Life in North Korea: lies, potatoes and cable TV

(NORTH, THEIR, PEOPLE, STATE, REFUGEES, GENERAL)

By Jack Kim
SEOUL (Reuters) - North Koreans who recently arrived in the South live in a world of contradictions where their upbringing instills them with reverence for Kim Jong-il but their daily struggle leads them to believe he is a brutal despot.
By all accounts, they say North Korea is gradually spiralling out of control, its economy dysfunctional while people are suspicious of one another because of a network of informants.
They also speak of a sense of normalcy in the North. Most left for the chance of a better life in the South but they are uncertain if they can find their way in the competitive capitalist state.
The following is a snapshot of life in North Korea, compiled from accounts given by refugees who recently arrived in the South. Their identities are not disclosed because they fear persecution for family and relatives back home.
"SAD TO SEE THE DEAR GENERAL SO FEEBLE"
It is a political crime to talk about the family of leader Kim Jong-il but many recently arrived refugees said the average North Korean is probably aware of foreign media reports that Kim`s youngest son Jong-un may likely take over. Most North Koreans have no idea that Kim, 67 and thought to have suffered a stroke a year ago, has three sons.
"In Pyongyang, you take it for granted that leadership will be inherited," one refugee Park said, adding she knew Kim Jong-il had two daughters and a son and his name was Jong-nam. That is the portly and oldest of Kim`s three known sons, believed to have fallen from his father`s favor years ago after being arrested for trying to enter Japan on a forged passport.
"I don`t want to say Kim Jong-il is bad," another refugee Choi said. "It`s the people who report to him who are not doing their job right. They make false reports." Choi said she knew from experience that crop production is something that gets most often falsified "so as not to make the General worry."
Most refugees still call Kim Jong-il the "General" as has been taught to them by state propaganda and have bought into, at least partially, his carefully crafted cult of personality.
Park said she knows Kim often stays up at night worried about the lives of the people. "It is true that he has sacrificed so much for the people," she said. "The general has aged a lot," she said of her impression of seeing recent pictures of Kim looking frail and perhaps debilitated by the stroke.
"SOLDIERS FOR FIGHTING? NOT HERE"
North Korea is the world`s most militarized state compared to its population with a standing army of more than 1.1 million. Service is mandatory and can be as long as 10 years. The might of the army is "invincible," according to state media but the refugees are rather cynical about the ill equipped force.
"When I look at them, the army that I`ve seen will be busy running away from a war," another refugee Kim said. "Maybe they have the real army for war kept away at some other place."
Low morale and corruption in the military are so widespread that it is the norm rather than the exception for soldiers to be extorting bribes from merchants crossing the Chinese border.
"We say something is wrong with you if you did not save enough in 10 years of service at the border to go home, get married and start a family," Kim said.  Continued...
Original article

Barak says regional peace, not settlements, paramount

(ISRAEL, BARAK, SETTLEMENTS, MITCHELL, MEETING, WOULD)

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak was quoted as saying on Wednesday that Israel was close to an understanding with Washington on Jewish settlements, but ruled out a total freeze.
In an Israel Radio interview to be aired later in the day, Barak said Israel was insisting on completing construction projects already under way in settlements in the West Bank, the state-owned broadcaster reported on its website.
Barak held talks in New York on Tuesday with U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell in a bid to end a rare rift between Israel and its main ally on the settlement issue.
The radio quoted him as saying that Israel was now nearing an understanding with the United States, which has called for a complete halt to settlement activity.
Barak told reporters in New York that the meeting with Mitchell, which lasted more than four hours, was "positive" but there were still "differences."
In a joint statement issued after their talks, Barak and Mitchell said they had discussed the full range of issues related to Middle East peace and security. The statement said the discussions were constructive and would soon continue.
Asked by reporters whether Israel would declare a temporary settlement building freeze, Barak said: "I think that it`s a little bit too early to predict.
"We are considering every positive contribution Israel can make toward the taking off of a significant important peace effort," he said.
Mitchell, who posed for photographers at the start of the meeting in a New York hotel, did not take questions.
Israel`s biggest newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported on Sunday that Barak would propose a three-month halt to construction starts in settlements but allow current building work to continue.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has said U.S.-backed peace talks with Israel could not resume until it froze settlement.
Barak told reporters that a meeting between Mitchell and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was being arranged in the next one to three weeks.
The two had planned a meeting in Paris last Thursday but it was put off by Israel, which said it needed more time to prepare. Netanyahu has said he would allow some construction to continue to match population growth within existing settlements.
(Additional reporting by Daniel Bases in New York, Writing by Jeffrey Heller, Editing by Dominic Evans)
Original article

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Party celebrates China web filter delay

(BEIJING, GOVERNMENT, SOFTWARE, ABOUT, PARTY, COMPUTERS)

By Emma Graham-Harrison
BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese web users flooded to a trendy art zone cafe on Wednesday to celebrate a last-minute halt to a rollout of government-sponsored filtering software, and make a stand for freedom of expression in the Communist-run state.
Dressed in t-shirts mocking the Green Dam program, about 200 Beijing residents had arrived by mid-morning to eat a traditional Chinese breakfast, denounce censorship and prepare for a day-long party.
Originally conceived as part of an Internet boycott to mark the July 1 launch of the filter -- and to give a web-addicted generation something to do during the 24 hours of offline -- the atmosphere was festive as guests celebrated what many said was an unexpected victory against state censorship.
"This is a very rare example for the government to suddenly push back an important decision the night before it is due to be rolled out," said outspoken artist Ai Weiwei, who organised the boycott and the party.
Beijing made a surprising about-face late on Tuesday, hours before an edict that all personal computers sold in China must be preloaded with the program was due to come into force.
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said the launch would be postponed and did not give a new deadline.
Officials had said the software was intended to stamp out Internet pornography. But it was assailed by activists, industry groups and foreign officials as politically intrusive, technically flawed and commercially unfair.
"We are very happy because we got what we wanted," said Liu Yaohua, a 27-year-old artist. "We wanted to express our attitude to Green Dam."
There was trepidation among some party-goers about attending an event that was a direct, if light-hearted, rebuke to a government wary of public challenges to its control.
"I am a little bit nervous, but I felt it was very important that I find the strength to come," said painter Zang Yi.
The plan might now drift into oblivion if Beijing decides it does not want to face a second round of pressure from overseas and at home.
At a Beijing mall which specializes in computers and software, vendors shrugged at the news of the climbdown.
"It`s a piece of software like any other. You can take it out if you don`t want it. It`s no big deal," said Zhang Bo, standing in front of a row of Chinese-made laptops.
But a lawyer who campaigned against the software warned it was premature to declare victory.
"It has not been canceled, just put back, so it`s possible that after a certain amount of time it will be pushed back out," said Liu Xiaoyuan, who wants the government to explain why a software ostensibly designed to protect a minority of users -- children and teen-agers -- must be installed on all computers.  Continued...
Original article

Ahmadinejad scraps African summit trip

(AHMADINEJAD, ELECTION, KAROUBI, RESULT, UNREST, SINCE)

By Fredrik Dahl and Parisa Hafezi
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran`s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called off a trip to Libya for an African Union summit on Wednesday that would have given the hardline president another chance to appear at an international forum after his disputed re-election.
Mehdi Karoubi, a reformist cleric who came last in the June 12 poll, said he still rejected the result, which set off Iran`s gravest internal unrest since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
"I don`t consider this government legitimate," he said in a statement on his website. "I will continue my fight."
A spokesman at Ahmadinejad`s office said the Libya visit had been canceled. He gave no reason. It would have been the president`s second foray abroad since the election.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Qashqavi later told state television Ahmadinejad was too busy to go.
In a show of confidence, Ahmadinejad attended a regional summit in Russia four days after the vote, ignoring huge street protests by supporters of losing candidates Mirhossein Mousavi and Karoubi, who both say the election was rigged.
The Guardian Council, a supervisory body, on Monday endorsed the election result and dismissed complaints of irregularities, saying a partial recount had shown these were baseless.
Karoubi and Mousavi, a moderate former prime minister, have stuck by their demands for the vote to be annulled, in defiance of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has upheld the result and denounced dissenters. Khamenei`s word is final.
"Some visible and invisible forces blocked any change in the executive power," Karoubi complained.
Security forces have crushed street protests, and hardliners have regained the upper hand in the world`s fifth biggest oil exporter, whose nuclear programme has alarmed the West.
Karoubi, a white-bearded cleric who was close to Iran`s revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, demanded the release of "thousands" of people arrested during the unrest.
Iran`s police chief, Ismail Ahmadi-Moghaddam, put the number of detainees at 1,032 and said most had since been released.
"Those who are still in detention were referred to the public and revolutionary courts in Tehran," the semi-official Fars News Agency quoted him as telling a news conference.
Ahmadi-Moghaddam said 20 "rioters" had been killed during the unrest and more than 500 police had been injured.
"PLANNED SCENARIO"  Continued...
Original article

