The New Nation - Internet Edition

Bush, Olmert leaving with no Mideast peace deal

AP, Washington

President George W. Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's lofty Mideast peace goals are going out with a whimper.

Wrapping up three years of close cooperation, the two leaders met for probably the final time Monday and pledged to leave behind a productive peace process for their successors when they leave office. In brief comments to reporters before their hourlong talk in the Oval Office, both gave off an air of nostalgia, thanking each other profusely for their friendship and dedication to peace.

"We've been through a lot together during our time in office," Bush said. "We strongly believe that Israel will benefit by having a Palestinian state, a democracy on her border that works for peace."

Turning to Olmert, he said: "I want to thank you for the friendship, and thank you for your vision. And I just want you to know that I believe that vision is alive."

Olmert said, "A two-state solution is the only possible way to resolve the conflict in the Middle East."

A year ago, to great fanfare, Bush announced the resumption of peace talks, after a seven-year hiatus, at a Mideast summit hosted in Annapolis, Md. Summit participants set an ambitious target of concluding a final peace deal by the end of 2008.

Despite frequent negotiating sessions, Olmert and the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, have little to show for their efforts and seem no closer to a peace agreement than they were before the summit.

"It was then, and remains now, an illusion," said Aaron David Miller, a former adviser to both Republican and Democratic secretaries of state. "A conflict-ending agreement is still beyond reach - you have big gaps, weak leaders and political constraints on both sides."

Bush invited Olmert to Washington as part of his final round of talks with world leaders before he leaves office Jan. 20. Olmert, who in September announced plans to resign amid corruption charges, will step down after a successor is chosen Feb. 10.

Olmert has become increasingly candid of late, saying Israel will have to withdraw from almost all of the West Bank and parts of east Jerusalem to make peace with the Palestinians. But he has come under fire for waiting until the end of his term to say so and to act on his words.

Bush also has been criticized for taking a hands-off approach to Mideast peacemaking until the final push late into his tenure, especially in comparison with the active mediation of his predecessor, President Bill Clinton.

Obama promotes fiscal restraint, big spending

AP, Washington

President-elect Barack Obama wants to project fiscal restraint even as his economic team assembles a massive recovery package that could cost several hundred billion dollars.

A day after introducing the captains of his economic team and promoting a giant jobs plan, Obama on Tuesday was to lay out his budget belt-tightening vision. The dual images - big spender and disciplined budget watcher - were designed to give both political and economic assurances to the public, the Congress and the financial markets.

Obama also was expected to introduce Peter Orszag as his new director of the Office of Management and Budget, the White House office that serves as a funnel for federal agency budget requests. Orszag is the current director of the Congressional Budget Office.

Obama's economic team embodies what at first glance seem to be mutually exclusive goals. Timothy Geithner, Obama's choice for treasury secretary; Lawrence Summers, who will head the National Economic Council; and Orszag all have links to Robert Rubin, who as President Clinton's treasury secretary pushed for a balanced budget.

But all three will also be part of an administration that will drive deficits to new heights with an economic plan designed to save or create 2.5 million jobs and redirect the economy over the next two years. Economists from across the political spectrum, including some who have served as informal advisers to Obama, have put the size of an economic recovery package as high as $700 billion over two years.

Israel seals off the Gaza Strip again

AFP, Jerusalem

Israel again sealed off the Gaza Strip on Tuesday in response to rocket fire, one day after humanitarian supplies were allowed in for the second time since a November 4 surge in violence.

"After rockets were fired at the Israeli territory, Defence Minister Ehud Barak decided, following consultations with security services officials, that the crossing points will be closed on Tuesday," the defence ministry said in a statement.

Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired a rocket at southern Israel on Monday, causing no casualties or damage, a military spokesman said.

On Monday, 30 truckloads of humanitarian and other basic goods were delivered to Gaza. The Israeli authorities had previously opened the Kerem Shalom border crossing for only one day since a November 4 surge in violence.

Israel also opened the Karni crossing conveyor belt to deliver wheat and grain as well as the Nahal Oz terminal for the delivery of fuel to Gaza's sole power plant.

Sri Lanka poised to take Tiger HQ despite rains

AFP, Colombo

Security forces ambushed and killed scores of Tamil Tigers in northern Sri Lanka on Tuesday, the defence ministry said, adding its troops were poised to take the rebels' political capital.

Government soldiers occupying a newly-captured bunker line from the Tiger rebels in the Jaffna peninsula carried out the ambush early Tuesday, the ministry said in a statement. It did not say if there were casualties among troops. However, the ministry said government soldiers in the northern mainland were set to take the town of Kilinochchi, the political capital of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Heavy fighting was raging along three fronts on the outskirts of Kilinochchi despite monsoon rains, the ministry said. "Soldiers are busy with strengthening the supply backbone for troops in the forward areas with loads of food, drinking water and medicine being transported there," the ministry said.

Zimbabwe rivals in new talks to end deadlock

Reuters , Johannesburg

Zimbabwe's political rivals meet in South Africa on Tuesday for talks to end political deadlock, as pressure mounts from regional leaders for a deal to prevent the country's humanitarian crisis becoming still worse.

Negotiators from President Robert Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party, the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and a breakaway MDC faction will meet mediator Thabo Mbeki to discuss a draft constitutional amendment paving the way for a new government.

