The New Nation - Internet Edition

Survivors in cyclone-hit Myanmar face disease, starvation

AFP, Yangon

Emergency aid trickled into Myanmar where more than a million desperate cyclone survivors Thursday faced a grim battle against disease and starvation and a US diplomat said the death toll may top 100,000.

As pressure mounted on the reclusive junta to let in foreign aid agencies, haunted victims told how entire families were wiped out-and how their own survival often depended on the branch of a tree.

Aid is slowly arriving, but not quickly enough nor in sufficient quantities to really help people in the stricken Irrawaddy delta who saw their villages ripped apart by Cyclone Nargis.

Authorities in Yangon raised the official death toll to nearly 23,000 late Wednesday, with state media saying more than 42,000 others were missing. But a military official in the delta township of Labutta estimated 80,000 dead there alone, and many families told an AFP reporter who travelled to the area that most of their relatives had been killed.

"The storm came into our village," said a man in his 20s, "and a giant wave washed in, dragging everything into the sea. "Houses collapsed, buildings collapsed, and people were swept away. I only survived by hanging on to a big tree." He said his wife and two children both died.

"The waves were so strong, they ripped off all my clothes. I was left naked hanging in a tree," said another teenager who escaped.

Around 5,000 square kilometres (1,930 square miles) remain underwater, and more than a million people need emergency relief, a UN spokesman said. "The bottle-neck (in aid) is getting it out in the delta. That needs boats, helicopters, trucks," said Richard Horsey, a Bangkok-based spokesman with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Shari Villarosa, US charge d'affaires in Yangon, said there could be more than 100,000 dead in the Irrawaddy delta region where 95 percent of buildings were reported to have disappeared.

Food prices in Myanmar, already one of the most impoverished nations in the world, have soared since the storm. One bag of rice now costs 40,000 kyats (35 dollars) in the commercial hub Yangon, up from 25,000 before. Petrol on the black market, where most people obtain their fuel, has more than doubled to 11,000 kyats a gallon.

Frustrated aid agencies have said they are still being denied permission to enter Myanmar and use their experience and expertise to ensure the right aid gets to the neediest places as soon as possible.

"It should be a simple matter. It's not a matter of politics. It's a matter of a humanitarian crisis," US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said.

The military junta has promised that emergency foreign aid workers will be allowed in, but has yet to issue any visas.

Japanese, Chinese leaders pledge warmer ties

AP, Tokyo

Chinese President Hu Jintao, on a fence-mending visit to Japan, had breakfast with former Japanese prime ministers Thursday, but in a sign that not all bygones are forgotten one very important name was dropped from the guest list - Junichiro Koizumi.

Koizumi strained ties repeatedly with Beijing by visiting the Yasukuni Shrine, which many see as a symbol of Japan's militarist past, during his tenure in office from 2001-2006.

Hu also got a thumbs down from a right-leaning alumni association of Waseda University, where he was to speak later Thursday. In a statement signed by several dozen alumni, Hu was called "the chief executive of oppression over the right to ethnic self-determination and human rights of the Tibetans." The letter requested Hu's scheduled visit to the university, one of Japan's most prestigious, be called off.

Despite such bumps, Hu's five-day visit to Japan has been designed to stress good ties and cooperation between Asia's two giants. Hu arrived Tuesday, becoming the first Chinese president to visit Tokyo in 10 years.

On Wednesday, Hu and Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda met for a meticulously choreographed summit to fortify a rapprochement launched immediately after Koizumi left office in 2006 with relations at their lowest point since World War II.

The two pledged to work together on everything from climate change to North Korea and territorial disputes, and Fukuda hinted - without elaborating - that the neighbors were on the verge of settling a spat over maritime gas deposits.

They also announced Tokyo and Beijing would hold annual summits, a step to prevent a recurrence of the decade-long gap in visits to Japan by Chinese presidents since Jiang Zemin's rocky trip to Tokyo in 1998.

Heavy fighting claims 66 lives in Sri Lanka

AFP, Colombo

At least 64 Tamil Tiger rebels and two Sri Lankan soldiers have been killed in the latest battles in the island's north, according to the defence ministry on Thursday.

