Hunger-striking activist flown from Spain

MADRID — Spanish news reports say an activist from the disputed territory of Western Sahara who has been on hunger strike in Spain for more than a month has been flown back home.

Cadena SER radio says Aminatou Haidar was flown out of Lanzarote island airport in the Canary Islands shortly after 10:30 p.m. (2130 GMT) Thursday, bound for Western Sahara.

Weakened by her fast, Haidar had admitted herself to a hospital Wednesday, suffering from stomach trouble.

The return flight appears to end a monthlong, bitter diplomatic wrangle, chiefly between Spain and Morocco.

In Paris, French President's Nicolas Sarkozy's office announced that Morocco will return Haidar's confiscated passport, allowing her return to Western Sahara. Sarkozy's office added that a message Thursday gave Morocco's assent.

The 42-year-old Haidar launched her hunger protest Nov. 14 after Morocco expelled her from the Western Sahara, a vast desert territory south of Morocco, for refusing to state her nationality as Moroccan.

Morocco and Mauritania split Western Sahara between them when Spanish colonizers left the territory in 1975. Morocco took over in 1979. But fighting continued between Polisario Front guerrillas and Morocco until a 1991 truce.

The Polisario rebel group wants independence for the territory. U.N.-brokered talks have failed to resolve the decades-long dispute.

The current crisis began when Haidar was stopped by Morocco on her return from the United States, where she was awarded the Train Foundation's Civil Courage Prize. The group honored her "courageous campaign for self-determination of Western Sahara from its occupation by Morocco, and against forced disappearances and abuses of prisoners of conscience." She has spent time in Moroccan prisons.

After she refused to recognize Moroccan nationality, she was deported to Spain's Canary Islands.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon last week both pressed for a resolution to the impasse.

The issue of nationality is sensitive in Morocco, where King Mohammed VI recently gave a speech with pointed comments for Sahrawi activists, saying, "Either a person is Moroccan, or is not ... One is either a patriot, or a traitor."

Iranian student writes of hope, fear over protest

BEIRUT — On Dec. 7, tens of thousands of students marched at universities across Iran, in the most significant anti-government protests in the country for months.

The Associated Press asked a 20-year-old philosophy undergraduate at Tehran's Allameh Tabatabei University to record his thoughts and experiences in a diary before, during and after the protests. He provided the AP the diary on condition of anonymity, because some of his friends have been arrested or suspended for contacting the foreign media.

The student has been suspended this semester for taking part in protests. More than 100 other students, including friends of the diarist, have been arrested in recent weeks, some sentenced to long prison terms.

They charge that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won the last election by fraud, and many are supporters of opposition candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi. The Iranian government considers the students misguided and says they have been tempted into counterrevolutionary activities by Iran's foreign enemies.

The diary entries have been translated from the Farsi by AP correspondent Scheherezade Faramarzi.

Thursday, Dec. 3:

Today I received a warning from the herasat (the university moral police) to "watch out." Yesterday, my friends and I disrupted a speech by parliament member Alireza Zakani in the university's Azodi Amphitheater. Zakani claimed that Mousavi was only good at making up stories that his supporters are ready to become martyrs for the cause.

We shouted slogans. Then a Basiji student (a member of the hard-line, pro-government Basiji militia) went to the podium. Using shameless, foul language, she claimed the opposition had been violent in its protests and had pulled the scarves off women's heads. I got really angry and interrupted her and went to the podium saying she was lying.

(The head of the herasat's) message, relayed verbally by a friend, was: "Tell him that I had no issue with him, but it seems he has some unfinished business."

Friday, Dec. 4:

Friday is a holiday for every student, but there's no holiday these days with what's going on. From the moment you wake up in the morning, you're anxious about your friends in jail and you are also afraid that you might be next. That's how the day started for me. I started studying for my English language test, because when you have been suspended, you study English so you can leave this country, a country whose rulers have denied you your right to education.

