The New Nation - Internet Edition

McCain, Obama plunge into 5-month general election

AP, Washington

Change is coming, that much Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama agree on as they plunge into a five-month campaign for the White House.

The primaries behind them, the presidential rivals were wasting no time drawing the battle line for a fall fight that will make history with the election of either the oldest first-term president in McCain or the first black leader in Obama. In speeches marking the start of the general election, both maneuvered for the advantage with voters sour on the status quo.

McCain, a four-term Arizona senator seeking to succeed a fellow Republican, uttered the word "change" more than 30 times as he tried to distance himself from President Bush and blister his Democratic rival. Obama uttered the phrase 19 times in a speech that claimed the Democratic presidential nomination.

"The wrong change looks not to the future but to the past for solutions that have failed us before and will surely fail us again," McCain, 71, said in suburban New Orleans. "I have a few years on my opponent, so I am surprised that a young man has bought into so many failed ideas."

In St. Paul, Minn., Obama, 46 and a first-term Illinois senator, ceded no ground on the reformer mantle and cast McCain as a continuation of the unpopular Bush's eight-year tenure.

"My differences with him are not personal; they are with the policies he has proposed in this campaign. Because while John McCain can legitimately tout moments of independence from his party in the past, such independence has not been the hallmark of his presidential campaign," Obama said.

The campaign is the first in half a century in which neither a sitting president nor a vice president is running for the highest office, and the first since 1960 in which a senator will assume the White House. A fragile economy and an ongoing Iraq war, as well as matters of age and race serve as a backdrop.

Both McCain and Obama were full of praise for defeated Democratic candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton as the two sought to make a play for her loyalist backers - women and working-class voters.

Clinton, the New York senator and former first lady, stopped short of dropping out of the race even though Obama had reached the requisite delegate count for the Democratic Party's nomination. Instead of conceding, Clinton said she would spend the next few days determining "how to move forward with the best interests of our country and our party guiding my way."

Behind the scenes, she maneuvered for the vice presidential spot on Obama's fall ticket, expressing a willingness in a conference call with her state's congressional delegation. "I am open to it" if it would help the party's prospects in November, Clinton replied, according to participants who spoke on condition of anonymity because the call was private. Obama's aides were noncommittal.

In the meantime, the party was swinging behind him.

Officials said Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland was ready to endorse him on Wednesday.

Additionally, party leaders readied a statement urging uncommitted superdelegates in Congress and among the ranks of governors to state their preference by Friday. Several officials said that while they wanted to unify the party quickly, they were also determined not to appear to push Clinton out of the race, particularly since she will be returning to the Senate once her presidential bid is over.

On Wednesday, both Obama and Clinton were addressing the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a pro-Israel lobbying group.

On the final night of the primary season, Clinton won South Dakota while Obama took Montana - and a slew of party superdelegates who declared their support to help him clinch the party nod. He did it, according to The Associated Press tally, based on primary elections, state Democratic caucuses and support from superdelegates. It took 2,118 delegates to clinch the nomination at the convention in Denver this summer, and Obama had 2,144 by the AP count.

In contrast to the 17-month Democratic primary, Republicans gave McCain the status of likely GOP nominee in March. Since then, McCain has laid the groundwork for the general election campaign by portraying Obama as lacking the experience and judgment needed to be commander in chief.

McCain spoke first and he accused his younger rival of voting "to deny funds to the soldiers who have done a brilliant and brave job" in Iraq. It was a reference to 2007 legislation to pay for the Iraq war, a measure Obama opposed, citing the lack of a timetable for withdrawing troops.

The Republican was taking his message - that he has a record of reform while his opponent simply has rhetoric - directly to the voters in morning appearances on network news programs from Louisiana, where he will campaign later Wednesday.

Obama addressed thousands of cheering backers in the same Minnesota arena where Republicans will hold their nominating convention in early September. He promised an aboveboard debate and seemed to suggest that the GOP simply engages in divisive politics.

