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U.S. military copter crashes in Afghanistan

By wire services
Published June 29, 2005

WASHINGTON - A large U.S. military helicopter crashed Tuesday afternoon while carrying up to 20 American troops to reinforce a counterterrorism mission in eastern Afghanistan, U.S. officials confirmed. The fate of those on board was not immediately known, and the area of the crash, near Asadabad in Kunar province, is rugged and hilly.

Afghan officials said the Chinook CH-47 helicopter was hit by a rocket, and a purported spokesman for the Taliban militia claimed responsibility for the attack. But a U.S. military statement said it was not known what caused the crash near the Pakistan border.

The incident was the first reported shooting down of an American military aircraft in Afghanistan since the Taliban militia was driven from power in late 2001. U.S. officials have confirmed that 29 U.S. troops have died since March, as well as 43 Afghan police and soldiers and 125 civilians. Before Tuesday's crash, a total of 195 American forces had been killed in Afghanistan since 2001.

MOSCOW - In a bid to harness what backers say could be a nearly limitless source of clean electric power, an international consortium Tuesday chose France as the site for an experimental fusion reactor that will aim to replicate how the sun creates energy.

The $13-billion International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor project is one of the most prestigious and expensive international scientific efforts ever launched. But critics say the technological hurdles to be overcome are so vast that the money could be better spent in other ways.

Japan and France, backed by roughly equal factions in the consortium planning the project, had competed for the prestige and economic benefits of hosting the project. But Tokyo agreed to a compromise: The fusion reactor is to be sited at Cadarache, near Marseille in southern France, while Japan will have the next-largest role in the project. Members of the consortium are the United States, Russia, China, Japan, South Korea and the European Union.

MIAMI - A tropical depression in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico developed into Tropical Storm Bret on Tuesday afternoon.

Bret was expected to move inland overnight between Veracruz and Tampico, Mexico, and a tropical storm warning was posted for that area.

Forecasters said the storm could gain some strength before it goes ashore this morning.

Tuesday evening, Bret was at latitude 19.9 N and longitude 95.8 W, or about 55 miles north-northwest of Veracruz. It was moving west-northwest at about 5 mph with maximum sustained winds near 40 mph. Since 1851 there have been only 12 years in which two or more tropical storms formed in June, forecasters said.

ITALY WANTS CIA AGENTS EXTRADITED: Italian prosecutors want to extradite 13 CIA officials accused of kidnapping a radical Muslim cleric and transporting him to Egypt where he reportedly was tortured, and they've asked Interpol to help track down the Americans, a court official said Tuesday. A man identified as the former CIA station chief in Milan is among the 13, according to a report by the judge who issued the arrest warrants.

MEXICO TO HAVE ABSENTEE VOTING: Mexican lawmakers gave final approval to a bill Tuesday that would allow millions of immigrants living in the United States to vote by mail in its presidential election next year.

The vote in the lower Chamber of Deputies ended a long political struggle over whether Mexicans living abroad should be able to influence the outcome of elections in their homeland. Expatriates are legally allowed to vote and have dual citizenship, but they have been hampered by the lack of an absentee ballot system. President Vicente Fox said he will sign the bill into law.

[Last modified June 29, 2005, 01:19:17]