The New Nation - Internet Edition

60 Sri Lankan soldiers killed in fighting, claim Tigers

AFP, Colombo

Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels mounted counter-attacks against government troops and killed at least 60 soldiers besieging their political headquarters, the guerrillas said Sunday.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said they had re-taken positions from government forces who have been closing in on the northern town of Kilinochchi, the Tiger's political capital.

The pro-rebel Tamilnet website quoted Tiger officials saying that they had killed 60 soldiers and wounded another 150 in Saturday's fighting. The rebels also claimed they had captured the bodies of 12 soldiers.

The Tigers did not give details of their own casualties, but the defence ministry said the guerrillas suffered "heavy damages" when troops hit back.

The defence ministry rejected rebel claims of high military losses and placed security force casualties at 13 soldiers killed and 40 wounded. Both sides are known to make exaggerated claims about the casualties they have inflicted on each other, and independent verification is virtually impossible with journalists and aid workers barred from the conflict area. The latest Tiger claims of heavy counter-attacks came as the military said the air force had carried out strikes against Tiger positions and government troops had made a fresh bid to penetrate defences around Kilinochchi.

Planes carried out seven bombing sorties on Saturday in support of soldiers trying to capture the town, the defence ministry said.

"Air force fighter jets made seven successive air strikes targeting LTTE defences and strategic locations in Wanni (of which Kilinochchi is the capital)," the ministry said.

The navy on Saturday destroyed a Tamil Tiger vessel carrying arms and other supplies off the island's northeastern coast, the ministry said. There was no immediate comment from the Tigers about the reported sea battle.

The LTTE said it repelled a multi-pronged offensive by government forces earlier this week, killing 170 soldiers and wounding 420 others on Tuesday and Wednesday. The military rejected these claims. President Mahinda Rajapaksa's government has been predicting the imminent fall of Kilinochchi for months, and the military recently said it was within "kissing distance" of the town.

In January the Sri Lankan government pulled out of a 2002 Norwegian-brokered truce with the rebels, who have been fighting since 1972 for a state for ethnic minority Tamils separate from the majority Sinhalese community.

Interpol chief promises assistance to Mumbai attacks probe

AFP, New Delhi

The chief of global police agency Interpol met Indian officials Saturday and pledged assistance in a probe into last month's attacks in Mumbai by gunmen whom India insists came from Pakistan.

Ronald Noble met Home Minister P. Chidambaram and promised help in securing details of the 10 gunmen who attacked two luxury hotels, a rail station and a Jewish cultural centre on 26 November in Mumbai, officials said.

Noble told Chidambaram Interpol was comparing DNA profiles and other identifications of the attackers such as photographs and fingerprints with its global database of fugitives, home ministry officials said.

The attacks on India's financial capital left 172 dead, including nine of the gunmen. One of the attackers was caught and is in police custody.

The Interpol secretary general also met the head of India's Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI).

"India and its CBI have much experience in using Interpol tools and services to track down terrorist fugitives," Noble said in a statement.

"India understands that it cannot be expected to find the answers to this incident without the support of the global law enforcement community, and we will help ensure that this happens," Noble added.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh meanwhile urged Indian security agencies to use modern technology to try to prevent similar attacks.

"The role of technology in supporting our counter-terrorism and internal security efforts is not adequately appreciated," Singh said Saturday in New Delhi.

"Other countries have used modern technology in their security structures with great effect. It acts not only as a force multiplier but can also provide solutions to human problems relating to command, coordination and communication," he added.

India says the gunmen were trained and equipped by the Pakistan-based militant group Laskhar-e-Taiba and travelled to Mumbai on a hijacked trawler from the Pakistani city of Karachi. The group has denied any involvement.

New Delhi also unveiled plans to install radar units along India's coasts to reinforce maritime surveillance, the Press Trust of India said.

20 killed in attack on Mali army outpost

AFP, Bamako

Nine soldiers were killed and 12 wounded in an attack attributed to Tuareg rebels on a military post at Nampala in the north of Mali, the defence ministry announced early Sunday.

The ministry said 11 "assailants" had been killed and "many wounded."

A source close to rebel leader Ibrahim Ag Bahanga told AFP earlier that at least 20 Malian soldiers had been killed.

The defence ministry said in a statement that on Saturday morning the post at Nampala 500 kilometres (300 miles) bortheast of Bamako "was attacked by a gang linked to drug traffickers. Toll: army and security forces, nine dead and 12 wounded; assailants, 11 dead and many wounded."