Said Obama: "What you don't deserve is another election that's governed by fear, and innuendo, and division. What you won't hear from this campaign or this party is the kind of politics that uses religion as a wedge and patriotism as a bludgeon - that sees our opponents not as competitors to challenge, but enemies to demonize."

Taiwan president calls for freedom, democracy in China

AFP, Taipei

Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou Wednesday called on rival China to give freedom and democracy to its people, on the 19th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre.

"Since the June 4, 1989 incident, I have expressed my thoughts on the anniversary and attended events organised to remember the victims. What I do care about is whether people in China can enjoy a life of freedom and democracy," Ma said in a statement.

Ma said he hoped a free, democratic and wealthy China could "be a foundation for peaceful development in the cross-strait ties and create a win-win situation for Taiwan and the mainland."

Hundreds, if not thousands, of students and other pro-democracy protesters who had been demonstrating peacefully in Tiananmen Square in Beijing for weeks were shot dead by authorities on the night of June 3-4, 1989.

China's communist party has never offered a full account of the crackdown.

In the statement, Ma added that China's prompt and largely open rescue efforts after last month's devastating Sichuan earthquake showed "the mainland has made progress to some extent after three decades of reforms and openness."

The death toll from the May 12 quake, China's worst for a generation, rose to 69,122 on Wednesday, with another 17,991 missing.

Before Ma took office on May 20, he had been a harsh critic on the Tiananmen Square massacre, urging China to compensate the victims and their families.

Political observers say Ma has toned down his criticism this year as the two rivals are about to resume top-level dialogue that has been suspended for more than a decade.

The two sides are scheduled to meet in Beijing later this month to talk about proposals to launch weekend charter flights and allow more Chinese tourists to visit Taiwan, a step perceived as a thaw in cross-strait tensions.

Olmert talks tough on Iran’s nuclear programme

Reuters, Washington

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Tuesday Iran's nuclear program must be stopped by "all possible means" and Tehran must be made to see it would suffer devastating repercussions if it pursued atomic weapons.

The Israeli leader, under criminal investigation at home that could drive him from office, issued his strongest warning yet to Iran in a policy speech to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a pro-Israel lobbying group.

"The Iranian threat must be stopped by all possible means," said Olmert, who is expected to discuss the issue in talks with U.S. President George W. Bush on Wednesday.

"The international community has a duty and responsibility to clarify to Iran, through drastic measures, that the repercussions of their continued pursuit of nuclear weapons will be devastating," Olmert added. The United States accuses Iran of pursuing atomic weapons under cover of its civil nuclear program. Iran denies this and has said its nuclear program is to generate electricity. Israel is widely believed to have hundreds of nuclear warheads. Olmert said international and political sanctions on Iran, whose president has called for Israel's destruction, were "only an initial step."

In addition to measures agreed by the United Nations, he said, "sanctions should also be initiated by individual countries which have dealings with Iran."

Olmert, on what some Israeli political commentators have coined his "farewell visit" to the United States, pledged to pursue a "historic breakthrough" by the end of the year in peace talks with the Palestinians.

But he did not say in the speech whether he and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas could still meet Washington's target of a framework statehood deal before Bush leaves office in January.

12 rebels killed in India’s northeast

AFP, Guwahati

At least 12 separatist rebels were killed and one injured Wednesday in a shoot-out between rival groups in India's insurgency-hit northeastern state of Nagaland, police said.

The two armed factions of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) clashed near Dimapur, Nagaland's commercial hub, in a dispute over territory, local police chief Liremo Lotha told AFP.

"We are not in a position to say immediately which group the dead militants belong to," Lotha said, adding security personnel were combing through the area. The fratricidal war between the two factions-the NSCN-U and the NSCN-IM-has left at least 50 dead in the past three months.

Both groups are fighting for an independent Naga homeland, although the NSCN-IM is currently holding a ceasefire with government troops.

