The New Nation - Internet Edition

Israeli attack continues amid Egyptian truce talks

AFP, Gaza City

Israeli troops clashed with Hamas fighters on Monday across the Gaza Strip after the Jewish state poured reserve troops into the territory and ceasefire talks plodded on in Egypt.

Israeli warplanes struck some 12 targets in Gaza overnight, the army said, marking the lowest level of night-time bombing of Israel's deadliest offensive in the Palestinian enclave launched in response to rocket fire. Infantry units exchanged fire with Palestinian fighters across Gaza, including in the northern town of Jabaliya and the southern town of Khan Yunis, the army and witnesses said.

Late Sunday Israel sent reserve troops into Gaza in what Israeli media said could be a sign of intensifying operations.

In Egypt, which has been spearheading Western-backed efforts to end the Israeli offensive that has claimed nearly 900 lives, talks were due to resume between Egyptian officials and Hamas. But Israel's pointman for Gaza truce talks, Amos Gilad, delayed a planned visit in what Israeli radio speculated was meant as a pressure tactic on Hamas. On Sunday a senior Israeli official told AFP that "Olmert believes Israel can reach an understanding with Egypt but at the moment, there is no intention to let up the pressure on Hamas." Speaking during the cabinet meeting on Sunday, Olmert said that "Israel has no intention to decrease the pressure on Hamas."

On Sunday, Cairo upped the pressure on Israel by summoning its ambassador to demand that the Jewish state comply with last week's UN Security Council resolution and open humanitarian corridors to relieve the besieged territory.

Both Israel and Hamas have waved off the resolution that called for an immediate end to the fighting.

Cairo said that it had held positive talks with a Hamas team, saying the Islamists agreed "on the importance of t stopping the shedding of Palestinian blood as soon as possible."

Osama Hamdan, Hamas's representative in Lebanon, told Al-Jazeera television afterwards that "there was some progress on some points" of the Egyptian proposal. "We reject parts of this proposal t but that does not mean rejection of all the proposal." He added without elaborating that there had been no progress "on some of the sensitive points."

The negotiations in Cairo are centering on a three-point plan that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak unveiled during the week.

The plan calls for an immediate ceasefire to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza, talks on opening Gaza's border crossings and taking steps to prevent arms smuggling, and relaunching Palestinian reconciliation efforts.

Israeli officials on Sunday suggested the war the Jewish state unleashed on Hamas in Gaza could be approaching an end, in first such comments since the start of the offensive on December 27.

"The decision of the (UN) Security Council doesn't give us much leeway," Deputy Defence Minister Matan Vilnai told public radio.

"Thus it would seem that we are close to ending the ground operation and ending the operation altogether."

Earlier, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Israel was nearing the goals it had set for its operation, but that fighting would continue for now.

"Israel is approaching these goals, but more patience and determination are required," Olmert told a cabinet meeting.

Since the start of Israel's Operation Cast Lead on December 27, at least 890 people have been killed, including 275 children, and another 3,800 wounded, according to Gaza medics.

Ten Israeli soldiers and three civilians have been killed in combat or in rocket attacks since the operation began. Palestinian militants have fired nearly 700 rockets, some of them penetrating deeper than ever inside Israel.

The conflict has sparked worldwide pro-Palestinian demonstrations, and US president elect Barack Obama said he is assembling a team of diplomats to start addressing the Middle East conflict once he is sworn in on January 20.

Obama vows to take swift action on ME peace

AFP, Washington

US president-elect Barack Obama has vowed to take swift action on the Middle East peace process and Iran's nuclear ambitions but played for time to shut down the Guantanamo Bay prison camp.

In an interview with ABC's "This Week" program broadcast Sunday, Obama defended his reluctance to speak out on Israel's bloody offensive in the Gaza Strip before he succeeds President George W. Bush on January 20.

But while he promised rapid efforts on the peace process and diplomatic engagement with Iran, Obama said it would be a "challenge" to close the Guantanamo Bay prison camp in his first 100 days in office.

Obama said he was building a diplomatic team so that "on day one, we have the best possible people who are going to be immediately engaged in the Middle East peace process as a whole." The team would "be engaging with all of the actors there" so that "both Israelis and Palestinians can meet their aspirations," Obama said. Until then, he said again that he would leave the Bush administration to speak on foreign policy.

Israel indicated for the first time Sunday that an end was in sight to its war on the Palestinian group Hamas, amid some of the heaviest clashes of an offensive that has killed nearly 900 people in the Gaza Strip.

Asked about Arab criticism of his relative silence on the bloodshed, Obama said "when you see civilians, whether Palestinian or Israeli, harmed, under hardship, it's heartbreaking."

"And obviously what that does is it makes me much more determined to try to break a deadlock that has gone on for decades now."

