The New Nation - Internet Edition

US marks Independence Day with fireworks, revelry

AP, New York

The nation's largest fireworks display exploded in a spectrum of color over the East River, temporarily stealing the spotlight from New York's world-famous skyline and helping to create a brilliant end to a day of July Fourth celebrations nationwide.

More than 3 million people had been expected to attend the New York display, though no crowd estimates were immediately given. It had been moved south along the river this year so onlookers could get a better view of the skyline.

Spectators thronged the riverfront in a light rain, some holding red, white and blue umbrellas.

Edwin Aleman staked out his viewing spot in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn hours before the show.

"These are million-dollar views," he told WNYW-TV. "This is what New York City is all about: the views, the skyline."

More than 35,000 shells sparkled, arched, spiked and fanned over the river during the half-hour show, launched from barges in two areas. It was televised on NBC to songs including "Give My Regards to Broadway," the "Tennessee Waltz" and, of course, "Yankee Doodle."

Organizers said this year's pyrotechnics included new nautical fireworks that floated on the water. Other new shells went through multiple transformations after they launched, providing four different effects.

It was such a large and potentially dangerous load of fireworks that the shipment got its own Fire Department escort from the moment it crossed the state line from New Jersey, officials said.

Near Cincinnati, a daredevil walked 2,000 feet across a cable suspended high off the ground in an amusement park. Rick Wallenda is the grandson of Karl Wallenda, patriarch of the "Flying Wallendas" high-wire act, who fell to his death trying to walk a cable in Puerto Rico in 1974.

Rick Wallenda, 53, completed the feat using a balancing pole and without a safety net or harness. "I think my granddad would be proud," Wallenda said moments after the walk.

On the 232nd anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, Boy Scouts in Hartford, Conn., rang a replica of the Liberty Bell, while organizers of the annual New York fireworks display promised the rockets' red glare would be better than ever.

Near Kissimmee, Fla., a wounded bald eagle, the national bird, was flying free after spending more than two months rehabilitating from a fight with another eagle. It was freed Thursday in Lake Tohopekaliga, the heart of Florida's eagle country.

In Boston, the 211-year-old USS Constitution, the Navy's oldest commissioned warship, was the backdrop Friday morning as two dozen people were sworn in as U.S. citizens.

Vice President Dick Cheney greeted the new Americans and later, in a second ceremony, administered the re-enlistment oath to a group of servicemen.

President Bush saluted new citizens at a naturalization ceremony in Charlottesville, Va., but was interrupted on several occasions by protesters calling for his impeachment.

In Fairmont, W.Va., gymnastics legend Mary Lou Retton was honored by her hometown with a parade and concert. She rode down streets in the cherry picker bucket of a fire truck, just as she did in 1984, when she was 16 and a new hometown hero.

A nearby wildfire prompted the cancellation of a fireworks display in Santa Barbara County, Calif. Communities across the parched state called off similar events because of fears that they could start fires.

Rain doused revelers on the National Mall in Washington ahead of Friday's celebrations. The musical bill included Huey Lewis and the News and Jerry Lee Lewis.

And it wouldn't be July Fourth without the annual hot-dog eating competition at Coney Island in New York. This year was another heartbreaker for longtime champion Takeru Kobayashi of Nagano, Japan.

He was trying to reclaim his title after a disappointing three-dog loss last year to Californian Joey Chestnut shattered his six-year winning streak. But it was not to be: Chestnut made it two wins in a row, beating Kobayashi in a tiebreaker.

Iran offers talks without nuclear freeze

AFP, Tehran

Iran is ready to negotiate with world powers on its nuclear programme but without suspending its controversial uranium enrichment work, a government spokesman said Saturday.

"Iran will not go back on its rights on the nuclear issue," Gholamhossein Elham said, in the first comments from Tehran since it handed over a response on Friday to an international bid to end the nuclear standoff.

"The will of the Iranian people is firm and will continue to follow the principles defined by the supreme guide (Ayatollah Ali Khamenei)," the spokesman said at a weekly news conference.

"Iran insists on negotiations (with world powers) while respecting its rights and avoiding any loss of international rights," he said, referring to Tehran's refusal to give up on nuclear enrichment.

Iran on Friday delivered its response to a package drawn up by six world powers offering Iran technology and negotiations if it suspends uranium enrichment, which the West fears could be used to make atomic weapons.

