The New Nation - Internet Edition

Barak urges US to keep all options open against Iran

AFP, Jerusalem

Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak has urged his US counterpart Robert Gates to keep all options open in dealing with Iran's nuclear programme, his ministry said on Tuesday.

"A policy that consists of keeping all options on the table must be maintained," Barak told the US defence secretary during a meeting in Washington on Monday, the ministry said in a statement.

"Iran's plans pose a threat to regional and global stability. We insist that it is vital to continue tightening the economic and financial sanctions imposed on the Iranians."

Monday's meeting came amid a continuing diplomatic impasse with Iran over its nuclear drive and just days after Tehran announced that its uranium enrichment facility in Natanz has now expanded to 6,000 centrifuges.

It also came after the United States on July 19 took the unprecedented step of sending a top diplomat to meet Iran's chief negotiator at talks in Geneva aimed at resolving the standoff.

Washington also indicated it was considering sending diplomatic personnel to Tehran to open a US interests section there. Another report from Washington: The Bush administration should stop talking about a military attack as an option if negotiations do not immediately halt Iran's uranium reprocessing program, two former national security advisers said yesterday.

"Don't talk about 'do we bomb them now or later?'" said Brent Scowcroft, adviser to presidents Gerald R. Ford and George H.W. Bush, during a discussion at the Center for Strategic and International Studies on the negotiations between the United States and Iran.

Scowcroft added that by mentioning that threat, "we legitimize the use of force and may tempt the Israelis" to carry out such a mission.

He said he thinks that negotiations must continue and that sanctions have had an effect on Tehran, noting that even with elevated oil prices, Iran, alone among oil producers, is having a difficult time economically.

Zbigniew Brzezinski, adviser to President Jimmy Carter, described the Bush administration's policy of maintaining the option of military action as "counterproductive."

"I don't want the public to believe a preemptive attack can be justified," he said.

Repeating the possibility "convinces Iran it is being threatened .

. . and maybe it ought to have a [nuclear] weapon."

He added that a U.S. attack on Iran would be a "disaster," suggesting it could result in the US fighting "for at least two decades" on four fronts-Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Brzezinski said he fears that if negotiations break down between now and the end of the year, some in the Bush administration might believe "it justifies doing something."

Both former advisers said they think both Washington and Tehran are internally divided on how to proceed, making progress difficult before the next US president takes office.

But they said that President Bush's sending Undersecretary of State William J. Burns to the most recent negotiations with Iran was a positive step.

"It brings the US solidly in with the Europeans and the Russians," Scowcroft said.

Israeli-Syrian peace talks to resume under Turkish mediation

AFP, Jerusalem

Israel and Syria will begin another round of indirect Turkish-mediated peace talks on Tuesday amid hints of progress but also complaints that Damascus is still arming Israeli arch-enemy Hezbollah.

Two advisers to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert-Shalom Turjeman and Yoram Turbowitz-will travel to Turkey for what will be the fourth round of talks, an Israeli official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

"Israel's desire for peace is very serious," the official said. "That is why we expect that the process that has been begun will soon evolve into direct bilateral negotiations with a view to achieving significant results."

The talks started in May after an eight-year freeze, and the third round was held in early July.

Under the format of the talks, Israeli and Syrian officials do not see each other and Turkish diplomats shuttle between the two sides.

On Monday, Syria's ambassador to the United States called for an end to the "state of war" with Israel.

"We desire to recognise each other and end the state of war," Imad Mustafa told a gathering of activists in Washington allied with Israel's Peace Now movement.

"Here is then a grand thing on offer. Let us sit together, let us make peace, let us end once and for all the state of war."

However, he said that any peace agreement would depend on an Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights, which it occupied in war in 1967 and annexed in 1981 in a move not recognised by the international community.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said earlier this month that Damascus would establish "normal" relations with Israel, including the opening of embassies, if the Turkish-mediated negotiations lead to a peace deal.

The resumption of talks comes amid hints in the press that Damascus was adopting confidence-building measures but also a denunciation by Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak that Syria is continuing to arm Hezbollah.

