The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Washington

World leaders Friday condemned a suicide bombing targeting former Pakistani premier Benazir Bhutto that killed at least 133 people, urging the country to pull together in the face of the tragedy.

The United States, which counts Pakistan as a valuable ally in its "war on terror," said the blasts aimed to stifle freedom in the country but should not be allowed to derail pending elections. Regional powers China and India, the United Nations and the European Union also denounced the attack, which came just hours after Bhutto had returned to Pakistan after eight years of self-imposed exile.

"The United States condemns the violent attack in Pakistan and mourns the loss of innocent life there," White House national security spokesman Gordon Johndroe said. "Extremists will not be allowed to stop Pakistanis from selecting their representatives through an open and democratic process."

Bhutto returned to Pakistan vowing to lead her party into elections due in January after President Pervez Musharraf agreed to drop outstanding corruption charges against her.

Washington has quietly supported moves toward a deal between military ruler Musharraf and Bhutto, seeing an alliance as a way to boost Islamic moderates and step up the fight against Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants.

Australia, another close US ally, said the parade attack bore the hallmarks of Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network.

"It is a reminder of the evil of Al-Qaeda. It is a reminder of how important it is not to concede a victory to them in Iraq or in Afghanistan," Australian Prime Minister John Howard said.

"Benazir Bhutto, to her credit, as well as General Musharraf, have both said they will continue to support the Americans in the war on terror," he said. Foreign Minister Alexander Downer also suggested Al-Qaeda was responsible, as it would have been "deeply offended at the possibility of a woman taking a leadership role in politics in Pakistan in a Muslim country."

China, one of Pakistan's closest allies, urged Islamabad to maintain stability.

"China sternly condemns the explosion. We hope Pakistan will maintain social stability," the official Xinhua news agency quoted foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao as saying.

India, which routinely accuses Islamabad of fomenting an Islamic insurgency in disputed Kashmir, added its condemnation. "The spectre of terrorism confronting our region requires strong and determined action by all our governments," said Indian foreign ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna.

"It is reprehensible that senior political figures are targeted in this way with such loss of innocent life," he added.

India and Pakistan were to hold talks Monday on efforts to put in place an anti-terrorism mechanism designed to share intelligence on militants.

In Pakistan's neighbour Afghanistan, President Hamid Karzai said the bombing against his Pakistani "brothers and sisters" showed the need for the strongest attention to the fight against terrorism.

"This proves that once again Afghanistan and Pakistan and our international friends must focus the strongest attention in the war against terrorism," Karzai told reporters.

AP, Karachi

Benazir Bhutto's triumphant return to Pakistan ended in horrific scenes of carnage beneath a mural declaring, "Long live Bhutto." AP Photographer B.K. Bangash was there. Here is his account.

The first explosion sounded like a tire had blown out on a bus but as I moved closer to see, another much stronger blast hit - sending dozens of people running as balls of flames, dirt and debris erupted into the night sky.

A police van was in flames, the streets were littered with the bodies of the dead. Arms, legs and other body parts were everywhere. I heard a man calling desperately for his son. He begged me to help, but the child was no where to be found. Later I heard the boy, a 6-year-old, was dead.

He was one of scores of people killed in a suspected suicide attack that struck Bhutto's procession as it made its way for more than 10 hours through the streets of Karachi after she returned from eight years in exile.

Moving at a snail's pace through a crowd of hundreds of dancing and cheering supporters, the truck carrying Bhutto was about 10 miles from the tomb of Pakistan's founding father, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, when the first explosion struck shortly before midnight.

I ran toward the truck and was about 20 yards away when the second thunderous blast hit. Most of the victims were men, many of whom had been driving alongside the procession on motorcyles, though I saw the bodies of at least two children.

Limbless victims cried out to strangers for help in the darkness. Parents frantically searched for missing children as the flames sent waves of heat through the streets, fanning the smell of blood in the air.

About 20 minutes later - it seemed like an eternity - the scream of ambulance sirens pierced the chaos.

