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UN condemns Gaza violence: Israel kills 100 Palestinians defying peace process

Reuters, Gaza

Israel vowed on Sunday to press on with a Gaza offensive and curb rocket strikes, threatening stronger action despite U.N. condemnation of assaults that have killed 100 Palestinians, many of them civilians.

"Israel has no intention of stopping the fight against the terrorist organizations even for a minute," Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told his cabinet.

Earlier, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned Israel for using "excessive" force in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip and demanded a halt to an air and ground offensive that killed 61 people on Saturday, the bloodiest day for Palestinians since the 1980s.

In the latest fighting, two Palestinians were killed in the northern Gaza Strip, medical officials said.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas designated Sunday a day of national mourning, stopping short of declaring dead a revived U.S.-backed peace process with Israel opposed by Hamas Islamists who seized the Gaza Strip in June from his Fatah faction.

After five days of fighting in which medical officials said 100 Palestinians have been killed, many of them civilians, Ban also called at an emergency Security Council session for a halt to cross-border rocket fire by Gaza's Islamists militants.

In a statement, the Security Council said it was deeply concerned about the loss of civilian life in southern Israel and the Gaza Strip and urged a cessation of violence.

One Israeli has been killed by a rocket launched from Gaza since the current surge in bloodshed began. Hamas has said such salvoes would stop if Israel ended its operations in the Gaza Strip and raids against militants in the occupied West Bank.

"We are acting to hit the Hamas infrastructure t the final target is to bring an end to the firing of Qassams," Defense Minister Ehud Barak said about the crude rockets.

"This will not be achieved in the next two days, but we will continue the activity with all our strength. And we need to prepare for escalation, because the big ground operation is real and tangible," Barak said.

Olmert has been under pressure from some of his cabinet members to launch a broader offensive in the Gaza Strip, especially after militants began firing longer-range Katyusha rockets at the major city of Ashkelon.

But Israeli officials have spoken publicly of the heavy loss of life such a campaign could cause on both sides.

Israeli commentators have also questioned whether military action could completely end rocket fire from the densely populated territory of 1.5 million Palestinians.

The current offensive has already taken Israeli troops deeper into the Gaza Strip and in a larger numbers than at any time since Israel pulled troops and settlers out of the territory in 2005, 38 years after its capture.

Two Israeli soldiers were killed in fighting with Gaza militants on Saturday.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is due to meet Abbas and Olmert this week to try to accelerate faltering negotiations which President George W. Bush hopes can forge a peace deal before he leaves office in January.

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said: "If Israeli aggression continues, it will bury the peace process."

Abbas's chief peace negotiator Ahmed Qurie called off a meeting scheduled for Monday with his Israeli counterpart, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Israeli officials said.

But Abbas, who echoed widespread Palestinian outrage at Israel's tactics by calling it "more than a holocaust," had taken no decision to abandon the peace process, aides said.

Palestinian officials said Saturday's bloodshed was the worst since an "intifada" or uprising against Israeli occupation broke out in 2000, halting an earlier peace process.

Iran military strike unlikely to succeed: British MPs

AFP, London

A military strike against Iran would be unlikely to succeed and would only inflame tensions in the Middle East, an influential group of British MPs warned on Sunday.

The House of Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee also recommended that British ministers urge their American counterparts to begin direct negotiations with Iran and consider offering it a security guarantee if it provides "credible and verifiable" assurances it will not manufacture nuclear weapons.

"A military strike would be unlikely to succeed and could provoke an extremely violent backlash across the region," the committee said in its "Global Security: Iran" report.

"We recommend that the government urges Washington to consider offering a credible security guarantee to Iran if the Iranian government in turn will offer an equally credible and verifiable guarantee that it will not enter into a nuclear weapons programme and improves its cooperation with the international community in other areas."

The committee also called for ministers to push for Washington to "engage directly with Iran on its nuclear programme, as the absence of such engagement has deprived the international community of a significant diplomatic tool."

Syria slams deployment of US warship off Lebanon

AFP, Damascus

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said Saturday the deployment of a US warship off the Lebanese coast was an attempt to undermine a solution to Lebanon's long-running presidential crisis.

"The presence of the warship off the coast of Lebanon shows that the United States is striving to undermine all political solutions in the Lebanese crisis," Muallem told reporters flanked by Arab League chief Amr Mussa.

Syria, which the US accuses of supporting terrorist groups, has long been accused of meddling in the politics of its southern neighbour.

