Nearly 4 million Sudanese to vote on independence

JUBA, Sudan (Reuters) – Almost 4 million southern Sudanese, or roughly half the south's population, have registered to take part in an independence referendum next week that is likely to split Africa's largest country in two, officials said on Monday.

The U.S. State Department said it was optimistic ahead of the vote, which is due to begin in six days and marks the climax of a 2005 peace deal that ended a civil war in Sudan that killed at least 2 million people and destabilized much of the region.

"At this point, we are optimistic about the referendum this coming weekend," State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley told a news briefing in Washington.

Southerners are expected to vote to separate from the north and form a new nation.

"The total number of people registered in the south, in the eight countries abroad and in the states of northern Sudan is 3,930,916," said Chan Reek Madut, a member of the referendum's organizing commission.

The vast majority of voters are in the southern region. Only some sixty thousand registered in the diaspora and less than 120,000 in the north, amid accusations of voter intimidation and a fear of reprisals should the south separate.

The south's population was estimated to be 8 million in the latest census.

THE RIGHT SIGNALS

Madut said 52 percent of those registered were women. Organizers made a concerted effort to ensure women, often uneducated in rural areas, were able to sign up to vote.

All voting materials are expected to be in place across the region by Tuesday, dispelling fears that the late awarding of a tender to print ballot papers could delay the vote.

The State Department's Crowley said both the Obama administration's special envoy for Sudan, Scott Gration, and Princeton Lyman, a veteran U.S. diplomat named to help negotiations between north and south, would be in Sudan for the vote, and said both sides appeared to be sending "the right signals" about the need for an open and credible process.

But he noted that the two sides remain split on key issues including border demarcation, the fate of the disputed region of Abyei, and the sharing of oil revenues -- any of which could spark potential confrontation in the weeks following the referendum.

"The environment, we think, is constructive leading into this weekend. But we understand there are still many unresolved issues," Crowley said.

Madut said the option to extend the voting period was still available to organisers.

"If it appears there is a good reason we will recommend to the commission that there be an extension," he said.

In order to be valid, the referendum requires that 60 percent of those registered turn out to vote.

Africa heads offer amnesty to Ivory Coast's Gbagbo

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast – African leaders on Monday offered Laurent Gbagbo one last chance to accept an amnesty deal on condition he immediately cede power to the internationally recognized winner of Ivory Coast's presidential election or face a military ouster.

They left hours later with no clear answer from the renegade president who has defied calls to step down, even though results tallied by the country's electoral commission and certified by the United Nations showed he had lost by a landslide to opposition leader Alassane Ouattara.

The trip is the second in less than a week by the three African presidents on behalf of the 15-member Economic Community of West African States, or ECOWAS, in an attempt to give persuasion a final chance before resorting to military force. This time the leaders of Sierra Leone, Benin and Cape Verde were joined by Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga, representing the African Union, as they shuttled between meetings with Gbagbo and Ouattara.

Even as Gbagbo's meeting with the African leaders was going on, his closest advisers continued to insist that the 65-year-old had won the election, indicating that the sitting president did not intend to budge.

Speaking to reporters after meeting with the African leaders, Ouattara told reporters that the dialogue was over.

"For us, the discussion is finished," said Ouattara. "Everything has been done so that we could find a solution through diplomacy and dialogue. Since that is not the case, perhaps Laurent Gbagbo will have a change of heart in coming hours? If not, then ECOWAS will need to use all the means at its disposal including the use of legitimate force so that the president that was elected can assume his functions."

He added that an amnesty deal was still in the realm of possibility, but only if Gbagbo recognizes defeat. "He needs to recognize the results of the election, renounce the powers he has usurped and leave for the sake of all Ivorians."

Despite increasing international pressure including a visa ban slapped on him last month by the European Union, Gbagbo has continued to cling to power with the backing of the army. Human rights groups accuse his security forces of abducting and killing hundreds of political opponents and the U.N. was barred entry from a building believed to be housing 60 to 80 of the bodies.

