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JERUSALEM (AP) -- Israel's prime minister has called off a planned visit to the White House to deal with a crisis over a botched naval raid that killed 10 pro-Palestinian activists.

Netanyahu, who is in Canada, was set to travel to Washington to meet with President Barack Obama on Tuesday. But his office says he decided to return home early after Monday's commando raid.

The commandos intercepted a flotilla of activists trying to deliver aid to the Gaza Strip. The deadly crackdown has drawn widespread international condemnations.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

JERUSALEM (AP) - Israeli naval commandos stormed a flotilla of ships carrying aid and hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists to the blockaded Gaza Strip on Monday, killing at least 10 passengers in a predawn raid that set off worldwide condemnation and a diplomatic crisis.

Israel said its commandos were attacked by knives, clubs and live fire from two pistols wrested from soldiers after they rappelled from a helicopter to board one of the vessels.

Dozens of activists and at least 10 Israeli soldiers were wounded in the bloody confrontation in international waters.

Reaction was swift and harsh, with a massive protest breaking out in Turkey, Israel's longtime Muslim ally, which unofficially supported the mission. Ankara announced it would recall its ambassador and call off military exercises with the Jewish state.

The bloody showdown came at a sensitive time in Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was to meet Tuesday with President Barack Obama to discuss the next round in U.S.-led indirect negotiations. From Toronto, Netanyahu spoke by telephone with top Israeli officials and expressed his "full backing" for the military, according to a statement from the army.

The White House said in a written statement that the United States "deeply regrets" the loss of life and injuries and was working to understand the circumstances surrounding this "tragedy."

The activists were headed to Gaza on a mission meant to draw attention to the blockade, which Israel and Egypt imposed after the militant Hamas group seized the territory of 1.5 million Palestinians in 2007.

There were conflicting accounts of what happened early Monday, with activists claiming the Israelis fired first and Israel insisting its forces fired in self defense. Communications to the ships were cut off shortly after the raid began.

An Israeli commando who spoke to reporters on a naval vessel off the coast, and who was identified only by the first letter of his name, "A," said he and his comrades were surprised by a group of Arabic-speaking men when they rapelled onto the deck.

He said some of the soldiers, taken off guard, were stripped of their helmets and equipment and thrown from the top deck to the lower deck, and that some had even jumped overboard to save themselves. At one point one of the passengers seized one of the soldiers' weapons and opened fire.

A high-ranking naval official displayed a box confiscated from the boat containing switchblades, slingshots, metal balls and metal bats. "We prepared (the soldiers) to deal with peace activists, not to fight," he said. Most of the 10 dead were Turkish, he added.

A Turkish website showed video of pandemonium on board one of the ships, with activists in orange life jackets running around as some tried to help an activist apparently unconscious on the deck. The site also showed video of an Israeli helicopter flying overhead and Israeli warships nearby.

Turkey's NTV showed activists beating one Israeli soldier with sticks as he rappelled from a helicopter onto one of the boats.

Activists said Israeli naval commandos stormed the ships after ordering them to stop in international waters, about 80 miles (130 kilometers) from Gaza's coast.

An Al-Jazeera reporter on one of the Turkish ships said the Israelis fired at the vessel before boarding it. The pan-Arab satellite channel reported by telephone from the Turkish ship leading the flotilla that Israeli navy forces fired at the ship and boarded it, wounding the captain.

"These savages are killing people here, please help," a Turkish television reporter said.

The broadcast ended with a voice shouting in Hebrew, "Everybody shut up!"

In a news conference in Tel Aviv, Israel's military chief of staff and navy commander said the troops were able to take over the five other boats without incident and all of the violence was centered on the boat carrying most of the flotilla's passengers, the Turkish-owned Mavi Marmara.

Troops were attacked, said Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi, and an unspecified number of troops were helicoptered to hospital suffering from gunshots, knife wounds and blows.

"To me it is clear without a doubt, judging by what I saw and what I heard in the first reports from the soldiers, that in light of the danger to human life this violence required the use of weapons, and in my opinion the soldiers acted as they should have in this situation," Ashkenazi said.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak expressed regret for the loss of life, but called IHH, a Turkish group organizing the sea convoy, a violent organization "operating under cover of humanitarian activity."