Questioned by AFP a ministry official said the "assailants" had arrived in vehicles formally identified as those belonging to drug traffickers.

"We were looking for these vehicles, so those who came in them must be linked to the drug traffic," the source said.

Earlier the source close to Ag Bahanga said: "We gained the upper hand in the attack because we were prepared. On the army side there were more than 20 dead. We regret that, but it was them or us. We have wounded on our side."

Ag Bahanga has called for the army to leave the nearby town of Tinezawaten. The army has always refused, saying that it is used by international drug traffickers with whom Ag Bahanga is accused of being involved.

A local administration official in Nampala said there were "dead and wounded on both sides" but was unable to provide further details of the attack, launched overnight with the apparent aim of capturing the town's barracks.

Other officials said troop reinforcements had been dispatched earlier to the town, which lies near the border with Mauritania.

An independent source in the region, contacted by AFP, said civilians had been killed in the clashes.

The attacks came days after Mali's President Amadou Toumani Toure called on Tuareg rebels operating in the northern desert regions to lay down their arms and agree on a new peace deal.

Tuareg rebels regrouped recently in the mountainous regions close to the Algerian and Mauritanian borders and are calling on the government to honour an agreement signed between the two sides in 2006.

In the deal, rebels dropped their demand for autonomy for the Kidal region after the government pledged to speed up the development of three northern regions in Mali.

30,000 new US troops in Afghanistan by summer : Admiral Mullen

AFP, Kabul

The United States plans to send between 20,000 and 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan by next summer, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, said here Saturday.

General David McKiernan, the US commander in Afghanistan, has asked for more than 20,000 extra US soldiers to counter a rise in insurgent violence, seven years after US forces first invaded the country to oust the Taliban from power.

But the potential deployment of 30,000 extra troops discussed by Mullen-the highest-ranking US military officer-would nearly double the US military presence in Afghanistan, which currently stands at 31,000.

"The troops that were asked for in joint discussions with General McKiernan is what we're going to need for the foreseeable future. So I don't see an increase any higher at this point than 20 to 30,000," Mullen told reporters.

Mullen said he hoped the extra troops-including four combat brigades, an aviation brigade and other support forces-could be deployed by mid-2009.

"We're looking to get them here in the spring, but certainly by the beginning of summer at the latest," he said.

Mullen said he could not give the "exact number" of soldiers that would be sent, but said 20,000-30,000 represented "the window of the overall increase where we are right now."

But he cautioned against thinking that a massive influx of US forces would automatically bring peace to the war-ravaged country.

"It isn't going to make a difference after those troops get here, if we haven't made progress on the development side and on the government side," he said.

Some 70,000 foreign troops are already in Afghanistan, fighting an insurgency that has grown increasingly violent since the US-led coalition ousted the hardline Taliban regime in 2001.

This year has been the bloodiest for international forces here since the Taliban fell, with nearly 290 soldiers killed. About 1,000 Afghan troops and police, as well as more than 2,000 civilians, have also been killed in 2008.

When asked about the possibility of talks with the insurgents, after Afghan President Hamid Karzai called on fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Omar to come to the negotiating table, Mullen remained cautious.

"In counter-insurgency, you always get to a point when you provide alternatives for individuals who are insurgents to change, those who are reconcilable," he said.

Ageing Castro still rules 50 years after revolution

AP, Havana

In the palace of a fallen dictator, the grade-school kids in their red Communist Pioneer bandanas are getting their mandatory introduction to the glories of the revolution. Clattering from one display case to the next, they gaze wide-eyed at an antique gun, a fighter's bloodied shirt, the engine of a downed U.S. spy plane.

Moving on, they stare at the yacht named Granma that carried Fidel Castro back from exile to launch his guerrilla war, and the combat boots his brother-successor wore as a ponytailed 27-year-old rebel.

The palace of Fulgencio Batista, the ruler whom Castro overthrew, is now the Museum of the Revolution, and these 6- and 7-year-olds are the heirs to a communist government about to turn 50 - a system that may be softening at the edges but appears determined to crush any threat to its grip on power, lest it crumble like its one-time godfather, the Soviet Union.

