Weekly Round Up: North Korea Is Very Sorry, Putin's Joke Unfunny & The UN Seat Still Up For Grabs

It’s been another hectic week in the world of politics. The most dominant news story has been North Korea saying sorry for the nuke test. The week really started with General Sir Richard Dannatt, chief of the UK general staff, stating that the presence of foreign troops might be "exacerbating" the situation in Iraq. We also had the stalemate in the UN Security council seat for Latin America between Venezuela and Guatemala. Midweek the Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert warned Iran that they would have "a price to pay" if it doesn't back down from its nuclear ambitions. In response Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Europe was stirring up hatred in the Middle East by supporting Israel and warned it "may get hurt" if anger in the region boiled over. Also in the news was Russian President Vladimir Putin's whose joke that went wrong about rape charges against Israel's president, and the week ended with the news that Clare Short, a British Labour politician departing from her 23-year parliamentary career denouncing Tony Blair's "half-truths" and his "arrogant, error-prone government".

Here’s all the other news…

North America
Bush toughens 'anti-terror' laws
George Bush, the US president, has signed a law legalising the use of secret CIA prisons, harsh interrogation practices and military trials against suspected 'terrorists'.

The Military Commissions Act of 2006 means Bush can continue a secret CIA programme for interrogating terrorism suspects. Bush said the law will also allow intelligence professionals to question suspects without fear of being sued by them later. He signed the new legislation just six weeks after acknowledging that the CIA had been secretly interrogating suspected terrorists overseas and pressed Congress to quickly give authority to try them in military commissions.

The international Red Cross said Thursday it has "concerns and questions" over whether a new U.S. anti-terror law signed by President Bush complies with the Geneva Conventions on the conduct of war.

Opponents of the legislation say it eliminates defendants' rights considered fundamental to American values, such as the use of coerced testimony as evidence. For example, the military commissions which will try terror suspects are allowed to consider hearsay evidence so long as a judge determines it is reliable — a provision barred in civilian courts.

Calif. candidate's office, home raided
For two days, a Republican congressional candidate had promised to explain how a threatening letter was sent by his campaign without his knowledge to thousands of Hispanic immigrant voters.

As about 200 people gathered Friday in front of his campaign headquarters seeking answers, Tan D. Nguyen was a no-show at his own news conference. Instead, 10 uniformed California Department of Justice police officers arrived with a search warrant and pounded on the glass of Nguyen's storefront headquarters.

Agents spent two hours sifting through cabinets, boxes and computers. They left carrying several boxes and plastic bags of evidence.

Nguyen, a Vietnamese immigrant trying to unseat a popular Democratic incumbent, has acknowledged his campaign sent the letter, which wrongly said immigrants could be jailed if they voted. He blamed an unidentified staffer whom he said he has fired.

Nguyen has resisted calls from leaders in his own party to quit the race, saying he did not approve the letter and did not know about it.

The letter, written in Spanish, was mailed to an estimated 14,000 Democratic voters in Orange County. It warns, "You are advised that if your residence in this country is illegal or you are an immigrant, voting in a federal election is a crime that could result in jail time."

In fact, immigrants who are adult naturalized citizens are eligible to vote. Secretary of State Bruce McPherson said Friday his office will send letters to homes that received the mailing to clarify voters' rights.

Natives face prison discrimination: report
Aboriginal prisoners face ongoing discrimination in Canada's corrections system, a federal report charged on Monday, noting that natives are more likely to be placed in high security jails and get only limited access to early parole.

While aboriginal people, including native Indians, make up only about 3 percent of Canada's general population they make up 18 percent of the federal prison population, according to the annual report by the federal prison system's ombudsman.

Corrections Investigator Howard Sapers said officials have taken steps to improve the conditions of aboriginal prisoners, but "these efforts have not resulted in the kind of significant progress needed."

Sapers said because aboriginal inmates do not get timely access to rehabilitation services they are more likely to return to prison, and the gap between their recidivism rates and those of other offenders is growing. The Correctional Service said it agreed more must be done to help aboriginal prisoners, but denied there was systemic discrimination.

Gang beheadings common in central Mexico
The drug lords at war in central Mexico are no longer content with simply killing their enemies. They are putting their severed heads on public display.

Beheadings and accompanying notes in sometimes cryptic and misspelled Spanish are becoming a ghoulish vogue among the gangs that grow marijuana, cook methamphetamine and run cocaine in Michoacan.

