The New Nation - Internet Edition

US soldier among 9 killed in Iraq violence

AP, Baghdad

At least 7 person including US soldier were killed in different incidents in Iraq.

The U.S. military says a U.S. soldier has been killed in a roadside bombing north of Baghdad.

A statement says two other soldiers were wounded in the blast in Salahuddin province. The identities of the soldiers have been withheld pending notification of relatives.

AFP adds: Six people, including two policemen, were killed and 16 were wounded on Monday in a suicide bombing targeting a US-backed militia north of Baghdad, police said.

The bomber rode a motorcycle laden with explosives into the compound of Saeed Jassem al-Mashadani who heads an "Awakening Council" in the town of Tarmiya, 40 kilometres (25 miles) north of the capital, a police official said.

Gaza blockade is human rights crime: Carter

AFP, London

Former US president Jimmy Carter on Sunday described Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip as "one of the greatest human rights crimes now existing on Earth."

In a speech at a literary festival in Hay-on-Wye, in Wales, the 83-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner said: "There is no reason to treat these people this way," referring to the blockade, in place since the Islamist Hamas movement seized Gaza in June 2007.

While president from 1977 to 1981, Carter was the architect of the landmark 1979 peace deal between Israel and Egypt, the first such treaty between the Jewish state and an Arab country. According to Carter, the failure of the European Union to support the Palestinian cause was "embarrassing."

He said European countries should be "encouraging the formation of a unity government," including Hamas and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's rival Fatah movement.

"They should be encouraging Hamas to have a ceasefire in Gaza alone, as a first step," he told the invited guests.

"They should be encouraging Israel and Hamas to reach an agreement in prisoner exchange and, as a second step, Israel should agree to a ceasefire in the West Bank, which is Palestinian territory."

Earlier this month, Carter held two meetings in Damascus with exiled Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal. Both the United States and the European Union regard Hamas as a terrorist group, despite its victory in the 2006 elections, and refuse to talk to the radical movement. Since then, both Palestinian and Israeli officials have tried to downplay the importance of the meetings.

Carter also said the United States had to begin holding direct talks with Iran over the Islamic Republic's controversial nuclear programme, which the West believes is aimed at developing a nuclear bomb, despite Tehran's denials.

"We need to talk to Iran now, and continue our discussions with Iran, to let Iran know the benefits, and the detrimental side, of continuing with their nuclear programme," he said.

China targets 'quake lake’ as flood fears grow

AFP, Mianzhu

Soldiers raced Monday to unblock a river that was dammed by landslides in China's deadly earthquake two weeks ago as flood prevention became a top priority in the disaster zone.

More than 86,000 people are dead or missing following the massive quake on May 12 that destroyed entire towns and villages across an area of mountainous Sichuan province the size of South Korea.

China has had to cope with thousands of aftershocks and a myriad of other potential disasters while trying to provide food, shelter and medical help for the millions of people left homeless. Underlining those dangers, an aftershock measuring 6.4 on the Richter scale shook Sichuan province on Sunday-the strongest since the original 8.0-magnitude tremor-killing at least six people and injuring hundreds. The aftershock also led to the collapse of a further 70,000 homes on top of the nearly six million destroyed two weeks ago. The US Geological Survey, using a different scale, put the quake magnitude at 5.8.

Meanwhile, a lake on the Jian river in devastated Beichuan county that was created by landslides continued to build, raising fears of major flooding downstream if it burst.

State television showed a team of 1,800 Chinese soldiers and police arriving early Monday at the river after a long hike through remote, mountainous terrain. A helicopter was also seen lifting a bulldozer into the area.

The soldiers carried dynamite and had orders to blast away the landslide rubble. Areas immediately downstream had already been evacuated.

With heavy rain forecast for the next three days, the swelling body of water is one of about 35 so-called "quake lakes" that have formed and could cause huge problems if they burst.

G8 ministers endorse greenhouse gas cuts by 2050

AP, Kobe

Environment chiefs from the world's top industrial countries pledged "strong political will" Monday toward cutting greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2050, declaring that developed nations should take the lead in battling global warming.

The statement by ministers from the Group of Eight nations, however, stopped short of pledging firm commitments for mid-century or a midterm goal for 2020, which many countries argue are crucial to saving the planet from environmental crisis provoked by rising temperatures.

