US soldier kills Afghan civilians in Kandahar

 A US soldier in Afghanistan has shot dead 15 civilians and wounded others after entering their homes in Kandahar province, Afghan and Nato sources say.

 He reportedly left his base early in the morning to attack village homes. Nine children are among the dead.

The White House voiced "deep concern" and Nato-led forces in Afghanistan promised a rapid inquiry.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has condemned the attack and demanded an explanation from Washington.

BBC correspondents say there could be a furious backlash when news of the attack reaches the wider public.

In Kandahar's Panjwai district, local people have gathered near the base to protest about Sunday's killings, and the US embassy is advising against travel to the area.

Anti-US sentiment is already high in Afghanistan after US soldiers burnt copies of the Koran last month.

US officials have apologised repeatedly for the incident at a Nato base in Kabul but they failed to quell a series of protests and attacks that killed at least 30 people and six US troops.

'Shot and burnt'

The unnamed soldier, thought to be a staff sergeant, is reported to have walked off his base at around 03:00 local time (22:30 GMT Saturday), then made his way to the nearby villages of Alkozai and Najeeban.

A local resident, Abdul Baqi, told the Associated Press news agency the soldier had apparently opened fire in three different houses.

"When it was happening in the middle of the night, we were inside our houses," he said. "I heard gunshots and then silence and then gunshots again."
In one house in Najeeban, the gunman reportedly killed 11 people, setting fire to their bodies before he left.
A relative of the 11 victims, Haji Samad, told Reuters news agency chemicals had been poured over the bodies and set alight.
"I saw that all 11 of my relatives were killed, including my children and grandchildren," he added, weeping.
An unnamed woman witness in Najeeban told BBC News she had heard gunfire at about 02:00. A barking dog was shot dead by the gunman, she said.
She added that the Taliban had not been seen in the area for five months.
At least three of the child victims were killed by a single shot to the head, the BBC's Quentin Sommerville reports from Kabul.

Afghan men gathered in the area of the villages where the attacks took place

Photographs from the scene showed bodies, some of them clearly young children, placed in a vehicle under blankets.

Some reports suggested that more than one soldier was involved in the attack, and a statement by the Taliban accused Afghan security forces of playing a role.

A delegation from the provincial governor's office has arrived in the village to determine exactly what happened, a spokesman said.

The soldier - who reportedly suffered a breakdown before the attacks - is said to have handed himself over to the US military authorities after carrying out the killings.

'Intentional murders'

In a statement, Mr Karzai described the deaths in Kandahar as "intentional murders".

"When Afghan people are killed deliberately by US forces this action is murder and terror and an unforgivable action," he said.

President Karzai has been consulting officials in Kandahar by telephone.

Caitlin Hayden, a spokeswoman for the White House National Security Council, said US President Barack Obama had been briefed on the incident. She added: "We are deeply concerned by the initial reports of this incident, and are monitoring the situation closely."

Gen John R Allen, commander of the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf), said US officials in Afghanistan would work with their Afghan counterparts to investigate what had happened.

"I pledge to all the noble people of Afghanistan my commitment to a rapid and thorough investigation," he said in a statement.

"This deeply appalling incident in no way represents the values of Isaf and coalition troops or the abiding respect we feel for the Afghan people."

This is the first time Afghan civilians have been targeted by foreign soldiers in this way, our Kabul correspondent says.

However, a US soldier was convicted last year on three counts of premeditated murder after leading a rogue "kill team" in Afghanistan.

Kandahar is the Taliban's spiritual heartland and is considered strategically important because of its international airport, its agricultural and industrial output and its position as one of the country's main trading hubs.

The province has seen heavy fighting between Nato and Taliban forces over the last five years.

Mr Karzai said earlier he still expected to sign a strategic partnership with the US in the next couple of months.

He said discussions would continue on the precise role the US would play in Afghanistan after Nato handed over security responsibility to Kabul at the end of 2014.

On Friday, Kabul and Washington reached a deal to transfer US-run prisons in the country to Afghan control.

bbc.co

Egypt clears virginity test medic

The legal action brought by Samira Ibrahim has put a stop to virginity tests on female protesters

 A military court in Egypt has acquitted an army doctor accused of carrying out forced "virginity tests" on women protesters, state media reports.

Ahmed Adel was cleared because the judge found contradictions in witness statements, Mena news agency said.

The case was brought by one of the women, Samira Ibrahim, who said the "tests" took place after they had been detained during protests last year.

Demonstrators gathered outside the court to protest against the ruling.

The practice drew an outcry after Ms Ibrahim and other women spoke out about their treatment following their arrest during a protest in Tahrir Square in March 2011 - weeks after the fall of President Hosni Mubarak.

They said they were forced by the Egyptian army, while in detention, to submit to a five-minute-long so-called virginity test by a male doctor.

The army initially denied such tests had taken place, but a senior general, speaking anonymously, later admitted that they had happened.

Ms Ibrahim launched a legal challenge to prevent such tests happening again, and Cairo's administrative court eventually ruled that the tests were illegal.

But she said, before the trial of Ahmed Adel, that witnesses she hoped would speak in her defence had changed their story at the last minute, our correspondent reports from Cairo.

