Six killed as Italian port city floods

Six people were killed Friday when the Italian port city of Genoa was hit by flash floods during heavy rainfall, including a woman who was apparently crushed by cars being swept away by the water.
"There have been six deaths," said the local prefect, Francesco Musolino.
Hundreds of shops were flooded and emergency officials urged residents to move to high ground and upper floors as waters rose and firefighters used rubber dinghies and divers to evacuate people, officials said.
Five of the victims, including two children, died when the lobby of an apartment block in which they had sought shelter flooded.
"This was a completely unexpected tragedy," said Genoa mayor Marta Vicenzi.
Motorways in the area were also closed off and flights re-routed away from the local airport. Schools will be shut on Saturday.
"People should avoid bridges and streams and not sleep on first floors or in areas that are easily flooded," said Renata Briano, a local emergency official.
Briano said residents of the northwestern city should "stay safe and head for high ground if in danger" as well as avoid using cars unless absolutely necessary.
The head of the local Liguria region, Claudio Burlando, warned that the situation was "critical," adding: "Moving around is really dangerous."
The flooding comes after heavy rains last week killed 10 people and caused tens of millions of euros (dollars) in damage in Liguria.

British 'dead man' caught in Australia

A British man who allegedly faked his own death and made off with the life insurance payout has been arrested in Australia, police said Thursday, ending a six-year manhunt.
Hugo Jose Sanchez, 47, also known as Alfredo, was taken into Australian Federal Police custody overnight in Sydney, the force said.
Ecuadorian-born Sanchez and his wife Sophie allegedly faked his death to claim more than one million pounds in life insurance in 2005, but the plot reportedly unravelled after Sanchez's fingerprints were found on his own death certificate.
Sanchez's wife was arrested after returning to Britain for her sister's wedding last September and later sentenced to two years in jail for her role in the scheme.
The pair are not the first Britons to try such a scam -- former teacher John Darwin made international headlines after faking his disappearance in a canoe in northeast England in 2002 so his wife Anne could claim his life insurance.
Darwin turned up alive in 2007, five years after his alleged death and after the couple purchased property in Panama. They were each sentenced to six years' imprisonment in 2008.
In perhaps Britain's best-known faked death, former government minister John Stonehouse, later revealed to have been a Communist spy, left a heap of his clothes on a Miami beach in 1974.
He was discovered in Australia and arrested on Christmas Eve that year by police who ordered him to drop his pants, believing he could be another missing Briton, Lord Lucan, who had a large scar on his inner thigh.
Stonehouse was sentenced to seven years' jail but only served part of his term after suffering three heart attacks.
Sanchez made a brief court appearance Thursday and his lawyer said he would not be opposing his extradition to Britain, according to the Daily Telegraph newspaper.
He was refused bail and will return to court in a fortnight.

One-month old baby received a salary in Nigeria

A one-month old baby, said to hold a diploma, was on the Nigerian government payroll, officials have discovered, exposing the levels to which corruption runs in Africa's most populous country.
The name of the infant was recently found on the payment voucher of a local government council in northern Nigeria during an exercise to fish out ghost employees from a bloated workforce, Garba Gajam, justice commissioner for Zamfara State told AFP late Wednesday.
"In the on-going verification exercise of the payrolls ... in the state we discovered that a month-old baby was among the employees of one local government who is paid a salary," Gajam said.
"What is even more astonishing is that it was indicated in the payroll that the infant holds an ordinary national diploma," said Gajam, revealing that the discovery is a "widespread trend in the local government service where senior officials stuff payrolls with the names of their wives and children".
In August the name of a five-month-old baby was found on the payroll of another local municipality, prompting an investigation.
"And we have been receiving amazing revelations which point to the rot and abysmal level of corruption at the local government level," Gajam said.
Perpetrators will be have to refund the siphoned funds and face prosecution for misappropriating public funds.
Zamfara is one of the 12 predominantly Muslim states in northern Nigeria that adopted the sharia law which imposes amputation of a wrist for theft.
So far no-one has been tried for corruption in a sharia court in the state since the re-introduction of the penal code in 1999.
In 2001, two cattle rustlers had their right wrists amputated in separate sentences, drawing local and international outrage.

Freight train derails in Chicago suburb

A fiery derailment of a freight train near the Chicago suburb of Elgin early on Thursday knocked out commuter train service as crews scrambled to control the flames, transportation officials said.
Canadian National spokesman Patrick Waldron said crews were responding to the scene.
The fire was still burning by late morning, according to Bartlett Police Sgt. Geoffrey Pretkelis, who was at the scene. Three of 22 derailed cars caught fire. No injuries were reported..
As a result of the derailment, Chicago's commuter rail service, Metra, shut down most service on the Milwaukee West route, which runs from Elgin to downtown Chicago and serves about 11,400 passengers every weekday, said Metra spokesman Tom Miller.
Full service is not expected to be restored until at least Friday, said Miller.
Pretkelis said one of the cars that caught fire was empty, one contained scrap metal, and one contained fiberboard.
Officials said two derailed cars contained hazardous materials -- ferric sulfate in one and sodium hydroxide in another -- but they did not catch fire and nothing escaped from the cars.
"There was no concern for inhalation or a vapor cloud," said Pretkelis, who did not know what materials were in the cars. "There was no concern for the general public."
No one was evacuated. About 90 cars were removed from the scene south of the accident.
(Reporting by Mary Wisniewski, additional reporting by Barbara Goldberg; Editing by Greg McCune)

Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney hired as world banking regulator

Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney, a former investment banker, has been chosen by G20 leaders to serve as the new global watchdog on the world's financial fat cats.
The sharp-tongued 46-year-old is being handed the task, in turbulent times, of keeping the world's biggest banks from engaging in the kind of risky behaviour that ran the world's economy off the rails in 2008.
Carney will take over the chairmanship of the Financial Stability Board from Italy's Mario Draghi, who has moved on to the European Central Bank. He does so at a time when G20 leaders are giving the international board more staff and resources and greater "name and shame" powers in an effort to rein in global financial giants.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper, speaking in Cannes after the conclusion of the summit, was among the first to congratulate the central banker, whom he appointed back in 2007.
"It is the first time a Canadian has headed an international financial institution of such wide scope," he said. "His appointment is both a tribute to his personal qualities and a reflection on Canada's superior performance in monetary, fiscal and financial sector policy areas."
A spokesman for the central bank said the governor would not comment on the appointment Friday, instead released a statement quoting him as being "honoured to assume this new role."
The new position does not affect Carney's tenure at the Bank of Canada — a seven-year-term that expires in 2015.
Bank of Montreal chief executive Bill Downe called Carney "the right person at the right time."
"Governor Carney comes to the post at a time when the international financial community is seeking clarity," he said in a statement.
"There is no question that the governor is exceedingly capable and he has enormous personal credibility — both in Canada and around the globe."
Since taking control of the Canadian central bank, Carney has been a strong and consistent advocate for the need of more stringent regulations for banks, receiving international notice and mostly praise.
His 13 years as an investment banker with Goldman Sachs, working in London, New York, Tokyo and Toronto, also gives Carney an inside view of the industry he's now charged with regulating. Only the world's biggest financial institutions — none of which are Canadian — fall under the FSB's mantle.
His experience in both worlds will come in handy when Carney needs to rein in the independence of major financial institutions, especially those on Wall Street used to getting their way in Washington, said TD Bank chief economist Craig Alexander.
"Leaders of financial institutions can't go to governor Carney and say, 'You don't understand the environment in which we operate.' He does understand, so that argument won't work," Alexander explained.
Carney got a preview of what to expect in September when, according to reports, he received a tongue lashing at a closed-door meeting from JP Morgan Chase head Jamie Dimon over the new proposed regulations. According to reports, Carney held his ground.
Unruffled, the Canadian banker addressed financial players at the Institute of International Finance a couple of days later and offered no sympathy for Wall Street's complaints.
"If some institutions feel pressure today, it is because they have done too little for too long, rather than because they are being asked to do too much, too soon," he told the audience.
It's the kind of blunt, direct talk that has made Carney a darling of the international financial press and a nice fit for G20 leaders hoping to flex some muscle.
Last year, Time Magazine listed him among the world's most influential people.
It is not often Canadians are considered for top jobs at global financial institutions, but Carney appears to be an exception. Earlier this year, he appeared on a London bookmaker's list for the International Monetary Fund's top job, which eventually went to France's Christine Lagarde.
His choice as FSB chairman is seen as a geographic tradeoff between the United States and Europe.
As Carney himself put it in September, amid rumours of his possible appointment: "There are many people who think a Canadian would be suitable for the role."
Last year, Carney was named chairman to a committee on financial stability at the Bank for International Settlements, of which the FSB is a part.
— With files from Julian Beltrame

The face of pain: Queen's doctors spot screaming man in scan of tumour

They call it the face of testicular pain.
Doctors at Queen's University in Kingston, Ont., did a double take when they spotted what looks like the face of a screaming man in an ultrasound of a testicular tumour.
The startling image jumped out at them two years ago while scrolling through scans of a 45-year-old patient suffering from severe testicular pain, Dr. Naji Touma said Wednesday.
"The fact that it's a testicle to begin with, and you have that face screaming out — the face is obvious, you don't even have to do a lot of squinting or imagining to see it," he said.
"I think people find it amusing for that reason."
What was meant as an inside joke between doctors went viral after it was published in a recent issue of the journal "Urology." The journal has a monthly feature that showcases photos of interesting cases.
The image has been compared to sightings of the Virgin Mary or Jesus on toast or grilled cheese sandwiches — a similarity that hasn't escaped Touma.
"That's sort of what came to our head, how people see things in different ... either in a piece of toast or something like that," he said.
In the journal, the doctors said they debated "whether the image could have been a sign from a deity" — notably the Egyptian god of virility — but quickly dismiss it as a coincidence.
In the end, the patient decided to have the testicle removed and the tumour turned out to be benign.
Odds are he's still in the dark about the strange image in his ultrasound, Touma said.
At the time, it seemed inappropriate to tell the man, who was dealing with a potential cancer diagnosis, about the anomaly.
"It was a different situation, when you're talking to a patient and he has this sort of concern on his mind," said Touma. "We didn't really joke too much about it."
By the time the doctors decided to submit the photo for publication, the patient had stopped coming for appointments, he said.

