Vast search under way for Air France jet
RIO DE JANEIRO, June 1 (UPI) -- French and Brazilian military aircraft and ships searched the Atlantic Ocean Monday for wreckage of a missing Air France jetliner with 228 people on board.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said chances of finding survivors from the missing Air France jetliner with 216 passengers and 12 crew aboard were "very low," CNN reported.
"This is a catastrophe the likes of which Air France has never seen before," Sarkozy told reporters at Paris' Charles de Gaulle International Airport, where he had met with relatives of the missing aboard the flight from Rio de Janeiro. "I said the truth to them: the prospects of finding survivors are very low."
Officials said the vastness of the search area and the uncertainty about the time when the Airbus 330-200 went down complicated search-and-rescue efforts, The Guardian said. Brazilian teams concentrated on an area north of Fernando de Noronha, an island about 200 miles off the Brazilian coast, while the French military combed the west Atlantic near the Cape Verde islands hundreds of miles away.
Pierre-Henri Gourgeon, Air France chief executive officer, said search teams also would focus on an area of a few dozen nautical miles roughly midway between Brazil and Africa, the British newspaper said. French officials also asked the U.S. for satellite data to help with the search.
The plane likely was the victim of a "huge catastrophe," Gourgeon said, adding that electrical problems and turbulence also were reported.
The jet had sent out a warning it had lost pressure, the Brazilian Air Force said. It lost contact with air traffic control between Galeao International Airport in Rio de Janeiro and the destination airport in Paris, Air France said.
The plane sent out an automatic signal warning of the electrical problems as it flew "far from the coast" after entering a stormy area with strong turbulence, an Air France spokeswoman said.
Air France said 61 passengers were French and 58 were Brazilians, the BBC reported. Brazilian authorities said 26 Germans were on board, along with nine Chinese, nine Italians, six Swiss, five British, five Lebanese, four Hungarians, three Irish, three Norwegians, three Slovaks, two Americans, two Moroccans and individuals from Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Demark, the Netherlands, Estonia, the Philippines, The Gambia, Iceland, Romania, Russia, South Africa, Sweden and Turkey, the BBC said.
The nationalities and other details of the 12 crew members were not available, the BBC said.
Obama: U.S. can't impose its values
WASHINGTON, June 1 (UPI) -- President Barack Obama says the United States cannot "impose" its values on other nations but there are some universal values, including democracy.
In an interview with the BBC prior to his upcoming trip to the Middle East and Europe, Obama said the rule of law, democracy and freedoms of speech and religion are universally accepted values.
"Part of what we want to affirm to the world is that these are values that are important even when it's hard, maybe especially when it's hard and not just when it's easy," he said.
Obama said the United States could set a positive example by closing the detainee center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and he said there were "obviously" human rights issues in the Middle Eastern countries.
"The danger, I think, is when the United States, or any country, thinks that we can simply impose these values on another country with a different history and a different culture," Obama said.
The president is scheduled to arrive in Saudi Arabia Wednesday and then travel Thursday to Egypt, where he is to deliver an address on relations between the United States and Middle East nations.
Obama is to commemorate the anniversary of D-Day in Europe this weekend.
Estimated 2.5M displaced in Pakistan
NEW YORK, June 1 (UPI) -- The United Nations says more than 2.5 million Pakistanis have been displaced by the offensive against Islamic militants in the northwest region.
The world body warned Monday a lack of funds could cut into services for those people, the U.N. Newswire said. The report said refugee camps are full to capacity and new arrivals "are sometimes forced to drive from site to site in search of shelter."
The International Red Cross has warned the displaced people face a dire humanitarian situation. Some reportedly fled their homes on foot without shoes and have fallen ill from exposure to heat and sun.
U.N. spokeswoman Michele Montas told reporters in New York the new refugee figure represented an increase of about 100,000 from last week's figures.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in comments to the General Assembly, stressed the need for greater support both from the international community and the Pakistani Government.
"The human suffering is immense," he said.
The United Nations and others issued an appeal May 22 for $543 million, but thus far only about one-fifth of the amount has been funded, the report said.
"If we do not get the rest of the funds, we will have to start cutting services," Ban warned.
Montas said water and sanitation conditions in the camps need immediate attention to prevent the spread of water-borne diseases.
U.S. won't recognize S. Ossetia elections
TBILISI, Georgia, June 1 (UPI) -- The United States said Monday it won't recognize the results of elections held during the weekend in the breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia.
"The United States regrets the decision to hold so-called 'elections' in the South Ossetia region of Georgia on May 31, 2009, and recognizes neither the legality nor the results," the U.S. State Department said in a statement released in Washington. "This represents a step away from a peaceful and negotiated solution to the conflict. The United States reiterates its support for Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders."
Three parties supporting Eduard Kokoity, the politician leading the effort to separate South Ossetia from Georgia, received 91 percent of the vote in the parliamentary elections held Sunday, the BBC reported.
Kokoity said the outcome legitimizes the region's attempt to gain independence, a move only Russia and Nicaragua have given their stamp of approval, the British network said.
"We will work closely together to follow the path of independence that the republic has chosen," Kokoity said. "Our republic, our statehood, have passed yet another test of maturity. Today, the situation in the republic, as you can see, is absolutely calm and stable."
Most ethnic Georgians who had lived in South Ossetia have left the region.
The Georgian government labeled the elections illegal, with Reintegration Minister Temur Iakobashvili calling them "nothing but clownery, a farce and a redistribution of criminal power."
The European Union also sided with Georgia, declaring its "firm support for sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia."
