Purpose of Israeli exercise under dispute

JERUSALEM -- An Israeli military exercise over the Mediterranean appears to have been less a dry run for an attack on Iran than a message that Tehran must curb its nuclear ambitions, according to officials and experts.

"The exercise has no connection with Israeli 'preparations' for an attack on Iran, as has been inaccurately reported," said Greek government spokesman Theodoros Roussopoulos. He said Israeli aircraft flew at high altitudes inconsistent with an attack, and the exercise did not simulate anti-aircraft fire.

News of the drill sent oil prices spiking. U.N. nuclear watchdog Mohamed ElBaradei warned an attack could turn the Mideast into a "ball of fire." And Iran's parliament speaker hinted that a military strike could actually provoke the building of bombs.

BERLIN -- Germany marked the 60th anniversary of the start of the Berlin Airlift on Thursday, celebrating an unprecedented undertaking that likely saved the city from falling to the Soviets and helped mend German-American wounds from World War II.

Often called the first battle of the Cold War, the airlift pitted the U.S. and the Soviets against one another for the first time and set the tone for the decades to come.

"I find the courage with which this operation was carried out truly admirable," German Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung said at a ceremony at the U.S. Army Airfield in Wiesbaden, from which many of the flights originated.

The airlift's significance wasn't immediately apparent, however, when it began on June 26, 1948.

The future looked "bleak" to Berliners at the time, said Helmut Trotnow, director of Berlin's Allied Museum. "There was no light at the end of the tunnel, but the airlift brought this light."

KABUL, Afghanistan -- The U.S.-led coalition says an attack in Afghanistan has killed three service members.

The military says the attack in Wardak -- one province south of Kabul -- destroyed a military vehicle and also killed an Afghan interpreter.

The coalition says two of the killed servicemembers were recovered on site while "two sets of remains were located in a nearby field."

A freelance television cameraman filmed what he said was the aftermath of the Thursday attack.

The footage showed the burning wreckage of a vehicle on a bend in a mountain road. Militants held up what looked like an M-16 rifle and dragged away an ammunition belt.

LONDON -- The U.S. Embassy in London has failed to pay more than $3.9 million in traffic congestion charges, according to figures published Thursday by Britain's foreign ministry.

British lawmakers condemned U.S. diplomats, after they topped a list of embassies refusing to pay the charge.

The list of fees owed by embassies showed that the United States refused to pay the levy 23,188 times between February 2003 and last month.

Japan has racked up the second largest amount of outstanding fees, owing more than $2.6 million.

With the congestion charge, drivers must pay $16 per day to drive in central London during business hours.

"This is a perfectly proper charge and the failure to pay such a huge amount is not only extremely discourteous to the people of London and the country as a whole, but is undermining U.K. domestic transport policy," opposition Liberal Democrat lawmaker Norman Baker said in a statement.

U.S. Ambassador Robert Tuttle claims the toll is a tax. Since diplomats are exempted from paying local taxes, he argues his staff shouldn't have to pay the levy.

Former London Mayor Ken Livingstone gained widespread media attention in Britain by calling Tuttle "a chiseling little crook" over his refusal to pay.

The levy was introduced in 2003 in a bid to reduce traffic, cut greenhouse gas emissions and encourage people to use public transport.