Since Castro declared victory on New Year's Day, 1959, the day after Batista fled the country, his rule has prevailed through 10 U.S. presidents, the U.S.-backed Bay of Pigs invasion, a world-shaking missile crisis, the U.S. embargo, the Soviet collapse and the onslaught of globalization. Now 82, he is ailing and out of sight but still the head of the Communist Party of Cuba. Raul Castro, his successor as president, is taking baby steps toward change and vowing to fend off any challenge to his brother's legacy.

But today, between the extremes of enforced communist dogma and the die-hards of the Cuban diaspora still dreaming of bringing down the Castro regime, other faces of Cuba are emerging from deep underground: rappers, gays, dissident bloggers, installers of pirate satellite dishes, teenagers with tattoos and pierced belly buttons, and the women who call themselves Las Damas de Blanco, or Ladies in White.

Each Sunday, these women deliver a muted counterpart to the official cry of "Viva Fidel! Viva la revolucion!" by marching down Quinta Avenida, a busy Havana thoroughfare, each dressed in white and carrying a gladiola, silently demanding the release of their husbands from political imprisonment.

Dissidents have a new way to reach the outside world - blogging. Yoani Sanchez, 33, gets her message out by dressing like a tourist and slipping into a hotel with Web access for foreigners. She works quickly at a computer terminal and gets out before someone notices her.

UAE buys US missiles

Reuters, Dubai

Iran's Gulf neighbor, the United Arab Emirates, has signed a deal worth $3.3 billion to buy missiles from U.S. firm Raytheon, a newspaper reported on Saturday.

The U.S. Defence Department said in September it had proposed the sale of air defense systems and helicopters to the UAE with a total potential value of more than $9 billion.

The main item in the Pentagon-proposed package was Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, worth up to $7 billion. The system is built by Lockheed Martin Corp with a system radar from Raytheon Co.

The National, an Abu Dhabi based-newspaper, said the deal was to buy Patriot missiles.

The proposed package included up to $121 million for Patriot Advanced Capability-3 Missile Systems from Raytheon and Lockheed Martin.

"The agreement t includes technology, training and supply of the medium-range missile system, which is part of a multi-tiered defensive shield the UAE Armed Forces is building to protect the nation from perceived threats in the region," it said.

Gulf Arab nations have voiced concern over Iran's nuclear program and urged a peaceful solution to a standoff between Tehran and Washington over the Iranian atomic plans.

Japan's emperor turns 75 with worries over royal future

AFP, Tokyo

Japanese Emperor Akihito turns 75 this week with worries mounting over his succession in the world's oldest monarchy and with the country's stressed crown princess entering her sixth year as a recluse.

Akihito, who in 2009 will mark 20 years since he ascended the Chrysanthemum Throne, has cancelled a customary annual news conference ahead of his birthday Tuesday due to health problems.

The emperor, whose father Hirohito was revered as a demigod until Japan's defeat in World War II, will instead issue a statement expressing his "feelings" on his birthday. His plight has renewed public attention on stress among the royals. Crown Princess Masako has skipped most public duties since late 2003 as the former career woman struggles to adjust to the tradition-bound palace.

On December 11, Imperial Household Agency chief Shingo Haketa surprised the public by going on the record about the emperor's distress.

The emperor has seemed "worried for the past several years about the future imperial line and various other issues concerning the imperial household, which never leave his mind," Haketa said, while noting it was his personal view.

Masako gave birth to a girl in 2001 after eight years of marriage with Crown Prince Naruhito.

The birth fuelled a divisive dispute on whether the nation should allow a woman to sit on the Chrysanthemum Throne, which traditionalists say has an unbroken male line of succession.

The succession dispute subsided in 2006 when the wife of the crown prince's younger brother gave birth to a boy, the first prince in 40 years born to the royal family.

Obama signals break with Bush in new science team

AFP, Washington

President-elect Barack Obama vowed to "restore America's place" at the forefront of scientific advancement and signaled a break with his predecessor as he named award-winning science and technology advisors to his White House team.

Indicating a change with outgoing President George W. Bush's policies on global warming, Obama named John Holdren, an award-winning environmental policy professor at Harvard University, to head the Office of Science and Technology Policy and co-chair the president's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. "Today, more than ever before, science holds the key to our survival as a planet and our security and prosperity as a nation," Obama said in a weekly radio and video address in which he announced Holdren and others for key posts.

"It's time we once again put science at the top of our agenda and worked to restore America's place as the world leader in science and technology."

Obama 's comments were a clear reference to the Bush administration which has been accused of putting politics over science, including downplaying scientific findings on climate change and genetic research.

