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Islamic and reformists parties win Malaysia election

Reuters, Kuala Lumpur

Malaysians awoke on Sunday to the biggest sea-change in politics in almost 40 years, with opposition Islamists and reformists winning control of five states and giving the government a humiliating wake-up call.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's multi-racial National Front coalition won just a simple majority in parliament, and his future as leader is in doubt after he watched a record majority collapse to the weakest level ever.

His predecessor, Mahathir Mohamad, urged him to quit. "He should accept responsibility," said Mahathir who now says he made a mistake in picking Abdullah as his successor and that the current deputy premier, Najib Razak, should have taken over.

The streets were unusually quiet on Sunday, with many older Malaysians fearful of trouble. The last time the coalition suffered a heavy setback, in 1969, race riots erupted. Barisan has effectively ruled since independence from Britain in 1957.

"I am shocked. It feels Malaysia is a whole new country. It feels like it has been reborn," Daniel Sia, a 27-year-old civil engineer, said as he did some Sunday shopping in the capital.

Lai Yee Fei, 28, who works at a coffee bar beneath Kuala Lumpur's soaring twin towers, said she was glad that Malaysia now had a strong opposition to press the government.

"It's good to give some pressure for Barisan Nasional," she said. "If the opposition parties can stand up for us, on behalf of us, I think it's good."

Abdullah, who only four years ago led the coalition to a record election victory on a wave of hope for change, faced a bleak political future on Sunday, his aides stunned but not willing to concede that he must step down.

"Frankly, this is not really the time because a lot of component parties (of Barisan) have been decimated," one close aide said, declining to be identified. "We have lost a few people and I think it's time to consolidate."

Abdullah's humbling performance nationally -- the coalition ended up with 62 percent of federal seats, down from 90 percent previously -- was compounded by the fact that his own home state, the industrial heartland of Penang, fell to the opposition.

The leftist Chinese-backed Democratic Action Party (DAP) won Penang, the hub for Malaysia's electronics industry, which accounts for about half of exports.

The opposition Islamist party PAS scored shock victories in the northern heartland states of Kedah and Perak and easily retained power in its stronghold in northeastern Kelantan state.

DAP and PAS also joined the People's Justice Party, or Parti Keadilan, to take control of the industrial state of Selangor and almost all the seats in capital Kuala Lumpur.

Political experts and economists wondered aloud whether the Barisan government could now pursue its agenda, including plans for $325 billion in development zones across the country.

Without a two-thirds parliamentary majority, Barisan can no longer change the constitution or make some key appointments and could struggle to alter electoral boundaries, powers that the opposition have long maintained were abused by Barisan.

"This is probably not good news for the equity market or the ringgit," said Tim Condon, Singapore-based head of Asia research for investment bank ING.

The pro-government media, Abdullah's cheer-leader during the campaign, changed tack on Sunday, urging Barisan to ensure better job and education opportunities in this multi-racial nation.

Malaysia is largely a mix of ethnic Malays, which make up about 55 percent of the population, and ethnic Chinese and Indians, who account for about a third.

Iraqi women demand equality, end to violence

AFP, Baghdad

Scores of women rallied outside a Baghdad hotel on Saturday demanding an end to violence and equal social status with men as part of the observations of International Women's Day.

"Stop neglecting women. Stop killing women. Stop creating widows," read a large banner that the women, from various ethnic and religious backgrounds, held at the Babylon Hotel in Baghdad's central Karada neighbourhood.

After the rally, the protesters joined a much larger group that included men and children at a hotel conference room to hear from various speakers.

One of the speakers was Nariman Mahmoud Othman, minister for women's rights, who led a delegation of women to the office of the head of Iraq's parliament, Mahmoud Mashhadani, with a list of issues concerning women's rights they wanted to discuss.

The list also called for more women to be appointed to positions of power, including ministries and embassies.

Another speaker was Maisoon Al-Damloji, a female member of parliament from the secular Iraqia party.

"We are united today in our desire to spread the peace in our country," she said. "We reject murder, torture and revenge."

Women in Iraq "suffered during Saddam's time and during the embargo, and now are suffering because of sectarian violence," she said.

Iraq's constitution reserves 25 percent of the country's 275 seats of parliament for women, though not all are currently filled because in some cases female candidates were unavailable.

Orbia Tawfiq, a professor at Baghdad's College of Arts, said "we demand that women be given their rights.

They should not be oppressed and they should be treated like human beings.

"Women must not be treated as commodities. They must be granted freedom in choosing their husbands and careers," she said.

Mohar Abdel Hamid, 38, said that the needs of widows like herself must be addressed.

"I hope the government listens to us because women have always suffered in Iraq," she told AFP.