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Khmer Rouge torture survivor saw "hell on earth"

(ROUGE, PRISON, TORTURER, CRIMES, TRIBUNAL, ANOTHER)

By Ek Madra
PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - One of the few survivors of the Khmer Rouge`s notorious Tuol Sleng prison gave chilling testimony of "hell on earth" when he faced his former torturer at a U.N.-backed war crimes tribunal on Wednesday.
Like another survivor who testified at the joint United Nations-Cambodian tribunal, Bou Meng said he was alive only because he was an artist and Duch, the torturer, liked his drawings of Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot.
Meng was accused of spying for the United States in 1977 and was taken along with his wife to the S-21 interrogation center, once a school and now a museum to the horror of the Khmer Rouge regime.
He was one of only seven people to survive the prison, where more than 14,000 men, women and children died during Pol Pot`s 1975-1979 "killing fields" reign of terror.
"I saw about 20 men with long hair, looking very sick and emaciated. The cell was like hell on earth," Meng told the court.
The prisoners were kept in chains with empty bullet boxes and plastic bottles to use as toilets.
"I saw a lizard and hoped it would drop on me so I could catch it and eat it," Meng said. "They kept whipping me and asked me when I joined the CIA."
For the first time in three decades, Meng had the chance to question Duch, the first of five Pol Pot cadres indicted by the tribunal.
He never saw his wife again after they entered S-21 and he asked his torturer what had happened to her.
"I expect she was killed by my subordinates," Duch replied.
With no death penalty in Cambodia, Duch, whose real name is Kaing Guek Eav, faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted on charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity, torture and homicide.
He has admitted his part in the deaths but maintains he was only following orders.
On Monday another artiste Vann Nath said his life was spared only because Duch liked his paintings of Pol Pot.
WAITING TO DIE
Another S-21 survivor, Chum Mey, 79, told the judges on Tuesday his toenails were torn off and that he, too, was held in a dark cell, his legs shackled. He received hardly any food and expected to die at any moment.  Continued...
Original article

African Union lifts sanctions on Mauritania

(AFRICAN, UNION, SANCTIONS, MAURITANIA, JUNTA, ELECTION)

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - The African Union has dropped sanctions on Mauritania and lifted a suspension from the body because of steps it is taking to restore democracy this month, the Union said in a statement on Wednesday.
The African Union suspended Mauritania after the army overthrew the elected president in August last year and froze assets and imposed visa and travel bans on members of the junta and its supporters.
But an election is due on July 18 under a transition administration agreed on by the junta and the civilian opposition in the iron ore-producing northwest African country of 3 million.
The African Union`s Peace and Security Council said the decision to lift the measures against Mauritania was taken at a meeting on Monday.
"(The Council) looks forward to the presidential election ... and requests that all efforts be deployed for the election to take place in the required conditions of transparency, fairness and freedom," it said.
It said it would keep watching the situation in Mauritania to make sure it stayed on track and in case other measures needed to be taken, potentially including the re-imposition of sanctions.
Under an agreement that took effect last month, a transition government was set up to allow a presidential election on July 18 in which junta leader Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz and the opposition will take part.
Mauritania`s neighbors were concerned the military takeover could set a precedent in a region that had begun to shed its reputation for coups.
AU sanctions imposed in February this year included travel restrictions and the freezing of assets belonging to individuals whose activities maintained what it called the "unconstitutional status quo".
The European Union has suspended non-humanitarian aid.
The African Union also imposed sanctions on Guinea after the military took over following the death of the veteran president last December. African countries are concerned Guinea`s junta may not keep plans to hold free elections this year.
Original article

Italy asks who to blame for deadly train inferno

(VIAREGGIO, ITALIAN, EXPLOSION, TRAIN, WHILE, CORRIERE)

By Antonella Cinelli
VIAREGGIO, Italy (Reuters) - Pressure was building on Italian authorities Wednesday to determine who was to blame for an explosion of a passing freight train that set fire to nearby homes and burned families alive while they slept.
The death toll from Monday night`s explosion in the seaside town of Viareggio rose to 16 after a girl aged three and a boy of two died from their burns at hospitals in Rome and Florence. Twenty seven people were injured, many of them seriously.
Italian newspapers demanded to know who was to blame, with La Repubblica asking "Who`s Guilty?" and Corriere della Sera warning "No Alibis." Some papers dedicated the first dozen pages or more to the disaster, one of Italy`s worst in living memory.
"The Inferno of the Innocent," was the headline of the Rome daily Il Messaggero.
"All of us were afraid. We just didn`t understand what was happening, we thought it was a terrorist attack," said Mirko Angelini, a resident of Viareggio, north of Rome.
Infrastructure Minister Altero Matteoli told parliament "checks are underway" into reports the axle on a rail car carrying liquefied petroleum gas appeared to have buckled, causing the derailment and subsequent explosion.
La Repubblica warned in an editorial there were "no small fry" among those possibly responsible.
The train was driven by an employee of Italian state railways, which says it is the country`s largest company, while the railcar whose axle may have given way was owned by a subsidiary of U.S.-based GATX Corp.
The conductor of the train, Roberto Fochesato, told Corriere della Sera "we didn`t make any mistakes. We found ourselves in an inferno, but it wasn`t my fault."
The GATX unit said the railcars were new and issued a statement saying "so far we do not see any connection between the cause of the accident and our wagons."
Rescuers Wednesday suspended the search for missing victims in the rubble of collapsed homes. One person was still unaccounted for but was presumed to be among the unidentified dead, a rescuer said.
Heart-wrenching stories about the victims dominated the airwaves and newsprint. Corriere told of a mother who rushed out of her home with her five-year-old son Luca, putting him in her car for safety while she ran back inside for her other two children.
The car caught fire while she was gone, and Luca died.
Cable news stations read aloud stories of families killed or in intensive care for severe burns at local hospitals.
"Ilaria and Michela, sisters and friends. The fireball burned them together," was a headline in La Repubblica.  Continued...
Original article

N.Korean ship tracked by U.S. Navy reverses course

(NORTH, KOREAN, KOREA, WEAPONS, OFFICIAL, NUCLEAR)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A North Korean ship suspected of carrying weapons has reversed course after being tracked by the U.S. Navy under a new U.N. monitoring program, a U.S. official said on Tuesday.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the Kang Nam was heading back in the direction of North Korea after turning around within the last few days.
"We`ve no idea where it`s going," the official said. "The U.S. didn`t do anything to make it turn around."
"It`s pretty much on a reciprocal track," the official added.
South Korean media reports have said the ship, a known North Korean weapons trader, was probably heading for Myanmar, while other media outlets have named Singapore as a possible destination. Singapore`s government has said it will take action if the ship tries to dock with a cargo of weapons.
North Korea has defied the international community with a series of nuclear and missile tests, raising fears of a spread of nuclear weapons to countries such as Iran.
U.S. officials have not said why the Navy is monitoring the Kang Nam but the New York Times reported on Tuesday some senior members of the Obama administration are wondering whether they are being manipulated by North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.
"The whole thing just doesn`t add up," the newspaper quoted one senior administration official as saying.
"My worry is that we make a big demand about seeing the cargo, and then there`s a tense standoff, and when it`s all over we discover that old man Kim set us up to look like George Bush searching for nonexistent (weapons of mass destruction)."
The Kang Nam is the first North Korean ship monitored under a U.N. security resolution that bars Pyongyang from exporting weapons including missile parts and nuclear materials.
The ship, which left North Korea in mid-June, has been tracked by several U.S. Navy vessels over the course of its journey and now was being monitored by a U.S. Navy destroyer, the official said.
Speaking before news of the ship`s reversal, the chief of U.S. Naval Operations, Admiral Gary Roughead, said he thought the U.N. resolution had increased pressure on Pyongyang and was proving to be an effective tool against proliferation.
"It gets pretty lonely out there when you have only so much water and only so much gas," Roughead said, referring to a ship with no safe harbor.
(Additional reporting by Andrew Gray and Andrea Shalal-Esa; Writing by Joanne Allen; Editing by John O`Callaghan)
Original article

