Russia central banker fights for life after attack

Gleb Bryanski

The first deputy chairman of Russia's central bank was fighting for his life in hospital on Thursday after gunmen with automatic weapons attacked him outside a Moscow sports stadium and killed his driver.

Andrei Kozlov, 41, a high-profile figure in Russian finance who was in charge of cleaning up the murky and fragmented banking system, underwent emergency surgery for serious gunshot wounds to his chest and stomach.

"His condition is critical but stable. We operated on him and he is in intensive care," a duty nurse at Moscow's Hospital No. 33 told Reuters.

Sources close to police investigations said Wednesday's attack on Kozlov, who has led an aggressive drive to shut down banks accused of money laundering and other crimes, bore the hallmarks of an attempted contract killing.

A law enforcement official at the hospital told Reuters security at the complex had been stepped up in case of further attacks on Kozlov.

The attack could have an impact on banking stocks such as Sberbank and on the interbank market, especially if the Kremlin reacts by cracking down on banks Kozlov investigated, analysts said.

The gunmen struck after a soccer match between bank employees at the stadium in the Sokolniki district in the northeast of the Russian capital.

BLOOD

In a car park outside the stadium, a pool of blood could be seen next to a dark blue Mercedes car. Nearby lay a body draped in plastic sheeting.

Russia's banking system grew out of chaos after the collapse of the Soviet Union when violence was a part of doing business. One analyst said the attack showed the sector had still not shaken off its past.

Contract-style killings of wealthy businessmen and bankers were common in the 1990s but they tapered off after President Vladimir Putin came to power in 2000.

"We are looking at all possible versions, including (Kozlov's) professional activities, mistaken identity, and his personal relations," Moscow's chief prosecutor Yuri Syomin was quoted as saying by Interfax.

Only last week, Kozlov called at a banking forum in the southern city of Sochi for tougher penalties against bankers found guilty of money laundering.

Russia has about 1,200 banks, many of them tiny outfits with little capital.

"This event forces us to acknowledge what the central bank has been up against from a community which has its roots in the wild early years of transition," said Rory MacFarquhar, an economist at Goldman Sachs in Moscow.

Kozlov started at what was then the Soviet central bank at the age of 24. He rose quickly through the ranks to become first deputy chairman in 1997. He left two years later for a spell in the private sector, rejoining the central bank in April 2002.

(Additional reporting by Douglas Busvine and Vera Kalian)

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Six British terror suspects due to appear in court

Six men were set to appear in a British court on Thursday in connection with an investigation targeting an alleged terror recruitment network, police said.

They were among 14 arrested across London in overnight raids on September 1, including at a Chinese restaurant.

The six were charged on Wednesday, bringing the total number of suspects charged in connection with the investigation to 10. Two others have been released without charge, while the remaining two remain in police custody.

Under British anti-terror laws, suspects can be detained by police for up to 28 days without being charged, subject to regular court approval.

The six will appear before the City of Westminster Magistrates' Court.

Muhammad Al-Figari, 42, from Tottenham, north London, was hit with two charges of receiving "instruction or training ... connected with the commission or preparation of acts of terrorism" and another charge of possessing "a record containing information of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing an act of terrorism".

Kadar Ahmed, 19, and a 17-year-old male, who cannot be named because of his age, both from south London, were charged with three counts of receiving training connected with the commission or preparation of acts of terrorism.

The 17-year-old also faced one charge of possessing information likely to be useful to a person committing an act of terrorism.

Atilla Ahmet, 42, from south London, was charged with four counts of soliciting or encouraging people at a meeting to murder others, two counts of publishing a statement with the intention of encouraging people to commit, prepare or instigate acts of terrorism, and two counts of holding information likely to be useful to a person committing an act of terrorism.

Moussa Brown, 40, from Walthamstow, east London is charged with two counts of providing "instruction or training in the making or use of firearms".

Saloum Joh, 21, from south London, was charged with possession of a prohibited firearm.

