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Suspected US missile kills 12 in Pakistan: 100 militants killed near Afghan border

AFP, Khar

Pakistani troops backed by tanks and fighter jets Thursday killed as many as 100 militants in a restive northwestern tribal area near the Afghan border, officials said.

Pakistani forces have for weeks been targeting militant positions in Bajaur tribal region in a major operation that has seen more than 600 killed-most of them militants-and more than 260,000 people displaced. "We launched strikes against militant hideouts in Bajaur and destroyed several compounds they were using," a security official, who asked not to be identified, told AFP. "According to the latest information from the area, between 80 and 100 militants were killed," he said, noting that the figure was based on intelligence intercepts of militant communications. The official said the strikes were launched after the rebels ambushed a security patrol near the town of Inayat Kili. A market used by the militants for cover was entirely destroyed.

Earlier, a security official told AFP that an office of the outlawed terrorist outfit Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) had also been destroyed. On Wednesday, Pakistani troops killed 22 militants in Bajaur. Elsewhere in Bajaur, Taliban militants shot dead three pro-government tribesmen accusing of spying for the authorities, a local official said.

The bodies of the tribesmen, aged 30-40 years old, were found early Thursday morning near a road in the Tally area, the official told AFP.

Meanwhile, A missile fired by a suspected US drone Friday killed a dozen people in a Pakistani tribal area where American forces based in Afghanistan have been targeting Al-Qaeda militants. The missile hit a house on the outskirts of Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan, a local official said, in the fifth such strike in two weeks targeting Taliban or Al-Qaeda fighters hiding out in the rugged tribal area.

"The pre-dawn strike destroyed the house and 12 people were killed," the official told AFP, with another 10 people wounded.

The 12 were believed to be rebel fighters, locals said, adding that the house hit in the Tol Khel area had been rented by an Afghan militant organisation, Al Badar, and was being used as an office.

Al Badar, backed by former guerrilla leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, has previously conducted operations against Afghan and international forces based across the border in Afghanistan, residents and a security official said.

Missile strikes targeting militants in Pakistan in recent weeks have been blamed on US-led coalition forces or CIA drones based in Afghanistan. Pakistan does not have missile-equipped drones.

Pakistan and the United States have been drawn into a dispute over the strikes, with Pakistan army chief General Ashfaq Kayani this week strongly criticising them and insisting no deal existed to allow foreign troops to conduct them.

As well as the missile strikes, Pakistan for the first time accused Afghanistan-based troops of carrying out a direct attack on its territory, a raid in the South Waziristan tribal zone that left 15 people dead.

US and Afghan officials say Pakistan's tribal areas are a safe haven for Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants who sneaked into the rugged region after the fall of the Taliban regime in late 2001.

Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, are widely believed to be hiding in the mountainous region.

A separate strike in North Waziristan on Monday targeted but failed to hit top Taliban commander Jalaluddin Haqqani, but did kill four mid-level Al-Qaeda operatives, a security official and a militant source said.

With tens of thousands of US and other international troops locked down in Afghanistan, US Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Admiral Michael Mullen said Wednesday he had ordered a new strategy covering both sides of the border with Pakistan.

The New York Times also reported that US President George W. Bush in July secretly approved orders enabling US Special Operations forces to conduct ground operations in Pakistan without Islamabad's prior approval.

US Congress vows to examine nuclear deal with India

AFP, Washington

The US Congress said it would examine a landmark civilian nuclear agreement with India sent for approval by the White House, as leaders of the two countries prepared to meet this month.

Democratic vice-presidential candidate Joseph Biden, who heads the Senate foreign relations committee, said the key panel "will act promptly to review the agreement in a hearing, as soon as next week." Howard Berman, the chairman of the House of Representatives foreign affairs committee, "wants to study" the various documents on the nuclear deal submitted by the White House on Wednesday, his spokeswoman Lynne Weil said.

Berman "voted for the Hyde Act and supports civilian nuclear cooperation with India," she said, referring to a US law adopted in December 2006 laying the foundation for the deal.

The nuclear agreement, signed by President George W. Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in July 2005, offers India access to Western technology and cheap atomic energy as long as it allows UN nuclear inspections of some of its nuclear facilities.

If Congress endorses the agreement it would lift a three decade-old ban on nuclear trade with India. The Nuclear Suppliers' Group, a regulator of sale of nuclear fuel and technology, approved the deal last week after some countries, including China and New Zealand, expressed reservation about opening up nuclear commerce with India, which is not a member of the nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

The White House said Thursday that Bush would welcome Singh on September 25 for talks on bilateral relations, including the nuclear deal.