The ships were being towed to the Israeli port of Ashdod, and wounded were evacuated by helicopter to Israeli hospitals, officials said. Two ships had reached port by midday.

Many of the passengers were from European countries.

The European Union deplored what it called excessive use of force and demanded an investigation by Israel. The EU said the blockade of Gaza, now in its fourth year, is "politically unacceptable," and called for an immediate, sustained opening of crossings into the Hamas-controlled territory, according to a statement by EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.

Turkey called on the U.N. Security Council to convene in an emergency session about Israel.

Thousands marched in protest in Istanbul, some setting Israeli flags on fire after trying to storm the Israeli consulate. Israel quickly advised to its citizens to avoid travel to Turkey. In neighboring Jordan, hundreds demonstrated in the capital Amman to protest the Israeli action and demand that their government breaks diplomatic relations with the Jewish state.

Israeli security forces were on alert across the country for possible protests.

There were no details on the identities of the casualties, or on the conditions of some of the more prominent people on board, including 1976 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mairead Corrigan Maguire of Northern Ireland, European legislators and Holocaust survivor Hedy Epstein, 85.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the Israeli "aggression," declared three days of mourning across the West Bank and called on the U.N. Security Council and Arab League to hold emergency sessions on the incident.

Ismail Haniyeh, leader of the rival Hamas government in Gaza, condemned the "brutal" Israeli attack and called on U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to intervene.

In Uganda, Ban condemned the deaths of the activists and called for a "thorough" investigation. "Israel must provide an explanation," he said.

The activists were headed to Gaza on a mission meant to draw attention to a 3-year-old Israeli blockade of the coastal territory. Israel and Egypt imposed the blockade after Hamas, which it considers a terrorist group, violently seized the territory. Critics say the blockade has unfairly hurt Gaza's 1.5 million people.

Before the ships set sail from waters off the east Mediterranean island of Cyprus on Sunday, Israel had urged the flotilla not to try to breach the blockade and offered to transfer some of the cargo to Gaza from an Israeli port, following a security inspection.

The violent takeover threatened to deal yet another blow to Israel's international image, already tarnished by war crimes accusations in Gaza and its blockade of the impoverished Palestinian territory.

Organizers included people affiliated with the International Solidarity Movement, a pro-Palestinian group that often sends international activists into battle zones, and the IHH.

The Turkish group is an Islamic humanitarian group that is based in Istanbul but operates in several other countries. Israel recently arrested the IHH's West Bank operative, but said his arrest was not related to the planned aid mission.

Hasan Naiboglu, the Turkish maritime affairs undersecretary, told the Anatolia news agency that Israel had jammed communications with the ships. He accused Israel of violating international law by carrying out the raid in international waters.

Turkey had unofficially supported the aid mission and has been vocally critical of Israeli military operations against Palestinians in Gaza.

The flotilla of three cargo ships and three passenger ships carrying 10,000 tons of aid and 700 activists was carrying items that Israel bars from reaching Gaza, like cement and other building materials.

This is the ninth time that the Free Gaza movement has tried to ship in humanitarian aid to Gaza since August 2008.

Israel has allowed ships through five times, but has blocked them from entering Gaza waters since a three-week military offensive against Gaza's Hamas rulers in January 2009.

The latest flotilla was the largest to date.
 LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) -- Pakistan lifted a ban on Facebook on Monday after officials from the social networking site apologized for a page deemed offensive to Muslims and removed its contents, a top information technology official said.

The move came almost two weeks after Pakistan imposed the ban amid anger over a page that encouraged users to post images of Islam's Prophet Muhammad. Many Muslims regard depictions of the prophet, even favorable ones, as blasphemous.

"In response to our protest, Facebook has tendered their apology and informed us that all the sacrilegious material has been removed from the URL," said Najibullah Malik, secretary of Pakistan's information technology ministry, referring to the technical term for a Web page.

Facebook assured the Pakistani government that "nothing of this sort will happen in the future," Malik said.

Officials from the website could not immediately be reached for comment. They said earlier the contents of the "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day!" page did not violate Facebook's terms.

The page encouraged users to post images of the prophet to protest threats made by a radical Muslim group against the creators of the American TV series "South Park" for depicting Muhammad in a bear suit during an episode earlier this year.

Pakistan blocked Facebook on May 19 following a ruling by one of the country's highest courts. The Lahore High Court reversed its ruling Monday because of Facebook's response, Malik said.