A recent report by US-based Women For Women International said the state of Iraqi women since the March 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq has become a "national crisis."

According to the report, released Thursday, 64 percent of the women surveyed said violence against them had increased since the war.

"When asked why, respondents most commonly said that there is less respect for women's rights than before, that women are thought of as possessions and that the economy has gotten worse," it said.

The report also found that 76 percent of the women interviewed said that girls in their families were forbidden from attending school.

Myanmar junta rejects UN offer of poll monitors

Reuters, Yangon

Myanmar's military government has rejected a United Nations offer of observers for May's constitutional referendum and elections in 2010, redoubling concerns about the freedom and fairness of both polls.

"Holding the referendum for the constitution is within the State sovereignty," official newspapers on Sunday quoted referendum commissioner Thaung Nyunt as telling visiting U.N. special envoy Ibrahim Gambari.

"Arrangements have been made for the eligible voters to cast their votes freely," he added, squashing any hopes of the international community that independent observers would be allowed in to monitor the plebiscite.

He also spurned Gambari's offer of U.N. "technical assistance," saying the former Burma's military had enough experience with running elections.

The last time it did so, in 1990, it ignored the result when opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's party won more than 80 percent of the vote.

The latest rejection was not unexpected, but diplomats said it signaled the end of whatever small desire the generals had to compromise amid worldwide outrage at September's bloody crackdown on the biggest pro-democracy protests in 20 years.

"It shows the regime has lost its appetite for cooperating with the U.N.," an Asian diplomat, who did not want to be named, said.

The junta announced its plans for a referendum and elections last month as part of a seven-step "roadmap to democracy" that most Western governments have dismissed as a blueprint for the generals keeping their grip on power.

Gambari, who is making his third trip to the Southeast Asian nation since the September protests, is expected to hold his second meeting with Information Minister Kyaw Hsan on Sunday.

Afghans threaten attacks on foreign troops over cartoon

Reuters, Jalalabad

Thousands of Afghan students blocked a highway and threatened attacks on foreign troops on Sunday in the latest protest against the reprinting of a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammad in Danish papers.

Sunday's protest near the city of Jalalabad on the highway leading to Pakistan followed violent demonstrations a day earlier in the western city of Herat against the cartoon and a film on the Koran by a right wing Dutch politician.

Chanting anti-Western slogans, the marchers in Jalalabad burnt Danish and Dutch flags demanding the cartoonist and the politician, who plans to release his film this month, be put on trial. "If our demands are not fulfilled, we will stage more protests and resort to suicide attacks against the foreigners," said Ibrahim, a university student.

The demonstrators also demanded Kabul freeze its ties with the Dutch and Danish governments and expel troops from the two countries who operate under NATO's command in Afghanistan.

The Afghan government has called the reprinting of the cartoon an attack against Islam and one official has warned it would swell the ranks of al Qaeda and its Taliban allies.

Dutch right-wing politician Geert Wilders is expected to release his film, thought to be critical of the Koran, later this month. Wilders has given few details, but in the past he has called the Koran a "fascist" book that "incites violence."

The cartoon -- one of 12 that prompted bloody riots in many Muslim countries in 2006 -- was republished by a number of Danish papers last month to show solidarity with the cartoonist after three men were arrested on suspicion of plotting to kill him. Muslims consider any depiction of the Prophet offensive.

Israel will not act alone on Iran, says Peres

Reuters, Paris

Israel will not consider unilateral action to stop Iran getting a nuclear bomb, President Shimon Peres was quoted as saying on Saturday.

In an interview with France's Le Figaro newspaper ahead of a trip to Paris next week, Peres said, however, if economic sanctions failed to persuade Iran to stop its contested nuclear program then "non-military options would be used up."

The United Nations has imposed sanctions on Iran to pressure it to suspend uranium enrichment. The United States and other major powers suspect Iran is enriching uranium as part of a covert effort to develop a nuclear bomb. Iran says it is only interested in civilian nuclear energy.

"I would prefer to stop the development of the bomb without recourse to war. Sanctions have proved their efficacy in the past," Peres said, citing decisions by Libya, South Africa and North Korea to renounce nuclear plans.

Asked if Israel would act alone to stop Iran getting the bomb, Peres, a former prime minister who currently holds no executive power, replied: "Under no circumstance. We are not so imprudent as to concentrate the Iranian danger on Israel."

"It's a problem that the rest of the world must resolve. With the long-range missiles developed by Iran the problem is not only Israeli," Peres added.

100 bodies found in Iraq mass grave

AFP, Baghdad

Iraqi security forces have found a mass grave containing around 100 decomposed bodies in restive Diyala province, in one of the biggest such finds in months, Iraqi and US officials said on Saturday.