There have been 420 homicides in the state this year, including 19 police chiefs and commanders, and Juan Antonio Magana, the state's attorney general, says well over half the killings were drug-related - the work of smuggling gangs reorganizing after authorities captured some of their top leaders.

"These are groups that are very big, very strong and are out to dominate territory," Magana said in an interview.

Many farmers have abandoned avocado, coffee and corn in favor of marijuana in the highlands, where roads are few and police can't easily penetrate. Smuggling gangs have cleared forests for airstrips. Small planes crammed with Colombian cocaine streak in, leaving loads that are ferried to the coast and stowed on fast boats that speed north toward the U.S. border.

IOC's corruption whistleblower Hodler dies
Marc Hodler, the senior International Olympic Committee (IOC) member who exposed the Salt Lake City corruption scandal, died on Wednesday in Switzerland, the IOC said. Hodler, a Swiss, was 87.

He was the main whistleblower in the biggest corruption and bribery affair in the IOC' s 110-year history, which involved several of its members and Salt Lake City officials.

The accusations centered on lavish gifts and other inducements to IOC members in return for their votes in the contest to host the 2002 Winter Olympics. These included cash payments, presents, scholarships and other benefits. Salt Lake City crushed Switzerland's Sion to win the nod.

"The IOC expresses its sadness at the passing of a member who dedicated so much to the Olympic movement. Our thoughts and prayers are with Mr Hodler's family," IOC president Jacques Rogge said in a statement which made no mention of the Salt Lake City affair.

Tasteless use of 10-year-old girl to model skimpy bikini
A celebrity bikini designer was under fire for parading a young girl down the catwalk with near-naked models during a sell-out show at the Los Angeles Fashion Week.

Critics were shocked at the sight of the schoolgirl in a bikini alongside older scandily-clad models. "She can only have been about ten," said one member of the audience. "It was very inappropriate."

The stunt was part of a show by designer Ashley Paige, famous for her knitted and crocheted bikinis and for the sexy swimwear favoured by stars including Jennifer Lopez, Kate Hudson, Jessica Alba, Gwen Stefani and Carmen Electra.

It is not unheard of for young models to be used during the fashion week when top designers show off their new lines in LA, but not on a catwalk surrounded by almost topless women - some with just flower motifs covering their nipples.

Conservative family campaigner Jean Terry said designers need to be more aware of the message they are sending out by using young children on the catwalks. "Nearly naked models are not the kind of role models we want for our children," she said, "and young girls should certainly not be used to promote a promiscuous image.

Online gambling firm collapses
The beleaguered online gambling industry is bracing itself for a wave of company collapses and redundancies, after World Gaming collapsed into administration today.

It is the first company to crash, following the shock decision of the US senate to outlaw online gaming last month.

All the online gambling companies are racing to close or sell their US operations by the time he signs. 888 emerged today as the latest to be looking for a suitor. Asked if the company would go private, chief executive John Anderson told Dow Jones: "I think that's got to be looked at."

He said all options are being considered, including opportunities to expand the business in Europe.

Gibraltar is likely to be particularly hard hit by the US crackdown. One in ten adults of the island works for the online gambling and betting industry.

Picasso seller puts hole in canvas
Steve Wynn, the American casino mogul and briefly proud owner of the world’s most expensive work of art, has decided to keep and restore the Picasso painting that he accidentally damaged shortly after he sold it for a record price.

Mr Wynn had agreed to sell Picasso’s Le Rêve (The Dream) to Steven Cohen, an art collector, for $139 million (£74.7 million). But as he was showing it off in his Las Vegas office this month to guests including the screenwriter Nora Ephron, he struck the 1932 portrait of Picasso’s mistress Marie-Thérèse Walter with his right elbow, leaving a 2in tear.

“There was a terrible noise,” Ms Ephron wrote in her blog. Mr Wynn, who suffers from an eye condition that affects his peripheral vision, exclaimed: “Oh, s***. Look what I’ve done. Thank God it was me.”

The world’s most expensive painting remains Gustav Klimt’s 1907 portrait Adele Bloch-Bauer I, sold in July for $135 million.

South America
Strong earthquake rattles Peruvian coast
A strong earthquake rattled Peru's southern coast on Friday, but no damage or injuries were reported. The magnitude 6.4 quake struck at 5:48 a.m. below the floor of the Pacific Ocean, 56 miles northwest of the coastal city of Pisco, according to Peru's Geophysics Institute. The U.S. Geological Survey reported the quake as magnitude 6.5.

