مراحل الموت فى القبر, Exclusive: Cisco, Google, SAP discussing BlackBerry bids - sources

کراچی الرٹ: 2 اکتوبر 2013 بروز بدھ کو سہراب گوٹھ کے علاقے احسین آباد میں امریکی نواز دیوبندی طالبان کے دہشتگردوں نے پاکستان ٹیلی ویژن کے پروڈیوسر انور احسین ولد امیر حسین کو فرقے کی بنیاد پر شیعہ ہونے کی وجہ سے ذبح کر کے شہید کردیا. شہید کی نماز جنازہ بروز بدھ کو انچولی امام بارگاہ میں ادا کی گٰئ مراحل الموت فى القبر من أول ليلة إلى 25 سنة - في أول ليلة : في القبر يبدأ التعفن على مستوى البطن والفرج ..سبحان الله، البطن والفرج أهم شيئين، صارع بني آدم، وحافظ عليهما في الدنيا، فالحاجتين اللذان خسر الشخص الله عز وجل بسببهما، سيتعفنا في أول يوم في القبر . بعد ذلك يبدأ الجسم يأخذ لون أخضر، فبعد ذلك سيأخذ الجسم لون واحد فقط. - ثاني يوم : في القبر تبدأ الأعضاء تتعفن، الطحال، والكبد، والرئة، والأمعاء. - ثالث يوم : في القبر تبدأ تلك الأعضاء تصدر روائح كريهة. بعد أسبوع يبدأ ظهور إنتفاخ على مستوى الوجه : أي العينين واللسان والخدود. - بعد عشرة أيام : سيطرأ نفس الشيء، أي إنتفاخ، لكن هذه المرة على مستوى الأعضاء : البطن والمعدة والطحال... - بعد أسبوعين : سيبدأ تساقط على مستوى الشعر. - بعد 15 يوم : يبدأ الذباب الأزرق يشم الرائحة على بعد 5 كيلو متر ويبدأ الدود يغطي الجسم كله. - بعد ستة شهور : لن تجد شيء، سوى هيكل عظمي فقط. - بعد 25 سنة : سيتحول هذا الهيكل إلى بذرة وداخل هذا ��� البذرة ستجد عظم صغير ويسمى (عجب الذنب) هذا العظم هو الذي سنبعث من خلاله يوم القيامة. هذا هو الجسم الذي طالما حافظنا عليه .. هذا هو الجسم الذي عصينا الله عز وجل من أجله. القبر ينادي 5 مرات يقول أنا بيت الوحدة: فأجعل قراءة القرآن لك مؤنسآ أنا بيت الظلمة: فنورني بصلاة الليل أنا بيت التراب: فأجعل فراشك العمل الصالح أنا بيت الأفاعي: فأحمل الترياق، وهو بسم الله أنا بيت منكر ونكير: فأكثر قول الشهادتين إنشرها، قد تكون سبب دخولي ودخولك الجنة لا تبخل نفسک من الأجر ملاحظة : إذا كان نشرها سيرهقك، فلا تنشرها فلن تستحق أخذ ثوابها، لأن ثوابها عظيم. تذكير !!!! ============= Exclusive: Cisco, Google, SAP discussing BlackBerry bids - sources Fri, Oct 04 21:35 PM EDT By Nadia Damouni, Soyoung Kim and Nicola Leske NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - BlackBerry Ltd, on the block as its smartphone business struggles, is in talks with Cisco Systems, Google Inc and SAP about selling them all or parts of itself, several sources close to the matter said. Such a deal would be an alternative to the preliminary agreement reached weeks ago with a group, led by BlackBerry's biggest shareholder, Fairfax Financial Holdings, to take the company private for about $4.7 billion, a bid which has faced some skepticism because of financing questions. The company, based in Waterloo, Ontario, has asked for preliminary expressions of interest from potential strategic buyers, which also include Intel Corp and Asian companies LG and Samsung, by early next week. It is unclear which parties will bid, if any. But the potential technology buyers have been especially interested in BlackBerry's secure server network and patent portfolio, although doubts about the assets' value remain an issue, the sources said. Google, Intel, Cisco, LG and SAP declined to comment. Samsung was not immediately available for comment. Possible bidders are proceeding with caution given the uncertainty around BlackBerry, which last month reported a quarterly loss of nearly $1 billion after taking a writedown on unsold Z10 phones. The value of BlackBerry's patent portfolio and licensing agreements is likely to halve in the next 18 months, a company filing from this week shows, potentially limiting its attractiveness. According to analysts, BlackBerry's assets include a shrinking yet well-regarded services business that powers its security-focused messaging system, worth $3 billion to $4.5 billion; a collection of patents that could be worth $2 billion to $3 billion; and $3.1 billion in cash and investments. Adding to the company's woes, it's likely to burn through almost $2 billion of its cash pile in the next year and a half, Bernstein analyst Pierre Ferragu wrote on Thursday after studying the filing. Private equity firms that have showed interest in BlackBerry - which also include Cerberus Capital Management - have asked the company and its advisers to provide additional financial details about its various business segments, two of the sources said. That process could take another few weeks, as BlackBerry focuses on taking bids from industry peers, the sources said. In August, the company said it was weighing its options, which could include an outright sale, after Reuters first reported BlackBerry's board was warming up to the possibility of going private. At that time, it formed a five-member special committee chaired by board director Timothy Dattels. Other members include Chairman Barbara Stymiest, Chief Executive Thorsten Heins, Richard Lynch and Bert Nordberg. A spokesman for BlackBerry said in an emailed statement to Reuters: "The special committee, with the assistance of BlackBerry's independent financial and legal advisors, is conducting a robust and thorough review of strategic alternatives." He declined to provide further comment. JPMorgan Chase & Co and RBC Capital Markets are advising BlackBerry. The board is being advised by Perella Weinberg Partners, the sources said. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Torys LLP are providing legal advice. (Additional reporting by Alastair Sharp in Toronto and Alexei Oreskovic, Poornima Gupta and Noel Randewich in San Francisco; Editing by Christian Plumb and Prudence Crowther)

