The New Nation - Internet Edition

White House race heats up as Democrats await Obama VP pick

AFP, Raleigh

The US presidential race gathered momentum Wednesday, with Barack Obama set to announce his running mate at any moment, ahead of his coronation as the Democrats' standard-bearer.

Obama will be crowned his party's presidential nominee in Denver, Colorado next week. Before then however, he is expected unveil his choice for vice president-a decision that for weeks has been cloaked in secrecy and swathed in high drama. The Illinois senator has been coy about names in the frame for his pick of vice president and his aides have put up a wall of silence, after promising to divulge the news to supporters first with a blitz of emails and text messages.

The New York Times-which predicted earlier this week that Obama's choice would be announced Wednesday-also reported that the White House hopeful has winnowed down his list of finalists to Virginia Governor Tim Kaine, Indiana Senator Evan Bayh and Delaware Senator Joseph Biden, who is a foreign-policy veteran.

Amid frenzied speculation about his selection heading into next week's Democratic nominating convention, Obama said Tuesday that he wanted a running mate who is not afraid to speak his mind.

"I want somebody who has integrity, who's in politics for the right reasons," Obama said Tuesday. "I want somebody who's independent, somebody who's able to tell me 'you know Mr. President, I think you're wrong on this and here's why'."

Above all, he said, "I want somebody who is capable of being president, who I trust." Despite suffering from a heavy cold, Obama was in fighting mood Tuesday at a rally in Raleigh, North Carolina-one staunchly Republican state that his campaign is fighting hard for.

"I'm a big believer in winning. I don't intend to lose this election. John McCain doesn't know what he's up against right now," the Democrat said, after facing criticism for not taking a tougher line against his Republican rival.

Prior to going to the Democratic convention, Obama was set to return Saturday to Springfield Illinois-the city where he launched his improbable White House quest-for a pre-convention tour of battleground states. Obama will speak at the Old State Capitol in Springfield, the hometown of venerated Civil War president Abraham Lincoln and the same site he began his bid way back in February 2007 -- and quite possibly will be accompanied by his vice presidential pick.

Meanwhile, next week's Democratic convention will proclaim party unity, although disaffected supporters of Obama's defeated rival Hillary Clinton plan to put on a show of protest, although Obama has said talk of Democratic division has been "hyped by the media."

He is set to deliver an nomination acceptance speech at a Denver sports arena Thursday that will be heard by a crowd of up to 80,000 supporters.

Meanwhile, the Republicans' convention, set for early September, comes after a long, hot summer of charge and counter-charge on the economy and national security.

A Los Angeles Time/Bloomberg survey had Obama on 45 percent and McCain on 43 percent-a statistical dead heat.

McCain, battling to carve an opening on the economy, flew to a Gulf of Mexico oil rig 220 kilometers (130 miles) off New Orleans to demand expanded offshore drilling.

"Senator Obama opposes new drilling, he said it won't solve our problem and that it's 'not real'-he is wrong and the American people know it," the Arizona senator said.

"The nation is sending 700 billion dollars every year overseas to (oil-exporting) countries that do not like us very much. When I am president that is going to stop," he said.

Sarkozy visits Kabul after French soldiers killed

AP, Kabul

French President Nicolas Sarkozy visited a military chapel in Kabul on Wednesday where the bodies of 10 French soldiers killed in battle lay before they were to be flown home.

Sarkozy spoke to French troops from units who lost some of the 10 soldiers killed in a fierce Taliban ambush and firefight in the mountains about 30 miles east of Kabul on Monday. He also visited some of the 21 soldiers wounded in the battle.

He told a group of soldiers some 200 strong that France must learn lessons from the attack and change its procedures.

"Even though the toll is so high, you should be proud of what you are doing. The work that you're doing here is indispensable," Sarkozy told the troops. "We're gong to make sure that the means are put in place to ensure that this doesn't happen again."