I went to see a friend in the afternoon ... my fellow student at the university.

We talked a lot about philosophy. We also agreed it isn't rational to participate in such a dangerous day on the 7th because we would pay a high price. There's been a great deal of sacrifice since Nov. 4 (the last major opposition demonstration) and the back of the student organizations has almost broken.

Anyhow, in our view Dec. 7 is going to be a scary day.

Saturday, Dec. 5:

In the afternoon, went to Cafe Prague. This cafe opened recently and two friends who were also suspended are running it.

We drank coffee and talked about Dec. 7. Again, I insisted on being wise and prudent in our actions. I said we shouldn't pay a high price.

In the evening, I went to see a friend who's not particularly political. We were talking about various things, philosophy and social issues, when my mobile phone alerted me of an incoming sms. I opened it. It was from a friend. "Mohammad has been released."

Nothing has made me so happy in recent months. Mohammad Nik-khah. My classmate and a friend since elementary school. We spent hours laughing the night before he was arrested nearly three weeks ago. It was as if I had been freed of the grief of his imprisonment. His mobile was shut down all through the night and I have not yet been able to speak to him.

My Saturday was a happy one.

Sunday Dec. 6, 2009

(He reads the latest bulletin put out by Mousavi ahead of the Dec. 7 protests, expressing support for the students. It inspires him to join the nightly opposition chants from rooftops around the city.)

At 10 p.m. I went to the balcony and shouted "God is great" and "Death to the dictator."

There was pandemonium in the street below — it both scared me and made me happy. Happy because of all this hope, and scared of what the coming days have in store.

Monday, Dec. 7, 2009

(Dec. 7 is National Students Day, a traditional occasion for rallies. The diarist decides it is too dangerous to take part. More than 200 protesters are arrested in the capital.)

Today was Dec. 7, a date when every year I could ... stand among my friends and cry out, a day that always reminded me that I am young and my head is filled with youthful passion. But it was a little different this year for me and many others. I felt it wasn't sensible to pay a high price for one single day.

The Internet was finally back on at night, so I read a lot and watched a lot of videoclips (of protests and clashes) ... They all confirmed to me that the price has risen and this is a danger for the student movement and for the larger Green Movement (Mousavi's opposition front).

Despite the wave of clashes and arrests, I believe we will be paying the real sacrifices in the days ahead. The universities will become more militaristic, an atmosphere of fear and horror will descend. I am worried universities could even reach the verge of closure.

Although today's demonstrations were splendid, tomorrow will be the executioners' day of vengeance.

Tuesday, Dec. 8:

(The Islamic month of Moharram begins in mid-December, a time for large mourning processions in the streets for a revered Shiite religious martyr. Many expect the opposition to hold their own processions against the government and for protesters killed in the crackdown.)

The main point is that yesterday's demonstrations did not conclude with Dec. 7.

The next step is successive protests until we reach ... the month of Moharram and the mourning processions.

In my view, the first 10 days of Moharram will be an important turning point in Iran's civil movement. If the government confronts the "Green" mourning processions violently, this will provoke the anger of a nation that is bound by its religion, and clerics and leaders will also be forced to take a stand. If the government does not confront the processions, the movement will take big steps forward.

The active members of the movement are not one single fabric...If we don't want to split up and want to remain united, we have to grab the strong rope of Mir Hossein Mousavi thoughts. This doesn't mean we have to accept everything he says, but to accept a single path.

We must remember that we are reformists, not revolutionaries and not overthrowers (of the regime).

A movement that still fills the streets with large crowds cannot be dead. ... The atmosphere of every city and university is politicized. People don't talk about anything other than politics.

Wednesday, Dec. 9:

Today, I finally went to the university. Eight students who took part in the protests Monday were not allowed entry. The head of herasat sat at the gate and personally confronted students. The atmosphere at the School of Humanities has become much more militaristic.