Barak, who is in the United States for talks with senior officials on a range of Middle East issues, made the claim in a meeting with US Vice President Dick Cheney.

"To our great disappointment, we have observed over the past two years that the number of missiles held by Hezbollah has doubled, if not tripled, and their range expanded, all with the close and consistent help of Syria," he said.

It is two years since Israel launched a blistering war on Lebanon after Hezbollah guerrillas rcaptured two of its soldiers, but failed to stop the militia's ability to hit the Jewish state with rockets.

A UN Security Council resolution that brought an end to the war stipulated that weapons should only be in the hands of the Lebanese state and called for an end to supplying militias from abroad. Israel has consistently accused Syria of continuing to rearm Hezbollah.

Pakistani PM warns US against 'unilateral’ action

AFP, Washington

Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani held talks with US President George W. Bush here Monday and called on the United States not to act "unilaterally" against Islamic militants in Pakistan.

Gilani, whose new government has been facing intense US pressure to crack down on Pakistan-based militants, told reporters after his meeting with Bush at the White House that Pakistan was committed to fighting extremists.

"We are committed to fight against those extremists and terrorists who are destroying and making the world not safe," he said. "This is a war which is against Pakistan, and we'll fight for our own cause."

Speaking to CNN television just hours after seeing Bush, Gilani said the United States needs to be more patient and should not take unilateral actions against militants in Pakistan.

Asked by CNN about a suspected US missile strike on an Al-Qaeda leader in Pakistan on Monday, Gilani said he had told Bush that "unilaterally it should not be done."

"We must have more cooperation with each other and it's our job because we are fighting the war for ourselves," he said.

Gilani declined to directly accuse the United States of being behind the missile attack, which security officials in Pakistan said had targeted Egyptian militant Midhat Mursi al-Sayid Umar, Al-Qaeda's top expert on chemical and biological weapons.

But he said if it was proven to have been a US operation, it would be a violation of Pakistani sovereignty.

"Basically Americans are a little impatient. Therefore in the future I think we'll have more cooperation on the intelligence side and we'll do the job ourselves," he said.

Bush said he had received a "strong commitment" from Gilani that Pakistan would try "as best as possible" to prevent Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants from crossing from Pakistan into Afghanistan, where they attack US and NATO troops.

"We talked about the common threat we face, extremists who are very dangerous people," Bush said. "We also appreciate the prime minister's strong words against the extremists and terrorists who not only would do us harm, but have harmed people inside Pakistan.

Bush called Pakistan a "strong ally" and said the United States "supports the sovereignty of Pakistan."

"It's tense in that we're working together" to fight terrorism. "But I think that we are much more on the same page than some people would like to paint," said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino.

Perino declined to comment on the missile strike and neither Bush nor Gilani mentioned it while talking to reporters on the South Lawn of the White House.

Both the US-led military coalition and the separate NATO force in Afghanistan said they were not involved. However, the US Central Intelligence Agency is also known to operate missile-launching drones in the South Waziristan region where the attack took place.

Umar, also known as Abu Khabab al-Masri, had a five-million-dollar bounty on his head and allegedly ran terrorist training camps in Afghanistan. He is described by the website of the US Government Rewards for Justice program as an "explosives expert and poisons trainer working on behalf of Al-Qaeda."

The missile strike came amid mounting speculation the United States is prepared to launch military raids into Pakistan's troubled tribal belt in pursuit of extremists.

A joint statement issued following their talks said Bush and Gilani "acknowledged that terrorism and violent extremism pose a common threat to Pakistan, the United States, and the international community.

Three intelligence men killed in Pakistan

AFP, Peshawar

Pakistani Taliban militants shot dead three intelligence officials in the northwestern Swat Valley, undermining a peace treaty in the troubled former tourist region, officials said Tuesday.

The incident happened on Monday night near Mingora, the main town in Swat, where the Pakistan army launched a major offensive in October to clear the area of militants loyal to Maulana Fazlullah, a radical pro-Taliban cleric.

"The Taliban intercepted the officials near Mingora town and opened fire after they resisted the militants' attempt to kidnap them," a security official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

A spokesman for the militants in Swat, Haji Muslim Khan, said that the officials were shot dead after they refused to go with the Taliban.