The earthquake was felt as a long shudder in the capital, Lima, and inland in the Andean provincial city of Huancavelica. But it caused the most alarm in Ica, a coastal city 165 miles to the southeast, where local radio reports said panicked residents rushed from their homes into streets and parks.

Europe
Dutch terror suspects go on trial
Dutch prosecutors are using tough new anti-terror laws in the trial of six alleged Islamists accused of links to a terrorist group.

The men are charged with belonging to a terrorist organisation, planning to attack Dutch politicians and government buildings, and possessing weapons. They are alleged to have links with the so-called Hofstad group, nine of whom were jailed earlier this year. They included the man convicted of killing film-maker Theo Van Gogh.

Mohammed Bouyeri, a Dutch Moroccan considered to be the leader of the Hofstad group, is serving a life sentence for the murder. New anti-terror laws in the Netherlands have not been strong enough to gain convictions in some cases, but earlier this year the nine Hofstad group members were sentenced to up to 15 years in prison for membership of a terrorist organisation.

Prosecutors believe the six men on trial at a high security court in Amsterdam are linked to the Hofstad group. The main suspect, 20-year-old Samir Azzouz, a Dutch Moroccan man, was acquitted last year on charges that he planned attacks, although the court ruled he had terrorist intent. His acquittal led to calls for tougher legislation.

He was re-arrested on suspicion of planning new attacks and now faces new laws, which allow suspects to be tried for attacks that security forces believe they are planning to carry out.

Two dead in Rome subway collision
Two subway trains collided during morning rush hour Tuesday in a central Rome station, killing two people and injuring about 110 others, five seriously, authorities said.

Officials said one train was slowing down as it approached the station when it was hit by another one. Some passengers said the driver of the second train appeared to have jumped a red light.

The body of a woman apparently in her 30s was pulled from the rubble, officials said. Television footage showed bloodied passengers coming out from the station.

"I saw lots of blood, the impact was brutal," said Andrew Trovaioli, a passenger on one of the two trains. Trovaioli suffered a slight injury to his elbow. He said he saw about 10 people lying on the ground, and three or four covered in rubble.

Newspaper report: Neo-Nazi crime rises sharply in Germany
Neo-Nazi crime in Germany has risen sharply this year, and attacks by rightists have also become increasingly brutal, a newspaper said yesterday.

Almost 8,000 crimes by the far right were reported during the first eight months of this year, compared with 6,605 for the same period in 2005, said Berlin's Tagesspiegel paper, quoting German Interior Ministry figures provided to a member of parliament.

A total of 452 violent neo-Nazi attacks were reported in Germany from January to August of this year, leaving 325 people injured. For the same period in 2005, there were 363 attacks and 302 injuries, the newspaper said.

A statement by the Interior Ministry confirmed the figures for rightist crime, but cautioned that the data was still "preliminary" and might later be adjusted.

"At the same time, the fact that the number of violent attacks has risen by a not inconsiderable number is causing concern," said the statement, adding that the new figures show "the necessity of intensified measures being carried out by the ministry" against neo-Nazis.

Germany's domestic intelligence service, the Verfassungsschutz, says that about 40,000 people belong to far right groups in the country, of whom over 10,000 are deemed to be violent skinheads. The total German population is 82 million

Russia Suspends Scores of Foreign Groups
Scores of foreign private organizations were forced to cease their operations in Russia on Thursday while the government considered whether to register them under a new law that has received sharp international criticism.

Among the suspended organizations were some of those most critical of the Kremlin, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, and others, like the National Democratic Institute and the International Republican Institute, that have been accused by Russian officials of instigating or assisting revolutions against other former Soviet republics.

The Justice Ministry, which is responsible for registering foreign private organizations, insisted that the suspensions were neither retaliatory nor permanent.

It issued a statement saying the suspended organizations had not properly filed new registration materials or had submitted the required materials on the last day before the registration deadline, which was midnight on Wednesday. It said it was rushing to review the applications it had received.

“It is important to note that lack of re-registration does not entail the liquidation of the organization,” the statement said. “The talk here is only that these organizations cannot carry out the activity envisaged by their charters before they are brought into the register.”

