 dollars for a permit to spend an hour with the primates in their bamboo forest habitat.

Four highly endangered mountain gorillas were found dead last month in Rwanda's part of the Virunga mountains, likely because of extreme cold in their mountain habitat.

Pope urges support for Mideast Christians

NICOSIA, Cyprus – Pope Benedict XVI appealed Saturday for support for embattled Christian communities in the Middle East, calling them a vital force for peace in the region.

Benedict's three-day pilgrimage to Cyprus is part of preparations for a crisis summit of Middle East bishops in Rome in October. Many bishops from the region have traveled to Cyprus to see Benedict and receive a working paper for the summit that will be made public Sunday.

War and harsh economic conditions have led to the exodus of thousands of Christians from the Holy Land, Iraq and elsewhere in recent years.

Meeting with Orthodox Christian Archbishop Chrysostomos II, Benedict said the continuing conflict in the Middle East "must be a source of concern to all of Christ's followers."

"No one can remain indifferent to the need to support in every way possible the Christians of that troubled region, so that its ancient churches can live in peace and flourish," Benedict said.

Benedict has walked a careful diplomatic path since arriving Friday on this divided eastern Mediterranean island. Cyprus was ethnically split in 1974 when Turkey invaded after a coup by supporters of union with Greece. Turkish Cypriots declared an independent republic in the north in 1983, but only Turkey recognizes it, and it maintains 35,000 troops there.

Shortly after Benedict's arrival, the Cypriot archbishop launched a harsh attack against Turkey, accusing it of ethnic cleansing and of aiming to take over the entire island.

Benedict has not responded directly to the Greek Cypriot leaders. On Saturday, he called for a "just settlement" of outstanding issues.

President Dimitris Christofias kept it up Saturday when Benedict visited him at the presidential palace in the divided capital. He urged the international community to put its larger geopolitical interests aside and pressure Turkey to reach an accord reunifying the island.

Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu last month resumed long-running peace talks after a two-month pause.

While Benedict has no plans to visit northern Cyprus, his spokesman said it is likely the pope will meet with a Muslim delegation.

In addressing members of Cyprus' tiny Catholic community, he stressed the importance of interreligious dialogue for the Catholic community, a reference to the overwhelmingly Muslim Turkish Cypriots.

"Only by patient work can mutual trust be built, the burden of history overcome, and the political and cultural differences between peoples become a motive to work fore deeper understanding," Benedict said.
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Associated Press writer Menelaos Hadjicostis contributed to this report from Nicosia.

Israeli forces board Gaza-bound aid vessel

JERUSALEM – Israeli forces seized a Gaza-bound aid vessel without meeting resistance on Saturday, preventing it from breaking an Israeli maritime blockade of the Hamas-ruled territory days after a similar effort turned bloody.

The military said its forces boarded the 1,200-ton Rachel Corrie cargo ship from the sea, not helicopters.

The takeover stood in marked contrast to a violent confrontation at sea earlier this week when Israeli commandos blocked a Turkish aid vessel trying to break the blockade. At the time, Israeli commandos rappelled from helicopters and a clash with passengers left nine pro-Palestinian activists dead.

Army spokeswoman Lt. Col. Avital Leibovich says Saturday's takeover took only a few minutes and that the vessel was being taken to Israel's Ashdod port.

The Irish ship — named for an American college student who was crushed to death by a bulldozer in 2003 while protesting Israeli house demolitions in Gaza — was carrying hundreds of tons of aid, including wheelchairs, medical supplies and cement.

The standoff has raised international pressure on Israel to lift the 3-year-old blockade that has plunged the territory's 1.5 million residents deeper into poverty.

Activists on board the boat, including Irish Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mairead Corrigan, had said they wouldn't resist if Israeli soldiers tried to take over their vessel.

This latest attempt to breach the blockade differs significantly from the flotilla the Israeli troops intercepted on Monday, killing eight Turks and a Turkish-American after being set upon by a group of activists.

Nearly 700 activists had joined that operation, most of them aboard the lead boat from Turkey that was the scene of the violence. That boat, the Mavi Marmara, was sponsored by an Islamic aid group from Turkey, the Foundation for Human Rights and Freedom and Humanitarian Relief. Israel outlawed the group, known by its Turkish acronym IHH, in 2008 because of alleged ties to Hamas. The group is not on the U.S. State Department list of terror organizations, however.

