The New Nation - Internet Edition

AP, Baghdad

Gunmen killed an appeals court judge as he headed to work in the western Baghdad district of Mansour on Monday, police and the deputy justice minister said.

Amir Jawdat al-Naeib, a high-ranking judge at the appeals court and a member of the Supreme Judicial Council, was ambushed by gunmen in two cars as he was being driven to work from his home in Mansour, police and Deputy Justice Minister Busho Ibrahim said. His driver was also killed.

The Supreme Judicial Council is a judicial supervisory body that swears in all judges and parliament, among other responsibilities.

Professionals, including academics, government officials, doctors, lawyers and judges, have often been targeted for assassination in recent years in Iraq. In October, an investigative judge in the northern city of Kirkuk, Zaher al-Bayati, narrowly escaped assassination when gunmen in a vehicle opened fire on him, killing two of his bodyguards.

Meanwhile, Iraqi Arab lawmakers from rival sects joined forces Sunday to criticize what they claim is overreaching by the Kurds, alleging the powerful U.S.-backed minority's go-it-alone style in oil and other major issues threatens national unity.

The 145 Shiite, Sunni and other legislators signaled their opposition to Kurdish ambitions in the disputed northern city of Kirkuk and in negotiating deals with foreign oil companies without involving the central government.

"There must be a formula for maintaining the unity of Iraq and the distribution of its wealth," said secular lawmaker Osama al-Nijifi, reading from a declaration at a news conference in the capital. "Oil and gas are a national wealth, and we are concerned about those who want to go it alone when it comes to signing deals," he said.

The declaration, which was careful not to mention the Kurdish government by name, could create new tensions among Sunni Arab, Shiite and Kurdish groups.

The Kurds are a key group within the governing coalition and have been Washington's most reliable allies in Iraq. Since the ouster of Saddam Hussein they have forged a close relationship with the majority Shiites.

AFP, Jerusalem

Israelis and Palestinians opened talks on Monday on the most intractable issues of their conflict, with major obstacles still blocking a deal that US President George W. Bush hopes will be sealed within a year.

Top negotiators Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and former Palestinian prime minister Ahmed Qorei were meeting in Jerusalem for the first time since Bush's landmark peace mission last week.

"Today the talks will begin on the core issues," a senior aide to Livni told AFP.

"Livni is authorised to discuss all the issues, and the issues where they fail to reach understanding will be referred to (Israeli Prime Minister Ehud) Olmert and Abu Mazen," he said, referring to Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.

Livni said details of the negotiations were unlikely to be divulged. "Past experience has shown that when talks are held in the limelight they lead to the radicalisation of the positions and to the distortion of the things said behind closed doors; to a rise in expectation and to disappointment that eventually leads to violence," her office quoted Livni as telling a ministerial meeting on Monday.

During his first presidential visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories last week, Bush predicted the two sides would sign a peace treaty to end their decades-old conflict before he left office in January 2009.

"I believe it's going to happen, that there's going to be a signed peace treaty by the time I leave office," he said, just six weeks after the two sides formally relaunched the peace process after a seven-year freeze.

AP, Vienna

Iran has promised the U.N.'s chief nuclear inspector it will answer all remaining questions about its past nuclear activities within four weeks, including secret activities the U.S. suspects were linked to a weapons program, officials said Sunday.

The time limit was announced by the spokeswoman for Mohamed ElBaradei, chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency, at the end of his talks in Tehran with Iranian leaders.

Iran is under two sets of U.N. Security Council sanctions for its refusal to freeze uranium enrichment, a potential pathway to nuclear arms, and Washington is pushing for additional U.N. penalties.

In Abu Dhabi on Sunday, President Bush said Iran "defies the United Nations and destabilizes the region by refusing to be open and transparent about its nuclear programs and ambitions." Calling the country the "world's leading state sponsor of terror," he urged Arab nations to join with the U.S. to confront the danger "before it's too late."

But a recent U.S. intelligence assessment that it probably shut down a clandestine weapons program three years ago have led to increased resistance from permanent Security Council members Russia and China, which have strategic and trade ties with Iran.

The government in Tehran says it never worked on atomic weapons and wants to enrich uranium only to produce fuel for reactors that would generate electricity.

AFP, Kolkata

Nearly 20,000 chickens have died in eastern India in the past week, triggering fears of an outbreak of bird flu, officials said.

Samples from dead birds have been sent to a laboratory in central India to determine if the deaths were due to the H5N1 virus. "The dead birds showed the flu symptoms," said S.K Bhowmic, the chief health officer of the affected district in eastern West Bengal state. The poultry deaths were reported from farms in the state's Morgram village, about 125 kilometers (75 miles) from state capital Kolkata.

AP, Islamabad

Benazir Bhutto's political party said Monday it may work with Pakistan's president after elections next month despite the leader's apparent unpopularity and allegations elements within his government may have played a role in her death. The comments highlight the fluid nature of Pakistani politics ahead of the polls, which the United States and other Western nations hope will usher in a period of stability as the country battles rising attacks by al-Qaida and Taliban militants. Bhutto's party and the other main opposition grouping have intensified their calls for President Pervez Musharraf to resign since Bhutto was assassinated on Dec. 27. But a spokesman for Bhutto's Pakistan Peoples Party said "all options are open" when asked whether it would cooperate with Musharraf.

AP, Guantanamo Bay

The chief of the U.S. military said Sunday he favors closing the prison here as soon as possible because he believes negative publicity worldwide about treatment of terrorist suspects has been "pretty damaging" to the image of the United States. "I'd like to see it shut down," Adm. Mike Mullen said in an interview with three reporters who toured the detention center with him on his first visit since becoming chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff last October. His visit came two days after the sixth anniversary of the prison's opening in January 2002. He stressed that a closure decision was not his to make and that he understands there are numerous complex legal questions the administration believes would have to be settled first, such as where to move prisoners.