Four other men, including two brothers, were remanded in custody on Tuesday after appearing in court over the inquiry.

The Metropolitan Police said following the arrests that they were not linked to the arrest of more than two dozen people on August 10 over an alleged plot to blow-up transatlantic aircraft, nor to last year's suicide bomb attacks in London.

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Nonaligned nations ponder loss of Castro

ANITA SNOW,
Associated Press Writer

When Cuba last hosted the Nonaligned Movement summit, the Cold War still divided the world and Fidel Castro was a strapping 53-year-old inspiring armed movements in poor countries the world over.

The Cuban-inspired Sandinista rebels had just triumphed in Nicaragua, the Shah of Iran had just fallen, the U.S. still controlled the Panama Canal and wars of liberation from colonial powers raged in Africa.

To the leaders who gathered in Havana in August 1979, Castro was the symbol of their struggle for self-determination and freedom from U.S. domination.

This time around, it's not even clear that Castro will show up. Now 80 and convalescing from intestinal surgery, he said he hopes to meet with some foreign dignitaries. No public appearances are on the schedule, but expectations of a formal appearance were raised Wednesday when state television showed photos of him sitting up in his pajamas and chatting with a visiting Argentine politician.

As Cubans contemplate life without the only ruler most of them have ever known, the nations coming together this week to map out the developing world's agenda must also learn to fight on without the bearded guerrilla leader.

This time, instead of rifles and rockets as their weapons against colonial oppressors, they are using pens, syringes and energy deals against the enemies of illiteracy, disease and poverty.

"The Cuban people have accepted his illness with great maturity," said Wayne Smith, the former top U.S. diplomat in Havana. "Now the rest of the world, and especially the developing world, needs to get used to Cuba being ruled by someone else."

Smith predicted that Castro, who temporarily ceded power in July to his 75-year-old brother while he recovers from surgery, will likely make at least a symbolic appearance.

"I think he will be there sufficiently in spirit, and to some extent in the flesh, enough to reassure the leaders," said Smith, who represented the United States as an observer at the 1979 summit and showed up in Havana on a nostalgic visit this week.

Cuban National Assembly President Ricardo Alarcon noted that most of the foreign leaders haven't arrived yet, and he wouldn't rule out an appearance by Castro when they do.

"Fidel is not lounging in bed," Alarcon said. "He has a telephone in his hand, directing everything; he's up to date on everything, following it step by step."

But even government officials acknowledge that if Castro recovers enough to resume the presidency, it's unlikely he'll keep up the exhausting schedule he blamed for his still-undisclosed ailment.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, Castro's good friend, has already begun asserting himself as the Third World's leading statesman, employing Castro's anti-imperialist rhetoric and building up Venezuela's military as he reaches out to other developing countries with social programs funded by his oil-rich nation.

But times have changed considerably since the days when Castro established himself as the iconic leader of the world's leftist revolutionaries, supplying troops and arms to Africa and training leftist guerrillas in Latin America.

"Another world is necessary, urgent and possible," but war is not necessary to achieve it, Cuban Vice President Carlos Lage told foreign ministers at the summit Wednesday. "If we use our conscience, if we unite, if we make ourselves willing to defend our rights with ideas and decisiveness, we can achieve it."

Some things haven't changed — U.S. domination remains a rhetorical favorite, and then as now, Israel's bombing of Lebanon angered the gathered leaders.

But Cuba stopped fomenting revolutions more than a decade ago, and more of the nonaligned nations are now young democracies. They came to Havana this time seeking support for trade deals and joint ventures, the training of doctors and teachers, and energy independence.

It was Castro who designed many of these social programs, aimed at peacefully capturing hearts and minds.

One example is the Operation Miracle campaign to provide free eye surgeries to the poor. Financed in part by Venezuela, the program has restored eyesight to hundreds of thousands of people in 28 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean and will be expanded to Africa and Asia soon.