By contrast, the Rachel Corrie was carrying just 11 passengers from Ireland and Malaysia, whose effort was mainly sponsored by the Free Gaza movement, a Cyprus-based group that has renounced violence. Nine crew were also on board.

Drogba facing World Cup heartbreak

SION , Switzerland (AFP) – Ivory Coast saw off Japan 2-0 in a pre-World Cup friendly on Friday, but captain Didier Drogba may miss the World Cup after suffering a fractured forearm that may keep him out of the event.

Drogba fired home an early deflected free-kick but then injured his right arm and was forced to go off after just 18 minutes following a seemingly innocuous clash with Brazilian-born Japanese defender Marcus Tulio Tanaka.

"Didier Drogba has not for the moment pulled out (of the squad)," the Ivorian Football Federation (FIF) said in a statement on its website, as rumours abounded that the player would not recover in time.

Drogba gave way to CSKA Moscow forward Seydou Doumbia and hurried off for a scan at a hospital in the Swiss town of Sion which hosted the game.

Elephants' coach Sven-Goran Eriksson said: "Didier Drogba was injured just above the elbow.

"We do not know if he will be able to play the World Cup. Of course it is very worrying. He is our skipper and our best player.

"I have not as yet spoken to him but what is certain is that he was in great pain."

French media reports quoted Drogba as saying he would miss the tournament.

L'Equipe sports daily reported on its website: "After tests the player confirmed to us he would not be able to play in the World Cup."

Following his hospital scan Drogba was seen by reporters with his arm in a sling and held protectively under his vest.

Team-mate Kolo Toure, who scored the second goal, said: "Of course without Didier Drogba we are not the same team but we have good players with abundant qualities."

Drogba helped the Ivorians open the scoring just three minutes before going off, hammering goalwards a free kick which was deflected in off Tanaka.

Manchester City's Toure added the clincher ten minutes from time to complete the win and give the Elephants a fillip, the injury to Drogba notwithstanding.

The Ivorians ought to have seen off weak opponents by a larger margin and Doumbia wasted several opportunities, firing over after Toure set him up on the half hour and then firing off target seconds before the break.

Aruna Dindane also went close as Japan struggled to hold their lines.

Toure finally claimed his goal when he turned in following a Saka Tiene free kick.
Swede Eriksson praised the team's overall performance.

"We played well with a lot of discipline," said the former England boss.

Shunsuke Nakamura might have given the Japanese something to cheer but his free kick five minutes after the interval was taken smartly by Ivorian keeper Boubacar Barry.

Japan coach Takeshi Okada said he was on the whole satisfied with his team's performance.

"We were up against a good team with good players," said Okada.

"But we put some good moves together. We were tight in defence which helped us prevent our rivals from increasing their pace on us.

"We were there for some good duels. I'm satisfied with the way that we used the ball up front. We knew how to keep it simple."

Japan must now try to find some form ahead of their Group E meetings with further African opposition in the shape of Cameroon as well as Denmark and Holland while Ivory Coast will go up against Brazil, Portugal and North Korea in Group G.

PM visits scene of gun massacre 'tragedy'

WHITEHAVEN, England (AFP) – Prime Minister David Cameron on Friday visited injured survivors of a gun massacre which killed 12 people, calling it "the most appalling tragedy".

Cameron also hailed the "incredible" bravery of local people and emergency service workers caught up in the deadly rampage by 52-year-old taxi driver Derrick Bird, which was reportedly linked to his financial problems.

His visit came as police in the rural and normally peaceful Lake District of northwest England battled to work out exactly what prompted Bird to launch a three-hour killing spree which claimed the life of his twin brother, among others.

The local area has "suffered the most appalling tragedy and it will have a huge impact on the community," Cameron told reporters after meeting survivors and police.

"I wanted to come here to show the government wanted to listen, wanted to show how much it cares about what has happened here."

Britain already has some of the tightest gun laws in the world but Cameron said these would be re-examined after the dust has settled.

He said "lots of questions" would have to be asked "and we have to make sure that we answer those questions and do everything we can to help them (local people) through that process."

