The New Nation - Internet Edition

Soldiers patrol Mongolian capital amid state of emergency AFP, Ulan Bator Heavily armed soldiers patrolled the capital of Mongolia Wednesday after a state of emerg

Agency

At least 39 people were killed on Tuesday in fighting that erupted when Islamist insurgents attacked Somali, Ethiopian and African Union forces in the capital and central region, residents said.

The clashes, some of the most serious in months, came a week before a deadline for the implementation of a truce agreement signed by rival factions last month in Djibouti was due to expire.

Thirteen civilians were killed in three southern Mogadishu districts after more than two hours of clashes punctuated by machine-gun fire, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades.

A mortar landed in a house in K4 district, killing six family members, after fighting erupted when insurgents attacked AU forces and Somali forces camped in the area, Ahmed Ali Nur, a family member, said.

A woman and two children were killed in Bulohube district when a mortar crashed into their houses as another batch of rebels attacked an Ethiopian army base nearby.

Four children were killed in Waberi district in artillery duels between the Ethiopians and the rebels, bringing the Mogadishu toll to 13, several residents added.

In central Somalia, insurgents ambushed an Ethiopian army convoy travelling from Guguriel near the Ethiopian border to Mataban town, about 450 kilometres (280 miles) north of Mogadishu.

"I counted 18 bodies in and around Mataban town," said Hussein Moaliam Aden, an elder in Mataban, adding that he had seen the bodies of at least seven Ethiopian soldiers lying near the ambush site.

Mataban residents said a child was killed as the clashes spread into the town in Galgudud region, confirming that 26 people had been killed.

Residents reported that the fighting, in which both sides used armoured vehicles, was the heaviest in the region since Ethiopian forces entered Somalia in late 2006 to bolster the country's weak transitional government and route out the Islamic Courts Union (ICU).

The ICU had briefly controlled most of Somalia with relative peace and stability before the arrival of Ethiopian troops which triggered fiery chaos and war.

"Most of the dead are from the rival sides. We have never seen such a heavy fighting since the Ethiopian forces entered our country," local resident Feisal Mohamed said.

Sheikh Abdirahim Isse, a spokesman for the insurgents, confirmed the Mataban clashes and claimed the Ethiopians had suffered heavy losses.

"There was heavy fighting today and the Ethiopian forces suffered huge losses. Many of them were killed and their armed vehicles destroyed," Isse told AFP by phone from an unknown location.

The Ethiopian army, which rarely comments about such incidents, has pledged to pull out once the United Nations deploys a force to bolster an African Union force confined to Mogadishu.

According to several international rights groups and aid agencies, the fighting has left at least 6,000 civilians dead and displaced hundreds of thousands in the last 12 months alone.

On June 9, the Somali government and its political opposition signed agreements, including a ceasefire scheduled to enter into force within 30 days, but a radical wing of the fighters called Shebab has refused to recognise it.

29 killed in Sri Lanka fighting

AP, Colombo

New fighting between government forces and Tamil Tiger rebels along Sri Lanka's northern front lines killed 27 rebels and two soldiers, the military said Wednesday.

Fighting erupted Tuesday in the Vavuniya and Welioya regions bordering the rebels' de facto state in the north, the military said.

The fighting in Vavuniya killed 16 rebels and one soldier, while in the nearby Welioya region, 11 rebels and one soldier died, he said.

Rebel spokesman Rasiah Ilanthirayan could not immediately be reached for comment.

It was not possible to independently verify the military reports because journalists are banned from the northern jungles where much of the fighting takes place. Each side commonly exaggerates its enemy's casualties and downplays its own.

The government earlier vowed to crush the insurgents by the end of this year. However, the island's army chief, Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka, told reporters Monday that it may take another year to defeat the rebels.

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

Russian helicopter crash kills nine

Reuters, Moscow

Nine people were killed on Wednesday when a helicopter crashed in Russia's far north, Russia's Emergencies Ministry said. "The helicopter crashed as it was coming into land and nine people were killed," said a spokesman.

The MI-8 helicopter was being operated by Russian carrier UT-Air when the crash occurred in the Yamal-Nenetsk region, the spokesman said.

Helicopters are frequently used in remote areas of Russia to cover tough terrain.

(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge and Ekaterina Sukhareva, writing by Conor Sweeney).

