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1. KARADZIC'S ADVISERS SAY HE WILL COME TO COURT
THE HAGUE, Nov 2 (Reuters) - Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic said he would appear before the Hague war crimes tribunal on Tuesday after boycotting his trial since it began last week, but only to argue for more time to prepare.
Karadzic, who denies 11 charges including genocide for the Srebrenica massacre of 8,000 Muslim men and boys during the 1992-95 Bosnian war, has refused to attend so far but said in a letter to the court he would do so on Tuesday.
"I hope we will be able to find a solution which will lead to not only an expeditious trial, but a fair one," he said in the letter released on Monday.
THE HAGUE, Nov 2 (Reuters) - Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic said he would appear before the Hague war crimes tribunal on Tuesday after boycotting his trial since it began last week, but only to argue for more time to prepare.
Karadzic, who denies 11 charges including genocide for the Srebrenica massacre of 8,000 Muslim men and boys during the 1992-95 Bosnian war, has refused to attend so far but said in a letter to the court he would do so on Tuesday.
"I hope we will be able to find a solution which will lead to not only an expeditious trial, but a fair one," he said in the letter released on Monday.
He is representing himself. Earlier, one of Karadzic's legal advisers, Marko Sladojevic, stressed his client would need 10 more months to prepare and that he was likely to refuse a court-appointed lawyer to represent him.
Tuesday's hearing will consider options that include continuing the trial in Karadzic's absence, assigning legak counsel, seeking outside advice, or adjourning to allow assigned counsel time to prepare.
"I think the court now has to make a decision and appoint a lawyer for him," said Axel Hagedorn, a Dutch lawyer representing the victims' group Mothers of Srebrenica.
Alexander Knoops, a professor of international criminal law at Utrecht University, has said the court should enter a compromise with Karadzic to allow him more time to prepare.
Judge O-Gon Kwon repeated his warning that Karadzic should attend the trial or have counsel appointed for him.
"We advise him to consider this carefully prior to making his oral submissions tomorrow," the South Korean judge said.
"HUMANITY'S DARK CHAPTERS"
In Karadzic's absence prosecutors continued with opening statements and spent the afternoon discussing the Srebrenica genocide, Europe's worst atrocity since World War Two.
Accusing Karadzic of responsibility for one of "humanity's dark chapters", prosecutor Alan Tieger said Karadzic ordered Bosnian Serb forces to capture the Muslim enclave of Srebrenica to crown his efforts to "cleanse" eastern Bosnia of non-Serbs.
"He knew that men were being killed, he covered up the mass expulsions and the murders and continues to do so to this day, and the only regret he had about the entire operation was that some Muslim men got away," Tieger said.
In video film shown to the court, Tieger showed a Bosnian Muslim man forced to call out to his teenage son that it was safe to surrender to the Bosnian Serbs. Both father and son were later found dead in a mass grave, he said.
He said the killings demanded a high degree of planning and the list of those who knew about the plans was long. As well as supreme commander Karadzic, it included Bosnian Serb military chief Ratko Mladic, also indicted for war crimes and still at large.
The charges against Karadzic also include the 43-month siege of Sarajevo, which killed an estimated 10,000 people.
2. ESTONIA WANTS NEW NATO DEFENSE PLANS
WASHINGTON (AP) – Estonia's defense minister was in Washington Monday discussing with the United States why NATO needs plans in case his region is attacked. Jaak Aaviksoo told The Associated Press that his country sees new threats since Russia's invasion of Georgia last year and a cyber attack that targeted his country in 2007.
"We see certain developments that don't make us happy," he said. "Post-Georgia is different from pre-Georgia, and we need to take that into account."
Aaviksoo added that Estonia does not believe that the issue is urgently needed to address any imminent threats.
Aaviksoo plans to meet with U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates Tuesday. He said that Estonia would like to NATO to look at defense plans that would consider not only conventional military attacks, but also other threats such as terrorism and cyber warfare.
Since the last year's Russia-Georgia war, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia, NATO members that were once part of the Soviet Union, have pressed for a greater U.S. and NATO presence on their territory. The countries now want NATO to specifically address the threats they perceive from their Eastern borders.
But the move to plan for Russian aggression comes as the United States and NATO are seeking greater cooperation with Russia.
Aaviksoo said that he also expected to discuss Estonia's military contribution to NATO's Afghanistan operation with Gates.
3. CROATIA'S PM SEEKS APPROVAL FOR DEAL WITH SLOVENIA
ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) – Croatia's prime minister has urged lawmakers to approve her deal with neighboring Slovenia for international arbitrators to solve the two nations' border dispute.
Jadranka Kosor says that rejecting the deal will bury Croatia's desire to join the European Union because Slovenia will continue to block Croatia's bid.
The row is over a border in the Adriatic Sea: Slovenia, an EU member, wants Croatia to give it a channel to access international waters.
Kosor and her Slovenian counterpart agreed to let a commission solve the row. She needs parliament's approval to sign the deal.
Opponents claim that Kosor's deal presumes that Croatia will give away part of its sea to Slovenia.
Lawmakers will vote later Monday.
4. AFGHANISTAN DECLARES H1N1 EMERGENCY, SHUTS SCHOOLS
KABUL, Nov 2 (Reuters) - Afghanistan declared a health emergency on Monday to help the government prevent the rapid spread of H1N1 and ordered schools closed for three weeks as part of measures against the deadly virus.
The government has also advised the public against gatherings such as weddings in enclosed areas, after Afghanistan had its first death attributed to the virus last week.
Nearly 350 positive cases of H1N1 have been detected among foreigners and Afghans and several hundred more people are suspected to be infected, a public health ministry spokesman said.
The positive cases, 271 reported among expatriates and the rest among Afghans, reflect a dramatic rise in infections registered in recent months, Farid Raaid told Reuters.
"We have declared a health emergency state on the basis of which all private (and) governmental educational institutions as well as kindergartens have been ordered to close for three weeks."
Researches have shown that without applying preventative measures approximately 22 percent of the population will be infected by the disease, the public health ministry said in a statement.
One out of 80 cases of the influenza will die, it said.
"Therefore, if we assume population of Afghanistan between 25,000,000 to 30,000,000 a total 5.5-6.6 million population will be at risk of contracting ... and around 70,000 people will die of consequences of the disease," it added.
An evaluation will be made after two weeks to determine whether to reopen schools, Raaid said. The government has waged a massive public awareness campaign in the country, battered by decades of war and where illiteracy is high. The U.N. World Health Organisation has pledged to provide one million doses of vaccine to Afghans to tackle the disease, Raaid said.
5. UN CHIEF IN KABUL AS PRESSURE MOUNTS ON ELECTION
KABUL (AP) – The U.N. chief made a surprise visit to Afghanistan on Monday as international pressure mounted for a quick resolution to the country's electoral turmoil following the withdrawal of President Hamid Karzai's only challenger.
Former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah pulled out of the two-man race Sunday, effectively handing Karzai a victory.
It is still unclear, however, if the vote will go forward Saturday as scheduled. The two had been in talks about a power-sharing deal, and negotiations may still be going on. Abdullah chose not to boycott the vote, a conciliatory move that could mean he is still hoping for a deal.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will meet with the two men "to assure them and the Afghan people of the continuing support of the United Nations toward the development of the country," the statement said.
A deadly attack last week on a Kabul guest house where U.N. election workers were staying has raised questions about whether the U.N. might scale back in Afghanistan. Militants stormed the compound before dawn, killing five U.N. staffers and three Afghans.
