The New Nation - Internet Edition

Pakistan will not tolerate incursions: Zardari

Reuters, Islamabad

Pakistan will not tolerate any infringement of its territory in the name of the fight against militants, President Asif Ali Zardari said on Saturday.

He was speaking after a series of U.S. strikes on militants in areas of Pakistan the-Afghan border that have infuriated many Pakistanis.

Zardari, the widower of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, also said in his first address to a joint sitting of parliament that the biggest challenge facing the government is the economy.

Pakistan also needed peace with its neighbors and relations with old rival India should be "creatively reinvented," he said.

Zardari won a presidential election this month to replace firm U.S. ally Pervez Musharraf, who stepped down in August under threat of impeachment.

Zardari is close to the United States and had earlier promised to maintain nuclear-armed Pakistan's commitment to the U.S.-led "war on terrorism," even though it is deeply unpopular.

The United States and Afghanistan say al Qaeda and Taliban militants operate out of sanctuaries in remote ethnic Pashtun lands on the Pakistani side of the Afghan border.

Frustrated by an intensifying Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan, the United States has stepped up attacks on militants in Pakistan with six missile attacks and a helicopter-borne ground assault this month.

The army has vowed to stand up to aggression across the border. But a senior Pakistani official told Reuters earlier the latest missile strike, which killed five militants on Wednesday, was the result of better U.S.-Pakistani intelligence-sharing.

Zardari did not refer specifically to the United States but said territorial violations were unacceptable.

"We will not tolerate the violation of our sovereignty and territorial integrity by any power in the name of combating terrorism," Zardari told parliament.

At the same time, Pakistan must stop militants from using its territory for attacks on other countries, he said.

India accuses Pakistan of arming and sending insurgents across the border into Indian-controlled Kashmir, where militants have been fighting security forces since 1989.

Pakistan says it offers political support to what it calls a freedom struggle in Indian Kashmir.

"We must root out terrorism and extremism," Zardari said.

Zardari said ties with India were being driven by enhanced trade and Pakistan wanted outstanding issues with its nuclear-armed neighbor, including Kashmir, resolved.

Meanwhile militant bombers struck twice in Waziristan on Saturday killing eight people, including five soldiers and a child, security officials said.

Zardari said the government's biggest challenge was the economy. The most urgent task was food security for the poor burdened by inflation.

He saw a new beginning for the economy "marked by a program of restoring investor confidence, resumption of foreign investment, gradual build-up of reserves, exchange rate stability and, above all, the revival of sustainable growth."

Acting finance minister Naveed Qamar unveiled a package on Friday that included eliminating fuel subsidies, cut its development budget, more privatization and slashing net borrowing from the central bank to zero.

Pakistan's current account deficit widened to $2.57 billion in July and August, the first two months of the 2008/09 fiscal year. That is equivalent to about 1.6 percent of gross domestic product, compared with a full-year target of 6.0 percent.

Foreign reserves have fallen below $9 billion, having hit a record high of $16.5 billion in October last year, while inflation is more than 25 percent. Pakistani stocks have fallen 35 percent this year and the rupee has weakened by 20 percent.

Meanwhile, it came hours after new President Asif Ali Zardari, widower of assassinated former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, made his first address to parliament a few hundred meters (yards) away, calling for terrorism to be rooted out. The tightly guarded hotel, part of a U.S.-based chain and popular with foreigners, diplomats and rich Pakistanis, was engulfed in flames for hours after the blast.

Zardari made a televised address to the nation on Sunday and said the bombing was cowardly. "This is an epidemic, a cancer in Pakistan which we will root out," he said. "We will not be afraid of these cowards."

Pakistan's army is in the midst of a major offensive against al Qaeda and Taliban fighters in the Bajaur region on the Afghan border, while the U.S. military has intensified attacks on militants on the Pakistani side of the border, infuriating many Pakistanis.

Militants have launched bomb attacks, most on security forces in the northwest, in retaliation for the strikes on them.

"They're giving a very clear, unambiguous message that if the government pursues these policies, this is what (they) will do in response," Talat Masood, a retired general and defense analyst, said of the attack.

Malaysian PM under new pressure to quit by year-end

AFP, Kuala Lumpur

Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is under intense pressure to quit, after being confronted by rare criticism from within his cabinet, as well as an opposition bid to seize power.