Although recognized internationally, at home Ouattara has been shut out of the institutions of power. He is attempting to govern from a hotel in Abidjan where he and his staff are barricaded behind sandbags and giant coils of razor wire. He is under the constant protection of United Nations peacekeepers, but Gbagbo's security forces have set up checkpoints on the roads leading to the hotel, barring anyone from entering or exiting.

In recent weeks, getting supplies to the Golf Hotel has become increasingly difficult, and the U.N. started running daily helicopter flights that land on the hotel's lawn ferrying cartons of vegetables and tins of powdered milk.

In Washington, U.S. officials said they remain willing to help Gbagbo make a "dignified exit," including revisiting the visa ban so he can travel to the United States and take up a possible teaching position, but only if he agrees to step down. They said the window of opportunity for that, however, is rapidly closing.

"We hope that President Gbagbo will listen intently to the message that he needs to step down," U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said. "So far, he hasn't. But we certainly endorse what ECOWAS is trying to do today."

An official from Odinga's office said the Ivorian leader would be guaranteed safety if he agrees to hand over power.

After leaving Ivory Coast late Monday, the African leaders were heading to Nigeria, whose president, Goodluck Jonathan, is the current chairman of ECOWAS, to discuss the next step. Odinga said the African leaders will be making "a comprehensive statement" on their mission after consulting with Jonathan on Tuesday.

Col. Mohammed Yerima, a Nigerian military spokesman, said defense chiefs from ECOWAS member states had met last week to begin strategizing what sort of assault they would use if talks fail.

President Barack Obama tried to call Gbagbo three times last month, including twice from Air Force One. He did not reach Gbagbo and at one point, Obama was told that Gbagbo was 'resting.' Administration officials believe the Ivorian leader sought to avoid contact. So Obama wrote Gbagbo a letter, offering him an international role if he stepped down.

Obama also made clear, however, that the longer Gbagbo holds on, and the more complicit he becomes in violence across the country, the more limited his options become, said a senior administration official who requested anonymity to speak about administration strategy.

Gbagbo, who came to power in 2000 and ruled during the civil war that erupted two years later, overstayed his legal term which expired in 2005, claiming the country was too unstable to organize a poll. The election was rescheduled at least six times before it was finally held in October. During the campaign, one of the slogans of Gbagbo's party's was, "Either we win. Or we win." Some have taken that to mean he never intended to step down, regardless of the results.

Severed head hung from bridge in Tijuana, Mexico

TIJUANA, Mexico – The severed head of a young man was found hanging from a bridge in the Mexican border city of Tijuana on Monday.

The Baja California state attorney general's office said the head belonged to a man between 25 and 30 years old.

It had several bullet wounds and was hung using a metallic ring and a nylon rope. A threatening message was found nearby on the bridge.

Hours earlier, a woman between 30 and 35 years old was found shot to death in another Tijuana neighborhood, also with a threatening message left nearby.

Authorities have blamed recent cartel-style violence in Tijuana on feuding between rivals and loyalists of Teodoro "El Teo" Garcia Simental, an alleged drug lord arrested last January.

Farther east along Mexico's border with the United States, Mexican soldiers on Monday found an unfinished tunnel under a house in the city of Nogales, across from Nogales, Arizona.

The army's 45th Military Zone command said the tunnel was dug about 5 feet (1.5 meters) beneath the surface and stretched almost 100 feet (30 meters), apparently just far enough to reach U.S. territory.

The command said in a statement the tunnel ended abruptly and had probably been intended to move drugs across the border.

The mouth of the tunnel was found in one of the rooms of the house in Mexico, which appeared abandoned. There were no arrests nor were any drugs found at the scene.

Nogales is located in northern Sonora state, and on Monday unidentified gunmen shot to death the state's interim prison director, Erasto Ortiz Valencia, outside his home.

State prosecutors' spokesman Jose Larrinaga said Ortiz Valencia died of three bullet wounds. He had been in office only 10 days when he died; his predecessor was fired after he was linked to the escape of a murder suspect.

The assistant police chief of the city of Empalme, near the coastal city of Guaymas, was also shot to death Monday by a gunmen who fired an assault rifle from an SUV.

