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Pakistan says Taliban peace deal will end

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, May 7 (UPI) -- Pakistani government officials Thursday said they would scrap a peace deal with the Taliban and undertake a more aggressive operation against the militants.

The military announced it would begin a major offensive in the Swat Valley, site of the faltering deal between the Pakistani military and Taliban leaders, CNN reported. The agreement with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari in April allowed the Taliban to impose strict Islamic law, or Shariah, in the northwestern region in exchange for an end to fighting.

Between 12,000 and 15,000 Pakistani troops are in Swat, the official said, adding that more troops will be deployed to the Swat, Dir and Buner districts.

The Pakistani military used helicopters and fighter jets to bomb Taliban positions in Swat Thursday, striking training and communications centers in Gath Peochar, as well as installations in the Qambar area, where military leaders said militant commander Shah Duran operates, CNN reported.

A son of a pro-Taliban cleric who negotiated the controversial deal in Swat Valley was killed Thursday morning, Pakistani and Taliban officials said. Kafayatullah, son of Islamic fundamentalist leader Sufi Muhammed, died when mortar shells from Pakistani security forces hit a home in the Lower Dir district of Pakistan's North West Frontier province. The two officials told CNN the son was not a militant nor part of the Taliban movement.

The government initiated its offensive in late April after the Taliban moved into the Buner district and refused to disarm, violating the agreement, CNN said.

Government officials said about 40,000 people have fled the region and as many as 500,000 may be forced to evacuate eventually, The New York Times reported.

Obama: Rethinking 121 programs yields $17B

WASHINGTON, May 7 (UPI) -- U.S. taxpayers would save nearly $17 billion in the next year if 121 programs are reduced or eliminated, U.S. President Obama said Thursday.

"Some programs may have made sense in the past -- but are no longer needed in the present," Obama said in outlining the proposed reductions in spending. "Other programs never made any sense -- the end result of a special interest's successful lobbying campaign. Still other programs perform functions that can be conducted more efficiently."

He said $35 million a year would be saved by cutting a long-range radio navigation system, "which once made a lot of sense" but now is obsolete.

Another program, the National Institute for Literacy, used about half of its federal allocation for overhead, Obama said when recommending that the program's $6 million be cut.

He also recommended closing an office maintained by the Department of Education in Paris, which "costs hundreds of thousands of dollars to employ one person as a representative to ... UNESCO," he said.

Defense spending would be trimmed as well, Obama said, "by eliminating unnecessary defense programs that do nothing to keep us safe -- but ... prevent us from spending money on what does keep us safe."

The total savings would be "more than enough" to pay for a $2,500 tuition tax credit and a larger Pell Grant award, with enough funds left over "to pay for everything we do to protect the national parks," Obama said.

Responding to critics who said the proposed cuts represent only a minuscule portion of the $3.4 trillion budget for fiscal year 2010, Obama said, "(Outside) of Washington, that's still a lot of money."

Obama said he called on Congress to restore the "pay as you go" rule, which states new spending must be balanced with budget cuts or new revenue.

Obama said the $17 billion in proposed savings would be in addition to savings Obama called for in February, including proposed reductions in a Medicare program and limits on deductions wealthy taxpayers can claim. The $17 billion also is separate from $100 million in savings Obama outlined in April, when he directed his Cabinet to find new departmental reductions.

Poll: U.S. split over flu media coverage

PRINCETON, N.J., May 7 (UPI) -- U.S. residents split over H1N1 flu news reporting, with nearly equal numbers indicating media exaggerated the dangers or got it right, a Gallup poll indicates.

Forty-five percent of poll respondents said they thought the news media exaggerated the dangers of the virus, formerly known as swine flu, while 46 percent said coverage was appropriate, results of the Gallup/USA Today poll released Thursday indicated. Six percent said media didn't take the danger seriously enough.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta reported 642 lab-confirmed H1N1 flu cases, including two deaths, in the United States. Worldwide, more than 2,000 cases and 44 deaths have been confirmed.