In the towns and villages where Bird struck before turning the gun on himself, local people were struggling to come to terms with what happened.

"Everyone will pull together and get through it but it's tragic. In the wider community here, everybody knows somebody affected," said Anne-Marie Hodgson, who runs a cafe in Frizington, where Bird killed his family's lawyer.

June Skelton added: "Even if somebody's got money problems, why take innocent people, why not go out to the woods and top himself without ruining 12 families' lives?"

Local Church of England churches were open throughout the day to allow people to pray and reflect on the horror wrought on their towns and villages.

As well as killing 12, Bird also wounded 11 people as he drove through the area, calling people over to his car before opening fire or taking pot shots from the window.

He took his own life in a wood near the village of Boot as police closed in.

Officers recovered a shotgun and a .22 rifle fitted with a telescopic sight. Police confirmed Bird had valid licences for both.

More than 100 officers were working to retrace Bird's deadly journey through an area popular with hill walkers to establish why a man described by neighbours as a "normal bloke" caused such mayhem.

One of his friends, a fellow taxi driver, said Bird had been worried about an investigation by tax authorities into his finances.

"He said: 'They have caught me with £60,000 (90,000 dollars, 70,000 euros) in the bank, the tax people'. He just said: 'I'll go to jail'," said Mark Cooper, 45, who had known Bird for 15 years.

Reports suggested Bird argued with his twin brother David over the money and their mother's will, but David's three daughters denied any family rift.

Rachel, Tracey and Katie paid tribute to their father, a "loving character".

"We would like to take this opportunity to say there was absolutely no family feud. Our Dad's only downfall was to try and help his brother," they said, in an apparent hint at discord within the family.

Police confirmed they were investigating whether financial troubles could have triggered the massacre but would not comment further.

Bird had also argued with other taxi drivers the night before the killings, and reportedly told them: "There's going to be a rampage tomorrow."

Bird's brother and his family lawyer, 60-year-old Kevin Commons, were thought to be among the first victims before he drove to the taxi rank in the town of Whitehaven and shot dead a fellow cabbie.

Other victims included Jane Robinson, 66, gunned down as she delivered catalogues door-to-door and farmer's son Garry Purdham, 31, who was shot as he repaired a fence.

People who knew "Birdy", as the killer was widely known, described a quiet but popular man who lived alone. He was divorced, had two children and recently became a grandfather.

Thai leader goes abroad to salvage country's image

BANGKOK – Thailand's prime minister Friday planned his first overseas trip since last month's bloody protests in Bangkok, hoping to salvage the country's hammered tourism industry and blighted image.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's primary task will be to restore confidence among investors and tourists when he attends the World Economic Forum of East Asian leaders in Vietnam on Sunday, the government spokesman said.

While in Hanoi, Abhisit also will meet with counterparts from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations and top business executives from the region, said spokesman Panithan Wattanayagorn.

"The theme here is recovery," Panithan said, citing the two-month anti-government protests as a key reason for economic decline in once booming Thailand. Nearly 90 people were killed and some 1,800 injured during the protests, which ended in a bloody crackdown May 19.

The government estimates that the vital tourism industry, which will take months if not years to fully recover, lost up to $2.2 billion as a result of the crisis.

In a World Economic Forum report published last month, Thailand fell 10 places to number 60 among the 125 countries indexed. The rankings show Thailand's competitiveness slipping, something which could effect the flow of foreign investment.

During the trip, Panithan said that the prime minister would also update the international community on the progress of his government's reconciliation "road map".

"It is necessary for (foreign governments and investors) to understand this healing process," he said.

Abhisit has been grounded in Thailand for more than two months as Red Shirt protesters demanding new elections occupied Bangkok's prime commercial district, sending tourists packing and shops closing.

Since then, Abhisit has tried to mend Thailand's image, meeting with diplomats and the foreign media to brief them on the political developments.

Although the situation in Bangkok has calmed down in recent days, the capital and 23 other provinces are still under emergency decrees and many analysts say the deep rifts in Thai society will not be easy to fix.

Roman Catholic bishop's driver charged with murder

ISTANBUL – A Turkish man was charged Friday with murder in the stabbing death of a Roman Catholic bishop, the Vatican's apostolic vicar in Anatolia, for whom he worked as a driver, a court said.

