The New Nation - Internet Edition

AP, Moscow

President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that the U.S. war in Iraq was a "pointless" battle against the Iraqi people, the latest jab at Washington from the increasingly confrontational Russian leader.

Speaking during an annual televised question-and-answer session, Putin was asked by a mechanic from the Siberian city of Novosibirsk for his thoughts on comments made several years ago by former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who suggested that Siberia had too many natural resources to belong to one country.

"I know that some politicians play with such ideas in their heads. This, in my view, is the sort of political erotica that might satisfy a person but hardly leads to a positive result," Putin responded.

"The best example of that are the events in Iraq - a small country that can hardly defend itself and which possesses huge oil reserves. And we see what's going on there. They've learned to shoot there but they are not managing to bring order.

"One can wipe off a political map some tyrannical regime t but it's absolutely pointless to fight with a people," he said. "Russia, thank God, isn't Iraq. It has enough strength and power to defend itself and its interests, both on its territory and in other parts of the world."

Putin opened the session by reeling off a string of statistics showing the improvement of Russia's economy in the seven years he has been in office. Much of the economic growth has been due to high world oil prices. He also said the country's birth rate was the highest it has been in 16 years and the death rate the lowest since 1999.

Thursday's session - the sixth Putin has participated in since coming to office in 2000, was broadcast live on state-controlled TV and radio stations. In past years, it has lasted several hours and consists of people from around the vast country asking the president selected questions mainly on bread-and-butter issues.

A sampling of questions listed on a Web site set up by the broadcasters ranged from concerns about salaries for public sector workers to the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi and environmental worries.

Putin, who is widely popular among Russians for the stability and relative prosperity he has brought to the country, has sought to use phone-ins along with tightly choreographed, lavish television coverage to project the image of a leader responding directly to voters' concerns.

Last year Putin answered more than 50 questions in a three-hour session. Correspondents from the state-run networks chose questioners from among small crowds in towns and cities around the vast country; it was impossible to tell whether most questions were arranged in advance or if questioners were coached.

Others phoned in, submitted questions by e-mail or sent text messages.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that direct dialogue was a better way of easing the diplomatic crisis over Iran's nuclear ambitions than the threat of military force or sanctions.

Putin, speaking at an annual question-and-answer session, brushed aside a reported plot to kill him on a visit to Tehran last week.

AP, Washington

The Pentagon is preparing to alert eight National Guard units that they should be ready to go to Iraq or Afghanistan beginning late next summer, The Associated Press has learned.

The U.S. military is reaching out to more Guard units in an effort to maintain needed troop levels, ease some of the strain on the active duty Army and provide security for ports, convoys and other installations.

According to defense officials Wednesday, seven of the units would deploy to Iraq and one to Afghanistan. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the orders had not yet been signed and the announcement is not expected until the end of this week.

Two of the units will be full combat brigades heading to Iraq - between next summer and into 2009, to serve as part of the rotation with active duty troops. There are currently 20 combat brigades in Iraq, but under plans mapped out by President Bush and his top commanders, that number will gradually drop to 15 next year, as the U.S. reduces its troop presence there.

Those two Guard brigades would include about 3,500 soldiers each - generally the size of a combat brigade. But the other five going to Iraq will be much smaller brigades that are tailored for specialized support operations, mostly security and detainee operations.

AF, Colombo

Sri Lanka said it killed five suspected Tamil Tiger rebels in overnight clashes, while the rebels accused the government of bombing a civilian settlement in the north.

The Sri Lankan navy fired early Thursday at a cluster of Tamil Tiger boats gathered off the northwest coast. They recovered an abandoned rebel boat with four bodies and three survivors, the defence ministry said in a statement.

Separately, security forces also shot dead one Tamil Tiger rebel in the northeast on Wednesday, the military said.

No independent confirmation of the claims was immediately available, and there was no comment from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

Meanwhile, the pro-rebel Tamilnet.com accused Sri Lanka warplanes of bombing a civilian settlement in a rebel-held area in the north on Wednesday. "Eight bombs, dropped in two sorties, fell close to civilian settlements and explodedt. No one was hurt as the bombs missed the houses," the website said. The defence ministry was not immediately available for comment.

The Tamil Tigers are fighting for autonomy in the island's north and east, and tens of thousands have been killed since the ethnic conflict began in 1972.

Violence has surged on the island since a Norwegian-arranged truce began to fall apart in December 2005.

AFP, New Delhi

India and Pakistan resumed talks in New Delhi on Thursday as part of their slow-moving peace process, officials said.

The Indian foreign ministry said the day-long meeting between mid-ranking diplomats would focus on reducing tensions along maritime borders and the repatriation of people inadvertently straying across land frontiers.

At present, fishermen, farmers or other people caught by Indian or Pakistani coast guards or border troops are usually suspected of being spies and can languish in prison in bureaucratic legal limbo even after serving sentences.

The talks will be followed on Friday by discussions on nuclear safeguards, or ways of keeping their respective nuclear arsenals under control.

On Monday, Indian and Pakistani officials will revisit efforts to put in place a regular joint anti-terrorism mechanism designed to share intelligence on militant activity.

The latest round of talks comes in the wake of renewed accusations from New Delhi that Islamabad continues to support terrorist attacks in India.