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Yemeni plane crashes off Comoros, girl found alive

(AIRBUS, YEMEN, FRENCH, CRASHED, COMOROS, PLANE)

By Ahmed Ali Amir
MORONI (Reuters) - An Airbus A310-300 from Yemen with 153 people on board, including 66 French nationals, crashed into the sea off the Indian Ocean archipelago of Comoros as it approached in bad weather early on Tuesday, officials said.
A 14-year-old girl was found alive in the sea, Comoros Communications Minister Abdourahim Said Bakar said. Earlier reports had said the rescued child was five.
The Paris airports authority said 66 French nationals were aboard the plane, which was flying the final leg of a trip from Paris and Marseille to Comoros via Yemen.
A Yemeni aviation official said there were also nationals from Canada, Comoros, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Morocco, the Palestinian territories, the Philippines and Yemen on the plane.
It is the second Airbus to plunge into the sea this month. An Air France Airbus A330-200 crashed into the Atlantic Ocean killing 228 people on board on June 1. A preliminary report on that crash is due on Thursday.
The Paris-Marseille-Yemen leg of the Yemenia flight was flown by an Airbus A330. In Sanaa, those passengers who were flying on to the Comoros changed onto a second Yemenia plane, the A310 that crashed.
FAULTS DETECTED
French Transport Minister Dominique Bussereau said faults had been detected during inspections in France in 2007 on the Yemenia A310, and that it had not flown to France since.
"The A310 in question was inspected in 2007 by the DGAC (French transport authorities) and they noticed a certain number of faults," he told the I-tele television channel.
"The company was not on the black list but was subject to stricter checks on our part, and was due to be interviewed shortly by the European Union`s safety committee."
"The question we are asking ... is whether you can collect people in a normal way on French territory and then put them in a plane that does not ensure their security. We do not want this to happen again," he said.
Yemen`s transport minister said the plane was thoroughly checked in May under Airbus supervision.
"It was a comprehensive inspection carried out in Yemen ... with experts from Airbus," Khaled Ibrahim al-Wazeer told Reuters from Sanaa. "It was in line with international standards."
The EU suspended permission for Yemenia to maintain EU-registered planes in February after it failed a set of audit inspections, the EU`s aviation safety agency told Reuters in Brussels.
The move would not have affected the doomed Airbus A310 plane since it was registered in Yemen. But it provides further evidence of European concerns over the airline`s operations after the EU Commission said the plane which crashed had sparked an EU inquiry two years ago.  Continued...
Original article

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Bomb kills 32 in Iraq as U.S. troops leave

(BAGHDAD, SECURITY, KIRKUK, PEOPLE, IRAQIS, MILITARY)

By Tim Cocks and Muhanad Mohammed
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Hours after U.S. troops handed over control of Iraq`s cities to its domestic security forces, a car bomb in the northern city of Kirkuk killed at least 32 people and wounded more than 100 on Tuesday, police said.
The blast tore through a busy market in a largely Kurdish part of the city, which is regarded as a potential flashpoint between ethnic Kurds, Arabs and Turkmen.
The U.S. pullback to rural bases from towns and cities is the first step toward a full U.S. withdrawal by 2012 agreed under a bilateral security pact.
Some Iraqis fear it leaves them open to attack by insurgent groups but many Iraqis celebrated what the government named "National Sovereignty Day," more than six years after the U.S.-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein.
Citizens and Iraqi soldiers drove around the streets of the capital in vehicles draped in flowers and Iraqi flags. Signs were draped on Baghdad`s many concrete blast walls reading "Iraq: my nation, my glory, my honor."
"This day, which we consider a national celebration, is an achievement made by all Iraqis," Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said in a televised address.
"Our incomplete sovereignty and the presence of foreign troops is the most serious legacy we have inherited (from Saddam). Those who think that Iraqis are unable to defend their country are committing a fatal mistake."
The day`s festivities included a parade in Baghdad`s heavily fortified Green Zone government and diplomatic district, viewed by Iraqis as the ultimate symbol of the foreign military presence until local forces took control of it in January.
In a display of the military muscle Iraq will use to combat a stubborn insurgency, thousands of soldiers and police paraded on foot or in U.S.-donated Humvees, armored cars and tanks in a compound where Saddam`s forces once staged elaborate displays.
U.S. and local officials said the pullback of U.S. troops showed how far the country had come since it was almost torn apart by tit-for-tat sectarian killing in 2006/2007.
But the Kirkuk bomb underscored the fragility of the security gains. Iraq is less violent that it has been for years, but militants still stage frequent attacks.
In Washington, U.S. President Barack Obama lauded the U.S. troop withdrawal as an important milestone but warned of "difficult days" ahead.
Frantic relatives of those who had been in the area dug through the rubble in Kirkuk, searching for missing loved ones.
"I went to the market to get some bread and there was a huge explosion," said Taseen Azad, 21, who was lightly wounded. "I saw people falling on the ground, shops burning and dead people. Then someone took me to the hospital."
The U.S. military said four U.S. soldiers based in Baghdad had died of combat-related injuries on Monday.  Continued...
Original article

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Zelaya vows return to Honduras despite arrest threat

(PRESIDENT, ZELAYA, HONDURAS, WOULD, GOVERNMENT, AFTER)

By Patrick Markey and Mica Rosenberg
TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) - Ousted President Manuel Zelaya vowed on Tuesday to return to Honduras flanked by foreign leaders to serve the rest of his term, defying a warning from a hostile interim leadership that he will be immediately arrested.
Zelaya gathered further international support as he addressed the United Nations and Organization of American States. He said the Argentine and Ecuadorean presidents and the U.N. General Assembly and OAS chiefs would accompany him on a trip back to Honduras on Thursday.
Upping the ante in what is already Central America`s biggest political crisis in decades, the interim government set up after Sunday`s military coup said Zelaya would be captured if he returned.
The coup against Zelaya -- a timber magnate toppled in a dispute over his push to allow presidential re-election beyond a single four-year term -- has been greeted by a tide of condemnation from President Barack Obama to Zelaya`s leftist allies in Latin America. But he remains a divisive figure in Honduras, an impoverished coffee, textile and banana-exporter of some 7 million people.
Several thousand demonstrators rallied in favor of his ouster in the capital Tegucigalpa on Tuesday, after two days of rowdy anti-Zelaya protests near the presidential palace.
But in a development that could offer an opening for talks on ending the stand-off, the interim government said it would send a delegation of politicians, business leaders and lawyers to Washington on Wednesday for talks on the crisis.
Roberto Micheletti, sworn in as caretaker president by Congress soon after Sunday`s coup, announced the mission after Zelaya traveled to New York and Washington to address the United Nations and Organization of American States on Tuesday.
U.S. officials said Zelaya would likely meet State Department officials while in Washington.
Zelaya insisted he will return to complete his mandate, which ends in early 2010, and said he did not intend to run for president again.
"I am going back to Honduras on Thursday, I`m going to return as president," Zelaya said after the U.N. General Assembly urged member states to recognize only his government.
CHAVEZ ALLY
In office since 2006, Zelaya had upset conservative elites with his growing alliance with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a left-wing firebrand who is championing an old-style revolutionary brand of socialism across Latin America.
Central America`s first military coup since the Cold War came after Zelaya angered Congress, courts and the army with a push for constitutional changes to allow presidential
re-election.
Enrique Ortez, the interim government`s foreign minister, told CNN`s Spanish-language channel that Zelaya had charges pending against him for violating the constitution, drug trafficking and organized crime.  Continued...
Original article