Cuba's "Yes, I Can" adult literacy program also is being featured this week, as the kind of social program developing nations can share for mutual benefit.

But the nonaligned nations apparently aren't ready to work out the details of such social programs this week. A document describing an ambitious global expansion of Cuba's literacy, health care and energy programs was shelved, organizers said Wednesday, because the summit agenda is simply too full to deal with it.

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Montreal shooting rampage kills student

PHIL COUVRETTE,
Associated Press Writer

A man in a black trench coat and a mohawk haircut opened fire Wednesday at a downtown Montreal college, slaying a young woman and wounding at least 19 other people before police shot and killed him, witnesses and authorities said.

Police dismissed suggestions that terrorism played a role in the lunch-hour attack at Dawson College, where scores of panicked students fled into the streets after the shooting began. Some had clothes stained with blood; others cried and clung to each other. Two nearby shopping centers and a daycare center also were evacuated.

"I was terrified. The guy was shooting at people randomly. He didn't care, he was just shooting at everybody," said student Devansh Smri Vastava. "There were cops firing. It was so crazy."

Witnesses said the attacker started firing outside the college before walking in the front door. Much of the shooting was in the second-floor cafeteria, where students dropped to the floor and lay in terror. At times the gunman hid behind vending machines before emerging to take aim — at one point at a teenager who tried to photograph him with his cell phone. Teachers ran through the halls, telling everyone to get out of the building.

Police rushed to the scene, hiding behind a wall as they exchanged fire with the gunman, whose back was against a vending machine, said student Andrea Barone, who was in the cafeteria. He said the officers proceeded cautiously because many students were trapped around the assailant, who yelled "Get back! Get back!" every time an officer tried to move closer.

Eventually, Barone said, the gunman went down in hail of gunfire.

Authorities did not provide any information about the attacker. Police spokesman Ean Lafreniere said there was just one gunman at the school and the search for any others was over.

Although police initially suggested the gunman had killed himself, Police Director Yvan DeLorme later said at a news conference that "based on current information, the suspect was killed by police."

Police with guns drawn stood behind a police cruiser as a SWAT team swarmed the 12-acre campus. The attacker's bloody body, covered in a yellow sheet, lay next to a police cruiser near an entrance to a school building.

Montreal General Hospital said 11 people were admitted, including eight who were in critical condition. Nine others were taken to two other hospitals. One young woman later died, a police official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the victim's next-of-kin had not yet been notified.

"Today we have witnessed a cowardly and senseless act of violence unfold at Montreal's Dawson College," Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said. "Our primary concern right now is to ensure the safety and recovery of all those who were injured during this tragedy."

The shooting recalled the 1999 attack at Columbine High School in Colorado, where two students wearing trench coats killed 13 people before committing suicide.

Canada's worst mass shooting also happened in Montreal. Gunman Marc Lepine killed 14 women at the Ecole Polytechnic on Dec. 6, 1989, before shooting himself.

The 25-year-old Lepine roamed the halls of the school firing a rifle, specifically targeting women whom he claimed in a suicide note had ruined his life. Nine other women and four men were wounded.

That shooting spurred efforts for new gun laws and greater awareness of societal violence — particularly domestic abuse. Canada's tighter gun law was achieved mainly as the results of efforts by survivors and relatives of Lepine's victims.

Dawson is more of a pre-college division than a traditional university. It was the first English-language institution in Quebec's network of university preparatory colleges when it was founded in 1969. With about 10,000 students, it is the largest college of general and vocational education, known by its French acronym CEGEP, in the province.

Witnesses to Wednesday's attack said a man wearing a black trench coat entered the school cafeteria and opened fire without uttering a word.

Derick Osei, 19, said he was walking down the stairs to the cafeteria when he saw a man with a gun.

"He ... just started shooting up the place. I ran up to the third floor and I looked down and he was still shooting," Osei said. "He was hiding behind the vending machines and he came out with a gun and started pointing and pointed at me. So I ran up the stairs. I saw a girl get shot in the leg."

