The New Nation - Internet Edition

Bush, Chinese leader exchange warm greeting

AP, Beijing

Speaking on China's turf the very day it hosted the opening of the Olympic Games, President Bush on Friday prodded the communist country to lessen repression and "let people say what they think."

The president's challenge, issued as he dedicated a massive new U.S. embassy in Beijing, capped a volley of sharp exchanges between the two nations this week about China's human rights record.

But Bush also offered balance, praising China's contributions to society and embracing its relationship with the United States as strong, enduring and candid.

"We strongly believe societies which allow the free expression of ideas tend to be the most prosperous and the most peaceful," Bush said at the official opening of the $434 million U.S. embassy.

"Candor is most effective where nations have built a relationship of respect and trust," Bush said. "I've worked hard to build that respect and trust. I appreciate the Chinese leadership that have worked hard to build that respect and trust."

Bush said the vast American diplomatic complex - the second largest in the world, after the heavily fortified compound in Baghdad - is symbolic of China's importance to the United States.

"It reflects the solid foundation underpinning our relations," Bush said. "It is a commitment to strengthen that foundation for years to come."

Bush came to Beijing mainly to watch U.S. athletes compete and enjoy the spectacle of the summer games, but a round of political one-upmanship has heavily defined his trip to Asia. He bluntly criticized China's human rights record in a speech in Thailand, which prompted China to warn the U.S. president to stop meddling in its business.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang admonished Bush just before he got to China.

"We firmly oppose any words or acts that interfere in other countries internal affairs, using human rights and religion and other issues," he said. The spokesman added that "Chinese citizens have freedom of religion. These are indisputable facts."

The rhetorical barbs were expected to recede quickly as the games began. White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said she did not think they would overshadow Bush's trip at all. "We've had these back-and-forths with China for years," she said.

The White House says its cooperation with China on security and economic matters should not be overlooked.

Indeed, Bush and his wife were front-and-center with Chinese President Hu Jintao and his wife as they led more than 80 world leaders up red-carpeted stairs to a banquet hall in the Great Hall of the People where the group had lunch at huge round tables. The two leaders shook hands, exchanged warm greetings and posed for photographs.

Later Friday, Bush meets with members of the U.S. Olympic Team for a presidential pep talk. At night comes the elaborate opening ceremony.

The new American embassy in Beijing, situated on 10 acres in a new diplomatic zone, is wrapped in freestanding transparent and opaque glass.

Bush got a look at it on Friday as the pollution over the city cast a white haze in all directions.

The dedication followed China's unveiling of its own imposing new embassy in Washington last week. The 250,000-square-foot glass and limestone compound is the largest foreign embassy in the U.S. capital.

The president attended the dedication of the embassy with his father, former President George H.W. Bush, who in the 1970s served as chief of the U.S. liaison office during a critical period when the United States was renewing ties with China.

Also in attendance was Henry Kissinger, who was secretary of state during the Nixon presidency when the U.S. began a relationship with China.

The former president reminisced about his days in the city, then called Peking, when a young George W. Bush rode a bicycle around the city.

The current president said the last time he was in China he had the opportunity to break in a mountain biking course. He joked that he contemplated entering Olympic bike events, but that his wife, first lady Laura Bush, reminded him that "they don't give any medals for last place."

Bush's presence is a precedent. He will be the first U.S. president to ever attend an Olympics on foreign soil when he soaks up the splendor of the opening ceremony.

"I'm looking forward to cheering our athletes on," Bush said. "I'm not making any predictions about medal counts, but I can tell you the U.S. athletes are ready to come and compete, in the spirit of friendship."

The U.S. trip to China got off to a bumpy start when a charter airplane carrying the White House press corps was detained for nearly three hours Friday at Beijing's international airport not long after Bush arrived to attend the Games.

On Saturday, Bush meets with Olympic sponsors and watches women's basketball. He and family members will likely choose other events to attend.

On Sunday, he will attend a Protestant church and then speak to reporters about religious freedom, the same practice he followed during his last visit to China in 2005. He then plans to take in some men's and women's Olympic swimming.

Business takes over briefly Sunday afternoon. Bush will meet with Hu at his presidential compound, and then hold sessions with China's vice president and premier. Then its back to sports on Sunday night: the much-anticipated U.S.-China basketball game.

On Monday, the president will attend a practice baseball game between the U.S. and China. He is expected to add in other sporting events before flying back to Washington that day

Pakistani media calls for Musharraf to go quietly

Reuters, Islamabad

Pakistani newspapers implored President Pervez Musharraf to resign, rather than drag the country through more political upheaval, a day after the leaders of the civilian coalition declared plans to impeach him.