Abdullah led the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition to its worst electoral showing in half a century in March, as voters punished him over broken promises for reform, as well as spiralling prices of food and fuel.

So far he has clung tenaciously to the job, and refused to negotiate with opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, who has announced he has enough support from defecting lawmakers to topple the government.

But last week Abdullah faced an unprecedented challenge from within his cabinet, as four ministers spoke out against him at a meeting of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) which leads the coalition.

According to The Star daily, they told Abdullah at a meeting of the party's supreme council that "the political situation was not improving and that he should consider an earlier exit".

UMNO information chief Muhammad Muhammad Taib confirmed the challenge took place and said Abdullah was saddened and visibly affected by it, but insisted he could ride out the crisis.

"The four of them spoke and said this to the prime ministert but it was not the majority speaking. There are more than 30 supreme council members and not all are in unison, asking the PM to resign," Muhammad told AFP.

"He listened. It was not the first time for him. He has his own intelligence report well prepared on what the feeling is at the grassroots level," he said.

Abdullah in July unveiled a plan to hand over to his deputy Najib Razak in mid-2010, but the strategy failed to quell calls for his ouster, and last week he indicated the timing was "flexible" and that he could depart earlier.

He handed over the important finance ministry post to Najib in a show of solidarity, but was hit with the challenge from his ministers just a day later.

An UMNO official from Abdullah's home state of Penang said the premier's position was now untenable and he would have to quit before the party holds leadership elections in December.

"Abdullah does not have any choice left. He has to go by year-end," the senior official told AFP on condition of anonymity. "Abdullah is now being viewed as a leader who has lost control of the party and government."

"He cannot make any drastic moves to reel in party leaders who have openly gone against him by questioning the power transition agreement," he said.

Najib is widely tipped to replace Abdullah, with his new deputy likely to be Trade Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, who has been one of the premier's most outspoken critics.

Muhyiddin was one of the ministers who reportedly challenged Abdullah at last week's meeting, along with UMNO's youth wing chief Hishammuddin Hussein, women's wing chief Rafidah Aziz and Culture Minister Shafie Apdal.

The meeting took place after a series of blows, including a furore within the 14-party Barisan Nasional over the arrests of an opposition MP, a blogger and a journalist under draconian internal security laws.

Cabinet minister Zaid Ibrahim, who had been appointed to direct a shake-up of the judiciary, quit in disgust after the arrests, saying he had met a "brick wall" in the ruling party which had blocked any reforms.

And last week a small party from Borneo island quit the coalition, saying the government had "lost its moral authority to rule".

Lim Kit Siang, a veteran figure in the three-member opposition alliance, called on Abdullah to agree to Anwar's call for an emergency session of parliament to hold a no-confidence vote in his leadership.

He said that after an historic 2004 election victory when voters endorsed his reform agenda, Abdullah had become a "lame duck" both as premier and leader of his party.

"Could it be that Abdullah is not absolutely certain and confident that he could command the support of a majority of 222 MPs in parliament if a no-confidence motion is put to a vote?" he said.

Iran vows to block any attack

Reuters, Tehran

Iran will stop any attacker before he can "pull the trigger" and sanctions intended to isolate the Islamic Republic have not worked, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told a military parade on Sunday.

The United States and its allies are seeking to step up U.N. sanctions on Iran over its disputed nuclear plans, which the West sees as a bid to build nuclear arms. Iran denies this.

There has been persistent speculation Washington or Israel might launch strikes on Iran's nuclear sites, as neither country has ruled out military action if diplomacy fails to end the row. "If anybody dares to breach the boundaries of the Iranian nation, the Iranian nation's holy land and Iran's legal interests, our armed forces t will break his hand before he can pull the trigger," Ahmadinejad said. He was speaking at a parade broadcast on state television to mark the start of the Iran-Iraq war in September 1980. Hundreds of troops marched past the official podium, followed by military hardware, including the Shahab-3 missile, which television commentators said had a range of 2,000 km (1,250 miles), putting Israel in range.

Trucks drove past bearing large slogans reading "Down with Israel" and "Down with USA." Also on show were Ghadr and shorter range Shahab missiles, unmanned planes, artillery and rockets.

Iran has dismissed reports of possible U.S. or Israeli plans to strike Iran, but says it would respond by attacking U.S. interests and Israel if any such assault was made.

"Today, Iran is not in a position to show even the smallest flexibility against the bullying of the enemies. History has shown that those who wish ill for Iran will gain nothing but regret," he said.