Iraq MPs reject rail link Kuwait

Wed 21:49 Iraq MPs reject rail link Kuwait Rizla1 1 http://news.kuwaittimes.net/iraq-mps-reject-rail-link-kuwait/ Kuwait Times 21:40 KUWAIT: Some Iraqi lawmakers recently expressed reservations about building a railway linking Iraq and Kuwait describing it as “meant for Kuwait’s interests only”. In this regard, the Vice-Chairman of the parliamentary committee for regions and governorates, Mansour Al-Tamimi said that the project would have a dramatic negative impact on Iraqi ports and the Iraqi economy in general. “The railway would limit the role played by Iraqi ports in Basra and mainly focus on Kuwaiti ports”, he stressed noting that the railway would hinder Basra Port’s major project. In another development, MP Osama Al-Tahous said that he still intends to grill Dr Nayef Al-Hajraf, Minister of Education and Higher Education, and Minister of Social Work and Labor Thekra Al-Rashidi. “I will not consider filing a no-confidence vote against Al-Hajraf but, in view of the volume of the issues under her jurisdiction and the fact that she did not take necessary procedures, I will possibly resort to a no-confidence vote with Minister Al-Rashidi”, he remarked. Meanwhile, Thekra Al-Rashidi has dissolved Subahiya Co-op’s Board of Directors over some financial violations and appointed a temporary one in place. Also, MP Hamdan Al-Azmi has filed inquiries to Abdul Aziz Al-Ibrahim, Minister of Public Works and Minister of Electricity and Water (MPW), asking whether the cost of Al-Jabriya entrance from the Fifth Ring Road project had actually jumped from an estimated cost of KD650 million to KD 850 million, as reported by a local daily. “Such an increase of KD200 million is suspicious; especially since the project had been delayed by MPW and the cost had already been changed five times upon orders from the minister”, he added. By A Saleh

At least 300 dead, many missing as migrant boat sinks off Sicily

http://www.trust.org/item/20131004085310-w3sxf/ http://d3pwrmdu9m15nc.cloudfront.net/2013-10-03T135618Z_1_LOVE99212PTLA_RTRMADV_STREAM-512-16X9-FLV_ITALY-MIGRANT-BOAT-O.flv At least 82 dead, many missing as migrant boat sinks off Sicily Source: Reuters - Thu, 3 Oct 2013 09:50 AM Author: Reuters More on: Refugees and Displacement Migrants are seen on Coast Guard rescue boat with a group that includes Syrian refugees, at Siracusa harbour on the island of Sicily, Italy, September 20, 2013. REUTERS/Antonio Parrinello * Mayor says 82 bodies recovered * Most victims Somalis and Eritreans * Up to 500 migrants packed onto small boat (Updates death total, adds quotes, detail) By Massimiliano Di Giorgio ROME, Oct 3 (Reuters) - At least 82 people died and scores were missing after a boat carrying migrants from Africa sank off the Sicilian island of Lampedusa on Thursday, officials and rescuers said. The mayor of Lampedusa, Giusy Nicolini, said 82 dead bodies had been recovered, mostly Somalis and Eritreans, and the toll was rising, with the bodies being laid out on the harbour. "It's horrific, like a cemetery, they are still bringing them out," she told reporters. The coastguard said it appeared that there were between 400 and 500 migrants on the boat when it sank, and 150 had been saved so far. Thousands of desperate migrants from Africa arrive in Italy on unsafe, overcrowded vessels every year, with most coming to Lampedusa, a tiny island just 113 kilometres (70 miles) from the coast of Tunisia. Numbers have been boosted this year by thousands of refugees from the civil war in Syria, most of whom have arrived on the eastern coast of Sicily from Egypt. Four coastguard and police vessels and two helicopters were in the area, and a submerged vessel of about 20 metres (66 feet) in length had been identified in the water after it caught fire and sank, officials said. Transport Minister Maurizio Lupi said in a statement he was being kept constantly up to date about the situation, with the death toll expected to rise. Coastguard official Floriana Segreto said rescue operations were continuing. A fishing boat raised the alarm at around 7:20 a.m. (0520 GMT) and began pulling people out of the water before coastguard vessels arrived on the scene. The boat sank just four days after 13 migrants drowned when their boat foundered off eastern Sicily. Lupi said more needed to be done to combat people traffickers who coordinated the transport of migrants in crowded and unsafe vessels. "It is a task which we have to take on and which the international community and the European community have to take on as well," Lupi said in a statement. (Writing by James Mackenzie; Editing by Mark Trevelyan) =============== Body count from migrant boat disaster off Italy rises to 111Source: Reuters - Fri, 4 Oct 2013 07:39 AM Author: Reuters More on: Refugees and Displacement A coastguard vessel manoeuvres