"We had to react in this way in protest against physical torture of our people in the government custody," he told reporters by telephone from an undisclosed location.

The government signed a peace deal with the militants of Swat in May and agreed to gradually pull out troops and introduce an Islamic justice system. In exchange, the rebels said they would halt attacks and surrender their arms.

But violence has erupted again in Swat in recent weeks, adding to US concerns about Islamabad's efforts to negotiate with hardliners based near the Afghan border.

India, Pakistan trade fire in Kashmir

AP, Agar

Indian and Pakistani soldiers traded fire across the Kashmir border for more than 12 hours overnight and into Tuesday in what the Indian army called the worst violation yet of the nuclear-armed neighbors' cease-fire agreement.

The gun battle came after an Indian soldier and four Pakistanis were killed Monday in a deadly clash along the heavily armed frontier that divides Indian and Pakistani controlled Kashmir, the Indian army said.

No further casualties were reported Tuesday.

India and Pakistan have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir. However, the frontier has been largely quiet since the 2003 cease-fire agreement, which has formed the cornerstone of a peace process between the two countries.

"This is the biggest violation of the cease-fire in last five years," said Lt. Col. Anil Kumar Mathur, an army spokesman. "We've sought a meeting with Pakistani army to protest the violation of cease-fire," he said.

The Indian army said the fighting Monday began when Pakistani troops crossed the frontier and opened fire.

Pakistani police near the border said they had no information on the shooting and the Pakistani army could not immediately be reached for comment Tuesday.

While the border has been largely quiet in recent years there have been an increase of incidents in recent months.

Both sides have blamed the other for violating the cease-fire and New Delhi has accused Islamabad of helping Islamic rebels sneak into its part of Kashmir.

Nearly a dozen Islamic rebel groups have been fighting since 1989 for Kashmir's independence from India or its merger with Pakistan. More than 68,000 people, most of them civilians, have been killed in the conflict. India routinely accuses Pakistan of assisting the insurgents, a charge Islamabad denies.

Sri Lanka fighting kills 37

AFP, Colombo

Sri Lankan troops have killed at least 34 Tamil Tiger rebels and lost three of their own in the latest reported clashes in the island's north, the defence ministry said Tuesday.

Security forces fought with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the northern Wanni region where they have been trying to advance into rebel-held territory for weeks, the ministry said. It said an estimated 37 guerrillas were also wounded in the clashes on Monday while security forces suffered another 11 wounded.

However, the LTTE said they beat back an army offensive on Monday, killing five soldiers and injuring seven others. The rebels did not give their own casualties.

The rebels also accused the military of firing heavy artillery and rockets into areas under their control on Sunday and Monday, despite the LTTE offer of a 10-day truce in place ahead of a South Asian meeting that began here Sunday.

Monday's fighting raises the number of rebels killed by government troops since January to 5,366, while 471 soldiers have died in combat in the same period, according to a tally of defence ministry claims.

However, the ministry blocks access for journalists to visit frontlines, making it difficult to independently verify casualty numbers.

Meanwhile, foreign secretaries of SAARC member states opened their formal talks at a tightly-guarded conference venue here ahead of a two-day summit on August 2.

The meeting of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) will draw more than 1,000 delegates from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Smuggled chemicals let Afghans process opium: UN

AP, Kabul

Afghan drug lords are increasingly converting opium into heroin at home with outside technical help and chemicals smuggled from abroad, the U.N. said Monday, indicating greater sophistication for the country's already booming illegal drug trade.

Afghanistan produces more than 90 percent of the world's opium, a business that has grown rapidly since the U.S.-led invasion ousted the Taliban regime in 2001. Both officials in the American-backed government and Taliban militants are believed to profit from the illicit trade.

According to U.N. figures, Afghanistan last year yielded about 9,000 tons of opium, enough to make over 900 tons of heroin.

Increasingly, the conversion of opium resin into heroin is being done inside Afghanistan, mostly at laboratories in the border regions, especially in the insurgency-plagued south and the east, said Christina Oguz, country representative for the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime.