Senior robbed at strip bar

A Windsor man is in custody and faces robbery and drug charges after a 73-year-old man was assaulted at a west-end strip bar early Thursday morning.
At 1:50 a.m. Windsor Police officers attended Studio 4 Gentlemen's Club at 1415 Huron Church Rd. for a robbery report.
Upon arrival, officers were met by the 73-year-old male victim who had a minor cut on the top of his head. The victim did not need any medical treatment.
The victim told officers he had been inside the strip club for some time during the evening and at 1:20 a.m., he went to the men's washroom. While he was inside the washroom, a younger man entered and shoved the victim, causing him to fall to the floor.
The suspect then began to kick the victim repeatedly. He then stole the victim's wallet which contained a quantity of cash and a package of cigarettes.
After robbing the victim, the suspect exited the washroom and left the bar.
Through further investigation, officers were able to identify the suspect.
At 2:05 a.m., officers observed the wanted suspect walking westbound on Giles Boulevard at Marion Street.
Officers arrested the suspect without incident and a subsequent search of his person revealed a quantity of cash, a quantity of crack cocaine and a small quantity of marijuana.
Officers also found a package of cigarettes of the same brand taken from the victim during the robbery.
An 18-year-old Windsor man is in custody facing charges of robbery, possession of a controlled substance for the purpose of trafficking and possession of a controlled substance.

Markets relieved by Greek decision to not hold referendum as US jobs figures loom

Markets edged higher Friday on relief that Greece will not hold a referendum on its latest rescue deal, which would have endangered Europe's crisis-fighting efforts, and as investors prepared for key U.S. jobs data.
The calm state of markets represents a huge contrast to the wild swings earlier this week, when George Papandreou on Monday stunned everyone by calling the referendum. His plan stoked investor fears of a disorderly Greek debt default and the country's possible exit from the eurozone.
Pressure from France and Germany, and an apparent concession from Greece's main opposition party to back the elements of last week's €130 billion ($179 billion) rescue deal, saw Papandreou shelve the referendum pledge on Thursday.
That drove markets higher, with momentum carrying into Friday, though uncertainties over Greece remain — Papandreou's government faces a confidence vote in Parliament later in the day.
"The situation in Greece continues to act as a backdrop to markets though there does seem a greater semblance of calm ahead of tonight's key confidence vote in the Greek parliament, which Papandreou could well lose, given the events of the last 48 hours," said Michael Hewson, market analyst at CMC Markets.
In Europe, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was up 0.9 per cent at 5,599 while Germany's DAX rose 0.2 per cent to 6,146. The CAC-40 in France was 0.5 per cent higher at 3,211.
Wall Street was poised for a solid opening — Dow futures were up 0.1 per cent at 11,989 while the broader Standard & Poor's 500 futures rose by the same rate to 1,257.
How the U.S. actually opens could hinge on monthly payrolls data later, which often set the market tone a week or two after their release. The consensus in the markets is that the U.S. economy added 100,000 jobs last month, just enough to keep up with population growth and stop the already high unemployment rate from rising from 9 per cent.
"Last month's data was encouragingly strong, so another good set of numbers should put more life back into markets," said Chris Beauchamp, market analyst at IG Index.
Investors will also be keeping a close watch on developments in Cannes, France where the leaders of the Group of 20 economies will discuss ways to boost the firepower of the International Monetary Fund, the institution that was set up as the lender of last resort for struggling governments after World War II.
With their own finances already stretched from bailing out Greece, Ireland and Portugal — and traditional allies like the United States wrestling with their own problems — eurozone countries are looking to the IMF to use its resources and rescue experience to help prevent the debt crisis from spreading to large economies like Italy and Spain
Earlier in Asia, stocks ended a four-day losing streak following Thursday's recovery in Europe and the U.S. Japan's Nikkei 225 index rose 1.9 per cent to close at 8,801.40. Hong Kong's Hang Seng jumped 3.1 per cent to 19,842.79. South Korea's Kospi gained 3.1 per cent to 1,928.41.
Mainland Chinese shares tracked advances in the region, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index adding 0.8 per cent to 2,528.29 while the Shenzhen Composite Index gained 0.6 per cent to 1,071.34. Benchmarks in Australia, Singapore, Taiwan, India, Indonesia and Thailand also rose.
The calmer tone in stock markets was evident elsewhere too with the euro up 0.1 per cent at $1.3840 and the dollar flat at 78.06 yen.
Oil prices tracked equities higher— benchmark crude for December delivery was up 77 cents at $94.84 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
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Israeli forces board Canadian aid ship bound for Gaza strip, communication lost

