South Korea fires warning shots, second incident in days

SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea's navy fired warning shots to drive away a North Korean fishing boat at a maritime border on Wednesday, the second incident in six days, jangling nerves in Seoul ahead of next week's G20 summit.

The South Korean capital, about 100 km (60 miles) south of the demilitarized zone, is on heightened alert ahead of the summit over concerns Pyongyang may try to create an incident to embarrass its rival.

Washington has pressed Beijing to use its influence over the North not to create an incident in the run up to the meeting.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak told a news conference in Seoul that he was not expecting any trouble from across the border.

"I don't think the North will try to do anything when leaders of the international community are meeting to discuss the world economy," he said. "I trust the North won't do anything but still we are fully prepared."

The North this week dismissed reports it would be a "provocateur," but in the past it has staged incidents around big international events in the South.

A military officer said South Korea fired 10 warning shots to force the North Korean vessel to retreat early on Wednesday after crossing into its waters off the west coast near where one of the South's navy vessels was sunk earlier this year.

The officer said the shots were fired after repeated loudspeaker broadcasts were ignored. It was not clear why the vessel crossed the Northern Limit Line (NLL) and why it remained in southern waters for nearly two hours.

It was the first time in seven years that the South has fired warning shots to force a fishing boat to retreat.

SEOUL ON HIGH ALERT

South Korean authorities have ramped up security for next week's G20 summit with 10,000 participants, including 32 heads of government and leaders of international organizations, expected.

Security forces have been put on high alert, anti-aircraft missiles are at the ready, shipping and air routes are under heightened surveillance and airport screening increased.

But Baek Seung-joo of the Korea Institute of Defence Analyses said North Korea as unlikely to want to escalate tensions.

"It is one thing to try to inflict damage on the South. Ahead of an international event like this, the North is not going to want to take the chance of further isolating itself from the international community," he said.

The North has in the past used high-profile international events in the South to bolster its standing, and analysts have said the North's young leader-in-waiting, Kim Jong-un, may seek to burnish his credentials with a hostile act.

Ties between the rival Koreas sank to their lowest level in decades after the South Korean corvette, the Cheonan, was torpedoed off the west coast in March, killing 46 sailors. Seoul accuses the North for the attack but Pyongyang denies it.

The waters off the west coast have been the scene of deadly skirmishes in the past that have killed sailors on both sides.

North Korea disputes the sea border which was drawn by the United Nations Command at the end of 1950-53 Korean War.

On Friday an exchange of fire occurred across the Demilitarised Zone, the first such incident in years, but officials have played down the incident, saying it was likely an accident. The United Nations is investigating the skirmish.

The two incidents have occurred despite signs of a thaw in frosty relations on the divided peninsula.

The North has said it wants to resume nuclear talks, but the South has said it will not return to the negotiating table until Pyongyang shows sincerity by acknowledging its role in sinking of the South Korean vessel this year and on denuclearization.

Six-party talks, which offer the North aid for disabling its nuclear arms program, have been stalled for two years.

Jubilant GOP wins the House, falls short of Senate

WASHINGTON – Resurgent Republicans won control of the House and cut deeply into the Democrats' majority in the Senate in momentous midterm elections shadowed by recession, ushering in a new era of divided government certain to complicate the final two years of President Barack Obama's term.

House Speaker-in-waiting John Boehner, voice breaking with emotion, declared shortly before midnight Tuesday that the results were "a repudiation of Washington, a repudiation of big government and a repudiation of politicians who refuse to listen to the people."

Ugandan newspaper again publishes list of gay men

KAMPALA, Uganda – A controversial newspaper in Kampala published photos, names and home addresses of gay Ugandans on Monday — the second time the paper has done so — prompting a rights group to seek a legal injunction against the publication.

The paper's managing editor, Giles Muhame, said he plans to continue publishing photos of gay men in order to "help them live responsible lives."

Earlier this month the paper — called Rolling Stone but not linked to the American magazine of the same name — published a front page story featuring a list of what the paper said were Uganda's 100 "top" homosexuals. Rights activists said the story prompted attacks against at least four gay Ugandans.

Sexual Minorities Uganda has asked the country's highest court to issue an injunction against publishing the faces of gays in future editions.

"We now live in fear," said Julian Onzeima, the group's coordinator. "The Rolling Stone paper has led to people turning against us."

Gays in Uganda say they have faced a year of attacks and harassment since a lawmaker introduced a bill in October 2009 that would impose the death penalty for some homosexual acts and life in prison for others. The bill has not come up for a vote.

The legislation was drawn up following a visit by leaders of U.S. conservative Christian ministries that promote therapy they say allows gays to become heterosexual.

The bill became political poison after international condemnation, and many Christian leaders have denounced it.

Fifty-two killed in Iraq church raid

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – An al Qaeda attack that killed 52 hostages and police in a Catholic church in Baghdad was aimed at driving the embattled Christian minority out of the country, Iraq's human rights minister said on Monday.

Church officials described the attack, which began when gunmen seized the Our Lady of Salvation Church during Sunday mass, as the bloodiest against Iraq's Christians in the seven years of sectarian war that followed the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

A Christian lawmaker said the botched raid to free the hostages proved that the Iraqi security forces lack the capability to maintain peace.

Lieutenant General Hussein Kamal, a deputy interior minister said 52 hostages and police were killed and 67 wounded in the incident, which ended with police storming the Assyrian Catholic church to free more than 100 hostages seized by guerrillas.