The U.N. kept operating after an August 2003 truck bombing at its headquarters in Baghdad, which killed 22 people, including mission chief Sergio Vieira de Mello, but after a second bombing it shut down operations in Iraq in late October 2003 for years.
Ban will also meet with U.N. staff and security officials, the statement said. Taliban threats of more violence and the difficulty of organizing and securing the balloting mean that officials are likely looking for a way to end the process without sending people back to the polls this week.
Karzai has said the runoff should go forward as planned, but there is no clear article in Afghanistan's constitution or electoral law to address the situation. The chairman of the Independent Election Commission, Azizullah Lodin, said Sunday that he would have to meet with constitutional lawyers before deciding how to proceed.
Repeated calls to election officials on Monday were not returned.
It has been more than a month since the Aug. 20 balloting that aimed to strengthen the Afghan government but instead undermined its credibility both at home and with key allies like the United States.
The vote was characterized by rampant ballot-box stuffing, and fraud investigators threw out nearly a third of Karzai's votes. That move dropped Karzai below the 50 percent threshold needed to win outright, forcing the runoff vote.
A bevy of international figures, including U.S. Sen. John Kerry, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, were involved in convincing Karzai to accept the runoff vote.
U.N. and U.S. representatives were still involved in negotiations with the two about a powersharing deal as recently as Sunday morning, according to a Western diplomat who was familiar with the talks but spoke anonymously because of the sensitivity of the discussions.
The U.S. and the U.N. have both issued statements calling for a quick resolution now that Abdullah has bowed out.
Abdullah has said his decision not to participate in the runoff is final. But in a sign of how much the situation is in flux, a spokesman said Monday that they could be open to still having a second round if it is delayed to put in safeguards to prevent fraud.
"Lots of opportunities have been missed and election day is very close," Fazel Sancharaki said.
"If President Karzai accepts Dr. Abdullah's conditions we are thinking of a second date for the election."
6. AFGHAN ELECTION COMMISSION DECLARES KARZAI WINNER
KABUL (AP) – Afghanistan's election commission proclaimed President Hamid Karzai the victor of the country's tumultuous ballot Monday, canceling a planned runoff and ending a political crisis two and a half months after a fraud-marred first round. The Obama administration – which has been waiting for a government deemed legitimate to emerge in Kabul before announcing whether to deploy tens of thousands more troops – quickly commended the ruling.
"We congratulate President Karzai on his victory in this historic election and look forward to working with him" to support reform and improve security, the U.S. Embassy said in a statement.
Britain and the United Nations also issued statements of congratulations. The cancellation of Saturday's vote came one day after former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah announced he was pulling out of the Nov. 7 vote. Abdullah said the ballot would not have been fair and accused the Karzai-appointed Independent Election Commission of bias.
The annulment is a huge relief to organizers who were scrambling to hold the election before the onset of Afghanistan's harsh winter, as well as to authorities who feared a wave of bloody violence on polling day after a Taliban spokesman threatened attacks against anyone who took part.
Election commission chairman Azizullah Lodin announced Karzai the winner during a news conference in Kabul.
"His excellency Hamid Karzai, who has won the majority of votes in the first round and is the only candidate for the second round, is declared by the Independent Election Commission as the elected president of Afghanistan," Lodin said.
Lodin said that the commission had the authority to make the decision because the Afghan constitution only allows for a runoff between two candidates. There is a chance that the ruling could be contested, but the international community came out strongly in support of it.
The U.S. statement said the commission's decision was in line with "its mandate under Afghan law."
A spokesman for Abdullah, however, said the decision did not reflect Afghan law but declined to say if the candidate would challenge it.
"The announcement that was made by the electoral commission today will not solve the problems of Afghanistan, and it doesn't have any basis in law," Fazel Sancharaki said.
He said Abdullah would give his reaction in a speech Tuesday. "We expected that this commission would announce something like this because this commission has never been independent and has always supported President Karzai," Sancharaki said.
Ronald Neumann, a retired U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, said canceling the runoff was the country's best available option and that few were likely to contest the decision.
"It's over. He withdrew. Karzai wins. I think we are much more hung up than they will be on rules," Neumann said.
Karzai has led Afghanistan since U.S. forces invaded to oust the Taliban in 2001. He won elections in 2004 and his latest victory will give him another five-year mandate.
The U.S. will have to find a way to work with the Afghan leader, who has fallen out of favor in Washington after openly criticizing U.S. military tactics, including the heavy use of air power that has killed many civilians.
The mass ballot-box stuffing that characterized the Aug. 20 vote further sullied Karzai's reputation. Fraud investigators threw out nearly a third of Karzai's votes, dropping him below the 50 percent threshold needed to win outright.
Worried that Karzai's government would not be seen as legitimate, a bevy of international figures, including U.S. Sen. John Kerry, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, pressed Karzai to consent to a runoff.
But on Monday, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who was in Kabul on a surprise visit, welcomed the decision to forego the runoff.
"This has been a difficult election process for Afghanistan, and lessons must be learned," said Ban. "Afghanistan now faces significant challenges and the new president must move swiftly to form a government that is able to command the support of both the Afghan people and the international community."
Last week, insurgents in suicide vests stormed a guest house in the heart of Kabul filled with U.N. election workers, killing five U.N. staffers and three Afghans. The attack raised questions about whether the world body might scale back its operations in the war-ravaged country.
But Ban promised Monday that the U.N. work would continue in Afghanistan despite the slayings. He also said Karzai had assured him Afghan security forces would work to protect his staff.
Ban told reporters that "we cannot be deterred, we must not be deterred. ... The work of the United Nations will continue."
The same day, however, the world body announced it would pull some expatriate staff out of Pakistan and suspend long-term development work in areas along the Afghan border because of violence.
The U.N. kept operating after an August 2003 truck bombing at its headquarters in Baghdad, which killed 22 people, including mission chief Sergio Vieira de Mello, but after a second bombing it shut down operations in Iraq in late October 2003 for years. Meanwhile, Afghan authorities ordered all schools and universities closed for three weeks amid swine flu fears that were heightened Wednesday after the country registered its first death from the virus.
The Health Ministry said large gatherings at public baths and wedding halls will be forbidden for the same period. Elsewhere, NATO-led forces said one Afghan girl was accidentally killed during an operation against militants in the southern province of Kandahar on Sunday. A joint Afghan-international force fired on two motorcycles carrying militants south of the city, killing a girl who was on one of the motorbikes, NATO said in a statement.
7. OBAMA TO AFGHAN PRESIDENT: TIME FOR A NEW CHAPTER
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Barack Obama welcomed Afghan President Hamid Karzai's election with as much admonishment as praise, telling the U.S. partner in war that he expects a more serious effort to end corruption in his government and ready his nation to ultimately defend itself.
"I emphasized that this has to be a point in time in which we begin to write a new chapter," Obama said in describing his congratulatory phone call to Karzai. The U.S. president said that when Karzai offered back assurances, Obama told him that "the proof is not going to be in words.
It's going to be in deeds."
Obama's message of stern solidarity came as he considers sending tens of thousands more U.S. troops into the war zone in Karzai's country.
Karzai won a second term Monday when competitor Abdullah Abdullah pulled out of the Nov. 7 runoff for fear it would be doomed by fraud just as the first voting in August was. The fraud-marred election cost Karzai international credibility.