"The enemies of humanity t had imagined that by military attack and economic and scientific sanctions they could break down our revolution and our nation," he said, adding that Iran's enemies had "lost hope."

Analysts say the United States could unleash vastly superior firepower in any attack on Iran, but that the Islamic state could hit back by striking at U.S. interests in the oil-rich Gulf and neighboring countries, including Iraq.

Ahmadinejad said that despite sanctions, Iran had nevertheless built up its ability to produce weapons.

"Those who deprived us of the simplest defensive technology and put economic sanctions on Iran, today t they should look carefully and see the Iranian nation's armed forces and the defensive achievements of the Iranian nation," he said.

Iran, the world's fourth largest oil producer, says it wants to master nuclear technology to make electricity so it can preserve more of its vast oil and gas reserves for export.

But its failure to convince world powers of its peaceful intentions has prompted three rounds of limited U.N. sanctions. Washington is pushing for a fourth, but China and Russia-two of the five veto-wielding council members-are reluctant.

Fireworks blamed as 43 die in China nightclub blaze

AFP, Shenzhen

A fire and subsequent stampede at a club in southern China killed 43 people and left 88 injured, state media said Sunday, in the latest incident highlighting China's abysmal fire safety record.

Witnesses and state media reports said the blaze late Saturday at the Dance King nightclub in the city of Shenzhen, near the border with Hong Kong, was caused by a fireworks stunt gone wrong.

Hundreds of people crammed into the club then were apparently forced to try to escape the venue through a narrow passageway, triggering a stampede, state media said.

"The performer was shooting a gun, trying to shoot off some fireworks. He was aiming at the ceiling but a piece of cloth caught fire," witness Liu Caihong, 31, told AFP outside the club. "Everybody started running out." Liu, who had numerous cuts on her body, said she still had no news of her younger brother and 18 friends who attended the performance with her on the third floor of the club.

Dozens of police officers had cordoned off the scene Sunday.

Neon lights on the club's facade had fallen down, while windows in adjacent buildings had shattered.

"According to a preliminary investigation, the accident was caused when fireworks were set off in the song and dance hall, triggering a fire," the official China News Service said, quoting an initial investigation.

Frightened clubgoers then were trapped in a narrow passageway, unable to exit, state-run Xinhua news agency said.

"There was only a narrow aislet in the hall. Many people got hurt in the stampede," club staffer Yang Zhi was quoted by Xinhua as saying.

Yang doused his clothes in water before fleeing but still suffered burns on his neck, it said.

Of those injured, 51 were in hospital in stable condition, Xinhua said.

Fu Maoxia, 56, came from Sichuan province with his wife to attend the show at the club. He told AFP at a local hospital that he presumed his wife was dead, as she had not been in touch with him.

"We were lucky enough to have escaped the Sichuan earthquake, but not lucky enough to escape this," he said.

Fu, who suffered minor injuries, was treated and released, but was still roaming the hospital hallways, trying to get information about his wife.

AFP could not reach relevant police, fire and government officials by phone for comment.

Police at the scene declined comment and prevented witnesses from talking to journalists.

Photos posted on the popular Chinese online portal Sohu showed apparently grieving relatives gathered outside the club during the night.

In an indication authorities feared public anger over the fire, Guangdong province Communist Party Secretary Wang Yang ordered that victims' families be "appeased" and "social stability" maintained, the China News Service said.

Wang also ordered authorities to quickly find those responsible for the tragedy and step up efforts to treat the injured.

Deadly fires are common in China due to the routine flouting or ignorance of fire and safety measures.

The government said earlier this year that 159,000 fires broke out in China in 2007, killing 1,418 people, injuring 863 others, and causing direct economic losses totalling 990 million yuan (145 million dollars).

However, the toll could actually be higher as local officials in China are notorious for covering up deadly accidents to avoid punishment.

Obama, McCain square off over financial bailout plans

AFP, Charlotte

The White House hopefuls have stressed their rival plans to bring relief to both troubled financiers and "Main Street" after the government proposed a huge Wall Street bailout.

Barack Obama and John McCain both said Sunday they would study the proposal and work across the political aisle, following the US government's request to Congress for clearance to buy 700 billion dollars in distressed mortgages. But bitter differences on the road to the November 4 election were also exposed as Obama accused his Republican foe of wanting to "gamble" away Americans' life savings and deregulate healthcare at a time of market crisis. Obama spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the Democrat would be working with President George W. Bush's administration and Congress to ensure the plan relieves hard-pressed workers, not just company bosses and shareholders.