It said the two days of fighting on Tuesday and Wednesday occurred in the Vavuniya, Mannar and Weli Oya areas, from where government forces are trying to push into the guerrillas' northern mini-state.

There was no immediate comment from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

The latest casualties raise to 3,471 the number of LTTE cadres the defence ministry says have been killed since the start of the year. It has admitted losing 261 soldiers in the same period.

Information from the front line cannot be independently verified since Colombo prevents media and rights groups from visiting the embattled areas.

Earlier, Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels Wednesday claimed they had killed nine soldiers and repulsed an army advance in areas controlled by the guerrillas to the north of the island.

The pro-rebel, Tamilnet.com website reported that the army faced stiff resistance when it launched twin attacks to break through guerrilla-held areas in Mannar on Tuesday.

US urges Russia to back down in Georgia clash

Reuters, Washington

Russia should "back down" in the escalating fight with neighboring Georgia over the breakaway province of Abkhazia, White House national security adviser Stephen Hadley said on Wednesday.

"Obviously we're very concerned what Russia is doing in Georgia in a series of actions which we have labeled and said are provocative," Hadley told reporters during a briefing about U.S. President George W. Bush's upcoming Middle East trip.

"We think Russia needs to back down from those items," he said. Moscow sent more troops to the region and has been accused of shooting down an unarmed, unmanned aerial vehicle over Georgia. It has also boosted ties with separatist regions of the former Soviet Republic.

Georgia has tried to reassert control over Abkhazia and South Ossetia since they broke away in the early 1990s.

Russia has said its troop increases aimed to counter an attack planned by Georgia on Abkhazia and it denied downing the drone.

50 rebels killed in clashes, claims Burundi army

Reuters, Bujumbura

Burundi's army said on Thursday it had killed 50 fighters from the country's last active guerrilla group in renewed clashes outside the capital Bujumbura.

The attack comes barely a day after leaders of the Forces for National Liberation (FNL), an ethnic Hutu group, said they would return to the tiny coffee-growing country from exile to implement a long awaited peace deal. "The Forces for National Liberation ambushed our troops on patrol, the army then entered into heavy battle with the insurgents t two soldiers were also killed," army spokesman Colonel Adolphe Manirakiza said. He said four soldiers were wounded, 31 rebels captured and several weapons seized.

The rebel group blamed the army for the fighting.

"It is really regrettable, at the time we were ready to come back to Burundi to continue talks with the government, the army decided to intensify attacks against our positions," spokesman Pasteur Habimana said from Dar es Salaam.

"This proves that the government and its army have chosen the war option instead of peace talks," he added.

The Wednesday night battle in the FNL stronghold of Kabezi, 20 km (12 miles) south of Bujumbura, brings the death toll to 103 since renewed violence began in April.

The persistent insurgency is seen by many as the final barrier to lasting stability in the tiny central African nation of 8 million.

Pakistan tests nuclear-capable cruise missile

Reuters, Islamabad

Pakistan successfully tested a nuclear-capable, air-launched cruise missile with a range of 350 km (220 miles) on Thursday, the military said, a day after India tested a long-range missile.

The Hatf-VIII (Ra'ad) missile had been developed exclusively for launch from aircraft, a military statement said.

"It has enabled Pakistan to achieve a greater strategic stand-off capability on land and at sea," it said.

The indigenously developed missile also had special stealth capabilities and could deliver all types of warheads with great accuracy, the military said.

Roadside bomb kills 8 troops in Somalia

Reuters, Baidoa

A roadside bomb killed eight Somali government soldiers and wounded six others when it tore through a convoy in the central town of Baidoa on Wednesday, witnesses said.

Islamist insurgents from the al Shabaab militia who are battling the interim government and its Ethiopian military allies had vowed to retaliate after a U.S. air strike killed their leader last week.

Witness Abdiqadir Aden said the blast destroyed one military vehicle as the convoy drove into Baidoa from a nearby army camp.

40,000 displaced in Zimbabwe since polling

AFP, Johannesburg

Some 40,000 farmworkers and their families have been displaced as a result of violence and intimidation by pro-government militias since Zimbabwe's elections, a union leader said on Thursday.