Singh's visit will "strengthen the strategic partnership and build upon our progress in other areas of cooperation, such as agriculture, education, trade, and defense," Bush spokeswoman Dana Perino said in a statement.

"The president looks forward to working with Congress to ensure passage on the agreement this year," she said.

A US administration official said he was not aware of any agreement to be signed by the two leaders on the nuclear deal.

"The fact that they agreed to meet at this particular time is a strong indication that both sides really are satisfied with the level of effort that they put into it," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Zimbabwe rivals seal power-sharing deal to end crisis

AFP, Harare

Zimbabweans on Friday waited to hear details of a power-sharing deal reached by the country's political rivals in a bid to end a bitter crisis after marathon talks that centred on how much authority President Robert Mugabe would cede.

South African President Thabo Mbeki, who has long served as mediator in the talks, announced the agreement Thursday in Harare, where he had been since earlier in the week to try to overcome a deadlock in the negotiations.

"An agreement has been reached on all items on the agendat all of them endorsed the document tonight, signed it," Mbeki told reporters.

Details of the deal were not released and Mbeki said the agreement would only be made public after a formal signing ceremony scheduled for Monday. The South African president said the rivals will also on Monday "file a report concerning the constitutional composition of the inclusive government that has been agreed." The parties "will spend the next days constituting this inclusive government."

Mugabe and his longtime rival Morgan Tsvangirai had tussled in the negotiations over how to share power, with the opposition leader warning he would prefer no deal at all over a bad agreement.

Tsvangirai said recently he would not accept any accord that did not grant him sufficient power. Control of Zimbabwe's security forces was believed to have been one of the major stumbling blocks. The 84-year-old Mugabe, a liberation hero in the war that led to Zimbabwe's independence in 1980, and who has ruled since that time, has drawn strong support from the country's security chiefs.

It remained unclear how a power-sharing government involving the two men, intense rivals for many years, would work in practice. Tsvangirai has survived treason charges and a severe beating by the security forces in his long effort to topple Mugabe. Mugabe, meanwhile, has labelled Tsvangirai a stooge of former colonial power Britain and declared that only God could remove him from office.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon hailed the deal and voiced hope it would pave the way for durable peace and recovery.

"The Secretary General welcomes the agreement reached today in Harare between the Government and the opposition on a government of national unity," his press office said in a statement. "He hopes that this agreement will pave the way for a durable peace and recovery in the country and contribute to rapid improvement in the welfare and human rights of the people of Zimbabwe, who have suffered for long," it added.

In London a Foreign Office spokesman said: "We are following the situation closely. We look forward to seeing the detail of the agreement announced by President Mbeki this evening. Our overriding concern is the welfare of the Zimbabwean people."

The deal may amount to a measure of vindication for Mbeki, who has faced harsh criticism over what some said was his reluctance to publicly criticise Mugabe. Tsvangirai had previously called for him to be stripped of his role as mediator.

Mbeki expressed confidence that the agreement would be workable.

"I am certain the leadership of Zimbabwe is committed to implementing the agreement," he said.

Earlier on Thursday, South Africa's SABC had reported that the two opposition factions in the talks had agreed to a deal where Mugabe would head the cabinet while Tsvangirai would chair a newly-established council of ministers.

The council would oversee implementation of policies and the day-to-day business of government, the report said.

However, the report said Mugabe had initially balked at the deal, causing an impasse earlier on Thursday.

Tsvangirai was the first to signal a deal as he emerged from a meeting with Mugabe.

"We've got a deal," the leader of the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party told journalists after tortuous negotiations.

Mugabe won a controversial June presidential run-off unopposed after Tsvangirai withdrew despite finishing ahead of the president in the March first round, citing state-sponsored violence against his supporters.

Twelve hours of negotiations chaired by Mbeki on Wednesday brought the sides closer to a power-sharing deal, with Mugabe at that point saying a deal would "hopefully" be signed Thursday.

"This a good deal for Zimbabwe. It is not about ZANU-PF (Mugabe's party) or MDC, people should now move forward for the national good," Nelson Chamisa, spokesman for the MDC headed by Morgan Tsvagirai, told AFP after the agreement was announced.

Edwin Mushoriwa, spokesman for a smaller MDC branch headed by Arthur Mutambara that also participated in the talks, said it was "a good thing that political leaders have put national interest at heart before self interests."

While the political crisis has dragged on, Zimbabwe's economy has continued its freefall with the world's highest inflation rate -- 11.2 million percent in June, according to official figures.

Once hailed as Africa's breadbasket, Zimbabwe's economy has virtually collapsed over the past decade with inflation out of control and chronic shortages of food.

