Pakistan restores Sharia in Swat; US missile kills 26

Pakistan agreed on Monday to restore strict Islamist law in the Swat valley to pacify a revolt by Taliban militants, and a suspected US drone fired missiles in the region killing at least 26 people.

The decision on Islamic law is likely to draw criticism from the United States and other Western powers fearful that Pakistan is playing into the hands of religious conservatives who sympathize with the Taliban and al Qaeda.

The agreement was reached at talks between Islamists and officials of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) government in Peshawar on Monday.

"After successful negotiations ... all un-Islamic laws related to the judicial system, those against the Koran and Sunnah, would be subject to cancellation and considered null and void," said NWFP's Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain, referring to the holy book of Islam and the saying and teachings of the Prophet Mohammad.

Taliban militants in Swat, once a tourist paradise, called a 10-day ceasefire the night before the talks, and on Saturday released a Chinese engineer kidnapped five months earlier as a gesture of goodwill.

An uprising erupted in late 2007 in Swat, an alpine beauty spot favored by honeymooners and trekkers alike, and militants now control the valley just 130 km (80 miles) northwest of the capital Islamabad.

They have destroyed more than 200 girls schools in a campaign against female education, and tens of thousands of people have fled their homes to escape the violence.

By striking a deal on Islamic law, the government hopes that it will be able to drive a wedge between conservative hardliners and those militants who have fallen under the thrall of al Qaeda and the Taliban.

Religious conservatives in Swat have long fought for sharia to replace Pakistan's secular laws, which came into force after the former princely state was absorbed into the Pakistani federation in 1969.

MILITANT NEST

The move came as a suspected U.S. drone fired missiles at a building used by Taliban militants in the Kurram tribal region killing at least 26 people, witnesses and officials said.

The missiles hit a school that was once used by Afghan refugees' children, before militants moved in around two years ago, according to villagers.

The attack was the first in Kurram on the border with Afghanistan and came two days after a missile strike in the South Waziristan tribal region killed at least 25 mostly Central Asian fighters believed to have al Qaeda links.

"Afghan Taliban were holding an important meeting there when the missiles were fired," one of the intelligence officials in the area said of the air strike in a mountainous region called Sarpul, on the outskirts of Baggan village.

A militant in Kurram put the death toll lower, but said Afghan and Pakistani Taliban were among those killed.

The attack was the first in the Kurram tribal region and came two days after a missile strike in the South Waziristan tribal region killed at least 25 mostly Central Asian fighters believed to have al Qaeda links.

After the attack in Kurram, Taliban had surrounded the area and were not allowing anyone near, witnesses said.

The drone attack could further inflame tempers in Pakistan where a controversy has raged over a U.S. senator's remarks that the unmanned aircraft were being operated and flown from an air base inside Pakistan.

"As I understand it, these are flown out of a Pakistani base," Dianne Feinstein chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, was quoted as saying by the Los Angeles Times on Friday.

But, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi denied the statement and said the drones carrying out these attacks were not operating from Pakistan.

Monday's missile strike was the fourth attack since U.S. President Barack Obama took office last month, showing there was no change in policy since the last year of the Bush administration, when attacks by pilotless aircraft against militant targets on Pakistani territory were ramped up.

Pakistan's civilian government, elected a year ago, and the army have complained that the U.S. missile strikes are counter-productive and have fanned an Islamist insurgency.

On Monday, an unknown militant group holding hostage an American working for the United Nations in Pakistan said on Monday it had extended a deadline they had set to kill him if their demands were not met.

The group, calling itself the Baluchistan Liberation United Front (BLUF) had said on Friday it would kill John Solecki in 72 hours, but on Monday a spokesman said more time would be given for the government to accede to its demands.

Solecki, the head of the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Quetta, was kidnapped on February 2 after gunmen ambushed his car and shot dead the driver.

Venezuela's Chavez wins vote to Allow re-election

CARACAS, Feb 16 (bdnews24.com/Reuters) - Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez won a referendum vote on Sunday that lets him stay in power for as long as he keeps beating rivals in elections, and bolsters support for his socialist and anti-US policies.

Chavez has already been in power for 10 years and the referendum vote helps clear the way for him to fulfill his declared goal of ruling for decades, although the global economic crisis will limit his ability to spend oil cash on nationalizing industries and extending his influence overseas.

Electoral authorities said 54 percent of voters approved a constitutional amendment to remove limits on re-election and allow Chavez to stay in office until he is defeated at the ballot box. His current term ends in 2013.