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Barak: Too early to declare Israel settlement freeze

(ISRAEL, BARAK, TALKS, MITCHELL, MEETING, PEACE)

By Daniel Bases
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said on Tuesday after talks with the U.S. Middle East envoy that it was too soon to say whether Israel would freeze West Bank settlements as demanded by President Barack Obama.
Barak said the talks with envoy George Mitchell, which lasted over four hours, were "positive" but that there are still "differences."
In a joint statement issued after their meeting, Barak and Mitchell said they had discussed the full range of issues related to Middle East peace and security. The statement said the discussions were constructive and would soon continue.
In a rare rift between Israel and the United States, Obama is pushing for a building freeze in a bid to spur the resumption of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
Asked whether Israel would declare a temporary settlement building freeze, Barak said: "I think that it`s a little bit too early to predict.
"We are considering every positive contribution Israel can make toward the taking off of a significant important peace effort," he said.
Barak said a meeting between Mitchell and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was being arranged in the next one to three weeks. The two had planned a meeting in Paris last Thursday but it was put off by Israel, which said it needed more time to prepare.
Israel`s biggest newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported on Sunday that Barak would propose a three-month halt to construction starts in settlements but allow current building work to continue.
Barak said the talks were not mired down by the settlements issue. "I don`t think we are stuck, I don`t think we are stuck now. We are continuing talks on a wide variety of subjects, to clarify things and reach understandings," he said.
"The talks were positive and in a good atmosphere, even though there are still differences," he added.
Barak said the talks with Mitchell covered a wide range of issues, including a U.S.-led regional peace initiative which "we will support full-heartedly."
PROTRACTED PROCESS
One Israeli official with knowledge of Monday`s meeting told Reuters Israel was not giving details of the talks, but added: "I can say that this meeting was definitely positive and that an agreement (over differences) could be within reach."
"This is a protracted process and each side is learning to appreciate the other`s point of view," the official said.
In their joint statement, Mitchell and Barak said their discussions covered "a wide range of measures needed to create a climate conducive to peace," including measures on security and incitement by the Palestinians; steps by Arab states toward normalization with Israel; and actions from Israel on access and movement in the West Bank and on settlement activity.  Continued...
Original article

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Barak: Too early to declare Israel settlement freeze

(ISRAEL, BARAK, TALKS, MITCHELL, MEETING, PEACE)

By Daniel Bases
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said on Tuesday after talks with the U.S. Middle East envoy that it was too soon to say whether Israel would freeze West Bank settlements as demanded by President Barack Obama.
Barak said the talks with envoy George Mitchell, which lasted over four hours, were "positive" but that there are still "differences."
In a joint statement issued after their meeting, Barak and Mitchell said they had discussed the full range of issues related to Middle East peace and security. The statement said the discussions were constructive and would soon continue.
In a rare rift between Israel and the United States, Obama is pushing for a building freeze in a bid to spur the resumption of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
Asked whether Israel would declare a temporary settlement building freeze, Barak said: "I think that it`s a little bit too early to predict.
"We are considering every positive contribution Israel can make toward the taking off of a significant important peace effort," he said.
Barak said a meeting between Mitchell and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was being arranged in the next one to three weeks. The two had planned a meeting in Paris last Thursday but it was put off by Israel, which said it needed more time to prepare.
Israel`s biggest newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported on Sunday that Barak would propose a three-month halt to construction starts in settlements but allow current building work to continue.
Barak said the talks were not mired down by the settlements issue. "I don`t think we are stuck, I don`t think we are stuck now. We are continuing talks on a wide variety of subjects, to clarify things and reach understandings," he said.
"The talks were positive and in a good atmosphere, even though there are still differences," he added.
Barak said the talks with Mitchell covered a wide range of issues, including a U.S.-led regional peace initiative which "we will support full-heartedly."
PROTRACTED PROCESS
One Israeli official with knowledge of Monday`s meeting told Reuters Israel was not giving details of the talks, but added: "I can say that this meeting was definitely positive and that an agreement (over differences) could be within reach."
"This is a protracted process and each side is learning to appreciate the other`s point of view," the official said.
In their joint statement, Mitchell and Barak said their discussions covered "a wide range of measures needed to create a climate conducive to peace," including measures on security and incitement by the Palestinians; steps by Arab states toward normalization with Israel; and actions from Israel on access and movement in the West Bank and on settlement activity.  Continued...
Original article

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Indonesia`s regional leaders attract investors

(INDONESIA, OTHER, LEADERS, THEIR, WIDODO, ELECTION)

By Sunanda Creagh
SOLO, Indonesia (Reuters) - A quiet revolution is under way in Solo, Central Java, and in other parts of Indonesia where local leaders are learning that one way to get re-elected is to take voters and their needs seriously.
Joko Widodo, a former furniture salesman, was elected mayor of this royal city four years ago. Like a handful of other local leaders, he has made a name for himself by taking on bureaucracy, graft and infrastructure in Solo, a microcosm of the problems that afflict Southeast Asia`s biggest economy.
He and some of his peers, typically men in their forties or fifties with a background in business, are already regarded as potential candidates for much bigger jobs on the national stage, the governors and ministers of the future, because their "can-do" approach helps to attract investment.
"I am not a genius. I just ask the people what they want. You want, I give," said Widodo, 48, in an interview with Reuters.
"In other cities, they have the top-down approach. I don`t want this. I want bottom up. It`s better for me if there is participatory planning."
Across Indonesia, which embraced democracy after autocratic president Suharto was forced to quit in 1998 and holds its second direct election for president next week, voters are punishing leaders who don`t listen, regardless of party affiliation or campaign budgets, says election observer Kevin Evans.
"This is definitely a pattern," Evans said.
"In the legislative elections (in April), we saw incumbent candidates with lots of money being chucked out and some minor parties get a massive burst of votes in areas where they have a good candidate."
INVESTOR-FRIENDLY
Following decentralization, provinces and districts are now being ranked on the basis of their investor-friendliness. Widodo, who sold locally-produced furniture overseas before he became mayor, has already attracted "rave reviews" said Kevin O`Rourke, Jakarta-based political risk analyst.
"He`s up and coming and could be governor of Central Java one day," said O`Rourke. In Solo, he has been tipped as a future tourism minister after establishing cultural fairs, building a new airport and launching plans for an inter-city highway.
Indonesia`s Tempo Magazine late last year named him one of 10 leaders to watch.
"They created innovations and breakthroughs," said Tempo, adding that among these "few good men" were "a number of promising future leaders."
Some built parks and clean open spaces to improve the quality of life, or encouraged breakthrough agricultural practices. Others cut the stifling bureaucracy and corruption that accompanies some of the most basic public services in Indonesia.
Untung Wiyono, regent of Sragen near Solo, connected all his villages to the internet, while Andi Hatta Marakarma, regent of Luwu Timur, South Sulawesi, built new villages and roads, helping to cut the cost of transporting rice by over two-thirds.  Continued...
Original article

Barak: Too early to declare Israel settlement freeze

(ISRAEL, BARAK, TALKS, MITCHELL, SETTLEMENTS, BUILDING)