Armed killings cost nations billions of dollars

AP, Geneva

The United States leads the world in economic loss from deaths caused by armed crime, according to a global survey released Friday.

The U.S. registered an estimated loss of up to $45.1 billion in terms of economic productivity because of violent crimes, said the report by the U.N. Development Program and the Geneva-based Small Arms Survey.

At least 490,000 people are killed in armed crimes each year worldwide, placing a huge economic cost and social burden on nations, the report said.

The report did not give a country-by-country breakdown of the numbers of people killed in armed crimes.

But the report said that Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Jamaica and South Africa are among the countries with the highest numbers of recorded violent crimes in the world.

More people are killed worldwide in violent crimes every year than in wars, it said, asserting that the phenomenon of armed killings and its economic impact on nations is largely underreported.

In the 90 countries surveyed, the economic cost from people killed by arms each year is estimated to total between $95 billion and $163 billion, according to the report.

"These estimates are based on calculations of the 'lost product' that is represented by premature deaths from armed violence," said Achim Wennmann of the Small Arms Survey.

"These people - had they lived - would have contributed as any other individual as productive members of society. Their deaths represent a loss that can be quantified," he told The Associated Press.

The cost arising from these deaths includes a wide range of expenses from medical care, legal proceedings, and lost earnings to lost investment, the 162-page report said.

Wennmann said the report was based on figures compiled by international organizations and national authorities. The most recent available statistics from all the 90 countries surveyed were from 2004, said Wennmann, one of the editors of the report.

He said they had more recent statistics from North America.

In 2007, the region lost up to $46.76 billion from armed violence, he said. The vast majority of that loss - up to $44.8 billion - occurred in the United States, said Wennmann.

Guatemala - which has a high rate of violent crime but a smaller population and a much lower GDP than the United States - the cost of armed violence was estimated to be nearly $2.4 billion in 2005, the latest year of data available, the report said. The figure includes health expenses, security costs, impact on investment and material losses.

Cecile Molinier, who directs the U.N. Development Program's office in Geneva, said armed violence is an obstacle in the fight against poverty.

"It tears apart the social fabric of communities, creates fear and insecurity, destroys human and social capital and undermines development," she said.

Among the 90 countries are nations from every continent, including Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Ethiopia, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Nigeria, Russia and the United States.

The report was written for the secretariat of the 2006 Geneva Declaration on Armed Violence and Development - a document signed by 94 states that have pledged to work toward reducing the number of violent crimes.

The United States is not a signatory of the declaration.

10 militants killed in Afghanistan

AP, Kabul

US-led coalition troops killed more than 10 militants and detained two others during two separate raids in Afghanistan, the coalition said Friday.

The militants were killed in Tagab district of northern Kapisa province during a Thursday raid on an insurgent commander involved in roadside bomb attacks, the coalition said in a statetement.

"Coalition forces were engaged with small-arms fire from multiple groups of armed militants as they entered a compound. The force returned fire, killing the militants," the statement said. Separately, coalition troops detained two militants in the eastern Khost province during a raid on the network of Siraj Haqqani, the son of longtime warlord Jalalludin Haqqani.

The U.S. has called Siraq Haqqani a ruthless new brand of militant leader and last year announced a $200,000 reward for his capture. Haqqani, a Taliban-associated militant with close ties to al-Qaida, is accused of masterminding beheadings and massive bombings. He is believed to be in Pakistan. More than 4,100 people, mostly militants, have died this year in insurgency-related violence in Afghanistan, according to figures compiled by The Associated Press.

Abbas vows to pursue talks after Olmert

Reuters, Jerusalem

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has vowed to pursue peace talks with Ehud Olmert until the scandal-hit Israeli prime minister's last day in office, and with whoever succeeds him, an Israeli newspaper said on Friday.

But Abbas told the Haaretz daily he doubted the sides could meet Washington's expectations of reaching even a limited peace accord before U.S. President George W. Bush leaves office in January.

Olmert, whom police have recommended indicting for corruption, has said he will resign after his Kadima party chooses a successor in a leadership contest next week.

"We will negotiate with any prime minister elected by Israel," Haaretz quoted Abbas as saying. "But I intend to negotiate with him (Olmert) until his last moment in office." Olmert has also said he will pursue the U.S.-brokered peace talks for as long as he remains in office, but his expected departure has cast doubt on the negotiations, launched at an Annapolis summit last November.

Abbas told the Israeli daily that "until now, there has been no achievement in negotiations between us." He added: "I doubt we will be able to seal an agreement by the end of 2008."

Olmert said Thursday he still hoped a "significant agreement" could be reached by that time.