"Long live the revolution," shouted Chavez, who was dressed in his signature red shirt and pumped his fist in the air as he stood on his palace balcony in front of thousands of flag-waving supporters.

He led them singing the national anthem and they chanted "Heh-ho, Chavez won't go."

"This can't stop, because the future of this country is in the president's hands," said Juan Carlos Carrillo, 40, a clothes vendor who voted in Caracas.

Fireworks exploded across Caracas and caravans of cars and motorbikes sped through the city as Chavez supporters clad in red celebrated honking their horns."

Opposition leaders, who say Chavez is an autocrat bent on sculpting Venezuela into a replica of communist Cuba, tried to capture discontent over crime, economic mismanagement and corruption.

"If you want to see that the government has done, just look over there," said Doroteo Yose, pointing at impoverished shacks cramped onto the hillside of the capital.

But the government campaigned hard. A retired army paratrooper who once led a failed coup before winning power at the ballot box, Chavez has survived a putsch and two national strikes against his rule and has the loyalty of many poor Venezuelans.

He took office in 1999 as an underdog vowing to end corrupt elites, and is popular for spending on health clinics, schools and food hand-outs.

Calling former Cuban President Fidel Castro his political "father", Chavez has become the standard bearer for anti-US sentiment in Latin America, using his OPEC nation's oil wealth to help allies and counter US influence in the region.

He has strengthened ties with Russia and Iran, and allies in Ecuador and Bolivia have joined him in rewriting laws to extend their rule and increasing state control over the economy in the name of bringing wealth to neglected poor majorities.

The victory on Sunday allows Chavez, 54, to put behind him a damaging vote loss in 2007, when his first attempt to remove constitutional restraints on his extended rule was defeated.

OPPOSITION BLOW

The result is a huge blow for Venezuela's opposition which had made gains in city and state elections last year after years of losing elections they often complained were unfair.

Opposition parties had pinned their hopes on a popular but inexperienced and under-financed student movement spearheading opposition to Chavez.

Discontent over high crime rates and soaring living costs -- Venezuela's inflation is among the highest in the world -- eroded Chavez's support but he was still able to pull out a victory.

Investors worry that Chavez will burn through international reserves to maintain social programs despite falling revenue, and the value of Venezuela's currency and sovereign debt could fall further. Both have slumped in recent months on low oil prices and concerns that Chavez may remain in power for years.

Chavez warned supporters they would lose social programs if he is unable to run again for re-election. In a familiar tactic, he also accused opponents of plotting a coup directed by Washington, and planning to cry fraud if he won.

Chavez stepped into the political spotlight in 1992 when as a young army officer he led a failed coup. Captured, he gave a brief television address calling on his comrades to lay down their arms, saying they had failed "for now."

After two years in prison, he entered politics, capturing the support of Venezuelans sick of discredited traditional parties in one of Latin America's oldest democracies.

Ten years after he came to office, his allies control the National Assembly and the PDVSA state oil company as he tries to forge what he calls 21st century socialism.

Afghanistan's Karzai hits out At US critics

Afghan President Hamid Karzai lashed out at mounting US criticism on Sunday, saying he expected "better judgment" from the Obama administration.

In the latest show of strain between the allies in a seven-year war against Islamist militants, Karzai told CNN President Barack Obama's description of the Kabul government as "very detached" from its people reflected the new U.S. government's immaturity.

"Perhaps it's because the administration has not yet put itself together," he told CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS" program.

"I hope as they settle down, and as they learn more, we'll see better judgment."

U.S. policy on Afghanistan is under review as Obama contemplates almost doubling the number of U.S troops there to around 60,000.

At the same time, U.S. criticism of Karzai has grown as the Taliban insurgency steadily gains ground more than seven years after U.S.-led forces toppled the hardline Islamist Afghan government.

Despite Obama's comments, Karzai said he admired the U.S. leader. "I can certainly engage with him very, very very positively," he said.

Karzai repeated his criticism that the U.S.-led military campaign against Taliban and al Qaeda militants had brought civilian casualties, arrests and home searches that were undermining confidence of Afghans.

Whenever he criticized U.S. practices in Afghanistan -- for example, of aerial spraying of poppy fields or torture allegations -- this was followed by reports of high-level corruption in his government, including an accusation that his brother was involved in the narcotics trade, Karzai said.

"Whenever there was a disagreement, this kept repeating," he said, without directly addressing the accusations.

"My conclusion is that, yes, this was part of a political pressure tactic, unfortunately."

Recent U.S. newspaper articles highlighting a growing rift between Washington and Karzai showed "there's a lot of misinformation and, indeed, at times disinformation from parts of the Western press against me," Karzai said.