The White House put its weight behind the legitimacy of the outcome after helping to broker a runoff that never happened. Obama called the process "messy" but said Karzai won in accordance with Afghan law. The White House repeatedly said Abdullah had pulled out purely for his own political and personal reasons.
8. HALF IRAQIS KILLED IN OCTOBER DIED IN ONE ATTACK
BAGHDAD (AP) – Nearly half of all Iraqis who died in October perished in a single coordinated attack against government offices in Baghdad, a tally by The Associated Press showed Monday.
Of the 364 Iraqis killed over the past month, according to the AP count, 155 died in two nearly simultaneous bombs targeting government buildings Oct. 25 in downtown Baghdad – the worst coordinated attack in more than two years.
The impact of the devastating bombing, which occurred in one of the most protected parts of the capital, continues to be felt as the government struggles to convince Iraqis it can protect them.
The government blamed an alliance of al-Qaida in Iraq and members of Saddam Hussein's outlawed Baath Party for similar bombings in August of the Justice and Finance ministries that killed about 100 people and has called for an international investigation, particular with regard to the role of neighboring Syria.
In a nod toward Iraqi concerns, special U.N. envoy Oscar Fernandez-Taranco met Monday with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and senior government officials as part of "preliminary consultations on the incidents surrounding" the Aug. 19 and Oct. 25 blasts.
Fernandez-Taranco said Monday he had come to Baghdad to "listen to the government of Iraq's concerns" over security and sovereignty issues.
The U.N.'s decision to send the special envoy to Baghdad came before the October attacks. April was the deadliest month in Iraq with 451 killed, according to the AP count followed by June with 448 and August with 425 Iraqis killed.
The AP began tracking war related violence in Iraq in May 2005. The tally includes civilian, Iraqi military and Iraqi police deaths each day as reported by police, hospital officials, morgue workers and verifiable witness accounts. Insurgent deaths are not included. The numbers are considered a minimum. The actual number of those killed are likely higher as many killings go unreported or uncounted.
The August and October bombings have infuriated Iraqis, who question how the bombers could have driven their deadly cargo undetected through the multiple checkpoints that dot Baghdad. Al-Maliki's government, facing a January election, has been under intense pressure to show that the Iraqi military and police are able to handle security as U.S. troops slowly withdraw from the country.
Amid the ongoing violence, Iraqi lawmakers have been struggling to agree on a new election law that would enable the parliamentary contests to be held Jan. 16. A key stumbling block has been how to carry out voting in the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, a city claimed by both Arabs and Kurds.
On Sunday, the U.S. Vice President Joe Biden spoke to the president of Iraq's Kurdish autonomous region on the phone, urging him to help pass the crucial legislation, said Saad Al-Barzanji, a lawmaker of the Kurdistan coalition.
9. IRAN WANTS NEW NUCLEAR FUEL TALKS, DEEPENING DOUBTS
VIENNA, Nov 2 (Reuters) - Iran wants more talks on a U.N.-drafted nuclear deal and prefers to import atomic fuel rather than send its own uranium abroad for processing, a senior official said, suggesting terms world powers are likely to rebuff.
Western powers have urged Iran to accept a draft deal in which it would send most of its lowenriched uranium (LEU) abroad by the end of the year for further enrichment to turn it into fuel for a medical reactor in Tehran.
But Iranian Ambassador Ali Asghar Soltanieh told Reuters on Monday that more talks were needed "in order to ensure that our technical concerns, and especially the issue of the guarantee of the fuel supply, are taken into consideration".
Iran's requests will add to doubts that a way out of a standoff with big powers will be found soon. Tehran appears to be stalling after appearing ready to make concessions to the international community, which is threatening to impose new sanctions over fears that Iran is pursuing an atomic weapons programme.
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency urged Iran to accept the deal with the United States, France and Russia so Tehran can help build confidence in its atomic work.
"The issue at stake remains that of mutual guarantees amongst the parties," IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei told the U.N. General Assembly in New York.
"I should add, however, that trust and confidence-building are an incremental process that requires focusing on the big picture and a willingness to take risks for peace."
Iran says its enrichment programme is purely peaceful and officials have voiced misgivings about parting with the bulk of Iran's LEU, seen as a strategic asset and key bargaining chip.
"We are ready for the next round of technical discussions in Vienna at the IAEA headquarters," Soltanieh said by telephone, adding that the IAEA should now arrange a date.
Iran's U.N. Ambassador Mohammad Khazaee did not mention the fuel proposal in his speech to the General Assembly, which was meeting to discuss the annual report of the IAEA.
NEW SANCTIONS?
Western powers have signalled that their patience is limited and that they will consider new sanctions early next year if Iran does not make its nuclear work more transparent. France and Germany urged Iran to accept ElBaradei's deal, echoing earlier comments from Britain and Russia.
"We are waiting for a reply. If the reply is aimed at delaying matters, as we believe, then we will not accept it," French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner told a news conference in Paris with German counterpart Guido Westerwelle.
The plan, backed by the other participants, aims to reduce Iran's LEU stockpile below the minimum quantity that could be turned into the highly enriched uranium needed for a bomb.
"We are ready to buy the fuel from any supplier under the full scope of safeguards and surveillance of the IAEA," said Soltanieh, Tehran's veteran ambassador to the atomic watchdog.
"The core issue is the assurance and guarantee of the supply, keeping in mind the past confidence deficit where we did not receive the fuel we had paid for," he said, alluding to supply deals that fell through after the Islamic Revolution.
Iran's foreign minister said Tehran wants the IAEA to set up a "technical commission" to review the deal.
Iran gave the IAEA an "initial response" to the draft deal on Friday after talks in Vienna on Oct. 19-21 with the three big powers. Diplomats say ElBaradei told Tehran to come back with a full answer and a better proposal.
Western diplomats say Iran has asked to receive fuel for a Tehran reactor making radio-isotopes for cancer treatment before shipping out any of its own LEU. Iran also wants to transfer the enriched uranium in small shipments, not in one go.
Diplomats say the Iranian demands are unacceptable because the deal in this form would not lessen Tehran's potential to turn LEU into bomb-grade nuclear fuel if it wanted, a scenario the West fears due to Iran's history of nuclear secrecy.
"The messages from Tehran are negative, I am quite pessimistic," one European diplomat said.
10. CLINTON MODERATES STATEMENT ON ISRAELI SETTLEMENTS
MARRAKECH, Morocco (AP) – In the face of Arab criticism of the administration's recalibrated Mideast peace tack, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton moderated her praise Monday for Israel's offer to restrain building settlements in Palestinian areas. While Israel was moving in the right direction in its offer to restrict but not stop the settlements, Clinton said, its offer "falls far short" of U.S. expectations. She repeated, however, that it reflected a potentially important step forward for Mideast peace.
Clinton said her earlier praise of Israel's offer, during a stop in Jerusalem, had been intended as "positive reinforcement." But they drew widespread criticism from Arab countries which interpreted it as a softening of the U.S. position on settlements, which stand in the way of a resumption of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
In a sign of U.S. eagerness to calm Arab concerns about the U.S. position on settlements, Clinton is extending her trip by one day to fly to Cairo to meet with President Hosni Mubarak on Wednesday, her staff announced. She had been scheduled to return to Washington on Tuesday.
Clinton's comments in Jerusalem on Saturday appeared to reflect a realization within the Obama administration that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government will not accept a fullon settlement freeze and that a partial halt may be the best lesser option. Her appeal on Saturday seemed designed to make the Israeli position more palatable to the Palestinians and Arab states.
