Chavez welcomes Ahmadinejad in Venezuela

(CNN) -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad received a warm reception Wednesday from Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, wrapping up a three-nation visit to Latin America to shore up support against the United States.
Ahmadinejad arrived Tuesday night on a flight from Bolivia, where he spent a few hours meeting with President Evo Morales. The Iranian leader met Monday with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
On Wednesday afternoon, Chavez gave Ahmadinejad a warm welcome with full military honors. Wearing a dark suit with a blue shirt and red tie, Chavez stood at attention in front of Palacio de Miraflores as a military band played the national anthems for both countries.
The two men then reviewed the presidential honor guard, clad in bright red uniforms with gold piping and tall black hats with a red plume on top.
"We are here to welcome you, brother Ahmadinejad. Leader. Brother. Comrade," Chavez said. In return, called Chavez "my valiant brother." "A brother," he said, "who is resisting like a mountain the intentions of imperialism and colonialism." Afterward, the two men shook hands and hugged.
Ahmadinejad was met with demonstrations in Brazil on Monday and again Wednesday in . He has already visited Gambia, on the African continent, on this trip and will stop in Senegal on his way back to Iran. The Iranian president hopes to strengthen economic ties with the five countries. But more significantly, he aims to bolster political ties with sympathetic governments as he tries to counter U.S. and European efforts to curtail Iran's nuclear ambitions.
Ahmadinejad also wants to improve Iran's image after the brutal repression of demonstrators who objected to the outcome of the presidential election in June. Ahmadinejad was re-elected, but many Iranians believe the election was rigged.
In Venezuela, the two leaders were expected to discuss agreements in areas such as energy, investment, trade and science. Experts from the two countries were reported to be reviewing 70 new accords.
Chavez is among Ahmadinejad's top supporters in Latin America, both leaders finding common ground in their opposition to U.S. foreign policy. Both men referred to "imperialism" several times in their statements Wednesday.
With its burgeoning nuclear program, Iran is interested in largely untapped uranium deposits in Venezuela, Brazil and Bolivia, the three nations Ahmadinejad visited this week.
Iran's alliance with Venezuela presents a challenge for U.S. national interests.
Manhattan District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau, in a September column in the Wall Street Journal, said that "Mr. Ahmadinejad and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez have created a cozy financial, political and military partnership rooted in a shared anti-American animus."
During a visit to Iran that month, Chavez highlighted a series of joint ventures, including the construction of ethanol plants in Venezuela and gas exploration in Iran by Venezuela's state-run oil company. He also said he aimed to build a "nuclear village" with Iranian help.
In October, Chavez said Iran was helping to find uranium in Venezuela.
The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace estimated in December that Venezuela could have 50,000 tons of unmined uranium. Brazil also has a nuclear program and is said to sit on one of the world's largest uranium reserves. while some analysts believe Chavez could want to eventually export uranium to Iran, it might not be technically feasible.
"It's like everything Chavez does," said Robert Pastor, who was a national security adviser to President Jimmy Carter in the late 1970s. "It's more symbolic than real." Brazil also is not likely to export uranium to Iran, said Bernard Aronson, assistant secretary of state for inter-American affairs from 1989 to 1993. "That would be a bridge too far," he said. "It would be too high a cost."

Three U.S. Navy SEALs face criminal charges

-- Three U.S. Navy SEALs face criminal charges after the alleged mastermind of one of the most notorious crimes against Americans in Iraq accused them of punching him after his capture, the military said Wednesday.
Ahmed Hashim Abed -- thought to be behind the slayings and mutilation of four U.S. contractors in Falluja in 2004 and captured in summer -- made the accusations against the three servicemen, said Lt. Col. Holly Silkman, a spokeswoman for U.S. Central Command.
A civilian lawyer for one of three SEALs said his client and the other SEALs declined a nonjudicial resolution to the case, a step sometimes called a "captain's mast." The servicemen say they did not harm the detainee in any way and they want their names cleared in a court-martial so they can continue their careers in the Navy, said the attorney, Neil Puckett.
Because the charges against Petty Officer 2nd Class Matthew McCabe, Petty Officer Jonathan Keefe and Petty Officer Julio Heurtas are the military equivalent of misdemeanors, they will go before a special court-martial, which is for less serious offenses than those heard in a general court-martial. If found guilty, they could be sentenced to a maximum of a year in a military prison, demotion to the lowest Navy rank, a cut in pay and a bad conduct discharge.
But if found innocent of all charges, they would be able to continue their careers with no record of the case in their personnel files.
The three are with their unit in Norfolk, Virginia. They will make an initial appearance before a military judge on December 7. The court-martial is scheduled to begin in January.
The attorney said he expects the SEALs will not waive their constitutional right to confront the accuser in court, which could cause a logistical challenge. Abed is believed to be in a U.S. military detention center overseas, and it is unclear if the military would want him brought to the United States for the court-martial.
The four contractors, one of whom was a former Navy SEAL, were working for the company when they were attacked in Falluja in 2004. After they were killed with hand grenades and rifles, their bodies were set on fire and dragged through the streets. The bodies of two of them were hung from a bridge in Falluja, an image that was broadcast around the world.
Four days after the attack, the U.S. Marines launched a major offensive inside Falluja, in part to help find the killers