A Canadian ship trying to breach Israel's naval blockade of the Gaza Strip has been intercepted by Israeli forces.
The Tahrir and another ship, both carrying medical aid and peace activists from nine countries including Canada, had left Turkey for Gaza on Wednesday.
Israel's military says its takeover of the two protest ships was peaceful and it will now tow the vessels to the Israeli port of Ashdod.
Canadian Boat to Gaza organizer Denis Kosseim says activists lost communication with the Tahrir this morning and suspect that was when Israeli forces boarded the vessel.
Kosseim says the activists just want to "bring humanitarian aid and hope" to the people of Gaza and will keep trying to do so.
Israel has invited the activists to send aid over land and considers the boats a publicity stunt and provocation. A botched Israeli raid on a flotilla in 2010 ended with nine Turkish activists killed.
Kosseim says he hasn't heard from any of the three Canadians on board but hopes the takeover will remain peaceful.
Israel says its naval blockade of the Palestinian territory is vital to stop weapons reaching the Iran-backed Hamas militants who control Gaza. Critics say it amounts to collective punishment.
The Tahrir made a previous failed attempt to break the Israeli blockade this summer.
Ottawa has warned Canadians against all travel to Gaza, saying the security situation along the coast remains volatile.
Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird has also said Canada can't protect Canadians who break the laws of another country. He urged those wishing to deliver aid to do so through "established channels."

Pirates seize oil tanker, kidnap crew near Nigeria

Pirates seized an oil tanker off the coast of Nigeria's southern delta, kidnapping the crew in a bid to steal ship's cargo in the latest hijacking targeting the region, private security officials said Thursday.

Gunmen boarded the MT Halifax as it sat in waters off the coast of Port Harcourt, the main city in the oil-rich Niger Delta, the officials said.

The pirates took over control of the ship and sailed off into the waters of the Gulf of Guinea, and are holding onto the crew as they offload the crude oil in the ship's hold, the officials said.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press as they were not authorized to discuss the seizure with journalists.

It remains unclear how many crew members were taken or if any have been injured. The Halifax, registered in Malta, is managed by Ancora Investment Trust Inc. of Greece. An employee who answered a telephone call to the company's office in Athens declined to comment Thursday, saying someone would be able to discuss the hijacking Friday.

A profile of the ship on Ancora's company website identified the nationalities of those onboard as Filipino and Indian, with an Italian ship master.

Commodore Kabir Aliyu, a spokesman for Nigeria's navy, declined to immediately comment.

The attack is just the latest to target West Africa's Gulf of Guinea, which follows the continent's southward curve from Liberia to Gabon. Over the last eight months, piracy there has escalated from low-level armed robberies to hijackings and cargo thefts.

In August, London-based Lloyd's Market Association — an umbrella group of insurers — listed Nigeria, neighboring Benin and nearby waters in the same risk category as Somalia, where two decades of war and anarchy have allowed piracy to flourish.

While pirates in West Africa have been more willing to use violence in their robberies, the latest string of pirate attacks have seen crews typically let go unharmed after the crude oil is stolen from the ships. Analysts believe many of the pirates come from Nigeria, where corrupt law enforcement allows criminality to thrive.

However, the recent oil tanker attacks appear to be committed by a single, sophisticated criminal gang, said Graeme Gibbon-Brooks, the managing director of Dryad Maritime Intelligence Service. Finding an oil ship in the ocean, then being able to offload to crude oil into another ship requires technical knowledge and experience, he said.

Those involved in the hijackings may have gotten that experience in the Niger Delta, where thieves tapping pipelines running through swamps steal hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil a day.

World’s most expensive iPad 2 costs £5 million.

Customized iPad 2, worth 5 million pounds, is covered with dinosaur bones, gold and diamonds and surprisingly the gadget has also found a customer.

The iPad 2's Gold History edition, developed by luxury goods maker Stuart Hughes, is apparently the most expensive gadget, which can be bought.

Not only is it covered with two kilos of 24-carat gold and 12.5 carats of diamonds, but also the precious stone round the bezel is mixed with crushed-up shavings from a fossilised T-Rex.

If you flip the gadget, the Apple logo is made out of 52 separate, individually set rocks.

Oddly, these pale into insignificance next to the front half - made from 750g Canadian Ammolite, the oldest rock in the world at 75 million years, the Daily Mail reported.

Fifty-seven grams of a fossilised Tyrannosaur thigh were shaved into the stone.

US report blasts China, Russia for cybercrime

U.S. intelligence officials accused China and Russia on Thursday of systematically stealing American high-tech data for their own national economic gain.

It was the most forceful and detailed public airing of U.S. allegations after years of private complaints. U.S. officials and cybersecurity experts said the U.S. must openly confront China and Russia in a broad diplomatic push to combat cyberattacks that are on the rise and represent a "persistent threat to U.S. economic security."

But experts said solving the problem won't be easy.

In a report released Thursday, U.S. intelligence agencies said "the governments of China and Russia will remain aggressive and capable collectors of sensitive U.S. economic information and technologies, particularly in cyberspace."

Speaking at a forum at the National Press Club, Robert Bryant, the national counterintelligence executive, said the U.S. is finally making the charges public because China and Russia are stealing sensitive U.S. technology data.

If Russia and China build their economies on stolen U.S. data, "that's not right," Bryant said. "We want to basically point out what the issue is. We want to be worried and we want to be careful, but we also want there to be an awareness and, frankly, drive that toward solutions where we work together to bring this under control."

