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Russians dig in despite promised Georgia pullout

AP, Poti

Russian troops held their position in the key town of Gori and were digging in deeper in other strategic areas of Georgia on Friday, the day that Russia's president said a pullback would be complete.

In Igoeti, a major checkpoint on the road from the capital Tbilisi to Gori, Russian troops were allowing aid organizations and local traffic through on Friday. Red Cross vehicles, mine-clearing jeeps and trucks carrying peaches were seen heading into Gori early Friday. Russian military helicopters buzzed overhead as military trucks shuttled in and out of Gori past the checkpoint, where Russian flags were flapping in the wind.

Further west, near a base at the key Black Sea port of Poti, Russian troops were seen digging large trenches near a bridge that provides the only access to the city. Five trucks, several armored personnel carriers and a helicopter were parked nearby. Another Russian position was seen in a wooded area outside the city.

A top Russian general said earlier it could be 10 days before the bulk of the troops is gone, and the mixed signals from Moscow left Georgians guessing about Russia's intentions nearly a week after a cease-fire deal.

"The information I have is that if they're leaving it is at a snail's pace," said Gen. John Craddock, commander of U.S. European Command, as he ended a two-day assessment trip in Georgia. "It is far too little and far too slow."

Under the deal, Russian forces are to pull back to positions they held before intense fighting broke out Aug.7 in the Russian-backed Georgian separatist region of South Ossetia. Russia says it will keep troops in South Ossetia - where Russia had a peacekeeping contingent for more than a decade - and in a buffer zone in Georgia proper around the region's border.

Strains in relations between Russia and the West showed no improvement. NATO, Moscow's Cold War foe, said Russia had halted military cooperation with the alliance, underscoring the growing division in a Europe that had seemed destined for unity after the Soviet Union collapsed.

Western leaders remained adamant that Russia remove its troops and do it quickly.

President Bush told Georgia President Mikhail Saakashvili that the U.S. "expects Russia to abide by its agreement to withdraw forces," White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said. The Georgian leader called Bush on Thursday.

While refugees from the fighting crammed Georgian schools and office buildings, a scattering of people left in a half-empty village said they were badly in need of basics.

"There is no bread, there is no food, no medicine. People are dying," said Nina Meladze, 45, in the village of Nadarbazevi, outside the key crossroads city of Gori. She said she stayed because she could not leave elderly relatives behind while other villagers fled to the capital, Tbilisi.

She said the village has been virtually abandoned since the war broke out. "I cannot go on like this anymore, I cry every day," she said.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev promised earlier that his forces would pull back by Friday.

The commander of Russian land forces, Gen. Vladimir Boldyrev, said it would take about 10 days for troops not involved in manning the security zones to complete their withdrawal to Russia, moving "in columns in the established order."

That suggested Russian soldiers could still be holding territory in Georgia up to the end of August.

Russian troops are also allowed a presence on Georgian territory in a security zone along the border with Abkhazia, another separatist Georgian region, under a 1994 U.N.-approved agreement that ended a war there.

Around Poti - outside any security zone - signs seemed to point to a prolonged presence. Russian troops on Thursday excavated trenches, set up mortars and blocked a key bridge with armored personnel carriers and trucks. Other armored vehicles and trucks parked in a nearby forest.

Officials in Poti said the city had been looted by the Russians over the past week. Associated Press journalists saw Russian troops carry tables and chairs out on armored personnel carriers Thursday as residents protested.

Some Russian troops and military vehicles were on the move Thursday, including 21 tanks seen heading toward Russia from inside South Ossetia.

Split looms in Pakistani coalition govt: Presidential election on Sept 6

Reuters, Islamabad

Pakistan will hold a presidential election on Sept. 6 to vote in a replacement for Pervez Musharraf, who resigned this week, the Election Commission said on Friday.

Under Pakistan's constitution a new president is elected by members of the country's four provincial assemblies and the national parliament within 30 days of the post becoming vacant.

Meanwhile, Pakistan's governing coalition was due to hold make-or-break talks on Friday to save the alliance between the country's two main parties, as concern grew that squabbling was keeping them from tackling critical problems.

