The New Nation - Internet Edition

Reuters, Ankara

Turkish warplanes and ground troops attacked Kurdish rebel positions just inside northern Iraq between Sunday and Tuesday evening, military sources told Reuters on Wednesday.

The warplanes flew as deep as 20 km (13 miles) into Iraqi territory and some 300 ground troops advanced about 10 km, killing 34 rebels of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), the sources said.

They made clear these were small sorties of a kind that Turkish forces have been known to conduct in the past across the mountainous border, not a large-scale offensive that U.S. and Iraqi authorities are trying to avert.

"Further 'hot pursuit' raids into northern Iraq can be expected, though none have taken place so far today (Wednesday)," a military official said, adding that all Turkish troops involved in the operations were now back in Turkey. Turkish artillery units were shelling rebel positions as late as Tuesday night in northern Iraq, a government official said on condition of anonymity, because he was not authorized to speak to the media. The strikes were in retaliation for a rebel ambush on Sunday that killed 12 soldiers and apparently led to the capture of eight.

The official did not say which areas were targeted and refused to give further information.

Local media have reported that Turkish jets have struck targets inside of since Sunday's attack, but the government official denied that air power was used. Iraqi Kurdish officials have confirmed Turkish shelling along the border area.

Turkey, which has massed troops on the border, warned Iraq and Western allies on Tuesday that an attack was imminent unless the U.S.-backed government in Baghdad takes action. Officials also said there would be no cease-fire with the separatist fighters.

Turkish leaders face growing demands at home to stage an offensive in northern Iraq, where the rebels of the Kurdistan Workers' Party - the PKK - rest, train and get supplies in relative safety before returning to Turkey to conduct attacks.

Iraq proposed to send a high-level delegation to Turkey in a few days to discuss the problem.

Foreign Minister Ali Babacan, returning late Tuesday from meetings in Baghdad, said: "We said that we are expecting them to come with concrete proposals t otherwise the visit will have no meaning."

The U.S. issued its most direct demand yet for anti-rebel measures from Iraqi Kurds who hold effective autonomy over territory where Turkish Kurd guerrillas have camps.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Tuesday ordered the closure of all offices belonging to the PKK in Iraq and said they would not be allowed to operate in Iraqi territory.

But Babacan said that "we need more than words. We said that preventing the PKK from using Iraqi soil, an end to logistical support and all PKK activities inside Iraq and closing of its camps are needed. We also said its leaders need to be arrested and extradited to Turkey."

During the funerals Tuesday of 12 soldiers slain by rebels in the weekend ambush, tens of thousands mourners chanted slogans urging the government to order an incursion.

AP, Baghdad

Nearly simultaneous bombs struck commuters in a predominantly Shiite area on the southeastern edge of Baghdad on Wednesday, killing at least eight people and wounding two dozen, police and hospital officials said.

The two blasts, which occurred about 30 yards apart at 7 a.m. in Jisr Diyala, were targeting government employees, construction workers and vendors preparing to travel into the capital, according to the officials.

Women and children were among the eight killed and 24 wounded, which also included three policemen who had been sipping tea bought from a vendor, the officials said.

The explosives were buried in a dirt-packed area where minibuses pick up people traveling to the nearby Baghdad neighborhood of Zafaraniyah and the center of the city. Vendors were selling pastries, juice and tea.

Mohammed Nuaman, a 36-year-old store owner who was wounded by shrapnel in the shoulder, said rescue efforts were complicated by a damaged bridge. The bridge, which spans the Diyala River, a Tigris tributary, to connect the area with Baghdad proper, was hit by two bombings in May and was still under repair.

"I heard a big explosion at the bus station area and another bomb went off about 30 seconds later, as I was heading to the area," Nuamen said.

AP, United Nations

The U.N. secretary-general warned that violence against women has reached "hideous" levels in some countries trying to recover from conflict, and the U.N. Security Council demanded an end to impunity for rape and other sexual abuse.