"We have to work with what we've got," said one U.S. official, adding: "We need to press both sides not to miss this opportunity."
Clinton had traveled to the region only reluctantly, concerned her visit might be seen as a failure, according to several U.S. officials. She agreed to meet Israeli and Palestinian leaders after pressure from the White House, according to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal administration thinking.
The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment. During a photo-taking session Monday with her Moroccan counterpart, Clinton was asked by a reporter about the Arab reaction, and she responded by reading from a written statement that appeared designed to counter the skepticism about the Obama administration's views on settlements.
"Successive American administrations of both parties have opposed Israel's settlement policy," she said. "That is absolutely a fact, and the Obama administration's position on settlements is clear, unequivocal and it has not changed. As the president has said on many occasions, the United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements."
Clinton's tweaking of her earlier remarks appeared to satisfy at least some of the Morocco meeting attendees. Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki said Monday that "we have heard her say something completely different from that statement in line with previous statements, so we are happy that such a position was highlighted and brought back to the right line and right now we will see how things will go."
Malki added that "we completely appreciate the sincere efforts made by President Barack Obama and his team to take this issue as a top priority and to try to deal with it from day one."
In her recalibrated comments Monday, Clinton also called on the Israelis to do more to improve "movement and access" for Palestinians and on Israeli security arrangements. She added, however, that Israel deserved praise for moving in the right direction.
"I will offer positive reinforcement to either of the parties when I believe they are taking steps that support the objective of reaching a two-state solution," Clinton said.
"This offer falls far short of what we would characterize as our position or what our preference would be," she added. "But if it is acted upon, it will be an unprecedented restriction on settlements and would have a significant and meaningful effect on restraining their growth."
In her statement to reporters, Clinton also stressed that the Palestinian authorities deserved credit for what she called "unprecedented" steps to improve security in the West Bank and praised the Palestinians for progress in training their security forces.
On Monday evening, Clinton met with representatives of the Gulf Cooperation Council, plus officials from Egypt, Jordan, Iraq and Morocco. Afterward she told a news conference that none of them characterized her remarks in Jerusalem as a change in U.S. position. And she said some of them had not fully understood the details of the settlement "restraint" offer by the Israelis. Clinton also flew Monday to the southern-central city of Ouarzazate for an audience with King Mohammed VI, then returned to Marrakech for talks with foreign ministers of several Persian Gulf nations.
Clinton was expected to meet separately with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal, who has rejected U.S. appeals for improved Arab relations with Israel as a way to help restart Middle East peace talks, saying the Jewish state is not interested in a deal.
After taking office in January, Obama buoyed Palestinian hopes for progress toward establishing a Palestinian state with his outreach to the Muslim world and an initially tough stance urging a full freeze to all settlement construction.
But after making little headway with the Israelis in recent months, Clinton urged Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas in a face-to-face meeting in Abu Dhabi on Saturday to renew talks, which broke down late last year, without conditions. Abbas said no, insisting that Israel first halt all settlement activity in the West Bank and east Jerusalem – lands the Palestinians claim for a future state.
Then, at a joint news conference with Netanyahu late Saturday in Jerusalem, Clinton praised Netanyahu's offer to curb some settlement construction, saying it was an unprecedented gesture.
"I believe that the U.S. condones continued settlement expansion," Palestinian government spokesman Ghassan Khatib said Sunday in a rare public chiding of Washington.
"Calling for a resumption of negotiations despite continued settlement construction doesn't help because we have tried this way many times," Khatib added. "Negotiations are about ending the occupation and settlement expansion is about entrenching the occupation."
Palestinians expressed deep disappointment and frustration at Clinton's words, and Jordan and Egypt also issued statements Sunday critical of the latest U.S. approach. Clinton spoke by telephone with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit.
11. ISRAEL FREES HAMAS MINISTERS
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) – Israel has released six Hamas Cabinet ministers jailed after Palestinian militants captured an Israeli soldier in Gaza in 2006.
Israeli defense officials say the ministers had just completed their prison terms and their release was not connected to a swap of the captured Sgt. Gilad Schalit for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
The officials spoke Monday on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak with the media.
Israel arrested 45 Hamas lawmakers in the West Bank following Schalit's capture and convicted them of belonging to an illegal organization. Hamas says 15 remain in prison. Hamas won control of the Palestinian parliament in 2006 elections, then seized the Gaza Strip in 2007, leading to rival governments in the West Bank and Gaza.
12. AL QAEDA CALLS FOR HOME- MADE BOMB ATTACKS IN WEST
DUBAI, Nov 2 (Reuters) - The leader of al Qaeda's wing in the Arabian Peninsula called on militants to attack airports and trains in the West and said they could easily make bombs from household materials, the group's Internet magazine said.
The Islamist group has been trying to secure small victories to maintain its feared image after its leaders' threats to carry out large-scale attacks on Western targets have been discounted as words without deeds, analysts say.
Abu Basir Nasser al-Wahayshi, in an article in the e-magazine Sada al-Malahem, also urged militants to assault secular media figures and columnists who promote the policies of rulers in the world's top oil exporting region.
"You do not need to exert great effort or spend a lot of money to make 10 grams of explosives, more or less. Do not spend a long time searching for materials as they already exist in your mother's kitchen," Wahayshi wrote in the article, posted on an Islamist website on Sunday.
"Make them (bombs) in the shape of a bomb you hurl, or detonate through a timer or a remote detonater or a martyrdom-seeker belt or any electrical appliance."
Wahayshi said bombers should attack countries involved in wars in Muslim countries as well as government figures and security bodies in the Middle East.
Over the past two years, al Qaeda has been active mainly in Muslim countries like Algeria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Yemen after carrying out the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on U.S. cities. Wahayshi urged followers to use knives or sticks to attack "secular media figures and writers who mock the orders of religion and those who promote and justify (the actions) of infidel rulers".
"Knives are a good remedy for some and ... (for others) severe beating until they are confined to bed or lose one of their senses," added the militant leader.
Calling on militants to assassinate al Qaeda's enemies, Wahayshi stated that "It is a duty that a Muslim mujahid be busy planning to reap the heads of infidels."
In August, an al Qaeda suicide bomber tried to kill the Saudi prince in charge of the kingdom's anti-terrorism campaign, the first attack on a member of the royal family since the group began a wave of violence in the country six years ago.
Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter and a key U.S. ally in the Middle East, was forced to confront its own role in rising militancy at home and abroad when its nationals turned out to be behind the Sept. 11 attacks.
Several countries in the region have been attacked by al Qaeda militants trying to destabilize Western-allied governments.
13. SUSPECTED SOMALI PIRATES CLASH WITH NORWEGIAN NAVY
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) – The European Union's anti-piracy force says a Norwegian warship has clashed with suspected Somali pirates.
A statement from the force says a team from Norwegian warship HNOMS Fridjof Nansen on Sunday went to talk to the crew of four fishing boats near Alula, a northeastern Somali coastal village known for piracy.
The crew on the first three boats cooperated but when the Norwegian team approached the fourth boat, shots were fired at them. The team fired in self-defense and retreated to avoid further violence, the statement says.
Alula village head Hareed Issa Omar says the Norwegian team fired first, killing a Somali and a Yemeni man. Omar says they were fishermen and not pirates. Somalia has become the world's piracy hotspot.