As of midday, access to Facebook inside Pakistan was still restricted. But Malik said the government has issued instructions for Internet service providers to restore access to the website.

Users outside the country confirmed the page that sparked the recent uproar was no longer accessible.

The government will continue to block some Web pages that contain "sacrilegious material," but Malik declined to specify which ones.

The Facebook controversy sparked a handful of protests across Pakistan, many by student members of radical Islamic groups. Some of the protesters carried signs advocating holy war against the website for allowing the page.

Bangladesh also decided to block Facebook on Sunday but said it would restore access to the site if the offensive material was removed.

It is not the first time that images of the prophet have sparked anger. Pakistan and other Muslim countries saw large and sometimes violent protests in 2006 when a Danish newspaper published cartoons of Muhammad, and again in 2008 when they were reprinted. Later the same year, a suspected al-Qaida suicide bomber attacked the Danish Embassy in Islamabad, killing six people.

Anger over the Facebook controversy also prompted the Pakistani government to block access to YouTube briefly, saying there was growing sacrilegious content on the video sharing website. The government restored access to YouTube last week but said it would continue to block videos offensive to Muslims that are posted on the site.
 TOKYO (AP) -- Japan's prime minister told his Chinese counterpart Monday that he strongly supports Seoul's plans to bring North Korea before the U.N. Security Council for sanctions or condemnation for the alleged sinking of a South Korean warship, an official said.

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said North Korea should be punished over the warship sinking in accordance with international law, said Osamu Sakashita, a spokesman for the Prime Minister's Office.

During a weekend summit between South Korea, China and Japan on South Korea's Jeju island, Wen didn't appear ready to support possible action in the U.N. Security Council against North Korea, China's longtime ally. But his closing remarks Sunday seemed to signal that Beijing was becoming more engaged in the crisis.

China's backing would be key because it wields veto power at the Security Council as a permanent member.

South Korea has taken punitive measures against the North since a team of international investigators said this month that a torpedo fired by a North Korean submarine tore apart and sank the warship Cheonan on March 26, killing 46 sailors. North Korea vehemently denies attacking the ship and has warned the South is risking war by attempting to punish it.

In their bilateral meeting Monday in Tokyo, Hatoyama urged China to exercise self-restraint regarding activities by the Chinese navy in waters off Okinawa, Sakashita said.

In April, Chinese ships were spotted in international waters off Okinawa, and in another incident that month a Chinese helicopter also came within 300 feet (90 meters) of a Japanese military monitoring vessel in the vicinity of a Chinese naval exercise.

The two leaders agreed to set up a hot line to avert marine friction, and said they would launch talks aimed at forming a pact over gas exploration in the East China Sea, he said.

Wen turned his focus to the economy in a speech held later at the Japanese Business Federation, better known as Keidanren.

He warned that the global economy faces risks that could lead to another downturn. Unemployment remains high in the U.S., and sovereign debt concerns could derail Europe, he said in his lunchtime remarks.

"The global economy is recovering, but the process is slow," he said. "There are a number of uncertainties and forces that could destabilize the situation."

Meanwhile, China's economy is headed toward another year of strong, steady growth, Wen said.

In 2009, China's gross domestic product expanded 8.7 percent and is expected to surpass Japan's economy in size sometime this year. Wen played down the significance of the looming milestone for China, which is the world's most populous country. Japan's per capita GDP of $40,000 a year remains far ahead of China's per capital figure of $3,700.

Wen also noted the huge income disparities that remain in China between urban and rural, east and west.

"Our development goal is to become a middle-income economy," he said. "That will take decades. To become an advanced economy will take more than 100 years."

On Sunday, Keidanren and its counterparts in China and South Korea released a joint statement calling for greater trilateral trade and investment, as well as greater cooperation in environment and energy.

Before his meeting with Hatoyama, Wen jogged at a Tokyo park, practiced "tai-chi," greeted Japanese joggers, and played a bit of baseball with university students.
JERUSALEM (AP) -- The Israeli military says more than 10 pro-Palestinian activists have been killed after attacking naval commandos who were halting an aid flotilla heading toward the blockaded Gaza Strip.

The army says the soldiers were attacked with knives and clubs as they boarded the six vessels Monday.