Osei said people in the cafeteria were all lying on the floor.

"I saw the gunman who was dressed in black and at that time he was shooting at people," student Michel Boyer told CTV. "I immediately hit the floor. It was probably one of the most frightening moments of my life."

"He was shooting randomly, I didn't know what he was shooting at, but everyone was screaming, Get out of the building!" Boyer said. "Everybody was in tears. Everybody was so worried for their own safety for their own lives."

Raamias Hernandez, 19, said he had just finished his class when he saw everyone start to run.

He said the gunman was dressed in a black jacket and had a mohawk haircut. Hernandez said he started to take pictures with his cell phone with his friend and the suspect saw them and started shooting.

Vastava said he saw a man in military fatigues with "a big rifle" storm the cafeteria.

"He just started shooting at people," Vastava said, adding that he heard about 20 shots fired. He also said teachers ran through the halls telling students to get out. "We all ran upstairs."

Barone, 17, said he was sitting in the cafeteria with his girlfriend and some friends when he heard some shots.

"At first I thought it was a firecracker," he said. "Then I turned around and I saw him. He was dressed in a black trench coat and I saw his hand firing a handgun in every direction."

Barone said a police officer emerged from a corner next to the cafeteria and fired a shot in the direction of the gunman no more than several yards away and missed him. Five or six more police officers showed up, he said. Barone said it was like a running battle with five or six shots fired in both directions every minute.

After police eventually killed the gunman, the officers helped the students leave the cafeteria, crawling out on their bellies along a wall.

Barone said as they were crawling out toward an exit they saw a girl who had been shot in the torso and who was face down surrounded by a pool of blood.

He said officers told them: "Don't look, don't look. Keep going out."

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AP Writer Rob Gillies contributed to this report from Toronto.

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Judge in Saddam trial deflects criticism

QAIS Al-BASHIR and JAMAL HALABY,

Associated Press Writer

The chief judge in Saddam Hussein's trial brushed aside prosecution demands to step down for letting the ousted president make political statements, as more witnesses on Wednesday told of chemical attacks against Kurds.

Chief prosecutor Minqith al-Faroon took offense at Saddam's remarks during Tuesday's session, when the ousted president lashed out at "agents of Iran and Zionism" and threatened to "crush the heads" of his accusers.

Saddam's remarks were directed at Kurdish witnesses who testified about chemical attacks and other atrocities during the government's Operation Anfal crackdown on the Kurds in the late 1980s.

"You allowed this court to become a political podium for the defendants," al-Faroon told Chief Judge Abdullah al-Amiri. "The action of the court leans toward the defendants. Therefore, I ask your honor to step down."

A lawyer for one of the Kurdish witnesses also told the court that Saddam "hurt our feelings" with his statements, which she said were "illegal and must be stopped." The lawyer's name was not made public because of court security rules.

Al-Amiri, a Shiite Arab, refused to step aside, arguing that a Muslim successor to the Prophet Muhammad allowed defendants to express their opinions. The judge said one of the "pillars of the judiciary is to treat everyone equally" and ordered the trial to continue.

Saddam and six others, including his cousin Ali "Chemical Ali" al-Majid, have been accused of genocide and other offenses in connection with the 1987-88 campaign to suppress a Kurdish revolt in northern Iraq.

The prosecution alleges that about 180,000 Kurds died — many of them civilians. Saddam and the others could face death by hanging if convicted.

Court treatment of Saddam has been a contentious issue in the other case against him — the killing of 148 Shiites following a 1982 assassination attempt against him in Dujail.

That trial was marked by frequent outbursts by Saddam and former intelligence chief Barzan Ibrahim until the trial judge was replaced by a no-nonsense jurist, Raouf Abdul-Rahman, who threw out defendants and defense lawyers when he decided they were out of order. His tough line brought defense demands that Abdul-Rahman step down for bias against the defendants.