Obama wants the eventual package to be "part of an overall plan not just for Wall Street but for Main Street, that it protects taxpayers to the fullest extent possible, and that it helps homeowners stay in their homes," she said.

McCain said: "This financial crisis requires leadership and action in order to restore a sound foundation to financial markets, get our economy on its feet, and eliminate this burden on hard-working middle-class Americans."

Pledging also to review the full document and eventual changes ordered by Congress, McCain touted his plan for a "Mortgage and Financial Institutions" trust following a raft of hefty government bailouts of tottering companies.

Such a trust "would proactively resolve troubled financial institutions, enforce discipline on management and shareholders, and minimize the burden on the taxpayer," the Arizona senator said in a statement.

Propelled by discontent at Republican handling of the economy in light of the financial crisis, Obama matched his record high of 50 percent in the latest Gallup daily tracking poll, against 44 percent for McCain.

McCain had enjoyed a post-convention bounce with the addition of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his vice presidential nominee, but the Democrat's recovery tracks Gallup findings pointing to a slide in consumer confidence.

At exuberant rallies in the retirement haven of Florida, a battleground state that decided the 2000 election, Obama noted McCain's career-long belief in market deregulation before the Republican switched tack this week.

British PM bids to silence rebels at party conference

AFP, Manchester

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown will seek to shore up his authority Sunday on the first full day of his Labour Party's annual conference despite a budding rebellion against him.

Brown, who served as his predecessor Tony Blair's finance minister for 10 years, used a brief opening session on Saturday to argue that he has the experience and determination to see Britain through troubled economic times.

He also signalled to rebels that it would be foolish to strike against him following the financial turmoil which in Britain saw the takeover of HBOS, the country's biggest mortgage lender, by rival Lloyds TSB Thursday. Brown told delegates "all our efforts, all our undivided efforts, all our energies, all our determination" should be focused on the business of government, vowing to do "whatever it takes" to sort out the financial system.

The speech, which drew a standing ovation, was his first showpiece address since four lawmakers who spoke out against him were forced out of their jobs and 12 declared their support for a leadership contest earlier this month.

Brown's ruling centre-left Labour has trailed the main opposition centre-right Conservatives led by David Cameron by up to 20 percentage points recently, but the gap has closed to 12 points, according to a YouGov opinion poll in the Sunday Times.

The party received a boost Saturday when Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, a personal friend of Brown, donated one million pounds (1.3 million euros, 1.8 million dollars) to Labour, which is nearly 18 million pounds in debt.

"I believe that poor and vulnerable families will fare much better under the Labour Party than they would under a Cameron-led Conservative Party," said Rowling, a struggling single mother when she penned the first Potter book.

Senior government ministers rallied around Brown before the conference including Foreign Secretary David Miliband, who penned an article some saw as a leadership manifesto in July and is frontrunner to take over should Brown quit.

Miliband told the Daily Mirror newspaper that the conference should be about Labour showing "a strong, determined, clear, unified face.

"I don't think it's the time for a leadership election,"

Olmert resigns amid lingering turmoil

AFP, Jerusalem

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced his resignation on Sunday, but the political uncertainty gripping Israel and casting a shadow over US-backed Middle East peace talks is far from over.

"I have decided to end my functions as prime minister of the government of Israel," Olmert told a weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, days after Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni was elected leader of their centrist Kadima party.

"I hope that Tzipi Livni will succeed in forming a national government with the composition she wants," Olmert said in remarks broadcast on television. "For my part I will help her with all my strength." Olmert must still submit his resignation to President Shimon Peres, who will grant Livni 42 days to form a new government and avert snap general elections, which polls indicate would bring the right-wing Likud party to power. Olmert is meanwhile likely to stay on as interim premier until a new government is sworn in, which could take several months.

The Kadima leadership result confirms Livni's meteoric rise to become the most powerful woman in Israel and could now see her follow in the footsteps of Golda Meir, the country's first woman prime minister.

The turmoil unleashed by several graft allegations dogging Olmert threatens to derail already sluggish US-backed peace talks with the Palestinians that were relaunched last November but have made little tangible progress since.