The report is part of an increased effort by U.S. officials to highlight the risks of cyberattacks in a growing high-tech society. People, businesses and governments are storing an increasing amount of valuable and sensitive information online or accessing data through mobile devices that may not be as secure as some computers.

The Obama administration has urged individuals and the corporate world to better protect their data. Thursday's report is a clarion call, cybersecurity experts said.

"We should have done this years ago," said James Lewis, cybersecurity expert and senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "We've pretended it hasn't been happening, but that's not the case. I hope this is the first in a series of documents that lays out the huge problem the U.S. is facing."

The U.S. points fingers at Russian and Chinese intelligence services and corporations based in those countries or tied to the governments.

The intelligence report, however, did not say how many of the cyberattacks are government-sponsored and would not name other countries that pose similar but lesser threats. It suggested that U.S. allies may be using their access to American institutions to acquire economic and technology information.

China had no immediate response to the report, which was issued after normal business hours Thursday in Beijing.

China has consistently denied engaging in cyberspying and, at a regularly scheduled news briefing Wednesday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei reiterated Beijing's insistence that it also has been attacked.

"China is a major victim of hacking," Hong said. "China is ready to build, together with other countries, a peaceful, secure and open cyberspace order."

He added, "As for the remarks from certain quarters, I would point out that hacking attacks have no boundaries and are anonymous. Speculating on the origin of the attacks without investigation is neither professional nor responsible."

China has been linked to a number of high-profile breaches.

Google Inc., operator of the Internet's most popular search engine, disclosed two sophisticated attacks against its systems that it believes were launched from China. The disclosures touched a nerve for technologists, government officials and human rights advocates alike because of the unique roles Google and the Chinese government have in shaping what is seen — and not seen — on the Internet by citizens of the world's most populous country.

In one attack, some of Google's intellectual property was stolen in a computer attack that also targeted at least 20 other large companies. And earlier this year Mountain View, Calif.-based Google said it believes hackers in China broke into the Gmail accounts of several hundred people, including senior U.S. government officials, military personnel and political activists.

The report also noted other incidents linked to China:

— Last year computer security firm Mandiant reported that data was stolen from a Fortune 500 manufacturing company during business negotiations when the company was trying to buy a Chinese company.

— Earlier this year, McAfee traced an intrusion to an Internet protocol address in China and said intruders took data from global oil, energy and petrochemical companies.

While officials could not pin down an exact economic cost to the U.S. government and businesses, they said the losses are extremely significant.

"(China's) continued theft of sensitive economic information is a threat to our national security, hurts American businesses and workers, and causes incalculable harm to global economy," said the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich. "This once again underscores the need for America's allies across Asia and Europe to join forces to pressure Beijing to end this illegal behavior."

The escalating rhetoric carries its own political risks, particularly as the U.S. has tried to improve relations with China and Russia. China is a key lender and trading partner, and the U.S. has relied on Beijing to put pressure on its longtime ally North Korea to negotiate over its nuclear program.

Russia, meanwhile, is a key vote in the U.N. Security Council, particularly on issues involving Iran sanctions and nuclear arms reduction.

Both were Cold War enemies whose motives and government workings are often purposely opaque to American partners or competitors.

"We have to start being more confrontational," said Lewis, adding that the U.S. needs to have a more muscular trade policy and make sure that World Trade Organization rules are observed.

The report said foreign intelligence services have used independent hackers as proxies, thereby giving the agencies "plausible deniability."

And it also accused the Chinese of being "the world's most active and persistent perpetrators of economic espionage."

Attacks from Russia are a "distant second" to those from China, according to the report. But it said Moscow's intelligence services are "conducting a range of activities to collect economic information and technology from U.S. targets."

The report said some of the most desired data includes communications and military technologies, clean energy, health care, pharmaceuticals and information about scarce natural resources. Of particular note, the report said, is interest in unmanned aircraft and other aerospace technology.

U.S. officials have called for greater communication about cyberthreats among the government, intelligence agencies and the private sector. The Pentagon has begun a pilot program that is working with a group of defense contractors to help detect and block cyberattacks.

The report, issued by the national intelligence director's office of the counterintelligence executive, comes out every two years and includes information from 14 spy agencies, academics and other experts.

"We have to do a lot to scare those other guys into thinking 'don't do it or bad things will happen to you' but after we do that, we have to solve it here, at home," said Alan Paller, director of research at SANS Institute, a computer-security organization.

"We need to say, 'if you allow your citizens to attack computers in our country, causing massive damage, we have the right to cause massive damage in your country.'"

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Floods encroach deeper into Bangkok, risk subway

)

  — Floodwaters have reached the northern edge of central Bangkok and are threatening the Thai capital's subway system.

The water that has been creeping through northern Bangkok for more than week flooded Lad Phrao intersection on Friday. The area is home to office towers, condominiums and a major shopping mall and is not far from the famed Chatuchak Weekend Market.

Local media reported the water depth at 15 inches (40 centimeters).

Officials from Bangkok's subway system say they are closely monitoring three stations in the area, though all remain open.

Greek prime minister faces knife-edge survival vote

- Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou faces a cliff-hanger confidence vote on Friday after his plan for a referendum on an EU/IMF bailout -- supposed to save both Greece and the euro zone from disaster -- backfired spectacularly.