A day after militants carried out their most deadly strike against the military, killing at least 59 people in suicide blasts outside the country's main defence industry complex, there was no sign of a compromise on a dispute over the judiciary.

Investors and allies hoped the resignation of close U.S. friend Pervez Musharraf as president on Monday would end wrangling that has distracted attention from the nuclear-armed country's deteriorating economy and militant violence. But the party of assassinated former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and its old rival and main coalition partner, the party of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, have failed to agree on the restoration of judges Musharraf purged last year. Frustration with the deadlock is growing.

"It is truly tragic that Pakistan has fallen repeatedly into the hands of leaders unable to put their own interests on the backburner and place those of the country at the forefront," the News newspaper said in an editorial.

Pakistani stocks and the rupee strengthened when Musharraf stepped down but have since weakened as a showdown loomed over the judges. The rupee set a new low of between 76.90 and 77.10 in early trade on Friday while stocks were about 2 percent lower. Pakistan's stock market, which rose for six consecutive years to 2007, and was one of the best-performing markets in Asia in that period, has fallen about 29 percent this year.

Sharif's party threatens to quit the coalition unless a decision is taken on Friday to restore judges dismissed by Musharraf last year.

Sharif has already withdrawn his ministers from the cabinet over the dispute and the party's move to the opposition benches in parliament would not force an election, analysts say.

Israel FM plays down chances of peace deal this year

AFP, Jerusalem

Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni on Thursday played down US-backed hopes of a peace deal with the Palestinians this year, saying that a premature agreement could trigger new violence.

"There is some kind of expectation of doing something before the end of the year," she said in reference to statements made by all sides at a US-sponsored conference that revived the long-dormant peace process last November. "I believe that the timeline is important but what is more important is the content and the nature of the understanding that we can reach with the Palestinians," Livni said at a news conference with foreign journalists.

"I think any attempt to bridge gaps which might be premature to bridge or any attempt to reach something which is not the comprehensive agreement we want to reach can leadt to clashes, this can lead to misunderstandings, this can lead to violence," she said. "Until everything is agreed, nothing is agreed," said Livni, who heads the Israeli negotiating team in the peace talks and hopes to replace Prime Minister Ehud Olmert when he steps down after elections for the leadership of their centrist Kadima party in mid-September.

She also acknowledged that even if an agreement is reached, it might not be implemented as long as Hamas controls the Gaza Strip, where the Islamist movement seized control from forces loyal to Western-backed Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in June 2007.

"The question of how long it should be on the shelf depends not on our willingness but on the situation on the ground," said Livni.

She insisted that Hamas, blacklisted by the European Union and the United States as a terrorist organisation, cannot be included in negotiations.

"This is the reason we negotiate with pragmatic leaders even though they don't control anything in Gaza Strip, which is being controlled completely by Hamas. Even in the West Bank they are not strong enough," Livni said.

But she stressed that negotiations "with pragmatic leaders" were not enough in themselves. "We have to delegitimise Hamas."

"Nobody in the region can afford a terror state, a failed state," she said.

She insisted that any peace deal would not include the right of return of Palestinian refugees to Israel.

The United Nations says there are now 4.6 million registered refugees, including both those who fled or were forced out of Israel at its creation in 1948 and their descendants.

"When we are talking two states for two people, the idea is Israel is the homeland for the Jewish people and the Palestinian state is the homeland for the Palestinians," Livni said.

"Without this concept, there is no agreement," she said, adding: "This is one of the two basic pillarst the other of course is Israel's security."

Monsoon death toll tops 700 in India

AFP, Lucknow

More than 700 people have died in flooding and storms across India since the monsoon hit in June, officials said Friday after reporting 27 more dead in Uttar Pradesh.

India's most populated state has accounted for 660 deaths, relief commissioner G.K. Tandon told AFP in the local capital Lucknow.

The majority of victims died when their homes collapsed, while lightning claimed 75 lives in the northern state, he said. "The monsoon fury has affected 1.29 million people.

A total of 3,173 villages are affected while 674 villages have been totally marooned," Tandon said.