The number of suspended organizations is not entirely clear. The statement said the ministry had received applications from 185 organizations, approved 108 of them and continued to review the 77 others.

Polish boat opens fire on German 'tax-free' cruiser
A Polish patrol boat was alleged to have chased and fired warning shots at a German pleasure steamer in the Baltic this week after a dispute over customs and tax regulations that appears likely to bring relations between the two countries to a new low.

The incident occurred after the Adler-Dania, which was packed with tourists and bound for the Polish port of Swinoujscie, was boarded late on Tuesday by three Polish customs officials who demanded to see the ship's supply of alcohol and cigarettes.

German reports said that after being informed that the Polish officials were not in uniform and were insisting that the ship's alcohol be confiscated, the captain of the Adler-Dania immediately turned his ship around and made for the open sea, with the officials still on board.

Eyewitnesses, including the crew of the German ship, said a Polish patrol boat gave chase. One German crew member said sailors on the Polish vessel sent a volley of pistol shots over the top of the Adler-Dania in an attempt to force the ship to turn round.

A frantic pursuit ensued with the Polish patrol boat attempting several times to block the Adler-Dania before giving up when the vessel entered German waters. The three Polish customs officials were released after being questioned by police in the German seaside town of Herringsdorf.

Polish officials said the patrol boat had simply fired two flares in an attempt to encourage the German captain to stop his ship. Polish media reports said the three customs officials had been kidnapped.

Iceland to resume commercial whaling
Iceland said Tuesday it would resume commercial whaling after a nearly two-decade moratorium, defying a worldwide ban on hunting the mammals for their meat.

Fisheries Minister Einar Kristinn Gudfinnsson told Iceland's parliament that his ministry would begin issuing licenses to hunt fin and minke whales. He said the ministry would permit the hunting of nine fin whales and 30 minke whales in the year ending Aug. 31, 2007.

Icelanders have been hunting whales since the days of the Vikings, but stopped all whaling in 1989 under an international moratorium. The country continued to observe the ban after quitting the whaling commission in 1992. But when Iceland rejoined in 2002, the government said it would not be bound by the moratorium after 2006.

In 2003, Iceland resumed the killing of whales in the name of scientific testing, a move condemned by environmental groups and some nations, including the United States and Britain.

Since 2003, 161 minke whales have been hunted for research purposes in Iceland, according to the country's Marine Institute. Minke whale meat is still readily available at some of the island's restaurants, from whales caught in fishermen's nets, and many Icelanders staunchly defend the country's right to resume hunts.

Iceland's Ministry of Fisheries said there are more than 43,000 minke whales and 25,000 fin whales in Icelandic coastal waters.

Top Vatican official opposes euthanasia
The Vatican's top official for health issues reiterated the Catholic Church's strong opposition to euthanasia in an interview published Thursday, but said the church was in favor of allowing terminally ill patients to opt against aggressive treatment.

An Italian Senate committee has been hearing arguments over legislation to approve a living will — allowing people to decide in advance how they want to be treated if they become incapacitated in the last stages of a terminal illness.

Some politicians have viewed the measure with suspicion, warning that a living will could become a first step toward approving euthanasia.

Euthanasia is illegal in Italy, where the Catholic Church is politically influential. Euthanasia is forbidden by the Vatican, which insists that life must be safeguarded from its beginning to its "natural" end.

Portugal lawmakers OK abortion vote
Portugal took a major step toward legalizing abortion on Thursday as parliament approved holding a national referendum on the issue in this conservative Roman Catholic country with one of the most restrictive abortion laws in Europe.

Abortion is currently allowed only in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy in cases of rape, fetus malformation or if a mother's health is at risk. Voters now will decide whether to make abortion legal up to the 10th week of pregnancy.

No date has been set for the national referendum, which is expected to take place early next year. Before a date can be set, the Constitutional Court and the president both need to rubber stamp the proposal.

"Our current laws say that a woman who aborts should be criminally prosecuted," Socialist legislator Alberto Martins said in parliament ahead of Thursday's vote. "This is, in the 21st century and in Europe, an unfair, cruel, retrograde and irrational stance."

In Europe, only Poland and Ireland have similarly restrictive rules on abortion, while Malta forbids abortion altogether.

Belgian grandparents convicted for heroin dealing
A Belgian court has sentenced two 73-year-old grandparents to two-year suspended jail terms this week after they were convicted of dealing in heroin and other drugs, the tribunal said on Wednesday.