By Daniel Bases
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Tuesday after talks with U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell it was too early to say whether Israel might declare a temporary freeze on settlements in the West Bank.
Barak said the talks with Mitchell, which lasted over four hours, were "positive" but that there are still "differences."
Asked whether Israel would declare a temporary settlement building freeze, he said: "I think that it`s a little bit too early to predict. We are considering every positive contribution Israel can make toward the taking off of a significant important peace effort."
U.S. President Barack Obama, in a rare rift between Israel and the United States, is pushing for a building freeze in a bid to spur the resumption of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
Earlier this week Israel`s biggest newspaper, Yedioth Ahronoth, reported that Barak would propose a three-month halt to construction starts in settlements but allow current building work to continue.
Barak said the talks were not mired down by the settlements issue. "I don`t think we are stuck, I don`t think we are stuck now. We are continuing talks on a wide variety of subjects, to clarify things and reach understandings," Barak said.
"The talks were positive and in a good atmosphere, even though there are still differences," he added.
Barak said the talks with Mitchell covered a wide range of issues, including a U.S.-led regional peace initiative which "we will support full-heartedly."
A joint statement from the two nations was expected later Tuesday.
Mitchell, who posed for photographers at the start of the meeting in a New York hotel, did not take questions.
Barak said a meeting between Mitchell and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was being arranged in the next one to three weeks, Barak said.
Monday Israel approved construction of 50 new homes at a West Bank settlement as part of a larger development, an expansion that would defy the U.S. call for a building freeze.
Netanyahu has said he would allow some construction to continue to match population growth within existing settlements.
(Additional reporting by Ari Rabinovitch in Jerusalem; Reporting by David Storey)
Original article

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Bomb kills 25 in Iraq as U.S. troops leave

(BAGHDAD, IRAQI, TUESDAY, TROOPS, SECURITY, GOVERNMENT)

By Tim Cocks and Muhanad Mohammed
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A car bomb in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk killed at least 25 people on Tuesday, just after U.S. troops handed over full control of Iraq`s cities to the domestic security forces six years after the invasion.
The bomb, which wounded at least 40 people, struck a busy market in a largely Kurdish part of Kirkuk, a city viewed as a potential flashpoint between the Shi`ite Arab-led central government and Kurds. Police said the death toll could rise.
Many Iraqis fear the U.S. pullback from towns and cities and into rural bases, the first step toward a full U.S. withdrawal by the end of 2011, leaves them open to attack.
But the government declared Tuesday a holiday, "National Sovereignty Day," and held a parade to show off the military muscle it will use against a stubborn insurgency.
"This day, which we consider a national celebration, is an achievement made by all Iraqis," Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said in a televised address.
"Our incomplete sovereignty and the presence of foreign troops is the most serious legacy we have inherited (from Saddam Hussein). Those who think that Iraqis are unable to defend their country are committing a fatal mistake."
Citizens and Iraqi soldiers drove around the streets of Baghdad in vehicles draped in flowers and Iraqi flags to celebrate.
In another bloody reminder of the war unleashed by the 2003 U.S. invasion, the U.S. military said four U.S. soldiers based in Baghdad had died of combat-related injuries on Monday. It gave no further details.
By midnight on Tuesday, all U.S. combat units must have left Iraq`s urban centers and redeployed to rural bases, according to a bilateral security pact that requires all U.S. troops to leave Iraq by the end of 2011.
(Additional reporting by Sherko Raouf; editing by Robert Woodward)
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U.N. monitors leave Georgia, OSCE mission shuts

(MONITORS, MISSION, RUSSIA, AFTER, ABKHAZIA, SOUTH)

By Matt Robinson
TBILISI (Reuters) - United Nations monitors began pulling out of Georgia on Tuesday and the OSCE officially closed its observer mission, testing security almost a year since the former Soviet republic`s war with Russia.
A deadline for the OSCE to withdraw passed on Tuesday after negotiations with Russia broke down in May. The mission conducted its last patrol on Friday, and has already left its hillside headquarters in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi.
Russia rejected extending the mandates of some 130 U.N. monitors in breakaway Abkhazia and 20 monitors of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, who operated in rebel South Ossetia until last August`s war.
Moscow recognized the territories as independent states after crushing a Georgian assault on South Ossetia in a five-day war. Russia demanded separate monitoring missions for the regions, which Georgia said would violate its sovereignty.
Greek Foreign Minister and OSCE chair Dora Bakoyanni lamented the lack of consensus.
"As a result, one of the largest on-the-ground missions of the OSCE in the region was led to an end -- despite the clear need, recognized by many states taking part in it, for the organization to be present in order to contribute toward security and stability in the region."
In Abkhazia on Monday, U.N. Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Edmond Mulet said U.N. military and police monitors would start leaving on Tuesday and complete the withdrawal by July 15, a month after Russia vetoed a new mandate, Abkhaz media reported.
OIL AND GAS TRANSIT
A U.N. official who declined to be named confirmed around 20 monitors were leaving on Tuesday. "We`re moving them out in batches," he said. Full closure and the departure of several hundred civilian staff will take several more months.
The U.N. and OSCE missions deployed after Abkhazia and South Ossetia threw off Georgia`s rule in wars in the early 1990s after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Their departure leaves the European Union alone with some 225 unarmed monitors deployed after last year`s war to monitor a fragile ceasefire.
The EU mission, however, has been denied access to either South Ossetia or Abkhazia and currently conducts patrols only as far as the de facto borders.
Analysts warn the mission has neither the access nor the means to prevent frequent incidents -- gunfire and bomb blasts -- escalating into full-blown clashes in an important transit region for oil and gas to the West.
Russia has kept thousands of soldiers in South Ossetia and Abkhazia since the war. Departing OSCE mission head Terhi Hakala warned last week of the risk of fresh conflict.
Tensions are again running high, with Russia this week conducting annual large-scale military exercises across parts of its southern regions bordering Georgia, condemned by Tbilisi as "pure provocation."
(Additional reporting by Harry Papachristou in Athens, editing by Mark Trevelyan)
Original article

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Human Rights Watch accuses Israel over Gaza drones

(MISSILE, DRONES, HUMAN, RIGHTS, WATCH, WHICH)

By Dan Williams
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Missile-firing Israeli drones unlawfully killed at least 29 Palestinian civilians during the Gaza Strip war, Human Rights Watch said on Tuesday.
Despite having advanced surveillance equipment, drone operators failed to exercise proper caution "as required by the laws of war" in verifying their targets were combatants, the New York-based monitoring group said, issuing a 39-page report that described six alleged strikes by remote-controlled aircraft.
Israel has a fleet of spy drones, also known as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), but refuses to confirm or deny widespread beliefs that some of the aircraft also carry weapons.
The military cast doubt on Human Rights Watch`s research methods -- a criticism echoed by some independent experts -- and, in a statement, asserted that all Israeli actions "conform to international law, as do the weapons and munitions used."
Israel launched its December-January offensive to counter rocket fire from Hamas-ruled Gaza, and has since weathered foreign censure over the killing of some 1,400 Palestinians, many of them civilians, during the fighting.
Human Rights Watch based its findings primarily on debris from Israeli-made Spike missiles, which it said are fired from drones. The report also called on Israel to publish drone surveillance footage, to show how targets were identified.
Spike`s state-owned manufacturer, Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd., says the missile, which has been sold widely abroad, can be fired by helicopters, infantry and naval craft.
Asked how it was possible to know that the Spikes in question had been fired by drones rather than these other means, Marc Garlasco, Human Rights Watch`s senior military analyst, cited the corroboration of Palestinians who said they had seen or heard the pilotless planes.
DISPUTED FORSENSICS
The value of such forensics was disputed by Robert Hewson, editor of Jane`s Air-Launched Weapons.
He said that while low-flying drones are often visible, the aircraft can reach operational heights of 12,000 feet, at which sightings would be much harder. The launch of a missile at that altitude would likely elude the naked eye.
Garlasco said he did not know at what height the drones described in the Human Rights Watch report were flying. He also said that two of the incidents cited in the report took place in the evening or night -- a further obstacle to witness sightings.
"Human Rights Watch makes a lot of claims and assumptions about weapons and drones, all of which is still fairly speculative, because we have so little evidence," Hewson said.
According to Garlasco, locals heard the buzz of drone propellers during the alleged air strikes rather than rotors that might have suggested the missiles were helicopter-fired.
Retired British army colonel Richard Kemp, a veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, questioned whether such distinctions could be made, not least as the Spike`s range is 8 km (5 miles) -- enough to put helicopters or naval boats out of earshot.  Continued...
Original article

U.N.`s Ban says to urge Myanmar to release Suu Kyi

(MYANMAR, POLITICAL, REPORTERS, HOUSE, ARREST, GOVERNMENT)