AFP, New Delhi

India and Pakistan opened talks Friday aimed at cutting the risk of accidents with nuclear weapons and developing further cooperation in the arms arena, officials said.

The one-day meeting is part of a peace process launched between the nuclear-armed neighbours in January 2004, India's foreign ministry said in a statement.

Discussions will focus on reviewing the implementation of existing nuclear confidence-building deals and security issues in global organisations, such as the United Nations, the statement said.

In February, India and Pakistan signed a deal to try to avoid an accidental nuclear conflict through immediate notification of any mishaps.

The countries had already agreed to inform each other before conducting ballistic missile tests and to exchange lists of nuclear facilities every year.

The South Asian rivals have fought three wars since 1947, including two over the still-disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir.

They are considering cooperation on a range of issues, including developing shared positions on security issues at the United Nations or the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva.

"Both have common positions on many issues at the UN for example but do not work together as yet," said Arundhati Ghosh, India's former envoy to Geneva.

AFP, Jakarta

At least 31 people were killed and 125 rescued after a ferry sank off Indonesia's Sulawesi island in the latest of a series of transport accidents to hit the archipelago nation, officials said Friday.

Residents near the town of Bau Bau on southeast Sulawesi heard survivors screaming and pleading for help after the Acita 03 capsized at about 9:00 pm (1300 GMT) Thursday, ElShinta radio reported.

The 22-metre (-yard) long ship sank several miles (kilometres) from shore when passengers clambered to the boat's roof to make mobile phone calls when they couldn't get a signal, transport ministry official Djoni Algamar told AFP. "The ship lost its balance and capsized," he said, adding that only 60 names had been on the ship's manifest.

ElShinta's reporter said 151 people were believed to be on board, while the mayor of Bau Bau, Amirul Tamim, told the radio station that 188 people were on the ferry and several dozens thought to be missing.

Indonesian ferries frequently carry far more passengers than the number officially registered.

Officials at Bau Bau general hospital told AFP that 30 bodies had arrived at the hospital's morgue and they had been told one more was on its way. Nineteen survivors were being treated for shock. A hospitalised survivor, Safruddin, told ElShinta that he had been travelling from his home village to work on Sulawesi after the one-week holiday marking the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

AFP, Baghdad

Two US soldiers died in Iraq on Wednesday in non-combat related incidents which are now under investigation, the American military said.

One soldier died in an incident in southern Baghdad, a statement said without elaborating. A second soldier died also in a non-combat incident, another statement said without giving further details.

The deaths take US military losses since the March 2003 invasion to 3,814, according to an AFP tally based on Pentagon figures.

His death took the overall toll of US military losses since the March 2003 invasion to 3,821, according to an AFP tally based on Pentagon figures.

Another report adds: An explosives-laden sewage truck blew up near a police station and a car bomb struck an Iraqi Army checkpoint yesterday in attacks that bore the hallmarks of Al Qaeda and showed extremists can still hit hard despite recent gains by US-led forces. The bombings and a series of shootings mainly targeted Iraqi security forces and tribal leaders facing internal rivalries, but bystanders also were struck. At least 25 people were killed or found dead nationwide.

The deadliest attack occurred when a car blew up near a gas station across the street from an Iraqi Army checkpoint, killing four civilians and two Iraqi soldiers and wounding 25 others.

AP, Tokyo

Japanese authorities are investigating the alleged rape of a teenager by four U.S. Marines in southwestern Japan last weekend, officials and media said Friday. Police in Hiroshima prefecture are working with U.S. military officials to investigate the allegation, which the 19-year-old woman made to police, top government spokesman Nobutaka Machimura told reporters.

"It would be unforgiveable if this turns out to be true," Machimura said. The U.S. has about 50,000 troops based in Japan under a bilateral security treaty. Many Japanese complain of crime, pollution and noise associated with the bases. The rape of a schoolgirl in Okinawa, which has the largest U.S. military presence, by three American servicemen sparked large protests in 1995.

AFP, Manila

A bomb ripped through a shopping mall in the Philippines capital's financial district Friday, killing eight people and injuring at least 70, police said.