Elham said his country was prepared to hold talks "especially with the 5+1 Group" of the UN Security Council members plus Germany "on the common points in the Iranian package and the offer of the world powers."

Iran's top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili said his country had submitted a "constructive and creative" response with "a focus on common ground," but he did not elaborate on the contents.

Iran has also put forward its own more all-embracing offer aimed at solving world problems, including the nuclear issue, and has said there is common ground between the two packages.

There has been considerable speculation in recent days that Tehran was softening its tone on the nuclear standoff, although the international community has made negotiations conditional on enrichment suspension.

Diplomatic sources said EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana has not ruled out a period of pre-negotiations during which world powers would refrain from new sanctions provided Iran did not start operating any more centrifuges to enrich uranium.

An interview by Ali Akbar Velayati, foreign policy advisor to Khamenei, sparked hope in some quarters that Iran was on the verge of accepting the international proposal.

"Those who are agitating against our interests want us to reject the offer. As a consequence, it is in our interests to accept it," Velayati was quoted as saying in the hardline Jomhouri Eslami newspaper on Tuesday.

But the government spokesman, questioned on Velayati's statement, said Iran's position had not changed.

"People are free to express their personal point of view. But it is the government which has the responsibility and decidest in line with the principles defined by the supreme guide," Elham said.

Velayati himself has told state television that he was referring to negotiations rather than acceptance of the international offer.

Iraqi Shiites denounce security pact with US

AFF, Baghdad

Large crowds of Shiites on Friday denounced the security pact Baghdad is negotiating with Washington for a long-term US military presence in violence-wracked Iraq.

In Baghdad's Sadr City, the bastion of radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, Shiite men, women and children shouted anti-American slogans as they demonstrated against the security deal after the weekly Friday prayers.

"No, no to colonisation! Out, out you occupier!" the crowd shouted in the centre of Sadr City where fierce battles raged in March and April between Shiite militants and US forces in which hundreds of people were killed.

The fighting ended with a truce on May 10.

Washington and Baghdad are currently negotiating a security pact on the long-term foreign troop levels in Iraq.

Last November US President George W. Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki agreed to sign the pact by July 31 this year.

However the country's political factions have strongly opposed the agreement, saying it would put Iraq on the path of "slavery."

On Thursday Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari tried to dispel such fears by saying that the agreement would not compromise Iraqi sovereignty.

He said if the two countries failed to sign the deal then Iraq may have to ask for the renewal of the UN mandate which expires in December 2008 or sign a separate bilateral deal with Washington.

The UN mandate is the legal basis for the presence of US-led foreign forces in the country.

Friday's protests against the security agreement reverberated across all Shiite regions of Iraq.

In the central town of Kufa, protesters chanted anti-US and anti-Israel slogans.

"No to America! No to Israel! We reject signing the agreement with the occupation," shouted devotees.

In the city of Karbala, an aide of revered Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani urged Baghdadto refrain from signing a deal that would compromise national interests.

"If the government signs the deal it has to preserve the interests of the people, not compromise sovereignty and not permit Iraq to be used as a base for attacks on neighbouring countries," said Sheikh Abdul al-Mahdi al-Karbalae.

MP among 11 killed in Afghan violence

AFP, Kandahar

Unidentified gunmen shot dead a member of parliament in troubled southern Afghanistan while 10 Taliban were killed laying a landmine, Afghan officials told AFP Saturday.

Legislator Habibullah Jan was shot dead by unknown gunmen while driving in his troubled home district of Zharai in Kandahar province late Friday, district government Niaz Mohammad Sarhadi said.

The legislator, aged around 55, was ambushed soon after leaving the home of one of his wives, residents said.

Jan was also the head of Kandahar's prominent Alizai tribe and a former commander of the 1979-1989 anti-Soviet resistance.

The interior ministry said it was investigating who was behind the assassination.

A spokesman for the Taliban insurgent movement, which is active in Zharai and has carried out several targeted killings, said the movement was not involved in the shooting.

"This is not our work," spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi told AFP by telephone.

The Islamic militants have fought some major battles in Zharai with Afghan and Canadian troops deployed under a NATO-led mission in the past two years.

Jan was the 10th MP to be killed since Afghanistan's first democratically chosen parliament was elected in 2005.

In the worst incidents, six MPs were among nearly 100 killed in a suicide bomb explosion in the northern province of Baghlan in November last year.