Rising ivory demand threatens Asia Elephants: study

Rising prices and strong demand for illegal ivory threaten the survival of Indochina's remaining elephants, according to a study by TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network.

In the report, released on Monday, the group said they had surveyed 669 shops in Vietnam and found 11 percent selling nearly 2,500 ivory items.

Much of the raw ivory was said to have originated from neighbouring Laos, with the remainder from Vietnam and Cambodia. No raw African ivory was found.

"This is a worrying trend that indicates even more pressure is being put on already fragile Asian elephant populations," Azrina Abdullah, director of TRAFFIC Southeast Asia, said in a statement.

According to figures from the International Union for Conservation of Nature, there are at most 1,000 elephants in Laos and about 150 in Vietnam.

An earlier TRAFFIC report found evidence of widespread smuggling of live Asian elephants and their ivory from Myanmar.

The latest TRAFFIC study found that Vietnamese illegal ivory prices could be the highest in the world, with reports of tusks selling for up to US$1,500 per kilogram and small, cut pieces selling for up to $1,863 a kg.

"Continued demand for illegal ivory is driving the prices so high," Abdullah said.

The report said the main buyers were from China (including Hong Kong and Taiwan), Thailand, local Vietnamese, American-Vietnamese and Europeans.

"Trade in ivory was outlawed in Vietnam in 1992, but a major loophole in the legislation exists because shops can still sell ivory in stock dating from the prohibition," said TRAFFIC in the statement.

"This allows some shop owners to restock illegally with recently made carved ivory," it said.

The report said there were fewer ivory items seen in shops in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi in 2008 than in 2001 during a similar survey. But it said worked ivory was increasingly being sold directly to buyers through middlemen or on the Internet, bypassing retail outlets.

It said Vietnam acceded to the U.N. convention that governs trade in endangered species and called on the government to close any loopholes that allowed the illegal ivory trade to flourish.

India raises defence budget After Mumbai attacks

India will increase defence spending by nearly a quarter in 2009/10 as the government focuses on security measures after November's Mumbai attacks.

Defence spending is set to rise 23.7 percent to $28.9 billion for the fiscal year 2009/10 that begins on April 1.

"We are going through tough times. The Mumbai terror attacks have given an entirely new dimension to cross-border terrorism," Acting Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said while unveiling an interim budget ahead of a general election that must take place by May.

"A threshold has been crossed. Our security environment has deteriorated considerably," said Mukherjee, who is also the country's foreign minister.

Last year, India raised defence spending by 10 percent.

India is integrating its three armed forces -- the army, navy and the air force -- and increasing security along its coasts after militants from Pakistan attacked Mumbai from the sea route, killing 179 people.

The country is also looking to spend more than $30 billion over the next five years to modernise its largely Soviet-era weapons systems and is also launching its first military spy satellite next year.

But experts said a slow bureaucratic process could still delay modernisation efforts.

India seldom spends its entire budget allocation for defence because of red tape associated with arms purchases, and analysts said unless it clears pending deals faster, the budgetary allocation would not make any difference.

"We are confronted with a massive deficit in capacity in terms of requirement and in terms of current strategic needs and global attention," said Ajai Sahni of New Delhi's Institute for Conflict Management. "We still have to see how it is spent."

India is planning one of its biggest ever arms purchases, a $10 billion deal to buy 126 fighter jets.

It is also building five nuclear submarines for $2.9 billion and spending an additional $1 billion on a domestic weapons development programme.

Some analysts said there was a positive intent to spend more on defence after the recent militant strikes and the budgetary allocation was a reflection of that change in India's attitude.

"It is a reasonable increase and will help India deal with the inventory gap, as we have a number of items in terms of inventory replacement for the three armed forces," Uday Bhaskar, a strategic analyst said.

Livni says `no' to joining Netanyahu-led Coalition

JERUSALEM, Feb 16 (worldnews5.blogspot.com/Reuters) - Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni wrote in a private note captured by cameras on Sunday that her centrist Kadima party would not join any coalition government headed by right-wing Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu.

The note, which Livni handed to outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Kadima at the weekly cabinet meeting, set the battle lines in what could be weeks of political bargaining after Israel's inconclusive election last Tuesday.

Shortly after polls closed, both Livni and Netanyahu laid claim to the premiership, deepening uncertainty over the course Israel will follow after last month's Gaza war and in peace negotiations with the Palestinians.

Kadima won 28 seats in the 120-member parliament to Likud's 27, but a strong rightist bloc that emerged in the vote appeared to give Netanyahu the edge in putting together a governing majority.