It says the violence turned deadly after one of the activists grabbed a weapon from one of the commandos. The weapon discharged, though it wasn't clear whether the activist fired it or if it went off accidentally.

The army says dozens of people were wounded, both soldiers and activists.

Israeli Arab groups say a prominent activist is among the wounded.

Israeli police say they have heightened security around the country.
 KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- NATO launched airstrikes Monday against Taliban insurgents who had forced government forces to abandon a district in eastern Afghanistan. The NATO commander, meanwhile, said there is "clear evidence" that some Afghan militants have trained in Iran.

NATO reported its 50th death this month, according to a tally by The Associated Press - a service member killed Sunday by a makeshift bomb in the south - as U.S. commanders prepared to mark Memorial Day when America remembers the dead from all its wars.

U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Joseph T. Breasseale said the latest service member killed was not an American, though an American was killed in a separate incident on Sunday.

May is already the deadliest month this year for U.S. troops with 33 deaths - two more than in February when American, NATO and Afghan forces seized the Taliban stronghold of Marjah in Helmand province. The month also brought the 1,000th U.S. military death in the Afghan war since it began in 2001.

U.S. and NATO commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal told reporters in the capital on Sunday that Iran - Afghanistan's western neighbor - has generally assisted the Afghan government in fighting the insurgent group.

"There is, however, clear evidence of Iranian activity - in some cases providing weaponry and training to the Taliban - that is inappropriate," he said. McChrystal said NATO forces are working to stop both the training and the weapons trafficking.

Last month, McChrystal said there were indications that Taliban were training in Iran, but not many and not in a way that suggested it was part of an Iranian government policy. He did not give details on how many people have trained in Iran at Sunday's news conference.

Early Monday, NATO aircraft fired guided munitions on Taliban positions at Barg-e-Matal district in Nuristan, a province in the mountainous region on the Pakistani border. No casualty figures were given.

Government forces last week abandoned the district's main town after a major assault by Taliban militants, many of them coming in from Pakistan, Afghan officials said.

Taliban strength grew in the Nuristan area after U.S. troops abandoned an outpost where eight American soldiers were killed in a fierce attack last October.

Further south, NATO said a civilian contractor's helicopter crash-landed Sunday in Paktia province, killing one civilian on the ground and slightly injuring three crew members. NATO said the cause of the hard landing was being investigated, but there were no reports of insurgent involvement.

McChrystal was attending Memorial Day ceremonies at the main U.S. military base, Bagram Air Field, on Monday. Ceremonies included the unveiling of a construction beam from the World Trade Center destroyed in the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. It was donated by an American nonprofit group supporting U.S. forces overseas.

The Taliban have spread out beyond their heartland in the south in recent years to increasingly launch attacks countrywide.

In the north, insurgents detonated a remote-controlled bomb Sunday as a police convoy passed by, killing seven officers in a province previously considered to be relatively safe, said deputy provincial Gov. Shams-ul Rahman.

The attack was the deadliest of a half-dozen separate incidents across the country.

In nearby Kunduz province, militants attacked a police checkpoint in Ali Abad district, triggering a gunbattle that killed three insurgents and wounded seven others, the Interior Ministry said.

Eight Afghan police were wounded Sunday by a suicide bomber who struck a checkpoint on the outskirts of Khost City southeast of Kabul, officials said.

The AP's casualty figures are based on Defense Department reports of deaths as a direct result of the Afghan conflict, including personnel assigned to units in Afghanistan, Pakistan or Uzbekistan. Non-U.S. deaths are based on statements by governments that have contributed forces to the coalition.
SYDNEY, May 31, 2010 (AFP) - A giant plume of volcanic ash is disrupting flights in the Pacific and threatening villagers in Vanuatu, echoing similar problems which caused chaos in Europe, scientists and officials said Monday.

Forecasters in New Zealand said the cloud, spewing from Vanuatu's Mount Yasur volcano, was about 6,000 feet (1,800 metres) high and covered an area of about 132 square miles.

Tourists have been urged to stay away from the volcano on Tanna island, which has disrupted domestic flights in neighbouring New Caledonia.

Peter Korisa of the National Disaster Management Office, who is on Tanna to assess the situation, said lava and hot rocks had been spewing from the volcano and ash was raining down on nearby villages.

"There are 6,000 people in the villages around the volcano, we're not moving them out yet," Korisa told AFP.

