The New Nation - Internet Edition

US soldier among 9 killed in Iraq violence

AFP, Baghdad

At least nine people including a US soldier were killed in different incidents in Iraq.

An American soldier died when his vehicle was hit by a roadside blast in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, the US military here said today.

The soldier was on a "combat patrol" in eastern Baghdad when he was attacked on Friday evening, the military said in a statement. It said the victim's name was being withheld until his family could be informed.

The latest deaths brought the number of US troops killed in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion to 4,066, according to an AFP count based on independent website www.icasualties.org.

Meanwhile, US forces killed at least eight Shiite fighters in a series of firefights in Baghdad's Sadr City, the bastion of anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia, the military said today.

The firefights which began 7:20 am (420 GMT) on Friday and continued sporadically throughout the day saw US forces use air support and tanks as they clashed with militants in the impoverished district of some two million people.

In one incident, an M1A1 Abrams tanks engaged "criminals" with one round from its main gun after Iraqi army soldiers reported being attacked by small arms fire from a house, the military said.

"Three criminals were killed in the engagements," the military said.

A Hellfire missile was also fired at the house, it added.

Later Friday, a US warplane also dropped a bomb and killed two others.

Three other militants were killed in other exchanges.

US forces have been clashing with Shiite militiamen since March 25 in Sadr City.

Hundreds of people have been killed since then, with followers of Sadr accusing the military of killing civilians.

US military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Steven Stover said the militants were using "innocent civilians as shields for their activity."

Baquba report adds: Iraqi and US forces have detained at least 75 people, including some Al-Qaeda militants, after twin bombings north of Baghdad which killed 35 people, an Iraqi army officer said on Saturday.

On Thursday, two suicide bombers blew themselves up within minutes of each other in the town of Balad Ruz in the restive province of Diyala during a wedding party.

Major General Abdel Karim al-Rubaie, head of the provincial military command, said security forces had arrested 75 people, some of them from Al-Qaeda in Iraq, in connection with the attacks.

"We conducted operations in southern Balad Ruz to clear the areas controlled by Al-Qaeda after the bomb attacks. We have cleared eight areas till now and detained 75 people, some of them are related to Al-Qaeda," he told AFP.

The US military on Friday accused Al-Qaeda in Iraq of carrying out the bombings which also wounded 66 people.

Diyala is one of the most dangerous regions in Iraq where US and Iraqi forces are battling Al-Qaeda militants for several months.

Cyclone knocks out electricity in much of Yangon

AFP, Yangon

A tropical cyclone packing 120-mile per hour winds ripped through Yangon early Saturday, tearing off roofs, uprooting trees and knocking out electricity in much of the country's commercial capital, an official said.

The official from the country's Meteorology Department, who spoke anonymously because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said he expects deaths and injuries from Saturday's storm, which passed through the city at about 5 a.m. local time.

However, he did not immediately have any figures.

"The cyclone wreaked havoc in Yangon and the Irrawaddy delta town of Bassein," said the official. The town is 99 miles west of Yangon. "The damage will be extensive as the cyclone passed through many densely populated areas."

Witnesses said the streets were empty in Yangon on Saturday morning and most shops and markets were closed. The reemains of rooftops littered the street alongside trees and other debris, they said.

The only deaths linked to the bad weather so far happened late Friday when three women drowned while trying to cross a canal on the Yangon River in Yangon, according to dock workers.

The workers refused to be identified for fear of government reprisals. The women's boat capsized in rough waters and heavy winds, the workers said.

The meteorological bureau warned Friday that tropical cyclone Nargis, originating in the Bay of Bengal, could hit the coast near Yangon. Yangon is in the Irrawaddy River delta, a low-lying area prone to flooding.

It said that winds could be as high as 120-150 mph, and tides could rise as much as 12 feet above normal.

Quartet urges Israel to stop West Bank settlements

AP, London

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad warned Friday that peace talks could collapse unless Israel changes course and accepts a more conciliatory approach in negotiations.

Fayyad, in London for diplomatic talks, said Israel has not complied with any of the obligations set out at the U.S.-backed peace conference in Annapolis, Md., late last year.

"Israel has failed to meet any of its obligations from the road map, including a freeze in settlement activity," he said.

"Unless that changes, the political process is being stripped of its meaning."

Fayyad gave a highly pessimistic progress report after meeting with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni.