The death toll was many times higher than that given overnight in the hours after the raid.

"What happened was more than a catastrophic and tragic event. In my opinion, it is an attempt to force Iraqi Christians to leave Iraq and to empty Iraq of Christians," Human Rights Minister Wijdan Michael, a Christian, said at the scene.

Al Qaeda's Iraqi affiliate, the Islamic State of Iraq, claimed responsibility in a statement posted on Islamist websites for the attack on "the dirty den of idolatry."

At least one bomb exploded at the start of the siege. Sporadic gunfire rang out for several hours over the Karrada neighborhood near the heavily fortified Green Zone district where many embassies and government offices are located.

U.S. and Iraqi military helicopters thundered overhead as security forces cordoned off the area.

A federal police source who declined to be identified said Sunday's rescue operation was extremely difficult.

"The attackers were among children, armed with weapons," the source said. "Most of the casualties were killed or wounded when the security forces raided the place."

Officials say some of the attackers blew up explosives vests or threw grenades during the raid. Security sources said many of the victims died in gunfights between police and insurgents.

"SENSELESS VIOLENCE"

Iraq's Christians, who once numbered 1.5 million out of a total Iraqi population of about 30 million, have frequently been targeted by militants since the invasion, with churches bombed and priests assassinated. Many have fled.

Our Lady of Salvation was one of five churches in Baghdad and Mosul hit in coordinated attacks in August 2004 in which 12 people were killed.

Pope Benedict condemned Sunday's attack in remarks to pilgrims gathered to hear his prayer in St Peter's Square for the Catholic All Saints' Day holiday.

"I pray for the victims of this senseless violence, made even more ferocious because it struck defenseless people who were gathered in the house of God, which is a house of love and reconciliation," he said.

Although violence in Iraq has fallen sharply since the height of sectarian bloodshed in 2006-07, attacks by Sunni insurgents and Shi'ite militia continue daily.

The failure of Iraqi leaders to agree on a new government since an inconclusive March election has added to tension just as U.S. forces cut back their presence and ended combat operations ahead of a full withdrawal next year.

A Christian lawmaker denounced the performance of Iraqi forces and said insurgents were exploiting the political vacuum.

"This operation hits at the credibility of the government and its ability to handle, preserve and impose security and the enforcement of law," member of parliament Younadam Kana said.

"Because of their lack of professionalism, and the hasty action taken by security forces in freeing the hostages, many innocent people were killed."

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said Iraq would not be deterred from clawing its way out of bloodshed and violence.

"This crime of terrorism was aimed at destabilizing security and stability and creating chaos and driving Iraqis from their homeland," Maliki said in a statement, demanding vigilance from Iraq's security forces.

Sunday's attack followed the bombing of a cafe in Diyala province on Friday in which 22 people died, interrupting a relatively long period without a major assault by suspected Sunni Islamist insurgents.

The previous high-profile suicide bombing took place on September 5 when insurgents stormed an army base in Baghdad.

Greek police intercept parcel bomb addressed to Sarkozy

ATHENS (Reuters) – Greek police said it had intercepted on Monday a booby-trapped parcel addressed to French President Nicolas Sarkozy, after another package exploded at a courier company in Athens.

"One of the explosive devices that the suspects were carrying was addressed to the President of the French Republic, Nicolas Sarkozy," a police spokesman told Reuters.

He said the other parcels were addressed to the embassies of Belgium, Netherlands and Mexico. The latter one exploded earlier in Athens, slightly injuring one female employee at a courier company. The others were detonated by police.

"Police believes there is no link with Al Qaeda. We are still investigating," he said adding that the two men arrested were suspected to be linked to a Greek leftist guerrilla group.

Indonesia volcano erupts again, tsunami deaths hit 430

JAKARTA (Reuters) – Indonesia's Mount Merapi volcano erupted on Monday for the third time in a week, driving the number of refugees to almost 70,000, as the death toll from a tsunami thousands of kilometers to the west rose to 431, officials said.

The fresh eruption forced a thick ash cloud around 1.5 kilometers (0.9 miles) into the air above Merapi, which sits on the outskirts of Yogyakarta city in Central Java, and caused panicked residents to flee villages on the slopes of the mountain for safety shelters.

The National Disaster Mitigation Agency said that 38 people have been killed and 69,533 evacuated since Merapi began erupting last week, while Indonesia's vulcanology agency warned that flights around Yogyakarta may be disrupted.

Scientists are also monitoring increased activity at two other volcanoes, Mount Anak Krakatau in the Sunda strait and Mount Sinabung in North Sumatra, an official from the vulcanology agency said.

Merapi's third eruption comes as Indonesian disaster officials are struggling to deliver aid to the remote Mentawai islands in Sumatra province, where a 7.5 magnitude quake triggered a tsunami last week.

The tsunami killed 431 people and another 88 are still missing, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency said.

Nigeria: Iran won't discuss arms seizure

ABUJA, Nigeria – Iran's embassy in Nigeria says it won't elaborate on military-grade weaponry seized in Nigeria's busiest port and linked to Iran.

A statement released Monday says that "any unnecessary word would add to the confusion already existing." The embassy also said no Iranian had been arrested over the weapons seizure.

Nigerian security agents seized the weapons shipment Tuesday, hidden inside 13 shipping containers supposedly containing building materials. Instead, officials say the shipment contained 107 mm artillery rockets and other weapons.

The shipper says the arms came from Iran. Israeli officials claim the weapons were heading to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. Hamas has denied the claim.