The council expressed deep concern Tuesday that despite its repeated demands for an immediate end to violence against women caught in armed conflicts, "rape and other forms of sexual abuse, as well as all other forms of violence, t remain pervasive, and in some situations have become systematic, and have reached appalling levels of atrocity."

"The council stresses the need to end impunity for such acts as part of a comprehensive approach to seeking peace, justice, truth and national reconciliation," it said.

AP, Havana

Fidel Castro wrote Tuesday that President Bush is threatening the world with nuclear war and famine - an attack on Washington a day before the White House was to announce new plans to draw Cuba away from communism. "The danger of a massive world famine is aggravated by Mr. Bush's recent initiative to transform foods into fuel," Castro wrote in Cuban news media, referring to U.S. support for using corn and other food crops to produce gasoline substitutes. The brief essay titled "Bush, Hunger and Death" also alleged that Bush "threatens humanity with World War III, this time using atomic weapons." The White House on Tuesday brushed off Castro's comments - particularly his assertion that Bush was pursuing a forceful conquest of Cuba. "Dictators say a lot of things, and most of them can be discounted, including that," said White House press secretary Dana Perino. Perino said that Bush on Wednesday would urge other nations to join together in promoting democracy in Cuba. "It is true that soon the decades-long debate about our policy towards Cuba will come to a time when we're going to have an opportunity here.

AFP, Mumbai

Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan says his next film will look at discrimination faced by Muslims after the September 11, 2001, terror attacks in the United States. Khan, who like many prominent stars in the Indian film industry is Muslim, has faced extra scrutiny after the 2001 attacks in the United States. "If you travel internationally with a Muslim surname, you might be considered as a terrorist," Khan told Wednesday's DNA newspaper. "At London airport, every time I go, people recognise me but they see my second name and they give me an extra checking," said the star, who is known for his successful romantic comedies. Khan said he had experienced greater religious discrimination abroad, though India, which is majority Hindu but home to 140 million Muslims, sees regular sectarian violence. "There is no difference between a Khan and a Kumar surname here but internationally it makes a difference," he said, referring to a common Hindu surname.

AP, San Diego

Faced with unrelenting winds whipping wildfires into a frenzy across Southern California, firefighters conceded defeat on many fronts Tuesday to an unstoppable force that has chased more than 500,000 people away. Unless the shrieking Santa Ana winds subside, and that's not expected for at least another day, fire crews say they can do little more than try to wait it out and react - tamping out spot fires and chasing ribbons of airborne embers to keep new fires from flaring. "If it's this big and blowing with as much wind as it's got, it'll go all the way to the ocean before it stops," said San Diego Fire Capt. Kirk Humphries. "We can save some stuff but we can't stop it."

Tentacles of unpredictable, shifting flame have burned across nearly 640 square miles, killing one person, destroying more than 1,300 homes and prompting the biggest evacuation in California history, from north of Los Angeles, through San Diego to the Mexican border.

AP, Islamabad

The Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) has opposed the ongoing talks between President Gen Pervez Musharraf and the Pakistan People's Party on the formation of a caretaker government. "A caretaker government of pro-Musharraf forces will be a facade. If such rigging schemes are to be employed there is no need for staging drama of an election," PML (N) information secretary Ahsan Iqbal said in a statement issued here on Monday. He said Gen Musharraf and his supporters were not the only party to the next general elections; other political parties were also the stakeholders. Mr Iqbal said the elections under the supervision of a neutral caretaker government set up in consultation with all political parties was the only solution for future stability.

Reuters, Rome

Iranian negotiators and the EU hope for more talks on Iran's nuclear program in coming weeks after a "constructive" meeting on Tuesday, despite a warning by Iran's president that his country would not retreat "one iota." The first meeting with Western diplomats for Iran's newly-appointed chief negotiator Saeed Jalili was overshadowed by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's rejection of calls to suspend uranium enrichment -- the key demand of the U.N. Security Council. Iran's refusal to halt work that can be used to make fuel for power plants or, if it wants, material for warheads, has prompted two sets of U.N. Security Council sanctions.