In the Pacific coast state of Guerrero, police reported Monday that two boys ages 14 and 17 were shot to death in the remote mountain town of Alcozahuca, near the Oaxaca state line.

The assailants fled after killing the boys with assault rifles late Sunday. While there was no immediate evidence the killings were drug-related, Mexican cartels have been recruiting youths as young as 14.

Also in Guerrero, police in the resort of Acapulco reported Monday they had found the bound bodies of four young men dumped on a main boulevard.

The men had been killed with guns and knives and were found blindfolded and their hands or feet tied. Handwritten messages of the kind frequently left by drug cartels were found near the bodies, but Guerrero state police, in keeping with policy, did not release the contents of those messages.

Bolivian President Evo Morales cancels a decree that sharply raised fuel prices.

LA PAZ, Bolivia - Bolivian President Evo Morales on Friday abruptly canceled a decree that sharply raised fuel prices, reacting to widespread protests and the threat of more to come in the biggest setback of his five years in office.

Sunday's price hikes had caused a burst of street protests, many of them by core supporters of the leftist who is Bolivia's first indigenous president. Protesters vowed to renew their demonstrations after the New Year holiday, with workers from the crucial mining industry vowing to join in.

Morales said in a televised message about 90 minutes before midnight that he had listened to unions and social groups and decided "to obey what the people say by abrogating the decree raising gasoline and everything that accompanied that measure. That means that all of the measures are withdrawn."

The government announced Sunday that it was raising gasoline prices by 73 percent, to 92 cents a liter ($3.48 a gallon) for regular gasoline, up from 50 cents ($1.89).

Diesel jumped to 97 cents a liter ($3.67 a gallon) from about 50 cents. Some other fuel prices doubled.

The prices had been frozen for six years, and Vice President Alvaro Garcia said the state was paying $380 million a year to subsidize gasoline imports, with much of it smuggled to neighboring countries with higher prices.

The sharp rise prompted strikes by bus and taxi drivers that hobbled transit in many cities, and mass street protests on Thursday turned violent. At least 15 people were reported injured.

Protesters carried posters denouncing the president as a traitor and some shouted, "Evo, the people are angry!"

Morales' government at first tried to mitigate the blow of the higher prices by announcing a 20 percent salary increase for troops, police, health and education workers. The government also offered help for rice, corn and wheat farmers.

UK cable in 1980 said Israel ready to use bomb

LONDON (Reuters) – A British ambassador to Israel warned as early as 1980 that Israel would detonate a nuclear bomb in case of a new war with the Arabs, according to previously secret state documents released on Thursday.

"If they (Israelis) are to be destroyed, they will go down fighting this time. They will be ready to use their atomic weapon," ambassador John Robinson wrote in a cable to the Foreign Office on May 4, 1980.

Israel has never confirmed or denied having atom bombs under a policy of ambiguity to deter numerically superior foes.

Robinson's message, published under a rule that allows official British papers to be released after 30 years, voiced concern that U.S.-hosted negotiations would not lead to a comprehensive agreement on the Middle East conflict.

"As long as there is no agreement on the West Bank and Jerusalem which satisfies the Palestinians, they will be driven increasingly to extremism; moderate governments in the area and Western interest will be increasingly threatened; opportunities for Soviet influence and intervention will increase; and so will the danger

