The New Nation - Internet Edition

Reuters, Washington

World powers failed to agree on Tuesday on final elements of a new U.N. sanctions resolution against Iran over its nuclear program, but the United States hopes to get a deal within weeks, the State Department said.

Senior officials from the United States, China, Russia, Germany, France and Britain spoke via conference call for about 1-1/2 hours and were still working on finalizing the sanctions resolution, said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.

"It was a good, constructive phone call. We're not there yet. But our hope t is that in the coming weeks that we could have a resolution that is voted on in the Security Council," McCormack told reporters.

Last week, a U.S. national intelligence estimate said Iran had stopped its nuclear weapons program in 2003, a surprise announcement that increased reluctance among already skeptical Russia and China for a third round of U.N. Security Council sanctions against Iran.

McCormack, who declined to provide details about the new resolution or say whether Russia or China supported it during the conference call, said the intelligence estimate did not mean a change in strategy or tactics over Iran.

"What is very interesting about this is that we're not talking about whether or not there's going to be a resolution, but we're talking about what are the elements to a new Security Council resolution," he said, adding that the senior officials planned another conference call very soon.

There had been a possibility that U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice would meet ministers from the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany in Paris this weekend, but U.S. officials said this was unlikely.

AP, report adds: Iran's president took an unusually soft tone toward the United States on Tuesday, saying a new U.S. intelligence report marks an opportunity to resolve U.S.-Iranian differences. But he said Washington must take further steps, including dropping nuclear sanctions.

The conciliatory line appeared aimed at deflecting Washington's attempts to win further sanctions against Iran and bringing the U.S. into negotiations after the intelligence report found that Tehran ended a nuclear weapons program four years ago. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad may also be trying to fend off critics at home who have accused him of provoking Iran's enemies with his fiery rhetoric. Ahead of Ahmadinejad's news conference, one of his top critics - Hasan Rowhani, a former nuclear negotiator and a powerful figure in Iran's leadership - made his harshest criticism yet of the president, saying his government had failed on foreign policy. The United States brushed off Ahmadinejad's comments, saying Iran must abide by U.N. demands that it suspend uranium enrichment.

"We totally agree with the Iranian president. One or two more steps are needed. Let's start with Iran suspending its uranium enrichment process," said Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman for the National Security Council.

He also said Iran should halt its support for militant groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah, "and then we can go from there."

On Tuesday, diplomats from the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany held a 90-minute conference call to discuss a draft plan for new sanctions, but State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said it was still too early to talk about an agreement. Russia and China were questioning the need for sanctions even before the U.S. intelligence report.

President Bush insisted that "Iran is dangerous," pointing to the report's conclusion that Tehran once was seeking a nuclear weapon. "Iran must explain to the world why they had such a program," he said.

AP, Washington

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff acknowledged Tuesday that the U.S. military's primary focus remained the war in Iraq, not Afghanistan, prompting criticism from Democratic lawmakers who want the Pentagon to devote more attention and resources to the Afghan conflict.

Adm. Michael G. Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the war in Afghanistan was an "economy of force" operation, a military label for a mission of secondary importance.

"Our main focus, militarily, in the region and in the world right now is rightly and firmly in Iraq," Mullen said before the House Armed Services Committee. "It is simply a matter of resources, of capacity. In Afghanistan, we do what we can. In Iraq, we do what we must."

Mullen appeared with Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates before the House panel as U.S. officials sought to increase pressure on North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies to boost the number of troops and equipment the alliance is providing for the Afghan mission.

But Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.), a retired Navy vice admiral, challenged Mullen. Sestak argued that in years to come the U.S. might regret not sending more of its own troops, particularly military trainers, to Afghanistan.

Reuters, United Nations

Eleven U.N. employees are believed to have been among those killed when car bombs hit U.N. and other buildings in Algiers on Tuesday and more U.N. staff were still unaccounted for, a U.N. spokeswoman said.

At least 26 people were killed when suspected al Qaeda militants detonated twin car bombs in Algeria's capital, in one of the bloodiest attacks since civil strife in the 1990s.

An official tally put the death toll at 26, while a Health Ministry source said 67 people were killed. Algeria's state radio, monitored by the BBC in London, said the dead included three Asian nationals, a Dane and one Senegalese.

"We are now putting the U.N. death toll at 11," U.N. spokeswoman Marie Okabe said. Earlier she said, "A number of staff still remain unaccounted for and the situation, as you know, remains fluid." A U.N. statement said one of the two blasts destroyed the offices of the U.N. Development Program, or UNDP, and severely damaged the offices of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, or UNHCR, in the Algerian capital.

Reuters, Beirut

A suspected car bomb in a Lebanese Christian town east of Beirut killed a senior army officer and at least four other people on Wednesday, security sources said.

Dozens were wounded in the blast in Baabda, the site of the country's presidential palace on the outskirts of the capital.