About 10 of us political students met at a coffee shop across the street...to go over the events and what steps we need to take, despite the poisonous atmosphere at the university. We were so high-strung that every 15 minutes someone got into an argument with the others. We postponed the session.

When I left the coffee shop, I ran into a friend who had just been freed from jail: Alireza Mousavi. It's been a long time since I've cried from happiness. It's a truly pleasant moment when a friend is freed.

We planned to meet at a relative of his to celebrate. At 8 p.m. went to see him with two other friends and gradually other friends joined us and we spent a good and happy evening together.

It was good because we were able to continue the noon meeting and make important decisions about our movement. ... We decided to elect a central council that would consist of something like five members. The other decision was that for now it's not time to protest in universities. Instead, we will establish study groups to improve our and other students' political knowledge.

High stakes for Obama at climate summit

WASHINGTON — As marathon talks open in Copenhagen on climate change, US President Barack Obama is investing heavily in their success but is walking a tightrope as he weathers criticism both at home and abroad.

Obama abruptly changed his plans and will head to the Danish capital in the finale of the December 7-18 conference, hoping to add his prestige to push through a deal to fight what he sees as a top threat to the planet.

But the US Congress has not finished legislation to cut emissions blamed for global warming and his opponents have been emboldened by a scandal over leaked emails that they say raises questions on the science behind climate change.

Obama is nonetheless putting numbers on the table. But the emission cuts for the world's largest economy fall well short of pledges by the European Union and Japan and recommendations by UN scientists.

"In the wake of the Kyoto experience, countries are a little nervous of the US Congress and whether we can complete the deal," said Alden Meyer, a veteran watcher of climate negotiations at the Union of Concerned Scientists.

"I think Obama has to give the rest of the world some confidence on that front," he said. "But I think his going, and his secretaries' going, indicates the seriousness he gives this issue."

Obama has sharply changed direction from his predecessor George W. Bush, who questioned global warming until late in his presidency, leading to barely concealed friction with Europeans during global climate negotiations.

While several members of Bush's Republican Party have broken ranks to back Obama and Senator John Kerry's push to cut emissions, others have vowed to fight the legislation tooth and nail.

Republicans have seized on leaked emails from Britain's University of East Anglia, in which professor Phil Jones is quoted as referring to a "trick" being employed to massage temperature statistics to "hide the decline."

Republican Congressman Darrell Issa accused the Obama administration of using "flawed science created by a community of bullies to push through ideologically based policies."

"The suggestion that there is a scientific consensus on climate change is itself a myth," he said.

Sarah Palin, the former vice presidential candidate popular with conservatives, said that Obama should stay away from Copenhagen pending an investigation into the emails.

"The drastic economic measures being pushed by dogmatic environmentalists won't change the weather, but will dramatically change our economy for the worse," Palin wrote on her Facebook page.

Members of Obama's Democratic Party dispute such suggestions, saying that fighting global warming has the potential to create millions of jobs by creating a new green economy.

The scientists behind the hacked emails say the messages were taken out of context, with "trick" meaning a clever method rather than anything sinister.

Michael Mann, a climate scientist at Pennsylvania State University who received the email, said critics were "twisting individual words" because they cannot dispute the science.

"This 11th-hour smear campaign demonstrates the intellectual bankruptcy of those opposed to taking action to combat the climate change," Mann said on a conference call.

In one nod to political realities, Obama wants the next climate deal to consist of a set of voluntary pledges and not be a legally binding treaty as sought by Europe and Japan.

Heather Conley, director of the Europe program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Europeans were learning how difficult the US legislative process can be.

"This is sort of the end of an unrealistic honeymoon period for the United States and for Europe," she said.

"Europe had great expectations that President Obama literally could sort of snap the fingers and things would fall into place."

Ousted Honduran leader urges region to reject vote

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Deposed Honduran President Manuel Zelaya sent a letter to divided Latin American leaders Tuesday urging them to reject elections held under the coup-installed government and help restore him to power.

