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Turkey: 35 Kurd rebels killed

(CNN) — At least 35 Kurdish rebels have been killed in fighting in northern Iraq on Saturday, Turkey’s military said Saturday as its offensive against the rebels came under criticism from Baghdad.

The Associated Press quoted the military saying that the total number of rebels killed in its three day incursion was now 79, while two of its own soldiers died Saturday, bringing Turkey’s death toll to seven.

The incursion against the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in Iraq began late Thursday, marking a major escalation in Ankara’s fight against the rebels.

Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said Iraq’s president and prime minister had urged Turkish officials to rethink the offensive, AP reported.

We know the threats that Turkey is facing but military operations will not solve the PKK problem, al-Dabbagh said.

In a statement Friday, the Turkish military said it would act with utmost sensitivity in order to avoid negative impact on local elements — a reference to keeping civilians out of the conflict.

The Turkish Armed Forces, which values Iraq’s territorial integrity and its stability, will return as soon as planned goals are achieved, the military said.

The executed operation will prevent the region from being a permanent and safe base for the terrorists and will contribute to Iraq’s stability and internal peace.

Turkey has been taking cross-border military action, including airstrikes and artillery shelling, against the PKK in retaliation to attacks by the group on targets in Turkey from bases in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq.

The PKK has spent two decades fighting for autonomy for Kurds in southeastern Turkey.

Turkey has also been carrying out small ground operations into Iraq, forays characterized as hot pursuit incursions with a few hundred commandos responding to a particular threat.

Citing Turkish media reports estimating that as many as 10,000 Turkish troops had been involved, Fadi Hakura, an analyst with UK military thinktank Chatham House, said the operation was the first major incursion by Turkey into Iraq since Hussein was toppled in 2003.

Hakura said the Turkish military wanted to conduct a surprise attack against the PKK prior to the springtime, when violent attacks tend to escalate, and when the snow in the mountainous border region leaves the fighters’ footprints.

Normally during the 1980s and the 1990s, the incursions involved 35,000 50,000 troops and they tended to be somewhat open-ended over weeks. This one is expected to be limited to a matter of days and targeted attacks against the PKK, he said.

U.S. officials were downplaying the scope of the operation Friday.

Tom Casey, deputy State Department spokesman, said Iraqi Foreign Ministry Hoshyar Zebari called the incursion limited in nature and not major.

The PKK is a common enemy of the U.S., Turkey and Iraq. We need to work together to resolve it, Casey said. We are pleased that Turks have stressed that they will do everything possible to avoid acts that would harm civilians.

Rear Adm. Gregory Smith, a spokesman for the U.S. military in Iraq, told CNN the military is aware of a Turkish operation of limited duration to specifically target PKK terrorists in that region.

Turkey has given its assurances it will do everything possible to avoid collateral damage to innocent civilians or Kurdish infrastructure, Smith said.

The ground troops’ deployment followed cross-border shelling early Thursday by Turkish soldiers into abandoned villages north of Irbil — the capital of Iraq’s Kurdish Regional Government.

The shelling, which struck abandoned villages in the Khwar-Kork area north of Irbil, lasted two hours and was followed by heavy gunfire, a KRG official told CNN. There were no reports of casualties.

Border tensions have been a source of diplomatic disagreement between the U,S. and its Iraqi and Turkish allies. U.S. and Iraqi authorities have been concerned that any large-scale operation by Turkey into Iraq to chase down Kurdish rebels could destabilize the region.

At the same time, the U.S. backs Turkey’s efforts to battle the PKK, which both countries regard as a terrorist group and has been providing intelligence to the Turks.

The United States continues to support Turkey’s right to defend itself from the terrorist activities of the PKK and has encouraged Turkey to use all available means, to include diplomacy and close coordination with the Government of Iraq to ultimately resolve this issue, Smith said.
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Super-speed Internet satellite blasts off in Japan

(CNN) — Japan launched a rocket Saturday carrying a satellite that will test new technology that promises to deliver super high-speed Internet service to homes and businesses around the world.

The rocket carrying the WINDS satellite — a joint project of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries — lifted off its pad at 5:55 p.m. (0855 GMT).

If the technology proves successful, subscribers with small dishes will connect to the Internet at speeds many times faster than what is now available over residential cable or DSL services.

The Associated Press said the satellite would offer speeds of up to 1.2 gigabytes per second.

The service initially would focus on the Asia-Pacific region close to Japan, a JAXA news release said.

Among other uses, this will make possible great advances in telemedicine, which will bring high-quality medical treatment to remote areas, and in distance education, connecting students and teachers separated by great distances, JAXA said.

The rocket was launched from Japan’s Yoshinobu Launch Complex at the Tanegashima Space Center. E-mail to a friend

Copyright 2008 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Prosecutors: Craig’s defense ‘patently illogical’

(CNN) — Arguments made by U.S. Sen. Larry Craig in an effort to withdraw his guilty plea on charges stemming from a public bathroom sex sting are patently illogical, Minnesota prosecutors said in a brief Friday.

The Idaho Republican is arguing to the Minnesota Court of Appeals that a state law related to his misdemeanor conviction is unconstitutional and that it is manifestly unjust not to allow the lawmaker to be given another chance to prove his innocence.