The courts in both trials appeared to be trying to balance respect for a former Iraqi president — even one alleged to have committed horrific crimes — with the need to maintain order and prevent Saddam from using the proceedings for propaganda, especially among his fellow Sunni Arabs at a time of rising sectarian tensions.

A verdict in the Dujail trial is expected on Oct. 16. Saddam could also receive a death sentence in that trial.

The Anfal trial was due to resume on Thursday.

Saddam has insisted that the crackdown against the Kurds was directed at rebellious Kurdish militias that were allied with Iran during the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war. He maintains that his regime treated loyal Iraqi Kurds fairly.

On Wednesday, the court heard four witnesses testify about widespread chemical attacks against Kurdish villages. Several witnesses said they fled to Iran but returned after an amnesty decree — only to be rounded up, imprisoned and tortured.

"I fled to Iran with my family," farmer Saadoun Khudhir Qadir, 76, testified. "Eight months later, we heard there was an amnesty issued by Saddam. ... Upon our return, Iraqi authorities arrested us and put us in jail."

Another witness, Salah Qadir Amin, said his family also left Iran after hearing of an amnesty but ended up in prison.

"My father, mother, uncle, grandmother and two brothers, my other uncle were all in jailed in Irbil," he said as his voice choked with emotion. He said the identity cards of his mother and one brother were found in a mass grave near Sulaimaniyah but "they never found the rest.

The chief judge asked if he was seeking compensation.

"Nothing can compensate me for the loss of my parents and my family, who were killed without reason," Amin replied.

A self-described former Kurdish guerrilla, Omar Othman, said he received medical treatment in Iran and Germany after suffering chemical burns during an attack in March 1988.

Another witness, Hama Ahmed, told of attacks by Iraqi Sukhoi jets that dropped chemical weapons on his village in February 1988.

"Iraqi forces ransacked our village and took our animals," he said. "They took everything."

Saddam has accused the Kurdish witnesses of trying to sow ethnic division in Iraq by alleging chemical attacks and mass arrests in their villages.

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AP correspondents Qais al-Bashir reported from Baghdad and Jamal Halaby from Amman, Jordan.

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Nokia, EA Team Up for Gaming on the Go

Elizabeth Millard,

Newsfactor.com


Mobile communications company Nokia and game developer Electronic Arts have inked a collaboration deal that will see EA becoming a major supplier of games for Nokia mobile devices.

Customers will be able to access video games through a collection of e-stores from their mobile devices. Initially, they can choose from seven EA titles, which include some of the most popular games the company has produced, such as The Sims 2, Tetris, and Doom.

"Casual gaming should grow by leaps and bounds, now that there are more sophisticated games, and this deal gives EA a good opportunity to repurpose some content as well," JupiterResearch analyst Michael Gartenberg added.

Currently, only customers who have the Nokia Content Discoverer system will be able to download games. The system allows users to access the e-stores through their handsets, and is embedded in nine Nokia models. The company noted that it will be embedded in six more by the end of 2006.

Queue Factor

The team-up of Nokia and EA will likely boost mobile gaming, an entertainment arena that is already experiencing steady growth from burgeoning consumer interest, according to Gartenberg.

"There's definitely demand," he said. "It's just a different demographic than hardcore gamers. These aren't people who are going to sit on their couches playing games on their phones. Instead, it's more casual gaming, like killing some time while waiting in line."

Phones are ideal for capturing the attention, and discretionary dollars, of these particular game enthusiasts, Gartenberg said. Advances in cell phones in the last few years, with better graphics, higher resolution screens, and Internet connectivity, have made mobile gaming more of an option than ever before for mobile users.

Starting in mid-2007, EA will also support the launch of a new mobile games platform being developed by Nokia by creating some customized, exclusive games for Nokia S60 devices, the companies noted.

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Mobile phone operators to be forced to cut prices

Aissetou N'Gom

Ofcom, the UK telecoms regulator, said on Wednesday it planned to cut the prices that mobile phone operators can charge for connecting calls from rival networks or landlines. These changes would come into effect when the current regulation expires in March 2007.

