The New Nation - Internet Edition

Violence mars start of Indian state election

AFP, Raipur

Indian security forces battled Maoist rebels in the east of the country Friday as violence marred the start of key state elections seen as a major test for the ruling Congress Party.

Ultra-leftist guerrillas in impoverished Chhattisgarh state bombed a police patrol, injuring three, snatched a ballot box and fired on police and paramilitaries guarding polling stations, officials said.

"The aim is create fear in the minds of people so that they will not come to vote," said a police official who asked not to be named.

Officials in Raipur, the state capital, said 40,000 police and soldiers had been deployed at polling stations.

Large parts of the densely-forested south of Chhattisgarh state are under rebel control and election officials said around half the 8,879 booths have been designated "sensitive" or "hyper-sensitive."

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has described the Maoists, centred in Chhattisgarh but also active in rural areas across eastern and southern India, as the biggest threat to the country's internal security. India's ruling Congress party, currently the opposition party in the state, has made the Maoist insurgency its major election issue. "Law and order is a major problem. It is an extension of the state being unable to harness youth energies fully. It is the unemployed youth who are major recruits into the Maoist ranks," said Congress spokesman Tom Vadakkan.

Incumbent Chief Minister Raman Singh, of the opposition Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has been luring voters with the promise of cheap rice for all if he wins.

Voting in Chhattisgarh has been split into two stages, with the remaining areas to vote next week.

Five more states-Madhya Pradesh in the centre, revolt-hit Kashmir, the capital Delhi, remote Mizoram in the northeast and the western desert state of Rajasthan-will vote before the end of the year.

The string of state polls come against a backdrop of rising food prices and growing concerns over the impact of the global financial crisis on India's economy-with exports and manufacturing slowing, GDP growth forecasts cut and job losses expected.

They are also seen as a mini-referendum ahead of national polls, which have to be held by May 2009 at the latest.

The BJP governs in three of the states voting but analysts say anti-incumbency sentiment may be offset by anger with the federal government over high inflation.

"The importance of these elections starting with Chhattisgarh is two-fold," said political columnist Neerja Choudhury.

"The results could determine timing of general elections: If the Congress party does well, it could call general elections as early as February.

"On the other hand, if the BJP does manage to beat the anti-incumbency factor and does well, it will emerge as a strong alternative to the coalition present government," she said.

A supporter of Sonia Gandhi, president of ruling Congress party, awaits her arrival on the last day of election campaigning in Mumbai, October 11, 2004.

12 more killed in US missile attack in Pakistan

Reuters, Miranshah

Suspected U.S. drones fired missiles into a Pakistani tribal region on Friday, killing 12 people, including five foreigners, in an area known as a stronghold of Pakistani Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud.

Pakistani officials said the attack targeted a house in a remote village on the border between North and South Waziristan, where Mehsud, an al Qaeda ally, has been bottled up by Pakistani forces since early this year.

Frustrated by fighters from Pakistan fuelling the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan and fearful of al Qaeda regrouping, U.S. forces have intensified missile attacks by pilotless drones since early September, security sources say.

"We have reports that 12 people were killed, including five foreigners," a paramilitary official told Reuters by telephone from the area.

It was unclear if the dead foreigners included Arabs, who usually signify an al Qaeda presence.

A relative and aides to Mehsud, and Pakistani government and paramilitary officials said the attack happened at around 1:45 a.m. (2045 GMT), and up to four missiles were fired.

"There were two drones flying in our area and they fired four missiles," a paramilitary official in the area said. "They were American."

Missile-armed drones are primarily used by U.S. forces in the region, though the United States seldom confirms drone attacks. Pakistan does not have any.

Mehsud, who was accused of being behind the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto last December, married a second wife in a ceremony held earlier this week in the Makeen area of South Waziristan.

"Around 50 guests attended the marriage. They were all his close friends. It was a simple ceremony," close aide Mufti Wali-ur-Rehman told Reuters.

His new wife is a madrasa-schooled daughter of a cleric from his own Mehsud tribe. Mehsud has no children by his first wife. Under Islamic custom a man can take up to four wives.