The killing of Monsignor Luigi Padovese outside his home in the Mediterranean port of Iskenderun on Thursday was the latest in a string of attacks in recent years on Christians in predominantly Muslim Turkey, where Christians make up less than 1 percent of the 70 million population.

The 26-year-old driver, Murat Altun, confessed to the killing, his lawyer Cihan Onal said.

"The murder is not politically motivated," Onal told the state-run Anatolia news agency. "My client is suffering from mental problems. He confessed to all the details of the killing."

Turkish authorities also said the murder did not appear to be politically motivated.

The court in Iskenderun ordered Altun jailed pending trial. No trial date has been set.

Onal said the driver would undergo medical tests to determine his mental health.
"In his statement, at one point he said he killed him after receiving a message from God," Onal said. "He can't explain why he committed the murder. In fact, he is giving conflicting accounts."
Onal rejected allegations that Altun, a Muslim, had converted to Christianity.

Padovese had been due to fly to Cyprus on Friday with his chauffeur to meet Pope Benedict, who is going to the island to invite Roman Catholic clerics in the Middle East to a synod in Rome.

Turkish authorities and a Franciscan nun, Sister Eleonora de Stefano, who reportedly had spoken to Padovese on the phone less than an hour before his slaying, said the bishop's driver was lately suffering from serious depression.

Sister de Stefano said Padovese had asked her "to cancel Murat's ticket for Cyprus as well for himself because he hadn't been feeling well," the Italian agency ANSA has reported.

"Since Murat was suffering from a serious depression for at least two weeks.

Recently, he frequently met with Monsignor Padovese, who was trying to help him," ANSA quoted the nun as saying. "He had even asked him to accompany him to Cyprus, but the driver refused."

Turkish authorities said the body of Padovese could be flown home after an autopsy in the southern city of Adana.

The Turkish government has paid tribute to Padovese, who was appointed apostolic vicar in Anatolia in 2004, with Culture Minister Ertugrul Gunay saying he had "made important contributions to the culture of tolerance through his services in Hatay."

There has been several attacks on Christians in Turkey in recent years.

In 2007, a Roman Catholic priest in the western city of Izmir, Adriano Franchini, was stabbed and slightly wounded in the stomach by a 19-year-old man after Sunday Mass. The man was arrested.

The same year, a group of men entered a Bible-publishing house in the central Anatolian city of Malatya and killed three Christians, including a German national. The five alleged killers are now standing trial for murder.

In 2006, amid widespread anger in Islamic countries over the publication in European newspapers of caricatures of Islam's Prophet Muhammad, a 16-year-old boy shot dead a Catholic priest, Father Andrea Santoro, as he prayed in his church in the Black Sea city of Trabzon. The boy was convicted of murder and sentenced to 18 years in prison.
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Associated Press Writer Frances D'Emilio in Rome contributed to this report.

Obama shelves trip to Indonesia, Australia

WASHINGTON – Grappling with the worst oil spill in the nation's history, President Barack Obama has abruptly scrapped a trip to Indonesia and Australia for the second time this year.

The president informed the leaders of both countries of the news in phone calls Thursday night, offering his "deep regret" and pledging to reschedule soon, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs announced in a statement just after midnight.

Obama was to depart on a weeklong trip to both countries, along with a quick stop in Guam, on June 13.

Asked the reason for the delay, Gibbs told The Associated Press that Obama was staying home "to deal with important issues, one of which is the oil spill."

Obama had a sensitive political decision to make: Risk putting off two allies in a strategic part of the world once again or endure all the downsides, including an inevitable level of backlash, for being on the other side of the world during a huge crisis at home.

The domestic agenda proved dominant.

Already, his administration faces scrutiny for its leadership in trying to end the oil spill in the Gulf even as the White House insists it has been forceful from the start. What began with an exploding oil rig on April 20 has turned into an environmental disaster.

Obama had planned this Asia trip in March — first shortening it to be in Washington and lobby for health care legislation and then scrapping it altogether to stay for the final crucial days of debate on that top domestic priority.

Congress ultimately passed the health care law after a huge investment from Obama.

Obama called Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to explain his decision on Thursday.