He said the Palestinian government had met its commitments by reforming its financial sector and praised the donor community for providing additional money desperately needed by Palestinian authorities.

In response, Israeli diplomats released remarks that Livni made in private meetings with Fayyad and other leaders earlier in the day.

They said she had told Fayyad that 60 road blocks, one major checkpoint, and other impediments to Palestinian freedom of movement had been removed, and that an additional 5,000 work permits have been granted to help Palestinians seeking work inside Israel.

However, the United Nations says there are more than 500 obstacles impeding movement in the West Bank, including gates, checkpoints and dirt mounds blocking passages. The 60 impediments Livni referred to are mostly dirt mounds, the removal of which has had little significance.

"Many of these measures involve significant security risks for Israel," she said, according to the released remarks. "We expect the (Palestinian Authority) to live up to its obligations in order to ensure that these steps will not be exploited by terrorists and endanger further progress."

But she said Israel needs assurances that the Palestinians will actively fight terrorism before it takes any further steps.

Fayyad said the Palestinian Authority needed roughly $1 billion to meet its obligations for the second half of this year.

But he said Israel had refused to take steps that would allow normal economic activity in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

The remarks came after the Middle East peace Quartet - the U.S., Russia, the European Union and the United Nations - urged Israel to cease all settlement activity in the West Bank. The diplomats called for more negotiations in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

There were no signs of a breakthrough, but Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said an agreement on the creation of an independent Palestinian state remains possible during President Bush's waning days in office.

"It's hard work and it's labor intensive and I know there's skepticism, but I think they do have a chance to get an agreement by the end of the year and that's what we're going to work for every day," she said.

Rice cited Northern Ireland as an example of a conflict that seemed intractable until just before peace was achieved.

Major powers agree new incentives offer to Iran

Reuters, London

Major powers agreed on Friday to make a new offer of incentives to Iran to halt its sensitive nuclear work and a European diplomat said helping Tehran develop civil atomic power remained at the heart of the proposal.

The offer, whose details have not been made public, is based on a package of economic and political benefits laid out by the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany in June 2006 but so far spurned by Iran.

Barack Obama leads Hillary Clinton in Guam primary

AFP, Hagatna

On the distant Pacific island of Guam, nearly a day's plane ride from Washington, a few thousand voters seized centre stage today in the race for the US Democratic presidential nomination. Turnout for the Democratic caucus was low early in the day as temperatures hovered around 90 degrees (32 Celsius), but local party officials expect some 4,000 people would vote before the polls close at 8:00pm (1000 GMT). Although there are only four party votes at stake, each one has now become crucial in an epic clash where Barack Obama leads Hillary Clinton by a narrow margin estimated at 1,738 to 1,599. The results are expected around 1600 GMT Saturday and there was no obvious pre- election favourite.

The caucus is the only opportunity Guam residents will get to influence the presidential outcome; the island's people, while US citizens, are not allowed to vote in November's election for the White House.

"We're a little island that doesn't matter most of the time because we're thousands of miles away from DC," said local resident Tes Venzon.

"This political event gives us our chance to push for our own local issues, which are largely ignored by Washington."

Guam, which has been a US territory since 1898, rarely steps anywhere near the limelight in US politics, lying as it does right on the other side of the international dateline.

So its sudden high profile on the political scene has prompted some jokes from commentators, as the island is more known as a US military base and scene of some of the bloodiest battles against the Japanese in World War II.

The Western Pacific island of just 540 square kilometres (209 square miles) has about 48,000 registered voters, and residents wanted Obama and Clinton to address its political status and self-determination.

"In this situation in which every single delegate vote counts to win the Democratic Party's presidential nomination, Guam suddenly feels its own political significance," said Guam Democratic Party chairman Tony Charfauros.

"We used to not get this kind of national attention, but when the caucus started coming up, all the issues affecting Guam suddenly received attention in the nation's capital."

Neither Obama nor Clinton visited Guam ahead of the vote but both vowed to address local issues, such as the relocation of 8,000 Marines from Okinawa in Japan and war reparation claims.

"I'm supporting Barack Obama because I think he will be the new face of America, with that kind of mixture and optimism that is exactly what we need. And with a president like that, our status will go up," Miget Tarpley said as she went to vote.

To which Clinton supporter Leah Ortiz retorted: "Hillary's plans for us are more specific.