But even if his socialist government survives the late-evening parliamentary vote, Papandreou's days as premier looked numbered amid opposition calls for his resignation and a deal with his cabinet under which, government sources said, he agreed to quit after negotiating a coalition with conservative rivals.

Much of Greece and many European leaders reacted with horror after Papandreou abruptly announced on Monday that he would put the 130-billion-euro ($180 billion) rescue plan, agreed at a euro zone summit only last week, to the Greek people.

After a tumultuous day in Greek politics, the chances of the referendum being held dwindled to almost nothing on Thursday. Papandreou offered to drop the idea anyway if the conservative opposition backed the bailout in parliament.

He came out fighting, rejecting opposition demands, in public at least, that he make way for a caretaker administration with just two tasks: forcing the bailout through parliament without a referendum and calling a snap election.

However, analysts said Papandreou may not be around much longer to fight such battles.

"The prime minister's position is very difficult, since he chose not to respond to the opposition's proposal for a transitional coalition government. Therefore I believe that it is unlikely that he will win the vote," said Costas Panagopoulos, head of ALCO pollsters.

Through waves of austerity policies demanded by Greece's international lenders, Papandreou has carried the parliamentary group of his PASOK party with him, despite much grumbling within the ranks.

But a steady trickle of defections has reduced his majority to the point that one or two waverers could inflict a defeat in the confidence vote, expected as late as midnight (6 p.m. EDT).

"We are like goldfish, waiting with our mouths open," writer Petros Tatsopoulos told Greek television, referring to the unfolding political drama. Greeks gripped by the events gathered around newsstands to catch a glimpse of headlines on Friday.

PASOK has 152 deputies in the 300-member parliament. But lawmaker Eva Kaili said that while she would stay in the party, she would refuse to back the government in the confidence vote, meaning Papandreou could count at most on the support of 151 deputies.

Only one more defection would strip the government of its majority and probably trigger an early election.

The financial daily Kerdos captured the mood with its headline: "Everything on a knife-edge," while the pro-government daily Ta Nea ran with: "A balancing act on the edge of a cliff."

Asian shares rose more than 2 percent and the euro steadied on hopes the referendum would be abandoned. But investors remained cautious about the confidence vote and the impact of any election.

"If Greece is heading for a general election and no party looks able to win an outright majority, which appears quite likely now, then the crisis will only deepen," said Teppei Ino, currency strategist at the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ.

TOOTH AND NAIL

Greeks have fought tooth and nail against policies which have brought spending cuts, tax rises and job losses, pushing the nation into three years of recession, and they have staged a series of strikes and protests, some of which turned violent.

So a "no" vote in any referendum would be highly likely, even though this would cut off Greece's last international financial lifeline and risk spreading its debt crisis to much bigger euro zone economies, such as Italy and Spain.

But the criticism that rained down on Papandreou forced him to backtrack on the plan. Instead, he shifted the focus to negotiating with the conservative New Democracy party, saying the national interest ranked well above his personal ambitions.

"I'm not tied to my post. I'm not interested either in being re-elected, I'm only interested in saving the country," he told parliament.

Papandreou also called on his PASOK party to rally behind him in the confidence vote. But his public bravado appeared to mask an acceptance that his term may come to an end soon.

Government sources said Papandreou had struck a deal at a cabinet meeting on Thursday under which he would stand down after he had negotiated a coalition agreement with the conservative opposition -- provided he survives Friday's vote.

Ministers involved in striking the deal with Papandreou, led by Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos, said he should go for the sake of their PASOK party, said the sources, who had knowledge of Thursday's meeting of the cabinet.

"He was told that he must leave calmly in order to save his party," one source told Reuters on condition of anonymity. "He agreed to step down. It was very civilized, with no acrimony."

Papandreou admitted he had made a mistake in calling on Monday for the referendum on a bailout, the sources said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy summoned Papandreou and Venizelos to Cannes on Wednesday where they made clear Greece would receive no EU aid if the nation failed to stick to the rescue conditions.

Analysis: Obama Mideast policy adrift amid crises

he world's lone superpower has become superpowerless in one of the world's most intractable conflicts.

Boxed in by competing political and diplomatic agendas, the United States has lost the ability to stop either the Israelis or the Palestinians from acting against the interests of U.S.-backed peace efforts and against the express wishes of the United States.

Palestinians are pressing their bid for recognition at the United Nations and membership in U.N. agencies. The Israelis respond by accelerating settlement activity and withholding Palestinian tax revenue. The Obama administration is either unwilling or unable to push the two sides to the bargaining table or stop them from taking actions that further damage the prospects for relaunching moribund peace talks.

Although the U.S. has leverage in the forms of financial aid, military protection and diplomatic clout, it is stuck on the sidelines of the current crisis.

Meanwhile, decades-old legislation is forcing the U.S. to halt funding to U.N. organizations that grant Palestine membership. That restricts American influence in bodies like UNESCO, the International Atomic Energy Agency and World Health Organization that the administration deems necessary to protect vital U.S. national security, commercial and other interests.

Administration officials insist they have not lost influence.

