I'm thinking he didn't want to have his head cut off and shown on YouTube ...

The pastor of a small US church who planned to burn copies of the Koran on the anniversary of 9/11 has cancelled his protest.

Terry Jones said he was calling off the event after the group behind a planned Islamic centre near Ground Zero in New York agreed to relocate it.

But the cultural centre's organisers said they had no plans to move it.

Mr Jones' plan had been internationally condemned and had already sparked many protests around the world.

US Defence Secretary Robert Gates had telephoned him to urge him to reconsider his plans. The pastor had also been visited several times by the FBI.

Mr Jones, pastor of the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida, which has fewer than 50 members, had named Saturday "International Burn a Koran Day".

But at a news conference, he said he was now dropping the plans and urged his supporters to do the same.

"We would right now ask no one to burn Korans. We are absolutely strong on that. It is not the time to do it," he said.

If they were willing to either cancel the mosque at the Ground Zero location, or if they were willing to move it away from that location, we would consider that sign from God”

He said he would travel to New York on Saturday to meet those behind the Islamic centre, saying they had "agreed to move the location".

"The American people do not want the mosque there, and, of course, Muslims do not want us to burn the Koran," he said.

"If it's not moved, then I think Islam is a very poor example of religion. I think that would be very pitiful. I do not expect that."

Mr Jones was joined at his news conference by Muhammad Musri from the Islamic Foundation of Central Florida.

Mr Musri said he and Mr Jones had committed to travelling to New York "to come to a decision on moving the mosque".

"We are committed to dissolving the situation here and there," he said.

He also thanked Mr Jones for his "courage and his willingness to take these serious events that are unfolding".

But the organisers of the New York centre said no agreement had been reached with Mr Jones.

Leader of the New York project, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf issued a statement saying he welcomed the cancellation of the Koran burning.

"However, I have not spoken to Pastor Jones or Imam Musri," he added.

"We are not going to toy with our religion or any other. Nor are we going to barter. We are here to extend our hands to build peace and harmony."

Mr Musri clarified to reporters that no guarantees about moving the Islamic centre had been given.

He and Mr Jones had only agreed to fly to New York to discuss the location of the Islamic centre with Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf.

Plans for the Islamic centre have prompted fierce debate in the US because of its proximity to the scene of the 9/11 terror attacks.

President Barack Obama had earlier warned Mr Jones the proposed burning would be "a recruitment bonanza" for al-Qaeda.

The US State Department had warned US citizens of an increased risk of attack, while international police organisation Interpol also issued a warning of the risk of violent response.

Update: Imam disputes pastor's claim:

(CNN) -- A Florida Muslim leader is disputing claims by the Rev. Terry Jones that he brokered a deal to get the Islamic center project near New York's ground zero moved if the pastor called off his Quran burning event.

Imam Muhammad Musri said Jones may have hatched the story about the Islamic center moving to "give himself a reason to call this off."

Jones "was trying to save face," Musri said Thursday night on CNN's "AC360."
Musri said he did not tell Jones that the Islamic center project would be moved away from ground zero.


'He's accusing me of lying to him, which I did not. I was very explicit with him." said Musri, who is with the Islamic Society of Central Florida.
Video: Imam shocked by pastor's speech Video: Uncertainty surrounds move Video: Pastor cancels

The disagreement between the two religious figures is the latest twist in the saga about the proposed Quran burning event.

President Obama and Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Thursday urged Jones to call off the Saturday event, timed for the ninth anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Jones said he would call off the event but then seemed to be changing his mind later Thursday.

During the afternoon, Jones said he canceled his plan to burn copies of the Quran, based on what he said were assurances that the Islamic center in New York would be moved.
Late Thursday, Jones said he would "rethink our position" after Musri said he had never given Jones that assurance.

Jones, leader of the Gainesville, Florida-based Dove World Outreach Center, also announced he will travel Saturday to New York to meet with the religious leader behind the planned center, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, about a new location.

But that, too, was questioned.

Karzai orders probe into journalist's beheading

Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Monday ordered an investigation into the beheading death of an Afghan journalist, his office said in a statement.

Said Hamid Noori, a journalist for Radio Television Afghanistan (RTA) was killed Sunday, according to Abdul Hamid Mobariz, the head of an Afghan journalists' union.

Mobariz said Noori left his home after receiving a phone call, and his decapitated body was discovered about an hour later.

"The killing of Noori is a big loss for Afghanistan journalists," Mobariz said.

He added that Noori had been working as the deputy chief of a journalists' union. He also directed an educational organization that taught students how to become broadcasters, Mobariz said.

Karzai has ordered the country's Interior Ministry to investigate the killing, the statement from his office said.

According to Journalists Without Borders, a group that defends press freedom and tracks the targeting of journalists, "Noori was a well-known TV anchor who went into politics and became the spokesman of Mohammad Yunus Qanooni, an opponent of President Hamid Karzai."

"While the motives are not yet known, it is important that the investigators should not rule out the possibility that this murder was linked to the victim's work as a journalist," Reporters Without Borders said in a statement on its website.

"Although he had resigned as a state TV presenter, he continued to be a politically committed journalist and was an active member of the National Union of Afghan Journalists. We offer our condolences to his family and friends."

Today's excerpt from "The Interceptors Club & the Secret of the Black Manta.

D.I.A. agent Scarlet had driven through the night and arrived at Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque just before dawn.

He easily could have ordered a military jet at Holloman to fly him to Kirtland, to do that he would have to reveal who he was on a base where Pepper may have compromised security.

