The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Islamabad

Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf and Afghan leader Hamid Karzai on Wednesday pledged better cooperation in fighting terrorism, which Musharraf said was "destroying both our countries."

In a brief news conference after their first meeting in four months, they said their talks had been helpful in finding ways to rein in the Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants who have flourished along their mutual border.

Both men have accused each other in the past of not doing enough to stop Islamic militants, particularly in the rugged tribal border region that has been in the international spotlight since the September 11 attacks on the US.

But in an apparently warm atmosphere before Musharraf was to host a state dinner for Karzai, he underlined the need for intelligence cooperation with Afghanistan to fight the militant threat.

He said the neighbours had to stop "this menace of extremism and terrorism which is destroying both our countries" and called on their respective intelligence agencies to work hand-in-hand.

"We have developed a strong understanding of each other's problems," Musharraf said. "The key to enhancing our capability against terrorists and extremists is intelligence cooperation."

Both nations are pivotal allies in the US-led "war on terror" and get substantial US aid aimed at fighting militants -- but both have also seen a sharp increase in violence this year.

AFP, Colombo

Sri Lanka's navy Wednesday clashed with rebel Tamil Tiger vessels off the island's northern coast of Jaffna, sinking 11 rebel boats and leaving at least 40 guerrillas dead, the defence ministry said.

A dozen naval fast attack craft, backed by helicopter gunships and Israeli-built Kfir fighter jets, confronted a flotilla of 16 rebel boats, the military said.

"The navy destroyed 11 Tiger boats, including two suicide boats during the operation. We estimate around 40 Tigers were on those boats and they have been killed," military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said. Sri Lanka's defence ministry said the boats of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam were attempting to transport arms to rebels off Delft island.

The military did not give its own casualty figures but said one naval craft was damaged during the explosion when the two rebel boats were destroyed.

However, the rebels claimed they had sunk a navy fast attack craft and damaged two naval boats during the sea battle which lasted nearly three hours, the pro-rebel Tamilnet.com web site reported.

"Four Black Sea Tigers were killed in action," Tamilnet.com said quoting rebel military spokesman Rasiah Ilanthiriyan.

Both sides regularly make sharply differing claims about casualties and independent verification is rarely possible.

AP, Baghdad

US military forces killed 11 members of a Mahdi Army splinter group southeast of Baghdad early Thursday, American officials said, in the largest such operation against the powerful militia in months.

It was not immediately clear if the action would impact a six-month freeze on activities that the militia's leader - radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr - called in August and has signaled in the past week he might extend.

Al-Sadr's order to halt activities has been credited by American commanders as one reason why violence in Iraq has fallen dramatically in the past six months. However, it is unclear how much control al-Sadr maintains over his fighters as groups have splintered from the main movement.

Thursday's fighting took place in the early morning hours in Kut, 100 miles southeast of Baghdad, a local police officer said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press.

The officer said eight militia members were killed; the U.S. military said in an e-mail to The Associated Press that it killed an "estimated" 11 fighters. The reason for the discrepancy was not immediately clear.

In a later statement, the U.S. military said the operation was targeting a suspect who was "reportedly responsible for attacks against Coalition forces."

Reuters, Jakarta

About 40 people are missing after floods triggered by heavy rain swept away a bridge in Indonesia's East Java province, police said on Thursday.

The floods engulfed cars and motorcycles passing the bridge in Madiun district on Wednesday, said a local police officer, who declined to give his name.

Two people were rescued but no bodies have been found, he said. No other details were available.

About 80 people are feared dead in landslides and floods in the neighboring Central Java province.

Indonesian rescuers pulled corpses from mud Thursday as they hunted for victims of landslides and floods on Java island that have left more than 130 people feared dead, officials said.

Landslides hit two districts in Central Java in the early hours of Wednesday morning, engulfing entire homes and blocking key access roads, while floods swelling in East Java swept away a bridge, leaving an estimated 50 missing.

AFP, Tehran

Iran announced on Wednesday it is to receive S-300 air missile defence systems from Russia, a move that risks angering the United States which has been critical of past arms sales to Tehran.

"The S-300 system will be delivered to Iran within the framework of a contract agreed in the past," Iranian Defence Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar was quoted as saying by state radio, without giving the date of the contract.

"The timing of the delivery will be announced at a later date," he added.

Earlier this year Moscow frustrated Washington by delivering to Tehran 29 TOR-M1 air defence missile systems, in a deal estimated to be worth 700 million dollars.

Iranian state media touted the S-300 as an even more sophisticated system than the TOR-M1, saying it could hit incoming enemy targets at a greater altitude. Iran said in January it had successfully test fired the TOR-M1.

The United States had urged Russia to cancel that sale, saying it was a mistake when the UN Security Council had imposed sanctions on Iran's ballistic missile industry as part of measures against its nuclear drive.

There was no immediate official confirmation of the new delivery from Russia, but the Interfax news agency quoted a senior Russian defence source as saying Iran would receive several dozen of the systems.