Obama called Holdren "one of the most passionate and persistent voices of our time about the growing threat of climate change."

Holdren, 64, led the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, an international group of prominent scientists that won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1995. He also won a MacArthur Foundation "genius award" in 1981 for his arms control work.

Holdren, a Washington insider, served as former president Bill Clinton's science and technology advisor in the 1990s.

Winter storms pound US from one side to the other

AP, Des Moines

Successive waves of wintry weather gripped much of the country Saturday, frustrating holiday travelers from coast to coast and keeping the lights off for thousands of people who lost power in recent ice storms.

Iowa public safety officials urged motorists not to travel as heavy snow began to fall in the morning. The state expected winds up to 35 miles per hour and wind chills of 25 below zero just two days after being slammed with sleet, ice and snow.

Blizzard warnings were posted for parts of Washington as high winds, snow and freezing rain began coating the state. Western Washington, including the Seattle area, could see wind gusts as high as 90 mph, said said Johnny Burg, a National Weather Service meteorologist. The temperature dipped to 18 below on Saturday in Spokane, which expected up to 6 inches of snow on top of the 25 that fell over the past three days, Burg said.

Icy wind and heavy snow closed a 45-mile stretch of Interestate 84 in Oregon between the Portland suburb of Troutdale and Hood River.

The wintry conditions weren't unwelcome everywhere. Megan Zarbano, manager of Kratz Hardware in Valley City, N.D., noted the snow was helping clear inventory from years of mild winters.

"We haven't had a blizzard-type storm in almost 10 years," she said. "A good storm really shakes people up; they freak out and realize they're not prepared for winter."

North Dakota's snowfall total for December nearly matches the 19.3 Advertisement Click heret

inches that fell all last winter, said meteorologist Joshua Scheck at the National Weather Service office in Bismarck.

Mauritania junta frees president from house arrest

Reuters, Nouakchott

Mauritania's military junta on Sunday freed the country's ousted president Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdallahi from house arrest, a politician supporting Abdallahi said. Abdallahi, toppled in an August 6 coup, was taken by security officers from his home town of Lemden, where he had been under house arrest since mid-November, to his home in the capital Nouakchott and was told he was being released, Moulay Eli Ould Ahmed told Reuters. A police official confirmed that police were given orders to take ousted President Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi into custody and drive him to his home in the African country's capital, Nouakchott, where he was to be freed.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak the press.

A military junta deposed Abdallahi in a coup Aug. 6 and placed him under house arrest. Both the United States and France canceled aid to African country, demanding Abdallahi's release. The U.S. has also placed a travel ban on the leaders of the junta.

Bowing to the international pressure, the junta recently announced that the former president would be freed unconditionally before the end of the month. But the president's daughter says her father was never informed directly about the junta's plan, learning about it from press reports and from visiting diplomats.

For the first four months, the ruling junta kept Abdallahi under house arrest in a villa in the capital. They then transferred him to his native village of Lemden, located 150 miles from Nouakchott, where he was allowed to leave his house, but not the town.

Greek protesters hurl firebombs at police

AFP, Athens

Clashes between youths and police continued into the night Sunday around Athens Polytechnic in the district where a teenager was killed by a policeman two weeks ago sparking nationwide unrest.

Hundreds of people gathered late Saturday in the Exarchia district at the site of the December 6 shooting of 15-year-old Alexis Grigoropoulos for a protest organised by youths occupying Athens Polytechnic.

Protesters hurled firebombs at police who responded with tear gas. A group threw stones and Molotov cocktails at police and set fire to garbage bins, acts often seen in Exarchia since the boy's killing. Police also clashed with protesters after a separate demonstration against racism that was attended by around 200 people in Syntagma Square. "Migrants are killed, schoolchildren are killed," said banners carried by the protesters who marched to the Greek parliament.

Protesters threw garbage at police who ringed a Christmas tree on the main square. The tree was brought in last week after the original was torched at the height of unrest following the schoolboy's death.

Later, a group threw a petrol bomb at a building housing a banking services company, although there was only minor damage and the fire was quickly brought under control.

In Nea Philadelfia, a western suburb of Athens, demonstrators threw Molotov cocktails at the police academy and torched six police vehicles parked nearby, without causing any casualties, police said.

Another group of youths set fire to garbage cans in the northern suburb of Aghia Paraskevi.