"I have no intention of being in a unity government headed by Bibi -- and don't hint that," Livni, using Netanyahu's nickname, said in the note chiding Olmert, who was reported to have urged her to join a broad Likud-led coalition.

Television cameras are allowed to film the start of Israeli cabinet meetings, and they caught Livni writing the note. Its text could be read clearly when the paper was shown on TV news programs.

Later, in broadcast remarks to Kadima legislators, Livni said the party deserved to lead Israel, but left open the possibility it would go into opposition.

"You don't have to be a mathematical genius to understand that 28 seats are more than 27," she said.

"We will continue to serve the public, either by forming the government, as the public chose, or if need be, in the opposition," Livni said.

Once election results become official on Wednesday, President Shimon Peres will begin consultations with party leaders to help determine whom he should pick to try to form a governing coalition.

The party leader he chooses will have 42 days to put together a government.

US-led Forces kill Taliban commander: officials

Kabul, Feb 16 (worldnews5.blogspot.com/Reuters) - US-led troops have killed a wanted Taliban commander in an air strike in Afghanistan's southwestern province of Badghis, U.S. and Afghan officials said on Monday.

Mullah Dastagir along with eight other militants were killed in a raid on a village near Turkmenistan's border on Sunday night, they said.

Dastagir was behind a series of attacks in Badghis, including an ambush in which 13 Afghan soldiers were killed last November, they added.

Before that ambush, Dastagir had been jailed but was released by order of President Hamid Karzai, a defense ministry official said.

The U.S. military confirmed the air strike and the casualties including Dastagir's killing.

The Taliban could not be reached for comment.

Ousted in a U.S.-led invasion in 2001, in reprisal for sheltering al Qaeda leaders responsible for the September 11 attacks on America, the Taliban have managed to extend the scope and extent of their insurgency in recent years.

Algerian Forces kill senior Qaeda figure: paper

ALGIERS, Feb 16 (worldnews7.com/Reuters) - Algerian security forces killed a senior member of Al Qaeda's north African wing after a tip-off from a former militant led them to his hideout, an Algerian newspaper reported Sunday.

Mourad Bouzid, 65, also known as Ami Slimane, was a charismatic figure instrumental in recruiting and motivating younger Al Qaeda fighters, daily Ennahar reported, citing an unnamed source.

He was hiding in the town of Issers, 55 km (34 miles) east of the capital Algiers, and was found with the help of local residents, said the paper which specializes in security matters.

It said Bouzid was tracked down using information from Ali Ben Touati, also known as Abou Tamine, another top Maghreb Qaeda figure who surrendered in late January to take advantage of a government amnesty offered to rebels who disarm.

Al Qaeda Organization in the Islamic Maghreb, formerly known as the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) is the remnant of a much broader insurgency that shook Algeria in the 1990s and left an estimated 150,000 people dead.

The conflict has largely subsided after the government offered successive amnesties to rebels under a national reconciliation drive.

But a hard core of several hundred militants adopted the Qaeda name two years ago and carried out a campaign of deadly urban bombings from their stronghold in the mountainous Kabylie region east of Algiers.

After months of relative calm, two roadside bombs killed seven people near Algeria's border with Tunisia Thursday, just hours after President Abdelaziz Bouteflika said he would stand for a third term in office.

Afghanistan To join in regional US policy review

KABUL, Sun Feb 15,(worldnews5.com/Reuters) - US President Barack Obama has welcomed a request from Afghanistan to take part in an inter-agency review of US policy on Afghanistan and Pakistan, the Afghan president and the US regional envoy said on Sunday.

The review, ordered by Obama last week, will look at both military and non-military aspects of US policy as American and NATO troops struggle in Afghanistan against a growing Taliban insurgency that also threatens Pakistan.

The review is to be completed before a NATO summit in April.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai said he was "very very thankful that President Obama has accepted the proposal of Afghanistan joining a strategic review of the war against terrorism".

An Afghan delegation headed by the foreign minister will travel to Washington to give its input to the review, Karzai told reporters at an event attended by Richard Holbrooke, Obama's special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Holbrooke is visiting the Afghan capital after a four-day trip to neighbouring Pakistan. He said Obama welcomed Karzai's suggestion to participate in the review, which came after a similar request from Pakistan last week.

The envoy has made few public comments during his trip which will end in India, but said the visit to Kabul was "to reaffirm America's commitment to the effort in Afghanistan against the Taliban and al Qaeda".

"We've come here to listen," Holbrooke said.