Another lawmaker was killed when Taliban gunmen opened fire on President Hamid Karzai at a televised military parade in April. Karzai escaped the attack unhurt.

Afghanistan is wracked by an insurgency being waged by Taliban who swept into power in 1996 and were removed in a US-led invasion in late 2001 for not handing over Al-Qaeda leaders sheltering in the country.

The Islamic militants, said to be helped by Osama Bin Laden's Al-Qaeda terror network, have been targeting military forces, government officials and anyone linked to them, including aid workers.

Calm in Mongolia as emergency rule nears end

Reuters, Ulan Bator

Troops began pulling back from the streets of the Mongolian capital on Saturday and political leaders called for calm ahead of the lifting of emergency rule that was declared after rioting over alleged election fraud.

There was no sign of the tension that gripped the capital, Ulan Bator, just a few days ago, when stone-throwing mobs set the ruling party's headquarters on fire in a night of violence that killed five people and prompted the president to declare emergency rule for the first time in Mongolia's history. "The political parties do not want renewed violence," said Y. Otgonbayar, chairman of the ruling Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (MPRP). "The primary task at this moment is to keep people quiet and bring back normalcy."

Workers were shoveling charcoal debris out of the MPRP's headquarters and authorities had erected a fence around the soot-covered building that stands as a reminder of the riot on Tuesday that was a rare outpouring of political violence. But the security presence was light in Ulan Bator, with families enjoying the sunshine and tourists snapping photographs in the city's main square.

All parties were to hold more talks later on Saturday to discuss the impasse over last week's election, which has delayed the formation of a government and dampened hopes for action to tackle double-digit inflation and pass mining agreements.

The opposition Democratic Party was alleging fraud and pressing for re-counting and a possible re-vote in some constituencies, after preliminary results showed the MPRP won a clear majority in the 76-seat parliament, or Great Hural.

Protesters rally ahead of G8 summit

AFP, Sapporo

Thousands of activists and farmers from around the world gathered in northern Japan Saturday for a major protest ahead of next week's summit of the Group of Eight rich nations.

Security was tight for the rally, which brought together union activists, anti-war demonstrators, farmers and students in a park in Sapporo, the closest city to the lakeside resort of Toyako, where world leaders will meet from Monday.

Riot police wearing helmets and carrying shields patrolled the park, part of a 21,000-strong force deployed to ensure security for the summit.

Violent anti-globalisation rallies have marred past G8 summits-last year militant activists threw Molotov cocktails and stones during demonstrations in Germany that drew tens of thousands of protesters.

Japanese authorities were taking no chances, refusing entry to 19 South Koreans, with others still detained at airports.

One speaker from the Korean Federation of Trade Unions deplored the move. "We will not back down due to such suppression," he said, to audience applause.

But organisers of the Sapporo rally called for demonstrators to avoid violence and clashes with police.

"We should not violate laws or cause trouble to local residents," they said in a leaflet.

Ahead of the rally, around 100 farmers and fishermen waved banners and shouted slogans in the park, calling for the G8 to pay more attention to food producers.

25 killed in Syrian prison riot

AFP, Nicosia

At least 25 inmates were shot dead by Syrian security forces during a riot in a jail for political prisoners in the mountains outside Damascus on Saturday, according to a human rights group.

"Islamist prisoners started a riot inside the prison this morning," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said in a statement received in Nicosia, quoting a political prisoner in the jail contacted by mobile phone.

"Shooting is continuing against the prisoners," the London-based group said, adding that a number of inmates had climbed the roof of the military prison in Saydnaya, north of Damascus, to escape the violence.

36 killed in fresh Lankan fighting

AFP, Colombo

Sri Lankan troops shot dead another 35 Tamil Tiger rebels and lost one of their own soldiers in fresh fighting in the island's north, the defence ministry said Saturday.

Troops killed the 35 members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and wounded an equal number in the districts of Vavuniya, Mannar, Mullaitivu and Jaffna on Friday, the ministry said.

It said one government soldier was killed and four wounded.

There was no immediate word from the LTTE on the latest violence.

The defence ministry's claim takes the number of rebels reported killed by government troops since the beginning of the year to 4,736 against the loss of 425 soldiers.

India party backs government over nuclear deal

Reuters, New Delhi

A key regional party in India said on Saturday it backed the government over a controversial nuclear energy agreement with the United States, easing concerns the pact could trigger early elections.