The sources said Brigadier General Francois al-Hajj, head of operations, was killed. Hajj was tipped to be the next army chief after current commander General Michel Suleiman takes over as president.

A military spokesman could neither confirm or deny that Hajj had died but said the explosion killed military personnel.

"All those killed were soldiers," he said. The 7 a.m. (0500 GMT) blast hurled Hajj's car off the road and set several other vehicles ablaze. Several buildings nearby were damaged.

Scores of soldiers cordoned off the area as firefighters and rescue workers put out the fires and rushed the wounded to nearby hospitals.

On Monday, Lebanon's parliament speaker postponed a presidential election to December 17, the 8th delay of a vote repeatedly put off over differences between the anti-Syrian governing coalition and the opposition backed by Damascus.

AFP, Colombo

Sri Lankan troops and Tamil Tiger rebels were locked in heavy combat across their de facto borders in the north of the island where at least 36 combatants were killed, the defence ministry said Wednesday. Intense clashes along the Mannar and vavuniya districts left 20 guerrillas and three soldiers killed on Tuesday, the ministry said adding that another 12 guerrillas and a soldier were killed further north in the Jaffna peninsula.

The rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) denied ministry claims and said they killed 26 government soldiers for the loss of only three of their own men in Tuesday's fighting.

The latest defence ministry figures bring to at least 248 the number of guerrillas it has claimed to have killed since the beginning of the month. Only a handful of government soldiers have been reported killed or injured in the same period.

Reuters, Washington

Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto expects her Pakistan People's Party to pick up additional seats in a January election but will have to enter into a coalition to create a ruling majority, The Washington Times reported on Wednesday. Bhutto said joining with the party of another former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, would be possible but ruled out an alliance with those controlled by President Pervez Musharraf or Muslim clerics, the newspaper reported. "No one will accept a Q victory," she said, referring to Musharraf's wing of the Pakistan Muslim League. "He has no support in the country," Bhutto said in an interview amid a campaign appearance in the North West Frontier Province town or Mardan. Musharraf said he was ready to cooperate with any party. "I would like to try to work with anyone who comes to power after the elections," he told Al Jazeera.

AFP, New Delhi

Hindu nationalists are losing ground to the Congress party in elections in the western Indian state of Gujarat but are still expected to retain control, reports said Wednesday. Quoting exit polls conducted after the first stage of voting in Gujarat on Tuesday, the NDTV and Star News television networks said the hardline Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would see its majority in the state assembly cut. Out of the 87 seats up for grabs on Tuesday, the BJP was expected to see its share cut from 54 to between 40 and 48 due to gains by Congress, which governs India on a federal level, the channels said. The remaining 95 constituencies -- where the BJP did well in polls five years ago -- will vote on Sunday, with results expected on December 23. Star News said the BJP would keep control of the state with 115 seats out of 182 available, while the Congress would bag 64 seats at the end of both rounds of polling. In the last elections, the BJP won 128 seats and Congress 51.

AP, Indonesia

In the face of U.S. opposition, the U.N. chief said Wednesday guidelines on greenhouse gas emissions cuts favored by Europe and developing countries may be "too ambitious" to include in a final statement on climate change. Drafts of a final statement at a U.N. global warming conference this week have included a call for industrialized countries to consider cutting emissions blamed for rising temperature by between 25 percent and 40 percent by 2020. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, however, said such goals might have to wait for subsequent negotiations when asked about steadfast opposition by the United States, though at some point targets for emissions cuts would be necessary. "Realistically, it may be too ambitious" to set guidelines now, Ban told reporters, while urging Washington to be flexible.

AFP, Ankara

Turkish President Abdullah Gul on Tuesday strongly denounced Israel's plan to build new settlements in annexed east Jerusalem and urged the Jewish state to retract the decision.

"Israel's intention to build new settlements in east Jerusalem has shocked the whole worldt The Israeli leadership must correct this," Gul told reporters after talks with visiting King Abdullah II of Jordan. Gul said Israel's plan was "clearly in violation" of decisions made at the Middle East peace conference in Annapolis last month, at which Israel and the Palestinians agreed to try to negotiate a peace deal before the end of 2008. Both parties also pledged to implement the 2003 roadmap plan, the first phase of which calls on Israel to freeze all settlement activity.

Reutes, Ahmedabad

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh brushed aside on Tuesday a new threat from his communist allies to force early elections over a controversial nuclear deal with the United States. In the government's first reaction to a call by the leader of the largest left-wing party for talks on the deal to be stopped, Singh said he would stick to a plan conditionally approved by the communists earlier to push the landmark pact. "The process is under way, we will take a step ahead," Singh told a news conference in Ahmedabad, adding that the government was negotiating with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) after the communists had approved it. Asked about communist leader Prakash Karat's threat to prepare for elections if the negotiations were not stopped, Singh said: "We will cross the bridge when we are there." Karat, general-secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), told a party meeting on Saturday that the government would be asked to stop negotiations with the IAEA.