Gibbs said Obama planned to meet with both leaders separately on the sidelines of the G-20 meeting, which is to be held near the end of June in Canada.

The announcement came as Defense Secretary Robert Gates was meeting with Indonesian defense officials at a security conference in Singapore. Gates spokesman Geoff Morrell said the postponement did not come up in the meeting.

As the trip drew closer and attempts by the BP oil company to plug the gushing oil well proved futile, speculation grew that Obama would be forced to delay the visit for a second time.
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AP National Security Writer Anne Gearan contributed to this report from Singapore.

McCartney turns 'Michelle' into ode to first lady

WASHINGTON – Paul McCartney had been itching to perform a certain song at the White House, and he seized the moment when it arrived.

The former Beatle brought down the house at an East Room concert Wednesday night by belting out "Michelle," aiming its romantic lyrics straight at a first lady named Michelle.

After serenading the first lady with the words, "I love you, I love you, I love you," McCartney joked that he just might be the "first guy ever to be punched out by a president."

The president didn't seem to mind though: He was swaying along to the beat while his wife mouthed the words along with McCartney.

The 90-minute concert was built around Obama's presentation to McCartney of the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, awarded by the Library of Congress. The president said McCartney had "helped to lay the soundtrack for an entire generation."
McCartney, 67, said it was a moment like no other.

"I don't think there could be anything more special than to play here," the Englishman said.

And then he volunteered to make it a regular gig.

"Lunchtimes, we could come around," he offered. "We're cheap."

The concert featured an all-star lineup of top performers doing their own interpretations of some of McCartney's greatest hits. McCartney said it was inspiring to see what other people did with his music.

Among those performing were Stevie Wonder, the Jonas Brothers, Faith Hill, Elvis Costello, Emmylou Harris, Herbie Hancock, White Stripes singer and guitarist Jack White, pianist Lang Lang and Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl.

The Gershwin prize is named for the songwriting brothers George and Ira Gershwin. Previous recipients are Wonder and Paul Simon.

Those not lucky enough to snag tickets to the East Room gig can catch the concert July 28, when it's televised on PBS' "In Performance at the White House."
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Associated Press writer Christine Simmons contributed to this report.

UK taxi driver kills 12, wounds 25 in rampage

SEASCALE, England – A taxi driver drove his vehicle on a shootingspree across a tranquil stretch of northwest England on Wednesday, methodically killing 12 people and wounding 25 others before turning the gun on himself, officials said. The rampage in the county of Cumbria was Britain's deadliest mass shooting since 1996 and it jolted a country where handguns are banned and multiple shootings rare.

The body of the suspected gunman, 52-year-old Derrick Bird, was found in woods near Boot, a hamlet popular with hikers and vacationers in England's hilly, scenic Lake District. Police said two weapons were recovered from the scene.

Eight of the wounded were in the hospital, with three of them in critical condition. In a sign of the scale of the tragedy, Queen Elizabeth II issued a message saying she was "deeply shocked" and shared in "the grief and horror of the whole country." She passed on her sympathy to the families of the victims.

The shootings had "shocked the people of Cumbria and around the country to the core," Police Deputy Chief Constable Stuart Hyde said.

Police said it was too early to say what the killer's motive was, or whether the shootings had been random. Some reports said Bird had quarreled with fellow cab drivers the night before the killings.

Peter Leder, a taxi driver who knew Bird, said he had seen the gunman Tuesday and didn't notice anything that was obviously amiss. But he was struck by Bird's departing words.

"When he left he said, 'See you Peter, but I won't see you again,'" Leder told Channel 4 News.

The first shootings were reported in the coastal town of Whitehaven, about 350 miles (560 kilometers) northwest of London. Witnesses said the dead there included two of Bird's fellow cabbies.

Police warned residents to stay indoors as they tracked the gunman's progress across the county. Witnesses described seeing the gunman driving around shooting from the window of his car.

Victims died in Seascale and Egremont, near Whitehaven, and in Gosforth, where a farmer's son was shot dead in a field. Workers at the nearby Sellafield nuclear processing plant were ordered to stay inside while the gunman was on the loose.

Hyde said there were 30 separate crime scenes. Many bodies remained on the ground late Wednesday, covered with sheets, awaiting the region's small and overstretched force of forensic officers.