"The deal is in the interest of the nation, we should have come out in support of the deal a year ago," Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Amar Singh told reporters in New Delhi.

Support from the SP is likely to help the Congress Party-led government secure a parliamentary majority if its communist parties carry out their threat to withdraw support in protest at the nuclear deal.

Poland rejects US missile shield offer

Reuters, Warsaw

Poland spurned as insufficient on Friday a U.S. offer to boost its air defenses in return for basing anti-missile interceptors on its soil but said it remained open to talks with Washington.

The decision by Poland, a staunch NATO ally, is a setback for the Bush administration drive to counter perceived threats from what Washington calls "rogue states," particularly Iran.

"We have not reached a satisfactory result on the issue of increasing the level of Polish security," Prime Minister Donald Tusk told a news conference after studying the latest U.S. proposal.

The aim of the negotiations, in my view, is to enhance the security of our country.

We still agree that it is fundamental for us to maintain our alignment with the United States, which has been, is and will continue to be our strategic ally." In Washington, the State Department said it was studying Tusk's remarks closely.

US Secretary of State 'proud’ of Iraq invasion

AFP, Washington

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Friday that she was "proud" of the US decision to invade Iraq and said the Middle East had improved since President George W. Bush took office. In an interview with Bloomberg television, Rice also cited progress in North Korea and China as evidence that the Bush administration, which has just seven months left in office, had made strides over the past eight years. "I am proud by the decision of this administration to overthrow Saddam Hussein. I am proud of the liberation of 20 million Iraqis," Rice said in the interview taped earlier in the week. "Iraq has been very tough. Tougher than any of us had dreamed. We can never replace the people who have been lost. We can never do anything to soothe the pain of the family and friends that they have left behind, but we are seeing a change in Iraq for the better," she said.

Musharraf defies resignation calls

Reuters, Karachi

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf hit back at calls for his resignation on Friday, saying he was needed to help political parties avoid an economic meltdown and tackle a militant threat gripping the country. "We cannot address the problems of terrorism and extremism and the economic crisis if there is no political stability," Musharraf told businessmen in Karachi in his first public address since his allies lost an election last February. The key U.S. ally in the war on terrorism lost parliamentary support, but the Bush administration has voiced support for Musharraf, who came to power as a general in a coup in 1999. During a visit to Pakistan earlier this week, Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher urged parties to focus on these challenges rather than be drawn into a fight to drive Musharraf from office. Asif Ali Zardari, widower of assassinated two time prime minister Benazir Bhutto, led the Pakistan People's party (PPP) to victory in the polls.

The PPP formed a coalition with three other parties including the runner up led by Nawaz Sharif, the prime minister Musharraf overthrew.

Recognise me as President or no talks: Mugabe

AFP, Harare

A defiant Robert Mugabe ruled out the prospect of talks with his opponents on ending Zimbabwe's political crisis Friday unless they acknowledged his victory in a one-man presidential election.

Speaking to thousands of supporters after flying home from an African Union summit, Mugabe said opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai should not "delude" himself into thinking the result of the June 27 poll could be expunged from the record books and should renounce his claims to the presidency. "I am the president of the republic of Zimbabwe and that is the reality," he said at Harare airport where some 4,000 supporters had gathered to welcome him back from the AU summit in Egypt. "Everybody has to accept that if they want to dialogue. "If they agree on that, and we are satisfied, then we shall go into dialogue and listen to them by way of ideas (but) those votes can never be thrown away."

Twin fires raging along California's central coast

AP, Big Sur

A pair of out-of-control wildfires roared along California's central coast Friday, chewing through opposite ends of a parched forest and threatening a total of more than 4,500 homes.

While flames from the stubborn fire in the northern flank of the Los Padres National Forest inched closer to Big Sur's historic vacation retreats, firefighters farther south braced for the return of evening winds that a day earlier caused a wildfire in Santa Barbara County to double in size and race dangerously close to hundreds of homes. Residents of more than 5,000 homes in and around the city of Goleta were ordered to evacuate, joining about 1,700 people who were told to leave Big Sur days earlier. Driven by wind gusts as high as 40 mph, the Santa Barbara County fire was so fierce early Friday that firefighters at one point took shelter in one of about 70 homes that crews were trying to defend, said Capt. Eli Iskow of the county fire department. "The fire is expanding and presenting some very complex challenges because of the terrain and the fact that it hasn't burned in over 50 years," Iskow said. "And it's close to all the valuables like homes and people."