Australian Mossad spy interfered in Israeli operation: TV report

CANBERRA (Reuters) - An Australian emigrant and disgraced Mossad spy who died in an Israeli jail in 2010 was arrested after interfering in a secret Israeli intelligence operation to recover the bodies of soldiers killed in the 1982 Lebanon war, an Australian news report said on Tuesday.

Ben Zygier was arrested in January 2010 and held in secret under the name of Prisoner X on unspecified security charges. A judicial inquiry in Israel found Zygier, 34, hanged himself in a high-security jail cell.

Australian state television said Zygier unwittingly sabotaged a secret 2007 Mossad mission to exhume the bodies of three Israeli tank crewmen captured and killed by Syrian forces during Israel's invasion of Lebanon.

The television report quoted a former commander in Lebanon's Bekaa valley as saying that Zygier had revealed his name and that of a Lebanese agent for Israel to Lebanese intelligence.

Ziad al-Homsi, former mayor of a Lebanese village, told ABC television that he had been approached by Mossad in 2007 and flown to China on the pretext of attending a mayoral convention.

He was introduced to a Syrian man who said his brother in Europe was working to return the bodies of the three Israelis captured during the so-called Battle of Sultan Yacoub in the Bekaa Valley -- Israeli-U.S. citizen Zachary Baumel and his fellow Israeli crewmen Yehuda Katz and Zvi Feldman.

Al-Homsi told the ABC that he suspected he had been ensnared in a Mossad operation. He was eventually told by others involved that the missing men were buried in Lebanon.

"At the last meeting they informed me about the location of the corpses exactly. I had to find a way to get the bodies and keep them," al-Homsi said, though he was given no details on how the remains would be turned over to a separate Mossad team.

The mission failed, al-Homsi said, after he was arrested on May 16, 2009 by Lebanese special forces and later jailed for 15 years for spying for Mossad. He served three years.

Zygier's crime was to inadvertently reveal Al-Homsi's identity to a Lebanese man he was trying to turn into a double agent, but who worked for Lebanese intelligence, the ABC said.

FADING MOSSAD CAREER

Zygier, acting alone, was trying to trying to turn around a fading career with Mossad, to which he had been recruited in 2004 after taking Israeli citizenship in the mid-1990s.

Australia's Fairfax newspapers and Germany's Der Spiegel said in March that Zygier, the son of a prominent Melbourne Jewish family, had believed the man was close to Hezbollah militants.

The plan went wrong when Zygier tried to prove his credentials by giving up the name of al-Homsi and another Lebanese agent for Israel named Mustafa Ali Awadeh. His actions caused Israel to abandon the mission, the ABC said.

Israel has refused to disclose details of the case, refusing a request for information from Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. The case has been the subject of gag orders in Israel.

Zygier was arrested by Israel's internal security service Shin Bet and later jailed at the high security Ayalon Prison, committing suicide in his cell later that year.

Israel's Justice Ministry said last month it would not press charges over the suicide, despite missteps by jail officials on the day of his death.

Zygier received "distressing news" from his wife hours before hanging himself, but the jailer overseeing surveillance video from the cell missed the moments leading up to his death.

The case was kept secret until February, when an Australian television expose uncovered it, sparking media debate about Zygier's intelligence role and the nature of his alleged crime.

(Reporting by Rob Taylor; Editing by Ron Popeski)

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Report: Congo officers benefit from mineral trade

GOMA, Congo (AP) — An environmental watchdog group says armed groups and high-ranking officers in the Congolese army are continuing to benefit from the illegal mineral trade in eastern Congo, despite international efforts to clean up the supply chain.

The report published Tuesday by Global Witness says that although there are signs of improvement in Congo's tin and tantalum sectors, the "progress remains localized."

The gold trade in particular remains a problem. The report said tons of gold mined in eastern Congo is smuggled to neighboring Burundi every year because it is easily smuggled across borders and proper checks are not carried out by local buyers in Africa's Great Lakes region or by international traders. Laundered through the Burundian local trade, the gold is exported to Dubai where it is bought by international traders.

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Report: Cameroon officials torture gay suspects

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast (AP) — Suspected homosexuals in Cameroon say they have been tortured and raped in prison, according to a report released Thursday by Human Rights Watch and three local organizations.