According to Mena, the judge said he made the ruling "from what has been proven in documents and based on my conscience," adding that he had "not been subjected to any pressures".

 bbc.co

 

US Airways Coach Fliers Fare Worst in Hassle Rankings

Dec. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Coach passengers on AMR Corp.’s American Airlines and US Airways Group Inc. jets have the greatest risk of hassles such as late or canceled flights, packed planes and higher fees.

Those two carriers and United Airlines, a predecessor of United Continental Holdings Inc., fared the worst in a Bloomberg Rankings analysis of operating performance and service charges. Southwest Airlines Co., which doesn’t have fees to check bags, and Frontier Airlines posted the highest scores.

The analysis covered expenses such as luggage charges and rebooking fees as well as operating data like scrubbed flights and the percentage of filled seats. Cancellations are up in 2011 after East Coast storms and a new U.S. rule to end long tarmac waiting times, and a cut in flights means fewer empty seats.

“Airlines are really beginning to fill airplanes like they never have before, and Americans don’t deal well with a lack of personal space,” said Charles Leocha, director of Consumer Travel Alliance, a Washington-based nonprofit group. “That and the complexity of fees have led to the degrading of the flying experience.”

The list evaluated the largest 10 U.S. carriers, as identified by passenger traffic on domestic flights. Regional airlines such as American’s American Eagle and Delta Air Lines Inc.’s Comair were excluded.

Lowest Scores

Southwest is the biggest discount airline and ranked second on the list for U.S. traffic, while Indianapolis-based Republic Airways Holdings Inc.’s Frontier was the smallest in the group. On a scale of one to 100, with 100 the best score, Dallas-based Southwest and Frontier logged 73.2 and 61.6 points.

The lowest scores were 31.2 for American, whose parent AMR is now in bankruptcy; 32.5 for US Airways; and 33.6 for United. All three have hubs subject to winter tie-ups, with American and United flying from Chicago and New York and US Airways from Philadelphia.

The cancellation rate for the 10 carriers Bloomberg ranked was 1.56 percent for the year ended in September, compared with 1.13 percent for the same period in 2006.

United was evaluated separately from Continental Airlines Inc., its 2010 merger partner in forming United Continental, because the airlines didn’t win U.S. approval to fly as one carrier until Nov. 30. Also assessed separately were Southwest and its May 2011 acquisition, AirTran Holdings Inc.

Many travelers are exempt from the fees covered in the Bloomberg rankings, because airlines often waive the costs for passengers with elite frequent-flier status, first- and business-class tickets, or certain co-branded credit cards.

Few Bag Fees

On American, only 25 percent of domestic passengers pay a checked-bag fee, said Tim Smith, a spokesman for the Fort Worth, Texas-based airline.

American’s performance also has improved in recent years, with “more than half” of its disruptions due to circumstances outside its control such as weather or air-traffic delays, Smith said.

US Airways’ on-time performance rose 21 percent from 2007 to 2010, while baggage handling improved by 70 percent and customer satisfaction jumped 51 percent, Michelle Mohr, a spokeswoman for the Tempe, Arizona-based carrier, said in an e- mail. The figures were based on the airline’s own data.

A pilot work slowdown that hurt results earlier this year has been corrected, placing US Airways’ operational performance on par or ahead of peers most months this year, she said.

Seat cutbacks since 2008 have in effect erased a decade of growth, according to Airlines for America, a Washington-based trade group. That has dragged industry capacity relative to U.S. Gross Domestic Product to the lowest level since 1979, according to data compiled by the trade group. American and Delta are among the airlines expecting more cuts in 2012.

--Editors: Ed Dufner, James Langford

To contact the reporters on this story: Alex McIntyre in New York at amcintyre10@bloomberg.net. Mary Jane Credeur in Atlanta at mcredeur@bloomberg.net.

 By Alex McIntyre and Mary Jane Credeur

businessweek

 

Obama signs key bill to...

18 December 2011 Last updated at 00:24 GMT

The unusual Saturday vote caps off a year of bitter partisan budget battles on Capitol Hill

 

 

 US President Barack Obama has signed into law a spending bill, averting an impending shutdown of federal government services.

The bill, worth nearly $1tn (£645bn), was earlier passed by the Senate and had already been backed by the House of Representatives.

Government agencies including those for defence and labour faced shutdown this weekend without the legislation.

It follows Senate approval of a two-month extension to a payroll tax break.

That bill also forces President Obama to make a decision on a controversial oil pipeline early next year.

It is expected to go before the Republican-dominated House for a vote on Monday.

Passage of these two pieces of legislation would end a year of bitter partisan budget battles on Capitol Hill.

The spending bill funds a wide range of government agencies for the rest of the fiscal year - until September 2012.

The vote to continue the payroll tax break for about 160 million American workers also means millions of unemployed Americans will continue to receive emergency welfare benefits.

The bill stops the 4.2% tax rate from jumping to 6.2% for those workers on 1 January.

Economists have warned that a failure to keep the tax cut would hurt a fragile US economic recovery.

But in exchange, President Obama must make a decision in February on the proposed Keystone XL pipeline from Canada's oil sands to refineries in Texas.

Mr Obama had threatened to veto the project and wanted to delay a decision on it past the 2012 election.

In remarks after the Senate vote, Mr Obama said he expected Congress to extend the payroll tax break for the rest of 2012 when it reconvened in January.

Allowing it to lapse would be "inexcusable", he said.

bbc.co