The insurgency in Nagaland has left more than 25,000 people dead since India's independence in 1947.

3 US soldiers killed in Iraq

AP, Baghdad

Three US soldiers were shot dead Wednesday in northern Iraq, and the decaying bodies of at least 23 Iraqis were discovered in a shallow grave and a sewer shaft at separate sites near the capital.

The Americans were killed when gunmen opened fire on them in the northern Iraqi village of Hawija, according to a brief military statement.

The area, once a hub for Sunni militants and disaffected allies of Saddam Hussein, is thought to have been pacified in recent months. Last year it hosted one of the largest sign-on ceremonies for tribal sheiks partnering with U.S. forces to fight al-Qaida in Iraq.

South of Baghdad, Iraqi villagers and soldiers unearthed at least 13 bodies from a shallow, dusty grave in farmland on the outskirts of Latifiyah, a mostly Sunni town that also has some Shiite residents.

The bodies were first discovered Tuesday, but digging continued a day later.

Associated Press Television News footage showed Iraqi troops and civilians clawing through dusty soil with shovels. At least three severely decomposed bodies could be seen in side-by-side graves.

The U.S. military could not confirm the discovery, but said its soldiers, acting on a tip from a local citizen, found at least 10 decomposed bodies Tuesday in the sewer shaft of a building in east Baghdad.

Those victims appeared to have died more than two years ago, said Lt. Col. Steve Stover, with the Army's 4th Infantry Division. Iraqi police have taken over the investigation, he said.

Saudi king holds talks with Iran ex-president

AFP, Mecca

King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia held talks with Iranian ex-president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani on the eve of a religious conference in the Muslim holy city of Mecca, official media said on Wednesday.

The two men had an "exchange of views" on the three-day international Muslim conference on dialogue with Christians and Jews which was to open on Wednesday at the initiative of the king, the Saudi Press Agency said.

Rafsanjani, who served as president from 1989-97 and stood unsuccessfully for a third term of office in 2005, is still a key figure in Iranian politics, heading both the Assembly of Experts charged with choosing the all-powerful supreme leader and the main political arbitration body, the Expediency Council.

Saudi Arabia and Iran respectively head the Sunni and Shiite branches of Islam which are both taking part in the conference.

The gathering which King Abdullah announced in March is widely seen as an attempt by the Saudi authorities to improve the image of Islam after the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States.

Talk of inter-faith dialogue marked a significant departure for the ultra-conservative Muslim kingdom which follows a strict Sunni version of Islam known as Wahhabism.

The king said his initiative had the support of the Saudi clergy.

Sea water inundates parts of Indonesia’s capital, say officials

AFP, Jakarta

Sea water inundated parts of Indonesia's capital overnight, flooding homes in the north of the city with up to 70 centimetres (2.3 feet) of water, officials said Wednesday.

However, the waters, which poured into homes despite reinforced defences, were less severe than authorities expected, a North Jakarta public works official who identified himself as Eko told AFP.

The World Bank last week warned that the peak of an 18-year astronomical tide cycle would combine with storm surges to flood swathes of the capital, as well as shutting off the toll road to the city's international airport. The airport road was untouched by the surging water and the early warning allowed the public works authority and residents to reinforce defences with makeshift sandbag and stone barriers, Eko said.

"We had been anticipating the high tides and warned people in flood-prone areas in North Jakarta to prepare for the floods caused by the high tides," Eko said.

The peak of the flooding hit between 9.00 pm (1400 GMT) and 11.00 pm Tuesday and was 2.06 metres higher than the standard sea level at Jakarta's Fish Market measuring station, public works official Fakhrurrazi said.

Despite gloomy warnings last week, the World Bank revised its forecast on Monday, saying that a reduced storm surge would mean defences in most of the city could contain the flooding.

Jakarta, a coastal city of over 12 million which is sinking under its own weight, frequently experiences flooding from higher than average tides. Sea water floods in May closed off the road to the airport.