Obama has pledged to make Afghanistan a foreign policy priority and either Holbrooke or one of his deputies would visit Kabul at least once a month, the envoy said.

The new U.S. administration is considering sending up to 25,000 more troops to Afghanistan, but also increasing spending on development assistance to undercut the insurgency now entrenched in the south and east and spreading north and west.

But as the war effort has faltered, so too have relations between the United States and Karzai, once the darling of the Bush administration.

KARZAI'S LEGITIMACY

Washington and its allies have repeatedly spoken of the need for good governance to combat the insurgency. Obama last week described Karzai's government as "very detached" from its people.

Karzai has hit back, complaining time and again about the accidental killing of Afghans by international troops. The United Nations says 455 civilians were killed in air strikes last year.

Both Karzai and Holbrooke said they welcomed a deal between the Afghan Defence Ministry and international forces to include more Afghans in the planning and execution of counter-terrorism missions, a measure intended to reduce civilian casualties.

Holbrooke also said he supported the decision of the Afghan electoral commission to hold presidential elections on Aug. 20, by which time Washington hopes enough extra troops will be in place to secure the polls.

Afghan opposition parties have questioned the decision to hold the polls then as the Afghan constitution says elections should be held by May 21, calling into question Karzai's legitimacy if he stays in office beyond that date.

The electoral law states however that the presidential term is five years, meaning Karzai should be able to remain in office either until October, five years after he won the last election, or until December, five years after he took office.

Diplomats say it is vital the issue is cleared up before May and that either Karzai stays on as caretaker president, or someone else takes office until the elections, which would be hard to bring forward due to poor security.

The decision to hold the elections in August "has the full backing of the Afghan government", Karzai said.

"You should be assured that we will take care of all issues and especially we will be very mindful of the issue of legitimacy and stability of the country," he said.

Militants call Ceasefire in Pakistan's Swat valley

MINGORA, Pakistan, Feb 15 (worldnews5.blogspot.com/Reuters) - Islamist fighters announced a 10-day ceasefire from Sunday in Pakistan's northwestern Swat Valley, a spokesman for the militants said.

"We're announcing ceasefire as goodwill gesture to the ongoing talks between Maulana Sufi Mohammad and government," said Muslim Khan, a spokesman for the militants, referring to a radical Muslim cleric.

A full-blown revolt erupted in Swat in late 2007, and the militants control the

UN human rights envoy visits Myanmar Ethnic groups

YANGON, Sun Feb 15,(worldnews5.blogspot.com/Reuters) - A United Nations human rights envoy toured eastern Myanmar bordering Thailand on Sunday to assess the human rights conditions of ethnic groups in the southeast Asian country, a government source said.

Tomas Ojea Quintana, UN Special Human Rights Rapporteur for Myanmar, visited eastern Kayin State on the first leg of a fact finding tour he hoped would include meeting detained opposition leader Aung Sang Suu Kyi.

State-run media have not reported Ojea's five-day visit, his second trip to the country since taking office last May.

In a previous visit in August, Myanmar's government did not respond to Ojea's request to meet Nobel peace laureate Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest for 13 of the past 19 years.

She is among 2,162 people believed to be in detention in Myanmar for their political or religious beliefs.

According to the UN Information Centre, Ojea hopes to meet some political prisoners jailed by the ruling military regime as well as opposition leaders this week. He also plans to travel to western Rakhine and northern Kachin states.

Rakhine is home to hundreds of thousands of Rohingya, a Muslim ethnic group which made headlines recently following reports hundreds of Rohingya who fled to Thailand to escape poverty and hardship were mistreated by the Thai military.

"The main objectives of his visit are to assess the development of situation of human rights since his previous mission last summer," a U.N. statement said.

A Home Ministry source said the UN envoy also asked to visit to the high-security Insein prison in northern suburban Yangon which has held many political prisoners.

On the eve of Ojea's visit, a Myanmar court handed 15-year jail terms to two senior opposition politicians of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party.

NLD members Nyi Bu and Tin Min Htut were convicted of various charges on Friday in a court session held inside the Insein prison without lawyers or family members present, NLD spokesman Nyan Win told Reuters on Saturday.

The two men were arrested in August after they wrote an open letter to the United Nations criticising the ruling military regime's seven-step roadmap toward democratic political reforms.

State-run newspapers reported that in western Kayin state being visited by the UN envoy, forces of the anti-government Karen National Union (KNU) fired four rounds of rocket-propelled grenades into a Myanmar border town of Myawady on Saturday.

"Two shells landed about seven miles southwest of the town, one near a downtown guesthouse, and the last one in the compound of a Buddhist monastery. There were no casualties in the blast," the New Light of Myanmar reported on Sunday.