Two Wild Pit Bulls Run Amok

Kwame Asiedu

Ghanatelescope



Two wild pit bulls ran amok and terrorized Manet Court neighbourhood on Monday morning,killing puppies and snatching any moving creature in sight. It all started with a gesture of goodwill by a girlfriend of the owner of the dogs who, after spending the night opted to feed one of the dogs while the owner was still resting in bed. In the process, one of the dogs attacked her, tore off her breast while the other sprang towards a house boy who had rushed to her defense. The houseboy also suffered deep bites on his leg and lower thighs.
The commotion awoke the owner who frighteningly rushed the two victims to a nearby hospital, leaving the gates open and the house unattended. The dogs thereby dashed into the complex in pursuit of more deadly attacks on their preys. Among the casualties were three dogs killed along with humans who suffered bites and trauma.
When security guards were alerted a former garden boy of the owner who happened to be around volunteered to tame them and chained them back to their home. According to neighbours, the owner is a Lebanese resident with history of leaving his dogs unattended "to feed on armed robbers".
"The city must pass some byelaw to protect people against such wild dogs in all communities where children and pets roam around.
In some American cities and states strict measures are put in place against ownership of such dangerous breed." Remarked Dr Ben Assinor, a resident who moved from USA to enjoy home life. "Some foreigners think it is OK to bring these wild dogs to this country and leave them run loose to attack our children and pets just like the old south. Some laws are needed here to protect us. A few weeks ago there was a similar incident whereby a Chinese National left his dog loose to attack some young fellows down the street. Authorities must wake up to civic responsibilities like this - civil protection. That will be good governance and accountability to the people," he added.

Ivory Coast's Gbagbo resists African demands he step down

ABIDJAN (Reuters) – Ivory Coast's incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo has said he will reject a demand by African heads of state on Monday that he cede power to his rival Alassane Ouattara or face force.

Four leaders representing West African regional bloc ECOWAS and the African Union are due to meet with Gbagbo to ask him to give up the presidency after a November 28 poll that internationally recognized results showed he lost.

More than 170 people have been killed since the start of the standoff in the world's top cocoa grower, which threatens to restart open conflict in the country still split in two by a 2002-03 civil war.

Gbagbo, who has the backing of the country's top court and the army, has shrugged off pressure to step down and said on state television on the weekend that Ouattara "should not count on foreign armies to come and make him president."

A Gbagbo spokesman said Gbagbo, who has been in power since 2000, would not agree to leave.

Ivory Coast's constitutional court, run by a staunch Gbagbo ally, reversed the U.N.-ratified electoral commission results showing a Ouattara win, citing massive evidence of fraud.

LAST CHANCE

Three west African heads of state -- Benin's Boni Yayi, Sierra Leone's Ernest Bai Koroma and Cape Verde's Pedro Pires -- will return to Abidjan after an initial trip last week failed to convince Gbagbo to step down.

Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga will join them.

"He will be the voice of the African Union," according to a statement issued by Odinga's office.

"He will seek a peaceful settlement to the election crisis (...) and seek an assurance of safety and security for Mr. Laurent Gbagbo and his supporters, if he agrees to cede power."

The United States and the European Union have imposed a travel ban on Gbagbo and his inner circle, while the World Bank and the regional West African central bank have frozen his finances in an attempt to weaken his grip on power.

If military forces are eventually sent in by ECOWAS, it may trigger open conflict between Gbagbo's government army and the ECOWAS force, known as ECOMOG, and northern rebels who tried to topple him in 2002 may also get involved.

Ouattara's camp say the army is divided and most troops would put up little resistance to a sufficient display of force.

But West African leaders are seen as unlikely to carry through the threat of force because of the risk of being bogged down in an urban war and might lack the operational intelligence to track Gbagbo and his supporters down in a strike.

Nigeria, the backbone of ECOMOG, has its own growing security issues at home -- and its own elections in April.

The United Nations has also said Gbagbo may be criminally responsible for human rights violations, including killings and kidnappings by security forces since the election.

Ouattara's Prime Minister Guillaume Soro, confined with the rest of Ouattara's rival government to the lagoon-side Golf Hotel under the protection of 600 U.N. troops, told reporters at the weekend that Gbagbo has only days to leave power peacefully.

The message the African neighbors were bringing "seems clear," he said. "This is the last chance for Mr. Gbagbo to get a peaceful departure from power and a guarantee of immunity."

Fears of an escalation of violence has led more than 18,000 people to leave Ivory Coast for neighboring Liberia, according to the United Nations.

Cocoa output from Ivory Coast has remained relatively robust despite the turmoil, helping drive cocoa futures below four-month peaks hit in December.

