The New Nation - Internet Edition

Reuters, Dixville Notch

Sen. Barack Obama won seven of the 10 votes cast for Democrats in the first balloting of the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday in the northern hamlet of Dixville Notch, while Sen. John McCain won the Republican balloting.

Ballots by all 17 registered voters were cast and counted just after midnight on Tuesday in the remote White Mountains town that takes advantage of a state law allowing communities to close polls once voting is over and announce the results.

Other than those for Obama, of Illinois, former North Carolina senator John Edwards got two votes and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richards received one. New York Sen. Hillary Clinton received none.

Among the seven votes cast for Republicans, Arizona Sen. John McCain won four, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney received 2, and former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani won one vote.

The ballots in Dixville Notch and nearby Harts Location represent the first direct voting in New Hampshire's primary, the next battleground in the state-by-state process of choosing Republican and Democratic candidates for November's election to replace President George W. Bush.

Though its population is tiny at 74 residents, Dixville Notch is home to the 15,000-acre (6,070-hectare) Balsams Grand Resort Hotel near the Canadian border. In 1960, to spark publicity and serve a civic function, the resort's late owner, Neil Tillotson, opened voting booths at midnight on primary day and reported the results of the staff's ballots to the local wire service. He did the same on election day in November. Every four years since, the media spotlight shines on Dixville Notch, luring a stream of politicians including President George W. Bush, and former presidents Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan.

As in past years, it was as much a media sideshow as an exercise in US democracy, with television cameras crowding the "ballot room" of the hotel.

AFP, Visakhapatnam

India will develop an indigenous defence system to intercept and destroy ballistic missiles by 2010, a defence official said.

The system was currently being designed and would go on trial from 2009, said V.K. Saraswat, the chief controller of the Defence Research and Development Organisation.

It would be capable of detecting, intercepting and destroying intermediate-range and intercontinental ballistic missiles from any country, he added on the sidelines of a science conference that ended Monday.

"We are developing a robust anti-missile defence system that will have high-speed interceptions for engaging ballistic missiles in the 5,000-kilometre (3,000-mile) class and above," he said.

India had recently shown it was able to handle targets in the class up to 2,000-2,500 kilometres, he added.

The country would join Israel, Russia and the US in developing and possessing such technology once the system is rolled out. The defence system's tracking and fire control radars have been developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation in collaboration with Israel and France, he said.

Nuclear-capable India also plans to test-fire in mid-2009 a missile capable of hitting targets at a distance of up to 6,000 kilometres, Saraswat said.

A missile with a range of 3,000 kilometres was successfully test-fired last year from Wheeler Island off the eastern coast.

India has fought three wars with Pakistan and one with China since independence from British rule in 1947.

AP, Tehran

The heaviest snowfall in more than a decade has left at least 21 people dead in Iran - some buried under avalanches, some frozen to death and others killed in traffic accidents, state media reported Monday.

As much as 22 inches of snow has fallen in areas of northern and central Iran since Saturday, said meteorologist Ali Abedini. The storm has forced schools and government offices to close, blocking major roads and leading to the cancellation of all domestic and international flights.

"At least 21 people have been killed and 88 others injured t as a result of heavy snow," state-run radio reported. "Some died of the severe cold, some were buried under avalanches and others died after their cars overturned on snow-covered roads."

The cold weather has caused problems for residents in western Iran, with about a dozen towns suffering from gas cuts due to a surge in demand and a cut in gas exports from Turkmenistan.

Government officials have urged citizens to reduce their notoriously high consumption of gas to ensure there are no further cuts or shortages.

Authorities have also urged Iranians to cancel unnecessary travel and warned that the snowfall would continue in the coming days.

AFP, Bangkok

The wife of Thailand's ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra returned Tuesday to Bangkok, an immigration official said, as police prepared to escort her to court to face corruption charges.

Pojaman Shinawatra, 51, arrived on a Thai Airways flight from Hong Kong, the official said.

She has spent the last six months with her husband overseas, as military-appointed investigators lodged a series of corruption charges against their family.

Thaksin has lived in self-imposed exile since the military toppled his government in September 2006, but says he plans to return to the kingdom by April once a new government is installed.

His allies emerged from elections last month just shy of a majority in parliament, but the military-appointed Election Commission has opened dozens of vote fraud investigations that threaten their ability to form a new government.

Reuters, Seoul

The death toll from a fire that ripped through a warehouse under construction outside of Seoul has risen to 40, officials said on Tuesday, with most of the victims overcome by toxic fumes.

The fire in Icheon, about 60 km (40 miles) southeast of the South Korean capital, started on Monday and triggered several explosions. Fire officials said most of the victims were construction workers trapped inside the basement of the refrigerated goods facility who could not escape a toxic cloud of gas that came from burning insulation material.

The fire is the deadliest in South Korea since a blaze in the subway system of Daegu, 250 km southeast of Seoul, killed nearly 200 people in 2003. The victims included 12 ethnic Koreans who are Chinese citizens, the Chinese embassy in Seoul said. South Korean Foreign Minister Song Min-soon plans to send a condolence letter to China's foreign minister, Song's ministry said.

AFP, Ramallah

The Palestinians on Monday called on US President George W. Bush to press Israel to freeze settlement activity when he visits the region this week in a bid to bolster the peace process. Violence simmered ahead of the visit, with Israeli troops killing three armed Palestinians, including a woman, and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni saying operations against militants would continue even during peace negotiations. "President Abbas considers President Bush's visit as historic and important and one that will advance the peace process," a spokesman for Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas told AFP. "We are expecting that President Bush will get Israel to freeze settlement activity and that he will insist on the need to put an end to the Israeli occupation so as to lead to the creation of two states in line with his vision," said Nabil Abu Rudeina. Israeli settlements on Arab land captured in the 1967 Six Day War -- all considered illegal by the international community -- are one of the most contentious issues of the decades-old Middle East conflict. They have been a key source of discord between the two sides since they relaunched peace talks in late November after a break of nearly seven years and are expected to figure prominently at meetings during the Bush visit. Abbas has repeatedly said that negotiations cannot succeed unless Israel halts settlement activity, and Bush described them as a "problem" in one interview given ahead of his trip.

Reuters, Colombo

A young man lunged at Maldives President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom with a kitchen knife on Tuesday in what his spokesman called an assassination attempt, but he was unharmed. The attack took place on the island of Hoarafushi, which with 3,000 residents is one of the most populated in the northern Maldives, as Gayoom met supporters after the inauguration of a renewable energy project. "He was shaking hands with supporters, when a young man came and tried to stab him with a large kitchen knife," Presidential spokesman Mohamed Shareef told Reuters by telephone from the President's yacht. "He was saved by a boy who moved in the way and tried to grab the knife and suffered a serious injury to his hand," he added. "The President was not hurt, but the knife did catch his shirt. It was definitely an assassination attempt on his life." Shareef said residents on the island described the attacker, who was in his early 20s, has been arrested and is being interrogated, as having extreme religious views. However, he said he suspected the attack was more likely the work of Gayoom's political rivals than Islamist hardliners, and saw no connection with a bomb blast in the capital Male in late September, which raised fears of nascent militancy by the likes of al Qaeda in the traditionally peaceful Islamic archipelago.