The New Nation - Internet Edition

78 killed in heavy Sri Lanka fighting

AP, Colombo

A day of fierce clashes in Sri Lanka's embattled north has left 61 Tamil Tiger rebels and 17 soldiers dead, the military said Monday.

Government soldiers and the rebels fought several battles in northern Mannar district Sunday, killing 40 rebels and 10 soldiers while three other soldiers are reported missing, the military said in a statement. Twenty-one other rebels and seven soldiers were also killed Sunday in scattered fighting, mortar fire and mine blasts across Jaffna, Vavuniya and Welioya regions, the statement said. Rebels spokesman Rasiah Ilanthirayan was not immediately available for comment. However, a pro-rebel Web site reported that the rebels have stalled a military advance in Mannar, killing 26 soldiers and wounding more than 50. Three insurgents were also killed in the battle the Web site reported, quoting an unnamed rebel official.

It was not possible to obtain independent accounts of the fighting because reporters are not allowed in the war zone. The two sides often release conflicting reports of casualties - exaggerating damages caused to the enemy and lowering their own losses. Government forces have for the past several months tried to break into the rebels' well-guarded northern strongholds from four main fronts, promising to crush the insurgents and dismantle their de facto administration by the end of the year.

But military analysts have pointed out that the military's progress has been slower than expected and that the rebels retain much of their capacity to resist.

Tamil Tiger rebels have fought the government since 1983 to create an independent homeland for ethnic minority Tamils who have been marginalized by successive governments controlled by majority ethnic Sinhalese. More than 70,000 people have been killed in the violence.

Earlier, Sri Lanka mounted air and ground attacks against the Tamil Tigers across the island's embattled northern district at the weekend, killing at least 17 rebels, the defence ministry said Sunday.

Russian-built Mi-24 helicopter gunships backed troops advancing towards rebel-held areas in the Mannar area on Sunday, air force spokesman Wing Commander Andrew Wjesuriya said. On Saturday, ground troops killed 17 rebels in combat in the restive regions of Mannar, Vavuniya and Weli Oya, the ministry statement said, without giving any details about government casualties.

Suicide attack kills 13 in Pakistan

AFP, Peshawar

A suicide bombing in the northwestern Pakistani city of Mardan on Sunday killed at least 13 people and wounded many others, a government minister said.

The blast happened outside a bakery near a military base in the city, which has experienced several attacks blamed on pro-Taliban Islamist militants in recent months.

"At least 13 people are dead," said Bashir Bilour, senior minister for North West Frontier Province. "It could be an attempt to disrupt the peace talks or a reaction to Damadola," he added, referring to a recent missile strike by coalition forces based in Afghanistan on suspected Taliban militants in Pakistan's tribal belt. The bombing comes after recent headway in talks between the rebels and Pakistan's new coalition government, which took power in March after defeating allies of President Pervez Musharraf.

The negotiations have led to a relative lull in attacks after a wave of blasts across the country over the past year killed around 1,000 people.

Senior police official Tahir Khan said that 19 people were injured in Sunday's bombing, which he called a suicide attack. "We have found two legs and several human limbs and body parts from the blast site," he told AFP. "The victims include four army personnel.

"We believe the suicide bomber came on foot up to the front of the bakery."

Hospital doctor Muh Tasim Khan said six bodies had been brought to the hospital and about 20 people were injured, although the exact number was not known because there was a power cut at the clinic.

The scene of the blast is near the Punjab Regimental Centre in the city, a base for troops involved in operations against militants in Pakistan's northwestern tribal regions bordering Afghanistan. A car bomb ripped through a police station in Mardan on April 25, killing four people and wounding another 30.

Obama leads Hillary by 9 points in poll

AP, Washington

Illinois Sen. Barack Obama has a 9 point lead over rival Democratic presidential hopeful and New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, a Gallup poll indicates.

A survey taken Wednesday through Friday of 1,237 Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters indicates Obama leads rival Clinton 51 percent to 42 percent.

Gallup suggests the lead is in large part due to the media focus on exchanges between Obama and the presumptive Republican nominee and Arizona Sen. John McCain in recent speeches by the candidates.

This drew media attention away from Clinton, which Gallup says implies Obama will get the Democratic nomination. It is suggested in some news accounts, Gallup says, that Obama may declare victory after Tuesday's Kentucky and Oregon primaries.

Despite the results for Obama, the same poll of 4,385 registered voters of all parties indicates Clinton has a slight advantage, 47 percent to 45 percent, when pitted against McCain while McCain edges slightly ahead of Obama by a 3 percent margin.

The survey of Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters had a sampling error of 3 percentage points while the general survey quoted a 2 percent margin of error.

Another report adds: Presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain leads Democratic hopeful Barack Obama among rural voters in battleground states, a poll indicates.