Church bombing Attack kills 21 people in Egypt on New Year’s Day

Probe focuses on Islamic group

ALEXANDRIA, Egypt — Egyptian police are focusing their investigation into the New Year’s suicide bombing of a church on a group of Islamic hard-liners inspired by al-Qaida and based in the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria where the attack killed 21 people, security officials said Sunday.

The bombing touched off riots and protests by Egypt’s Christian minority, who feel they are targeted and discriminated against and do not get adequate protection from authorities. There were signs of beefed up security outside churches nationwide and dozens returned to pray Sunday in the bombed, blood-spattered Saints Church — many of them sobbing, screaming in anger and slapping themselves in grief.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack on Coptic Christians leaving a midnight Mass about a half hour into the new year Saturday, the worst attack on Egyptian Christians in a decade. In the immediate aftermath, President Hosni Mubarak blamed foreigners and the Alexandria governor accused al-Qaida, pointing to threats against Christians by the terror network’s branch in Iraq.

But on Sunday, security officials said police are looking at the possibility that homegrown Islamic extremists were behind it, and perhaps were inspired by al-Qaida though not directly under foreign command.

Investigators were also examining lists of air passengers who arrived recently in Egypt from Iraq because al-Qaida in Iraq threatened Christians in both countries. They said they are looking for any evidence of an al-Qaida financier or organizer who may have visited Egypt to recruit the bomber and his support team from local militants.

Investigators were also examining two heads found at the site on suspicion that at least one was the bomber’s, state news agency MENA reported. The crime lab investigation found the explosives used were locally made and were filled with nails and ball bearings to maximize the number of casualties.

Egypt’s government has long insisted that al-Qaida does not have a significant presence in the country, and it has never been conclusively linked to any attacks here.

Egypt does, however, have a rising movement of Islamic hard-liners who, while they do not advocate violence, adhere to an ideology similar in other ways to al-Qaida. There have been fears they could be further radicalized by sectarian tensions. The hard-liners, known as Salafis, have a large and active presence in Alexandria.

Christians staged demonstrations in at least three cities to protest what they see as the government’s failure to protect their community, but police moved quickly to break up the gatherings.

Sally Moore, another Christian protester, said Muslim and Coptic protesters are planning to form a “human shield” outside major churches in Cairo on Coptic Christmas Eve on Jan. 6 in a show of solidarity.

“The security is protecting the regime, not the people, not the churches,” she said.

Father Maqar, who led the service, did not give a sermon, preferring to express his grief with silence.

GHANA CEDI EQUIVALENT OF CURRENCY

GHANA CEDI EQUIVALENT OF CURRENCY



CURRENCY BUYING - SELLING

US Dollar 1.4407 - 1.4656

Pound Sterling 2.2183 - 2.2569

Swiss Franc 1.5169 - 1.5427

Australian Dollar 1.4601 - 1.4866

Canadian Dollar 1.4434 - 1.4675

Danish Kroner 0.2541 - 0.2584

Japanese Yen 0.0176 - 0.0179

New Zealand Dollar 1.0965 - 1.1161

Norwegian Kroner 0.2425 - 0.2466

Swedish Kroner 0.2107 - 0.2143

South Africa Rand 0.2152 - 0.2188

Euro 1.8937 - 1.9264



CURRENCY EQUIVALENT OF GHANA CEDI



CFA 340.51 - 346.39

Dalasi 20.22 - 20.57

Ouguiya 190.20 - 193.49

Naira 113.35 - 115.31

Leone 2,896.06 - 2,946.13

214 Ghanaians Stranded In Libya

TWO HUNDRED and fourteen Ghanaians are allegedly living in undesirable conditions in Libya, the North African oil-rich country, according to information available to DAILY GUIDE.

The stranded Ghanaians, who are currently living at Tripoli, the capital of Libya, according to sources, have no access to food, water, light and other basic necessities.

One of the stranded Ghanaians, Morgan Donkor, told Radio Mercury, a Kumasi-based radio station, in a telephone interview from their base on the desert on Tuesday afternoon that they had been trapped in that area for several weeks.

He said they were contracted by a foreign building and construction company, which was under the auspices of the Libyan government, as constructional workers who worked in various fields of the company.