The Philippines

The Philippines this year has been the world's most dangerous country for journalists, an official of the advocacy group the Committee to Protect Journalists told CNN's "Amanpour" program Wednesday.
The killing of at least 18 reporters in a massacre that claimed the lives of almost 60 people this week means the Philippines is now even more hazardous than Iraq for journalists, said Bob Dietz, CPJ Asia Program coordinator
The massacre in the Philippines is the single worst mass killing of journalists in history, according to the CPJ.
The reporters were part of a group of more than 50 unarmed civilians traveling to register a candidate in an upcoming gubernatorial election in the southern province of Maguindanao.
Authorities in the philipins have now declared a state of emergency in the south of the country and disbanded a government-backed militia suspected of having a role in Monday's massacre. The militia is linked to a powerful clan leader who has ties with President . President Arroyo's spokesman said Wednesday that Arroyo expects arrests "in the next 24 hours." The spokesman said the president is "enraged by these barbaric acts" and has thrown the full force of the law behind the investigation.
A leading journalist in the Philippines, Maria Ressa, told CNN's Christiane Amanpour that the massacre was a very brazen act that has shocked the country. But violence against journalists is nothing new.
."So far, in the last eight years, out of 74 journalists who have been killed, only four cases have found resolution," she added.
"Journalists are starting to come together to try to push for justice in this situation, but so far justice is very slow. They are doing their best to do their jobs, to hold both the public and the private sector accountable in as safe a manner as possible."
Ressa, a former CNN Jakarta Bureau Chief and now managing editor of ABS-CBN in Manila, said attacks on reporters come from many directions, even the government.
"You've got journalists caught in local conflicts. This one is political, election-related violence. You've got clan wars. You've also got the conflict between the insurgents," she said.
But she noted that the rebels in the Mindanao area of the Philippines often change sides and there is also widespread corruption in the police force.
"You have the police, the Philippine National Police, who by day are with the government, but at night they'll take off their hats and then they'll join the private armies of some of these warlords. And that's the difficulty," Ressa said.
She added that there is a culture of impunity in the Philippines, and journalists there have to develop a "sixth sense" to operate in areas where law and order is weak, so they can tell where the danger is coming from even as they continue trying to tell the story of the people who live in those areas.
Her sentiments were echoed by another journalist who works in an extremely violent country, Somalia. Mustafa Haji Abdinur, who is one of the few independent journalists still in Somalia. He said there is a culture of fear. But he added it is a reporter's job to see what's happening and to get the news.
Abdinur, who this week received a top award from the Committee to Protect Journalists, said six journalists have been killed in Somalia this year, including a friend who was gunned down only a few yards from where he was working.
When Amanpour asked Abdinur if he was afraid to go back to Somalia after the awards ceremony Tuesday night, he said, "There's constant fear. But what I'm going back with is courage