KNU is the biggest ethnic armed group that has fought for autonomy since 1949, one year after Myanmar won independence from Britain.

Global warming worse than Predicted: US scientist

CHICAGO, Feb 15 (worldnews5.blogspot.com/Reuters) - The climate is heating up far faster than scientists had predicted, spurred by sharp increases in greenhouse gas emissions from developing countries like China and India, a top climate scientist said on Saturday. "The consequence of that is we are basically looking now at a future climate that is beyond anything that we've considered seriously," Chris Field, a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC, told the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Chicago. Field said "the actual trajectory of climate change is more serious" than any of the climate predictions in the IPCC's fourth assessment report called "Climate Change 2007." He said recent climate studies suggested the continued warming of the planet from greenhouse gas emissions could touch off large, destructive wildfires in tropical rain forests and melt permafrost in the Arctic tundra, releasing billions of tons of greenhouse gasses that could raise global temperatures even more. "There is a real risk that human-caused climate change will accelerate the release of carbon dioxide from forest and tundra ecosystems, which have been storing a lot of carbon for thousands of years," Field, of Stanford University and the Carnegie Institution for Science, said in a statement. He pointed to recent studies showing the fourth assessment report underestimated the potential severity of global warming over the next 100 years. "We now have data showing that from 2000 to 2007, greenhouse gas emissions increased far more rapidly than we expected, primarily because developing countries, like China and India, saw a huge surge in electric power generation, almost all of it based on coal," Field said. He said that trend was likely to continue if more countries turned to coal and other carbon-intensive fuels to meet their energy needs. If so, he said the impact of climate change would be "more serious and diverse" than the IPCC's most recent predictions.

Gaza Truce deal stalls over Israeli hostage

JERUSALEM, Feb 15 (worldnews5.blogspot.com/Reuters) - Prospects for a stable truce in Gaza ran into trouble on Saturday when Israel insisted on the release of a kidnapped soldier and Hamas accused the Jewish state of deliberately wrecking negotiations. Israel has tied a full opening of its border crossings with Gaza -- a Hamas condition for a ceasefire -- to the release of Gilad Shalit, held captive in Gaza since 2006 when he was seized in a cross-border raid. "The prime minister's position is that Israel will not reach understandings on a truce before the release of Gilad Shalit," Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office said in a statement. Palestinian officials had reported significant headway in the indirect talks mediated by Egypt to achieve a longer-term ceasefire after Israel's 22-day offensive against Gaza in December and January. Hamas, the Islamist group that runs Gaza, had said earlier this week that most stumbling blocks had been overcome and a ceasefire would be announced on Sunday, but a Hamas official told Reuters this would not now happen. Osama Hamdan, a Hamas representative in Lebanon, told Al Jazeera television that Israel's raising of the Shalit issue was "a programed operation to make the deal fail." "We consider that this kind of Israeli procrastination is for the aim of achieving more objectives and wasting more time and effort. But our position is still as it was, and what was agreed has to be implemented fully. Otherwise Israel will bear the consequences of any failure," Hamdan said. POST-ELECTION LANDSCAPE Hamas wants Israel to free hundreds of Palestinians held in its jails in exchange for Shalit. But it wants talks on a prisoner swap deal and the opening of Gaza's crossings to take place after a ceasefire announcement. Fragile ceasefire declarations by both sides on January 17-18 ended the war in Gaza after a three-week Israeli offensive, launched with the declared objective of halting rocket fire from Gaza into its southern towns. Some 1,300 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed during the fighting. The ceasefire has largely held but Israel has responded to sparse cross-border rocket fire with air strikes against Hamas targets in Gaza. Olmert's office said any decision on the ceasefire talks would be made while taking into account "the new political circumstances" after an Israeli election produced a strong showing for right-wing parties in parliament. Israeli media said Olmert was hinting he would consult hawkish Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu, favored to form the next government. Hamas official Taher al-Nono told Reuters from Cairo that efforts were under way to try and overcome what he called "Israeli obstacles" that were delaying the announcement of an agreement. A Hamas spokesman in Gaza, Fawzi Barhoum, said the Egyptian-mediated talks were stalled by disagreement on the duration of the ceasefire. Israel wanted an open-ended ceasefire while Hamas favors an 18-month truce that could be extended. "Once this obstacle is overcome an announcement would be made," Barhoum said. Cross-border violence continued on Saturday. The Israeli army said Palestinian militants detonated an explosive against an army patrol on the Israeli side of the Israel-Gaza frontier.