India's national security advisor M.K. Narayanan said Pakistan, already accused of backing Islamic rebels in Indian Kashmir, was also trying to revive Sikh militancy in the northern state of Punjab.

The allegation came after a weekend bomb attack in a Punjab cinema killed six people and injured 32.

Reuters, Beijing

China's ruling Communist Party began closed-door discussions on Thursday to settle on a new lineup for its ruling council, even as a rising political star promised more openness and accountability.

The Party's five-yearly Congress has begun considering a preliminary list of candidates for the Central Committee -- a body of about 200 full members who meet once or twice a year to discuss and endorse major decisions, Xinhua news agency reported.

Later in the week, the more than 2,200 carefully vetted Congress delegates will vote, with firm guidance from senior leaders, on a new Central Committee likely to include an influx of younger, rising officials.

The Committee will then stage similar controlled votes for a new Politburo and Politburo Standing Committee -- the much smaller inner-circles of power in the top-down state.

Underscoring the sheer secrecy of Beijing politics, state media did not disclose the names of preliminary candidates. But one leader likely to rise into the central leadership at the end of the week-long meeting said the Party wanted to be more open and accountable as citizens grew richer and more demanding.

"Political system reform is an important constitutive part of China's overall reforms," Li Yuanchao, Party secretary of prosperous Jiangsu province in the nation's east, told a small gathering of reporters.

AFP, Islamabad

Pakistan's top court rejected concerns that President Pervez Musharraf would declare martial law if it rules his controversial election victory invalid. The Supreme Court is hearing challenges against his landslide victory in the October 6 presidential election, which was boycotted by most of the opposition. Musharraf, who seized power in a 1999 coup, cannot claim to have won re-election for another five-year term until the court decides. The general has not ruled out imposing martial law if the judgement goes against him. "These threats have no value for us. This is an issue to be decided in accordance with the law and according to the merits," Javed Iqbal, the head judge hearing the challenges, told the court. "The case will be decided in 10 to 12 days," he told the court. The court started Wednesday hearing petitions against Musharraf's victory lodged by two candidates in the election who say Musharraf was ineligible to stand while he is still army chief.

Reuters, Washington

Deepening unhappiness with President George W. Bush and the U.S. Congress soured the mood of Americans and sent Bush's approval rating to another record low this month, according to a Reuters/Zogby poll released on Wednesday. The Reuters/Zogby Index, which measures the mood of the country, also fell from 98.8 to 96 -- the second consecutive month it has dropped. The number of Americans who believe the country is on the wrong track jumped four points to 66 percent. Bush's job approval rating fell to 24 percent from last month's record low for a Zogby poll of 29 percent. A paltry 11 percent gave Congress a positive grade, tying last month's record low.

"There is a real question among Americans now about how relevant this government is to them," pollster John Zogby said. "They tell us they want action on health care, education, the war and immigration, but they don't believe they are going to get it."

Reuters, New Delhi

It was hardly the stuff of which a staunch U.S. ally is made. Opposition in India to a landmark nuclear deal sparked vocal anti-Americanism from leftist parties, who said the country was in danger of becoming a U.S. poodle. That rhetoric may be further emboldened by the government's apparent climb-down on the deal. But the spat cannot hide the fact the world's two biggest democracies are moving ever closer, with stronger military and diplomatic ties, while millions of middle class Indians turn to the United States for education, jobs and consumer goods. The impasse over the accord -- which had been hailed as historic by both President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh -- showed there may still be looming flashpoints like ties with Iran. Yet the fundamentals appear strong. "The question is not whether India's relations with the U.S. will improve or not," said Naresh Chandra, India's envoy to Washington from 1996 to 2001. "The question is at what pace they will improve."

AFP, London

Paparazzi photographers had gathered outside a Paris hotel on the night Diana, princess of Wales died because of rumours she was to announce a pregnancy or engagement, a British inquest was told Wednesday. Sigma picture agency photographer Thierry Orban said in a statement that he had told police he received a call at home from his editor between 9:00 pm and 9:30 pm on the night of August 30, 1997, telling him to go to the hotel where Diana was staying. "He told me that there were rumours of an announcement that Lady Diana was getting married or having a baby and asked me to go to the Ritz Hotel," Orban said in a statement read to the jury. Orban said he initially refused to go because he was hosting a dinner party. But he was called again in the early hours of the following morning and went to the Pont de l'Alma tunnel after Diana's high-powered Mercedes crashed into a pillar, killing her boyfriend Dodi Fayed and chauffeur Henri Paul.

AP, Paris

Paris' subways slowed to a halt and rail lines were disrupted Thursday during a massive strike in France that was expected to give President Nicolas Sarkozy his first real test after five months in office. Unions are protesting Sarkozy's plan to trim special retirement packages for some workers, part of his pledges to cut back on costly public services. The strikes began late Wednesday and were to last through Thursday. The first mass-scale problems for travelers and commuters were expected at Thursday morning rush hour. Paris transport authority RATP said traffic would be "virtually nil" on most of its lines. The national rail network said it would be "nearly paralyzed." Eurostar trains to London and connections to neighboring European countries were also to be disrupted. With commuters relying on their cars, bottlenecks were expected as early as 5:30 a.m. on major routes into Paris, the national road information service said. Sarkozy is facing a number of challenges simultaneously as the economy lags, despite his pledges to invigorate it, and signs of discord arise within his own party over the president's policies.