Police would not discuss the identity of those killed, but local reports said Bird killed a 66-year-old woman near her home and a retired man who was out cycling.

A spokesman for the local health authority denied reports that Bird had tried to seek medical assistance Tuesday and said he was not known to their mental health services.

Barrie Walker, a doctor in Seascale who certified one of the deaths, told the BBC that victims had been shotin the face, apparently with a shotgun.

Lyn Edwards, 59, a youth worker in Seascale, said she saw a man who had been shot in his car.

"I could see a man screaming and I could see blood and there were two ladies helping him at the time," she said.

Deadly shootings are rare in Britain, where gun ownership is tightly restricted. In recent years, there have been fewer than 100 gun murders annually across the country.

Rules on gun ownership were tightened after two massacres in the 1980s and 1990s. In 1987, gun enthusiast Michael Ryan killed 16 people in the English town of Hungerford. In 1996, Thomas Hamilton killed 16 children and a teacher at a primary school in Dunblane, Scotland.

About 600,000 people in Britain legally own a shotgun, most of them farmers and hunters in rural areas. Witnesses described Bird as using a shotgun or a rifle.

Prime Minister David Cameron said the government would do everything it could to help the affected region.

"When lives and communities are suddenly shattered in this way, our thoughts should be with all those caught up in these tragic events, especially the families and friends of those killed or injured," he told lawmakers in the House of Commons.

Local lawmaker Jamie Reed said people in the quiet area were in shock.

"This kind of thing doesn't happen in our part of the world," he told the BBC. "We have got one of the lowest, if not the lowest, crime rates in the country."

Glenda Pears, who runs L&G Taxis in Whitehaven, said one of the victims was another taxi driver who was a friend of Bird's.

"They used to stand together having a (laugh) on the rank," she said. "He was friends with everybody and used to stand and joke on Duke Street."

Sue Matthews, who works at A2B Taxis in Whitehaven, said Bird was self-employed, quiet and lived alone. Some reports said he was divorced and the father of two sons.

"I would say he was fairly popular. I would see him once a week out and about. He was known as 'Birdy,'" she said. "I can't believe he would do that — he was a quiet little fellow."

Emergency services were still working late Wednesday to identify all the dead and inform their families.

Rod Davies, landlord of Gosforth Hall Inn near one of the crime scenes, said residents were "used to 'neighbor's cat missing' stories making the news — not this sort of thing.

"There's a lot of fear. A lot of people are expecting to hear names of people they know."

___

Jill Lawless reported from London. Associated Press Writer Andrew Khouri also contributed to this report.

Israel to expel all activists by day's end

JERUSALEM – Israel's attorney general says all of the nearly 700 activists detained in a deadly raid on an aid flotilla bound for the Gaza Strip will be deported by the end of the day.

Yehuda Weinstein says Israel has decided not to prosecute any of the activists. Officials had earlier said they were considering prosecuting about 50 people believed to be involved in violence.

But Weinstein wrote in his order Wednesday that "keeping them here would do more damage to the country's vital interests than good." Israeli soldiers killed nine activists in the raid Monday.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel on Wednesday began deporting the bulk of nearly 700 international activists detained during its deadly raid on an aid flotilla bound for Palestinians in the blockaded, Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.

The raid that ended with Israeli soldiers killing nine activists has strained diplomatic ties, sending Israeli relations with Turkey, in particular, to a new low. At least four of the nine killed were Turkish and the ship Israel attacked was Turkish. Israel ordered families of its diplomats out of that country a day after Turkey branded the raid a "massacre."

Egypt eased its blockade of Gaza after the raid and at the newly opened crossing in the border town of Rafah, about 300 Palestinians entered through Gaza's main gateway to the outside world. A smaller number entered Gaza from Egypt and humanitarian aid also came in including blankets, tents and 13 power generators donated by Russia and Oman.

Magdi al-Titer, a 31-year-old Palestinian among those crossing into Egypt, said he lost his right leg during Israel's brief war with Gaza that ended in January 2009.
"I have come with a medical report to get fitted with an artificial leg in Egypt," he said.