Ofcom said it had imposed a limit on average termination charges of 5.63p per minute (ppm) or 6.31 ppm, depending on the extent to which operators can use 900MHz or 1800MHz spectrum bands for their networks.Generally speaking, lower frequencies allow carriers to provide coverage for a larger area, while higher frequencies allow carriers to provide service to more customers in a given area. These figures are subject to review and could change by half a pence.

Until now, restrictions on charges have only applied to calls connected using operators' 2G networks (ie Vodafone, O2, T-Mobile and Orange). Ofcom said it was unnecessary to place restrictions on 3G as too few customers were using the service at the point of the assessment.

In March 2006, Ofcom consulted on its view that the controls remain necessary, and proposed to extend regulation to include the connection of calls to 3G networks as 3 now had more than 1m customers. After considering responses to the March consultation, Ofcom confirmed that the connection of voice calls to the networks of Vodafone, O2, Orange, T-Mobile and 3 each constitute a separate economic market.

Regulation, therefore, remains necessary to protect consumers from unduly high prices. Ofcom therefore proposes that the average termination charges of Vodafone, O2, T-Mobile and Orange should be reduced to approximately 5.3ppm across 2G and 3G networks by 2010/11. The average termination charge of 3 should be reduced to approximately 6.0ppm by 2010/11.

This will be the first time that 3 has been subject to restrictions. Ofcom is consulting on how quickly these reductions should be implemented, they may stagger the changes or have one large reduction. These controls should expire on 31 March 2011. Ofcom states that the changes are not a response to customer issues as no consumer groups have voiced their concerns to Ofcom.

John Earl, a spokesman for Vodafone, said: "We're pleased to see that Ofcom is taking into account the cost of running a 2g and 3g network. We feel it's very positive that they have gone to a lot of effort to understand the way in which this running works. For us it's good that we have clarity on the termination through 2010 to 2011 and we welcome the move to a more level playing field of wholesale call termination services."

Edward Brewster, a spokesperson for 3, said that the proposals were in line with the announcements made earlier this year and that the company was reviewing the proposals with interest and would respond in due course.

Ofcom also announced that it intends to carry out a review of the wholesale SMS (text message) termination market in 2007.

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DoCoMo to buy stake in fuel cell company

HANS GREIMEL,
Associated Press Writer

Japan's largest mobile phone company plans to buy a large stake in a fuel cell maker to develop handsets with longer-lasting hydrogen-powered batteries that are friendly to the environment.

Tokyo-based NTT DoCoMo Inc. said it will buy a 36.5 percent stake in Aquafairy Co. through newly issued shares. Both companies are already developing a micro fuel cell recharger for DoCoMo's latest 3G FOMA handsets based on Aquafairy's hydrogen fuel cell technology. This week's announcement is likely to deepen their collaboration.

The move comes as DoCoMo and other mobile phone companies look for ways to extend talking hours and standby times as they pack new gadgets with power-hungry features like the video, Internet and digital camera capabilities found in FOMA.

Because fuel cells generate power, instead of simply storing it, by combining hydrogen and oxygen to produce electricity, the technology can overcome limitations of other batteries, such as the presence of hazardous metals or chemicals.

The arrival of fuel cells would eliminate the need for lithium ion batteries, which have been the subject of recalls by laptop makers Dell Inc. and Apple Computer Inc. after a few fires involving improperly manufactured batteries.

Lithium ion batteries also take time to recharge. Fuel cell systems, by contrast, are recharged simply by replacing methanol fuel cartridges, the source of the hydrogen, or by refilling them with fuel.

But fuel cells must still overcome such hurdles as water diffusion, a byproduct of electricity generation, and the handling of highly flammable hydrogen before they can be commercially successful in consumer electronics.

The Aquafairy deal follows a similar project DoCoMo launched with Japanese electronics firm Fujitsu Ltd. in 2004. It was not immediately clear how this week's announcement would affect the Fujitsu partnership.