Northern Punjab saw 14 more deaths in August, with five of the state's 19 districts under water after incessant rain, officials said.

Another 40 people died in torrential downpours in southern India during the month, Press Trust of India (PTI) said.

Heavy rains had weakened levees and dam walls triggering more worries for flood control officials.

A 500-yard (metre) breach opened in Erapul Thodandh dam, western Uttar Pradesh, earlier this week, marooning two villages, officials said.

US, Iraq close to deal for pullout of US troops

AP, Baghdad

Iraq and the U.S. pushed close to a deal Thursday setting a course for American combat troops to pull out of major Iraqi cities by next June, with a broader withdrawal from the long and costly war by 2011.

Subject to final approval by the top Iraqi leadership, the exit date for U.S. troops would be December 2011, although the Americans insist on linking that target to additional security and political progress. President Bush has long resisted a timetable for pulling out, even under heavy pressure from a nation distressed by American deaths and discouraged by the length of the war that began in 2003. But that has softened in recent weeks.

The timing has major political importance in both Iraq and the United States.

The two contenders to replace Bush as commander in chief, Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama, spar almost daily over the future course of the war.

Obama wants all U.S. combat forces out of Iraq within 16 months of his taking office, saying they are needed more urgently in Afghanistan. McCain says recent security improvements in Iraq show that decisions on the timing of further pullouts should be determined by circumstances on the ground rather than by prearranged timetables - a position the White House has vigorously held until recently.

The administration has inched toward the Iraqi view that setting at least a target date for withdrawal would make it politically palatable for Iraq's government to accept a substantial U.S. troop presence beyond this year.

The rationale for the pullout is that Iraqi security forces will be ready to stand on their own, although it remains possible that some U.S. military training role would continue. In Iraq, provincial elections are supposed to be held later this year, followed by national balloting in 2009.

In one key part of the draft agreement, private U.S. contractors would be subject to Iraqi law, unlike at present, but the American side held firm in its insistence that U.S. troops would remain subject exclusively to U.S. legal jurisdiction, officials said.

Immunity remains the main point of contention between the two sides in finalizing the agreement. The Iraqis are reluctant to allow U.S. military contractors to have free rein when outside U.S. bases and without any Iraqi legal authority over them, according to a senior U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe delicate negotiations.

South Korea’s President calls for stronger military

AP, Seoul

South Korea's president said Friday his country needs a stronger military to cope with threats from abroad, amid rising tension with its nuclear-armed neighbor, North Korea.

Though President Lee Myung-bak did not mention North Korea by name, his comments followed the communist country's sharp criticism this week over annual militarty drills conducted by South Korea and the United States. North Korea threatened to strengthen its "war deterrent" - a euphemism for its nuclear programs - calling the training a rehearsal to attack the communist country, a claim Seoul and Washington have consistently denied.

"Only a strong military can deter outside aggression and protect the lives and safety of the people," the South Korean president said in a message to navy personnel, according to the presidential Blue House. "Only a strong military can create a rich and powerful country and contribute to world peace and prosperity."

Lee also said South Korea should bolster its naval power to "immediately repel" any threat and possible terrorist strike that could take place in South Korean waters. The message was delivered to sailors who returned home following their recent participation in multilateral naval training off Hawaii.

On Thursday, Lee visited and inspected two underground bunkers south of Seoul where top South Korean and U.S. military officers were commanding the annual computer-simulated training, called Ulchi Freedom Guardian.

"There should not be a war again in this country," Lee said in one of the bunkers, according to a separate Blue House statement. "But if war breaks out, (South Korea and the U.S.) should always have a readiness to end it by that night."

North Korea suspended key government-level talks with South Korea after the conservative Lee assumed office in February on a pledge to take a tougher line with Pyongyang than his liberal predecessor, who favored dialogue and economic cooperation.

Tensions spiked further after a North Korean soldier shot dead a South Korean tourist at a mountain resort last month, after she allegedly entered a restricted military area and ignored warnings to stop.