Civilian cargo plane crashes in Iraq, 7 killed

Reuters, Baghdad

A civilian cargo aircraft crashed in western Iraq on Thursday killing all seven people on board, the U.S. military and shipping firm FedEx said.

The plane was operated by a company called Falcon Aviation and was carrying FedEx cargo, FedEx spokeswoman Sandra Munoz said.

The Soviet-built AN-12 plane crashed shortly after take off, said Captain Charles Calio of the U.S. army. It had just left an air base near the western city of Falluja. Calio said no U.S. citizens or soldiers were on board the plane, which was operated by a German firm.

"It looks like everybody was lost," he said. Iraqi police Major Hussein al-Dulaimy, in western Iraq's Anbar province, said the aircraft burst into flames when it hit the ground.

Last month, a U.S. soldier was killed when two Black Hawk helicopters collided while landing in northern Baghdad, a crash which also injured two American and two Iraqi soldiers.

Seven U.S. soldiers were killed when a Chinook transport helicopter crashed in southern Iraq in September.

Vietnam to allow dual nationality

AFP, Hanoi

Vietnam has amended its nationality law to legalise dual citizenship, a change that could affect many in the Vietnamese diaspora of more than three million people, officials said Friday.

The legislature of the communist country on Thursday passed a revised law that maintains Vietnam's long standing single-nationality principle but, for the first time, allows for a number of exceptions.

The change means that many post-war refugees and other overseas Vietnamese who have become citizens of second countries can officially reclaim their lapsed Vietnamese nationality without losing their new citizenship.

"Those who apply to regain Vietnamese nationality can retain their foreign citizenship if they have justified cause and with permission from the state president," reported the state-run Vietnam News Agency (VNA).

I’m proud of Barack Obama : Sarah Palin

Internet

It's been just a little more than a week since America's unprecedented, often heated, 2008 presidential election. Along with Sen. Barack Obama's historic win, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska made some history-and waves-of her own as the vice presidential running mate of Sen. John McCain.

Sarah Palin waves to supporters on Election Night.

Sarah Palin waves to supporters on Election Night.

She drew huge crowds at her campaign stops, garnered intense media interest and brought big ratings to "Saturday Night Live" as comedian Tina Fey impersonated her in several political skits. Palin appeared on CNN's "Larry King Live" on Wednesday to discuss the historic campaign, how she thinks she affected the Republican ticket, the concession speech she never got to make, her family's coverage in the media and her plans now that the election is over.

The following is an edited version of the interview:

Larry King: When Sen. Ted Stevens was found guilty, both you and Sen. McCain called for him to step down. That has not happened. He was re-elected. What should he do now?

Sarah Palin: I said before that election, as he had been found guilty on the seven counts, that he should step down.

Now he chose not to and voters in Alaska, at least thus far, until those final ballots are counted, it looks like they are re-electing Sen. Stevens. And that's the will of the people. I'm not a dictator. I'm not going to yank anything out from under the will of the people.

Now it will be up to the U.S. Senate to decide what happens next. Video Watch highlights of Larry King's interview with Gov. Palin "

Prince Charles turns 60 waiting for throne

AP, London

Talk about an apprentice. By the time he turns 60 Friday, Prince Charles will have spent a lifetime in line to become king.

That's put him in quite a bind. The longest-waiting heir in British history only ascends to the throne when his beloved mother dies or decides to step down.

Queen Elizabeth II was hosting a birthday party for her son Thursday at Buckingham Palace. The Philharmonia Orchestra, of which the prince is patron, is due to play for invited members of the extended royal family and assorted society figures. Charles' wife Camilla was throwing a more private bash on Saturday at the prince's rural estate, complete with a performance by sexagenarian rocker Rod Stewart.

But the queen won't be giving Charles the present many believe he craves most - the crown. The queen has indicated informally that she plans to keep the job for life and some people think the 82-year-old monarch intends to live forever, or at least as long as her mother, who died at 101.

"It can't be easy," said historian Andrew Roberts. "Most of us can look forward to our new jobs, but the circumstances under which her reign comes to an end means that he can't, emotionally and psychologically."

If the queen remains in good health, Charles may be nearing 80 - or past it - when he fulfills the unique destiny that was his at birth.