14. RIVAL SOMALI GROUPS FIGHT OVER BRITISH COUPLE
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) – Rival pirates and militia groups have fought for control over a British couple held hostage for more than a week, an Islamic militia commander and a local elder said Monday. The couple were not injured in the fighting.
Meanwhile, a U.S.-flagged cargo vessel with 21 Americans aboard came under gunfire from suspected Somali pirates but managed to escape, a U.S. Navy spokesman said.
Elders sent local fighters to thwart an attempt by some of the pirates holding the couple to take them to an extremist Islamic group, said a commander of a rival moderate Islamic militia who gave his name only as Ilka'ase.
"We did not want the pirates to use our territory to hold hostages or hand them over to another group. We took up arms with the help of (the moderate Islamic group) Ahlu Sunna Waljama and opposed" the other group, said Hussein Mohamed Kahiye, a clan elder in the central Somali village of Bahdo.
It was not possible to independently verify the reported fight over the British couple. The couple had been held on a ship at sea, but Kahiye said the couple were now in the coastal areas and traveling in two minibuses and an all-terrain vehicle.
A pirate claiming to speak on behalf of the group holding the British couple had said on Saturday that they want a $7 million ransom to release Paul and Rachel Chandler. The British government has said it would not pay a ransom.
The Chandlers were headed to Tanzania in their yacht, the Lynn Rival, when a distress signal was sent Oct. 23. The British navy found their empty yacht last Thursday, and the Chandlers have been in sporadic contact with the British media since.
Also Monday, the MV Harriette was targeted by pirates aboard two skiffs about 360 nautical miles off Mombasa, Kenya, Lt. Nate Christensen said. The pirates – about six in each craft – came within 3 feet (a meter) of the cargo vessel but were unable to board, Christensen said from U.S. 5th Fleet headquarters in Bahrain. No one on the U.S. ship was injured, he said, and no other details of the incident were available from the U.S. Navy, which is part of anti-piracy patrols off the Horn of Africa. A security officer with Sealift Inc., the company that operates the MV Harriette, said the captain steered the ship to prevent the pirates getting on board and drew fire from the pirates.
The captain, "was able to turn away from the boat, he was able to maneuver to keep the small boats far away so that they could not get a ladder on the boat (MV Harriette)," John Belle told The Associated Press from the company's headquarters in Oyster Bay, N.Y.
"After they attempted to board and they were unsuccessful ... they did fire. No one was injured. Some of the rounds hit the lifeboat of the ship," Belle said. He said the attack ended within 25 minutes. Belle said the Harriette has a 21-member crew who are all Americans. The ship had offloaded U.S. food aid at the Kenyan port of Mombasa, where it had been since Oct. 20. The Harriette had set sail for Mumbai, India on Sunday, Belle said.
The attack came a day after a Norwegian warship clashed with suspected Somali pirates, the European Union's anti-piracy force said. A statement from the force said a team from Norwegian warship HNOMS Fridjof Nansen on Sunday went to talk to the crew of four fishing boats near Alula, a northeastern Somali coastal village known for piracy.
The crew on the first three boats cooperated but when the Norwegian team approached the fourth boat, shots were fired at them. The team fired in self-defense and retreated to avoid further violence, the statement said.
Alula village head Hareed Issa Omar claimed the Norwegian team fired first, killing a Somali and a Yemeni man – whom he said were fishermen and not pirates. Norwegian military spokesman John Espen Lien said Monday that Norway was "not able to confirm or deny" allegations by local authorities that two men were killed. Lien added that the Norwegian navy was escorting a cargo ship transporting U.N. World Food Program food aid to Somalia.
The Horn of Africa nation does not have a navy or coast guard because it has not had an effective central government for 18 years. Warlords overthrew longtime dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991. They then turned on each other, plunging Somalia into chaos and anarchy and creating the lawlessness that has allowed piracy to flourish off the country's coast.
Pirates attacks in 2009 already have exceeded last year's total off the Horn of Africa, an international maritime watchdog group reported last month. A total of 306 attacks were reported between January and September, surpassing the 293 incidents recorded throughout 2008, according to a statement released by the International Maritime Bureau's piracy reporting center in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
As a further example of Somalia's lawlessness, two Somali men tried and failed on Monday to hijack an airplane operated by Somali company Diallo Airlines, a company official said.
The attempted hijacking took place minutes after the Antonov plane carrying 30 passengers had taken off from the northeastern Somali port town of Bossaso, said Ahmed Yare, the marketing manager.
Yare said when the hijackers drew guns on the aircraft, passengers challenged them, confusing the hijackers and allowing the pilots to turn the plane back to Bossaso. On the ground, the hijackers tried to escape but police caught them after a brief gunbattle during which one hijacker was wounded. Neither the passengers were injured nor was the plane damaged, said Yare. It resumed its flight to neighboring Djibouti, Yare said.
15. SUICIDE BOMBER KILLS 35 NEAR PAKISTAN'S CAPITAL
RAWALPINDI, Pakistan (AP) – A suicide bomb killed 35 people near Pakistan's military headquarters Monday while a second blast wounded several police, continuing a wave of terrorism that prompted the United Nations to suspend long-term development work near the Afghan border.
The rash of attacks by Islamist militants has killed at least 300 people across Pakistan over the past month – including 11 U.N. workers – and threatened to destabilize the nuclear-armed nation.
The violence has grown bloodier since the government launched an anti-Taliban offensive in mid-October, pushing into the impoverished and underdeveloped tribal region of South Waziristan.
The U.N. decision to suspend non-emergency aid could weaken efforts to counter the appeal of extremism by improving ordinary people's daily lives.
The first suicide bomber Monday killed 35 people outside a bank near Pakistan's military headquarters in Rawalpindi, just a few miles (kilometers) from Islamabad. Most of those waiting in line were from the military and were there to cash paychecks, said Mohammad Mushtaq, a wounded soldier.
"I was sitting on the pavement outside to wait for my turn," said Mushtaq, who suffered a head injury. "The bomb went off with a big bang. We all ran. I saw blood and body parts everywhere."
Four soldiers were killed in the attack and nine were wounded, said the army's chief spokesman, Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas. In total, 35 people were killed, Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira said.
No group claimed responsibility for the bombing, though suspicion immediately fell on the Pakistani Taliban.
Hours later, another suicide bombing ripped through a police checkpoint on the outskirts of the eastern city of Lahore. At least seven policemen were wounded and two were in critical condition after a car with two men inside blew up as police went to search it.
"By putting their lives in danger, our men have saved the city from enormous sabotage," Lahore Police Chief Pervaiz Rathor told reporters at the scene.
Police checkpoints, where cars are forced to drive slowly past officers looking inside, have become common sights in Pakistan.
Pakistan's president and other top officials condemned the blasts but vowed to press on with the South Waziristan offensive. Taliban militants have de facto control in many of the semiautonomous tribal areas.
The U.S. has reportedly provided technical support to the South Waziristan offensive, seeing the rugged mountain area as a haven for Islamist extremists involved in attacks on Western troops in Afghanistan.
The government has sealed off the battle zone to outsiders, making confirmation of military reports impossible to confirm, but officials insist the offensive is going well. On Monday, Abbas said the army had captured the Taliban town of Kaniguram and killed 12 militants in the past 24 hours.
Washington, which has long provided massive military assistance to Pakistan, has stepped up its efforts to use development aid in a broader battle against the spreading militancy. The U.S. government recently approved $7.5 billion in aid over five years to improve Pakistan's economy, education and other nonmilitary sectors. But the U.N. decision to suspend long-term development work in Pakistan's tribal areas and its North West Frontier Province could complicate international efforts to win hearts and minds.