Israel has come under harsh international condemnation after naval commandos stormed the flotilla in international waters on Monday, setting off the deadly clashes. Israel says its soldiers opened fire only after being attacked by angry activists, who said they were trying to breach the blockade of Gaza to bring in aid.

Gaza has been under an Israeli and Egyptian blockade since 2007. Egypt's opening of the border was believed to be temporary, although the government did not say how long it would last.

A corrections official said Israel is aiming to deport all the foreign activists by the end of the day. But there is a possibility some could be held in custody on suspicion of violence against Israeli troops.

Some 400 activists, most of them Turkish citizens, were bused to Israel's international airport for flights home by midday Wednesday.

Corrections department spokesman Yaron Zamir said the Turkish activists would board planes Turkey had sent to pick them up. Greece also had an aircraft on standby there to pick up its activists.

An additional 124 activists from a dozen Muslim nations without diplomatic relations with Israel were deported to Jordan before sunrise. About 100 foreigners remained in a prison in southern Israel by midday, Zamir said.

Several of the activists deported to Jordan told The Associated Press that they were deprived of food, water, sleep and access to toilets in Israeli detention.

"The Israelis roughed up and humiliated all of us — women, men and children," said Kuwaiti lawmaker Walid al-Tabtabai, who was on board one of the ships with other activists from Muslim countries.

"They were brutal and arrogant, but our message reached every corner of the world that the blockade on Gaza is unfair and should be lifted immediately," he added. The lawmaker claimed there "was not a single weapon with the passengers aboard all the ships."

Israel claimed some of the passengers attacked commandos with knives, iron rods, sticks and with two pistols wrested from soldiers.

Video released by the Israeli military showed commandos attacked by angry activists with metal rods and firebombs during the raid. One soldier was thrown off one deck onto another below, and Israeli authorities said its troops were attacked by knives, clubs and live fire from the two pistols wrested from soldiers.

Israeli defense officials have also said, without providing proof, that night vision goggles, gas masks, flak jackets and thousands of dollars were found on the ship, suggesting the possibility that some mercenaries were on board.

Israeli media reported Wednesday that the foreign ministry ordered the families of its diplomats in Turkey to leave that country because of the uproar there over the raid. The diplomatic mission itself would remain in Turkey, said Israel Radio and other stations and newspapers. The ministry would neither confirm nor deny the reports.

The fallout also expanded far from the region's borders. Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said Nicaragua is suspending — though not severing — diplomatic ties with Israel over the raid.

While many Israelis were critical of the way the raid was executed, the overwhelming reaction backed the soldiers' response and supported the Gaza blockade. Israelis have little empathy for the plight of Palestinians in Gaza because militants used the territory to send thousands of rockets and mortars crashing into Israel for years.

The flotilla was meant to draw attention to the Israeli and Egyptian blockade of Gaza, imposed after Hamas militants violently seized power in June 2007. Israel says the blockade is needed to prevent Hamas, which has fired thousands of rockets into the Jewish state, from building up its arsenal. Critics say the closure has failed to hurt Hamas but has damaged Gaza's already weak economy.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton supported a U.N. Security Council statement that condemned the "acts" that cost the lives of the pro-Palestinian activists off the Gaza coast. But U.S. officials did not say whether they blamed Israel or the activists for the bloodshed.

Israel has promised to halt a new attempt by pro-Palestinian groups to sail two more ships to Gaza's shores within the next few days.

Despite the widespread outcry over the violent sea raid, the Palestinians were resuming indirect peace talks with Israel later Wednesday, through U.S. envoy George Mitchell. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was to meet Mitchell at his headquarters in the West Bank town of Ramallah.
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Associated Press Writers Dale Gavlak at Allenby Bridge, Jordan, and Karin Laub in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

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Oil nears Fla. beaches as BP tries risky cap move

PORT FOURCHON, La. – The BP oil slick drifted close to the Florida Panhandle's white sand beaches for the first time as submersible robots a mile below the Gulf of Mexico made the latest risky attempt to control the seafloor gusher.

Even if it works, the current mission to cut a major pipe and cap it would only reduce the flow, not stop it. If it fails, it could make the largest oil spill in U.S. history even worse. The best hope for sealing the leak, until a permanent fix is possible in August, failed Saturday, when engineers were unable to plug it with heavy mud in a maneuver called a top kill.