"For the sake of all of us, please maintain your dignity and go quietly," wrote the News, the English language flagship of the powerful Jang media group.

That's what they're hoping. But many editorials on Friday feared the former commando who seized power in a coup nine years ago will demonstrate his characteristic fighting spirit at the wrong time.

"President Pervez Musharraf is not among those people who will resign for the sake of the country or to protect his honour," said Nawa-i-Waqt a leading Urdu language daily.

"Had he wished to do that, he could have resigned immediately after the February 18 elections," it wrote, referring to polls that stripped Musharraf of parliamentary support and was widely interpreted as a referendum on his rule.

Pakistanis have mastered the art of predicting the unexpected in the course of a turbulent history that has seen the Muslim nation yo-yo between civilian and military rule in the 61 years since the country was formed out of the partition of India.

"Unless something out of the ordinary happens, President Pervez Musharraf's political fate has been sealed," the Dawn newspaper said.

Army commanders were meeting for a second day on Friday in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, close to Islamabad.

The generals' reaction to the prospect of their former chief being booted out will be critical to Pakistan's latest attempt to make democracy work.

The News summed up the situation with a front page headline: "Litmus test for army's neutrality".

Musharraf has powers to dissolve the hostile parliament.

But The Nation, a conservative daily, believed that won't happen because of Musharraf's own unpopularity, opposition from mainstream parties and their smaller allies, as well as from a robust lawyers movement and other sections of civil society.

"He can save the country a lot of trouble by resigning voluntarily," said the Nation, a Lahore-based newspaper that tends to reflect conservative views.

Pakistan's media turned decisively against Musharraf after he clamped down on reporting, particularly by television news channels, as his grip on power began to slide in 2007.

The Jang group became even stronger in its attacks after Musharraf blocked its Geo News channel from airing when he imposed emergency rule for a few weeks at the end of last year.

Tensions on boil in India’s Kashmir valley

AFP, Srinagar

India's Kashmir valley is facing shortages of food, fuel and medicine as the revolt-hit region is gripped by the worst Hindu-Muslim tensions in decades, locals say.

Angry protesters in Hindu-dominated Jammu in Indian Kashmir have been attacking trucks ferrying supplies to the Muslim-majority valley, seeking to impose an economic blockade and defying an army curfew.

Radical Hindu groups have told Muslims living in Jammu to leave and the latter's houses have been set ablaze.

Meanwhile in Srinagar, urban hub of a 19-year Islamic revolt against New Delhi's rule of the disputed Himalayan region, brick-hurling Muslims have been staging running battles with police and the city has been paralysed by strikes.

Some residents say they have never seen the region so divided.

"Even at the insurgency's peak we never faced such a grim situation. These religious riots are the worst I remember," said shopkeeper Manzoor Ahmed, 50.

"They've driven a wedge between Hindus and Muslims who were living as brothers."

The latest turmoil in which three Hindus have been killed in the past week erupted after the state government reneged on a plan to transfer land to a Hindu trust shrine.

The government backed down on the plan after days of riots by Muslim separatists who charged it was the start of "Hindu colonisation" left six dead and hundreds injured.

The Congress-led state government, which also rules at the national level, said it devised the plan to transfer land -- 100 acres (40 hectares) -- to the shrine trust as pilgrim numbers were rising and more shelters were needed.

But some analysts believe the move was politically motivated, aimed at winning Hindu votes ahead of state polls due in September or October.

"There was no need to transfer the land, the arrangements had worked well for years," said local columnist M. Ashraf.

The state government collapsed over the issue last month after its main ally withdrew support and the scenic region has been put under federal rule.

The row has given new life to the separatist movement and stoked divisions in Kashmir which was enjoying a lull in violence against the backdrop of India's peace process with Pakistan to settle the region's future.

"This is the most polarised situation I've seen in a generation," said Omar Abdullah, head of the Kashmir-based National Conference Party.

Georgian troops, warplanes, pound separatists

Reuters, Megvrekisi

Fighting raged around the capital of Georgia's breakaway South Ossetia on Friday as Georgian troops, backed by warplanes, pounded separatist forces in a bid to re-take control of the territory.

Russian news agency Interfax reported that Georgian troops had entered the besieged town of Tskhinvali after intense battles overnight.

But Georgia denied the Interfax report. Interior ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili said Georgian forces had not yet entered Tskhinvali, but were engaged in a battle with two convoys, carrying "mercenaries," which had entered South Ossetia from Russia and were trying to reach the town.

"We want to give time to the remaining civilians to leave (the town)," Utiashvili said. Asked if Georgian forces planned to enter the capital, he said: "If the need arises.