after unloading body bags containing African migrants, who drowned trying to reach Italian shores, in the harbour of Lampedusa October 3, 2013. REUTERS/Enza Billeci LAMPEDUSA, Italy, Oct 4 (Reuters) - Italian rescue workers have pulled 111 bodies from the migrant boat that sank off the island of Lampedusa on Thursday and expect to recover more than a hundred more from the submerged wreck, a coastguard official said on Friday. Authorities have rescued 155 survivors after the 20-metre (66-foot) boat carrying around 500 migrants, mostly Eritreans and Somalis, sank no more than 1 kilometre (half a mile) from shore. "Two motorboats remained in the area overnight and this morning divers resumed work but we expect to recover more than a hundred bodies from the ship," coast guard official Floriana Segreto told Reuters. In all, more than 300 people are believed to have died in one of the worst tragedies in Europe's decades-long migrant crisis. The disaster was triggered when fuel aboard caught fire, causing a panicked rush to one side of the boat which capsized and sank, throwing hundreds of people into the water. Italy is holding a day of mourning on Friday, and schools will observe a minute's silence in memory of the victims. ==================

Car chase ends in gunfire near U.S. Capitol

Driver shot dead in car chase near Capitol Fri, Oct 04 00:04 AM EDT 1 of 30 By Richard Cowan and Margaret Chadbourn WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A dramatic car chase through the streets of Washington from near the White House to the U.S. Capitol ended in gunfire on Thursday when law enforcement officers shot and killed the driver as lawmakers and aides huddled in a lockdown. The incident rattled Washington less than three weeks after a government contractor opened fire at the Washington Navy Yard, about 1.5 miles from the Capitol, killing 12 people and wounding three others before he was shot to death by police. The car involved in the chase was registered to Miriam Carey, 34, of Connecticut, and law enforcement officials believe she was the driver, the Washington Post reported, citing officials. NBC News also identified the driver as Carey. Reached by phone at Washington's Metropolitan Police headquarters, a police officer confirmed that Carey was the driver, but declined to provide his name. "The suspect in the vehicle was struck by gunfire," Washington's police chief, Cathy Lanier, told reporters. Driving a black car, the woman rammed security barricades "at the very outer perimeter of the White House," U.S. Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan said. Then the car, carrying a 1-year-old girl, raced up Pennsylvania Avenue toward the Capitol where Congress was in session. Police chased and fired at the car. It came to a halt near the Capitol building, said Capitol Police Chief Kim Dine. "My understanding is there was a 1-year-old child in the car," Dine said. "I believe one of our officers rescued the child," who was taken to a hospital. It appeared there was no connection to terrorism, Dine said of the incident. Michael McCaul, the chairman of the House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee, told CNN that officials believed the woman driving the car may have had mental health problems. "I got that from multiple sources - that they think she may have had some mental health issues," he said. "Obviously the way she responded at the gate near the White House and then turning around and hitting Secret Service." The woman was a resident of Connecticut and the girl in the car was her daughter, McCaul said. Hours after the woman's fatal encounter with officers, the FBI and other agencies were conducting a search of the sprawling condo complex in Stamford, Connecticut, where neighbors say she lived. Dozens of neighbors were forced to wait outside. They drank coffee and some talked on cell phones trying to arrange to stay with friends and relatives. "When we got home late this afternoon, there were three helicopters flying above, there were Haz-Mat (hazardous materials) trucks and bomb-squad trucks coming in, and police were telling people to get out of their condos," said Krysta Valentine, 29, a resident of the area who said she had seen Carey at times. When the shooting erupted outside the Capitol building, lawmakers were trying to find a solution to a budget impasse that partially shut down the U.S. government this week. The Capitol was locked down for about an hour during the incident. Lawmakers were told to shelter in place on the floor of the House. Outside, some tourists were frightened. "I was just eating a hot dog over here and I heard about four or five gunshots, and then a swarm of police cars came in wailing their sirens," said Whit Dabney, 13, who was visiting Washington from Louisville, Kentucky, and heard the shots a couple of blocks away. Witness Travis Gilbert said several police cars chased the black car at high speed toward the Capitol. "They ran all the red lights. It was a very dangerous situation," Gilbert said. HIT BY CAR Two officers were hurt in Thursday's incident. One was a Secret Service officer who