Countries on international narcotics smuggling routes, such as Iran, Pakistan and even Turkey, are also suspected locations for heroin production. But Oguz estimated that as much as 70 percent of the deadly drug was now processed in Afghanistan itself.

Evidence of higher quality Afghan heroin indicates that those running the labs also are getting assistance from outside "chemists" - "foreign consultants" of sorts - Oguz told reporters in Kabul.

She did not elaborate on where the expertise came from beyond saying it was from countries near the border, but said the chemicals needed to make the heroin were being smuggled from European countries including Russia, from China, South Korea and other parts of the world.

She urged the international community to share more information on known smugglers of the chemicals, many of whom were "long-established and based in neighboring countries."

"It's not correct to blame Afghanistan alone for the heroin problem in the world," Oguz said. "It's true that this country is producing the raw material for heroin, the opium. But it is not possible to make heroin without certain chemicals, and these chemicals are not produced inside Afghanistan, they are smuggled into the country."

Ten unexploded bombs found in western Indian city

Reuters, Ahmedabad

Police found ten unexploded bombs in the western Indian city of Surat, one of the world's biggest diamond-polishing centers, on Tuesday, three days after a series of bombs in the same state killed 45 people.

"We have defused seven bombs and (are) working on three more," senior police official H.P. Singh told Reuters.

He said the bombs were all found in one of Surat city's most crowded neighborhoods, but gave no details about the nature of the explosives or who could have placed them.

A series of 16 bombs ripped through the nearby city of Ahmedabad in the state of Gujarat on Saturday, a day after bombs killed one woman in the IT hub of Bangalore.

A group called the "Indian Mujahideen" said it carried out the Ahmedabad attack, writing in an e-mail sent five minutes before the first blast that it was in revenge for a 2002 massacre in Gujarat of around 2,500 people, mainly Muslims, by Hindu mobs. On Sunday, two unexploded car bombs were also found by police in Surat.

Meanwhile, India's prime minister vowed Monday his government would "defeat" those behind a weekend bombing wave in two major cities, as the country feared more attacks by a shadowy Islamist group.

Bombs ripped through 16 crowded places in Ahmedabad, the commercial hub of western Gujarat state, on Saturday, killing 49 people and injuring more than 160. The targets included markets, buses and hospitals treating the victims.

The Gujarat attacks, claimed by a little-known group calling itself the "Indian Mujahedeen," came the day after a string of bombs went off in the southern tech city of Bangalore, leaving one dead and eight injured.

"We will rise to the challenge and I am confident we will be able to defeat these forces," Singh told reporters after visiting a bombed hospital in Ahmedabad and meeting victims of the attacks.

He urged all political parties, the state and central governments, and security forces to cooperate in the hunt for those responsible.

South Korean PM visits disputed islets

AFP, Seoul

South Korea's prime minister made a historic visit Tuesday to a group of rocky islets controlled by Seoul but claimed also by Tokyo, as his administration sought to cement its hold over them.

Han Seung-Soo, accompanied by two other cabinet ministers, arrived at the rugged, treeless terrain midway between South Korea and Japan shortly before noon, officials at his office said. He is the highest-ranking South Korean official to visit the tiny islands, which came with Seoul feeling under mounting pressure in a territorial dispute that has flared up again with Tokyo's renewed claims.

Han met a police contingent and unveiled a monument inscribed with "Dokdo belongs to South Korean territory," his aides said.

The islands are called Dokdo by South Koreans and Takeshima in Japan.

Han told his cabinet before the trip that he wanted to "firmly make sure that Dokdo has historically belonged to South Korean territory," spokesman Song Ki-Jin said.

The previous highest-ranking official to visit was the communications minister in 2005.

Han called it "very regrettable" that the United States has re-categorised the islets, a move seen here as a diplomatic setback.

In Tokyo, Japanese foreign ministry spokesman Tomohiko Taniguchi said his government had "no official response" to Han's visit while linking it to a US federal body's decision on the islets.

15 fisherman die in Indonesia

AP, Jakarta

Authorities say 15 fisherman have died of suspected alcohol poisoning in Indonesia's eastern Papua province.