Aquafairy is an Osaka-based start up that was founded earlier this year to develop and markets micro fuel cells.

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Official calls Smith death 'suspicious'

JESSICA ROBERTSON,
Associated Press Writer

The death of Anna Nicole Smith's 20-year-old sbbn was termed "suspicious" by the coroner's office Wednesday, and a formal inquiry that could lead to criminal charges has been scheduled.

Authorities said at least one other person was in the hospital room when Daniel Wayne Smith died Sunday while visiting his mother, a reality TV star and former Playboy playmate, three days after she gave birth to a baby girl.

The person was not a member of the hospital staff, Reginald Ferguson, assistant commissioner of the Royal Bahamian Police Force, told The Associated Press. He refused to reveal the person's identity, saying he did not want to jeopardize the investigation.

Her Majesty's Coroner Linda P. Virgill scheduled the inquest for the week of Oct. 23, saying it "is the right course of action." If jurors at the inquest decide a crime took place, the case would be sent to the attorney general's office, authorities said.

"Whenever there is a suspicious death we would have an inquest to determine how the person died," Bradley Neely, chief inspector of the coroner's office, told AP Television News.

The inquest would be open to the public, Virgill said.

She said authorities believe they know what killed Smith, but were awaiting a toxicology report to confirm the findings. She declined to disclose details but said there was no sign of physical injury to Smith.

"I can confirm that there was definitely a third person in the room at the time of death and I do know who that person is," Virgill said. "But I am unwilling to reveal that information at this time for various reasons."

Police were reconstructing Smith's steps since his arrival Saturday in the Bahamas, said Reginald Ferguson, the assistant commissioner of the Royal Bahamian Police Force.

Ferguson told the AP that no drug paraphernalia or traces of illegal drugs were found on Daniel Smith, in the hospital room or near the room.

Police believe Smith went directly to Doctors Hospital in Nassau, where his mother was, after flying in to the Bahamas, Ferguson said.

Daniel Smith was the son of Anna Nicole and Bill Smith, who married in 1985 and divorced two years later. The son had small roles in her movies "Skyscraper" and "To the Limit." He also appeared several times on the E! reality series "The Anna Nicole Show."

Anna Nicole Smith married Texas oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall II in 1994, when she was 26 and he was 89. He died the following year.

She then feuded with Marshall's son, Pierce Marshall, over her entitlement to the tycoon's estate before he died in June at age 67.

Smith won a $474 million judgment, which was cut to about $89 million, and eventually reduced to zero. In May, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Smith could continue to pursue her claim in federal courts in California, despite a Texas state court ruling that Marshall's youngest son was the sole heir.

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65 bodies found in latest Iraq bloodshed

SAMEER N. YACOUB,
Associated Press Writer

Police found the bodies of 65 men who had been tortured, shot and dumped, most around Baghdad, while car bombs, mortar attacks and shootings killed at least 30 people around Iraq and injured dozens more.

Two U.S. soldiers were killed, one by an attack in restive Anbar province Monday, and the other Tuesday by a roadside bomb south of Baghdad, the U.S. military command said.

Police said 60 of the bodies were found overnight around Baghdad, with the majority dumped in predominantly Sunni Arab neighborhoods, police said. Another five were found floating down the Tigris river in Suwayrah, 25 miles south of the capital.

The bodies were bound, bore signs of torture and had been shot, said police 1st Lt. Thayer. Such killings are usually the work of death squads — both Sunni Arab and Shiite — who kidnap people and often torture them with power drills or beat them badly before shooting them.

Forty-five of the victims were discovered in predominantly Sunni Arab parts of western Baghdad, and 15 were found in mostly Shiite areas of eastern Baghdad.

In the capital, a car bomb killed at least 19 people and wounded more than 62 after it detonated in a large square used mostly as a parking lot near the main headquarters of Baghdad's traffic police department, police said. At least two of the dead were traffic police officers.