was struck by the suspect's car outside the White House, Donovan said. The other was a Capitol Police officer whose car struck a barricade during the mid-afternoon chase. It ranged over about a mile and a half and lasted just a few minutes, officials said. All the shooting appears to have been done by police. Law enforcement sources said the suspect did not shoot a gun and there is no indication she had one. Just before the Capitol lockdown, Senator John McCain of Arizona was on the Senate floor urging that President Barack Obama and a bipartisan group of senators launch negotiations to break the deadlock over government funding and a debt limit increase. The House had just passed a bill to fund the National Guard and reservists who are not on active duty during the shutdown. The Capitol police, who were deemed "essential" staff, were at work despite the government shutdown, but they are not being paid. "What really comes home to me is that these are all people who are working without pay right now," Representative Matt Cartwright, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, said on CNN. He was outside on a Capitol balcony when he said he heard seven or eight shots "all in less than a second." Obama was briefed on the incident, a White House official said, providing no further details. Security is tight near the Capitol, but there have been previous shootings in the area. In 1998, a gunman burst through a security checkpoint at the Capitol and killed two Capitol Police officers in an exchange of fire that sent tourists and other bystanders diving for cover. The suspect, Russell Eugene Weston Jr., was not charged with a crime because of apparent mental instability. (Reporting by Richard Weizel, Tim Reid, Thomas Ferraro, Mark Hosenball, Caren Bohan, Alina Selyukh, Brendan O'Brien and Alex Dobuzinskis,; Writing by Susan Cornwell; Editing by Alistair Bell, Jim Loney and Peter Cooney) ================== Car chase ends in gunfire near U.S. Capitol Thu, Oct 03 17:51 PM EDT 1 of 24 By Richard Cowan and Margaret Chadbourn WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A dramatic car chase through the streets of Washington from near the White House to the U.S. Capitol ended in gunfire on Thursday when the driver was shot as lawmakers and aides huddled in a lockdown. The identity and condition of the driver - a woman - was not released. One U.S. official said she had been killed, but later a police official said he did not know her condition. Driving a black sedan, the suspect rammed security barricades near the White House. Then the car, apparently carrying a child, raced up Pennsylvania Avenue toward the Capitol where Congress was in session. Police gave chase and fired at the car. It finally came to a halt at 2nd Street and Constitution Avenue. The incident rattled Washington just three weeks after a government contractor opened fire at the Washington Navy Yard, about 1.5 miles from the Capitol, killing 12 people and wounding three others before he was shot to death by police. A police officer was also hurt in a car crash during Thursday's chase that ranged over about a mile and a half and lasted just a few minutes, officials said. When the Thursday's shooting erupted, lawmakers in Congress were trying to find a solution to a budget impasse that partially shut down the U.S. government this week. The Capitol was briefly locked down during the incident. The House of Representatives was in session, and Representative Grace Meng said lawmakers were told to shelter in place on the floor of the chamber. Outside, some tourists were frightened. "I was just eating a hot dog over here and I heard about four or five gunshots, and then a swarm of police cars came in wailing their sirens," said Whit Dabney, 13, who was visiting Washington from Louisville, Kentucky, and heard the shots a couple of blocks away. Witness Travis Gilbert said several police cars chased the black sedan at high speed toward the Capitol. "They ran all the red lights. It was a very dangerous situation," Gilbert said. All the shooting appears to have been done by police; law enforcement sources said the suspect did not shoot a gun and there is no indication that she had one. A U.S. official said there was no apparent connection to terrorism. The injured policeman was taken from the shooting scene in a Medevac helicopter, police said. "He appears to be conscious and breathing but we're following up," Capitol Police Chief Kim Dine said. "As far as we know, no officer has been shot." CHILD IN CAR Dine also said he believed there was a child in the car with the suspect. Just before the Capitol lockdown, Senator John McCain of Arizona was on the Senate floor urging that President Barack Obama and a bipartisan group of senators launch negotiations to break the deadlock over government funding and a debt limit increase. The House had just passed a bill to fund the National Guard and reservists who are not on active duty during the shutdown. The Capitol police, who were deemed "essential" staff, were at work despite the government shutdown, but they are not being paid. "What really comes home to me is that these are all people who are working without pay right now," Representative Matt Cartwright, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, said on CNN. He was outside on a Capitol balcony when he said he heard seven or eight shots "all in less than a second." Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi told MSNBC he heard sirens and saw police motorcycles go by and then heard four to six shots fired. "I was walking in the direction of the gunshots, so I stopped and I noticed Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont was headed my way. We both took cover behind an SUV," Wicker said. "And then police officers came and told us to get down." The lockdown order at the Capitol was called off after about an hour. President Barack Obama was briefed on the incident, a White House official said, providing no further details. Security is tight near the Capitol, but there have been previous shootings in the area. In 1998, a gunman burst through a security checkpoint at the Capitol and killed two Capitol Police officers in an exchange of fire that sent tourists and other bystanders diving for cover. The suspect, Russell Eugene Weston Jr., was not charged with a crime because of apparent mental instability. (Reporting by Richard Cowan, Tim Reid, Thomas Ferraro, Mark Hosenball and Caren Bohan; Writing by Susan Cornwell; Editing by Alistair Bell and Jim Loney) =============== Woman's "Dream Wedding" Pinterest Board Comes to Life ..By Charlotte Rudge, Shine Staff .Posts .By Charlotte Rudge, Shine Staff | Love + Sex – 21 hours ago ....Email 0Share 1267Tweet0Print..... Ryan Leak had never even told his girlfriend of five years, Amanda Roman, that he loved her when he first started planning their surprise wedding almost two years ago. “I wanted to wait until I knew with every fiber of my being,” says the 27-year-old from Dallas. "I wanted it to be special." Mission accomplished. More on Shine: Be the DIY Bride Pippa Wants to Be (Someday) Within the space of minutes on June 7, 2013, he told the bewildered, beaming Roman, 25, that: a) he totally loved her, b) wanted to marry her, and c) surprise! the wedding he’d planned off of her My Dream Wedding Pinterest board was happening that day, and over 100 of their nearest and dearest had flown to Miami to celebrate with them. Leak had overheard Roman tell a friend that she thought it would be romantic to get engaged and married on the same day. It was not easy. “I almost pulled the plug, like, 20 times,” Leak admitted to Yahoo Shine in his first interview since news of the wedding went viral. It took over a year and a half of careful covert planning, complete with clandestine calls from his heavily password-protected cell phone and masterful string pulling. “Honestly, if Amanda had ever asked if I was seeing someone else it would have made perfect sense, because I was acting so suspicious for so long,” says Leak. “The hardest part by far was getting a hundred people to keep the secret for a year. I basically threatened them at the same time I was telling them about it.” Equally challenging, if not more so, was not being able to discuss with Roman the typical annoyances of planning a wedding. “She’s my best friend, and on really tough days I couldn’t talk to her about it,” he says. More on Yahoo: Man Surprises Girlfriend with Online Wedding Proposal with Help From 'The Knot' Ingeniously, Leak looked to Pinterest for insight into his unwitting bride’s every wish. Right there was the blueprint for everything he needed: from the ideal seating arrangements for the ceremony to the dainty crystal teardrop earrings Roman wanted to wear. He purchased them in advance and presented them to her after she accepted his proposal. “Amanda had already planned her dream wedding without even knowing it,” says Leak. A bit of creative cajoling on his part a year ago prompted Amanda to go ahead and purchase her wedding gown (so that’s why it fit so beautifully!). A friend of hers covertly nabbed it from her closet and brought it down to Miami for the big day. Of course, as is bound to happen when planning a wedding both in secret and in a different city, plenty of stumbling blocks arose in the final 24 hours. Namely that Roman’s flight to Miami from Dallas was — get this — canceled. Leak had already flown into Miami under the guise of work in order to take care of the inevitable last-minute crunch of details. He admits he flipped out when he learned of the delay but pulled hard on every string he had to get his girl to the arrival gate. Which she did, landing at 12:21 a.m. It was the five-year anniversary of their first date, and, unbeknownst to her, their wedding day. Other snafus included nosy housekeepers at Roman’s airport hotel who blew the proposal by loudly asking Leak (who had a cameraman following him and Roman around) if he was famous. (Leak nervously blurted out that he was proposing to Roman, only to be commanded by the women to do it then and there in front of them.) Also in the mix, a surprise tropical storm, which nixed both Leak’s “plan B" proposal in a helicopter, and then shifted the ceremony from outdoors to indoors, and then again forced the reception to change locales at the last-minute due to flooding. But in the end the emotional ceremony went off without a hitch — in lieu of presents, guests were asked to make a donation to theA21campaign.org — and the couple left a day later for their honeymoon (yes, Leak had already planned that as well.) Next stop — Internet superstardom. We couldn’t image a better ending. Related: Breast Cancer Survivor Receives Adorable On-Camera Marriage Proposal Twitter Marriage Proposal Goes Viral, Appropriately