Thousands march as Kashmir land protests resume

Reuters, Srinagar

Thousands of Muslims marched in Srinagar on Friday, resuming protests over a land row with the region's Hindus that have galvanised a separatist revolt against New Delhi.

People walked and some rode motorcycles and jeeps to a sprawling ground in downtown Srinagar to attend an independence rally to be addressed by separatist leaders.

Policemen and soldiers dressed in battle gear patrolled the streets as marchers arrived from nearby towns and villages. A dispute over land for Hindu pilgrims visiting a shrine in Kashmir snowballed into full-scale protests this month, boosting separatists who want India's only Muslim-majority region to secede.

Police have killed at least 23 Muslim protesters and over 500 have been injured in clashes in two weeks of demonstrations. Protests were halted for three days, until Friday, to allow Kashmiris to stock up on rations. The protests were some of the biggest since a separatist revolt against Indian rule broke out in the region in 1989.

"We appeal to people to march to Eidgah (ground), to remember and pay homage to martyrs," a joint statement of Kashmiri separatists said. "And to protest Indian occupation and pray for Kashmir's secession."

Eidgah, a sprawling gro-und for mass Eid prayers, lies in downtown Srinagar adjacent to a "Martyrs Graveyard", a cemetery where militants and civilians are among those buried.

The row over whether some forest land should be given to a Hindu shrine trust has pitted Muslims in the Kashmir valley against Hindus in Jammu, the two main regions that make up Jammu and Kashmir.

The dispute began after the state government promised to give forest land to the Hindu trust that runs the cave shrine of Amarnath. Many Muslims were enraged, leading the state government to rescind its decision. That in turn angered Hindus in Jammu, where thousands have protested the revocation of the land order and criticised the government for "pandering to separatists".

At least 10 people have also been killed in nearly two months in Jammu, where Hindus attacked lorries carrying supplies to the Kashmir valley and often blocked the region's highway, the only surface link with the rest of India.

Kashmiri Muslims, challenging what they said was an economic blockade, then took to the streets to protest.

Protest boats leave Cyprus for Gaza

AP, Larnaca

Two boats carrying members of a U.S.-based activist group left Cyprus for Gaza early Friday to try and break Israel's blockade of the Palestinian territory.

The boats - the 70-foot Free Gaza and 60-foot Liberty - left the southern port of Larnaca about 10 a.m. for the estimated 30-hour trip.

Members of the Free Gaza protest group said some 40 activists from 14 countries - including an 81-year-old Catholic nun - will attempt to break the blockade Israel imposed on Gaza last year.

They hope other rights groups will follow their example.

"I've been nervous, but today I'm excited," said activist Lauren Booth, 41, sister-in-law of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. "It's not about our fear, it's about the people waiting in Gaza, you can't think about anything else."

Israel imposed the blockade after Hamas seized control of Gaza in June 2007, routing forces loyal to moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Gaza's 1.4 million Palestinians are already largely confined to their narrow strip of land by Israeli and Egyptian border closures. A trickle of people are still allowed to leave for medical care, jobs abroad and for the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia.

Israel and Hamas have observed a fragile truce since June.

The boats departed after last-minute engine repairs to the Liberty, passenger safety drills and a final inspection of the vessels' hulls by Cyprus Marine Police divers.

"It's such a victory to leave the harbor without being sabotaged," said Danish activist Adam Qvist, 22.

Obama gears up for VP announcement

AFP, Chicago

Democrat Barack Obama on Friday put the finishing touches to the unveiling of his choice of running mate after unleashing a fusillade of vitriol on White House rival John McCain.

The Republican came under attack after confessing to being in the dark about how many properties he owns, as the pair braced for the convention season.

Obama returned to his home in Chicago after a week-long tour of southern states, and was to stay huddled with top aides to roll out the closely guarded secret of who his vice presidential pick is. The Illinois senator told reporters traveling with him in Virginia Thursday: "I've made the selection and that's all you're going to get."

His shortlist reportedly includes Delaware Senator Joseph Biden, Indiana Senator Evan Bayh and Virginia Governor Tim Kaine. Supporters of Obama's former party rival Hillary Clinton are still pushing for her to be on the ticket.