But the attorneys for the state say that Craig’s guilty plea was made properly and that a district court judge acted properly in October in not allowing Craig to take back the plea.

The defendant’s plea was accurate, voluntary and intelligent and therefore there is no manifest injustice that would warrant plea withdrawal, prosecutors wrote.

In June, Craig, 62, was arrested by an undercover officer in a public restroom at Minneapolis International Airport in Minnesota.

He pleaded guilty in August to a misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct. A soliciting charge was dropped.

Craig has since denied the charges — saying he was not soliciting sex in the bathroom and is not gay.

Craig’s lawyers also have argued that whatever his actions in the bathroom were were private and that the police officer who arrested him acted inappropriately by moving his own foot in response to Craig tapping his foot, stretching it to touch the officer’s foot and waving his hand under the bottom of a bathroom stall.
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Britney Spears’ ex-husband allows her to visit sons

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Kevin Federline has agreed to give ex-wife Britney Spears visitation rights with their two young sons, his lawyer said Friday.

Federline attorney Mark Vincent Kaplan said in a statement the former couple has agreed to a modification of a court order that had stripped Spears of her visitation rights. The statement did not provide more details.

A court commissioner gave Federline sole physical and legal custody of their two little boys and suspended the pop star’s visitation rights on January 4.

Spears had been in a downward spiral of bizarre behavior since divorcing Federline in November 2006. She shaved her head, ran over a celebrity photographer’s foot and attacked a vehicle with an umbrella, among other strange behaviors.

Spears has not been allowed to see sons Jayden James, 1, and Sean Preston, 2, since an incident at her home that led to the first of her two hospitalizations in a psychiatric facility this year.

Spears and her estate were placed under a temporary conservatorship after she was taken to UCLA Medical Center on January 31.

Conservatorships are granted for people deemed unable to care for themselves or their affairs.

Another court commissioner said Friday the conservatorship case was in a holding pattern.

A federal judge is considering a claim, by a lawyer who says he represents the pop star, that the terms of the conservatorship violate her civil rights. The lawyer said the case should be moved to U.S. District Court.

During a short hearing on Spears’ conservatorship, Commissioner Reva Goetz asked attorneys for James Spears, the pop star’s father and co-conservator of her estate, for an update on proceedings in federal court.

There’s nothing for the court to do today, we’re in a holding pattern, Goetz said.

The case was initially being tried in Superior Court.
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Slain student remembered as ‘angel’ at vigil

RENO, Nevada (CNN) — Candles illuminated the somber faces of hundreds of people who gathered Friday night near the University of Nevada-Reno for a vigil to remember slain college student Brianna Denison.

Students who never knew her joined Denison’s friends at the spot on an empty field where her body was found a week earlier 10 miles from the school.

Handwritten posters said We love you Bri and Shine on us Bri.

One of the speakers urged the community to stay vigilant and safe.

For a brief moment in time, a beautiful young woman graced us with her presence, said Marc Klaas, whose daughter was kidnapped and murdered in 1993.

But from now on, for all eternity, Reno, Nevada, will have an angel sitting on God’s shoulder looking out for your children.

The horror and fear began on a cold winter night last month. A stranger apparently walked into an off-campus house and abducted the sleeping Denison.

She attended Santa Barbara City College in California, but had returned to her hometown of Reno to spend time with friends and family.

Despite the searches and vigils, all hope of a good outcome vanished when Denison’s body was discovered.

Police say they believe her killer is responsible for three other sexually motivated attacks in recent months.

As authorities announced that a serial rapist was on the loose, pepper spray began replacing iPods as the hot item on campus at the University of Nevada-Reno. All the local stores are sold out.

Freshman Britany Maxwell now has six canisters of pepper spray, supplied by her mother. She holds one by her side when she walks on campus at night. Watch how students are protecting themselves

I carry it with me everywhere, said Maxwell, who no longer feels safe walking alone. I’m scared. I feel like he could be watching me or my friends at any given moment, deciding to attack again. It’s horrible.

The crime stuns Reno Police Detective Lt. Bob McDonald. I’ve worked here for 29 years, and I can’t remember the last time that we’ve had a serial rapist that has progressed to the point of abducting a young woman out of a residence and ultimately murdering her, he said.

The hope is that a pair of women’s panties could help solve the case. The undergarment, dotted with pink panthers and hearts, was found next to Denison’s body.

DNA testing, however, revealed the garment belonged to another woman. It also had traces of DNA from a possible suspect. Police hope the unusual pattern of panthers and hearts may prompt someone to come forward with information.

We want to get the message out to any potential victims out there that may have lost this underwear during a sexual assault or attack, McDonald said. They may not be comfortable reporting that, but we will handle it with dignity, and it will remain confidential with us, he added.

Meanwhile, police say it’s important that students be vigilant. Many are heeding the warning. Dozens of young college women attended a self-defense class Thursday night conducted by martial arts experts. The university’s free shuttle service is receiving a record amount of calls. Fear has become the dominant talk even in the classroom.

Teachers on a daily basis are stopping class to talk about it; to give us advice on what to do in situations, said junior Christy Griffin. He needs to be caught now. We’ll all feel a lot better and safer.
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