"I ask you not to recognize the electoral fraud and for your cooperation so that this coup d'etat does not remain unpunished," the leftist leader said in a letter released from the Brazilian Embassy, where he is holed up under threat of arrest.

Western Hemisphere countries united to condemn Zelaya's June 28 ouster but are divided on whether to recognize Sunday's presidential vote.

The United States, which cut off development aid and anti-drug trafficking cooperation with its impoverished ally after the coup, says Hondurans have the right to choose a new leader regular elections that had been scheduled before Zelaya's overthrow. Costa Rica, Peru, Colombia and Panama share that stance.

But Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela and other left-led governments say recognizing the election amounts to legitimizing Central America's first coup in 20 years.

Porfirio Lobo, a wealthy rancher from the opposition National Party, overwhelmingly defeated Elvin Santos of the ruling Liberal Party, which largely turned against Zelaya and supported his ouster. Zelaya, whose single, four-year term ends Jan. 27, was not a candidate.

Lobo and interim President Roberto Micheletti say a large turnout Sunday showed a majority of Hondurans supported the vote and want to put the crisis behind them. Electoral officials say more than 60 percent of registered voters cast ballots.

But Zelaya, who had urged a boycott, insisted Tuesday that 60 percent of voters stayed home.

At least one independent monitoring group reported a turnout rate lower than the official one. Hagamos Democracia, the local partner of the U.S. government-funded National Democratic Institute, said its count of 1,000 polling stations put turnout at about 48 percent. The count had a margin of error of 1.8 percentage points.

NDI president Ken Wollack said he could not comment on the official turnout rate but noted that Hagamos Democracia's count had a low margin of error and successfully projected the vote's outcome: 56 percent for Lobo and 38 percent for Santos.

However, he also said a 48 percent turnout would be consistent with a trend of increasing abstention in Honduras. Turnout was 55 percent in the 2005 election that brought Zelaya to office, 10 percentage points lower than in the previous election.

NDI, which sent its own monitors to the election, released a report Tuesday describing the election and mostly "peaceful and orderly." The reported noted the discrepancy in the abstention numbers and expressed hope it would be clarified once Honduran election officials release their final results.

"In terms of the conduct of the election itself, I think there is a sense that it was a generally, with some exceptions, a peaceful and orderly process," Wollack told The Associated Press.

However, he said campaigning was complicated by curfews, the periodic closures of opposition-aligned media and the arrest of Zelaya supporters.

Marco Aurelio Garcia, foreign adviser to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, told reporters Monday night that the elections appeared to show strong "popular participation, and we can't be indifferent to that political fact," Brazil's O Globo newspaper reported Tuesday.

But at a summit in Portugal, Silva maintained Brazil's position against recognizing the election.

"We can't pretend nothing happened," Silva said Tuesday before leaving the gathering of leaders from Latin America, Spain and Portugal. "If this state of affairs is allowed to remain, democracy will be at serious risk in Latin and Central America."

Summit participants demanded Zelaya be restored to finish his term, but could not agree on whether to recognize Lobo's incoming government.

The United States is also urging Zelaya's return to power and hopes the two sides will return to the negotiating table before his term ends.

Under a U.S.-brokered pact, Congress must vote on whether Zelaya should be restored to power as head of a unity government. Lawmakers are scheduled to begin that debate Wednesday.

However, Zelaya's chances of returning to office look increasingly slim. In an interview with AP on Sunday, Zelaya said he would not return to the presidency even if Congress votes him back in.

Swiss jetman ditches in sea as Africa-Europe flight fails

ATLANTERRA, Spain — Swiss adventurer Yves Rossy ditched in the sea Wednesday due to turbulence, foiling his bid to make aviation history by flying from Africa to Europe using a jet-powered wing attached to his back.

The former fighter pilot was plucked from the water by a helicopter carrying a team of paramedics that had been following him throughout the attempt and taken to a hospital for a check-up where he got a clean bill of health.