Morgan, who claimed to be a resident of Techiman in the Brong Ahafo region, said they had been trapped on the desert because the company had refused to pay them for the services they rendered to the company.

According to him, the company owed the 214 people a total amount of 440 thousand dollars for the various services they rendered to the company in the area of carpentry, masonry, mechanical service among others.

Disclosing that the company used them to construct over 6,000 housing units as part of its agreement with the Libyan government, Morgan noted that depending on the kind of job one was assigned to, they were required to receive between 4,000 dollars to 2,000 dollars.

He indicated that every effort to get the company to pay them their money did not yield any result, pointing out that the intervention by the Ghanaian ambassador to Libya to save the situation had also proved futile.

Morgan stated that their attempt to voice out their irritation to President Mills when he visited the country recently fell on the rocks as the Libyan authorities made everything possible to stop them. He added that five of them were arrested and thrown into jail.

He said in as much as they wanted the company to pay them their money, they also wanted the Mills government to come to their aid and possibly airlift them back to the country so that they could regain their freedom.

Blackout on A New Year's Day

Vast sections of Accra Metropolitan area and parts of Eastern Region spent the New Year with disappointment and digust over "power outage on a New Year's Day of all days". The failure which started at 6.30 am lasted through 2pm.
Residents have been complaining that the authorities have been insentitive to their painful experiences resulting from relentless on and off shut-offs.
A check by Ghanatelescope found that for the past five years the average outages have been occuring three times a week. Officials could not be reached for comments.

Manage nation's oil resources properly-Ayawine

Tema, Jan. 2, GNA - The Industrial and Commercial Workers' Union (ICU) has observed that with political will, coupled with commitment, honesty and tenacity of purpose, the nation's oil resources could be managed well for the benefit of all Ghanaians.

Making the observation in a New Year Message, Mr Morgan Ayawine, Acting Deputy General-Secretary of the ICU, pointed out that, "more jobs for the people through our oil resources should not be a lip-service, but a priority on government's agenda".

Mr Morgan urged investors to respect all the provisions of the country's laws, cautioning them to avoid exploitation of Ghanaian labour and union busting in the emerging oil companies.

He said notwithstanding the difficulties associated with the unattractive conditions of service, Ghanaian workers put in their best last year, even when the reduction in inflation had not in any way reflected in their pockets.
"However, there is more room for improvement, and workers must work harder with a greater sense of discipline, and improve on productivity in the coming year and beyond, as we are poised to grow our economy through the deepening of industrial peace and harmony."

The ICU Acting Deputy General-Secretary pointed out that the Union "expects government to review downward, the new tax levels, as announced in the 2011 budget, to reduce the operational cost of local industries."
He said in spite of the many daunting challenges that confront the nation, Ghanaians should be grateful to God for the level of political stability, tolerance and peace that had prevailed in the country.

Mr Ayawine expressed regret about the massive lay-offs of workers by some distressed industries, which came about as a result of their inability to contain the increases in utility tariffs and fuel
He said the ICU was of the view that, as a developing nation, and considering Ghana's democratic credentials in Africa, "we should have been counting our blessings in terms of sustainable jobs and more opportunities for the Youth, to enable them to contribute their quota to the socio-economic advancement of our dear nation."

Mr Ayawine used the occasion to congratulate Ghanaian workers for putting in their best last year, and wished the Union's social partners, a productive and very prosperous New Year.

GNA

Twenty-two injured as Taxi runs into jubilant crowd

Ajumako C/R, Jan. 2, GNA - Twenty-two people received various degree of injuries, when a taxi cab drove through a large crowd of supporters celebrating the victory of their Assemblyman, at Ajumako, on Tuesday.

The Ajumako District Police Commander Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), Mr Seth Tay, who made this known to the Ghana News Agency, at Ajumako, said 18 of the injured were treated and discharged at the Breman Asikuma Catholic Hospital, whilst the rest are still on admission.