Japan to pay $3.1bn to remove US troops from Okinawa, will host spy drones

Published time: October 03, 2013 15:15 Get short URL US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel (L) US Secretary of State John Kerry (2nd L) Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (C) Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida (2nd R) and Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera pose for photos at the prime minister's official residence in Tokyo on October 3, 2013. (AFP Photo/Koji Sasahara) Share on tumblrTags Arms, Army, Drones, Japan, Military, Politics, USA Tokyo is to foot a $3.1 billion bill, which is part of the cost for relocating American troops from Okinawa. For the first time, it will also host US long-range surveillance drones, which would help to monitor disputed islands in the East China Sea. The cost-sharing agreement for the troop transfer and the future deployment of drones by next spring are both part of an effort aimed at updating the US-Japan military and diplomatic alliance. The pledge to modernize the alliance for the first time in 16 years was made in a joint declaration during the visit of US Secretary of State John Kerry and US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, who met their Japanese counterparts, Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida and Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera. Japan hosts some 50,000 American soldiers and officers, particularly in Okinawa. Their presence is a constant source of tension with local populations due to crimes committed by the servicemen, disruptions caused by military flights and land use by the US military. Last year the countries announced a plan to relocate about 9,000 US Marines from Okinawa to other locations. 5,000 of them will go to Guam while others will be stationed elsewhere. The estimated cost of the relocation is about $8.6 billion. A file picture taken on April 24, 2010 shows planes and helicopters stationed at the US Marine Corps Air Station Futenma base in Ginowan, Okinawa prefecture. (AFP Photo) Japan will cover $3.1 billion of that sum, the officials from the two countries announced on Thursday. The cost includes development of new facilities in Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands. As the foot soldiers leave, US Global Hawk unmanned aircraft will be arriving, marking the first time that American drones will be stationed on Japanese soil on a permanent basis. Two or three long-range spy drones will be placed at a US base to help monitor Japan’s territory. While the disputed Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea was not mentioned in the documents, the islands contested by Japan, China and Taiwan was a prevailing topic in public speeches after the signing. Hagel said the US reiterated that it recognizes Japan's administration of the islands and has responsibilities to protect Japanese territory under a mutual defense treaty. "We strongly oppose any unilateral or coercive action that seeks to undermine Japan's administrative control," he said. The US will also deploy second X-band early warning radar in Japan. Officials were careful to stress that it will be directed against North Korea rather than China, and will help track down and probably intercept missiles coming from the defiant state. The plan to deploy radar was first announced by the then-Defense Secretary Leon Panetta about a year ago. The new system will be placed at Kyogamisaki air base in Kyoto prefecture in western Japan to complement already existing radar in the northern part of Japan. This March 22, 2013 handout image provided by the US Navy shows the Sea-based, X-band Radar (SBX 1) transits the waters of Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. (AFP Photo/US Navy) Beijing however may not be convinced by the assurances. It has criticized the installation of the inaugural military radar, saying it could disrupt the strategic military balance in the region and destabilize the situation. Other plans to boost US military presence in Japan include possible deployment of F-35 jet fighters around 2017, a top UN official told AP. There is also a plan to send Navy P-8 anti-submarine aircraft later this year - the first time the sub-killers deployment outside of US. The upgrade also expands cooperation in areas like counter-terrorism and cyber warfare. The Internet threat is the one that Japan sometimes cannot defend itself against with the systems it currently has, Kazunori Kimura, the Defense Ministry's director of cyber-defense planning, told Reuters.