Hospital official Kasim said Monday that the dead men were among more than 90 people sickened after drinking alcohol in the port town of Merauke on Sunday night. He says all but one of the dead men were from Thailand.

Port authorities confirm the incident, saying police were investigating what caused so many people to fall sick.

They say several Thai fishing boats were anchored at the Merauke port over the weekend.

Senior al-Qaida figure reported killed in Pakistan

AP, Islamabad

Pakistan investigated reports Tuesday that a senior al-Qaida figure was among six people killed in a suspected U.S. missile strike amid anger that the attack had violated the Islamic nation's sovereignty.

Pakistan's army said it had not confirmed that Monday's strike killed al-Qaida operative Abu Khabab al-Masri, described by Washington as an expert who trained terrorists in the use of poisons and explosives.

But two Pakistani intelligence officials said they believed al-Masri had died and an American official in Washington expressed cautious optimism. The U.S. is offering a $5 million reward for information leading to his capture.

"There is a real sense that this guy is gone," the American official said. But he cautioned that there was no material evidence yet to confirm al-Masri's death, such as a photograph of the dead man at the bomb site.

The pre-dawn strike on a border village in the South Waziristan tribal region came hours before Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani met with President Bush at the White House.

There is increasing pressure from the West on the four-month-old Pakistan government to act against Taliban and al-Qaida strongholds in its frontier region with Afghanistan amid concern that peace deals have given militants more freedom to operate.

Iran will respond if US has new approach: Ahmadinejad

AFP, Washington

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in an interview aired on US television Monday that if the United States adopted a genuinely new approach to his country Tehran would respond in a positive way. "Today, we see new behavior shown by the United States and the officials of the United States. My question is, is such behavior rooted in a new approach?" the president told NBC in a rare interview with a US broadcaster.

"In other words, mutual respect, cooperation and justice? Or is this approach a continuation in the confrontation with the Iranian people, but in a new guise?" he said from Tehran, speaking through an interpreter. If US behavior represented a genuine change, "we will be facing a new situation and the response by the Iranian people will be a positive one," Ahmadinejad said in an excerpt of the interview, conducted in the presidential compound.

Ahmadinejad's comments, which will be aired in full later Monday, came after the United States took the unprecedented step of sending a top diplomat to meet Iran's chief negotiator at talks in Geneva over Tehran's disputed nuclear program.

Ahmadinejad announced Saturday that Iran had boosted the number of uranium-enriching centrifuges to 6,000, in an expansion of its nuclear drive that defies international calls for a freeze.

Iran faces three sets of UN Security Council sanctions over its refusal to halt uranium enrichment, which makes nuclear fuel as well as the fissile core of an atomic bomb.

Ahmadinejad reiterated in the interview that Tehran did not intend to build nuclear weapons, according to a partial transcript.

"We are not working to manufacture a bomb. We don't believe in a nuclear bomb," he said when asked if Iran sought to be a nuclear power.

History has shown that possessing nuclear weapons did not help other countries with their political goals, he added.

Zimbabwe power-sharing talks break off

AP, Johannesburg

Power-sharing talks between Zimbabwe's opposition and negotiators for President Robert Mugabe have broken off, officials said Monday. One said the talks stalled over Mugabe's insistence that he remain president.

Two officials said the chief negotiators for Mugabe - Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa and Social Welfare Minister Nicholas Goche - were flying home. They were expected to consult Mugabe about their mandate, one of the officials said.

Another official, in South Africa, said opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai had left the country and was driving to Pretoria, the South African capital where the talks were held, to consult with his negotiators.

The officials - all close to the power-sharing talks - insisted on anonymity because all parties agreed to a media blackout during the talks, which began Thursday.

Tsvangirai and his Movement for Democratic Change won most votes in the first round of elections in March, but Tsvangirai pulled out of a June runoff following months of escalating state-sponsored violence.

Mugabe ran alone and declared himself winner, but the election was widely discredited internationally as a sham.

The biggest obstacle to any agreement always was who would lead a new government.