He said he decided to launch his parachute and abort his attempt to cross the Strait of Gibraltar -- the first intercontinental flight using just a jetpack -- after encountering turbulence in the clouds.

"The wing I had on my back is not easy to fly. There were bigger clouds than expected. It was turbulent, I faced instability in the clouds," the 50-year-old told a news conference after leaving hospital.

Rossy was about half-way through his planned 38-kilometre (23.6-mile) trip between Tangier in Morocco to Atlanterra in southern Spain when he parachuted into the ocean. The trip had been expected to last 13 minutes.

He began the voyage by leaping from the side of a plane from a height of about 2,000 metres (6,500 feet) while wearing a flame-retardant suit.

Rossy said all four jet engines which power the carbon-fired wing, which is two metres across and weighs 60 kilos (130 pounds), were activated. The wing was designed by Rossy and it is steered by the pilot's body.

"It was at no moment risky, it was always under control, just in the wrong way," he said.

"I would love to try another intercontinental crossing again but I don't know when. This is the beginning of a new way of flying, individual air transport."

Rossy gave the thumbs up sign and walked off the helicopter unaided when it landed in Spain before giving his waiting partner a hug.

Known as "Jetman", he made headlines in September 2008 when he became the first person to cross the English Channel between France and Britain using a jet-powered wing.

He made the crossing from Calais to Dover -- tracing the route of French aviation pioneer Louis Bleriot, who became the first person to fly across the Channel in a plane 99 years earlier -- in just 15 minutes, after reaching speeds of up to 200 kilometres (125 miles) an hour.

His team said Wednesday's Africa to Europe attempt was the logical follow-on from this.

Before taking off he said the main dangers were engine failure and losing control of the wing.

"But there's always plan B. I can ditch the wing and open the parachute. If I land in the water, there are people to come and get me," he told AFP by telephone.

A camera crew followed Rossy and his bid to reach Europe from Africa was broadcast live over the Internet and by television stations around the world.

Honduras interim president to take leave for vote

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Honduras' interim president announced Thursday he will step down temporarily to allow voters to concentrate on the upcoming presidential elections.

Roberto Micheletti said he will step aside ahead of the Nov. 29 election until at least Dec. 2, when Congress is scheduled to vote on whether to reinstate ousted President Manuel Zelaya.

Micheletti did not say who would be in charge of the government during his absence.

"My purpose with this measure is for the attention of all Hondurans to concentrate on the electoral process and not on the political crisis," Micheletti said in a message broadcast on national television.

He said he would immediately return to the presidency should threats to "order and security arise."

Micheletti was named president by Congress after Zelaya was rousted from his bed by soldiers and flown to Costa Rica on June 28.

Zelaya, who has been holed up at the Brazilian Embassy since slipping back into the country on Sept. 21, called Micheletti's announcement "an easy maneuver ... to deceive fools."

Zelaya again warned that he would not return to the presidency if Congress votes to restore him after the elections, saying doing so would legitimize the coup.

"It's illegal and violates the rights of the voters because it tries to hide a coup d'etat," Zelaya said.

Both Zelaya and Micheletti signed an agreement brokered by U.S. diplomats last month. However, the two sides are now at odds over whether the pact is being fulfilled.

The accord calls for formation of a national unity government, but does not require Zelaya's restoration to office, leaving that decision up to Congress.

Zelaya declared the pact a failure two weeks ago when Micheletti announced the formation of a unity government before any vote by Congress.

Sands looks to restart Macau casino work next year

HONG KONG — U.S. casino operator Las Vegas Sands Corp. plans to resume work in January on its multibillion-dollar gambling resorts in Macau after suspending construction last year amid a massive funding crunch, the company said Sunday.

This week Sands will seek to raise more than $3.3 billion from an initial public offering of shares in its casino businesses in the southern Chinese enclave, the world's largest casino market.

About $500 million will be used to restart construction on the projects, executives said. The company plans to hire as many as 12,000 workers after 11,000 jobs were cut as a result of the suspension.