Although he was dead-tired from lack of sleep, Scarlet had little time for even the quickest of catnaps because a host of Pentagon brass was waiting in the base commander’s office to be briefed about the theft of Excalibur.

During the drive to Kirtland, the military machine had been put into motion and a strike team consisting of Special Forces operatives and Federal Agents had been hastily assembled and at that moment were winging their way to the staging area at Cannon Air Force Base located in far eastern New Mexico.

There they would await instructions on how to proceed.

After his meeting with the Pentagon staff, and updating them on where things stood, Scarlet requested an immediate intelligence-gathering mission over the operations area. The Pentagon chiefs agreed and an order went out that Distant Star be dispatched at once.

A mission order was immediately sent to the commanding officer of Detachment 4, based at the super-secret Groom Lake Test Flight Center at Area 51 where a Distant Star UAV was always standing by, ready to fly.

Exactly forty-five minutes later, Distant Star launched and began winging it’s way towards Holloman.

It was ironic that Distant Star was the intelligence platform of choice for it was born in the same secret enclave as Excalibur, the Lockheed Skunkworks.

In fact, Distant Star and Excalibur were directly related to each other. Both extremely stealthy, both unmanned and both first built and test flown out of Area 51.

The two aircraft even shared the same computer systems, composite materials and some avionics, but there were major differences in their missions.

Where Excalibur was conceived as being the ultimate autonomous attack aircraft, Distant Star was designed to never carry a bomb. Distant Star was a sky-spy whereas Excalibur was a warrior.

They also looked quite different. Excalibur was sleek and looked fast even on the ground, but Distant Star could only be described as looking ungainly, an albatross of an aircraft with very long drooping wings connected to a body more reminiscent of a submarine than an aircraft.

But what Distant Star lacked in good looks, it more than made up for in performance.

Distant Star was the ultimate intelligence tool, a flying ELINT gathering sponge, able to intercept even the weakest electronic emission, process it and send the data back via satellite to a command center for analysis.

It was Distant Star that helped locate deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, intercepting a very weak cordless phone call from an aid charged with keeping him safe. Although Distant Star couldn’t pinpoint his exact location, it did know the general area he was hiding in which made it possible to dispatch Task Force 121 close to where the intercepted signal was detected.

Two days after the intercept, and acting on tip from a source code-named “FAT MAN”, Task Force 121 was close at hand and in position when it was revealed that Saddam was hiding inside an orange-picker’s house just outside of ad Dawr located near the Tigris River.

Since Saddam rarely spent more than a few nights in any one hideout, Distant Star’s intercept made it possible to preposition troops in the suspected area, ready at a moments notice to pounce - and pounce they did, finding the once absolute ruler of Iraq hiding in a “spider hole.”

Distant Star flew higher than most aircraft, above 100,000 feet and could loiter for days over an area of interest, unnoticed even by Holloman’s air traffic controllers because it was so invisible on radar.

Computer networks, cellular and satellite telephone systems and even encrypted radio communications were all vulnerable to interception by Distant Star.

On board artificially brilliant cryptanalysis computers could crack even the most sophisticated ciphers and expose their secrets.

But Distant Star was not just a passive intelligence gathering aircraft. Using powerful transmitters and an advanced Artificial Intelligence suite, it could invade and compromise computer networks, especially those attached to wireless networks.

By planting logic bombs, viruses and smart programs the computers used by the enemy could be rendered useless or come under the direct control of Distant Star or its controllers.

It was then quite ironic that a flying electronic eavesdropping aircraft would be deployed to keep tabs on the Interceptors.


BUY THE E_BOOK TODAY LIMITED TIME ONLY $3.99!

Six die in Pakistan drone strike

Six people have died in a US missile strike targeting militants in Pakistan's tribal district on the Afghan border, security officials say.

The raid took place in Dande Darpakhel village, 5km (3 miles) north-west of Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan.

Officials said all the dead were with the Haqqani network, a branch of the Afghan Taliban operating in Pakistan.

It is the fourth suspected US drone attack in the region this month.

Witnesses told the BBC three aircraft were involved in the raid.

One of the unmanned planes fired two missiles at the compound, they said.

Last Friday, eight people died in two drone strikes in this tribal region.

US troops called in as Iraqi army base attacked

BBC NEWS:

US troops have been called in to help Iraqi forces battle insurgents who attacked an army base in Baghdad, killing 12 people, officials say.

It marks the first such use of US troops since the end of US combat operations five days ago.

US forces remaining in Iraq can now only participate in operations at the request of Iraqi authorities.

A US military spokesman said US forces had provided fired as Iraqis located two of the assailants inside the base.

The BBC's Gabriel Gatehouse in Baghdad says reports from the scene are still confused, but piecing together events from different sources, the attack seems to have involved at least five bombers.

He says one of the bombers detonated his explosives at an outer checkpoint leading to the Rusafa military command headquarters, blowing up a mini-van.

Then, four men - some wearing suicide vests - ran towards the base. Two were reportedly shot dead before they could pass a second checkpoint.

An Iraqi officer at the scene told the BBC that two further bombers got into the base, taking refuge inside the building, and attacking security forces with hand grenades.

The same officer said that US forces were called in to help, and exchanged gunfire with the attackers before Iraqi security forces stormed the building, killing the bombers.

US military spokesman Lt Col Eric Bloom said the Iraqi military had also requested help from helicopters, drones and explosives experts.

More than 20 people were wounded in the incident.

The attack is the deadliest in Baghdad since the US formally ended combat operations last month.

The same compound was attacked by al-Qaeda in Iraq three weeks ago, when more than 50 recruits were killed.