Indonesia volcano death toll doubles to over 100

Fri, Nov 05 08:51 AM EDT 1 of 10 By Beawiharta SLEMAN, Indonesia (Reuters) - An Indonesian volcano erupted with renewed ferocity on Friday, killing 65 people, bringing the total death told to over 100 and blanketing the area with white ash. Mount Merapi, on the outskirts of Yogyakarta in Central Java, began spewing deadly clouds of ash and superheated gas last week. The eruptions have killed 109 people and forced the evacuation of more than 150,000, the chief welfare minister said on Friday. At least 58 burned bodies had been brought to Yogyakarta's Sardjito hospital on Friday, Metro TV quoted Rizal, a forensic doctor from Yogyakarta's police identification unit, as saying. "It is possible the death toll will rise as we continue to search for victims," said Rizal, who, like many Indonesians, uses only one name. Almost 200 people have been injured since the eruptions began, according to the National Disaster Mitigation Agency. Yogyakarta's international airport is closed and flights to Yogyakarta have been diverted to the nearby city of Solo. A column of ash billowed at least 4 km above the crater of Mount Merapi as authorities evacuated villages within a 20 km radius of the volcano, said the country's top volcanologist, Surono. "It's much worse than in the past. We cannot predict its behavior," he said. A Reuters photographer near the volcano said he saw blackened bodies being carried into Sardjito hospital on Friday morning. "Their clothes had melted onto their skin," he said. The air in Yogyakarta is now so thick with ash that motorists must drive with their headlights on during the day, he said. "We can't see anything, it's very dark. The trees are all white with ash," he said. "It's like it's raining sand." Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said that the government will cover the cost of livestock lost in the disaster, in an effort to convince villagers to evacuate. "There is no sign Merapi is abating," Yudhoyono said. Indonesia is also struggling with the aftermath of a tsunami in the remote Mentawai islands off Sumatra last week that killed at least 431 people. (Additional reporting by Fitri Wulandari, Olivia Rondonuwu and Telly Nathalia; Writing by Sunanda Creagh, Editing by Nick Macfie)

Insight: Saudi Arabia boosts Salafist rivals to al Qaeda in Syria

Insight: Saudi Arabia boosts Salafist rivals to al Qaeda in Syria Tue, Oct 01 10:51 AM EDT By Khaled Yacoub Oweis AMMAN (Reuters) - Alarmed by the rise of al Qaeda in Syria, Saudi Arabia is trying to strengthen rival Islamists with ties to Riyadh and this week helped engineer a consolidation of rebel groups around Damascus under a Saudi-backed leader. That might bolster the opposition militarily as President Bashar al-Assad's forces have been pushing back, but it also underlines al Qaeda's expansion in Syria - and the proliferation of splits among Assad's enemies, just as world powers are trying to corral them into talks with his government. Rebel and diplomatic sources said it was Saudi Arabia which nudged rebel brigades operating in and around Damascus to announce this week that they have united under a single command comprising 50 groups and numbering some thousands of fighters. The formation of the Army of Islam in the capital's eastern fringe under Zahran Alloush, leader of the group Liwa al-Islam, strengthens Salafist jihadis owing allegiance to Riyadh against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), an al Qaeda branch which has in recent weeks taken control of territory from other Islamist forces in parts of northern and eastern Syria. While fighting for religious rule in Syria, local Salafists do not generally share the international ambitions of al Qaeda's jihadists, many of them foreign, who want to drive Westerners from the Middle East and unite Muslims in a single state. The establishment of the Army of Islam follows last week's joint declaration by groups, mainly in the northeast but also including Liwa al-Islam, who agreed to fight for Islamic rule and also rejected the authority of the Western- and Saudi-backed opposition in exile, the Syrian National Coalition (SNC). That accord was notably not signed by ISIL. Zahran Alloush, who founded Liwa al-Islam, or the Brigade of Islam, with his father Abdallah, a Salafist Syrian cleric based in Saudi Arabia, has avoided declaring personal opposition to al Qaeda or to the SNC. But he criticized failures to bring unity to rebel ranks in explaining the creation of the formation: "We have formed this army ... to achieve unity among the units of the mujahideen and avoid the effects produced by the divisions within the National Coalition," he told Al Jazeera television, referring obliquely to recent rebel in-fighting. "The Army of Islam is the result of accelerating efforts