Washington said on Thursday it had sent the guided-missile destroyer USS Cole to waters off Lebanon, amid concern over regional stability and Lebanon's protracted political crisis. It is "a show of support for regional stability" because of "concern about the situation in Lebanon", a US official said on condition of anonymity, declining to say whether the show of force was meant for Syria or Iran.

China, US to push on with nuclear, security talks

AFP, Shanghai

China and the United States have agreed to deepen a dialogue on nuclear and Asian security issues following the end of high-level talks in Beijing this week, the US defence department said Saturday.

The discussions were part of ongoing Sino-US defence consultations aimed at increasing mutual understanding and avoiding miscalculation between the two powers, said David Sedney, deputy assistant secretary of defence for East Asia.

"We had very positive discussions on that (nuclear strategy and policy) and we expect to be moving forward with that dialogue very shortly," Sedney said at a press briefing in Shanghai.

"We also had an in-depth exchange of each other's views of Asian security issues -- that will lay the basis for us continuing that kind of discussion that we both agree is very important."

The talks were followed by a signing on Friday of two agreements announced earlier this week between the countries.

Bush won't promise further troop cuts from Iraq

AP, Crawford

President Bush declined Saturday to promise more U.S. troop withdrawals from Iraq before he leaves office, and underscored the need for a strong military presence during Iraqi provincial elections in October.

Security has improved markedly since last summer when the last of five Army brigades arrived in Iraq to complete the president's buildup of 30,000 troops. One brigade has already returned home and the four others are to leave by July. What remains unclear is whether Bush will order additional drawdowns in the final months of his presidency.

"There is going to be enormous speculation," he said. "My sole criterion is, whatever we do, it ought to be in the context of success."

The president spoke at his Texas ranch where he hosted Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen for talks about NATO's complex mission in Afghanistan, climate change, Iran and other trans-Atlantic issues. They took time, though, for a two mountain bike rides at the dusty ranch at sunset Friday and again at sunrise Saturday.

Eight killed in Armenia unrest

AFP, Yerevan

Eight people have died in clashes between police and protesters in the Armenian capital Yerevan, the police said in a statement Sunday, hours after a state of emergency was imposed.

"The clashes between police and protesters left eight dead," the statement said, citing figures from the health ministry.

The statement did not clarify whether the dead were protesters or police. It added that 33 police had been injured in the clashes.

"The police are calling on all citizens to be careful, to hold back and to obey all the rules of the state of emergency," the statement read.

Tanks and troops patrolled Yerevan Sunday after violent protests against alleged rigging of a presidential election in the ex-Soviet republic.

The situation was calm following the imposition of a state of emergency late Saturday in response to rioting.

The state of emergency will be in effect in the capital Yerevan until March 20 under a decree signed by President Robert Kocharian.

US, SKorea kick off massive drill

AFP, Seoul

Tens of thousands of US and South Korean troops on Sunday kicked off a massive drill, sparking immediate anger from North Korea which condemned it as provocative and aggressive.

US aircraft carrier Nimitz has been deployed off the Korean peninsula and about 27,000 American troops would taking part in the week-long "Key Resolve" exercise, a spokesman for US troops in South Korea said.

A Joint Chief of Staff spokesman said "a significant portion" of South Korea's 680,000 troops were participating in the exercise, which is due to last until Friday, though Seoul disclosed no exact figures.

The US-South Korean manoeuvres came as international efforts to dismantle North Korea's nuclear weapons programmes were in a stalemate. The North's Korean People's Army (KPA) spokesman reacted angrily Sunday, denouncing the drill as "an open and blatant challenge" to the disarmament negotiation and also warning it could retaliate.

The spokesman said in a statement carried by official media that US overtures at six-party negotiations were "nothing but a crafty charade intended to cover up its preparations for a nuclear war" against North Korea.

"If the US and South Korean bellicose forces persistently work to realise their scenariot the KPA will not stand passively on the defensive but counter it with positive retaliatory strikes by mobilising all means long built up by the DPRK at a high price," it said.

But US and South Korean authorities have defended the drill as "a defensive-oriented exercise" to test military readiness, the US-led combined forces command (CFC) said in a statement Thursday.

Russians choose Putin successor in one-sided election

AFP, Moscow

Russians voted Sunday in a presidential election seen by critics as rigged to hand victory to Vladimir Putin's chosen successor, Dmitry Medvedev. Polls opened on the Pacific coast of the world's biggest country, before rolling 12,000 kilometres (7,500 miles) west to Moscow, and finally to the Baltic territory of Kaliningrad.

Medvedev faced three challengers, but his overwhelming victory was almost a foregone conclusion following a campaign in which Russia's heavily censored television networks rammed home the message that he is Putin's heir. "You know very well that it's all sorted out in advance. It's automatic," said Anna Vasiliyevna, 50, as she cast her ballot in central Moscow.