Investors ran from BP's stock for a second day Wednesday, reacting to the top kill failure and the Justice Department's announcement that it was looking at criminal and civil probes into the spill, although the department did not name specific targets for prosecution.

Shares in British-based BP PLC were down 3 percent Wednesday morning in London trading after a 13 percent fall the day before. BP has lost $75 billion in market value since the spill started with an April 20 oil rig explosion and analysts expect damage claims to total billions more.

In Florida, officials confirmed an oil sheen Tuesday about nine miles from Pensacola beach, where the summer tourism season was just getting started.
Winds were forecast to blow from the south and west, pushing the slick closer to western Panhandle beaches.

Emergency crews began scouring the beaches for oil and shoring up miles of boom. County officials will use it to block oil from reaching inland waterways but plan to leave beaches unprotected because they are too difficult to protect and easier to clean up.

"It's inevitable that we will see it on the beaches," said Keith Wilkins, deputy chief of neighborhood and community services for Escambia County.

The oil has been spreading in the Gulf since the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded six weeks ago, killing 11 workers and eventually sinking. The rig was being operated for BP, the largest oil and gas producer in the Gulf.

Crude has already been reported along barrier islands in Alabama and Mississippi, and it has polluted some 125 miles of Louisiana coastline.

More federal fishing waters were closed, too, another setback for one of the region's most important industries. More than one-third of federal waters were off-limits for fishing, along with hundreds of square miles of state waters.

Fisherman Hong Le, who came to the U.S. from Vietnam, had rebuilt his home and business after Hurricane Katrina wiped him out. Now he's facing a similar situation.
"I'm going to be bankrupt very soon," Le, 53, said as he attended a meeting for fishermen hoping for help. "Everything is financed, how can I pay? No fishing, no welding. I weld on commercial fishing boats and they aren't going out now, so nothing breaks."

Le, like other of the fishermen, received $5,000 from BP PLC, but it was quickly gone.

"I call that 'Shut your mouth money," said Murray Volk, 46, of Empire, who's been fishing for nearly 30 years. "That won't pay the insurance on my boat and house. They say there'll be more later, but do you think the electric company will wait for that?"

BP may have bigger problems, though.
Attorney General Eric Holder, who visited the Gulf on Tuesday, would not say who might be targeted in the probes into the largest oil spill in U.S. history.

"We will closely examine the actions of those involved in the spill. If we find evidence of illegal behavior, we will be extremely forceful in our response," Holder said in New Orleans. The federal government also ramped up its response to the spill with President Barack Obama ordering the co-chairmen of an independent commission investigating the spill to thoroughly examine the disaster, "to follow the facts wherever they lead, without fear or favor."

The president said that if laws are insufficient, they'll be changed. He said that if government oversight wasn't tough enough, that will change, too.

BP has tried and failed repeatedly to halt the flow of the oil, and the latest attempt like others has never been tried before a mile beneath the ocean. Experts warned it could be even riskier than the others because slicing open the 20-inch riser could unleash more oil if there was a kink in the pipe that restricted some of the flow.

"It is an engineer's nightmare," said Ed Overton, a Louisiana State University professor of environmental sciences. "They're trying to fit a 21-inch cap over a 20-inch pipe a mile away. That's just horrendously hard to do. It's not like you and I standing on the ground pushing — they're using little robots to do this."

Engineers have put underwater robots and equipment in place this week after a bold attempt to plug the well by force-feeding it heavy mud and cement — called a "top kill" — was aborted over the weekend. Crews pumped thousands of gallons of the mud into the well but were unable to overcome the pressure of the oil.

The company said if the small dome is successful it could capture and siphon a majority of the gushing oil to the surface. But the cut and cap will not halt the oil flow, just capture some of it and funnel it to vessels waiting at the surface.
BP's best chance to permanently plug the leak rests with a pair of relief wells but those won't likely be completed until August.
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Bluestein reported from Covington, La. Associated Press writers Darlene Superville and Pete Yost from Washington, Curt Anderson from Miami, Brian Skoloff from Port Fourchon, Mary Foster in Boothville, and Michael Kunzelman also contributed to this report.

from news.yahoo.com