UPI NewsTrack TopNews

Al-Qaida in Iraq sends low-key message

BAGHDAD, Nov. 9 (UPI) -- Al-Qaida in Iraq sent what appeared to be a low-key message to U.S. President-elect Barack Obama.

The videotape, released on Jihadist Web sites, claims to be from Abu Umar al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq, the BBC reported. U.S. military spokesmen said Friday that Baghdadi is an actor who serves as a front for the group.

On the tape, Baghdadi calls on the United States and its allies to withdraw from Afghanistan and Iraq and to release Muslim prisoners. But he also pledges to keep supplying oil if the United States achieves "impartiality."

"We promise that we will not stop the trading of oil or other commodities with you, provided that justice is achieved," the message said.

In 2004, Osama bin Laden released a videotape before the U.S. election denouncing President George W. Bush. This time, the group kept quiet, raising fears that its message might come in the form of a terrorist attack.

Haiti school owner arrested, jailed

PETIONVILLE, Haiti, Nov. 9 (UPI) -- The owner of a Haitian school that collapsed, killing at least 84 people, has been arrested and jailed, officials said.

Clergyman Fortin Augustin was being held at a police station in Port-au-Prince after being arrested late Saturday and charged with involuntary manslaughter, a police spokesman told the Miami Herald.

The arrest came as United Nations and Haitian rescue workers sifted through the crushed concrete of the College La Promesse Evangelique school with their bare hands, searching for survivors of Friday's collapse. In addition to the 84 confirmed dead, more than 150 were injured and hundreds others were still missing.

U.S. search-and-rescue experts arrived in Haiti Saturday and took over removal of large pieces of concrete from the collapsed building, a task requiring precise control. Firefighters from Fairfax County, Va., joined local emergency workers and others from Martinique, the newspaper reported.

As part of the rescue effort, Haitian volunteers formed a human chain moving water and juice into a Red Cross triage center while others carried rescue equipment down a steep hill into the site, the Herald said.

U.S.: 37 Afghan civilians died in fighting

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Nov. 9 (UPI) -- Thirty-seven Afghan civilians died during fighting last week between U.S. forces and Taliban militants near Kandahar, officials acknowledged.

U.S. and Afghan officials, after conducting a joint investigation, also revealed 35 civilians were wounded in the village of Wech Bagtu outside the city of Kandahar, the Los Angeles Times reported Sunday.

The admission of civilian deaths so soon after a reported incident is new for U.S. military officials in Afghanistan, who in the past have initially denied such incidents and frequently took weeks to investigate them, infuriating Afghan residents, the newspaper said.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has said the Western military intervention is losing public support because of civilian deaths from airstrikes. Last week, he used the opportunity of congratulating U.S. President-elect Barack Obama on his victory to plead for an end to airstrikes in civilian areas.

Afghan officials said the civilians died when U.S. missiles hit a wedding party, but investigators did not specifically verify that claim, saying U.S.-led coalition forces used "close air support to suppress enemy fire."

The investigation found Taliban militants used villagers as cover to attack coalition troops, the Times said.

Fatah-Hamas negotiations postponed

CAIRO, Nov. 9 (UPI) -- Talks aimed at a political reconciliation between Palestinian Arab factions Fatah and Hamas have been postponed in Cairo, participants said.

Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, and Fatah, which leads the West Bank's Palestinian Authority, couldn't agree on the status of Hamas prisoners held by Fatah, and so the Egyptian-sponsored talks, set to begin Monday, have been put on hold, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Hamas official Ahmed Youssef confirmed to the Times that the two sides had reached a stalemate over the prisoner release. Hamas is demanding the release of Palestinian Parliament head Aziz Dweik, whom Hamas is likely to declare to be the legitimate leader of the Palestinian Authority.

The move would be a challenge to the legitimacy of PA President Mahmoud Abbas, whose term is set to expire in January, the newspaper said.

Meanwhile, Abbas and Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni met Sunday in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheik to brief members of "the Quartet" -- the United Nations, the United States, Russia and the European Union -- on the status of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, Ynetnews.com reported.