Tsvangirai has said that an agreeable settlement must recognize only his victory in the March elections. Mugabe, who has survived years of attempts to oust him even by his own party, insists he should head any government.

Thailand says troop drawdown may take weeks

AFP, Bangkok

Thailand said Tuesday that it may be weeks before it can withdraw troops from a disputed border zone with Cambodia, after high-level talks which officials said had eased the military standoff. The foreign ministers of Thailand and Cambodia agreed at talks Monday to ask their governments to redeploy the thousands of troops stationed around a small patch of land near the 11th-century Preah Vihear temple. However, no firm steps were taken and a Thai foreign ministry official said the government in Bangkok may ask parliament for approval first, which could delay the process by several weeks.

"Both countries need to pass their domestic legitimacy processes," ministry spokesman Tharit Charunvat told AFP.

The Thai army commander responsible for the border area confirmed that any withdrawal could be delayed.

"The redeployment process takes time and it needs to pass a high-level process first," Major General Kanok Netrakasana told AFP.

Still, both countries agreed that the 12-hour talks in Cambodia's Siem Reap had served to defuse tension surrounding the border issue.

"The resolution from the meeting between Cambodia and Thailand will help relieve tension and improve the situation," army chief Anupong Paojinda said.

"Lowering the troops at the border, however, needs to receive an order from the government first," he told AFP by phone.

"The situation is now a little bit better than in past days. Soldiers keep their weapons in one place and are walking around," said Major General Srey Dik, commander of Cambodian forces in the disputed area.

Military offensive under way in Iraq’s Diyala

AP, Baghdad

US and Iraqi forces fanned out in the volatile Diyala province Tuesday in a new operation aimed at clearing al-Qaida in Iraq from safe havens in an area considered the last major insurgent belt around the capital. New checkpoints were erected across the province and authorities ordered a ban on unofficial traffic as search operations got under way in the provincial capital of Baqouba and surrounding areas, according to witnesses. Many residents said they were afraid to leave their houses.

The U.S.-backed Iraqi military is hoping to build on recent security gains from similar offensives against Sunni insurgents in the northern city of Mosul and Shiite militiamen in Baghdad, Basra and Amarah.

The troops were focusing on chasing al-Qaida and other insurgents who sought refuge in Diyala to escape earlier crackdowns, said Gen. Ali Ghaidan, the commander of Iraqi ground forces in the province.

The province, which sits to the north of the capital and borders Iran, has been one of the hardest areas to control since the U.S.-led war began in March 2003. Baqouba, the provincial capital, was hit by a twin suicide bombing that killed at least 28 people on July 15 and has seen a number of female suicide attacks.

"The goal of the operation is to seek out and destroy criminal elements and terrorist threats in Diyala and eliminate smuggling corridors in the surrounding area," the U.S. military said in a statement.

The military said it was an Iraqi-led operation, stressing the point as the Iraqi government seeks to assert more control over military operations.

Embattled Thai ministers stay in jobs for now

Reuters, Bangkok

Three Thai cabinet ministers facing a criminal lawsuit will stay in their jobs for now, pending advice from the government's legal experts, one of the ministers said on Tuesday. The Supreme Court agreed on Monday to hear accusations that former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his ministers infringed lottery laws in 2003. Among them are current Finance Minister Surapong Suebwonglee, Labor Minister Uraiwan Thienthong and Deputy Transport Minister Anurak Jureemas "The cabinet has instructed the Council of State to find a quick recommendation for these ministers," Anurak Jureemas told reporters after a cabinet meeting. The Council of State, the government's legal advisory body, could take two weeks to come up with a set of recommendations for the ministers, who can stay put and work on for now, its chief, Pornthip Jala, told reporters.

The ministers themselves argue there is no requirement under the constitution for them to step down.

Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej, in power for six months and close to Thaksin, has already lost two ministers after court verdicts this month.

A number of other cases are still to be heard, arising from the recommendations of an anti-graft committee set up under the army-controlled government formed after Thaksin was ousted in a coup in 2006.

In addition to the legal challenges, Samak's six-party coalition has been undermined by prolonged street protests.