The New Nation - Internet Edition

10 dead in fresh US missile strike in Pakistan: Death toll in NW province suicide attack rises to 22

AFP, Islamabad

At least 10 Al-Qaeda-linked militants were killed Friday in a suspected US missile strike on a tribal area in northwest Pakistan near the Afghan border, a senior security official told AFP.

"Several missiles struck a suspected Al-Qaeda hideout in North Waziristan and initial reports say 10 militants were killed," the official said on condition of anonymity.

An intelligence official also confirmed the number of dead, adding: "Most of the militants killed were foreigners."

Pakistan officials use the term "foreigners" to describe Al-Qaeda extremists. A series of recent strikes against suspected Al-Qaeda and Taliban hideouts in Pakistan's tribal badlands bordering Afghanistan-all blamed on unmanned CIA drones-have raised tensions between Washington and Islamabad. On Monday, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari warned the new US commander for Iraq and Afghanistan, General David Petraeus, that the attacks were "counterproductive" and could harm the battle for hearts and minds here.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and the country's military top brass also told the visiting Petraeus that the United States should respect Pakistani sovereignty and territorial integrity. Previous protests have seen Washington's ambassador to Islamabad, Anne Patterson, called in to the foreign ministry to hear the dissatisfication of Pakistani officials. And Pakistan's national security adviser also reportedly made a personal protest to White House officials in Washington after a strike in September that claimed the lives of civilians.

Another report adds: The death toll from a suicide bombing against government-backed tribal elders fighting Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants in northwest Pakistan has risen to 22, officials said Friday. A suicide attacker blew himself up on Thursday as the elders met in Batmalai, about 40 kilometres (25 miles) northeast of Khar, the main town in the semi-autonomous Bajaur district bordering Afghanistan. "Five more people died overnight in different hospitals raising the death toll in the attack to 22," local police official Fazal-i-Rabi told AFP.

Security has been tightened across Bajaur since the attack, he added. Pakistan's tribal belt became a safe haven for hundreds of Al-Qaeda and Taliban extremists who fled the US-led toppling of Afghanistan's hardline Taliban regime in late 2001. Pakistani forces have been involved in fierce clashes with Al-Qaeda- and Taliban-linked militants since a military operation was launched in Bajaur in August.

The military said last month that some 1,500 rebels and 73 soldiers had died since the fighting began while hundreds more militants were captured.

Pakistan troops meanwhile killed at least four militants in Bajaur overnight.

"Our troops pounded artillery on militant hideouts in Cheharming, Chinar and Banda areas, killing four militants," local administration official Mohammad Jamil, told AFP.

Pakistan has been accused by the United States and Afghanistan of not doing enough to stop militants crossing the border to attack US and NATO troops in Afghanistan.

But Islamabad says its operation in Bajaur is proof that it is committed to crushing insurgents.

Security officials inspect the site of an earlier suicide attack in Mingora. At least 10 Al-Qaeda-linked militants were killed Friday in a suspected US missile strike on a tribal area in northwest Pakistan near the Afghan border, a senior security official told AFP

Current warming sharpest climate change in 5,000 years: Study

Internet

While the planet has experienced numerous changes in climate over the past 65 million years, the most significant climate change of the last 5,000 years has been in recent decades. That change is global warming.

A Cornell study reports that as a result of this warming, which has caused Arctic freshwater ice to melt and flow southward, the ranges of some cold-water, northern marine species have been moving down the North American coast-a counterintuitive finding.

The paleo-climate record shows very rapid periods of cooling in the past, when temperatures have dropped by as much as 18 degrees Fahrenheit (10 degrees Celsius) in a matter of years to decades, but "the rate of warming we are seeing [now] is unprecedented in human history," said Cornell oceanographer Charles Greene, the lead author of the study, published in the November issue of the journal Ecology (Vol. 89, No. 11). During the past 50 years, melting Arctic ice sheets and glaciers have periodically released cold, low-salt water from the Arctic Ocean into the North Atlantic. This has led to dramatic ecosystem shifts as far south as North Carolina and extensive geographic range shifts of many plant and animal species, he said. One microscopic algal species from the Pacific Ocean, not seen in the North Atlantic for over 800,000 years, has reinvaded the North Atlantic from the Arctic Ocean during the past decade.

By reviewing climate changes in the past, the researchers were able to more clearly observe how this influx of fresher water has led to changes in ecosystems as well as the geographic distributions of species, said Greene.

Interestingly, the study's findings run counter to the expectations of most ecologists: They expected that the distributions of southern species would move north and that northern species would lose habitat as the climate warms. Instead, Greene found that as colder, fresher Arctic waters flow south along the Northwest Atlantic shelf, from the Labrador Sea south of Greenland all the way to North Carolina, the distributions of many northern species have actually moved southward.