A year on, cold beer is flowing again at the popular Leopold Cafe

-- A year on, cold beer is flowing again at the popular Leopold Cafe. Lovers stroll the arc of Marine Drive, taking in the sultry sulfuric air of the Arabian Sea. And the main train terminus is as busy as it appeared in "Slumdog Millionaire."Mumbai is as it was -- bursting with life at every seam. But a year on, Mumbaikers put life on pause to remember the five days when their city was paralyzed, when India's biggest metropolis and financial hub came under siege.
Ten gunmen arrived here with their weapons blazing to "wage war on India," as the government would later charge the sole surviving suspect. We will not forget" --wrote students on a wall
More than 160 people perished in the series of coordinated attacks -- at Chhatrapati Shivaji Station, the Leopold Cafe, a hospital, a Jewish center and luxury hotels. And an eternal scar was etched on Mumbai's soul. The reign of terror stretched to 60 long hours, the brutality broadcast around the world through Thursday, survivors remembered the horror they endured. They saluted their heroes -- the police chiefs and security personnel who battled the terrorists -- and mourned their fallen citizens. "26/11" was how it came to be known. "We will not forget," wrote students on a wall, stamping the cold concrete with crimson handprints.
Near the Leopold, someone hung a billboard on a residential building with a enormous photo of a noose. "Hang Kesab," it read, referring to Ajmal Amir Kasab, the only suspected gunman who survived to face a death penalty trial.
Just after sunrise, Mumbai police embarked on a flag march in the heart of the city. State government officials paid homage at the Oberoi-Trident, one of the hotels attacked a year ago. They unveiled a plaque in remembrance of those who died. Rows of white candles flickered in broad daylight. The night before, Mumbaikers kept vigil in darkness with candles in front of the harbor-front Taj Mahal Palace and Tower Hotel, a beloved landmark still smeared by scaffolding. Five international designers are working to restore the splendor of the heavily damaged British Raj-era building. At Mumbai's Jewish cultural center, Chabad House, rabbis roamed through rooms where pinging bullets made Swiss cheese of the walls.
Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar remarked that Mumbai never stops. It's a city that keeps moving on. Just as New York City did after the terrorist attacks in 2001.
But Thursday, with memories as vivid as bullet holes at Chabad House, Mumbaikers did stop to reflect

A search was under way Thursday for a helicopter belonging to a military contractor

A search was under way Thursday for a helicopter belonging to a military contractor, NATO officials said.The helicopter for Supreme Global Service Solutions went missing Tuesday, said Lt. Col. Todd Vician, a spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force.
He did not say how many people were aboard or in what region of the country ISAF was looking for the chopper. However, the governor of Logar province in eastern Afghastan said the search's focus has been the Khar Pech district. Governor Halim Fedia said he did not have any further information. An official with Supreme Global also could not offer additional details.
Authorities did not receive a distress signal from the chopper, Vician said. "We are using reconnaissance assets to find it. We can't go into more than that. We don't provide detail on ongoing operations," he said. Supreme Global, based in the Netherlands, provides food supplies for military and multinational forces.

Profile: Mohammad Ajmal Amir Qasab

Little is known of Mohammed Ajmal Amir Qasab's background
The image of Mohammad Ajmal Amir Qasab clutching his gun at Mumbai railway station last year became a symbol of the attacks that horrified the world.
Prosecutors say the 21-year-old is the only surviving member of the group that launched a bloody rampage across the Indian city in November 2008, killing at least 166 people.
In the immediate aftermath of the attacks, security forces struggled to collect information about the young man.
Only after several months did Pakistan admit that he was their citizen, from the province of Punjab.
More specific details are hard to pin down. Indian officials originally portrayed him as a middle-class boy who spoke good English.
But subsequent reports suggested he came from a remote village called Faridkot, where his father sold food.
He had received little education, the reports said, and had spent his youth alternating between labouring and petty crime.
In an interview with Pakistani media, a resident of Faridkot identified Mr Qasab as his son. He said that he had left home four years before the attacks.
"He had asked me for new clothes on Eid [the Muslim festival] that I couldn't provide him. He got angry and left," Dawn newspaper quoted the man as saying.
'Dark figures'
At some point, India says, Mr Qasab came under the influence of the Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group. After training in one of several remote camps, they say, he was hand-picked for the Mumbai operation.
India says there is little doubt that he was involved in the attacks. Mr Qasab was captured after a shoot-out with police
He was captured on camera at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, a slight figure in combat trousers and a blue sweatshirt, clutching an assault rifle.
He "walked as if no-one can touch him", a photographer who took the picture of him told the court in June.
"Initially I saw two dark figures. They fired towards the ticket window. When they opened fire towards us it confirmed they were terrorists," Sebastian D'Souza said.
Captured after a shoot-out with police, Mr Qasab was interrogated and then charged with 86 offences including murder and waging war on India.
Wept
Prosecutors said he had confessed - but his lawyers then said his statement had been coerced, and it was retracted.
His trial began in March and in the early days, correspondents say, he appeared relaxed. He smiled periodically and occasionally joked with officials.
His defence had attempted to argue that he was under 18 and so a minor. Asked in May to confirm his age, he provoked laughter by stating that if prosecutors had believed him then he would not now be in court.
Later his demeanour grew more serious, even erratic.
When a 10-year-old girl injured in the attacks identified him in court, witnesses said he looked grave. When Mr D'Souza testified in June, the young man put his head down and wept.
Court officials on all sides were said to be taken aback by his decision - after several months in court - to plead guilty.
And questions remain over why Mr Qasab confessed after so many months of defiance.