White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters Wednesday that "unilateral actions work against efforts to resume direct negotiations, and they do not advance the goal of a reasonable and necessary agreement between the two parties."

At the State Department, spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the Israelis and Palestinians were driving the peace process "in the wrong direction." She said the administration continues "to believe that our role, our leadership, in this process remains essential" and bristled when asked if the U.S. retained any influence over the parties. "Of course we do," she said.

Both sides are ignoring U.S. pleas to return to talks, and the U.S. is doing little else. U.S. efforts to blunt the Palestinian U.N. drive that sparked the latest round of recriminations have failed.

The administration knew since the summer that the Palestinians would not back down on their plan to seek U.N. statehood recognition as an end run around negotiations with Israel but could not come up with a way to deal with what Washington sees as a huge diplomatic problem. The U.S. and Israel fear that route could draw borders and impose conditions that Israel cannot accept. They insist that negotiations are the only path to statehood, but there have been no talks for a year.

The full U.N. has not acted on the September request, but U.N. agencies have begun to do so.

Months of U.S. lobbying produced only 13 other "no" votes when UNESCO overwhelming approved Palestine's membership by a 107 to 14 vote on Monday. Several U.S. allies and partners, including France and Russia, voted in favor. U.S. allies Britain and Japan abstained.

In response, the administration announced it was withholding $60 million in funding for UNESCO as required by U.S. law. It did not take action against the Palestinians nor did it express displeasure with countries that supported them.

Then Israel acted, announcing that it would accelerate housing construction in east Jerusalem, which the Palestinians claim as the capital of a future state, and the West Bank. It also at least temporarily halted the transfer of $100 million in taxes that it collects on behalf of the Palestinians. Again, the U.S. response came in words only, with Carney and Nuland speaking from the same script to say that Washington was "deeply disappointed" by the steps.

Now, hamstrung in an uncertain budget and pre-election season by a Congress that refuses to censure Israel and is eager to punish the Palestinians for their U.N. aspirations, the administration is caught in a diplomatically weak and awkward position.

It could threaten to withhold the hundreds of millions of dollars in aid it provides the Palestinian Authority each year if the Palestinians don't stop their U.N. push. But it won't because it doesn't want to destabilize Palestinian institutions or endanger security gains the Palestinians have made and even the Israelis have applauded. In a bizarre twist, the administration has sought help from Israeli officials in lobbying Congress not to cut Palestinian aid, even as Israel itself is withholding tax money the Palestinians need to run their government.

It could try to threaten to withhold some of the roughly $3 billion in assistance that the U.S. provides to Israel each year if the Israelis don't halt housing construction in disputed areas or make some other gesture to the Palestinians. But Congress won't hear of it and such a step is politically unpalatable for a president seeking re-election next year.

The administration could forcefully press Congress to waive the ban on U.S. funding for U.N. agencies that recognize Palestine, arguing that it puts American and Israeli interests at risk. But, fearing a backlash from conservative lawmakers already intent on slashing foreign aid and operations spending, it cannot push the matter too hard. So once again, it is in the odd position of looking to Israel for help, urging Israeli officials to tell U.S. lawmakers that America's presence in U.N. bodies is important, especially because the U.S. is often Israel's sole ally in such forums.

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Iraqi cleric: US seeking to 'occupy' Mideast .

U.S. plans to station troops across the Mideast after withdrawing from Iraq amount to occupying other Islamic countries, Iraq's most outspoken anti-American cleric said in an interview broadcast Thursday.

Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr said he's not satisfied with President Barack Obama's pledge to pull all U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of the year, calling it a partial withdrawal because of the thousands of diplomats and security guards who will stay behind.

"The American occupation will stay in Iraq under different names," al-Sadr told Al-Arabiya TV in his first interview since Obama announced the troop pullout last month.

Al-Sadr noted the Pentagon's recent reminders that it will keep an estimated 40,000 troops across the region.

"America is not only occupying Iraq but also other Islamic countries," he said. "Occupying Iraq means occupying what is around Iraq, and then to control the Middle East."

The Pentagon is preparing to boost the number of U.S. forces just across the Iraqi border in Kuwait and across the region to prevent a power vacuum when the tens of thousands of U.S. forces who have served in Iraq are gone.

There are currently 33,000 U.S. troops in Iraq.

U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Jeffrey S. Buchanan, the chief American military spokesman in Iraq, told a news conference Thursday that U.S. troops stationed around the Mideast are there as part of a partnership with their host nations.

Al-Sadr's political followers wield heavy influence in Iraq's parliament. His militia has been bent on driving the U.S. out of Iraq with rocket attacks, backed with Iranian funds and training.

Over the last year, and since returning from exile in Iran, he has sought to present himself as something of a statesman promoting Iraqi nationalism.

In the interview, he said his followers have slowed their attacks on U.S. forces in recent months "in order not to give them a pretext for staying."

"I say to the American soldier: Get out for good," al-Sadr told the TV channel.

The U.S. still plans to train Iraqi security forces after the withdrawal, although almost entirely with civilian contractors working with the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.

A spate of bombs targeting security forces that killed at least 10 people and wounded dozens Thursday served as a reminder of how vulnerable the country remains.