Georgian big guns shelled Tskhinvali, where government and separatists envoys had been due to meet for Russia-mediated peace talks later on Friday. Many houses were ablaze. Russian peacekeepers said three of their men were wounded and their headquarters damaged during shelling of the town, Interfax news agency reported.

In Tbilisi, Georgian Prime Minister Lado Gurgenidze said the military operation would continue until a "durable peace" had been reached.

Russia, main backer of the separatists who have controlled the region since a war in the early 1990s, accused Georgia of treachery and urged the world community to avert "massive bloodshed."

Israel considers military option for Iran nukes

AP, Jerusalem

Israel is building up its strike capabilities amid growing anxiety over Iran's nuclear ambitions and appears confident that a military attack would cripple Tehran's atomic program, even if it can't destroy it.

Such talk could be more threat than reality. However, Iran's refusal to accept Western conditions is worrying Israel as is the perception that Washington now prefers diplomacy over confrontation with Tehran.

The Jewish state has purchased 90 F-16I fighter planes that can carry enough fuel to reach Iran, and will receive 11 more by the end of next year. It has bought two new Dolphin submarines from Germany reportedly capable of firing nuclear-armed warheads - in addition to the three it already has. And this summer it carried out air maneuvers in the Mediterranean that touched off an international debate over whether they were a "dress rehearsal" for an imminent attack, a stern warning to Iran or a just a way to get allies to step up the pressure on Tehran to stop building nukes.

According to foreign media reports, Israeli intelligence is active inside Iranian territory. Israel's military censor, who can impose a range of legal sanctions against journalists operating in the country, does not permit publication of details of such information in news reports written from Israel.

The issue of Iran's nuclear program took on new urgency this week after U.S. officials rejected Tehran's response to an incentives package aimed at getting it to stop sensitive nuclear activity - setting the stage for a fourth round of international sanctions against the country.

Israel, itself an undeclared nuclear power, sees an atomic bomb in Iranian hands as a direct threat to its existence.

Israel believes Tehran will have enriched enough uranium for a nuclear bomb by next year or 2010 at the latest. The United States has trimmed its estimate that Iran is several years or as much as a decade away from being able to field a bomb, but has not been precise about a timetable. In general U.S. officials think Iran isn't as close to a bomb as Israel claims, but are concerned that Iran is working faster than anticipated to add centrifuges, the workhorses of uranium enrichment.

Military jury sentences Osama bin Laden driver just 5 ½ years to jail

AP, Guantanamo Bay Naval Base

A US military jury sentenced Osama bin Laden's driver Thursday to just 5 ½ years in prison, a surprise rebuke to Pentagon prosecutors who portrayed him as a member of the al-Qaida leader's inner circle worthy of a life sentence. Salim Hamdan, with credit for time served, will be eligible for release in less than five months, though U.S. authorities still insist they could hold him indefinitely without charge at Guantanamo.

The judge, Navy Capt. Keith Allred, called Hamdan a "small player," and the jury apparently agreed, rejecting the recommendation of 30 years by prosecutors who said even a life sentence would be fitting in order to send an example to would-be terrorists.

"I hope the day comes that you return to your wife and daughters and your country, and you're able to be a provider, a father and a husband in the best sense of all those terms," Allred told Hamdan at the close of the hearing.

The prisoner, dressed in a charcoal sports coat and white robe, responded: "God willing."

It was an anticlimactic finish to a case that had taken on a special prominence as the first Guantanamo war crimes trial. The Pentagon pushed forward with Hamdan's prosecution despite repeated legal challenges that went to the Supreme Court in a 2006 case that struck down the previous rules for the tribunals, prompting Congress and President Bush to craft new ones.

The split verdict on the charges and the relatively lenient sentence appeared to strip away the urgency of the government's plans to prosecute dozens of Guantanamo prisoners under special rules widely criticized as unfair.

The jury's sentence now goes for mandatory review to a Pentagon official who can shorten it but not extend it. It remains unclear what will happen to Hamdan once his sentence is served, since the U.S. military has said it won't release anyone who still represents a threat.

The decision was a "slap in the face" to the Bush administration and its detention policies, said David Remes, a Washington lawyer who represents 15 Yemeni prisoners at Guantanamo.

"They chose to make this a test case. But they never imagined that it would result in such a stunning rebuff," he said.

The chief defense counsel for the Guantanamo tribunals, Army Col. Steve David, said the government failed in its strategy to link Hamdan to the Sept. 11 attacks.

"The government attempted to inflame the emotions of the panel," he said. "It didn't work."