The 55-page report, titled "Guilty by Association," documents reported abuses by authorities prosecuting suspected gays and lesbians. Those convicted can face up to five years in prison in Cameroon.

The report documents the case of one man who was tied to a chair and beaten so badly he couldn't walk for two weeks. Another defendant described being raped repeatedly and said his rib was broken in a beating.

"Prison guards made no attempt to stop the gang rape and assault, and no one was punished for it, highlighting another sad irony of Cameroon's law: People are convicted to prison time for consensual sexual conduct, but once in prison, convicts who are not considered 'homosexual' can sexually victimize them with impunity," the report said.

Neela Ghoshal, a researcher for Human Rights Watch, said many cases rested on confessions obtained during beatings and torture or on suspects' appearance and other behavior.

"No one should be sentenced to prison time because they blurt out a confession to stop torture, or because a judge doesn't like what they drink, how they dress, or what kind of text messages they send," Ghoshal said.

Cameroon's Justice Ministry has acknowledged that human rights abuses have occurred but did not issue a specific response to the allegations in Thursday's report.

President Paul Biya told diplomats in early 2012 that he would push for a moratorium on prosecutions of gays and lesbians, according to Thursday's report.

No specific steps have been taken, though Biya told journalists in January there could be a "change of mind" on homosexuality in Cameroon.

Although many African countries have laws banning consensual same-sex conduct, Cameroon pursues prosecutions "more aggressively than almost any country in the world," the report said.

Charges have been brought against at least 28 people in the past three years, it said. Security forces have told human rights organizations, however, that only one arrest has been made in the last six months.

The law criminalizing homosexuality has been on the books in Cameroon since 1972, though it was rarely enforced until a series of high-profile raids and arrests in 2005.

The report says arrests "appeared to continue at a steady pace between 2005 and 2010," and that there was "a surge" in 2010 and 2011.

Some men were forced to undergo invasive medical exams, which Cameroonian officials claimed could determine if they had engaged in gay sex.

The report also documents threats that have been issued in recent months against two lawyers who have defended people accused of homosexual acts. Both Alice Nkom and Michel Togue say they have received emails and text messages threatening them and their children with violence.

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Myanmar mine protesters reject official report

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Opponents of a nearly $1 billion copper mine in northwestern Myanmar expressed outrage Tuesday over a government-ordered report that said the project should continue and that refrained from demanding punishment for police involved in a violent crackdown on protesters.

Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi chaired the investigation commission that produced the report, which was released Monday night. It could pose a problem for Suu Kyi by identifying her with the pro-growth policies of the government against the interests of grassroots people's movements.

President Thein Sein appointed the commission after police cracked down on protesters at the Letpadaung mine Nov. 29, leaving scores hospitalized with serious burns. Most of the people burned were Buddhist monks. Thwe Thwe Win, a protest leader, said Tuesday that demonstrations will resume.

"I am very dissatisfied, and it is unacceptable," she said. "There is no clause that will punish anyone who had ordered the violent crackdown. Action should be taken against the person who gave the order."

Suu Kyi is scheduled to travel to the mine area, in Monywa township, 760 kilometers (450 miles) north of Yangon, to talk with the protesting villagers Wednesday.

Protesters say the mine, a joint venture between China's Wan Bao mining company and a Myanmar military conglomerate, causes environmental, social and health problems and should be shut down.

The report said the operation should not be halted, even as it acknowledged that the mine lacked strong environmental protection measures and would not create more jobs for local people. The report said scrapping the mine could create tension with China and could discourage badly needed foreign investment.

Those seeking to stop the project contend that the $997 million joint venture deal, signed in May 2010, did not undergo parliamentary scrutiny because it was concluded under the previous military regime.

Many in Myanmar remain suspicious of the military and regard China as an aggressive and exploitative investor that helped support its rule.

"The commission should think about the welfare of their own people, poor local villagers, rather than good relations with China," Thwe Thwe said.

Aung Thein, an activist lawyer who works with the protesters, said the assertion that the contract should be honored to maintain good relations was "meaningless."

"Some people are afraid of China, but the people in general are not, and they don't feel any obligation toward China," he said.