The world body will reduce the level of international staff in Pakistan and confine its work to emergency, humanitarian relief, and security operations, and "any other essential operations as advised by the secretary-general," the organization said in a statement. The U.N. made its decision after losing 11 personnel in attacks in Pakistan this year, including last month's bombing of the World Food Program's office in Islamabad that killed five people, said U.N. spokeswoman Amena Kamaal. "All of the decisions are being made in light of that."
The U.N. has been deeply involved in helping Pakistan deal with refugee crises resulting from army offensives against militants – work that will apparently continue – but Kamaal said the organization was still determining which programs would be suspended and how many staffers would be withdrawn. Staff that remain in the country will be assigned additional security.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Abdul Basit said Pakistan understood the U.N.'s decision, but said he hoped the organization would resume its work after the military completes the South Waziristan offensive.
16. FRENCH DOUBT ISLAMIST ROLE IN PAKISTAN BOMB-SOURCE
PARIS, Nov 2 (Reuters) - French secret service documents have cast doubt on a theory that Islamist militants were responsible for a 2002 bomb attack in Karachi that killed 11 French nationals, a source close to the case said on Monday.
The documents were declassified in October at the request of magistrates who will investigate the possibility that the attack was ordered by Pakistani soldiers angry with France over the nonpayment of bribes tied to a defence deal.
"The documents, which are all top secret, show strong scepticism of the al Qaeda theory," the source said.
The 11 French naval engineers and technicians, who were building a French submarine, died when their coach was bombed as it left a Karachi hotel in May 2002. In all, 14 people were killed in the attack.
Pakistani authorities at first blamed Islamist militants and two men were sentenced to death for taking part, but their convictions were overturned on appeal in 2003. The source also said the magistrates had dropped an arrest warrant for a suspected Pakistani Islamist leader, Mati Ur Rehman, whom they had been seeking as part of the investigation.
The French judges are studying the theory that the Pakistani soldiers ordered the attack after a dispute on the payment of commissions in Pakistan linked to the building of the submarine. French President Nicolas Sarkozy dismissed the allegations as a "fable" when they surfaced in June.
The lawyer for the families of the victims, Olivier Morice, said the documents did not mention the submarine contract.
17. NORTH KOREA CALLS FOR DIRECT TALKS WITH U.S.
SEOUL, Nov 2 (Reuters) - North Korea called on Monday for direct talks with its long-time foe, the United States, and gave the clearest signal so far it was ready to return to nuclear disarmament talks it has boycotted for almost a year.
The comments follow last week's rare visit by a North Korean official to the United States and what has been a "charm" offensive by the ostracised state that some analysts say is looking increasingly desperate for finance and aid.
"The conclusion we have reached is that the direct parties, which are the North and the United States, must first sit down and find a rational solution," a Foreign Ministry spokesman was quoted as saying by the official KCNA news agency.
"Now that we have shown the generosity of stating the position that we would be willing to talk to the United States and hold multilateral talks including the six-way talks, it is time for the United States to make a decision."
The comments were the strongest so far on the secretive state's willingness to return to talks it walked out on last December. But Washington gave no indication whether it was close to a decision on direct talks.
State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said U.S. and North Korean envoys had "very useful discussions" on Oct. 24 dealing with Washington's goal of restarting six-party talks.
"We know that there is an invitation to (North Korea Policy) Ambassador (Stephen) Bosworth to come to North Korea," he said. "We're still considering that invitation."
Last month, leader Kim Jong-il said he would consider rejoining the six-party talks with China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States, provided it had direct discussions with Washington.
U.S. academics and former officials said on Friday after meeting Pyongyang's second-ranking nuclear envoy that North Korea appeared to be more open to resuming the six-way talks on its nuclear programme.
North Korea's Ri Gun met the U.S. special envoy to disarmament talks in the past week in rare contacts in the United States, viewed as a prelude to a visit to Pyongyang by senior U.S. officials. Pyongyang has demanded direct talks with Washington as the best way to resolve hostility it argues has given it no option but to build a nuclear arsenal.
However, the United States has said there would be no negotiations outside the six-party forum. A well-placed diplomatic source in Seoul said it was not clear whether there has been a fundamental shift in North Korea's position to abandon its nuclear programme if the price is right.
"North Korea's financial plight likely has led to its charm offensive but we don't know if that means it is ready to make major concessions on its nuclear arms plans," he said.
Destitute North Korea has been reaching out to its traditional foes after being hit by U.N. sanctions to punish it for its second nuclear test in May. The sanctions were aimed at cutting into its vital revenue source of overseas arms sales.
Tuesday's hearing will consider options that include continuing the trial in Karadzic's absence, assigning legak counsel, seeking outside advice, or adjourning to allow assigned counsel time to prepare.
"I think the court now has to make a decision and appoint a lawyer for him," said Axel Hagedorn, a Dutch lawyer representing the victims' group Mothers of Srebrenica.
Alexander Knoops, a professor of international criminal law at Utrecht University, has said the court should enter a compromise with Karadzic to allow him more time to prepare.
Judge O-Gon Kwon repeated his warning that Karadzic should attend the trial or have counsel appointed for him.
"We advise him to consider this carefully prior to making his oral submissions tomorrow," the South Korean judge said.
"HUMANITY'S DARK CHAPTERS"
In Karadzic's absence prosecutors continued with opening statements and spent the afternoon discussing the Srebrenica genocide, Europe's worst atrocity since World War Two.
Accusing Karadzic of responsibility for one of "humanity's dark chapters", prosecutor Alan Tieger said Karadzic ordered Bosnian Serb forces to capture the Muslim enclave of Srebrenica to crown his efforts to "cleanse" eastern Bosnia of non-Serbs.
"He knew that men were being killed, he covered up the mass expulsions and the murders and continues to do so to this day, and the only regret he had about the entire operation was that some Muslim men got away," Tieger said.
In video film shown to the court, Tieger showed a Bosnian Muslim man forced to call out to his teenage son that it was safe to surrender to the Bosnian Serbs. Both father and son were later found dead in a mass grave, he said.
He said the killings demanded a high degree of planning and the list of those who knew about the plans was long. As well as supreme commander Karadzic, it included Bosnian Serb military chief Ratko Mladic, also indicted for war crimes and still at large.
The charges against Karadzic also include the 43-month siege of Sarajevo, which killed an estimated 10,000 people.
2. ESTONIA WANTS NEW NATO DEFENSE PLANS
WASHINGTON (AP) – Estonia's defense minister was in Washington Monday discussing with the United States why NATO needs plans in case his region is attacked. Jaak Aaviksoo told The Associated Press that his country sees new threats since Russia's invasion of Georgia last year and a cyber attack that targeted his country in 2007.
"We see certain developments that don't make us happy," he said. "Post-Georgia is different from pre-Georgia, and we need to take that into account."
Aaviksoo added that Estonia does not believe that the issue is urgently needed to address any imminent threats.
Aaviksoo plans to meet with U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates Tuesday. He said that Estonia would like to NATO to look at defense plans that would consider not only conventional military attacks, but also other threats such as terrorism and cyber warfare.
Since the last year's Russia-Georgia war, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia, NATO members that were once part of the Soviet Union, have pressed for a greater U.S. and NATO presence on their territory. The countries now want NATO to specifically address the threats they perceive from their Eastern borders.