The Democrat's choice of VP nominee will be unveiled at the latest at a campaign event Saturday in the town where Obama first launched his White House bid in February 2007 -- Springfield, Illinois.

Republican McCain also off the campaign trail Friday, finalizing his own VP pick days before next week's Democratic National Convention in Denver marks the formal start of hostilities for November's presidential election.

While both the candidates will be officially anointed by their parties over the next fortnight, they are already locked in a fierce political battle and Thursday saw some of the fiercest clashes yet.

Thai king world’s wealthiest royal: Forbes

AFP, New York

With a fortune estimated at 35 billion dollars, Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej is the world's richest royal sovereign, and oil-rich Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan of Abu Dhabi is far back at No. 2, Forbes magazine reported Thursday.

King Bhumibol, 80 and, at 62 years on the throne the world's longest-serving head of state, pushed to the top of the richest royals list by virtue a greater transparency surrounding his fortune, Forbes said.

It said that the Crown Property Bureau, which manages most of his family's wealth, "granted unprecedented access this year, revealing vast landholdings, including 3,493 acres in Bangkok." Forbes called it a good year for monarchies, investment-wise. "As a group, the world's 15 richest royals have increased their total wealth to 131 billion dollars, up from 95 billion last year," Forbes said on its website.

With oil prices soaring, the monarchs of the petro-kingdoms of the Middle East and Asia dominate the list.

Sheik Khalifa, 60, the current president of the United Arab Emirates, was estimated to be worth 23 billion dollars, on the back of Abu Dhabi's huge petroleum reserves.

In third was the sovereign of the world's biggest oil exporter, Saudi Arabia. King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, 84, who inherited the Al-Saud family throne in 2005, came in with a fortune of 21 billion dollars.

The previous king of kings, wealth-wise, 62 year old Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah of tiny, oil-endowed Brunei on the Southeast Asia island of Borneo, fell to fourth place with 20 billion dollars.

Japanese create stem cells from wisdom teeth

AFP, Tokyo

Japanese scientists said Friday they had derived stem cells from wisdom teeth, opening another way to study deadly diseases without the ethical controversy of using embryos.

Researchers at the government-backed National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology said they created stem cells of the type found in human embryos using the removed wisdom teeth of a 10-year-old girl. "This is significant in two ways," team leader Hajime Ogushi told AFP. "One is that we can avoid the ethical issues of stem cells because wisdom teeth are destined to be thrown away anyway.

"Also, we used teeth that had been extracted three years ago and had been preserved in a freezer. That means that it's easy for us to stock this source of stem cells."

The announcement follows the groundbreaking discovery by US and Japanese scientists last year that they could produce stem cells from skin, a finding that was hailed by the Vatican and US President George W. Bush.

Research involving embryonic stem cells-which can develop into various organs or nerves-is seen as having the potential to save lives by helping find cures for diseases such as cancer and diabetes.

But studies on embryos are strongly opposed by religious conservatives, who argue that such research destroys human life, albeit at its earliest stage of development.

In the new research, cells were extracted from the wisdom teeth and developed for about 35 days.

The researchers then tested them and found that they were stem cells, which can develop into various other kinds of human cells, Ogushi said.

As with last year's skin cell discovery, the Japanese researchers said it would take time to put the use of wisdom teeth into practical use.

Ogushi estimated it would take at least five years to put the method into clinical use such as trial treatments of congenital bone disease.

"Because extractions of wisdom teeth are commonly operated in dental clinics, we can expect a lot of donors of stem cells," he said.

"That enable us to create stem cells of various genetic codes, eliminating the risk that a body of a patient would reject transplanted tissues or organs," he added.

He was hopeful that the method would produce stem cells of various genetic codes-reducing the risk that patients' bodies would reject transplanted tissues or organs.

Theoretically, people who give up their wisdom teeth in their youth could use the stem cells later in life if they need treatment.

The research takes points from last year's skin cell breakthrough, which was a collaborative effort by researchers at Kyoto University and the University of Wisconsin at Madison.