Riyadh, (worldnews5.blogspot.com)--King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has appointed the country's first-ever female minister and replaced the head of the central bank. The king has also sacked two powerful religious officials in a wide ranging shake-up of the cabinet and other government posts.Reported BBC online. One of the dismissed men was the head of the controversial religious police force. The other was the country's most senior judge. Correspondents say such government reshuffles are rare in Saudi Arabia. King Abdullah, who came to power in 2005, has for a long time had the reputation of a reformer - and the latest appointments have the makings of one of the biggest shake-ups in Saudi public life for many years. The BBC's Arab affairs analyst Bob Trevelyan says the pace of change has been slow in the four years of the king's reign. Despite the shake-up, our correspondent says the kingdom remains an absolute monarchy and real political change is not on the agenda. Feared organisation The sacked head judge, Sheikh Salih Ibn al-Luhaydan, caused controversy last September when he said it was permissible to kill the owners of satellite TV channels which broadcast immoral programmes. Sheikh Salih Ibn al-Luhaydan said some "evil" entertainment programmes aired by the channels promoted debauchery. Our correspondent says the sheikh may well be paying the price for airing his opinions. The shake-up also affected the feared religious police organisation, known as the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice. Sheikh Ibrahim al-Ghaith has lost his job as head of the commssion, which enforces Saudi Arabia's conservative brand of Islam, Wahhabism. The commission has wide powers to search for alcohol and drugs, to crack down on prostitution and ensure shops are closed during prayer times. But our correspondent says the religious police have been widely criticised recently over allegations of brutality - the kind of comments that could never have been made publicly a few years ago. Meanwhile, Norah al-Faiz now holds the most senior official position a woman has held in Saudi Arabia. She has been appointed to the newly-created post of deputy education minister for women's affairs.

Australia mourns Bushfire victims

SYDNEY, Sun Feb 15,(worldnews5.blogspot.com/Reuters) - Australia mourned the victims of deadly bushfires at church services across the country on Sunday while the government vowed to create an early warning system to try to avoid a repetition of the disaster. The fires in the state of Victoria, the worst natural disaster to hit the country in more than a century, have left at least 181 people dead, a death toll that is expected to rise. The bushfires destroyed more than 1,800 homes and left 7,000 people homeless. In the town of Wandong, where several people died, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd paid tribute to the community for its efforts during a memorial service. "You, as this community, full of courage, reliance and compassion, I salute each and every one of you," he said. Authorities said it would be weeks before they would be able to say that the fires are definitely put out. Controlled burning was carried out over the weekend in an effort to stop the fires from spreading. Victoria state's emergency response center said on Sunday eight fires were still burning, four less than on Saturday, and although some were producing a lot of smoke, cooler temperatures and favorable winds were helping the firefighters. "We had favorable conditions overnight which has allowed us to go in and do a lot of work," a spokesman said. The government said on Sunday it would push to establish a bushfire early warning system, after years of delays. "Work is already in train, legislation needs to be changed and legislation is being brought to the parliament," Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard told Channel Nine, acknowledging that some "technical issues" remained to be overcome. The authorities have widely been criticized for the lack of such a system, although Victoria state Premier John Brumby has questioned whether it could have prevented the devastation caused by last weekend's fires. More than A$91 million has been raised for the bushfire victims. Rudd said average payouts of A$10,000 per family would be made available from the fund for victims. A Royal Commission of Inquiry has been established to examine what caused the disaster and one man has been charged with "arson causing death" in relation to one of the fires. Researchers say around half of the bushfires in Australia are lit deliberately. Rudd has described the fires as "mass murder."

West risks Repeating Soviet mistakes in Afghanistan

LONDON,Feb 14 (worldnews5.blogspot.com/Reuters) - Passengers used emergency slides to evacuate a British Airways plane when its nosewheel collapsed on landing at London's City airport on Friday, injuring four people, officials said. The front undercarriage failed when BA flight 8456 from Amsterdam landed at the east London airport on Friday evening with 67 passengers and four crew on board, the airline said. "As a precaution, the emergency slides were deployed and the passengers were evacuated down the slides onto the runway," BA said in a statement. A passenger was taken to hospital with a minor injury and one other minor injury was reported, BA said. The London Ambulance Service, which sent six ambulance crews to the airport, said four people were treated at the scene for minor injuries. A BA spokeswoman said the plane was an RJ-100, a model manufactured by BAE Systems. Passenger Justin Fletcher told BBC Television: "It appeared that it was coming in a bit quicker, and on landing the front wheel collapsed." "There was obviously quite a loud bang as the plane scraped in. Afterwards the stewards and stewardesses were quick to evacuate everyone," he said. "Everyone was quite calm and handled it all quite well." Reuters photographer Andrew Winning, at the scene, said the plane had come to a halt half-way down the runway, slumped on its nose, with its emergency chutes out. The plane was ringed by several emergency vehicles. A Fire Brigade spokeswoman said the passengers and crew got out of the plane before emergency services arrived. There was no fire and the Fire Brigade did not have to intervene, she said. A City airport spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment, but Sky News said the airport was closed.