Nepal's former crown prince in Singapore

AFP, Singapore

Nepal's former crown prince Paras has arrived in Singapore, a source said Wednesday, as speculation swirled that he was planning to abandon his homeland for good.

Paras, 36, boarded a Silk Air flight to the city-state on Tuesday, a senior airport security official in Nepal told AFP, after initial reports said he had taken a flight to Bangkok.

"What I heardt he already landed in Singapore," said the Singapore source, who asked not to be identified and could not immediately provide further details.

It was not clear where Paras was staying. A check by AFP of several luxury hotels in the city-state showed nobody registered under his name.

When asked by journalists as he entered Kathmandu airport if he planned to return, Paras smiled and made no comment.

One Nepalese newspaper reported on Monday that he was leaving for Singapore and would call for his family to join him after two weeks.

On Tuesday another publication, The Himalayan Times, said the ex-prince was headed to Singapore to find a school and home for his three children and wife, but that he would not be living in the city-state himself.

It said Paras was concerned for the safety of his family following the end of the 240-year-old monarchy in the Himalayan nation, and the withdrawal of all royal privileges.

Paras' father, King Gyanendra, became the last of the Shah dynasty on May 28 when a Maoist-dominated assembly elected the previous month decided to declare the country a republic.

Paras has been unpopular for years in Nepal where his fast-living reputation was not well viewed in the predominantly Hindu, conservative and impoverished nation.

McCain to tour Colombian drug interdiction efforts

AP, Cartagena

Republican John McCain planned to tour a Colombian port by boat Wednesday to get a firsthand look at the country's drug interdiction programs, a day after he praised President Alvaro Uribe for Colombia's anti-drug efforts but pressed him to improve the government's record on human rights.

The Republican presidential hopeful was on a three-day visit to Colombia and Mexico, where the eradication of illegal drugs topped the agenda. McCain was also promoting free trade deals like NAFTA he said would benefit the U.S. economy over time, even though such agreements have been deeply unpopular in several general election swing states like Ohio and Michigan.

The Arizona senator was also meeting with cabinet ministers and business leaders. He was scheduled to depart Wednesday afternoon for Mexico City.

McCain met with Uribe Tuesday night at the Colombian leader's seaside retreat here. The two talked for nearly two hours and addressed the country's problematic human rights record, McCain said.

"I've been a supporter of human rights for my entire life and career," McCain told reporters after the meeting. "We have discussed this issue with President Uribe and will continue to urge progress in that direction. I believe progress is being made and that more progress needs to be made."

Mideast leaders meet in Japan

AFP, Tokyo

Senior officials from Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority held talks Wednesday in Japan in a bid to lay the groundwork for peace by improving the Palestinian economy. Japan, which is seeking a greater role in the Middle East, hopes the talks will lead to a deal on its signature project in the region-starting an agro-industrial park in the West Bank in early 2009.

Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura pressed Israel during the talks to halt plans to build more Jewish settlements.

He called for progress on the "road map" to a peace deal creating a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as outlined in the November summit in Annapolis near Washington.

Environmental Protection Minister Gideon Ezra, heading the Israeli delegation, replied that the Jewish state "will continue to abide by the road map and continue to pursue negotiations with the Palestinian side," according to a memo released by Japan after the talks.

"Israel praises Japan's support to improve the lives of Palestinians and wants to cooperate as much as possible," he was quoted as saying.

The two also met together with Jordanian Foreign Minister Salah Bashir and Palestinian planning minister Samir Abdullah.

The talks aim to get off the ground a project first proposed by Japan in 2006 to build a complex near Jericho to export fruit and vegetables via Jordan to the Gulf.

Japan hopes construction can begin early next year and that it would provide badly needed jobs for up to 6,000 Palestinians, a Japanese foreign ministry official said.

But officials and experts have noted the complexity of starting the project as Israeli authorities control security, water resources and Jewish settlements in the region.

New process' underway in nuclear crisis: Iran

AFP, Tehran

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said a "new process" was underway in the five-year nuclear crisis with the West after the delivery of a proposal by world powers to Tehran, media reported on Wednesday. "A process is underway and it started with the package delivered by Iran," Mottaki said in an interview with US media in New York, according to the state-run IRNA news agency.

"This package presented tackled important questions and then on the other side the world powers offered their own package," he said.