Panicked shoppers ran out of the Glorietta mall in the Makati district of Manila as smoke billowed out of the building and police rushed in.

A member of the rescue teams inside the mall told AFP four people have been confirmed dead. Local television said at least 45 other people were injured. Police initially blamed the noon time blast on a gas leak at a restaurant inside the mall. However national police chief Avelino Razon said: "From our assessment this was not, as initially reported, an LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) leak.

AP, Lisbon

European Union leaders endorsed a reform treaty Friday to replace their failed European constitution and give the 27-nation union a more influential say in world affairs, diplomats said.

The new treaty will take effect in 2009 if it passes national parliamentary votes and referendums.

"With this new treaty, Europe has overcome an impasse that lasted for several years," said Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates, who hosted the EU summit. "Europe has emerged stronger from this summit, stronger to face global issues, stronger to take its role in the world and also to increase confidence in our economy and in our citizens," he told reporters. The pact aims to achieve the same thing as the constitution that collapsed in 2005 when it was rejected in French and Dutch referendums: to expand the union's global influence by translating its economic might into a bigger diplomatic punch.

AP, Paris

President Nicolas Sarkozy and his elegant but enigmatic wife, Cecilia, called it quits and abruptly announced their divorce Thursday after months of speculation about their marriage.

The split - a first for France - spelled the end of a seemingly passionate but deeply political power couple who had challenged the traditional role of president and first lady.

It struck a deep, personal blow to Sarkozy's 5-month-old presidency, though friends insisted it wouldn't dent his energetic leadership as he works to reshape France, make it more competitive and nurture its alliance with the United States. The 15-word statement from the presidential office said Cecilia, 49, and Nicolas, 52, mutually agreed to end their relationship of more than 20 years, 11 of them as a married couple.

AFP, Baghdad

The Iraqi government said on Thursday that the execution of Saddam Hussein's notorious hatchet man "Chemical Ali", which has been delayed for weeks due to Muslim holidays and legal hitches, will happen "in the coming days."

Asked in a rare appearance at the White House whether Ali Hassan al-Majid would be hanged soon for genocide, government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh told reporters: "I think so, yes, in the coming days."

The Iraqi supreme court upheld Majid's death sentence on September 4 following his conviction for presiding over the mass killings of Iraqi Kurds in the 1980s and ordered that he be executed within 30 days. But Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki was reluctant to hang him until after the Muslim celebration of Eid al-Fitr, which ended on Monday, because of the outcry that followed Saddam Hussein's execution during another Muslim holiday.

AFP, London

Princess Diana's lover Dodi Fayed bought an engagement ring in a Parisian jewellery store hours before they died, an inquest into the pair's death heard on Thursday.

Fayed bought the 11,600-pound (16,600-euro, 23,700-dollar) ring from the "Dis-moi oui" store owned by Monte Carlo jeweller Alberto Repossi, which was found in his apartment after he died along with Diana in a car crash in a Paris underpass on August 31, 1997.

The jury was shown a copy of the receipt dated August 30, 1997, with the words "bague fiancaille", which means engagement ring in French, printed on it. They were also shown unedited CCTV images of Fayed in the jewellery store, which is on the same square as the Ritz Hotel, where the pair were staying, and the images showed Fayed examining the ring in the store after it had closed to the public the afternoon he purchased it.

AFP, Taipei

Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian dismissed an offer of a peace treaty with China in an interview published Friday, saying it would be like agreeing to "a treaty of surrender".

Speaking to the International Herald Tribune, Chen said China's offer, made by President Hu Jintao in a keynote speech earlier this week, was couched in terms that made it unacceptable.

"It is very clear now that if we were to sign such a peace treaty under the framework of the 'one China' principle, then I think this would mean, for the 23 million people of Taiwan, a treaty of surrender," Chen said. Hu made what he called the "solemn appeal" at the opening of the Communist Party's five-yearly Congress in Beijing on Monday, but insisted independence for the island would never be tolerated. Taiwan and China split in 1949 after a civil war, and while the island has since governed itself, Beijing considers it part of its own territory awaiting reunification.