Most U.S. residents do not see H1N1 flu as something likely to affect them or their families, said Gallup, based in Princeton, N.J. Only 20 percent say it is very or somewhat likely that they or someone in their family would contract the virus, while 79 percent said it was not too likely or not likely at all.

While H1N1 so far hasn't produced consequences health officials feared initially, the World Health Organization, based in Geneva, Switzerland, and other experts warn it may return in a more virulent form when the flu season begins in the fall. Asked if they would get a vaccine if one were developed, 46 percent of respondents said yes while 52 percent said no.

Results are based on telephone interviews with 1,012 adults conducted Tuesday. The margin of error is 3 percentage points.

2 killed in Indian parliamentary elections

EROALI, India, May 7 (UPI) -- At least two people were killed Thursday as Indians voted in the fourth stage of a marathon parliamentary election to choose a new government, officials said.

A Communist Party of India (Marxist) worker was killed when unidentified people threw bombs at him after he voted in West Bengal's Murshidabad district, police said.

Poor farmers in Communist-ruled West Bengal are angry at the party over its policy of seizing land for industry, the Press Trust of India said.

How the party performs in West Bengal will likely determine how much influence it has over the next government and, by extension, over the nation's economic and foreign policy, The New York Times said.

A second person was killed when paramilitary recruits opened fire to prevent a mob from capturing a voting booth in Rajasthan's Sawai Madhopur district, police in Jaipur said.

More than 94 million people are eligible to cast ballots in the fourth stage of parliamentary voting, carried out over a month so police can provide security across the nation of 1.2 billion.

The Indian National Congress, the single largest party in Parliament's lower house, or Lok Sabha, is believed to have a slight edge over the Hindu center-right opposition Bharatiya Janata Party.

India's government is modeled after Britain's Westminster system.

U.S. ship violated sea laws, China says

BEIJING, May 7 (UPI) -- A U.S. surveillance ship confronted by Chinese fishing vessels in the Yellow Sea violated international and Chinese laws, China's Foreign Ministry said.

The Pentagon said the Victorious was on routine operations in international waters when it was confronted by two vessels Friday about 68 miles off the China coast, forcing the U.S. ship's crew to sound the alarm and use fire hoses to prevent the Chinese boats from advancing.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu disagreed, saying the ship "conducted activities in China's exclusive economic zone in the Yellow Sea without China's permission," China Daily reported Thursday.

"China has expressed concern over this issue," the spokesman said.

China handles foreign vessels' activities in its exclusive economic zones in accordance with the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea and relevant domestic laws, Ma said.

"We demand that the U.S. take effective measures to prevent similar acts from happening," he said.

In Washington, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said defense officials were "exploring ways to handle this diplomatically." He said the boats withdrew after a Chinese military ship responded to a U.S. call for assistance.

Winds, temps, humidity whip Calif. fire

SANTA BARBARA, Calif., May 7 (UPI) -- A wind-fed wildfire raged in Santa Barbara County, Calif., Thursday, forcing 13,000 residents to flee and destroying at least 20 homes, fire officials said.

Wildfires also burned in Arizona near the Mexican border, injuring one person and destroying three homes, officials said.

The Santa Barbara fire, fueled by high temperatures and low humidity, engulfed mansions in foothills of the tony coastal community, CNN reported. The blase has destroyed about 200 homes since it erupted Tuesday.

Eight firefighters were injured, emergency officials said.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency in Santa Barbara County.

"The fire is moving very, very rapidly," Santa Barbara County Fire Capt. David Sadecki said Wednesday. "This is an uncontrolled wildfire."

Winds were calm Wednesday but then kicked up, dashing firefighters' hopes of bringing the wildfire under control, Sadecki told CNN. In addition, temperatures reached 102 degrees and humidity was low, helping the blaze strengthen.

The high winds grounded firefighting helicopters used to dump water on the flames, officials said.

In Arizona, the National Forest Service reported fire scorched about 4,000 acres near Sierra Vista, destroying three homes and sending one resident to the hospital with third-degree burns, CNN said.

Three smaller fires in the area were largely or fully contained, fire officials said.