But the move to plan for Russian aggression comes as the United States and NATO are seeking greater cooperation with Russia.
Aaviksoo said that he also expected to discuss Estonia's military contribution to NATO's Afghanistan operation with Gates.
3. CROATIA'S PM SEEKS APPROVAL FOR DEAL WITH SLOVENIA
ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) – Croatia's prime minister has urged lawmakers to approve her deal with neighboring Slovenia for international arbitrators to solve the two nations' border dispute.
Jadranka Kosor says that rejecting the deal will bury Croatia's desire to join the European Union because Slovenia will continue to block Croatia's bid.
The row is over a border in the Adriatic Sea: Slovenia, an EU member, wants Croatia to give it a channel to access international waters.
Kosor and her Slovenian counterpart agreed to let a commission solve the row. She needs parliament's approval to sign the deal.
Opponents claim that Kosor's deal presumes that Croatia will give away part of its sea to Slovenia.
Lawmakers will vote later Monday.
4. AFGHANISTAN DECLARES H1N1 EMERGENCY, SHUTS SCHOOLS
KABUL, Nov 2 (Reuters) - Afghanistan declared a health emergency on Monday to help the government prevent the rapid spread of H1N1 and ordered schools closed for three weeks as part of measures against the deadly virus.
The government has also advised the public against gatherings such as weddings in enclosed areas, after Afghanistan had its first death attributed to the virus last week.
Nearly 350 positive cases of H1N1 have been detected among foreigners and Afghans and several hundred more people are suspected to be infected, a public health ministry spokesman said.
The positive cases, 271 reported among expatriates and the rest among Afghans, reflect a dramatic rise in infections registered in recent months, Farid Raaid told Reuters.
"We have declared a health emergency state on the basis of which all private (and) governmental educational institutions as well as kindergartens have been ordered to close for three weeks."
Researches have shown that without applying preventative measures approximately 22 percent of the population will be infected by the disease, the public health ministry said in a statement.
One out of 80 cases of the influenza will die, it said.
"Therefore, if we assume population of Afghanistan between 25,000,000 to 30,000,000 a total 5.5-6.6 million population will be at risk of contracting ... and around 70,000 people will die of consequences of the disease," it added.
An evaluation will be made after two weeks to determine whether to reopen schools, Raaid said. The government has waged a massive public awareness campaign in the country, battered by decades of war and where illiteracy is high. The U.N. World Health Organisation has pledged to provide one million doses of vaccine to Afghans to tackle the disease, Raaid said.
5. UN CHIEF IN KABUL AS PRESSURE MOUNTS ON ELECTION
KABUL (AP) – The U.N. chief made a surprise visit to Afghanistan on Monday as international pressure mounted for a quick resolution to the country's electoral turmoil following the withdrawal of President Hamid Karzai's only challenger.
Former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah pulled out of the two-man race Sunday, effectively handing Karzai a victory.
It is still unclear, however, if the vote will go forward Saturday as scheduled. The two had been in talks about a power-sharing deal, and negotiations may still be going on. Abdullah chose not to boycott the vote, a conciliatory move that could mean he is still hoping for a deal.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will meet with the two men "to assure them and the Afghan people of the continuing support of the United Nations toward the development of the country," the statement said.
A deadly attack last week on a Kabul guest house where U.N. election workers were staying has raised questions about whether the U.N. might scale back in Afghanistan. Militants stormed the compound before dawn, killing five U.N. staffers and three Afghans.
The U.N. kept operating after an August 2003 truck bombing at its headquarters in Baghdad, which killed 22 people, including mission chief Sergio Vieira de Mello, but after a second bombing it shut down operations in Iraq in late October 2003 for years.
Ban will also meet with U.N. staff and security officials, the statement said. Taliban threats of more violence and the difficulty of organizing and securing the balloting mean that officials are likely looking for a way to end the process without sending people back to the polls this week.
Karzai has said the runoff should go forward as planned, but there is no clear article in Afghanistan's constitution or electoral law to address the situation. The chairman of the Independent Election Commission, Azizullah Lodin, said Sunday that he would have to meet with constitutional lawyers before deciding how to proceed.
Repeated calls to election officials on Monday were not returned.
It has been more than a month since the Aug. 20 balloting that aimed to strengthen the Afghan government but instead undermined its credibility both at home and with key allies like the United States.
The vote was characterized by rampant ballot-box stuffing, and fraud investigators threw out nearly a third of Karzai's votes. That move dropped Karzai below the 50 percent threshold needed to win outright, forcing the runoff vote.
A bevy of international figures, including U.S. Sen. John Kerry, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, were involved in convincing Karzai to accept the runoff vote.
U.N. and U.S. representatives were still involved in negotiations with the two about a powersharing deal as recently as Sunday morning, according to a Western diplomat who was familiar with the talks but spoke anonymously because of the sensitivity of the discussions.
The U.S. and the U.N. have both issued statements calling for a quick resolution now that Abdullah has bowed out.
Abdullah has said his decision not to participate in the runoff is final. But in a sign of how much the situation is in flux, a spokesman said Monday that they could be open to still having a second round if it is delayed to put in safeguards to prevent fraud.
"Lots of opportunities have been missed and election day is very close," Fazel Sancharaki said.
"If President Karzai accepts Dr. Abdullah's conditions we are thinking of a second date for the election."
6. AFGHAN ELECTION COMMISSION DECLARES KARZAI WINNER
KABUL (AP) – Afghanistan's election commission proclaimed President Hamid Karzai the victor of the country's tumultuous ballot Monday, canceling a planned runoff and ending a political crisis two and a half months after a fraud-marred first round. The Obama administration – which has been waiting for a government deemed legitimate to emerge in Kabul before announcing whether to deploy tens of thousands more troops – quickly commended the ruling.
"We congratulate President Karzai on his victory in this historic election and look forward to working with him" to support reform and improve security, the U.S. Embassy said in a statement.
Britain and the United Nations also issued statements of congratulations. The cancellation of Saturday's vote came one day after former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah announced he was pulling out of the Nov. 7 vote. Abdullah said the ballot would not have been fair and accused the Karzai-appointed Independent Election Commission of bias.
The annulment is a huge relief to organizers who were scrambling to hold the election before the onset of Afghanistan's harsh winter, as well as to authorities who feared a wave of bloody violence on polling day after a Taliban spokesman threatened attacks against anyone who took part.
Election commission chairman Azizullah Lodin announced Karzai the winner during a news conference in Kabul.
"His excellency Hamid Karzai, who has won the majority of votes in the first round and is the only candidate for the second round, is declared by the Independent Election Commission as the elected president of Afghanistan," Lodin said.
Lodin said that the commission had the authority to make the decision because the Afghan constitution only allows for a runoff between two candidates. There is a chance that the ruling could be contested, but the international community came out strongly in support of it.
The U.S. statement said the commission's decision was in line with "its mandate under Afghan law."
A spokesman for Abdullah, however, said the decision did not reflect Afghan law but declined to say if the candidate would challenge it.
"The announcement that was made by the electoral commission today will not solve the problems of Afghanistan, and it doesn't have any basis in law," Fazel Sancharaki said.
He said Abdullah would give his reaction in a speech Tuesday. "We expected that this commission would announce something like this because this commission has never been independent and has always supported President Karzai," Sancharaki said.
Ronald Neumann, a retired U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, said canceling the runoff was the country's best available option and that few were likely to contest the decision.
"It's over. He withdrew. Karzai wins. I think we are much more hung up than they will be on rules," Neumann said.