Britain's next-longest monarch-in-waiting was Queen Victoria's eldest son, who became King Edward VII in 1901, aged just over 59 years and two months.

But shed no tears for old Charles and his predicament. He has made being Prince of Wales a pretty good thing.

Osama bin Laden is isolated, focused on his own security: CIA

AFP, Washington

Osama bin Laden remains deeply isolated and has been forced to devote much of his energy to his own security, CIA Director Michael Hayden said in a speech on Thursday.

"He is putting a lot of energy into his own survival, a lot of energy into his own security. In fact, he appears to be largely isolated from the day-to-day operations of the organization he nominally heads," said Hayden, referring to the Al-Qaeda network. Hunting down bin Laden remains a high priority for the Central Intelligence Agency, he said.

"I can assure you, although there has been press speculation to the contrary, I can assure you that the hunt for bin Laden is very much at the top of CIA's priority list." He suggested that bin Laden was hiding somewhere in the remote Afghanistan-Pakistan border region, where he said Al-Qaeda has regrouped and bolstered its organization.

Hayden described "the sheer challenge of surveying every square mile of that inhospitable and dangerous region," and said "part of the explanation for his survival lies in the fact that he has worked to avoid detection."

Killing or capturing bin Laden would deal a severe blow to the terror network blamed for the attacks of September 11, 2001, he said.

"Because of his iconic stature, his death or capture clearly would have a significant impact on the confidence of his followers, both core Al Qaeda and these unaffiliated extremists, unaffiliated extremists throughout the world."

In a speech examining the threat posed by Al Qaeda, Hayden said the network had "suffered serious setbacks, but it remains a determined, adaptive enemy, unlike any our nation has ever faced."

He said major terrorist threats against the United States could all be traced back to the group's "safe haven" in the tribal areas of Pakistan.

"Let me be very clear: Today, virtually every major terrorist threat that my agency is aware of has threads back to the tribal areas. Whether it's command and control, training, direction, money, capabilities, there is a connection to the FATA (tribal areas."

He said Al-Qaeda was on the retreat in Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Iraq, while it had strengthened in Pakistan's tribal areas and expanded its activity into North Africa, Somalia and Yemen.

"North Africa, East Africa, Yemen serve as kind of a counterweight to the good news out of Iraq, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere," he said, adding that the latest problems in Africa were not as serious as previous threats in Iraq or Saudi Arabia.

UN food distribution in Gaza grinds to a halt

AFP, Gaza City

UN food distribution to half of Gaza's 1.5 million population ground to a halt on Friday as Israel maintained a total lockdown of the impoverished Palestinian territory amid continuing violence.

"We have no food," said Chris Gunness, a spokesman for the UN Works and Relief Agency which usually distributes emergency rations to about 750,000 people in the Gaza Strip, an overcrowed sliver of land crippled by a blockade Israel says aims at making militants stop their attacks. UNWRA says it was forced to stop the distribution as it has received no supplies since Israel tightened the blockade on November 5. "Our warehouses are empty," said Gunness. Israel usually allows limited quantities of humanitarian supplies into Gaza, but completely sealed off the Palestinian territory following a surge of bloodshed earlier this month.

The violence continued on Friday, when Israel launched an air raid which Palestinian medics say wounded two militants, and Israeli police said Gaza fighters fired at least one rocket at southern Israel.

Defence Minister Ehud Barak decided on Thursday night to keep the Gaza crossings closed after four rockets were fired at Israel, without causing any casualties or damage.

Israel also cut off European Union-funded fuel supplies to Gaza's sole power plant on Thursday, prompting it to shut down for want of diesel.

Humanitarian agencies warned that the continued closure would lead to a further deterioration of the already precarious situation in Gaza.

"It means children, mothers, elderly people, among the most vulnerable and disadvantaged in the Middle East, are not going to get UN assistance," Gunness told AFP.

UN agencies and the International Committee of the Red Cross had received clearance to deliver 30 truckloads of supplies on Thursday, but Israel turned the vehicles back, citing continued violence.

Israel had been expected to significantly ease its embargo after a six-month truce went into effect on June 19, but it argues that sporadic attacks by militants have made this impossible.