AP, Washington

A record number of fatal traffic incidents and a double-digit spike in shooting deaths led to one of the deadliest years for law enforcement officers in more than a decade.

With the exception of 2001, which saw a dramatic increase in deaths because of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, 2007 was the deadliest year for law enforcement since 1989, according to preliminary data released jointly by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund and Concerns of Police Survivors.

The report counted the deaths of 186 officers as of Dec. 26, up from 145 last year. Eighty-one died in traffic incidents, which the report said surpassed their record of 78 set in 2000. Shooting deaths increased from 52 to 69, a rise of about 33 percent.

AFP, Kathmandu

Sixteen people were killed and 25 still missing from the collapse of a bridge in west Nepal, police said Thursday, calling it a "miracle" the toll was not higher.

"There was panic at the scene when the bridge fell (on Tuesday) so initial estimates were too high. It's a miracle not a larger number of people died," district officer Anik Kumar Pandey said by telephone from the remote area.

Police had earlier said they feared hundreds of people had died when the 500-metre (1,650-foot) bridge plunged into the gorge 380 kilometres (240 miles) west of the capital Kathmandu.

AP, Tehran

A top Jewish community leader in Iran on Wednesday described the recent immigration of 40 Iranian Jews to Israel as a "misinformation campaign" and insisted that Jews living in the Islamic Republic were not endangered by the hard-line policies of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The 40 Iranians landed in Israel on Tuesday after a secret journey to the Jewish state. No details about their route of exit from Iran were given, but it was assumed they came through a third country.

Reuters, Bangkok

Ousted and exiled Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, whose supporters triumphed in a weekend general election, faces arrest on corruption and fraud charges if he returns home, a senior prosecutor said on Thursday. "The police have to comply with arrest warrants which have already been issued by the courts," said Samphan Sarathana, a senior official in the Attorney General's office. The Supreme Court issued warrants in August for Thaksin and his wife on charges of official misconduct and violating a ban on politicians or their close relatives doing deals with state bodies while in office. Thaksin, booted out in a 2006 coup, said on Tuesday he would return "by April at the latest" to prove his innocence after the People Power Party (PPP), which openly supports him, won the most seats in a December 23 election.

AFP, Seoul

International efforts to scrap North Korea's nuclear programmes are at a crossroads due mainly to disagreements over a suspected secret weapons project, South Korea's foreign minister said Thursday. "It is true that we are at a crossroads on the nuclear issue and that's because of the issue of reporting and disablement as well," Song Min-Soon told reporters. "As to the uranium enrichment programme, we need more consultations among the countries concerned." Under a six-nation pact the North should disable its main nuclear plants by December 31 and declare all its nuclear programmes and weaponry. But according to South Korean officials, the North is unwilling to give what the United States considers is a satisfactory explanation of a suspected highly enriched uranium (HEU) weapons programme. Experts have said the US-supervised disablement is going well but may not be completed by year-end for technical reasons related to the removal of fuel rods.

AFP, Des Moines

After a brief Christmas truce, US presidential contenders hit the campaign trail full tilt Wednesday, just eight days before midwestern Iowa kicks off 2008 nominating contests. Top contenders could afford no more than a two-day holiday before getting out to again court voters, just eight days before the Iowa caucuses, and 13 before New Hampshire's crucial primary vote. Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, locked in a gruelling fight for the Democratic nomination, launched dueling tours of snow-covered Iowa, the central farm state that kicks off this year's election with party caucuses on January 3. Clinton's campaign raised the stakes for its post-Christmas events, dubbing her push "Time to Pick a President." She appeared with her husband, former president Bill Clinton -- still highly popular among Democratic voters -- and daughter Chelsea.

Reuters, Washington

The United States is gearing up to battle Russia and Europe for sales of billions of dollars in jet fighters, cargo aircraft and other arms to India. U.S. officials regard sales to India, with a potential $40 billion arms market including missile-defense systems, as a way to cement strategic ties and boost bilateral military cooperation as a hedge against China's growing clout. "By reaching out to India, we have made the bet that the planet's future lies in pluralism, democracy and market economics," said Nicholas Burns, the State Department's No. 3 official, "rather than in intolerance, despotism and state planning," an apparent reference to communist-ruled China.

Reuters, Nairobi

Kenyan voters went to the polls on Thursday to elect a new president and parliament with delays reported in some locations and charges from the main opposition candidate that the government was trying to rig the outcome. As dawn broke, thousands of people from the humid coast to the shantytowns and lush highlands turned out in force, forming long queues at polling stations guarded by armed police. The presidential contest -- which analysts say is too close to call -- pits 76-year-old President Mwai Kibaki against opposition challenger and former ally Raila Odinga, 62. Kibaki, whose National Rainbow Coalition unseated Kenya's 24-year ruling party in 2002, faces the possibility of losing his re-election bid despite a sound economic record and the backing of his Kikuyu tribe, the country's largest.