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In addition, the periodic freshening of shelf waters has extended the growing seasons of phytoplankton and tiny drifting animals, like copepods, which make up the base of the marine food chain.

Furthermore, climate changes may have played a role in the decline of cod, a top predator. As cod have declined, populations of prey species have increased.

"While it is true that cod stocks never rebounded from 20th-century overfishing, part of their failure to recover can be attributed to the climate bringing colder waters to Newfoundland since the 1990s," said Greene. Cod don't grow and reproduce as rapidly in the colder water. The decline of cod, combined with the ocean's colder temperatures, has enabled populations of cold-water crustacean species, like snow crab and shrimp, to increase.

"As climate changes, there are going to be winners and losers, both in terms of biological species and different groups of people," said Greene. "The cod fishermen are out of luck, but the fishermen that have decided to go after snow crab and shrimp are very successful now." He added that adapting to climate change is partly being able to predict what we can expect.

The study was funded by the National Science Foundation.

Suicide bomber kills 11 in Russian city

AFP, Moscow

A suspected suicide blast that ripped apart a minibus in a busy square in the southern Russian city of Vladikavkaz killed 11 people plus the suspected bomber, officials said.

"As of now, 11 people have died. All have been identified," local government health minister Vladimir Lekoyev told AFP, adding that this figure did not include the suspected bomber.

In addition to the dead, 41 people were injured in the blast in the city of Vladikavkaz in the North Ossetia region of the Russian Caucasus, he said.

An investigator with the prosecutor's office told AFP on condition of anonymity that law-enforcement agencies were trying to identify the severed head of the person suspected of detonating the bomb as people got on and off a minibus on a busy square.

"We are trying to create a photo-fit. All that's left is the head," the official said.

A video camera in the square showed the explosion occurred as a woman was boarding the bus, the official said.

North Ossetia, a mainly Christian region that lies on Russia's southern border with Georgia, was the scene of the devastating 2004 school hostage crisis at Beslan.

Russian soldiers and police continue to be killed on a weekly basis by mainly Muslim insurgents, most notably in Dagestan, Ingushetia and Chechnya, the latter the scene of two full-scale wars since the 1991 Soviet collapse.

Financial crisis complicates Obama transition

AP, Washington

As president-elect, Barack Obama faces a tricky task as he begins dealing ever more directly with the economic meltdown, grappling with the worst financial crisis in seven decades but not yet wielding the power to do much about it.

He won't be a participant at President Bush's global summit next week, although the 20 leaders attending are no doubt keenly interested in his views. And he may have to eventually push back against some members of his own party in Congress over details of a new plan to stimulate the economy.

Congress convenes for a lame-duck session on Nov. 17, and Obama is giving all indications that he'll play a direct role rather than keeping his distance until he is sworn in.

"The president-elect has said he wants another stimulus, the president-elect therefore has views on what that stimulus should be, and the Democratic Congress should take its cues from the president-elect," said economist Rob Shapiro, a top Commerce Department official in the Clinton administration who now is on Obama's team of transition advisers.

Will Obama be able to pull off a smooth changeover in economic management in such trying times? "He'll have to work very hard at it, but of course he can. This is a man who pulled off the smoothest campaign in history," said Shapiro, now associated with NDN, a think tank formerly known as the New Democratic Network

The Illinois senator meets on Friday with his economic team and holds his first postelection news conference.

Obama's victory emboldened Democrats and helped them expand their House and Senate majorities. "The fact is that this president goes into office with more expectations than any president I can ever remember in my lifetime," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

But some liberal Democrats may expect him to deliver more than they're likely to get. As Pelosi was quick to note, "The country must be governed from the middle," and that will increase pressure on Obama to make compromises.

He may have to scale back some of the long-term spending programs he advocates to pay for crash legislation to keep what already looks like a recession from turning into something much worse.

"The need has never been greater for the absolutely seamless transition of economic teams," said William Galston, who was a White House domestic policy assistant in President Clinton's first term. "We're in a race against time to prevent a global financial meltdown, and I think everybody knows it."

Obama has called for about $175 billion in new stimulus spending, including money for roads, bridges and aid to hard-pressed states. He wants a rebate of $500 for individuals, $1,000 for families and a new $3,000 tax credit for businesses for each new job created.

Many congressional Democrats have been cool to the notion of more tax rebates, on top of the $168 billion handed out earlier this year.

Iran president urges Obama to change US policies

Reuters, Tehran

Iran's hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad congratulated U.S. President-elect Barack Obama on Thursday and called for "fundamental and fair" changes to U.S. policies in the region, Iran's official IRNA news agency said.

"I congratulate you for attracting a majority of votes t I hope you will prefer real public interests and justice to the endless demands of a selfish minority," Ahmadinejad told Obama in a statement published by IRNA.