The projects, including casinos and Shangri-La and Sheraton hotels, were stalled last year as the company grappled with a cash shortage, brought on by the financial crisis and Sands' massive debt load, that threatened its agreements with creditors.

Sands' latest casino resorts are part of Chairman Sheldon Adelson's quest to turn a section of Macau known as the Cotai Strip into a Chinese version of the Las Vegas Strip with a mix of gambling, conventions, shopping, entertainment and other draws.

"We expect that Macau will evolve into the same type of business model that the integrated resorts on the Las Vegas Strip have evolved into," Adelson said in a video conference with reporters in Hong Kong.

Sands hopes to open the first phase of the project, including two hotel towers and casino space at a cost of $2 billion, by June 2011. Ultimately, the company aspires to build still more casinos and hotels on two additional plots of land in the Cotai area to bring the total number of hotel rooms to 20,000.

Adelson repeated his goal of luring a wider variety of visitors to Macau, which relies overwhelmingly on day-trippers and high-stakes gamblers for profits, whereas Las Vegas earns a larger portion from non-gambling activities like shows and shopping.

Despite its attempts to diversify, Sands' Macau business is still heavily dependent on gambling. The company — which currently runs two resorts, the Sands Macao and the popular Venetian — derives some 80 percent of its revenues from VIP and mass-market gambling, the company said. Its Macau profits before interest, tax and other adjustments were forecast to rise from $686 million in 2008 to $803 million this year, as the city's gambling industry rebounds sharply with the help of a stronger Chinese economy.

Sands' new shares are expected to begin trading on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Nov. 30, with the share price to be determined Nov. 21, according to the IPO's terms.

It will mark the second Hong Kong IPO from an American casino operator. Shares in the Macau resorts of billionaire Steve Wynn debuted last month after a $1.63 billion IPO.

Suicide bomber attacks military convoy near Kabul

KABUL — The Taliban claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing Friday that wounded six people near the Afghan capital, while Britain's prime minister suggested 5,000 more NATO troops could be deployed to the troubled country.

NATO said the suicide bombing occurred at 8 a.m. (0330 GMT) on the Jalalabad road, which is used extensively by international forces and frequently attacked. In August, another Taliban suicide bomber targeted a NATO convoy there killing at least eight people.

NATO said reports on Friday's attack indicated Afghan civilians, NATO service members and civilian contractors had been wounded. No NATO members were killed.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid sent The Associated Press a message saying the bombing was carried out by a Taliban suicide car bomber targeting an international military convoy.

Abdul Ghafar Sayed Zada, chief of criminal investigation for Kabul police, said three civilians and three foreigners were wounded.

At the scene Nabi, a taxi driver, said he was driving down the road when he heard a "big bang."

"Everything went dark," said Nabi, who like many Afghans uses one name. "I just managed to take myself out of the area. I don't know what happened then, but the attack was on the foreigners."

Lt. Col. Todd Vician, a spokesman for NATO, said the bombing was "another attack by insurgents that injured the people of Afghanistan and our personnel who are partnering with the Afghan security forces to bring better development, governance and security to Afghanistan."

"This attack will not deter us from continuing our important mission," he said.

NATO's top commander in Afghanistan, U.S. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, has asked for an extra 40,000 troops to be sent to Afghanistan to bolster the 71,000 already here.

But President Barack Obama has not yet made a decision on sending more troops — a delay that has found an echo in Europe, where coalition leaders in NATO are weighing whether to send help or bow to public demands for a speedy exit.

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Thursday that allied nations have privately pledged more help, but he stopped short of saying that countries would send more troops.

On Friday, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he could secure commitments for 5,000 more NATO forces in Afghanistan.

Speaking during an interview with the BBC, Brown said Washington and London need the 43 other nations involved in the International Security Assistance Force to step up to help share the burden.

"I think we can probably get another 5,000 forces into Afghanistan," he said.