West Risks repeating Soviet mistakes in Afghanistan

ALI MARDAN, Afghanistan, Feb 14(worldnews5.blogspot.com/Reuters) - The foreign warplanes swooped in just as the Afghan village of Ali Mardan was celebrating a wedding. Bombs slammed into the crowded village square, killing 30 men, women and children. After the smoke cleared and the dead were buried, all the able-bodied men left alive took up arms against the invaders. That was 1982 and the warplanes belonged to the Soviet Union, but 20 years after the last Soviet soldier left Afghanistan on Sunday, U.S. and NATO troops are all too often making the same mistakes and could run the same risk of being driven out. A string of bungled U.S. and NATO air strikes killed 455 Afghan civilians last year, according to the United Nations. Wedding parties seem to be particularly at risk, perhaps due to the crowds of people, some of them firing weapons in the air. U.S. planes bombed two Afghan weddings last year alone. Memories are long in Afghanistan and revenge is a duty. In the mud-brick homes of Ali Mardan, close to the Afghan capital Kabul, villagers still visit the graves of those killed in the Soviet bombardment and keep photographs of the dead to remind the living of the cruelty of war. "I was nine years-old. It was early in the morning during my sister's wedding when the jets bombed us," said Abdul Bashir. "You can see I lost one of my eyes, and my teeth. My brother was wounded. My sister, father and my aunt were martyred," he said. "I can never forget." QUAGMIRE Soviet leaders were at first reluctant to respond to repeated requests from Kabul's Marxist government to send troops to help quash resistance from rural Islamic fighters, fearing getting bogged down in Afghanistan, just as the British had in the 19th Century. But on December 25, 1979, hundreds of Soviet tanks rumbled across the border into northern Afghanistan and large numbers of airborne troops landed at Kabul airport. Despite deploying up to 120,000 soldiers, supported by 300,000 Afghan government forces, the Soviets failed to crush the insurgency by Afghan mujahideen fighters who were backed by U.S. guns and money and had bases inside neighboring Pakistan. Some 15,000 Soviet troops were killed before Moscow decided the war could not be won and pulled out its forces in 1989. By that time, 1 million Afghans had lost their lives and another 5 million become refugees in neighboring Pakistan and Iran. The tables are now turned and the United States is considering whether to send another 25,000 troops to add to the nearly 70,000 Western forces locked in a bitter stalemate with Taliban-led insurgents in south and eastern Afghanistan. "I tell you this for sure, that if NATO and America put all their attention on fighting, and invest only in the military, they will not win," former mujahideen leader and ex-President Burhanuddin Rabbani told Reuters. PEACE THOUGH PROGRESS? President Barack Obama's new administration is also planning a large increase in spending on development assistance to Afghanistan, more than seven years after the 2001 U.S.-led invasion of one of the poorest countries in the world. But the Soviets also tried to bring progress to deeply conservative and traditional Afghanistan and in many ways their record was more impressive than that of the West so far. Most of Afghanistan's roads, ministries, major schools and hospitals were Soviet-built. Even now, many of the upper echelons of the civil service, army and police are Soviet trained. The rows of apartment blocks around Kabul were all built by the Soviets. Though many are now shabby and pock-marked with bullet holes from the civil war, they are still highly prized as no public housing has been built since. "These residential buildings are the achievement of the Russians," said Abdul Ghani Rahpore, who lives in one of the blocks. "Now there are 40 countries stationed in this country but they haven't made any achievements that benefit the people." But any gains the Soviets made through development and building the Afghan government's capacity were scuppered by the resentment and anger their devastating bombing raids caused. That is a lesson U.S. and NATO forces should learn from the experience of their former Cold War adversary. "I don't think NATO has fully understood just how serious this issue is," said a Kabul-based Western analyst. "They certainly have done what they can to try to avoid civilian casualties from air strikes, but I just don't think they have grasped how central it is to informing the views of the nation." Added Rabbani: "There have already been some mistakes during military operations and the mistakes are continually being repeated. This is the same mistake the Soviets made."