Excerpts from Mumbai suspect's confession

Mohammad Ajmal Amir Qasab has given a detailed confession of events leading up to the attacks on various targets in Mumbai in November 2008 that killed nearly 170 people. Here are excerpts of his confession provided by the BBC's Prachi Pinglay who was in court:
Mohammed Ajmal Amir Qasab opened fire on commuters, it is alleged
"In CST [railway station], Abu Ismail and I started firing at the public there with our AK-47 rifles. Ismail was throwing grenades also. I was firing. We went ahead towards the hall. The police caught up with us at the time and started firing at us. We retaliated. Ismail took position behind the trains which were parked. I took position behind him. I fired at the police."
They then leave the station and enter Cama hospital.
"We went up the staircase to the first floor. Ismail went in first and gestured to me to come after him. Ismail told me: "Let's hide here". All the doors were locked there. On the fifth floor, we saw a door ajar. We went inside the ward and met four people there. Those people have come to court… We went to the terrace. Ismail told them to lie down first with their hands on the back. While three agreed, the fourth didn't [referring to Harshvardhan Shrivardhankar, who was an important witness at the trial]. Ismail told me to lock them up in the bathroom. I told them not to create any commotion." Then he moves on to talk about the first brush with police. Police officer Sadanand Date's evidence matches this account. "Meanwhile, the person who we asked said that we have to go back the same way. We asked him to walk ahead of us. The witness indicated that there is police ahead of us. As soon as he got down, we saw the police. We ran back to the terrace. Ismail was near the terrace. He started firing immediately. He directed me to keep watch on the terrace. "We then ran downstairs. Someone fired at me. I fired back. Ismail first went ahead to check if the coast was clear. He then gestured that I should step out of the compound."As they step out, a police vehicle with three senior police officers comes towards them. In this encounter, three of them died and Qasab sustained injuries.
"We could then see the headlights of another vehicle. We hid behind the bushes there. As soon as the vehicle came, there was firing from it. Ismail also fired. I sustained injury on right forearm, right elbow and left wrist [pointing to his scars]. I fell down. The firing, however, continued.
I was surrounded by police. One snatched my gun, the others started punching me on my abdomen... I then lost consciousness and woke up only in the hospital
"Ismail then proceeded towards the vehicle. While checking the vehicle, he fired once. I had gained consciousness by then. I held my gun on the right arm and opened the car door. I removed two bodies. I don't know how many bodies Ismail removed from his end. Ismail sat on the driver's seat while I sat on the seat next to him."
He then describes how they hijacked a Skoda after the police vehicle's wheel was punctured. As they sped along they saw police barriers.
"Soon, we saw some police barriers. The white car passed, but police asked us to stop. One policeman came right in front of the car. Abu got confused and tried to take a U-turn. Suddenly the wipers also started. The police came and opened the door. They took hold of my collar. I was surrounded by police. One snatched my gun, the others started punching me on my abdomen. They continued to assault me. I then lost consciousness and woke up only in the hospital."
The judge asked if he fired any bullets, and Qasab replied: "I didn't fire since I didn't have the gun with me." We described how they came to Mumbai. "We were 10 of us. We were put on a small boat in Karachi. Four people - Abu Hamza, Abu Kafa and Abu Jhundal and Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi - sent us off. I installed the battery of the bomb in the bathroom. It has my name on it. This detail is not there in the charge sheet "Abu Ismail was our Amir [boss]. The others are Abu Umar, Abu Akasha alias Babar Imran, Abu Umer alias Nazir, Abu Shoaib, Abu Ali alias Javed, Abdul Rehman Chota, Abdul Rehman Bada, Hafiz Arshad, and Abu Fadalluh (whose fingers are cut)." From Karachi they took a small boat. Then they were transferred to bigger boat called al-Hussaini. Then took another boat, the MV Kuber hijacked off Gujarat coast. Four people on the Kuber were killed and a fifth, Solanki, was kept alive for navigation. He was killed as they reached Indian shore. "We filled in the 10 bags and shifted them in the inflatable boat. The bomb produced in court was also shifted. Each bag has AK-47 rifle, pistol, eight hand grenades, three sets of magazines. Abu Ali and Abdul Rehman Bada took a bag with loose AK-47 cartridges. One Nokia mobile handset was given to each group. There were three big grenades, two small, three black hand grenades (china made). "Once we sat down, the rope which was holding the inflatable dingy was cut. When we reached near the shore, the GPS was broken and thrown in the water. There were five GPS sets in all. However, I left ours in the boat.