Iranian officials have said Obama's election victory on Tuesday showed the American people's desire for fundamental change in domestic and foreign policy from the policies of President George W. Bush, who labeled Iran part of an "axis of evil."

"The great Iranian nation welcomes real, fundamental and fair changes in America's behavior and policies, particularly in the Middle East region," Ahmadinejad said. Tehran and Washington cut diplomatic ties shortly after Iran's Islamic revolution, which toppled the U.S.-backed Shah.

The two countries have since been at odds over various issues, including Iran's nuclear program, which Washington and its European allies say is a cover to build nuclear bombs. Iran insists its aim is to generate electricity.

Washington has accused Iran of funding, equipping and training militants in Iraq. Iran denies this and says insecurity is due to the presence of U.S. troops who should quit Iraq.

Ahmadinejad said he hoped Obama would put an end to the United States' "war-oriented" policies.

"Other nations expect war-oriented policies, occupation, bullying t and imposing discriminatory policies on them to be replaced by those advocating respect t and non-interference in other countries' state matters," he said.

Obama has said he would toughen sanctions on Iran but has also held out the possibility of direct talks to resolve rows, including Tehran's nuclear dispute with the West.

The president-elect, like Bush, has not ruled out military action although he has criticized the outgoing administration for not pushing for more diplomacy and engagement with Iran.

N. Korea ready to deal with Obama administration

AP, Seoul

A North Korean diplomat says the communist country is ready to deal with any new U.S. administration following Barack Obama's election to the presidency as talks continued over dismantlement of its nuclear weapons program.

Ri Gun, a North Korean nuclear negotiator, spoke Thursday in New York after a meeting with Sung Kim, the U.S. special envoy to the international negotiations on Pyongyang's nuclear programs.

"We have dealt with various U.S. administrations, including an administration that sought dialogue with us and an administration that attempted to isolate and contain us," Ri said.

"Whatever U.S. administration comes forward, we are ready to deal with that administration's policy" on Pyongyang.

Later, after meeting with the chief U.S. nuclear envoy, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, Ri said: "We will have dialogue if (the U.S.) seeks dialogue. If it seeks isolation, we will stand against it."

South Korea's news channel YTN showed Ri speaking to reporters.

During his campaign, Obama tried to distance himself from the hard-line policies President Bush adopted in his first term on North Korea's nuclear weapons. He has emphasized his willingness to continue direct talks with the North - a policy Bush has now embraced.

On Friday, Obama spoke by telephone with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and pledged to work closely together with the Asian ally to help resolve the North Korean nuclear standoff and the global financial turmoil.

Obama called the U.S. alliance with Seoul a "cornerstone" of Asia's peace and stability, Lee's office said.

The United States helped defend South Korea during the 1950-53 Korean War. About 28,500 American troops are still stationed across South Korea to deter threats from the North.

Lee, who took office in February, is a conservative with a harder stance on Pyongyang than most of his predecessors.

Seoul's Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan told reporters Friday that there would be "no big difficulties" in coordinating North Korea policies with Obama's administration, because both countries share the same goal of denuclearizing Pyongyang and want to achieve that through dialogue.

In New York, the senior U.S. and North Korean diplomats met Thursday to discuss the next steps in implementing Pyongyang's pledge to dismantle its nuclear program. President Bush removed North Korea from the State Department's "state sponsors of terrorism" list on Oct. 11 after the North relented on nuclear inspection demands.

Kim said the meeting was "substantive, detailed, and we look forward to continuing to keep in touch."

Ri said "We all agree (in) the exchange of views what we have to do more, and what is the next thing."

Hill told reporters after the dinner meeting with Ri that they agreed to convene a new round of six-nation nuclear talks as early as possible, according to YTN.

Kashmir lockdown by troops turns city into 'prison’

Reuters, Srinagar

Troops carrying automatic rifles locked down Indian Kashmir's main city on Friday as separatists tried for a second day to hold a big rally against New Delhi's rule and upcoming elections in the disputed region.

Shops, businesses and schools remained closed across the Kashmir valley, the Muslim-majority region which in recent months has seen some of the biggest pro-independence protests since a separatist revolt against Indian rule erupted in 1989. Police and soldiers used loudspeakers in Srinagar, Kashmir's summer capital, to warn residents to stay home and blocked off lanes with razor wire and iron barricades. Residents said it resembled an undeclared curfew.

Separatists had re-scheduled their anti-India rally in the 500-year-old Jamia Masjid, or Grand Mosque, on Friday, where they were to announce plans to boycott state elections beginning on Nov. 17. "This city has now become a prison, every second day they impose a curfew without announcing it," government employee Manzoor Ahmad Shah complained.

Life in Srinagar, a city of 1.1 million people dotted with lakes and ancient Sufi shrines, is frequently disrupted by strikes, protests and curfews over separatist causes.