Olmert has been battling a wave of corruption allegations for several months, and on July 30 he said he would step down once a new leader was chosen in the unprecedented party vote.

As foreign minister, Livni has led negotiations with the Palestinians, which were formally relaunched 10 months ago with the stated goal of ending the decades-old conflict by the end of the year.

But the two sides remain deeply divided on core issues, including final borders, Jewish settlements in the West Bank, the future status of Jerusalem and the fate of some 4.6 million Palestinian refugees.

The negotiations could complicate Livni's efforts to form a new coalition, with the ultra-Orthodox Shas Party-a key partner in Olmert's administration-having vowed to quit the government if Jerusalem is even discussed.

South Africa’s President Mbeki to stand down

AFP, Cape Town

Thabo Mbeki will on Sunday make a rare public address, a day after agreeing to calls by the governing African National Congress for him to stand down in the interests of party unity.

Mbeki said on Saturday he will step down "as soon as all constitutional requirements have been fulfilled" after calls by the ANC national executive committee's for him to go.

Mbeki, 66, who succeeded Nelson Mandela as president in June 1999, has been under fire over allegations that he influenced the pressing corruption charges against ANC leader and political rival Jacob Zuma.

"The ANC has decided to recall the president of the republic before his mandate has expired," the ANC's secretary general Gwede Mantashe told journalists after a meeting of the party leadership.

"Our decision has been concluded, the formalities are now subject to the parliamentary process," Mantashe said, adding that Mbeki "didn't express shock, he welcomed the news.

"We have communicated our decision (to Mbeki) and that we will be going through parliamentary process. He has agreed to participate in that process."

Government spokesman Themba Maseko said a cabinet meeting had been called for Sunday afternoon, and afterwards Mbeki would "speak to the nation" in a live broadcast on radio and television.

It will be Mbeki's first direct speech to the public since he took to television screens across the country in the wake of violent anti-foreigner killings which rocked the country in May.

Under the South African constitution, the president is appointed by parliament, which has been dominated by the ANC since the end of apartheid and the start of majority rule in May 1994.

Mbeki's term formally expires in mid-2009. The decision now rests with parliament whether to appoint an interim president and call an early election, or install a full acting president to complete the second term.

Senior ANC officials had gathered Friday to discuss Mbeki's future after a September 12 court ruling that cleared Zuma of corruption charges and hinted that Mbeki's government had interfered in the decision to prosecute him-an allegation that the president's office denied.

Fierce debate followed the September 12 judgment, along with speculation as to whether the ANC would force Mbeki out in a vote of no confidence, ask him to resign, or allow him to serve out his term.

The dismissal of the charges on a technicality cleared the way for Zuma to become South Africa's president in elections next year.

Floods kill 16, displace 200,000 in India's east

Reuters, Bhubaneswar

Rescue workers evacuated some 200,000 people after flooding by one of India's largest rivers killed 16 people at the weekend, officials said on Sunday.

Large parts of the coastal Orissa state were inundated after authorities were forced to open dozens of sluice gates of a dam on the Mahanadi river following heavy rain in the catchment area.

"At least 200,000 people were evacuated from their homes and moved to safer places," G.V. Venugopala Sarma, a revenue official, told Reuters. He said more people were being moved. TV stations showed people fleeing the floods with whatever they could carry. Some took shelter on roads and inside school buildings. Most of the deaths were caused by drowning. The river had breached its banks in several places and floodwaters had swept away highways in some areas.

Monsoon rains and flooded rivers have brought huge devastation across South Asia this year, killing more than 1100 people, mostly in India.

The Kosi river, which burst a dam in Nepal, has heaped massive suffering on millions of people in downstream Bihar state in India. Water levels were now receding there.

But millions were now living on embankments, roads and in overcrowded camps in filthy conditions, exposing them to infections and water-borne diseases, aid agencies say.

In Orissa, the government was using helicopters to drop food and water packets.

Authorities warned of more floods in the state's coastal belt once more water is released from the Hirakud dam on the Mahanadi.

The floods in Bihar, the worst there in 50 years, destroyed 100,000 ha (250,000 acres) of farmlands. Rice crop in Orissa had also been damaged.

The monsoon usually hits India on June 1 and retreats in September, and is key to irrigating some 60 percent of farmland. But it leaves in its wake massive destruction, killing hundreds of people, destroying homes, crops, roads and bridges every year.