TOKYO (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will strongly urge Myanmar`s ruling generals to release all political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi, when he visits the country this week, he told reporters in Tokyo on Tuesday.
Speaking after talks with Japanese Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone, he said he was aware of concerns about his July 3-4 visit coinciding with the trial of Suu Kyi, the main opposition leader, who has been under house arrest for years.
"It may be the case that the trial happens during my visit to Myanmar. I am very much conscious of that," Ban told reporters.
"I try to use this visit as an opportunity to raise in the strongest possible terms and convey the concerns of the international community of the United Nations to the highest authorities of the Myanmar government," he added.
Ban said he would press the Myanmar government to carry out a range of political reforms.
"I consider that three of the most important issues for Myanmar cannot be left unaddressed at this juncture," Ban told reporters. "The first, release of all political prisoners, including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi."
The other two items were the resumption of dialogue between the government and opposition and the creation of conditions conducive to a credible election, he added.
Suu Kyi, 64, has been in prison or under house arrest on and off since 1989. The military junta that has ruled Myanmar since 1962 put her on trial again recently, accusing her of breaking the terms of her house arrest by allowing an unauthorised guest to stay at her lakeside home.
(Reporting by Isabel Reynolds; Editing by Alex Richardson)
Original article

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Afghan-Pakistan border blast wounds several: police

(BORDER, CROSSING, AFGHANISTAN, PAKISTAN, SENIOR, TALIBAN)

KABUL (Reuters) - A suicide bomber attacked a border checkpoint at a crossing between Afghanistan and Pakistan on Tuesday, a senior border policeman said, wounding at least four people.
The bomber attacked the crossing for women in the east Afghan town of Torkham, senior policeman Mohammad Zaman Mamozai told Reuters by telephone from the Afghan-Pakistan border. The checkpoint was ablaze, he said.
Private Afghan television station Tolo reported that at least four people were wounded in the blast.
Ambulances were rushing to the scene from the nearby city of Jalalabad, a former Taliban and al Qaeda stronghold in eastern Afghanistan, a Reuters reporter in the city said.
The suicide bomber detonated explosives inside a room used by female security guards to check women crossing the border, Mamozai said.
Senior U.S. military commanders say violence in Afghanistan`s Taliban-led insurgency has reached its highest level since the Islamist militants were ousted after a U.S.-led invasion in 2001.
U.S. President Barack Obama has identified Afghanistan and Pakistan as his main foreign policy priority and Washington is pouring thousands of extra U.S. troops into Afghanistan in a bid to stabilize the war-racked nation.
The reinforcements are meant to help secure August 20 presidential elections in Afghanistan and to combat the Taliban and their al Qaeda allies.
(Reporting by Rafiq Sherzad and Hamid Shalizi; editing by Paul Tait)
Original article

Pakistan militant faction scraps pact, vows attacks

(PAKISTAN, GOVERNMENT, ATTACKS, OFFENSIVE, MEHSUD, WAZIRISTAN)

By Alamgir Bitani
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistani militants in a northwestern region have scrapped a peace deal with the government and vowed to launch attacks, threatening to open a new front against the army already fighting in two areas.
The military says it is nearing the end of an offensive in the Swat region, northwest of Islamabad, and is set to launch an assault on Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud in South Waziristan on the Afghan border.
The offensive in Swat was launched two months ago after Taliban fighters thrust toward the capital, raising alarm both at home and among allies who need nuclear-armed Pakistan`s help to fight al Qaeda and to tackle Afghanistan`s insurgency.
A militant faction allied with Mehsud in North Waziristan, another militant hotspot also on the Afghan border, said it was ending a pact with the government because of U.S. drone aircraft attacks and the presence of government forces in their area.
"Our leadership has decided that as long as U.S. drone attacks continue and security forces stay here, there will be no peace agreement," faction spokesman Ahmedullah Ahmedi said by telephone from an undisclosed location.
The United States has launched more than 40 attacks by pilotless drones in northwest Pakistan since the beginning of last year, many in North Waziristan.
Pakistan officially objects to the attacks, saying they drive the population into the arms of the militants. U.S. officials say the strikes ae carried out under an agreement that allows Pakistani leaders to decry them in public.
Meanwhile, the government has said Mehsud and his followers in South Waziristan will be attacked next and defeated.
Mehsud carries a U.S. reward of $5 million and a Pakistani reward of 50 million rupees ($615,000). Analysts say Mehsud has become increasingly close to al Qaeda and the military says he is behind 90 percent of "terrorist activity" in the country.
Mehsud was accused of the December 2007 assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.
HEAVY SHELLING
Security forces have been closing in on his headquarters, using aircraft and artillery to attack his positions while soldiers secure main roads.
The military shelled Mehsud`s positions again on Monday evening and a stray shell hit the wall of the home of a Reuters reporter on the outskirts of the region`s main town of Wana. No one was hurt.
"There was heavy shelling for several hours and one shell hit my house. Thank God, everybody is safe," the reporter said.
North Waziristan has been relatively peaceful but Ahmedi, spokesman for the faction led by commander Gul Bahadur, said his men would go on the offensive.  Continued...
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North Korea trying to enrich uranium, South says

(NORTH, KOREA, URANIUM, NUCLEAR, SOUTH, PROGRAM)

By Jon Herskovitz
SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea appears to be enriching uranium, potentially giving the state that tested a plutonium-based nuclear device in May another path for making atomic weapons, South Korea`s defense minister said on Tuesday.
"It is clear that they are moving forward with it," Defense Minister Lee Sang-hee told a parliamentary hearing, adding such a program is far easier to hide than the North`s current plutonium-based program.
North Korea earlier this month responded to U.N. punishment for its nuclear test by saying it would start enriching uranium for a light-water reactor.
Experts said destitute North Korea lacks the technology and resources to build such a costly civilian reactor but may use the program as a cover to enrich uranium for weapons.
North Korea, which has ample supplies of natural uranium, would be able to conduct an enrichment program in underground or undisclosed facilities and away from the prying eyes of U.S. spy satellites.
The North`s plutonium program uses an aging reactor and is centered at its Soviet-era Yongbyon nuclear plant, which has been watched by U.S. aerial reconnaissance for years.
Proliferation experts said the North has purchased equipment needed for uranium enrichment including centrifuges and high-strength aluminum tubes but they doubt that Pyongyang has seriously pursued the project.
"It seems unlikely that North Korea will succeed in establishing a substantial enrichment capability ... in the near term," nuclear expert Hui Zhang wrote in an article this month in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, adding outside help from the likes of Pyongyang`s ally Iran could speed up the process.
South Korean officials said the North`s recent military moves that also included missile tests and threats to attack the South were likely aimed at building internal support for leader Kim Jong-il, 67, as he prepares for succession in Asia`s only communist dynasty.
Investors used to the North`s military rumblings said the developments have not had any major impact on trading but have raised concern among market players.
North Korea is also preparing to test a long-range missile that could hit U.S. territory and mid-range missiles that could hit all of South Korea, which could further rattle regional security, a South Korean presidential Blue House official said last week.
(Reporting by Jon Herskovitz and Christine Kim; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)
Original article

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Iraq steps into precarious but sovereign unknown

(TROOPS, FORCES, MILITANT, SECURITY, THEIR, IRAQI)