The November crackdown was the biggest use of force against protesters in Myanmar since Thein Sein's reformist government took office in March 2011. The military junta that led Myanmar for the previous five decades frequently crushed political dissent.

The use of incendiary devices by the police in the middle of the night to break up the 11-day occupation of mine property had outraged many people, especially because most of the burned were Buddhist monks.

The authorities had said they used water cannon, tear gas and smoke grenades to break up the protest.

A separate, independent report released last month by a Myanmar lawyers network and an international human rights group said police dispersed the protesters by using white phosphorous, an incendiary agent generally used in war to create smokescreens.

The report released Monday acknowledged that smoke bombs containing phosphorous were used. It said the smoke bombs do not generally create a flame but the phosphorus in them can sometimes burn flammable materials within an 8-meter (8-yard) radius.

In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Tuesday the U.S. opposes the use of phosphorus to control crowds, and it has urged the government to ensure that its security forces exercise maximum restraint and protect the freedom of assembly in accordance with international standards.

Asked about how the incident reflects on the country's reforms, Nuland told reporters: "It's not secret that this is a work in progress in Burma." She said the U.S. would continue a "rigorous" dialogue on human rights with Myanmar, including on police conduct.

Senior police told the commission that they used the same smoke bombs during monk-led protests in 2007 — the demonstrations known as the Saffron Revolution — and they didn't cause any burns then. The commission faulted the police force for failing to understand how the smoke bombs worked and recommended that police receive riot-control training.

Aung Thein, who helped prepare the earlier independent report, said that police should have known the bombs could cause fires. "There is no excuse for ignorance," he said.

____

Associated Press writer Matthew Pennington in Washington contributed to this report.

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Report: Australian miners fired for 'Harlem Shake'

PERTH, Australia (AP) -- A newspaper says up to 15 miners have been fired for performing the "Harlem Shake" dance craze underground in an Australian gold mine.

The West Australian newspaper reports the miners lost their six-figure salaries over the stunt in the Agnew Gold Mine last week.

A dismissal letter cited by the paper says mine owner Barminco considered the stunt a safety issue. Barminco did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.

A YouTube video shows eight miners performing the convulsive dance. A sacked worker who wouldn't give his name told the newspaper that up to 15 people were fired, including some who watched the performance but did not participate.

Up to 4,000 videos of "Harlem Shake" variations are uploaded on the Internet daily.

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Canada to end biofuel subsidy in 2017: report

WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) - The Canadian government plans to end its subsidy for production of biofuels when its current program ends in 2017, a newspaper reported on Saturday.

The Globe and Mail quoted a letter from Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver to the biofuels industry on Thursday explaining that Ottawa needed to cut spending to tame its deficit.

Oliver said that the ethanol industry now produces the necessary volume of renewable fuel for Canada to meet its target of 5 percent ethanol in the country's gasoline supply, the newspaper reported.

But the minister also noted that the Canadian biodiesel industry had been unable to produce enough of that fuel, forcing some refiners to import to meet a 2 percent biodiesel target.

The production of fuel from feed stocks such as corn, wheat, canola and animal fat has been lauded as a way for Canada to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

However, ethanol and biodiesel fuel producers have required government subsidies and some critics complain that demand for fuel production has driven up the price of grain.

The government's ecoENERGY for Biofuels program was originally to have spent C$1.5 billion ($1.47 billion) supporting the industry between 2008 and 2017. It has actually committed only C$1 billion and stopped taking new applications for support in 2010, the newspaper said.

Ottawa plans to keep its existing commitments but wind down the program in 2017, the paper said.

According to the program's website, it has committed funding to about two dozen projects, including some owned by Suncor Energy Inc, Husky Energy Inc, Maple Leaf Foods Inc and BIOX Corp.

Plans have also been announced for new plants, notably a biodiesel plant that U.S. agrifood giant Archer Daniels Midland Co plans to build in Alberta.

The Globe and Mail quoted Scott Thurlow, president of the Canadian Renewable Fuels Association, as saying that new biodiesel plants could go forward if the government continued its subsidy.

(Reporting by Rod Nickel in Winnipeg; Editing by David Brunnstrom)

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