The Police Commander said on December 28 this year, immediately after the counting of ballot papers, which declared Mr Robert Appiah as the winner of the Ahenbrom electoral area, his supporters started celebrating through the principal streets of the town.

He said during the process at about 1930, a taxi cab with registration number GW 51T, drove into the crowd and in the process injuring the 22 supporters.
ASP Tay said the driver, Mr Kingsford Esuon, who was driving without lights, is helping the police in their investigations.

GNA

Tail part of Russian passenger Tu-154 aircraft after explosion

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia's transport oversight agency on Sunday ordered the country's airlines to stop using Tu-154B planes until the cause of a passenger jet fire and explosion that killed three people is determined.

A spokesman for the agency, Sergei Romanchev, said airlines must obey the order. The state news agency RIA Novosti said there are 14 Tu-154Bs in service in Russia.

The Tu-154B is one variant of the Tu-154 model, which has been in service since the early 1970s and has been in wide use on Russian internal flights and extensively in other countries, including Iran and former Soviet republics.

No cause has been determined for Saturday's fire, which also injured 43 people. The fire began as the plane carrying 124 people taxied for takeoff at the airport in Surgut in western Siberia, about 2,100 kilometers (1,350 miles) east of Moscow. Frightened passengers clawed their way through the smoke-filled cabin and most managed to escape before the explosion.

Investigators have found the plane's flight recorders and taken fuel samples and documents from the regional airline, Kogalymavia, that used the plane.

The Tu-154, similar to the Boeing 727, has three engines mounted on the rear of the plane. The mid-range plane is noted for its ability to operate on gravel and unpaved airfields. However, noise regulations eventually stopped Tu-154s from flying to most of Europe. Russian flag carrier Aeroflot took the plane out of service in December 2009.

There have been more than 30 fatal incidents involving Tu-154s over their long history, but many of them were attributed to pilot error, poor maintenance or irresponsible operation.

In December, a Tu-154 operated by Russia's Dagestan Airlines, made an emergency landing in Moscow after two of its three engines failed. The third engine cut out just before the landing and the plane skidded off the snowy runway at Domodedovo Airport, killing two people.

Also Sunday, the Kogalymavia announced that it would pay the affected passengers in Saturday's accident 20,000 rubles ($650) each in compensation.

Iran says shot down two spy planes in Gulf: report

TEHRAN (Reuters) – Iran has shot down two unmanned western reconnaissance drone aircraft in the Gulf, a senior Revolutionary Guards commander was quoted as saying by the semi-official Fars news agency on Sunday.

"Many spy planes and ultra-modern aircrafts of our enemies have been shot down (by our forces) ... We have also shot down two spy planes in the Persian Gulf," said commander Amir Ali Hajizadeh, head of the elite forces' aerospace unit.

"But it is the first time we are announcing it."

He did not say when the aircraft had been shot down, but described them as "western drone reconnaissance" aircraft.

Iran is at odds with major powers over its nuclear activities, which the United States and its allies suspect are intended to enable Iran to produce nuclear bombs. Iran denies the allegations and says it wants only to generate electricity.

The United States and Israel, Iran's main foes, do not rule out military action if diplomacy fails to end the nuclear row.

Hajizadeh said the enemies -- a term used by Iranian authorities for the United States and its allies -- had been using the drones mainly in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"But there has been cases of violations of our airspace by their drones," the commander said.

Iran has dismissed reports of possible U.S. or Israeli plans to strike Iran, but says it would respond by attacking U.S. interests and Israel if any such assault was made.

Analysts say Tehran could retaliate by launching hit-and-run strikes in the Gulf and by closing the Strait of Hormuz. About 40 percent of all traded oil leaves the Gulf region through the strategic waterway.

"All their military bases are completely within Iran's missile range ... We have full control of our enemies and notice any changes taking place on our shores," Hajizadeh said.

Iran often launches military drills in the country to display its military capabilities amid persistent speculation about a possible U.S. or Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear facilities.

Alongside the regular army, Iran has a Revolutionary Guards force viewed as guardians of the Islamic ruling system. The Guards have a separate command and their own air, sea and land units, but often work with the regular military.