"Obama's plans for Guam sound like press releases. They're vague. Most of the Obama supporters on Guam are young, college students, many of whom are not registered voters."

One major campaign concern are plans by Washington to

US is working with India to promote democracy in Asia: Bush

PTI, Washington

Expressing concern over the situations in Tibet and Myanmar, President George W. Bush has said that the United States is working with India to promote democracy and the peace throughout the Asia. "We're working with India to promote democracy and the peace it yields throughout the continent. We're working together to extend the hope of liberty throughout Asia," Bush told a gathering that included prominent Indian Americans here on the occasion of the Asian American Heritage month. "I know you share my concerns about the situation in Tibet. I welcome the recent statements by the Chinese government expressing its willingness to meet with representatives of the Dalai Lama-precisely what I have suggested President Hu Jintao do. I think it's important that there be a renewed dialogue and that dialogue must be substantive so we can address the real way," Bush said. "In Burma, the brutal military regime continues to reject the clear will of the Burmese people to live under leaders of their own choosing.

So over the past eight months, my administration has tightened sanctions on the regime. We've imposed visa bans on the junta's generals and their families and their cronies, trying to send a clear message-and we hope the rest of the world follows as well," he said.

"Today, I've issued a new executive order that instructs the Treasury Department to freeze the assets of Burmese state-owned companies that are major sources of funds that prop up the junta. I'm sending yet another clear message, that we expect there to be change and we expect these generals to honour the will of the people," the president said. In his opening remarks Bush recalled the contributions of the Asian Americans stressing the vibrancy the community had brought in.

Mugabe to contest Zimbabwe election run-off

AFP, Harare

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe is ready to contest an election run-off after results showed he was beaten in the first round by the opposition leader, a senior official from his party said Friday. "The president accepts the result as announced and is offering himself for election in the pending presidential run-off," senior cabinet minister Emmerson Mnangagwa told a press conference in Harare. Official results released Friday by the electoral commission showed that Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai won 47.9 percent against 43.2 percent for the 84-year-old Mugabe in the first round on March 29.Meanwhile, Zimbabwe came under mounting pressure Saturday after the long-delayed result of a contentious presidential poll showed Morgan Tsvangirai trouncing Robert Mugabe but falling short of an absolute majority.

As Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) rejected the official result showing their leader winning 47.9 percent against Mugabe's 43.2 percent, world capitals called for a credible run-off and an halt to poll violence.

The European Commission spokeswoman underscored the need for "free and fair second round that is conducted in a proper manner."

"We are therefore calling for international observers from the moment this process starts," she told AFP.

Canadian Foreign Minister Maxime Bernier called the results of the March 29 presidential vote "contested," and said Tsvangirai had "a clear lead" over Mugabe, in power since 1980 when Zimbabwe gained independence from Britain.

Zimbabwe's electoral commission on Friday said in the absence of an absolute majority by Tsvangirai, there should be a run-off on a date yet to be announced.

In Washington, a State Department spokesman said the results had "rather serious credibility problems" and doubted a run-off would be free and fair.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said Mugabe had "clearly lost," adding: "His campaign of violence and intimidation over the last month must stop immediately."

US-based rights watchdog Human Rights Watch echoed the call.

"Since the elections, the ruling ZANU-PF party, the army and so-called war veterans have conducted a brutal state-sponsored campaign of violence, torture and intimidation against MDC activists and supporters," it said.

"The long delay in announcing the results of the presidential elections and the government's politically motivated arrests of more than 100 presiding election officers around the country raises serious questions about the official tally."

Twisters tear up parts of 4 US states; 8 killed in Arkansas

AFP, Damascus

Violent storms unleashed tornadoes, high winds and hail in four central states and killed eight people in Arkansas, including a teenager who died when a tree fell into her bedroom as she slept. The storms late Thursday and early Friday ripped off roofs and toppled train cars near Kansas City, Mo.; pelted parts of Oklahoma with hail; and knocked over tents at a popular open-air market in east Texas. Severe thunderstorms were moving into Kentucky and could make for a wet Kentucky Derby on Saturday. Greg Carbin, a meteorologist for the national Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla., said as many as 25 tornadoes may have cut through stretches of Oklahoma, Arkansas, eastern Kansas and western Missouri. Six of those killed were in two north-central Arkansas counties, Conway and Van Buren, that also saw fatalities from a devastating tornado Feb. 5. Gov. Mike Beebe declared those counties and five others disaster areas. "This year it just seems like we're getting pounded," Van Buren County Sheriff Scott Bradley said.