The French soldiers were on a reconnaissance mission when they were ambushed by a force of about 100 militants in the mountains of Surobi. France's top military official, Gen. Jean-Louis Georgelin, said most of the French casualties came in the minutes after the soldiers ascended a mountain pass.

French Defense Minister Herve Morin said about 30 militants were killed and 30 wounded. Taliban fighters and militants allied to renegade warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar operate in Surobi.

It was the deadliest attack on international troops in Afghanistan since June 2005, when 16 American soldiers were killed when their helicopter was shot down by a rocket-propelled grenade.

The French president boarded a plane for Afghanistan shortly after the news was announced, breaking away from his vacation in the south of France.

Sarkozy on Tuesday said his commitment to the 40-nation Afghan mission "remains intact."

Militants are showing greater lethality and determination to confront U.S. and NATO troops in their attempt to wrest back the control they lost nearly seven years ago.

Meanwhile, some 19 Taliban fighters were killed in two separate clashes Wednesday in the eastern provinces of Khost and Paktia.

Ten militants were killed in Alisher district of Khost province early Wednesday after they attacked a construction company, said provincial police chief Esmatullah Alizai. He said Afghan police and coalition troops responded, killing the militants.

Divisions emerge in Pakistan’s ruling coalition

AP, Islamabad

Just a day after Pervez Musharraf's resignation, Pakistan's governing coalition fell into wrangling Tuesday over restoring the judges he fired, exposing troublesome divisions that could disrupt picking his successor as president. Pakistanis have been urging the government to set aside political bickering and tackle extremist violence and economic downturn - challenges underscored Tuesday by a bombing outside a hospital and new battles between the army and militants.

But, as it has for months, the issue of judges revealed itself as a severe strain in the alliance between the two main parties that won February parliamentary elections after running against Musharraf. The one-time military ruler was believed to be in his army-guarded residence near the capital, Islamabad. Analysts speculated Musharraf wants guarantees against criminal prosecution or forced exile, but Law Minister Farooq Naek said "no deal" had been reached.

The U.S.-backed leader reluctantly ended his nine-year presidency Monday in the face of the ruling coalition's move to impeach him in Parliament.

With the constitution requiring the election of a new president by Parliament within 30 days, the governing parties must quickly agree on a replacement or risk a damaging power struggle.

But the sharp disagreement over how to reinstate Supreme Court justices removed by Musharraf last year raised questions about the coalition's stability.

Musharraf purged the court in an attempt to avoid legal challenges to his rule, but the maneuver only deepened his unpopularity, propelling his rivals to victory in the elections.

It also turned the judges into controversial political players.

Floods force thousands to flee homes in India, Nepal

Reuters, Guwahati

Floods triggered by heavy monsoon rains left some 50,000 people homeless in India's remote northeast, officials said on Wednesday, warning of more rains in one of the country's most flood-prone regions.

Floodwaters swamped some 100 villages in Assam state, destroying homes and croplands and forcing thousands of people to the safety of high grounds.

Officials set up temporary shelters for the homeless in school and government buildings, and used wooden boats to rescue those marooned. Many camped on highways under plastic sheets with what little they had salvaged of their belongings.

"Water levels of all rivers are rising and hundred villages have been completely submerged," said P. C. Deka, an official at the worst-hit Majuli, a riverine island in Assam's Jorhat district. "Around 50,000 people are badly affected so far."

The regional weather office warned of more showers in the next 24 hours in the region.

In neighboring Nepal, at least 20,000 people were displaced and sheltered in relief camps in the country's southeast after a river broke a dam and flooded six villages, an official said on Wednesday.

Local media reports said three people were killed but an official said he had no information about the deaths.

Television channels showed video clips of people wading waist-deep water to higher ground, carrying babies in their arms and balancing their belongings on their heads.

Nepal's new Maoist Prime Minister Prachanda is scheduled to tour the affected areas on Wednesday, official said. He has already announced $300,000 as immediate relief to the flood victims.