By Michael Christie
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq takes a major step toward reasserting its sovereignty on Tuesday when U.S. combat troops hand urban areas over to its relatively untested police and soldiers.
Will the end of one aspect of the "surge" strategy -- the ramped-up deployment of U.S. forces in militant strongholds that helped drive al Qaeda and other fighters underground -- lead to a collapse in security?
WILL VIOLENCE SOAR?
It is highly likely that insurgents will increase their attacks following the departure of U.S. combat troops from city centers, both U.S. and Iraqi officials say.
Some militant groups may want to create the impression that they deserve the credit for driving out the occupation forces.
The fact that the partial withdrawal has been dictated by a bilateral security pact agreed last year between the United States and Iraq is immaterial to them.
Some of the insurgents may also think Iraq and its population will be more vulnerable once the Americans pull back to their bases, and that they have a better chance of reigniting widespread sectarian bloodshed through massive bombings.
There have been indications, however, that insurgent and militant groups have lost the capacity to keep up the momentum.
While the past month saw two of the deadliest bombings in more than a year, the overall number of incidents has plunged, and major attacks are followed by weeks of relative calm.
WHAT IS AT STAKE POLITICALLY?
If Iraqi security forces fail to protect the Iraqi people from escalating attacks, Shi`ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is likely to suffer politically.
He is staking his hopes for a second term after a parliamentary poll next January on his ability to claim credit for a sharp fall in violence over the past 18 months.
Maliki has called the withdrawal a great victory as Iraq tries to shake off stigma of occupation, and he has declared June 30, "National Sovereignty Day," a public holiday.
Analysts say he has essentially backed himself into a corner by exalting the occasion -- if violence soars it will be politically unpalatable to call on the U.S. military for help.
The prime minister`s stance may also dictate commanders` behavior on the ground. They may be loathe to call on U.S. troops or air cover, no matter how much it is needed, out of fear of being punished by their superiors for apparent weakness.  Continued...
Original article

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Iran upholds Ahmadinejad victory, says matter closed

(ELECTION, COUNCIL, RECOUNT, PROTESTS, STATE, OPPOSITION)

By Fredrik Dahl and Parisa Hafezi
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran confirmed hard-liner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as president and said a row over his June 12 re-election was over, leaving opponents who cried foul with few options.
Iran`s top legislative body, the Guardian Council, said a partial recount on Monday had disproved complaints of irregularities by pro-reform opponents, who said the count was inadequate and that only annulling the election would do.
Riot police beefed up their presence in the capital Tehran but there were no signs of major unrest late on Monday, in contrast to protests by tens of thousands that erupted when Ahmadinejad was first declared victor of the June 12 vote.
State media say 20 people died in that violence which the government and opposition blamed on one another. Pro-government Basij militia and riot police broke up the protests.
"The secretary of the Guardian Council, in a letter to the interior minister, announced the final decision of the Council ... and declares the approval of the accuracy of the results of ... the presidential election," state broadcaster IRIB said.
The poll and its turbulent aftermath have exposed splits in Iran`s political establishment and plunged the country into its deepest crisis since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
But options for the opposition look limited now the election result has been officially upheld, after the recount of what the council said was a random 10 percent of the vote.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei signaled on June 19 that mass protests would no longer be tolerated. There is little scope for more legal fights, and hundreds of opposition supporters have been detained, leaving protesters leaderless.
After dark, some people are still chanting "Allahu Akbar (God is greatest)" from their rooftops, mimicking tactics used during the 1979 revolution, but the nightly cries are weakening.
There has been talk of other forms of civil disobedience, including strike action, but these have yet to materialize.
DOSSIER CLOSED
"The Guardian Council statement was issued when it became convinced about the accuracy of the election," a council spokesman said, adding that no irregularities were found.
"The dossier of the ... election has been closed today."
The recount system was not immediately clear, but state media said it had been spread over at least several provinces.
Opposition supporters say the vote was rigged to favor the hardline president over reformist rivals including Mirhossein Mousavi, who came second. Mousavi had rejected the idea of a recount and sent no representatives to watch it.  Continued...
Original article

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Malaysia PM sets big reforms to boost investment

(MALAYS, MALAYSIA, INVESTMENT, ECONOMY, NAJIB, PERCENT)

By David Chance and Soo Ai Peng
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia`s prime minister unveiled a raft of measures on Tuesday to boost investment in the slumping economy, coming close to ending an affirmative action program for ethnic Malays that critics say has stymied growth.
Najib Razak told a conference in Kuala Lumpur that his government would end rules on foreign investment in most sectors of the economy and would open up the investment management and brokerage industry, as well as property, ending requirements for 30 percent ownership by ethnic Malays.
He also promised reforms of Malaysia`s huge government companies such as plantations and property giant Sime Darby, and said they would be forced to sell non-core assets to boost domestic competition in the Southeast Asian nation.
"We have become a successful middle income economy, but we cannot and will not be caught in the middle income country trap," Najib told the conference.
"We need to make the shift to a high income economy or we risk losing growth momentum in our economies and vibrancy in our markets."
The reforms gave the ringgit a small boost and it traded at 3.521 to the dollar at 0500 GMT (1 a.m. EDT), up from 3.54 at the open, although data released later showed foreign investors had continued to pull money out of Malaysia this year.
Malaysia is Asia`s third most export-dependent nation, seeing shipment slump 26 percent from a year ago as demand for electronics and commodities has been hit by the global downturn. The economy has shrunk 5 percent this year.
Investment flows have dried up and the country has been overtaken by neighbouring Thailand in terms of direct investment since 2001 and portfolio flows turned negative to the tune of 92.3 billion Malaysian ringgit ($26.10 billion) in 2008.
In the first quarter of 2009 they remained negative to the tune of 12.2 billion ringgit, even as investment in other emerging Asian economies has recovered. Malaysia`s stock market has risen 20 percent this year, underperforming a 30 percent rise in Asian markets excluding Japan.
"This move will definitely encourage investors to rethink or reconsider Malaysia amid the many choices (in the region) such as Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia," said Wan Suhaimie Wan Saidie, economist at Malaysia`s Kenanga investment bank.
BALANCING INVESTMENT AND POLITICS
Najib who heads an unpopular government and himself has an approval rating of just 45 percent, according to a June poll, had to balance the need for reform to attract diminishing global investment flows against the risk of a political backlash.
That means that he could not formally end New Economic Policy (NEP), the system of economic and social privileges for ethnic Malays who are 55 percent of the population and which has been cornerstone of the country`s policies since 1971.
Instead Najib chose to emphasize that he would keep an overall aim of boosting Malays` ownership of the economy to 30 percent from 19.4 percent at present but he placed a new stress on helping competitive Malays, rather than a blanket guarantee.
"Pragmatism requires a focus on substance, not form. The government of Malaysia remains committed to pursue the spirit and substance of growth with equity," Najib said.  Continued...
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Blast in Baghdad marketplace kills 72, injures over 100

(EXPLOSION, BAGHDAD, WEDNESDAY, LOCAL, CITIES, NUMBER)

Powerful explosion kills more than 70 in Baghdad
MOSCOW, June 25 (RIA Novosti) - Police have confirmed at least 72 people have died and more than 100 injured in a blast in a Baghdad marketplace, al Jazeera reported on Thursday.
The bomb was hidden in a motorcycle rickshaw loaded with fruit and vegetables which detonated on Wednesday evening at the Mraidi outdoor market in north Baghdad`s Sadr City. The bomber abandoned his vehicle and ran off prior to the detonation.
Many women and children are among the victims.
"I heard a boom and saw a ball of fire," Najim Ali, a 30-year-old local, who was shopping in the market, told al Jazeera. "I saw cars flying in the air because of the force of the explosion."
This latest attack comes as U.S. troops prepare to hand over control of several Iraqi cities to local authorities by June 30.
The number of explosions has dropped in recent months in Iraq with May having one of the lowest casualty figures since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of the country. However recent violence, including a blast in Kirkuk on Saturday which killed 73, has pushed the death toll this month to over 150.
Earlier on Wednesday, a U.S. military spokesman said only a small number of U.S. troops would remain in Iraqi cities after the June 30 deadline, but that the exact number was still being worked on.
Some U.S. soldiers will stay behind in urban centers at so-called Joint Security Stations to train and advise local security forces.
 