The grave was found in the Al-Buthoma, north of the town of Khalis in Diyala, northeast of Baghdad, and appeared to be of people killed several years ago, an Iraqi army officer said.

US military spokesman Major Winfield Danielson told AFP: "The bodies are decomposed to the point that they are just skeletol remains, indicating that they have been there for a long time".

He said the grave was uncovered by Iraqi forces on Friday. "The site of the grave is still being investigated. The grave contains approximately 100 bodies," Danielson said.

Iraqi army officer Major General Abdel Karim al-Rubaie also said the victims were beyond recognition. "We can't identify them t there are just bones in there. At the moment we have left the remains in the grave itself," he said.

Peace is only way despite Israeli attacks: Abbas

AFP, Ramallah

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on Saturday said peace is the only way despite Israeli attacks on the Palestinians. "Despite all the Israeli attacks we call for peace and we are keen on peace built on international legitimacy," Abbas said in a speech at his Ramallah headquarters to mark International Women's Day. "There is no other way but peace." But Abbas said several issues must first be resolved such as the status of east Jerusalem, which the Palestinians want as capital of their future state, the problem of refugees, Jewish settlements and prisoners held by Israel. "We want a just and comprehensive peace agreement," Abbas said. On Sunday, Abbas suspended peace negotiations with the Israelis in protest at massive Israeli army raids on the Gaza Strip over the past week aimed at stopping rocket fire from the Hamas-run territory. More than 126 Palestinians were killed in the attacks, including children and other civilians, as well as two Israeli soldier and one civilian. After talks this week with visiting US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the Palestinian president said he intended to resume peace talks with Israel.

Serbian PM resigns over Kosovo

AFP, Belgrade

Serbian nationalist Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica resigned on Saturday following a government crisis over the independence of Kosovo and the country's EU future. "The government, which does not have united policies, cannot function," Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said as he announced the fall of his Cabinet. "That's the end of the government." Kostunica said he will convene a session of the caretaker government Monday, which will propose to President Boris Tadic to dissolve the Parliament and call new elections for May 11. Tadic said in a statement that he will call early elections because they are a "democratic way to overcome the political crisis." But he disputed Kostunica's claim that their clash was over Kosovo, the Serbian medieval heartland which proclaimed independence last month with the backing of the United States and several EU countries. "Kosovo is of course an integral part of our country," Tadic said. "I believe the issue is that the Serbian government does not have a united position over European and economic perspectives of Serbia and its citizens," he added.

Putin warns West his successor to be just as tough

AFP, Novo Ogaryevo

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday warned the West against expecting a thaw under his "nationalist" successor Dmitry Medvedev. "Dmitry Medvedev will be free to demonstrate his liberal views," Putin said after talks at his Novo Ogaryevo residence outside Moscow with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. "But he is no less a Russian nationalist, in the good sense of the word, than I am, and I do not think that with him the partnership will be more simple." Putin issued the warning just before Merkel went to a separate meeting with Medvedev, the first between a Western leader and the new president-elect since his controversial election March 2.

Brown calls for release of Aung San Suu Kyi

AFP, London

Prime Minister Gordon Brown used International Women's Day on Saturday to press for the release of Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Brown's call came hours after the Nobel peace prize winner, who has spent 12 of the last 18 years under house arrest, was allowed a rare meeting with UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari. "On International Women's Day, it's important to note that Aung San Suu Kyi, the Burmese leader, has been able to meet the UN representative Mr Gambari to talk about freedom for her country," Brown said. "But what we want is that she is freed from house arrest for good, and all those political prisoners are released and she is allowed to stand in democratic elections in Burma where, after all, some years ago, she was elected to be leader of the country," Brown said, using the former name for Myanmar. During Gambari's visit, Myanmar's junta rejected proposals to allow foreign observers at a referendum set for May, further dimming any hopes for reforms to bring Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy (NLD) into their election plans.

Europe cargo rocket takes off for space station

Reuters, Kourou

An unmanned Ariane rocket successfully put a cargo vessel into orbit on Sunday in Europe's first mission to carry supplies to the International Space Station (ISS), space officials said. The modified Ariane-5 launcher lifted off at 1:03 a.m. (11:03 a.m. EST on Saturday) from Europe's spaceport in Kourou on the northeast coast of South America carrying a 20 ton cargo module on top. The vessel, dubbed "Jules Verne" in honor of the visionary 19th century French science fiction writer, is the first Automatic Transfer Vehicle (ATV) that Europe has committed to its participation in the ISS program. Constructed by an industrial consortium led by EADS Astrium, a division of European industrial giant EADS, the ATV is designed to deliver fuel, food, clothing and oxygen to the ISS crew as well as spare parts for Europe's Columbus laboratory.