In eastern Baghdad, a bomb in a parked car exploded next to a passing Iraqi police patrol in the Zayona neighborhood, killing 8 people and wounding 17, police said. At least 3 of the dead and 7 of the wounded were police officers.

Two mortar shells landed on al-Rashad police station in southeastern Baghdad, killing a policeman and wounding two others, police said. Another two policemen were killed when two mortar rounds landed near their station in Baghdad's eastern neighborhood of Mashtal. Three others were injured.

In the former insurgent stronghold of Fallujah, 40 miles west of Baghdad, two pedestrians were killed and two others injured, apparently in the crossfire between U.S. troops and unidentified gunmen in the city's main market, police said.

Baghdad has been the focus of most of Iraq's violence, and thousands of U.S. and Iraqi forces are taking part in a security crackdown. An average of 51 people a day died violently last month in the capital, according to the Iraqi Health Ministry.

Some lawmakers squabbled over a resolution demanding a timetable for a U.S. troop withdrawal, and others failed to resolve a deadlock over a Shiite-sponsored bill that Sunni Arabs fear will carve up the country.

A group of lawmakers tried to capitalize Tuesday on the unpopularity of U.S. troops among many Shiite and Sunni legislators, seeking approval of a resolution setting a timetable for the withdrawal of all foreign troops, which the Shiite-dominated government has so far refused to do.

Sponsored by supporters of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and some Sunni Arabs, the resolution managed to gather 104 signatures in the 275-member parliament before it was effectively shelved by being sent to a committee for review.

No headway was made on parliament's most contentious issue since it reconvened last week from summer recess — legislation that will set in place the mechanism for establishing autonomous regions as part of a federal Iraq.

Sunni Arabs have said the bill could split the country into three distinct sectarian and ethnic cantons and have vehemently opposed it.

Although federalism is part of Iraq's new constitution, and there is already an autonomous Kurdish region in the north, special legislation and a referendum would be needed to turn Iraq into a full federation.

Parliament's biggest political bloc, the Shiite United Iraqi Alliance submitted the bill last week. It would be the first step toward creating a separate autonomous state in the predominantly Shiite south, much like the zone run by Kurds in the north.

Objections from Sunni Arabs and an apparent split among Shiites led leaders to delay the debate until Sept. 19.

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Italy and Libya accused of abuse

David Willey

BBC News, Rome

Italy and Libya have been accused of abusing the human rights of African migrants trying to enter the EU.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) group says Libyan and Italian authorities have forcibly repatriated thousands of foreigners.

Some of those faced possible persecution or torture in their home countries, HRW says in a new report.

The group says the Italian deportations took place under former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

The detailed 135-page report documents how the Libyan authorities forcibly repatriated about 145,000 foreigners between 2003 and 2005.

Many of them were submitted to beatings and arbitrary arrest.

Those forcibly returned to Eritrea or Somalia faced possible persecution or torture, Human Rights Watch said.

'Mass deportations'

Bill Frelick, the Director of Refugee Policy for Human Rights Watch, said Libya is not a safe country for migrants, asylum seekers or refugees.

He accused the European Union of working with Libya to block people from reaching Europe rather than helping them to get the protection they need.

There is no asylum law in Libya, a country of just over five million people, which has more than a million foreigners living in the country without proper documentation.

Human Rights Watch castigated Italy also for flouting international law by carrying out mass deportations of refugees who did manage to cross the Mediterranean in small boats to the Italian island of Lampedusa near Sicily.

More than 2,800 mainly African refugees were shipped or flown back to Libya during the former government of Mr Berlusconi without being allowed to file asylum claims.

The Italian authorities refused permission for officials of the NGO to visit the detention centre on Lampedusa, where eyewitnesses have reported overcrowding and physical abuse by guards.

But Human Rights Watch said the new Italian government, led by Romano Prodi, has now halted collective expulsions and recognises that Libya is not a safe place for migrants to be returned.

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