Despite his plans to resign, Olmert is likely to stay on as caretaker prime minister until a successor forms a new government, or a snap parliamentary election is held, a process that could take weeks or months.

Olmert could also seek to suspend himself from duty if he is charged. He has denied wrongdoing in response to police allegations he submitted double travel receipts and accepted cash envelopes from a U.S. Jewish fundraiser.

(Writing by Joseph Nasr, Editing by Allyn Fisher-Ilan and Catherine Evans)

New Zealand PM sets November date for general election

AFP, Wellington

New Zealand's Prime Minister Helen Clark called general elections for November 8 Friday with her Labour Party behind in opinion polls amid a slowing economy and her foreign minister facing the axe.

Clark, bidding for a fourth straight victory, told a press conference she believed the campaign would be a battle of trust.

"It is about which leader and which major party we New Zealanders trust our families' and country's future with," she said.

Opinion polls have shown Labour trailing the main opposition National Party for several months, although the gap narrowed to 6.5 percentage points at the start of September from 16 points earlier in the year. "What I see is that as the election nears people are focusing very much on what the real choice is. And at that point it comes down to what matters most to our families and our communities," Clark said. The timing of the announcement came at the end of a tumultuous week for the government, with Foreign Minister and coalition ally Winston Peters embroiled in a row over political donations.

The November 8 election date favours the government by giving it time for October 1 tax cuts to have an impact, which Clark hopes will eat further into the poll lead held by National leader John Key and his party.

The economy is likely to be a central campaign issue, with the Reserve Bank of New Zealand pointing Thursday to a "marked slowdown."

It said activity in the national economy was likely to have contracted in each of the first three quarters of 2008.

But there was good news for the government when the bank unveiled a bigger than expected interest rate cut, sparking an immediate fall in home loan rates at most banks.

Clark still has to contend with the messy situation surrounding Peters and the saga of undisclosed funds.

Shipping billionaire Owen Glenn has produced phone and email records which he says backed his claim that Peters asked for a 100,000 dollars (65,000 US) donation. Peters has denied the claim.

Clark has described the evidence against Peters as "disturbing," but held off ruling on his future because of the conflicting testimonies.

Thai turmoil deepens as parliament delays PM vote

AFP, Bangkok

Thailand slid deeper into deadlock Friday when ruling party lawmakers failed to show up to re-elect Samak Sundaravej as premier, leaving him embarrassingly isolated as he tries to return to power. Lawmakers from the six-party coalition did not attend an emergency session of parliament called to choose a new prime minister, three days after a court stripped Samak of office for accepting payment for hosting TV cooking shows.

The delay seemed likely to embolden protesters who have besieged the prime minister's office for more than two weeks in a campaign to force Samak and his cabinet from office. People Power Party (PPP) deputy leader Somchai Wongsawat, who is currently the acting prime minister, played down a forced postponement of the vote until Wednesday but declined to say whether the party would stick with Samak.

"I cannot say whether there will be a change in the candidate's name. It depends on the consultations among the political parties," he told reporters. While the Constitutional Court obliged the fiery-tongued 73-year-old Samak to step down over the cooking shows it did not bar him from politics, leaving no legal barrier to him being re-elected as premier.

His PPP agreed Thursday to do just that, but the decision sparked a revolt among its coalition partners and even among some of the party's own MPs.

It meant that when parliament met to vote Friday, no coalition MPs attended the session, forcing a delay due to the lack of a quorum.

Somsak Kiatsuranont, the culture minister who led a boycott by a faction of PPP, said the party needed to find a new candidate.

"We don't want Samak, because our country currently has too many problems and conflicts. Samak is a veteran politician, and he has made significant contributions to the party, but he is not fit for this situation," Somsak told reporters.

The latest twist in Thailand's chaotic political saga has heightened the uncertainty that has clouded the kingdom since anti-government protesters stormed into the prime minister's official compound more than two weeks ago.

The protesters have occupied the grounds of the offices ever since, pressing their call for Samak and his government to step down, claiming that they are a proxy for ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

The protest group, which calls itself the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), had also spearheaded protests against Thaksin in 2006, leading to the military coup that toppled him.

Thaksin now lives in exile in Britain to evade corruption charges, which he says are politically motivated.

Despite his exile, Thaksin still casts a long shadow over Thai politics.

The PPP said Thaksin, who personally tapped Samak to lead his supporters in last December's elections, had been consulted about his re-nomination.

But even if the PPP-led coalition agrees on a new candidate, the protesters have vowed to keep up their campaign.

"The tide is turning against Samak as a second term prime minister. Putting him back in charge would just intesify this brinkmanship with the PAD," said political analyst Thitinan Pongsudhirak.