With 9,000 troops in the country, Britain is the second largest contributor to the international coalition behind the United States. But the war is increasingly unpopular at home. Some 232 British soldiers have died in Afghanistan since 2001. Families and military commanders have blamed deaths on a lack of equipment, and there has been growing criticism that Brown has failed to show tangible benefits of the mission.

In his interview, Brown launched an impassioned defense of the controversial military campaign, acknowledging that Britain needed to "adjust our approach" amid rising casualties.

Germany announced Friday that it would send more than 100 extra troops to Afghanistan in January.

Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg said during a visit to his country's troops in Afghanistan that the quick-reaction force soldiers would be deployed in the northern province of Kunduz, where most of Germany's 4,365 troops are stationed.

Thirty-six German soldiers have been killed so far in the mission to Afghanistan, and support in Germany for the war is also low.

Separately, a land mine exploded near a police station in Logar province, south of Kabul, killing a member of the Afghan National Police and wounding an Afghan National Army officer Friday, provincial police chief Mustafa Mosseini said.

Associated Press writer Amir Shah in Kabul contributed to this report.

Rona profit, revenue fall but home improvement retailer sees signs of recovery

MONTREAL — Home improvement retailer Rona Inc. (TSX:RON) is set to launch new expansion plans amid initial signs of a recovery from the ill effects of the recession.

Although sales and profits slipped in the third-quarter, the Quebec-based company is optimistic about the future after experiencing consecutive monthly improvements that continued in October.

"In the last few months, we have felt the first signs of a recovery," CEO Robert Dutton said Tuesday in a conference call.

Improvement was most pronounced in Ontario and Western Canada, although building lumber and materials sales remained weak as a result of depressed housing starts.

Rona's profits fell 6.5 per cent during the quarter despite cost-reduction efforts.

Net income decreased to $49.1 million or 38 cents per diluted share, from $52.5 million or 45 cents per share a year earlier.

Excluding unusual items, it earned $53.3 million or 41 cents per share, down from $58.9 million or 50 cents per share.

The results were slightly below expectations. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had forecast adjusted EPS of 40 cents on $1.355 billion of sales.

Rona's revenues slipped by about $60 million to $1.32 billion in its most recent quarter. That's down from $1.38 billion a year earlier.

The 4.4 per cent decrease in sales was largely due to a 5.3 per cent decline in same-store sales at locations open at least a year and a 1.6 per cent drop in distribution sector sales.

Rona said the decreases primarily resulted from lower housing starts in recent quarters and lagging consumer confidence despite some recent improvement. Poor weather was also a factor in the sale of seasonal products at the beginning of the quarter.

More than 80 per cent of the same-store sales decline was due to lower sales of forest products, building materials and seasonal items, Rona said.

Paint, lighting fixtures, hardware, kitchen and installation services posted very good sales, reflecting the desire of consumers to spend on smaller renovation projects.

Irene Nattel of RBC Capital Markets said while management is doing a good job of controlling costs, its gross margins declined modestly because of the liquidations of seasonal products and challenges in gaining additional savings.

The federal government announced in January, as part of its stimulus budget, that home improvements costing from $1,000 to $10,000 will be eligible for a 15 per cent income tax deduction, capped at $1,350, until Feb. 1, 2010.

Rona expects to secure up to $100 million in sales resulting from federal and Quebec home renovation tax credits after more than 13,000 Canadians have signed up for a company discount associated with the programs.

Dutton said Tuesday that the company is encouraged enough by the first signs of recovery to begin the second phase of a three-year growth strategy that it began last year.

New initiatives to be launched this month include a new concept for an interior design and paint store.

The specialized stores will appeal to contractors, interior designers and consumers who prefer to shop in smaller boutiques, especially in Ontario and Western Canada.

The stores will first open in Quebec and Rona hopes to add nearly 100 locations within five to 15 years. Some may be located inside existing hardware stores.