Six world powers last month presented Iran with a proposal aimed at ending the crisis which offers technological incentives in exchange for Tehran suspending uranium enrichment, which the West fears could be used to make an atomic bomb.

Iran's own package is a more all-embracing effort to solve global problems and notably suggests the setting up of a consortium in Iran for enriching uranium.

According to IRNA, Mottaki was asked about the question of suspending uranium enrichment. But he did not give any direct comment on the subject.

Mottaki said talks with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, who presented the package in Tehran last month, were "respectful and a bit different from the past".

"We are studying it (the package) with a constructive regard," he said.

UN head to meet China president, premier

AP, Beijing

U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon said the United Nations wants to strengthen its partnership with a rising China, during visit to Beijing on Wednesday focused on global challenges such as food security and soaring energy prices.

In opening remarks to their meeting, Ban told Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi that China, one of five permanent members of the U.N. Security council, was regarded as a "strong partner" of the global body.

"The purpose of my visit here is to ask even more stronger partnership and more participation from your country," Ban said before reporters were ushered from the room. The secretary general was due to meet later in the day with Premier Wen Jiabao and president and Communist Party leader Hu Jintao. Yang thanked Ban for the U.N.'s assistance in responding to the earthquake in China's Sichuan province that killed almost 70,000 people and left five million homeless.

US helicopter shot down in Afghanistan

Agency

At least seven US soldiers have lost their lives in eastern Afghanistan after their aircraft were hit by enemy fire, US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said.

At least six were killed when their army helicopter was shot down and another died when a second helicopter was hit, although that aircraft managed to get away.

Ten US soldiers were also wounded in the shoot-down, which happened at about 2230 EST on Monday.

US President George W Bush "regretted" the loss of life, his spokesman told a news conference. But he felt that "there will be casualties on behalf of a very important cause, to protect our freedoms and to root out terrorism".

The helicopter that was shot down was a MH-47 special operations Chinook helicopter, thought to be carrying up to 24 troops, which was taking part in operations against suspected al-Qaeda and Taleban fighters in mountains south of Gardez in Paktia province.

S Korean workers strike, priests join protests against US beef

AFP, Seoul

A militant South Korean union grouping said more than 130,000 members would stage work stoppages from Wednesday against US beef imports, as religious leaders joined weeks of street protests.

President Lee Myung-Bak is struggling to end the rallies, which were sparked by fears of mad cow disease but are now increasingly driven by liberal opponents of his new conservative government. "We will stage an uncompromising struggle against the government, which ignores the people's right to health," the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions said in a statement. A KCTU spokesman said Wednesday's partial strike would draw some 136,000 workers including those at the country's largest automaker Hyundai Motor and 29,000 workers at its affiliate Kia Motors.

Myanmar politics roiled, but junta grip firm

AP, Bangkok

The cyclone that devastated Myanmar's heartland has also roiled a political landscape dominated by the military for more than four decades.

Buddhist monks are regrouping after the battering they took nine months ago, civil society groups are emerging and foreign aid workers - often agents of political change in the wake of humanitarian crises - are present in unprecedented numbers.

The junta's grip on power remains absolute. But anger against the regime has probably never run so high.

"Perhaps incremental change will emerge from engagement on humanitarian problems," said Joel Charny, vice president of U.S.-based Refugees International who visited Myanmar just before the cyclone struck. People were already incensed by the brutal suppression last September of anti-government demonstrators, including the country's revered, saffron-robed Buddhist monks.

Coalition chopper downed in Afghanistan

AP, Kabul

A helicopter from the U.S.-led forces was shot down south of the Afghan capital Wednesday, but the crew escaped without serious injury, the coalition said.

In the south, a suicide car bomber targeted a NATO patrol near the Pakistani border, wounding several Afghans, the alliance said. Small-arms fire downed the UH-60 Black Hawk in Kherwar district of Logar province. The pilots were able to land the aircraft and evacuate everyone on board before it caught fire, a statement said. Logar police chief Mohammed Mustafa Khan said reports from his officers in the remote district suggested Taliban militants shot down the helicopter with a rocket-propelled grenade. The coalition said another helicopter returned later and destroyed the wreckage with precision fire. Helicopter crashes have been among the deadliest incidents for international troops in Afghanistan.

Most recently, seven soldiers died when a Chinook helicopter was shot down during an air assault in the southern province of Helmand in May 2007.