In the deadliest attack, a pair of near-simultaneous blasts killed six security guards who were waiting in line to pick up their paychecks outside an Iraqi military base near Baqouba, 35 miles (60 kilometers) northeast of Baghdad. At least 35 people were wounded in the double bombing, said Diyala Health Directorate spokesman Faris al-Azawi.

All of the dead were members of Sahwa, or Awakening Councils, a Sunni militia that sided with U.S. forces against al-Qaida in a major turning point of the war. The Sahwa have since been targeted by insurgents, who call them traitors.

An Iraqi army intelligence officer said authorities have reliable intelligence that al-Qaida sleeper cells plan to launch attacks as U.S. troops withdraw and afterward. The officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the intelligence is confidential, said al-Qaida aims to show Iraqis it is still able to strike.

Officials long have said that al-Qaida's main goal in Iraq is to destabilize the Shiite-led government. Among the terror group's top targets have been government and security officials.

Later Thursday, a roadside bomb exploded in Baghdad's upscale and mostly Shiite neighborhood of Karradah, killing two passers-by. Police who rushed to the scene were hit with a second blast, killing two policemen and wounding three others. Also, four passers-by were wounded.

The casualties were confirmed by a medic at Ibn al-Nafis hospital. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.

The attacks were examples of the low-scale but deadly violence that persists across Iraq on a near daily basis, although violence has dropped dramatically across the country since 2007, when the country teetered on the brink of civil war. Some officials have warned of an increase in attacks as the U.S. troops leave.

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Associated Press writers Mazin Yahya and Sameer N. Yacoub in Baghdad, and Yahya Barzanji in Sulaimaniyah, Iraq, contributed to this report.

Iran summons Swiss envoy to protest over US 'threats'

Iran made a formal protest Thursday over military experts' remarks to a US Congressional committee last week urging the targeted assassination of members of its elite Quds Force military special operations unit.

Iran's foreign ministry summoned the Swiss ambassador to Tehran, Livia Leu Agosti, to condemn the Congressional committee session "on the issue of assassinating Iranian officials," the website of Iran's state broadcaster said.

The Swiss embassy handles US diplomatic matters in the absence of diplomatic ties between Iran and the United States.

"Considering the threats made against the Iranian officials in this session, in case of any kind of terrorist action against Iranian officials, the American government will be held responsible," an unnamed foreign ministry official reportedly told Leu Agosti.

Iran was complaining about testimony given to the US Congress's Homeland Security Committee on October 26 by two military analysts invited to speak as expert witnesses.

The first, a US retired four-star general who helped plan the US-led occupation of Iraq, Jack Keane, called for the killing of leaders of Iran's Quds Force in retaliation for their alleged role in a plot to kill the Saudi ambassador to Washington.

"Why don't we kill them? We kill other people who are running terrorist organisations against the United States," he said.

The other witness, Reuel Marc Gerecht, a former CIA officer who is now a senior fellow at the neo-conservative think-tank the Foundation for Defence of Democracies, agreed.

"I don’t think that you are going to really intimidate these people, get their attention, unless you shoot somebody," he said, arguing that an attempt should be made to capture or kill the head of the Quds Force, Qassem Suleimani.

Several US congressmen on the committee said they were not excluding any measures against Iran, but they did not explicitly endorse Keane and Gerecht's advice.

The Iranian foreign ministry official who spoke to the Swiss ambassador reportedly said however that the argument for assassinations "contradicts Washington's legal obligations in combatting terrorism."

Iran has fiercely denied any involvement in the alleged assassination plot against the Saudi ambassador and sent a letter to Washington demanding an apology.

It has called the accusations an attempt by the United States to distract attention from domestic economic problems and a failed foreign policy in the Middle East.

Israel holds major missile defence drill.

srael on Thursday completed a major civil defence drill in the Tel Aviv region aimed at simulating a response to conventional and non-conventional missile attacks, the military said.

The four-hour exercise began shortly after 10:00 am (0800 GMT) with the sounding of sirens for a full minute and a half throughout the region around the coastal city of Tel Aviv.

The rescue units of the police, the fire service, the Magen David Adom emergency services and the civil defence units all participated in the exercise, the Israeli military said.

"We are going to test all the possible scenarios, including attacks causing significant damage," civil defence official Colonel Adam Zussman told army radio ahead of the drill.

Rescue teams were being dispatched to "evacuate hundreds of wounded after conventional and non-conventional missile attacks" to hospitals participating in the simulation, he said.

Part of the drill included simulating a rocket attack on the area of Metropolitan Tel Aviv, also known as Gush Dan, the military said.

Evacuation and absorption centres were opened across the region and the process of distributing gas masks was also tested, local media said.

The army said the exercise was "part of its routine training for emergencies" and was "not influenced by the current events," in reference to the flurry of speculation that Israel was mulling a pre-emptive strike against Iran.

On Wednesday, Haaretz newspaper reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Ehud Barak were seeking to win cabinet support for a strike on Iran, which Israel and the West suspect is looking to build an atomic bomb.

On the same day, Israel tested a rocket-propulsion system that press reports said was capable of firing ballistic missiles, although officials declined to comment on the specifics of the system and said it was a routine test.