The New Nation - Internet Edition

Five more US soldiers killed in Iraq violence

AFP, Baghdad

Five US soldiers were killed Friday in Iraq in two separate attacks, including one in Baghdad, the US military said in statements on Saturday.

"Four (US) soldiers were killed when their vehicle struck an improvised explosive device while the soldiers were conducting a combat patrol northwest of Baghdad" on Friday, said the US military. Another soldier was killed and three wounded by a roadside bomb exploded near their vehicle in the At Tamim province north of Baghdad on Friday, said another statement.

The latest deaths brings to 3,957 the number of US soldiers killed in Iraq since the 2003 invasion, according to an AFP tally based on independent website www.icasualties.org.

The frequency of attacks on US troops in Baghdad has picked up noticeably in the past weeks.

Since the beginning of January, coalition soldiers have been targeted in attacks with improvised explosive devices (IEDS) once every three days on average, according to US military commanders.

Explosive devices are the main cause of US deaths in Iraq.

Reuters report adds: The head of Iraq's main Sunni Arab bloc said on Saturday the bloc had agreed to rejoin the Shi'ite-led government, but other senior officials said no final decision had been made.

"The Accordance Front has decided to return to the government. The results of the negotiations with the government have been positive," Adnan al-Dulaimi, the head of the bloc, told Reuters. But Salim al-Jubouri, spokesman for the Front and a senior lawmaker, said: "This is not true information. Negotiations are still going on. We have made good progress but we are still waiting for some things to be settled."

Another senior bloc official also said no final decision had been made. The Front pulled its six ministers out of the cabinet of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in August, plunging the government into crisis.

The bloc has been demanding greater Sunni Arab representation in government and the military, and a greater say in security matters.

Kosovo to be independent on February 17

AP, Belgrade

The Serbian minister for Kosovo said Friday that his government has information that the province's Albanian leadership will declare independence on Feb. 17.

Slobodan Samardzic said in a statement that Serbia's government has received "relevant information" that Kosovo's government will "illegally declare unilateral independence of Kosovo on Sunday, Feb. 17." He did not specify the source of information.

The Kosovo Albanian leadership has said that it will declare independence from Serbia "in a matter of days," but has never specified the exact date.

Kosovo's Prime Minister Hashim Thaci did not confirm or deny the exact independence day mentioned by Samardzic, but added that Kosovo's split from Serbia was "a done deal."

"I can only confirm today that we have the confirmation from some 100 states which say they are ready to recognize Kosovo's independence," Thaci said in Kosovo's capital Pristina.

Serbia strongly rejects the statehood of Kosovo even though the southern province has not been under its control since NATO's bombing in 1999 to stop a crackdown against the Kosovo Albanian separatists.

Samardzic's statement was issued after a meeting with a senior European Union official, Stefan Lehne, who was in Belgrade to clarify the bloc's plans to send an EU policing and administrative mission to Kosovo.

Obama leads Hillary by only 2 delegates

AP, Washington

Three days after the voting ended, the race for Democratic delegates in Super Tuesday's contests was still too close to call. With nearly 1,600 delegates from Tuesday contests awarded, Sen. Barack Obama led by two delegates Friday night, with 91 delegates still to be awarded. Obama won 796 delegates in Tuesday's contests, to 794 for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, according to an analysis of voting results by The Associated Press.

In the Republican contest, Sen. John McCain had a commanding lead in the race for delegates. Nearly a third of the outstanding delegates are from Colorado, a state where Obama won the popular vote. California, a state that Clinton carried, had 20 Democratic delegates still to be awarded. Neither state expected to have complete results before next week.

Obama won the popular vote in 13 states Tuesday, while Clinton won in eight states and American Samoa.

In the overall race for the nomination, Clinton has 1,055 delegates, including separately chosen party and elected officials known as superdelegates. Obama has 998.

A total of 2,025 delegates are need to secure the Democratic nomination.

Many delegates were outstanding because some states have been unable to provide all the votes in some congressional districts. The problems arose in states with counties that are split into multiple congressional districts.

Secret evidence bogs down Gitmo hearings

AP, Cuba

The secrecy shrouding government files on terror suspects is bogging down the Pentagon's effort to hold trials at Guantanamo Bay, with defense attorneys accusing the government of withholding potential evidence.

At pretrial hearings this week, attorneys for two al-Qaida suspects captured in Afghanistan said they need more access to interrogators, witnesses and records. Prosecutors objected, citing a need to protect the identities of U.S. service members and other security concerns. The hearings did not resolve the disputes, which appear likely to further delay the launch of first U.S. war-crime tribunals since the World War II era. The first detainees were charged more than three years ago, but repeated legal challenges have kept any from going to trial.

"We're going to have to see how willing the judges are to interpret the rules so as to give defense counsel some kind of chance to actually defend their clients," said Navy Lt. Cmdr.

Zardari kicks off election campaign

AFP, Thatta

The widower of slain Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto hit the campaign trail for the first major party rally since the former prime minister's assassination in December. Thousands of people were gathering at Thatta, a rural town in Bhutto's home province of Sindh, amid tight security following 40 days of mourning since she was killed in Rawalpindi. Her successor Asif Ali Zardari vowed to complete her mission to establish democracy when mourning ended Thursday with large crowds at a ceremony around Bhutto's grave in the ancestral village of Khari Khuda Baksh. On Saturday, more than 2,000 police deployed around the public meeting venue at Thatta following repeated warnings by the government that terrorists could target main political leaders to derail the democratic process.

Russia will respond to new 'arms race challenge', says Putin

AFP, Moscow

President Vladimir Putin heralded a wealthy Russia able to compete in a new "arms race" with a speech Friday setting long term priorities for his hand-picked successor ahead of next month's presidential election. Putin used the televised address in an ornate Kremlin hall before Russia's ruling elite, including the full government, parliamentary leaders and top generals, to outline a roadmap up to 2020. Putin said his "plan to bring Russia out of systemic crisis" meant the country was again "respected" and that "lawlessness is over." However more must be done in coming years to pull the economy from "extreme inefficiency" and to guard against Western pressure, said Putin, whose eight year presidency has seen a flood of energy export revenues and the return of military clout.

Syria says Golan Heights the key to peace with Israel

AFP, Damascus

Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said on Thursday that peace with Israel would follow the return to Syria of the strategic Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. "We are ready to establish a just and comprehensive peace in the region based on the application of UN security council resolutions," Muallem told a news conference with his visiting Austrian counterpart Ursula Plassnik. He said both sides must strive for peace and that Israel must be willing to return the key Golan plateau. "Syria will examine the issue of security on the two sides of the (Syrian-Israeli) border and the normalisation" of relations between the two countries, he said.

Osama bin Laden and Omar operating in Pakistan: U.S. official

Reuters, Washington

Mullah Omar and other Taliban leaders are directing insurgency operations in Afghanistan from the Pakistani city of Quetta, while al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is operating from Pakistan's tribal areas, a senior U.S. administration official said on Friday. Bin Laden, his deputy Ayman al-Zawahri and others are operating out of Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) bordering Afghanistan, the official told reporters on condition of anonymity. "Just as Mullah Omar is giving strategic direction for the Taliban from Quetta, al Qaeda senior leadership is in the FATA doing its planning," the official said, without giving the source of the intelligence.