Aimed at setting the stage for decisive action at the G8 summit in Toyako, Japan, in July, the joint communique also recognized rich nations' obligation to provide technology and financing to help developing countries fight global warming.

"The major outcome was on climate change: we strongly expressed the will to come to agreement at Toyako so we can halve emissions by 2050," said Japanese Environment Minister Ichiro Kamoshita. "Advanced nations should show leadership to reach this goal."

The statement cited the need for global gas emissions to peak within the next 10 to 20 years, and it called on developing countries with rapidly increasing greenhouse gas emissions to work to curb the rate of increase.

The ministers, however, made no mention of a scientific recommendation that rich countries make reductions of between 25 percent and 40 percent by 2020 to avoid the worst effects of warming. European nations, the U.N. climate chief and environmentalists had clamored in Kobe for progress toward such a reduction pledge by G8 countries, arguing that failure could endanger U.N.-led talks aimed at concluding a new climate change pact by the end of 2009.

"Without a mandatory midterm target for developing countries, it will be very difficult to get agreement" by that deadline, said Matthias Machnig, the delegate from Germany. Still, he conceded that ministers in Kobe had "made a step here today - a small one, but an important one."

BJP wins Karnataka poll

Reuters, Bangalore

The Hindu-nationalist Bhar-atiya Janata Party (BJP) won the state election in Karnataka on Sunday, extending a winning streak ahead of a national vote due by early 2009.

The BJP victory surprised many pollsters and analysts and was another blow for the centre-left Congress party, which leads the ruling coalition at the Centre.

The BJP won 110 of 224 seats, the state election commission said-its first outright win in one of India's four southern states. It caps a string of recent state wins.

Congress won only 80 seats, the final results showed, and conceded defeat.

Venkaiah Naidu, a senior BJP leader, said voters had tired of the Congress because of rising inflation, bomb attacks in Indian cities and debt problems faced by Indian farmers.

"I am very happy that we have come to power in the south. This will galvanise the party for the general elections," he told reporters in Bangalore, the state capital.

Myanmar aid effort stalls as French ship turns back

AFP, Yangon

Efforts to deliver life-saving aid to Myanmar's cyclone victims hit trouble Monday as France turned back a ship laden with supplies, citing its shock at the resistance of Yangon's military regime.

The military vessel carrying 1,000 tonnes of aid for the battered Irrawaddy Delta was instead sent to Thailand to be handed to the World Food Programme for distribution, the French defence and foreign ministries said in a statement.

The move was a further blow to the international community's attempts to help desperate survivors still short of food, water and shelter more than three weeks after Cyclone Nargis hit the country.

The French ship, the Mistral, had been poised to deliver enough aid to help 100,000 people. The ministries said they were "particularly shocked that the Myanmar authorities did not accept that 1,000 tonnes of humanitarian aidt could not be directly unloaded and distributed." "Nothingt can justify the victims of a catastrophe being denied the basic right to the necessary aid," the ministerial statement said late Sunday.

30 killed in Iran chemical plant fire

AFP, Tehran

At least 30 people were killed and 38 injured, many of them suffering severe burns, in a fire in a chemical plant in central Iran on Sunday, the state news agency IRNA said.

The fire in the cosmetics and detergent-producing plant near the town of Shazand was caused by a blast during welding work in a reservoir, IRNA said.

The accident happened at 4 pm (1130 GMT) in the plant near Shazand in the provice of Markazi, about 320 kilometres (200 miles) south of Tehran.

"Witnesses said a 60,000-litre chemical reservoir exploded," IRNA said, adding that all the equipment in the factory and its adjacent plant caught fire.

A local rescuer told IRNA that the injured were rushed to a nearby hospital and that 23 people had suffered 70 to 100 percent burns.

Markazi province is one of Iran's main industrial hubs. It is also home to one of Iran's key nuclear sites, a heavy water reactor which is under construction near the city of Arak.

No progress in talks with Israel: Abbas

AP, Ramallah

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said in comments published Sunday that nothing has been achieved in six months of peace talks with Israel and he fears a corruption probe of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will bog things down.