to unify the fighting units operating in the beloved homeland." SAUDI CONNECTION Liwa al-Islam, several thousand strong, is among the biggest and best organized rebel groups, respected even among non-Islamist rebels for integrity and effectiveness. Alloush could not be reached for comment on the Saudi role in his new unit. Saudi officials do not comment on their operations in Syria, where the Sunni Muslim kingdom has backed the uprising among the Sunni majority against Assad and his minority Alawite elite who are allied to Shi'ite Iran, Riyadh's rival for regional power. However, rebel and diplomatic sources told Reuters that Saudi Arabia, which furnishes arms and other supplies and funds to Assad's opponents, was behind the Army of Islam. The commander of an Islamist rebel unit on the opposite side of Damascus from the Army's base of operations in the east told Reuters that Saudi figures had been in touch with various Salafist groups in recent weeks, offering support in return for a common front to keep al Qaeda allies from expanding their presence around the capital - a presence already detected. "Saudi tribal figures have been making calls on behalf of Saudi intelligence," the commander, who uses the name Abu Mussab, said. "Their strategy is to offer financial backing in return for loyalty and staying away from al Qaeda." While hoping to avoid outright confrontation with fellow jihadists, the Saudis had been gauging the willingness of local Salafist fighters in joining Saudi-backed formations, including a proposed Syrian National Army. This, Abu Mussab said, might oppose al Qaeda in the way the U.S.-funded Sahwa, or Awakening, movement of Sunni tribesmen fought al Qaeda in Iraq from 2007. A Western diplomat following the conflict closely said: "Saudi Arabia is growing increasingly uncomfortable with more rebels joining al Qaeda ranks. The recent advances by the Islamic State have embarrassed the Saudis and the new alliance appears designed to stop al Qaeda from gaining influence." He said Saudi strategy was two tiered: back less extreme Islamist figures in the exile SNC political organization and woo Salafist brigades on the ground with arms and money. "Lots of these Salafist groups detest the Syrian National Coalition," he said. "But the Saudis do not see this as a contradiction as long as they stay away from al Qaeda." Abdulrazzaq Ziad, a liberal activist based in Turkey, said the formation of the Army of Islam, announced with elaborate ceremony in an online video, has already irked al Qaeda: "We are already seeing from Facebook comments of people close to the Islamic State that they view the new formation as a rival." A second diplomat based in the Middle East said: "We have seen in the last few weeks that every major group has stepped up its efforts to increase its sphere of influence. An alliance like this would not take place without Saudi blessing. "Liwa al-Islam and its allies have not been comfortable with al Qaeda establishing a foothold in the Ghouta so their interest and that of Saudi Arabia converged," he said, referring to the Damascus suburbs where rebel forces are dug in round the city. CONFRONTATION The Salafist movement in Islam, founded on literal readings of early texts, is close to the Wahhabi school associated with the Saudi royal house. Its religious teaching influences al Qaeda but the militant network's Saudi founder, Osama bin Laden, turned against Salafists he saw as allies of a Saudi monarchy that had been corrupted by its alliance with the United States. The Army of Islam seems to want to avoid fighting al Qaeda for now. After a man named Saeed Jumaa, described as a captain in the Army, told an opposition television station that there could be open conflict with ISIL if they "continue this chaos", Zahran Alloush took to Twitter on Tuesday to disown him. Jumaa's comments were "dangerous", Alloush said, and were designed to create "strife among Muslims". The Army of Islam has also avoided an outright break with the SNC: "We do not make enemies of those who are not enemies to us," Army spokesman Islam Alloush told Reuters. However, the group did share the others' criticism of the SNC that it should be directed by fighters inside Syria, not leaders in exile. If Riyadh's aim is to thwart al Qaeda enemies by rallying local Syrian Islamists in the way Washington did with Iraq's Sunni tribal Sahwa, it may be miscalculating, said commentator Hazem Amin. Unlike the Iraqi fighters, he said, Syrian Salafists were increasingly embracing radical views close to al Qaeda. "Syria is different," Amin wrote in al-Hayat newspaper. "The social fabric is less cohesive ... At its core, the new Syrian Salafism is jihadist in nature. It is moving towards extremism." (Additional reporting by Alexander Dziadosz; Editing by Dominic Evans and Alastair Macdonald)