On the Toronto Stock Exchange, Rona shares increased 16 cents at $15.95 in afternoon trading.

Sources: Obama near decision on Afghanistan troops

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is nearing a decision to add tens of thousands more forces to Afghanistan, though likely not quite the 40,000 sought by his top general there, as Pentagon planners work to ready bases and provide equipment the troops would need in a country with scant resources.

The White House emphasized Monday that the president hasn't made a decision yet about troop levels or other aspects of the revised U.S. strategy in Afghanistan.

Administration officials told The Associated Press on Monday the deployment would most likely begin in January with a mission to stiffen the defense of 10 key cities and towns. An Army brigade that had been training for deployment to Iraq that month may be the vanguard. The brigade, based at Fort Drum in upstate New York, has been told it will not go to Iraq as planned but has been given no new mission yet.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said the president would meet again on Wednesday with key members of his foreign policy and military team but was unlikely to announce final plans for Afghanistan until late this month, when he returns from an extended diplomatic trip to Asia.

Gibbs said the Pentagon is "working on additional recommendations" to present to Obama and that Obama has made no decision on troop numbers, or even on what the ratio should be between combat troops and trainers.

Military officials said Obama will have choices that include a phased addition of up to 40,000 forces over some six months or more next year, based on security conditions and the decisions of NATO allies.

Several officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because the decision has not been made also said Obama's announcement will be much broader than the mathematics of troop numbers, which have dominated the U.S. debate.

Officials said a substantial increase in troops is all but inevitable, but the precise number is less important than the message that an expansion and refocus of U.S. commitment in Afghanistan would send.

It soon will be three months since Afghan commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal reported to Obama that the U.S. mission was headed for failure without the addition of about 40,000 troops.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because final plans have not been disclosed, dubbed the likely troop increase as "McChrystal Light" because it would fall short of his request. They also said addition small infusions of troops could be dispatched next spring and summer.

The more gradual buildup, the officials said, would allow time to construct needed housing and add equipment needed for transporting the expanded force.

Besides being sent to cities and towns, the new forces would be stationed to protect important roads and other key infrastructure.

Part of the debate leading to Obama's decision has been whether to move toward a more robust counterinsurgency strategy by attempting to retake territory from the Taliban insurgency and holding that turf while Americans work to rebuild and improve services for the population.

By using the new troops to protect cities and towns, the administration appears to be moving toward a middle ground that would deny Taliban advances on urban districts with the intention of shoring up support for the government of President Hamid Karzai.

That in turn would allow the fight against the Taliban then to expand to remoter regions.

"Reports that President Obama has made a decision about Afghanistan are absolutely false," said the president's national security adviser, James Jones. "He has not received final options for his consideration, he has not reviewed those options with his national security team, and he has not made any decisions about resources. Any reports to the contrary are completely untrue and come from uninformed sources."

As he makes his decision, Obama told ABC News that he's been "asking not only Gen. McChrystal but all of our commanders who are familiar with the situation, as well as our civilian folks on the ground, a lot of questions that, until they're answered, may -- may create a situation in which we resource something based on faulty premises."

He said he wanted to make sure "that if we are sending additional troops that the prospects of a functioning Afghan government are enhanced, that the prospects of al-Qaida being able to attack the U.S. homeland are reduced."

With winter coming to Afghanistan's towering mountains, fighting could taper off as movement becomes difficult along the border with Pakistan. The Taliban has used the winter lull to resupply and regroup in years past, and the U.S. and a NATO-led alliance of countries fighting in Afghanistan are planning how to best place reinforcements for heavy fighting in the spring.

Obama has said the United States wants to leave behind an Afghan government that can control the Taliban insurgency on its own and prevent the militants from again hosting al-Qaida. Osama bin Laden and his top aides are believed to have fled into the rugged Pakistan border area where they have been hiding since the U.S. drove the Taliban from power in late 2001.

AP White House Correspondent Jennifer Loven contributed to this report.