He said a man, a woman and a preschool-age child died when the storm hit their house just south of Bee Branch.

"There wasn't anything left," Bradley said. "It was demolished."

Another child who lived at the home had already left for school, escaping injury.

A father and two sons died in Conway County when a possible tornado hit their mobile home. A twister demolished a chicken farm in Center Springs, leaving thousands of dead birds on the ground.

Near the Oklahoma line in a working-class neighborhood of Siloam Springs, a 15-year-old girl died in the early morning when apparent straight-line winds toppled a tree into her family's mobile home. She and her 10-year-old brother were sleeping in bunk beds; the boy survived with minor injuries.

"She was on (the top bunk). He was on bottom. When it fell it just crushed her and pinned her on top of him," with a mattress between them, said Chad Tilghman, who lives across the street and helped pull the boy from the storm debris.

The seventh death was reported in Pulaski County, south of Little Rock.

More than a dozen injuries were reported, and about 350 homes were damaged or destroyed in several Arkansas counties.

Around the Van Buren County town of Damascus, deputies, firefighters and volunteers were going farm-to-farm to check on everyone.

Just north of town the wind knocked the roof off a new church that has yet to hold its first service. Members of a work crew ran inside the Southside Baptist Church after a neighbor warned them of the coming storm; they later exchanged soaked clothes for white choir robes.

Nearly 6,000 homes and businesses lost power in Arkansas, and about 40,000 lost power at the peak of the storms in the Kansas City area, where two small tornadoes touched down and several minor injuries were reported.

Kansas City Mayor Mark Funkhouser said 100 homes suffered significant damage in the city alone. Damage was also reported in the suburbs and in Lawrence, to the west. An 18-wheeler was blown over on Interstate 29 in Riverside, near five empty train cars that were toppled.

In northeast Kansas City, dozens of homes had chunks of their roofs missing, and trees were knocked from their roots and lying along the roads and in ditches. Police blocked off roads around the damaged neighborhoods Friday.

A twister ripped the roof off 74-year-old Ann Johnson's duplex in the suburb of Gladstone.

"The ceiling actually came down on top of her while she was in bed," said her daughter, Cindy Hopkins.

Johnson was able to roll out from under the collapsed debris but cut her foot on glass from a shattered window. A neighbor who heard her yells helped nurse the wound until paramedics arrived. Johnson, whose cut required seven stitches, remained at the hospital Friday afternoon.

World powers agree new offer to Iran in nuclear stand-off

AP, London

Six key world powers agreed Friday to make a new offer to Iran over its disputed nuclear programme, in a bid to ease the West's long-running stand-off with Tehran. "We have got agreement on an offer that will be made to the government of Iran," British Foreign Secretary David Miliband announced, after discussions with counterparts from China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States. In a brief statement, host Miliband explained that the powers had "reviewed and updated" an offer made to Iran in June 2006, but that the contents of the new proposal would only be disclosed to the Islamic republic. The six have been using a twin-track, carrot-and-stick approach of incentives mixed with sanctions.Miliband said: "We will be transmitting that offer, we won't be revealing details except to the government of Iran and we very much hope that they will recognise the seriousness and the severity with which we have approached this issue and that they will respond in a timely manner to the suggestions we are making."

The five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council plus Germany have been seeking to persuade Iran to rein in its nuclear work.

Western powers fear Tehran wants to use its nuclear programme to make atomic weapons but the Islamic republic insists the drive is peaceful and solely aimed at providing energy for a growing population.

Miliband said the proposal was designed to show Tehran "the benefits of cooperating with the international community," which had a "grave problem" over its nuclear ambitions.

"We are united in our belief that the threat posed by this enrichment programme to stability is very serious and it's one that we want to address directly.

"Iran says that it wants to play a constructive role. We believe that the rights that it seeks need to be accompanied by a clear set of responsibilities."

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner cast some light on the new elements.

"It was propositions which were not on the table," he told reporters.

"These are propositions that the group, that's to say the six, applying the United Nations resolutions, are offering in a very precise and very detailed way on the various chapters. That had never been done."

A senior US State Department official told reporters that the six powers "went through the refreshed paper" which updates the 2006 offer, but declined to say whether it contained new proposals.