Under the Bush administration, the United States has been accused by the Palestinians of siding uncritically with Israel to the detriment of the peace process overall.

Obama stood by his words of July, during a visit to Israel, when he had said: "If somebody was sending rockets into my house where my two daughters sleep at night, I'm going to do everything in my power to stop that. I would expect Israelis to do the same thing."

Obama meanwhile took note of a warning from former US defense secretary William Perry Thursday that he would likely face a "serious crisis" over Iran's nuclear ambitions in his first year in office.

Obama’s inauguration gets a test run at Capitol

AP, Washington

Derrick Brooks puts his left hand on the book and raises his right, ready to take the oath of office. Dozens of cameras capture this moment in history, even though Brooks is wearing a name card reading "Pres.-elect Obama."

"It felt great to be famous for one day," Brooks told reporters after spending hours standing in for Barack Obama during Sunday's dress rehearsal for the presidential inaugural Jan. 20.

Organizers picked the 26-year-old Army staff sergeant from Fayetteville, N.C., because he resembles Obama in height, weight and skin color. But he's not an exact match. When Brooks met Obama last Thursday, "he said my ears weren't as big as his."

Admitted to the exclusive club of stand-ins were military personnel from the area who resembled Obama's wife, Michelle, Vice President-elect Joe Biden and others expected on the inaugural stage. Even a faux President George W. Bush showed up as inaugural officials worked out the kinks in their plans for what likely will be the biggest ceremony the nation's capital has ever hosted.

As the sky over the Capitol grew light, cannons boomed, military bands played marching music and stand-ins took their places.

The 6-foot 2-inch Brooks stood stock still as several handlers moved the man facing him, a stand-in for Chief Justice John Roberts, to the right - then left, then right again, before marking the spot with brightly colored tape. Small shifts and fixes were all part of a long day.

"It's important to rehearse this so it goes off flawlessly on the inauguration day," said Navy Chief Petty Officer Lucy Quinn, spokeswoman for the Armed Forces Inaugural Committee. "The president is supposed to take the oath of office as close to noon as can possibly be timed."

Even before the stand-ins took their places, the U.S. Marine Band and U.S. Army Herald Trumpets fine-tuned their performances. The musicians chuckled at those who made mistakes while practicing.

Sam Myers, a top campaign aide who Biden recently named to a staff post, checked out the scene and walked among the stand-ins. He and other aides to the president-elect and vice president elect at the rehearsal will walk their bosses through what they should expect, according to Howard Gantman, staff director of the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies.

9 killed in Baghdad bomb blasts

AP, Baghdad

A series of bombs targeting Iraqi security forces ripped through busy areas in Baghdad on Monday, killing at least nine people, police said.

The violence began when two vehicles parked about 50 yards apart exploded in quick succession just after 7 a.m., as a police patrol passed by a bakery in a mainly Shiite area.

The road, which runs through a commercial district, is frequently used by police and army convoys in the eastern New Baghdad neighborhood, residents said.

Police and hospital officials said four people, including a policeman who died at the hospital, were killed and nine others wounded.

The U.S. military said the Iraqi police were hit when explosives planted on a truck detonated as they were responded to the initial car bomb. The U.S. military gave a lower casualty toll, saying one Iraqi policeman was killed and two civilians were wounded.

In western Baghdad, a roadside bomb struck a military convoy with a truck carrying weapons in the mainly Sunni area of Yarmouk, killing three Iraqi soldiers and wounding four bystanders, police said.

Two other roadside bombs apparently aimed at Iraqi army and police patrols elsewhere in the capital killed two civilians and wounded seven other people, police officials said.

The Iraqi officials all spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to release the information.

Iraqi security forces have been frequently targeted as they increasingly take the lead in military operations. U.S. troops are assuming more of an advisory role and preparing to withdraw from Iraq by the end of 2011.

Sri Lanka keeps up air attacks on retreating Tigers

AFP, Colombo

Helicopter gunships and war planes attacked suspected Tamil Tiger strong points in northern Sri Lanka on Monday while at least 19 rebels were killed in ground battles, the defence ministry said.

Aircraft hit two positions of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) at Iranamadu, just south of their political capital of Kilinochchi which fell to government forces earlier this month, the ministry said.

"Sri Lanka air force Mi-24 helicopter gunships and fighter jets made precision air assaults against two identified LTTE gathering points located in general area of Iranamadu," the ministry said in a statement.

The ministry said 19 Tiger rebels were killed and many more wounded in clashes in the Kilinochchi district on Sunday. It did not say if its troops suffered any casualties.

The ministry said last week that security forces were ready to deal a "decisive blow" to the rebels after the capture of the strategic Elephant Pass causeway linking the Jaffna peninsula with the rest of the mainland.