Rice heads to Middle East as peace talks stumble

AFP, Washington

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice leaves Monday on a new mission to the Middle East as fresh violence between Israel and Hamas militants has placed the teetering peace process in peril. She faces an uphill task. After an Israeli incursion into Gaza on Saturday, senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said the Middle East peace talks revived in November in the US town of Annapolis had now been destroyed. "The negotiations are buried under the houses that were destroyed in Gaza," Erakat said. "The peace process has been destroyed because of the aggressions and the crimes that have been committed." A member of the office of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas told AFP the talks were now suspended. "The president decided to suspend the negotiations as a protest to the Israeli aggression," he said, declining to be named. Rice is expected to arrive in Cairo on Tuesday for talks with Egyptian leaders on the situation in the Gaza Strip which has been under an Israeli land and air blitz in a bid to stop rocket fire into Israel.

Day of destiny looms in White House race

AFP, Dallas

The destiny of the searing Democratic White House battle is on the line in two key states Tuesday, with Barack Obama seeking a knockout, and Hillary Clinton desperately reaching for a lifeline. Bold, brash Texas, and economically distressed Ohio have the chance to deal a decisive blow in the increasingly rancorous race, in which one hopeful will make history, as the first black, or woman presidential nominee. Obama, 46, hopes to take his winning streak to 15 straight nominating contests, on a day which also includes voting in Rhode Island and Vermont. Clinton, 60, needs to come out of Tuesday with a reason to go on, as she currently trails Obama in nominating delegates, fundraising, the popular vote and momentum, in the race to battle likely Republican nominee John McCain. Senator McCain, the Vietnam war hero who has pulled off a stunning comeback after his campaign was left for dead last year, hopes to finally nail down the Republican nomination, by dispatching pesky challenger Mike Huckabee.

Talks with US help Iraq security, says Ahmadinejad

AP, Tehran

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Saturday that U.S.-Iran talks have helped improve security in Iraq but he rejected claims that the Islamic republic is fueling violence there, the state news agency reported. "The outcome of (U.S.-Iran) talks have helped stabilize conditions in Iraq a great deal," IRNA quoted Ahmadinejad as telling Iraqi journalists in Tehran, a day ahead of his landmark visit to Iraq. Iran and the United States have held three rounds of talks about the security situation in Iraq, and in recent months U.S. officials have cited a dramatic drop in violence. Iraqi ambassador to Tehran, Abu Haidar al-Sheikh, called on Iran and the U.S. to upgrade the talks, which have been between ambassadors. "From Baghdad's point of view, the talks should be upgraded to the level of foreign ministers without conditions. The correct path is for Iran and U.S. to resolve their problems at the negotiating table," al-Sheikh was quoted by IRNA as saying Saturday. Al-Sheikh said a fourth round of talks has been delayed due to "technical" complexities but hoped that Ahmadinejad's visit to Iraq will help set a date for a new round of talks.

Thousands protest Prophet cartoon in Afghanistan

AP, Kabul

Hundreds of demonstrators set the Danish and Dutch flags ablaze Sunday in northern Afghanistan to protest the reprint of Prophet Muhammad cartoons in Denmark and an upcoming Dutch film criticizing the Quran. Clerics and madrassa students gathered in front of Afghanistan's largest shrine in the city of Mazar-i-Sharif to demand the government shut down the Danish and Dutch embassies in Kabul. "We don't want our government to have any diplomatic relations with these two countries," said Maulawi Abdul Hadi, one of the clerics organizing the protest. "We don't want Danish and Dutch troops in Afghanistan. They should be kicked out of the NATO forces here."

Chavez warns of "war" if Colombia strikes Venezuela

Reuters, Caracas

President Hugo Chavez warned Colombia on Saturday it would be a "cause for war" if its forces struck inside Venezuelan territory as they did in Ecuador killing a top Colombian rebel commander there. "Don't be thinking that you can do that here t because it would be extremely serious and would be a causa belli, a cause for war, (if there is) a military incursion in Venezuelan territory. There's no excuse," Chavez said in his most belligerent comments to date in a diplomatic dispute with Bogota. Colombia's military said troops killed Raul Reyes, a leader of Marxist FARC rebels, during an attack on a jungle camp in Ecuador in a severe blow to Latin America's oldest guerrilla insurgency. The operation included air strikes and fighting with rebels across the border. Chavez has been at odds with U.S.-backed Colombian President Alvaro Uribe over the Venezuelan's mediation with the FARC, or the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, over the release of hostages held by the rebels.