Although Abbas' pessimism regarding the U.S.-backed talks was not new, his statements to leaders of his Fatah movement Saturday night underlined the sense among both peoples that an agreement will not be obtainable by an end-2008 target. "Nothing has been achieved in the negotiations with Israel yet," Abbas said. His comments at a meeting of the Fatah Revolutionary Council were published Sunday in the Fatah-associated al-Ayyam daily and confirmed by meeting participants. The United States has been pushing for a final agreement before the end of President George W. Bush's term in January. Both sides have kept largely quiet about the talks, but neither has hinted at any serious progress and the situation remains unchanged on the ground: Israel continues to build in areas the Palestinians claim for a future state, and hasn't scaled back a network of roadblocks that it says are essential to its security but have hurt Palestinian economic recovery.

Hillary defiant heading into Democrats’ home stretch

AFP, Washington

Hillary Clinton was full of defiance as the former first lady and her Democratic White House rival Barack Obama began their final full week of a history-making selection epic.

In the run-up to next Sunday's Puerto Rico primary, and the climactic contests two days later in Montana and South Dakota, Clinton scorned the pundits who believe her struggle to wrench the nomination from Obama is doomed. "I am running because I still believe I can win on the merits," she argued in an article for Sunday's New York Daily News, insisting that she and not the Illinois senator could best go "toe to toe" with Republican John McCain. "I'm standing up for the deepest principles of our party and for an America that values the middle class and rewards hard work," the New York senator said, while also pledging Democratic unity for November's presidential election. Clinton again parried outrage over her invocation Friday of Robert Kennedy's assassination in June 1968 as justification for staying in the prolonged race. Obama was conciliatory Saturday, arguing that "we should put it behind us." Nearly six months since the costliest primary race in US history kicked off in Iowa in early January, Obama leads with 1,970 delegates to Clinton's 1,780, according to RearlClearPolitics.com.

Lebanon’s new president calls for unity as he starts in office

AFP, Beirut

Lebanon's new president Michel Sleiman prepared for his first full day in office Monday after hearing his appeal for unity in the violence-hit country endorsed on all sides by the international community.

"Let us unitet and work towards a solid reconciliation," the 59-year-old former army chief said after being sworn in following his election by parliament on Sunday. "We have paid dearly for our national unity. Let us preserve it hand-in-hand."

With his election hailed as the start of a new era , nations on different sides of the political divide seemed united in wishing Sleiman well in his mission. The celebrations came just days after a bitter political feud had threatened to plunge the nation into civil war. On Sunday, celebratory shots were fired into the air and fireworks lit up the sky as crowds of people, cheering and waving Lebanese flags, poured into streets across Lebanon. Welcoming Sleiman's election, US President George W. Bush said he looked forward to "an era of political reconciliation" in Lebanon. Washington has given staunch backing to the Sunni-led government in its 18-month standoff with the mainly Shiite Muslim Hezbollah-led opposition. On the other side of the political divide, Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad telephoned Sleiman to congratulate him and had promised that Damascus was "at Lebanon's side," according to a report on Lebananese television.

Lethal storms kill 8 in Iowa and Minnesota

AP, Des Moines

Powerful storms packing large hail, heavy rain and tornadoes made for a deadly Memorial Day weekend across the nation's midsection, killing at least seven people in Iowa and a 2-year-old child in Minneapolis.

Iowa Homeland Security administrator Dave Miller said seven people were killed Sunday by a tornado in northeast Iowa - five from Parkersburg, a town of about 1,000 some 80 miles northeast of Des Moines - and two from nearby New Hartford. At least 50 injuries were reported. "Occasionally we have a death but we have warning system. Seven deaths. It's been a long time since we've had those kinds of injuries and deaths reported," Miller said. Witnesses reported parts of Parkersburg - particularly the town's south side - were reduced to rubble, including most of the town's high school and homes. In the Des Moines area, there was heavy rain and lightning Sunday night with wind gusts of 70 mph.

Iowa Gov. Chet Culver issued a disaster proclamation for Black Hawk, Buchanan and Butler counties, a move that helps coordination between state and local authorities.

The storms came after three days of violent weather across the nation. Rural Oklahoma was battered Saturday and storms in Kansas a day earlier killed at least two people there.

Tim Halback, of the National Weather Service, in Romeoville, Ill., said the storms are the result of a massive warm system that had been centered over the southern and western great Plains several days ago.