The elderly pensioners had taken over the business of their grandson, who himself had been imprisoned for selling heroin, cocaine and ecstasy. The court established that the couple had sold a variety of drugs to people, including one minor, who dropped by their apartment near the northern town of Aalst. Some even came by to make large orders, the court said.

"The only thing that counted for them was to continue the profitable drug dealing business of their grandson," the judges wrote in their ruling on Tuesday. The couple, who had no prior criminal record, were also ordered to pay fines of 1,000 euros each.

Middle-East
Hamas threatens to break ceasefire after Israeli air strikes
Israel and Hamas were on the brink of war last night as a senior member of the Islamic movement hinted that it would stop observing a 20-month-old ceasefire in retaliation for the latest Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli military insisted that it would carry on targeting Hamas, after what it described as clear evidence that the movement was smuggling weapons into Gaza to mount cross-border attacks. After a series of raids by Israel over the past four days in which 22 Palestinians, mostly Hamas members, died, Atef Idwan, a minister in the Hamas government, said Israel's offensive showed the ceasefire was effectively over.

"Which is better – to respond to the Israeli aggression or not to respond?" asked Mr Idwan, who serves as minister for refugee affairs. "Which is better – to defend yourself or surrender to the enemy? The ceasefire should be bilateral but what we see now shows Israel has never committed to a ceasefire."

Mr Idwan said that while his side had largely observed the ceasefire, Israel has continued to mount operations against Palestinian targets. "Israel asked others to ask for the ceasefire, but Israel has never stopped its crime against the Palestinian people," he said.

"The Palestinian people should defend himself. Israel is beating us badly, that is true, but that does not mean we should not respond." Human rights groups have reported that Israel has killed more than 230 Palestinians, including scores of civilians, since it launched Operation Summer Rains in the summer. Two Israeli soldiers, including one killed by so-called friendly fire, have died in the same period.

Israel's UN envoy: Iran bribed Hamas to block Shalit's release
Israel's envoy to the United Nations on Thursday accused Iran of bribing a Hamas leader to sabotage the release of Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit who was captured by Palestinian militants near Gaza in June and has not been heard from since.

Ambassador Dan Gillerman told the UN Security Council that "we heard news" earlier in the day that Tehran had paid $50 million to Hamas leader Khaled Meshal, who lives in the Syrian capital Damascus, "to sabotage the negotiations on the release of Corporal Gilad Shalit and prevent his release."

"We have every reason to believe that the Iranian regime has bribed Khaled Meshal," he later told reporters. "I cannot divulge the sources or give you any further details on this."

America's Iran-watchers flock to Dubai, on Iran's doorstep
A handful of US diplomats here on Iran's doorstep have quietly re-opened an Iran-focused diplomatic mission, the first such office since the US embassy in Tehran was taken over by radical students 27 years ago.

The low-key Iran Regional Presence Office, which sits inside the US consulate in Dubai, is coming to life at a time when Iran-US relations have plummeted to their lowest depths in years.
Iran's disputed nuclear program has pushed the two countries into sharp conflict. But in booming Dubai, home to hundreds of thousands of Iranians, the atmosphere is friendly. The United Arab Emirates, of which Dubai is one of seven city-states, maintains close ties with both Washington and Tehran.

Expatriate Iranians and Americans mingle freely here, especially those with business interests.
With Iran just 100 miles (150 kilometers) across the Persian Gulf, the US government has found a valuable spot to both watch Iran and reach out to its citizens.

"We don't intend to reopen our embassy anytime soon," said Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns, describing plans for the Iran office in March. "But we do plan to put more people, better trained, on the job of watching Iran."

Congress recently approved an $85 million Iran initiative, which mostly increases the duration of State Department broadcasts into Iran by Radio Farda and Voice of America. Burns said $5 million would also be earmarked for Iranians to study at US universities.

Moscow tells Israel it will tighten its export controls on weapons
Moscow has told Israel that it intends to tighten its export controls on arms. The statement follows Israeli claims that Russian weapons reached Hezbollah during the war in Lebanon.

The Russian statement, couched in very general terms, acknowledged a need for stricter arms export controls to ensure that weapons reach the designated end user and no one else.

For all intensive purposes, the order is directed mainly against Syria, and intended to prevent the transfer of Russian arms to Hezbollah and other terror groups.