The LTTE's main political headquarters of Kilinochchi town was overrun by government troops earlier this month and the rebels are now confined to the jungle and lagoon district around Mullaittivu on Sri Lanka's northeast coast.

The LTTE has not commented on the latest military claims, but has accused troops of directing artillery fire towards a camp for internally displaced people inside rebel-held Mullaittivu on Friday, killing one man and injuring four others.

Japan, SKorea agree to forge 'mature’ partnership

AFP, Seoul

Japan and South Korea, putting aside thorny historical and territorial disputes, agreed Monday to work together on issues ranging from combating recession to rebuilding Afghanistan.

After an hour of summit talks, Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso and President Lee Myung-Bak vowed to develop a "future-oriented, mature partnership," Seoul's presidential office said.

"It is unprecedented that leaders from Japan and South Korea see each other so often and agree to cooperate in broad areas like this," Aso told a joint news conference afterwards.

He and Lee have met every month since October at diplomatic events.

Relations have often been strained by territorial disputes and lingering bitterness at Japan's harsh 1910-1945 rule over Korea.

The leaders said the two countries would resume working-level talks on a possible free trade agreement.

The discussions and other issues had been in limbo since 2004, due to repeated visits by then-Japanese prime minister Junichiro Koizumi to a controversial Tokyo war shrine.

On Monday the leaders "did not touch on any issues on history," Aso said.

"There have been difficult times (in the relationship) due to various reasons, but when we look back we see there was never a time when we moved backward, though there were times when we wavered," Lee said.

But analysts warned the new relationship may be more fragile than anticipated.

"They just shelve pending issues because of the time" of economic difficulties, said Hidekazu Kawai, professor at Tokyo's Gakushuin University.

"If some politician makes a gaffe, the new relationship would fail altogether."

Aso has in the past angered other Asian countries by praising elements of Japanese imperialism. But since becoming prime minister he has tried not to irritate neighbours.

He and Lee also agreed to closely coordinate policies to counter the global downturn threatening both their economies.

Israel uses incendiary bombs in Gaza: Rights group

AP, Jerusalem

Human Rights Watch said Sunday that Israel's military has fired artillery shells with the incendiary agent white phosphorus into Gaza and a doctor there said the chemical was suspected in the case of 10 burn victims who had skin peeling off their faces and bodies.

Researchers in Israel from the rights group witnessed hours of artillery bombardments that sent trails of burning smoke indicating white phosphorus over the Jebaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza. But they could not confirm injuries on the ground because they have been barred from entering the territory.

The chief doctor at Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza said he treated several victims there with serious burns that might have been caused by phosphorus. He said, however, that he did not have the resources or expertise to say with certainty what caused the injuries.

The substance can cause serious burns if it touches the skin and can spark fires on the ground, the rights group said in a written statement calling on Israel not to use it in crowded areas of Gaza.

Military spokeswoman Maj. Avital Leibovich refused to comment directly on whether Israel was using phosphorus, but said the army was "using its munitions in accordance with international law."

Israel used white phosphorus in its 34-day war with Hezbollah in Lebanon in 2006. The U.S. military in Iraq used the incendiary during a November 2004 operation against insurgents in the city of Fallujah.

An AP photographer and a TV crew based in Gaza visited Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis on Sunday and recorded images of several burn patients.

One of them, Haitham Tahseen, recalled sitting outside his home with his family in the morning when something exploded above them.

"Suddenly, I saw bombs coming with white smoke," said the man, whose burned face was covered with medical cream. "It looked very red and it had white smoke. That's the first time I've seen such a thing."

His cousin, in another hospital bed, was more severely burned, with patches of skin peeling off his face and body, and had to be wrapped with thick white bandages.

The hospital's chief doctor, Youssef Abu Rish, said the burns were not from contact with fire, but he couldn't say what sort of substance caused them. He said information he collected on the Internet indicated it could have been white phosphorus.

Prince Harry apologises for racist language

AFP, London

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Monday the public would give Prince Harry the "benefit of the doubt" over his home movie showing him calling army colleagues "Paki" and "raghead."

Brown said the 24-year-old royal, who is third in line to the throne, knew his language was unacceptable and his apology was sincere.

But the father of the Pakistani soldier who Harry called "our little Paki friend" said he could not accept the prince's apology, insisting that he should say sorry to the Islamabad government. The News of the World newspaper on Sunday published the video clips made by Harry in 2006 while he was an army officer cadet. The prince's office said Harry was extremely sorry for any offence caused.

"The sincerity of his apology cannot be doubted," Brown told GMTV television.

"It was a mistake, he has made the admission of that and, once he has made his apology, I think the British people are good enough to give someone who has actually been a role model for young people and has done well fighting for our country, gone into very difficult situations with bravery, I think they will give him the benefit of the doubt.

"I think Prince Harry knows that these comments are unacceptable.