The New Nation - Internet Edition

Female suicide bomber kills 52 in Iraq US loses two more soldiers in violence

AP, Baghdad

A female suicide bomber struck Shiite worshippers in the holy city of Karbala on Monday, an official and a witness said, killing at least 52 people and leaving pools of blood on the street leading to one of Iraq's most revered mosques.

The blast was the deadliest in a series of attacks that left at least 72 Iraqis dead, including six youths killed when mortar rounds slammed into a soccer field in eastern Baghdad.

Two U.S. soldiers also were killed Monday in a roadside bombing north of Baghdad, bringing the American death toll closer to 4,000 as the U.S.-led war enters its sixth year. At least 3,990 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

The violence marred overlapping trips by Vice President Dick Cheney and Sen. John McCain to Baghdad. Their visits were aimed at touting recent security gains and stressing Washington's long-term commitment to fighting insurgents in Iraq.

The U.S. Embassy and military issued a joint statement blaming al-Qaida in Iraq for the Karbala attack.

The bomber struck after the worshippers had gathered at a sacred historical site about half a mile from the golden domed shrine of Imam Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Muhammad who was killed in a seventh-century battle.

A police officer, speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to release the information, said the attacker was a woman - as did a witness.

The U.S. military described the attack as a suicide operation but put the casualty toll at 40 Iraqis killed and 65 wounded. The U.S. statement said the identity of the bomber remained unknown.

Brig. Gen. Raed Shakir Jawdat, Karbala's police chief, said 43 people were killed and 73 wounded. He denied it was a suicide attack, saying a bomb had been planted in the area. The discrepancies could not immediately be resolved. Karim Khazim, the city's chief health official, said seven of those killed were Iranian pilgrims who had traveled to the holy site.

AP Television News footage showed a man carefully picking up pieces of flesh and wires apparently from a fuse as evening prayer services were broadcast from loudspeakers nearby.

The witness, who did not identify himself, told AP Television News that a woman in the crowd had blown herself up.

If true, it would be among the deadliest attacks carried out by women during the Iraq conflict.

Female suicide bombers have been involved in at least 20 attacks or attempted attacks since the war began, including the grisly bombings of two pet markets in Baghdad that killed nearly 100 people last month.

The U.S. military has warned that insurgents are using female attackers because they can more easily avoid checkpoint searches and can hide the explosives under traditional all-encompassing black Islamic robes.

Police closed the area around the twin golden dome mosques and blocked all roads leading to the sites, which include tombs of Imam Hussein and his half brother, also a Shiite saint.

Ali Hassan, 30, a clothing merchant who was wounded in the blast, said he was standing near his stall "when I heard a big explosion and I felt strong fire throwing me in the air."

"The only thing I know is there was a big explosion and I saw bodies flying in the air," said Hassan Khazim, 36, who was wounded in the face. "All the tight security measures designed to protect us were in vain."

The predominantly Shiite city of Karbala, 50 miles south of Baghdad, enjoys tight security. Monday's attack was the deadliest in Karbala since a suicide car bomber killed at least 63 people on April 28, 2007.

Explosions also struck earlier Monday not far from the capital's heavily fortified Green Zone, shortly after Cheney arrived. Helicopter gunships circled central Baghdad.

Russia, US upbeat on missile defence talks

AFP, Moscow

Top US and Russian officials on Tuesday hailed a new upbeat mood to their efforts to improve relations and overcome a dispute over a missile defence shield during talks in Moscow.

Defence Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met their Russian opposite numbers, Anatoly Serdyukov and Sergei Lavrov, for a second day of talks expected to focus on Washington's plans to set up missile defence facilities in Poland and the Czech Republic.

Going into talks, Rice spoke of a "positive spirit" established when she and Gates met President Vladimir Putin and his protege president-elect Dmitry Medvedev on Monday.

"We had a positive spirit yesterdayt. We look forward to further work today, to having greater details so that perhaps we can strengthen our partnership and overcome some of our differences," Rice said.

Lavrov in turn said Russia was "satisfied with the way our relations are developing" and that there was a "will" to minimise discord.

World reacts cautiously on Tibet, but protests grow

AFP, Hong Kong

The international community has reacted cautiously to the unrest in Tibet, urging restraint from both Beijing and Tibetans, even as street protests condemning China have grown in recent days.

Tibet's exiled leaders say about 100 people have been killed in a crackdown on anti-Chinese protests and have called for an international investigation. China has denied wrongdoing and blamed Tibetans for the unrest.

The United Nations has proved reluctant to get involved given China's considerable influence at the world body.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Monday called on the Chinese authorities to "avoid further confrontation and violence" in his first public comments since the crackdown.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Monday called on Beijing to open talks with Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, and the European Union said it was troubled by events there. But Russia said the Tibet crisis was an "internal matter" for China.