Original article

Yemeni plane crashes off Comoros with over 150 on board

(REUTERS, CRASHED, OCEAN, COMOROS, FRENCH, AIRPORT)

By Ahmed Ali Amir
MORONI (Reuters) - An Airbus A310-300 from Yemen with 153 people on board crashed into choppy seas as it tried to land in bad weather on the Indian Ocean archipelago of Comoros Tuesday, officials said.
Two French military planes and a French ship left the Indian Ocean islands of Mayotte and Reunion to search for the Yemenia aircraft that was carrying nationals from France and Comoros.
An official from the Yemeni state carrier said the plane had 142 passengers, including three infants, and 11 crew on board. It was flying from Sanaa to Moroni, the capital of the main island of the Comoros archipelago.
"We still do not have information about the reason behind the crash or survivors," Mohammad al-Sumairi, deputy general manager for Yemenia operations told Reuters.
"The weather conditions were rough; strong wind and high seas. The wind speed recorded on land at the airport was 61 km (38 miles) an hour. There could be other factors," he said.
It is the second Airbus to plunge into the sea this month. An Air France Airbus A330-200 crashed into the Atlantic Ocean killing 228 people on board on June 1.
In 1996, a hijacked Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 767 also crashed into the sea off the Comoros islands in 1996, killing 125 of 175 passengers and crew.
"Two French military aircraft have left from the islands of Mayotte and Reunion to search the identified zone, and a French vessel has left Mayotte," said Hadji Madi Ali, director General of Moroni International Airport.
COMING INTO LAND
"The plane has crashed and we still don`t know exactly where. We think it`s in the area of Mitsamiouli," Comoros Vice-President Idi Nadhoim told Reuters from the airport.
Ibrahim Kassim, a representative from regional air security body ASECNA, said the plane had probably come down 5 to 10 km (3 to 6 miles) from the coast, and civilian and military boats had set off to search the rough waters.
"We think the crash is somewhere along its landing approach," Kassim told Reuters. "The weather is really not very favourable. The sea is very rough."
ASECNA -- the Agency for Aviation Security and Navigation in Africa and Madagascar -- covers Francophone Africa.
The town of Mitsamiouli is on the main island Grande Comore.
Interior Minister Hamid Bourhane told Reuters the army had sent small speedboats to an area between the village of Ntsaoueni and the airport.  Continued...
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Honduras isolated over coup, protests turn violent

(HONDURAS, PRESIDENT, ZELAYA, AMERICAN, LEADERS, CHAVEZ)

By Mica Rosenberg
TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) - Honduras came under pressure on Monday to reinstate ousted President Manuel Zelaya as many Latin American leaders agreed to withdraw envoys, Washington called his overthrow illegal and street protests turned violent.
Police in the Honduran capital fired tear gas at stone-throwing supporters of Zelaya, a leftist who was toppled in an army coup on Sunday and flown to exile in Costa Rica while a caretaker president was sworn in.
Some 1,500 protesters, some of them masked and carrying sticks, taunted solders and burned tires just outside the gates of the presidential palace in a face-off with security forces.
Zelaya was ousted over his push to extend presidential terms in Central America`s biggest political crisis since the U.S. invasion of Panama in 1989. Honduras had been stable since the end of military rule in the early 1980s.
Congress named Roberto Micheletti, a conservative-leaning veteran of Zelaya`s Liberal Party as interim president.
Honduras is a major coffee producer, expected to export some 3.22 million 60-kg bags in the 2008/09 season, but there were no immediate signs that output or exports were affected as ports and roads remained open.
Left-wing Latin American presidents led by Venezuela`s President Hugo Chavez said at a meeting in Managua, capital of neighboring Nicaragua, that they would withdraw their ambassadors from Honduras in protest at the coup.
Mexican President Felipe Calderon followed suit, as did leaders from Central America, also meeting in Managua, according to a diplomatic source. The Central American leaders also announced a two-day halt in trade.
Chavez said he would stop sales of cheap oil to Honduras, an impoverished coffee, textiles and banana exporter of 7 million people which joined his ALBA trade bloc of allies last year under Zelaya.
MICHELETTI SLIPS PAST PROTEST
Visibly bolstered by the sea of support for him, Zelaya said he would travel to Honduras on Thursday with Organization of American States (OAS) chief Jose Miguel Insulza.
"I am going to Tegucigalpa on Thursday. The president elected by the people is coming," Zelaya said. He said he had accepted an offer by Insulza to accompany him but gave no details of how he expected to pull the trip off.
Zelaya is due to address the U.N. General Assembly in New York on Tuesday and travel to Washington on Wednesday.
Micheletti, who set himself up in the presidential palace despite the protests raging outside, told Reuters most Hondurans supported the coup, which had saved the country from swinging to a radical Chavez-style socialism.
"President Zelaya was moving the country toward `Chavismo`, he was following this model which is not accepted by Hondurans," he said in an interview, using a Spanish term for the style of socialism championed by Chavez.  Continued...
Original article

Israel intercepts Gaza aid boat: activists

(ISRAELI, ACTIVISTS, CYPRUS, WOULD, WHICH, GROUP)

NICOSIA (Reuters) - The Israeli navy intercepted activists sailing to Gaza with aid on Tuesday, surrounding their boat and telling them to turn back, activists said.
The vessel with 21 people on board was in international waters when it was told to turn back, members of the U.S.-based Free Gaza Movement on the boat and in Cyprus told Reuters.
The Israeli military declined to comment.
"There is a patrol boat around us and we were told that if we did not turn back they would open fire," said Derek Graham, an Irish activist.
"We are continuing our course to Gaza," he said.
He was speaking via satellite telephone from a small ferry boat which had departed from Cyprus on Monday. Among the activists were an Irish Nobel peace laureate and a former U.S. Congresswoman.
In Cyprus, the group also said it had communication from the boat that unless it turned back it would be fired upon.
Israel tightened a blockade on Gaza in 2007 after the Islamist group Hamas took control of the enclave, a tiny sliver of territory which is home to some 1.5 million people.
The Israeli navy patrols Gaza coastal waters. It had intercepted activists of the same group sailing into Gaza on two previous occasions.
(Writing by Michele Kambas; Editing by Jon Hemming)
Original article

Albania rivals neck-to-neck in parliamentary vote

(ELECTION, COALITION, IMPROVEMENTS, SOCIALIST, ALBANIA, ALBANIA`S, INTERNATIONAL)

By Benet Koleka
TIRANA (Reuters) - Albania`s ruling center-right coalition had just one more seat than the opposition Socialist coalition after more than half of the parliamentary election ballots were counted on Monday.
International monitors said Sunday`s election showed improvements over past polls but still saw marked violations and told Albania to stage future elections better.
The European Union and the United States view the ballot as a test of Albania`s readiness for integration with Europe. The EU`s Swedish presidency will review Albania`s application for candidate status in light of the monitors final poll report.
Results from 2,745 out of 4,753 voting centers showed the ruling Democratic Party coalition had 69 seats while the Socialist-led coalition had 68 seats. The Socialist Integration Movement coalition had three seats.
Under the regional proportional election system being implemented for the first time, the Socialist Integration Movement coalition might become a kingmaker should the current trend be confirmed when all votes are counted.
Final official results are expected late on Tuesday.
The main opposition Socialist Party of Edi Rama, 44, and the ruling Democratic Party of Prime Minister Sali Berisha, 64, traded accusations of intimidation at vote counting centers.
Releasing the findings of some 500 monitors, the International Election Observation Mission said the elections showed improvements over previous votes, but new NATO member Albania needed to do more to meet standards.
IMPROVEMENTS
Albania signed an association deal with the European Union in June 2006 and applied for EU candidate status in April this year. Unlike the U.S., which threw its weight behind Albania`s NATO entry, the EU feels Albania faces a series of reforms.
"The International Election Observation Mission concluded that Albania`s election process demonstrated improvements, but also noted that violations persist," the mission said.
"The country has matured, it has made progress, and many of the fears we had only some months ago have not materialized," said Wolfgang Grossruck, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly`s vice president who coordinated the OSCE short-term observer mission.
"These improvements were overshadowed by the politicization of technical aspects of the process and violations observed during the campaign which undermined public confidence in the electoral process," Grossruck said. EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn, the EU official in charge of accession talks with Albania, said on Monday the country must do better in staging future elections, citing campaign violence and procedural violations.
He noted that there had been progress in arrangements for the vote but added: "These improvements were overshadowed by the politicisation of technical aspects of the election process as well (as) by violence during the election campaign."
"These elections clearly underline the need for the Albanian political leadership ... to work hard in order to conduct elections in the future which fully meet international standards and have high public confidence of the Albanian voters."
Original article