Quran burning plan leads to 2 deaths

Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- At least two people was killed and four were injured in Afghanistan Sunday in protests against the pastor who had planned to burn the Quran in Florida, a local official said.
On Saturday the pastor of the Florida church said the planned burning of the Quran had been canceled.
"We will definitely not burn the Quran," the Rev. Terry Jones told NBC's "Today." "Not today, not ever."

Demonstrations against the plan began in Afghanistan before Jones made his announcement.
About 600 people were at the protest which turned deadly Sunday, a spokesman for the governor of Logar province said.

Afghan security forces opened fire to prevent demonstrators from entering the offices of the governor of Baraki Barak district, Din Mohammad Darwish said.
He originally said one person was killed and five were wounded, but one of the injured later died, he said.

The protest lasted about three hours, he said.
And Iranian students plan to protest against the canceled Quran-burning on Monday, Iran's semi-official Fars news agency reported.

The group organizing the protest is the Union of Islamic Associations of Independent Students, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported.
Demonstrators will gather outside the Swiss Embassy in Iran's capital, Tehran, on Monday afternoon. Switzerland represents American interests in the Islamic republic because Washington and Tehran have no diplomatic relations.

The planned Quran burning -- initially scheduled for the ninth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States -- had sparked international condemnation.
The burning had been planned at the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida, for Saturday.

Jones arrived in New York late Friday night and was working to set up a meeting with the imam in charge of the New York Islamic center planned near ground zero.

The planned meeting, Jones had said, helped persuade him to halt the planned burning.
Jones' plan triggered expressions of concern from U.S. military leaders, who said the event would imperil the lives of troops abroad.

President Barack Obama said Friday that the idea that "we would burn the sacred texts of someone else's religion is contrary to what this country stands for."
He said he hoped Jones "prays on it" and refrains from doing it.
The government has to send a "very clear message" that burning the Quran would endanger U.S. troops and serve as a major recruiting tool for al Qaeda, Obama added.

Drove zaps 5 militants

Islamabad, Pakistan (CNN) -- A suspected U.S. drone strike killed five suspected militants in Pakistan's tribal region on Sunday morning, intelligence officials told CNN.

Two intelligence officials said two missiles were fired on the hideout of suspected militants in the Data Khel area of North Waziristan, one of seven districts in Pakistan's tribal region bordering Afghanistan.

The intelligence officials asked not to be named because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Last week officials said suspected drone strikes killed 29 suspected militants in the region.
While the United States is the only country in the region known to have the ability to launch missiles from drones -- which are controlled remotely -- U.S. officials normally do not comment on suspected drone strikes.

F-16s on alert.

Never Forget ...

Navy drone incident sparks safety concerns

WASHINGTON — The U.S. military almost launched fighter jets and discussed a possible shoot-down when an errant Navy drone briefly veered into restricted airspace near the nation's capital last month, a senior military official said Thursday.

The incident underscores safety concerns with unmanned aircraft as defense officials campaign to use them more often during natural disasters and for homeland security.
Navy Adm. James Winnefeld Jr., head of Northern Command, said Thursday that the August mishap could hamper the Pentagon's push to have the Federal Aviation Administration ease procedures for drone use by the military in domestic skies.

"It certainly doesn't help our case any time there's a UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) that wanders around a little bit outside of its controlled airspace," said Winnefeld, who also is commander of the North American Aerospace Defense Command. "We realize the responsibility on our part to include the technical capability and proper procedures. We'd just like to be able to get at it quicker."

Currently drones are used for patrols and surveillance along the nation's southern border, and sometimes at the northern border. But the military wants to use them more during hurricanes and other disasters to evaluate damage or target rescue efforts.

The FAA has been working for some time on new regulations governing the use of drones, but has yet to complete them. And the August incident brought one of the FAA's key concerns to bear — the prospect that remote operators can lose communications with the aircraft.

Drones routinely operate in war zones, such as Iraq and Afghanistan, where there is much less business jet or small plane traffic. FAA officials say there is a greater danger of collisions with such smaller aircraft in the U.S., particularly when drones are flying at lower altitudes away from large cities and airports, in areas where planes aren't required to have transponders or collision warning systems.

In such cases, according to the FAA, it is more important for pilots to be able to see each other and take action.

Winnefeld said he was in the operations center watching when controllers lost the link to their Navy MQ-8B Fire Scout during a test at the naval air station at Patuxent River, Md., and it flew into the capital region's restricted airspace.

"Do you let it fly over the national capital region? Let it run out of gas and hopefully crash in a farmer's field? Or do you take action and shoot it down?" said Winnefeld. "You don't want to shoot it down over a populated area if you can avoid it. We were going through all of that calculus."
As the fighter jets were about to be launched, he said, the Navy was able to reprogram the helicopter-like craft and bring it back.

Winnefeld said he agrees with the need for airspace safety, but maintains there is great demand for the drones and the military should be able to get them into the air more quickly when needed.

"We can't move quickly enough for me to solve this problem," Winnefeld said. "We need to push forward into getting the technology and the permission and the comfort level up to where we can do this as a matter of routine. This is where the future is going."
Speaking to defense reporters, Winnefeld said discussions are continuing with the FAA to find ways to streamline the approval process. At the same time, he said the Defense Department also must address FAA's safety concerns by insuring that the drones have the software and systems necessary to fly safely.

He also said he is considering the need for a slower and lighter piloted aircraft that could be used during events such as outdoor sports games, political conventions or inaugural activities. The high-flying F-16 fighter jets are too fast for some missions.

While his review is only just beginning, Winnefeld said there may be a need for an aircraft that can fly much more slowly and at lower levels to monitor events. He said he'd like to have some answers within a year.