About a month ago, after the war in Lebanon, an Israeli delegation of defense experts, headed by Deputy Director General of the Foreign Ministry Mark Sofer and Ambassador to Russia Arkady Milman, visited Russia.

The delegation told senior Russian foreign affairs and defense officials that Russian arms that had been sold to Syria, especially antitank missiles, had reached Hezbollah and were used against Israel in the recent conflict in Lebanon.

The new Russian directive says that any state that buys Russian arms will be subject to strict supervision, and Russian delegations will be able to visit to verify that the arms are appropriately used and not transferred contrary to the agreement

Asia
Japanese family sues over death by American Sailor
The family of a Japanese woman robbed and beaten to death by an American sailor filed a lawsuit Friday against the attacker and the Japanese government, a court official said.

The family of Yoshie Sato is demanding that William Reese, as well as the Japanese government, pay more than $1.69 million in damages, Yokohama District Court spokesman Kazutaka Kutsumizu said.

Reese, from Pittsgrove, N.J., was convicted in June of robbing and fatally beating the 56-year-old woman near the U.S. Navy base in Yokosuka, southwest of Tokyo, in January. He is serving a life sentence.

Reese held the rank of seaman at the time of the killing, which rekindled lingering concerns over crimes related to the roughly 50,000 U.S. troops stationed in Japan.

Kutsumizu refused to provide any other details about the lawsuit. The Japanese newspaper Mainichi said that the family is seeking damages from the Japanese government for failing to urge the U.S. military to properly train American servicemen.

Anti-U.S. military sentiment runs high among neighbors of U.S. bases in Japan, especially in the southern Japanese island of Okinawa, which shoulders more than half of the U.S. troops here. The 1995 rape of a schoolgirl in Okinawa by three U.S. servicemen triggered large protests.

Defector: Kim's ouster would stop nukes
The man once considered the mentor of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il said Tuesday that the reclusive country's nuclear weapons program cannot be stopped unless the strongman is ousted.
But Kim's total grip on the communist society makes that only a remote possibility, Hwang Jang Yop, the highest-ranking North Korean government official ever to defect to South Korea, told The Associated Press.

The 83-year-old Hwang, wearing a lapel badge in the shape of the South Korean national flag, is also skeptical that United Nations sanctions imposed on the North for a nuclear test explosion will hurt Kim's rule.

"I don't think his grip on power will be significantly weakened," Hwang said, adding that South Korea continues to give aid to North Korea, while other countries, most notably China and Russia, are opposed to the idea of pressuring the North.

Hwang, who seldom gives interviews, made his surprising defection in 1997 when he and an aide took refuge in the South Korean embassy in Beijing while on a visit to the Chinese capital. At the time, he was a longtime member of the North's elite, serving as secretary of the ruling Workers' Party.

Hwang said China is key to bringing an end to Kim's regime. "No Chinese officials like the North Korean leader, but they keep him in power," Hwang said, adding that Kim's regime serves Beijing's interests by helping keep U.S. influence in the region at bay.

Scores killed in Sri Lanka blast
At least 67 people, mainly navy sailors, have been killed when their convoy was hit by an explosives-laden truck in an apparent suicide attack, an army spokesman has said.

The attack took place near the town of Habarana, about 190km northeast of the capital, Colombo, police said on Monday. Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe, a Sri Lankan military spokesman, said Tamil Tiger separatist fighters had rammed a small truck loaded with explosives into the convoy.

"They have so far recovered 67 bodies and there may be more," he said. "All these people were without weapons and were going on leave." Another 60 people, including some civilians, were injured in the blast, he said. The attack comes amid increasingly heavy-fighting between the Sri Lankan army and the Tigers.

Sri Lanka's government said today that it will provide safe passage for rebels travelling to Geneva for peace talks. Tamil Tiger rebel leaders must travel through Colombo, the site of the country's only international airport, to fly to Switzerland.

"We have accommodated them over the years. We will provide necessary security, although they have unleashed terror," government spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella said. "We are a democratic government and not a terrorist outfit."

Death row Briton gets two-month reprieve
The execution of a British man held in Pakistan will not take place during Prince Charles's visit to the country, it was announced this week.

Mirza Tahir Hussain, 36, was due to be hanged for murder on November 1, three days after the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall are due to arrive in Pakistan for a state visit. Instead, prison officials in Pakistan today said his execution would be postponed for two months, until December 31.