"Since the elections we have recorded a total of 40,000 people who have been displaced," Gertrude Hambira, general secretary of the General Agriculture and Plantation Workers Union of Zimbabwe, told a press conference in Johannesburg.

"Our members and their families have been left homeless. They have been attacked by a group of militias wearing army uniforms. "They have been accused of voting for the opposition. Most of them are either on the roadside or sheltering at some farms."

Hillary refuses to bow out of White House race

AFP, Shepherdstown

Democrat Hillary Clinton Wednesday vowed she would not quit the party's bitter White House race, but faced mounting pressure to step aside in favor of a resurgent Barack Obama. "I am staying in this race until there is a nominee," Clinton told reporters in West Virginia, which holds its presidential primary next Tuesday. "I am going to work as hard as I can to become that nominee."

Clinton leapt straight back onto the campaign trail with a hastily arranged stop here, after being trounced by Obama in Tuesday's North Carolina primary and winning by only a hair's breadth in Indiana.

But some of the fire seemed to have seeped out of the New York senator, as she reeled off a toned-down version of her stump speech. Significantly, she did not once mention or attack her rival.

Medvedev announces longterm 'tandem’ with Putin

AFP, Moscow

Russia's new President Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday said he would work in "tandem" with Vladimir Putin, who was to be confirmed as the country's prime minister at an extraordinary session of parliament.

"I think no one has any doubt that our tandem, our cooperation, will only continue to strengthen," Medvedev told deputies of the lower house, the State Duma, which was set to confirm Putin as premier.

Putin as head of government will play a "key role" in shaping Russia's development through to 2020, said Medvedev, who replaced Putin in the Kremlin at an inauguration ceremony Wednesday.

Australian support for republic at new low: Poll

AFP, Sydney

The number of Australians who want to replace the monarchy with a republic has fallen to its lowest level in almost 15 years, according to a poll published Thursday.

Only 45 percent of Australians favoured scrapping the monarchy for a republic, although the figure rose sharply when respondents considered the prospect of Prince Charles taking the throne, according to the poll from Morgan Research.

Pollster Gary Morgan said support for a republic featuring a popularly-elected president was the lowest since former prime minister Paul Keating raised the issue of dumping Queen Elizabeth II in December 1993. Morgan said the number of respondents backing a republic had fallen six points since February 2005, even though Australians last November elected Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, who describes himself as a "life-long republican."

Berlusconi forms new Italian govt in 3rd stint as PM

AP, Rome

Conservative leader Silvio Berlusconi formed Italy's 62nd postwar government on Wednesday for his third stint as premier. The 71-year-old media mogul already served as premier for five years, a record in Italy's postwar history of revolving-door governments. There have been 61 governments since the end of World War II, and some premiers have been forced to quit after only months in power.

This time around, Berlusconi will lead a Cabinet facing the difficult tasks of kick-starting the sluggish economy, boosting productivity and cutting the privileges of a political class that is much maligned and largely discredited. Berlusconi formally received the mandate to form the government from President Giorgio Napolitano and the two talked at the presidential palace for about an hour.

The new government will be sworn in Thursday and then must undergo a vote of confidence in parliament, which is safely controlled by Berlusconi's conservative forces.

Most Labour supporters want Brown to quit: Poll

AFP, London

A majority of supporters of the governing Labour Party want Prime Minister Gordon Brown-in the job for barely a year-to step down, according to a poll for The Times newspaper out Wednesday.

The Populus poll suggested 55 percent of Labour voters think they would be more likely to beat the main opposition Conservatives at the next general election if Brown made way for a "younger, fresher, more charismatic alternative". Fewer than two-fifths (38 percent) disagreed. Voters in southeast and southwest England and Wales were the keenest for Brown to go (60 percent each) in what The Times called a "collapse of confidence" in the prime minister.

Brown, in office since last June, last week saw Labour slump to its worst local election results in 40 years, including the ouster of London mayor Ken Livingstone, as the Tories surged back in to town halls in England and Wales. He went into the elections suffering severe criticisms over his botched tax reforms, the government's recent economic record, a wave of industrial unrest and increasing doubts about his personality and ability to lead.