"We reached the shore. We were told to make a phone call... by Abu Hamza. I asked Ismail how we would reach Pakistan. Ismail said I should not worry.
"We got into a taxi after some time. Hamza had told us to keep a bomb in the taxi. I sat on the front seat, while Ismail sat on the back. I kept my bag, containing a bomb in the rear seat. Ismail also had a bomb. "We got off at CST after which Ismail paid the taxi driver. I had a bomb with me. We entered the gate of CST and went to the side of the bathroom. I took my bag with me and went inside the urinal. I installed the battery of the bomb in the bathroom. It has my name on it. This detail is not there in the charge sheet…
"As per directions of Kafa, I kept my gun ready while Ismail threw grenades. Kafa told us to get into the next hall after that.
In the last session he described how he joined the Mujahideens and underwent training.
"Last year, during Bakr-Id, I was working as a decorator in Jhelum city. But I was unhappy with the meagre amount that I would make.
I was told here that I was going for a "big training" and I was taught exercises, operations weapons like AK-47, guns and pistols
"My friend Muzaffar suggested that for better money, we should get into robbery and dacoity [armed robbery]. I left the decorator's job and went to Rawalpindi with Muzaffar and took a room on rent. We decided to commit dacoity at a bungalow, as Muzaffar told me his friend knows details about its owner.
"As he went to his village to gather more details, I was roaming alone at Rawalpindi's Raza market. I saw some Mujahideens - long beard, long hair - buying animal skins there."
From here on he describes in detail different places he visited and the different levels of training he received. He starts from the office in the market.
"We went there and knocked the door. A man opened it and asked me what had I come for. I told him we had come for Jihad, so he let us in. One person asked me my name, address and asked me to return next morning with extra clothes.
"We returned with our baggage and we were given a chit on which was written the address - Marqaz Tayyeba, Muridke. The chit was given to a third person and he was given money, and the three of us were told to board a Lahore-bound bus to reach Muridke.
Twenty-one days later he was sent to Mansera with a chit saying Marqas-e-Aqsa. Then he was taken to Battal jungle for further training. After this he did not see his friend, Muzaffar.
"I was told here that I was going for a "big training" and I was taught exercises, operations weapons like AK-47, guns and pistols. After the training, I would cook food and do other daily work as over three months went by.
"Abu Abdul Rehman asked him to get identity card from my native Okhada district. I was asked to go to Muzaffarabad and asked to visit Saeed bhai's office. He told them that he was there for Daura-E-Khaas and filled a form in Urdu with all details.
"… Abu Maaviya was our trainer and trained me for three months in operating rocket launchers, grenades, AK-47s and other sophisticated weapons.
He spent a week at home and returned to Saeed bhai's office. Later Saeed bhai, Abu Kafa and Abu Hamza came there and selected 15 of them. Abu Kahfa was with them for the longest part of training.
"Of the 15 of us, two had run away, while six were sent to Kashmir. So seven of us were left, to which three other boys were added, making us 10 in all - five pairs… sent to Mumbai.
On two occasions, Hamza showed Ismail and Qasab movies and pictures of CST station on his laptop. "Two days later, we were given trousers and T-shirts, and our photographs were taken and our fake identity cards were made for the mission."
They stayed there for another 90 days. They were also trained to use the inflatable dinghy (boat).We were given arms and ammunition to keep in our bags. This ammunition was transported to Al-Hussaini before we were taken to it. Kafa took us to the Karachi shore where Al-Hussaini was anchored."