Mr Hussain's brother Amjad, and Amnesty International said today that postponement was not good enough. They called for guarantees that he would not be executed. The move comes after the Guardian reported Prince Charles was considering not visiting the country unless the execution was cancelled. A spokesman for the prince said he had written to Pakistan's prime minister, Shaukat Aziz, asking that Mr Hussain's life be spared.

Mr Hussain, originally from Leeds, was cleared by two courts of murdering a cab driver, only to be found guilty by judges operating under Islamic law. He has been in prison in Pakistan for the last 17 years and has received three stays of execution.

US "troubled" by death of jailed pro-democracy activist in Myanmar
The United States said that it was "deeply troubled" by the death in Myanmar of jailed pro-democracy activist Thet Win Aung.

Myanmar's military junta "arrested Thet Win Aung in 1998 for organizing peaceful student demonstrations and sentenced him to 59 years in prison," read a State Department statement.

"This death demonstrates the tragic price the people of Burma (Myanmar) are forced to pay for opposing the repressive policies of the regime and standing up for their human and democratic rights."

The United States also "condemns the continued detention of the six pro-democracy activists arrested in September: Min Ko Naing, Ko Ko Gyi, Htay Kywe, Min Zeya, Pyone Cho, and Myint Aye.

"We call for the immediate and unconditional release of Aung San Suu Kyi, these six activists, and all other political prisoners; and for the initiation of a genuine process of national reconciliation.

Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party won 1990 elections but was never allowed to rule. Its offices have been shut down by the junta, which has also locked up many other party members.

Chinese panda cub bites U.S. visitor
A panda cub bit off part of the thumb of an American visitor who was feeding the animal at a reserve in southwest China, state media reported Thursday.

The 50-year-old woman, identified only as Lisa, had registered in the Wolong Giant Panda Protection and Research Center in Sichuan province as a volunteer, according to the official Xinhua News Agency. She was wearing gloves and feeding the panda bamboo on Tuesday morning when "suddenly, the panda bit into her thumb," Xinhua said.

"When she cried out, the cub became excited and gripped more tightly," it said. "Lisa finally managed to wrench herself free." About 20 percent of the thumb had been bitten off, Xinhua said.

More than 1,200 volunteers from America, Japan, Switzerland, France and Spain already have worked in the center, Xinhua said.

Australasia
Tasmania unveils pay-out for Aborigine 'stolen generations'
An Australian state has unveiled an historic five million dollar (3.8 million dollars US) compensation package for Aborigines forcibly taken from their families as children.

In a first for Australia, Tasmania announced a proposed law offering one-off payments to the "stolen generation" of Aborigines, who were snatched from their parents under ethnic assimilation policies between the 1930s and the 70s.

Under the proposed package, around 124 descendants of deceased members of the stolen generations would receive one-off payments of 5,000 dollars, capped at 20,000 dollars per family, with the remainder of the funding divided among living members.

As many as 10,000 Aboriginal children across the nation were removed from their family homes by government and church agencies between 1935 and 1975 and became wards of the state, the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre's Michael Mansell told AFP.

Up to 125 Aboriginal children were taken from their families in Tasmania and of those, more than 40 Tasmanians could be eligible for compensation, and a further 27 had "very strong" cases, he said

Australian ex-army chief says Iraq war boosted militants
Australia's defence force chief at the time of the invasion of Iraq said in remarks published Sunday that he now believes the war has increased the threat of Islamic militancy.

The comments by retired general Peter Cosgrove come just days after Britain's army chief caused a furore by saying British troops in Iraq were exacerbating security problems around the world.

"If people say that there has been an energising of the jihadist movement through the protracted war in Iraq - well that's pretty obvious," Cosgrove told the Sunday Telegraph, using the Islamic term for "holy warrior".

The highly respected Vietnam veteran, who retired last year, said he had apologised to national police chief Mick Keelty for criticising his comments that the Iraq war had inspired the 2004 terrorist attacks in Madrid.

"Things have moved on. I have got no reason to argue the weighty assessments that I am seeing," Cosgrove said. The Australian government of Prime Minister John Howard, a close ally of Washington, contributed troops to the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 and maintains a force of some 1,300 involved in Iraqi operations.

Australian PM avoids censure over Iraq war
Australia's opposition have launched an unsuccessful censure motion in parliament against Prime Minister John Howard, accusing him of sending troops to Iraq "on a lie".