"All tourists and tourist operators have been asked to not access the volcano. The access is restricted."

Tristan Oakley, an aviation forecaster with New Zealand's Meteorological Service, said authorities had issued an advisory and it was up to airlines to avoid the affected area or cancel flights if necessary.

The plume has forced New Caledonia's AirCal to cancel two internal flights and delay another, although disruption remains tiny compared to the havoc seen in Europe -- including a week-long shutdown in the continent's north in April.

Air Vanuatu local supervisor David Dick said flights were still running between the South Pacific country's capital, Port Vila, and Tanna island, while tourism officials also said the industry was unaffected.

However, Australia on Friday issued a travel advisory saying visitors were now barred from the volcano.

"Public access to the volcano is now strictly prohibited and people living in the risk zone should move to safer areas," the advisory said.

Vanuatu, which sits on the so-called "Pacific Ring of Fire" known for its seismic and volcanic activity, was rocked by a 7.2-magnitude earthquake on Friday, prompting a brief tsunami warning.

The archipelago, which lies between Australia and Fiji and north of New Zealand, was hit by three major quakes in October.


by Gavin Rabinowitz
(c) 2010 AFP
(Melbourne, FL., May 26, 2010) -- Harris Corporation (NYSE:HRS), an international communications and information technology company, has received a $55 million delivery order for advanced satellite terminals under the U.S. Army's Modernization of Enterprise Terminals (MET) program. These next-generation military satellite communications terminals will provide the worldwide backbone for high-priority military communications and missile defense systems.
Harris is the prime contractor for the Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity MET contract with a five-year base period plus a five-year option period. The MET contract is valued at a potential $600 million, including the base and option periods. This brings total MET orders for Harris to $153 million since the program was awarded in April 2009.

Harris had previously received delivery orders for satellite terminals and other equipment and services in support of the initial First Article Test (FAT) development and certification phase of the MET program. Under this new $55 million order, Harris will supply additional terminals - large fixed terminals, large fixed terminals with High-Altitude Electromagnetic Pulse (HEMP) protection, and transportable terminals of the standard and hardened configurations. The order also includes four options that would encompass new development of a small fixed terminal, a large fixed radome, an enhanced interactive electronic technical manual, and training simulation hardware.

"This new order reflects the continuing confidence that the government has in the quality and readiness of the Harris terminals, and that we are on track with the key test and production milestones of this major program," said Wes Covell, president, Harris Defense Programs. "Harris is proud to provide the next generation of strategic, multiband terminals for the Department of Defense through the MET program."

Under the MET program, managed by the Project Manager, Defense Communications and Army Transmission Systems (PM DCATS) in Ft. Monmouth, New Jersey, Harris will replace up to 80 AN/GSC-52, AN/GSC-39, AN/FSC-78 and other aging strategic satellite communications terminals with new X-band or simultaneous X- and Ka-band terminals. The terminals will interface with the new Wideband Global Satellite constellation, as well as with legacy satellite systems. The company also will support field activities such as site preparation, installation, test, operations and maintenance. The next major milestone in the program will be the Test Readiness Review, scheduled for September 2010.

The new terminals will support Internet Protocol and Dedicated Circuit Connectivity within the Global Information Grid, providing critical "reach-back" capability for the warfighter. This capability enables a soldier in the field to communicate back to the main base or command, with the ability to access resources not available at that remote location.

Source:ASDNews/Harris Corporation (NYSE: HRS)
(Jacksonville, Fla., May 27, 2010) -- The first retired F-16 Falcon arrived at Boeing's [NYSE: BA] Cecil Field facility in Jacksonville on April 22 to begin conversion into a QF-16 aerial drone. Boeing received a $69.7 million contract from the U.S. Air Force on March 8 for the first phase of the QF-16 program.
The Boeing-led team, which includes BAE Systems, will begin engineering, manufacturing and development of the full-scale manned and unmanned QF-16s during Phase 1. The drones will be used as aerial targets for newly developed weapons and tactics. They will be a higher-performing aircraft than the QF-4s they will replace.

The team will receive six F-16s during the program's development phase. After modification to the QF-16 configuration, they will serve as prototypes for engineering tests and evaluation prior to low-rate initial production. Up to 126 QF-16 drones will be converted beginning in 2014.