Former South African President Mbeki has been reviewing the draft law, which many in the southern African country hope will usher in a new government to end a crippling economic crisis that has seen inflation soar to more than 230 million percent.

The MDC has refused to enter government, accusing ZANU-PF of trying to take the most powerful ministries and freeze it out, violating a September 15 power-sharing deal. Talks on forming a cabinet have been deadlocked for two months.

Chavez slams Obama's 'very bad signals' to Iran

AFP, Caracas

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a fierce critic of the United States, late Monday slammed "very bad signals" from U.S. president-elect Barack Obama that he said were "disrespectful" to Iran.

"Iranian President "Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sent him a letter. The reply wasn't good. It was disrespectful. Obama was unable to get away from the cliche.

Land mine blast kills 5 Indian police officers

AP, New Delhi

Five Indian police officers are dead after a land mine explosion in the country's restive east.

Indian authorities say the officers were killed while they were escorting election officials across a bridge Tuesday in Bastar district in Chattisgarh state.

Police inspector-general Amarnath Upadhyaya says the officers were ambushed by suspected communist rebels.

Kuwait cabinet walks out of parliament in crisis

Reuters, Kuwait

Kuwait's cabinet walked out of parliament Tuesday to prevent lawmakers from questioning the prime minister, a move that threatens further delay to key economy reforms and may lead to the dissolution of the assembly.

Speaker Jassim al-Kharafi said parliament would not meet on Wednesday either because the government refused to attend.

The impasse jeopardizes key economic reforms such as a plan to set up a financial regulator and recent measures to tackle the impact of the global financial crisis by pumping cash into the Arab world's second-largest bourse.

Thai protests enter second day with PM office siege

AFP, Bangkok

Thousands of Thai protesters besieged the prime minister's temporary offices at an abandoned Bangkok airport Tuesday, on the second day of marches aimed at toppling the elected government.

Yellow-clad activists took trucks, buses and cars to the old Don Mueang international airport-where premier Somchai Wongsawat set up shop after activists captured the capital's main government offices in August. The show of force came a day after thousands of demonstrators descended on parliament in what they have called the "final battle" against the administration, forcing lawmakers to postpone a joint session.

"There are more than 10,000 of us here and we are prepared for a long siege like at Government House (in central Bangkok)," said Sawit Kaoewan, a leader of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD). Police confirmed the figure.

Iran praises Lebanese resistance against Israel

AFP, Tehran

Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday praised Lebanese resistance against Israel, in a meeting with Lebanon's President Michel Sleiman, state news agency IRNA reported.

Ahmadinejad said a 34-day war in 2006 between Israel and the Iran-backed Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah, in which more than 1,200 people died, led to "many achievements for the Lebanese people and the region." "The Lebanese disappointed the enemy forever and crushed the myth of the enemies' invincibility," Ahmadinejad told Sleiman, who is on a two-day visit to Tehran accompanied by six ministers.

"The attack two years ago which was intended to destroy this country became a turning point for recovering Lebanon's identity and unity," Ahmadinejad said.

Sleiman described relations between Tehran and Beirut as "good" and said his visit was aimed at "meeting senior Iranian officials and strengthening bilateral ties," IRNA reported.

Afghan president sees 'dim ray of hope’ for peace

Reuters, Kabul

Afghan President Hamid Karzai said the emergence of a democratic government in Pakistan offered a "dim ray of hope" that regional cooperation, including India, could help bring an end to Taliban and al Qaeda violence.

Afghan officials have long accused Pakistan's intelligence service of secretly backing Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan to keep the country weak and achieve "strategic depth," allowing the Pakistani army to concentrate on defending the border with India.Pakistan has always denied the charge, but analysts say the policy backfired with Taliban militants in the tribal regions along the rugged Afghan border now threatening stability in Pakistan with dozens of suicide bombs that have killed hundreds in the last two years.

NKorea reports another public appearance by Kim

AFP, Seoul

North Korea reported Tuesday that its leader Kim Jong-Il has visited factories in the communist country, as rumours about his health persist.

The official Korean Central News Agency said in a report early Tuesday that Kim had visited a cosmetics factory and a machinery plant, where he praised staff.

It did not say exactly when the visit took place, but said Kim congratulated workers at the Rakwon Machine Complex on completing the year's assignments by the end of October, suggesting it was this month.

North Korea's exclusively state-run media do not generally reveal the exact date or venue of Kim's appearances.

After he missed a September 9 parade marking his country's 60th anniversary, South Korean and US officials said Kim had suffered a stroke around mid-August but was recovering well.

Abbas gives Hamas end-of-year deadline for talks

AFP, Ramallah

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on Monday gave the Islamist Hamas movement which controls Gaza an end-of-year deadline to resume dialogue with his leadership or face snap elections.

"We reiterate today that we are going to set a deadline of the end of the year for the launch of a national dialogue," Abbas said in a televised address. "If our appeal goes unheeded, we will call fresh presidential and parliamentary elections." Hamas walked out of Egyptian-brokered reconciliation talks with Abbas's secular Fatah movement earlier this month and has said it will only return if his security forces free Islamist supporters in the West Bank. The Western-backed president said the new elections would be "based entirely on a proportional representation system," not the half proportional, half constituency-based system used in the last parliamentary elections in 2006 that saw Hamas win an upset victory.