The latest protests, sparked by a land row over a Hindu shrine trust in June, have embarrassed the Indian government. At least 42 people have been killed by security forces and more than 1,000 wounded.

"Indian forces cannot suppress our struggle by imposing undeclared curfews and by sealing off localities," Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, chairman of the region's main separatist alliance the All Parties Hurriyat (Freedom) Conference, said in a statement.

"I appeal to people to hold peaceful rallies and protests on the poll dates," said Farooq, who has been under house arrest since Wednesday.

Senior separatist leaders who participated in an earlier anti-election campaign were sent to jail under a tough security law that allows detention for up to two years without trial.

Hurriyat, which opposes the elections, says hundreds of its supporters and activists have been arrested ahead of the polls.

The protests come as overall levels of violence between Indian troops and separatist militants have declined greatly after India and Pakistan, which both claim the region in full and rule in part, began a sluggish peace process in 2004.

Opposition tipped for victory in New Zealand election

AFP, Wellington

New Zealand's opposition National Party is set to sweep Prime Minister Helen Clark from power after nine years in office, according to opinion polls a day ahead of Saturday's general election.

They showed the relatively inexperienced National leader John Key, who only joined parliament in 2002 after earning a fortune as an investment banker, on the brink of achieving his boyhood ambition of becoming prime minister. The election campaign has focused on economic woes-the country has slid into recession and unemployment is at its highest level for nearly five years-and a more fundamental yearning for a change of government.

Key, who was flying around the country in a frantic last-day campaign push Friday, may fall short of the 50 percent that his centre-right party needs to form a government on its own. But with the help of two tiny conservative parties, he would be able to win a majority in the parliament of around 120 seats if voting follows the polls.

Since New Zealand's complex proportional voting system was introduced in 1996, no single party has been able to form a government without the help of minor parties.

A Fairfax Media survey released Friday put National on 49 percent support and Clark's centre-left Labour on 31 percent.

A Herald-DigiPoll survey also released Friday showed the gap was narrower, with National on 47.9 percent and Labour on 36.4 percent.

Two other polls released by television networks late Thursday suggested National could form a government with the help of the ACT and United Future parties, which are predicted to win four seats between them.

Key, who has led National since 2006, said the polls were "fantastic", but added he was not taking the verdict of New Zealand's 2.9 million voters for granted.

"Polls are one thing, election night results can be a very different thing," he said.

Clark, for her part, insisted the polls meant little. "That's what most of them said last time, there's nothing new about that," she said.

At the last election Labour won 49 seats, only one more than National, and formed a government with the support of three minor parties.

Clark spent her last day of campaigning in Auckland trying to ensure a high turnout in left-leaning areas of the city.

Respected as a strong if sometimes dour manager of the country during nine years of mostly solid economic growth, she continued to hammer her message that the untested Key was not up to handling the fallout of the financial crisis.

Labour snatches unlikely victory in Glenrothes by-election

AFP, London

Prime Minister Gordon Brown's Labour Party snatched victory from the jaws of defeat Friday in a key by-election seen as a test of whether his handling of the credit crunch can equal electoral revival.

Labour's Lindsay Roy won 19,946 votes in the Glenrothes seat, just north of Edinburgh, compared to 13,209 for the Scottish National Party's Peter Grant, his nearest rival. That represents a majority of 6,737.

Before the world economic chaos struck, Labour officials had all but written off their hopes of retaining the seat in the by-election, triggered by the death of sitting lawmaker John MacDougall. But Brown has enjoyed an opinion poll bounce following the crisis and this appears to have propelled his struggling party to victory. Glenrothes is the neighbouring constituency to Brown's own in Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath, and the premier broke with tradition by campaigning in person alongside wife Sarah. Labour has been behind in opinion polls since Brown pulled back from announcing a widely expected general election in October last year. The next general election must be held before mid-2010.

In recent weeks it has made up ground-last week, a ComRes/Independent poll gave the main opposition Conservatives 39 percent support and Labour 31. This compared to a 19 point deficit for Labour two months ago.

The result represents a blow to the SNP and its hopes of securing victory in a referendum on Scottish independence from London which it wants to hold in 2010.

The SNP, under First Minister Alex Salmond, has led the devolved government in Edinburgh since last year, enjoying a honeymoon period thanks to popular policies such as scrapping council tax.

But some opposition politicians have accused it of arrogance and assuming it would win Glenrothes.

Its deputy leader Nicola Sturgeon told the BBC she was "deeply disappointed" by the result and denied it was linked to a Brown bounce.

"It was a campaign fought on very local issues, it was relentlessly negative," she said.

Salmond-whose party adopted the slogan of US president-elect Barack Obama, "yes we can", on the campaign trail-accused Labour of "negative scaremongering" earlier this week.