The motion against Howard, a key ally of the United States and its war in Iraq, was defeated 80 to 58 in a vote on party lines after an angry debate. The leader of the opposition, Labor Party chief Kim Beazley, charged that the invasion of Iraq was based on the false claim that the regime of Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.

Beazley said the war had also contributed to the spread of Islamic militancy. "We are much less safe, we are much less influential, we are much less effective as a result of what this prime minister has done," Beazley said.

Beazley has promised to withdraw Australia's troops from Iraq if Labor wins elections due next year, a policy Howard said would be a victory for terrorists. The prime minister contributed troops to the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 and maintains a force of some 1,300 involved in Iraqi operations.

Brochure sheds light on Australia's tarnished spy agencies
Australia's prime minister has shed unprecedented light on the country's spy agencies, in an effort to boost the tarnished reputation of the country's "frontline" in the war on terror.

Prime Minister John Howard unveiled a brochure outlining the role of the usually clandestine intelligence community after it was flayed for failing to detect that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein did not possess weapons of mass destruction.

"It aims to improve public understanding of and confidence in our intelligence agencies," Howard said of the move to publicise Australia's six usually-shadowy spy agencies.

The agencies - ASIO, ASIS, DIO, DSD, ONA and DIGO - played a vital role in keeping the government abreast of developments in Australia and abroad which might affect national security and the country's international interests.

"They are the frontline of Australia's effort to combat the threat of international terrorism and their work is essential to preserving the freedoms and way of life that Australians value so highly," he said.

The publicity blitz came after a 2004 inquiry conducted following Australia's decision to join the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 called for more accountability and increased supervision of intelligence agencies.

Former intelligence chief Philip Flood said in his report that Australia's spy agencies had "failed to judge accurately the extent and the nature of Iraq's (weapons of mass destruction) programs" due to an over reliance on foreign intelligence.

Don't go backpacking - join the army, Australia tells school leavers
Australia announced a drive to lure school leavers into joining the army for a year instead of going backpacking abroad - the latest in a series of attempts to boost flagging troop numbers.

The "try before you buy" plan is aimed at thousands of students who take time out for a 'gap year' between school and work or university to travel or work on aid projects, Defence Minister Brendan Nelson told reporters.

He denied that the programme was a move towards conscription, saying volunteers simply would not have to sign up for the current minimum commitment of four years in uniform.

"At the moment young people baulk at the thought of a long-term commitment of four years if they join up. For them that's an eternity," he said. "Around 34,000 kids a year complete Year 12 and they then take either one or two years off to go backpacking or work on aid projects.

The defence force has a total strength of 52,000 personnel and Nelson said he wanted to boost the annual recruitment of 7,500 people by about 1,000.

Africa
Egyptian border guard killed in gun accident
An Egyptian border guard was killed on Saturday in a gun accident while on patrol in the Sinai peninsula along the border with Israel, officials said.

An Interior Ministry spokesman said the guard was shot in the head when another guard's gun discharged two bullets as he was loading it.

Earlier, some security sources said preliminary investigations showed one guard was killed and another wounded after a dispute with a third guard. Other sources said a probe would include the possibility shots may have come from Israel.

The Sinai peninsula has been the scene of three deadly bomb attacks over the past two years that have targeted popular Red Sea resorts and killed scores of people. Egypt has blamed local militants for the bombings. Smuggling is common along the Egypt-Israel border

7 foreign hostages freed in Nigerian oil delta
The men were kidnapped on October 3 in an unprecedented raid on a residential compound for expatriate contractors working for U.S. oil giant Exxon Mobil.

"All seven have been released. They are all in good health," said Suur Chafa, deputy superintendent of police in Akwa Ibom state, where the men were kidnapped.

The employer of three of the men, Sparrows Offshore Services Limited, said their employees had spoken to their wives by telephone, and would undergo routine medical checks before flying to Britain.

The Niger Delta, a vast wetlands region home to Africa's biggest oil industry, has been plagued by attacks on oil facilities and abductions of oil workers this year.

Abductions for ransom are common in the Niger Delta and local rights activists say companies usually pay up, fuelling the cycle. Companies deny this.

Violence in the Niger Delta is rooted in poverty, corruption and lawlessness. Many residents of the impoverished region resent the multibillion-dollar oil industry which has damaged their environment and brought them few benefits.