The muted international response is in contrast to growing street protests around the world against Beijing.

Pak intelligence chief suspected Benazir's enemy to quit

Reuters, Islamabad

A Pakistani intelligence chief, regarded as a dangerous enemy by assassinated former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, will quit his job before her party comes to power at the head of a new coalition. Bhutto wrote to President Pervez Musharraf before her assassination on December 27, identifying four members of the civilian-military establishment who should be investigated if she was killed. Ijaz Shah, head of the Intelligence Bureau (IB), one of Pakistan's three security services, was believed to be one of the people Bhutto suspected of conspiring against her. Bhutto survived a suicide bomb attack during her homecoming procession through Karachi in October to mark the end of more than eight years of self-exile. At least 139 people were killed in the attack. Shah, a retired army brigadier regarded as close to Musharraf, held a "farewell meeting" with caretaker Prime Minister Mohammadmian Soomro on Monday. "He sent his resignation several days back. It's been accepted and yesterday he paid a farewell call on the prime minister," a senior government official told Reuters.

Olmert vows to continue east Jerusalem settlements

AFP, Jerusalem

Israel will continue to build its settlements in annexed east Jerusalem, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Monday, amid international concern the action could hamper revived peace talks. "When we build in Jerusalem, everyone knows that there is no chance that the state of Israel will give up a neighbourhood like Har Homa," known to Palestinians as Jabal Abu Ghneim, Olmert told a joint press conference with visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel. "There are places that we will not give up as part of a final (peace) agreement and that is why there is no reason that we stop building there," he said, alluding to large Israeli settlement blocs in the occupied West Bank. Israel's pursuit of construction in its settlements in east Jerusalem and the West Bank has been one of the major reasons why peace talks have made little progress since they were renewed in late November. Numerous nations, including Israel's staunch ally Washington, have urged the Jewish state to refrain from settlement construction during the renewed negotiations.

Obama tackles race and religion in White House epic

AFP, Washington

Democrat Barack Obama was to address inflammatory language by his flamboyant former pastor on Tuesday as he bids to lance a controversy dogging his White House campaign. The uproar around Chicago preacher Jeremiah Wright, who officiated at Obama's wedding and baptized his two daughters, has threatened to undermine the candidate's promise of racial healing. A day after fighting running battles with his rival Hillary Clinton over the Iraq war, Obama was to address supporters in Pennsylvania on the theme of "race, politics, and unifying our country." The speech in Philadelphia came as the race for the Democratic presidential nomination faced a new hurdle after the Florida party, whose January primary was annulled over a scheduling row, said it would not hold a revote.

Peacekeepers battle Serbs in Kosovo

AP, Kosovska

Serb demonstrators attacked international peacekeepers with rocks, grenades and Molotov cocktails Monday, setting off the worst violence in Kosovo since it declared independence from Serbia last month. The Serbs traded gunfire with U.N. and NATO forces in hours of clashes that wounded at least 63 U.N. and NATO forces and 70 protesters outside a U.N. courthouse. The clashes began when the U.N. stormed the courthouse in the divided northern town of Kosovska Mitrovica just before dawn to pull out protesters who had occupied it for three days to protest Kosovo's independence. Hundreds of Serbs swarmed the area, blocking three red-and-white U.N. police vans as they moved through the angry crowd and ordering the officers to open the doors. About half of the 53 arrested Serbs went free. The rest were taken out in armored vehicles and were released by the U.N. after questioning. Danish military police said they came under fire from protesters and shot back as they evacuated wounded officers. Machine-gun bursts could be heard until midday, although it was not clear who was firing.

World's biggest passenger jet takes off for inaugural London service

AFP, Singapore

The Airbus A380, the world's biggest passenger plane, took off Tuesday from Singapore's Changi Airport for its inaugural commercial flight to London, the jet's first European destination. Flight SQ308, operated by A380 launch customer Singapore Airlines (SIA), departed Changi Airport's new Terminal 3 at 9:19 am (0119 GMT), an AFP reporter at the airport said. The flight, carrying 449 passengers, is scheduled to land at London's Heathrow Airport around 12-13 hours later with the return leg to arrive in Singapore on Wednesday afternoon, SIA said in a statement. SIA said 17 passengers from nine countries who had flown on the world's first ever A380 commercial flight from Singapore to Sydney in October last year were also on board the inaugural flight to London. Among them were Isabelle Chu from Australia's western city of Perth. "I would describe it as an expensive hobby but it is better than buying an LV (Louis Vuitton) bag," Chu, who runs a travel agency, told AFP before boarding.