The poll released Sunday by the Center for Rural Strategies indicates McCain leads Obama by nine points among likely voters in rural parts of 13 swing states.

Fifty percent of those surveyed said they favored McCain while 41 percent supported Obama, widely regarded as the likely Democratic nominee.

In a matchup between McCain and Democrat Hillary Clinton, likely rural voters split evenly, with 46 percent support for both candidates.

Myanmar agrees to ASEAN-led cyclone aid effort

AFP, Singapore

Myanmar agreed Monday to let Southeast Asian neighbours send medical teams and coordinate international aid for its cyclone victims, estimating damage from the disaster at over 10 billion US dollars.

"The foreign ministers have agreed to establish an ASEAN-led coordinating mechanism," George Yeo said after an emergency meeting with his Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) counterparts, including Myanmar's Nyan Win.

"For a start, the Myanmar government has agreed to accept the immediate despatch of medical teams from all the ASEAN countries," said a statement issued by Yeo after the half-day talks in a Singapore luxury hotel.

The 10-member ASEAN will work with the United Nations to hold an "international pledging conference" in Myanmar's main city, Yangon, on May 25 to pool together aid for the victims, the minister said.

Mideast peace possible by year end: Bush

AFP, Sharm El-Sheikh

US President George W. Bush has wrapped up a regional tour by insisting that peace in the Middle East was possible by the end of the year but that it required "tough sacrifices".

In a speech to an economic forum in Egypt on Sunday, Bush also again took aim at arch-foe Iran over its nuclear drive and criticised nations in the region over the lack of political freedom and human rights.

"I firmly believe that with leadership and courage, we can reach that peace agreement this yeart This is a demanding task, and it requires action on all sides," he said.

"Palestinians must fight terror and continue to build the institutions of a free and peaceful society. Israel must make tough sacrifices for peace and ease restrictions on Palestinians."

Malaysia’s PM in danger as Mahathir quits party

Reuters, Kuala Lumpur

Former premier Mahathir Mohamad quit Malaysia's main ruling party on Monday and urged others to follow suit in a move that could weaken its hold on power and unsettle financial markets.

The still influential Mahathir, who was prime minister and leader of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) for 22 years until 2003, said he would only return to UMNO after Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi quit as leader.

It was not immediately clear whether Mahathir, 82, would form a splinter party to fight UMNO, but analysts said the move was aimed more at jolting the party to act against Abdullah and to preserve his legacy.

"He has to fight to defend his legacy, he has to fight against UMNO's attempts to erode his credibility," said Tian Chua, a leader of the opposition Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) led by former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim.

Osama bin Laden urges Muslims to fight Gaza closure

Reuters, Dubai

Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has urged Muslims to break the Israeli-led blockade of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip and fight Arab governments that deal with the Jewish state, according to an audio recording.

"The duty to break this blockade falls upon our brothers in (Egypt) as they are the only ones that are on the border," bin Laden said in the recording posted on Islamist websites on Sunday.

"Each one of us is responsible for the deaths of our oppressed people in Gaza and dozens upon dozens have died due to this oppressive blockade," he said.

Hamas gunmen blasted open the Rafah border crossing to Egypt for several days early in the year until the Egyptian authorities, reviled by bin Laden for their relations with Israel, moved in troops in February and closed it again.

S Korea summons Japan envoy over disputed islands

AFP, Seoul

South Korea summoned Japan's ambassador Monday in a row over who owns a disputed set of islands that could damage efforts to rebuild a relationship untainted by bitter wartime memories.

Foreign Minister Yu Myung-Hwan delivered a message of warning and protest via ambassador Toshinori Shigeie after reports that Tokyo would describe the islets as "Japanese territory" in a revised school curriculum handbook.

The two tiny islands-known by the Japanese as Takeshima and as Dokdo by Koreans-are rugged, treeless and cover a total area of just 18.7 hectares (46 acres). Nevertheless, they have long been an irritant in ties between South Korea and former colonial master Japan, with both sides claiming sovereignty.

Conference opens in Dublin to ban cluster bombs

AFP, Dublin

Representatives from around 100 countries opened a 12-day conference Monday in a bid to agree a global ban on cluster bombs, one of the most lethal weapons facing civilians caught up in conflict.

The talks, at Dublin's Croke Park Gaelic sports stadium, are aiming for a wide-ranging pact that would completely wipe out the use, production and stockpiling of cluster bombs by its signatories.

"Governments have been talking about the dangers of cluster bombs for years," said Grethe Ostern, joint head of the Cluster Munitions Coalition (CMC) umbrella group, ahead of the conference opening.

"More delays mean more injuries and death for ordinary people. We have a unique opportunity to ban cluster bombs in Dublin. It is now or never."