New Zealand has doubts on India nuclear deal

Reuters, New Delhi

New Zealand has doubts about a plan being discussed by the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) to give a green light to India's civilian nuclear deal with the United States, a minister was quoted on Wednesday as saying.

The United States has proposed to waive a ban on nuclear trade with India without conditions, like a compliance with a nuclear test ban or sanctions if India tested a nuclear device.

The plan is being discussed with the NSG this week in Vienna. Critics say that the NSG needs to have tighter controls over India, such as with nuclear tests.

"New Zealand has not arrived at a final position on this," New Zealand's Minister for Disarmament and Arms Control Phil Goff was quoted as telling the Times of India.

"But like a number of countries we do have reservations about aspects of the content of the draft exemption recently circulated to the NSG."

Diplomats see New Zealand being one of the most critical countries of the deal, along with Austria, Switzerland, Ireland and Norway.

Public declarations from officials involved in the NSG are rare and the statement from Goff signals that India and the United States may have a tough time in Vienna persuading the NSG, which arrives at decisions by consensus.

Approval by the NSG is necessary for the 2005 U.S.-India deal on nuclear trade to proceed to U.S. Congress for final ratification.

It would lift a 34-year embargo on nuclear trade for civilian purposes with the Asian atomic power, which has not signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty and has tested atomic bombs.

Diplomats have said that several NSG member states felt the draft fell behind earlier U.S. proposals, had unacceptable clauses and omissions, and went against existing U.S. laws on the deal.

Rice to sign missile defense deal with Poland

AP, Warsaw

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice plans Wednesday to sign a deal to build a U.S. missile defense base on Polish soil, an agreement that has already prompted an infuriated Russia to threaten its former Soviet satellite.

The deal to install 10 U.S. interceptor missiles just 115 miles from Russia's westernmost frontier also has strained relations between Moscow and the West, ties that already troubled by Russia's invasion of its former Soviet neighbor, U.S. ally Georgia, earlier this month.

Rice flew to Poland Tuesday after meeting with NATO foreign ministers in Brussels, Belgium, where the military allies agreed to suspend formal contacts with Russia as punishment for the Georgia conflict, but resisted U.S. pressure for more severe penalties.

The U.S. says the missile defense system is aimed at protecting the U.S. and Europe from future attacks from states like Iran. Moscow insists that it is a threat to Russia.

After Warsaw and Washington announced the agreement on the deal last week, top Russian Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn warned that Poland is risking attack, and possibly a nuclear one, by deploying the American missile defense system, Russia's Interfax news agency reported.

Poles have been shaken by the threats, but NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop dismissed them Tuesday as "pathetic rhetoric."

"It is unhelpful and it leads nowhere," he told reporters at the NATO meeting.

Pakistani military chief in Afghanistan

AFP, Kabul

Pakistan army chief General Ashfaq Kayani travelled to Kabul on Tuesday for talks with Afghan and NATO officials on cooperation against Islamic militants, a Pakistani military statement said.

The meeting of the so-called tripartite commission between Afghanistan, Pakistan and NATO came amid tensions over Islamabad's alleged failure to crack down on Taliban and Al-Qaeda rebels in its tribal border regions.

Ten French NATO soldiers were killed in a Taliban ambush near Kabul overnight.

Kayani met with US General David D. McKiernan, commander of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, and General Bismillah Khan, the Afghan army's chief of general staff.

"The meeting reviewed the security situation in areas along the Pak-Afghan border," the statement said.

"They showed satisfaction at the existing level of cooperation and reiterated their resolve and commitment to contribute towards peace and security in this volatile region," it added.

The meeting also came a day after the resignation of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, a key ally in the US-led "war on terror" who handed over the reins of the army to Kayani in November.

A security official said Kayani's visit to Kabul was "already planned" before Musharraf stepped down.

Kabul recently accused Pakistan's military-run intelligence service of masterminding the July bombing of the Indian embassy in the Afghan capital, in which around 60 people were killed.

Pakistan denied the accusations, which were also made by India.