Karzai has led Afghanistan since U.S. forces invaded to oust the Taliban in 2001. He won elections in 2004 and his latest victory will give him another five-year mandate.
The U.S. will have to find a way to work with the Afghan leader, who has fallen out of favor in Washington after openly criticizing U.S. military tactics, including the heavy use of air power that has killed many civilians.
The mass ballot-box stuffing that characterized the Aug. 20 vote further sullied Karzai's reputation. Fraud investigators threw out nearly a third of Karzai's votes, dropping him below the 50 percent threshold needed to win outright.
Worried that Karzai's government would not be seen as legitimate, a bevy of international figures, including U.S. Sen. John Kerry, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, pressed Karzai to consent to a runoff.
But on Monday, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who was in Kabul on a surprise visit, welcomed the decision to forego the runoff.
"This has been a difficult election process for Afghanistan, and lessons must be learned," said Ban. "Afghanistan now faces significant challenges and the new president must move swiftly to form a government that is able to command the support of both the Afghan people and the international community."
Last week, insurgents in suicide vests stormed a guest house in the heart of Kabul filled with U.N. election workers, killing five U.N. staffers and three Afghans. The attack raised questions about whether the world body might scale back its operations in the war-ravaged country.
But Ban promised Monday that the U.N. work would continue in Afghanistan despite the slayings. He also said Karzai had assured him Afghan security forces would work to protect his staff.
Ban told reporters that "we cannot be deterred, we must not be deterred. ... The work of the United Nations will continue."
The same day, however, the world body announced it would pull some expatriate staff out of Pakistan and suspend long-term development work in areas along the Afghan border because of violence.
The U.N. kept operating after an August 2003 truck bombing at its headquarters in Baghdad, which killed 22 people, including mission chief Sergio Vieira de Mello, but after a second bombing it shut down operations in Iraq in late October 2003 for years. Meanwhile, Afghan authorities ordered all schools and universities closed for three weeks amid swine flu fears that were heightened Wednesday after the country registered its first death from the virus.
The Health Ministry said large gatherings at public baths and wedding halls will be forbidden for the same period. Elsewhere, NATO-led forces said one Afghan girl was accidentally killed during an operation against militants in the southern province of Kandahar on Sunday. A joint Afghan-international force fired on two motorcycles carrying militants south of the city, killing a girl who was on one of the motorbikes, NATO said in a statement.
7. OBAMA TO AFGHAN PRESIDENT: TIME FOR A NEW CHAPTER
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Barack Obama welcomed Afghan President Hamid Karzai's election with as much admonishment as praise, telling the U.S. partner in war that he expects a more serious effort to end corruption in his government and ready his nation to ultimately defend itself.
"I emphasized that this has to be a point in time in which we begin to write a new chapter," Obama said in describing his congratulatory phone call to Karzai. The U.S. president said that when Karzai offered back assurances, Obama told him that "the proof is not going to be in words.
It's going to be in deeds."
Obama's message of stern solidarity came as he considers sending tens of thousands more U.S. troops into the war zone in Karzai's country.
Karzai won a second term Monday when competitor Abdullah Abdullah pulled out of the Nov. 7 runoff for fear it would be doomed by fraud just as the first voting in August was. The fraud-marred election cost Karzai international credibility.
The White House put its weight behind the legitimacy of the outcome after helping to broker a runoff that never happened. Obama called the process "messy" but said Karzai won in accordance with Afghan law. The White House repeatedly said Abdullah had pulled out purely for his own political and personal reasons.
8. HALF IRAQIS KILLED IN OCTOBER DIED IN ONE ATTACK
BAGHDAD (AP) – Nearly half of all Iraqis who died in October perished in a single coordinated attack against government offices in Baghdad, a tally by The Associated Press showed Monday.
Of the 364 Iraqis killed over the past month, according to the AP count, 155 died in two nearly simultaneous bombs targeting government buildings Oct. 25 in downtown Baghdad – the worst coordinated attack in more than two years.
The impact of the devastating bombing, which occurred in one of the most protected parts of the capital, continues to be felt as the government struggles to convince Iraqis it can protect them.
The government blamed an alliance of al-Qaida in Iraq and members of Saddam Hussein's outlawed Baath Party for similar bombings in August of the Justice and Finance ministries that killed about 100 people and has called for an international investigation, particular with regard to the role of neighboring Syria.
In a nod toward Iraqi concerns, special U.N. envoy Oscar Fernandez-Taranco met Monday with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and senior government officials as part of "preliminary consultations on the incidents surrounding" the Aug. 19 and Oct. 25 blasts.
Fernandez-Taranco said Monday he had come to Baghdad to "listen to the government of Iraq's concerns" over security and sovereignty issues.
The U.N.'s decision to send the special envoy to Baghdad came before the October attacks. April was the deadliest month in Iraq with 451 killed, according to the AP count followed by June with 448 and August with 425 Iraqis killed.
The AP began tracking war related violence in Iraq in May 2005. The tally includes civilian, Iraqi military and Iraqi police deaths each day as reported by police, hospital officials, morgue workers and verifiable witness accounts. Insurgent deaths are not included. The numbers are considered a minimum. The actual number of those killed are likely higher as many killings go unreported or uncounted.
The August and October bombings have infuriated Iraqis, who question how the bombers could have driven their deadly cargo undetected through the multiple checkpoints that dot Baghdad. Al-Maliki's government, facing a January election, has been under intense pressure to show that the Iraqi military and police are able to handle security as U.S. troops slowly withdraw from the country.
Amid the ongoing violence, Iraqi lawmakers have been struggling to agree on a new election law that would enable the parliamentary contests to be held Jan. 16. A key stumbling block has been how to carry out voting in the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, a city claimed by both Arabs and Kurds.
On Sunday, the U.S. Vice President Joe Biden spoke to the president of Iraq's Kurdish autonomous region on the phone, urging him to help pass the crucial legislation, said Saad Al-Barzanji, a lawmaker of the Kurdistan coalition.
9. IRAN WANTS NEW NUCLEAR FUEL TALKS, DEEPENING DOUBTS
VIENNA, Nov 2 (Reuters) - Iran wants more talks on a U.N.-drafted nuclear deal and prefers to import atomic fuel rather than send its own uranium abroad for processing, a senior official said, suggesting terms world powers are likely to rebuff.
Western powers have urged Iran to accept a draft deal in which it would send most of its lowenriched uranium (LEU) abroad by the end of the year for further enrichment to turn it into fuel for a medical reactor in Tehran.
But Iranian Ambassador Ali Asghar Soltanieh told Reuters on Monday that more talks were needed "in order to ensure that our technical concerns, and especially the issue of the guarantee of the fuel supply, are taken into consideration".
Iran's requests will add to doubts that a way out of a standoff with big powers will be found soon. Tehran appears to be stalling after appearing ready to make concessions to the international community, which is threatening to impose new sanctions over fears that Iran is pursuing an atomic weapons programme.
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency urged Iran to accept the deal with the United States, France and Russia so Tehran can help build confidence in its atomic work.
"The issue at stake remains that of mutual guarantees amongst the parties," IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei told the U.N. General Assembly in New York.
"I should add, however, that trust and confidence-building are an incremental process that requires focusing on the big picture and a willingness to take risks for peace."
Iran says its enrichment programme is purely peaceful and officials have voiced misgivings about parting with the bulk of Iran's LEU, seen as a strategic asset and key bargaining chip.
"We are ready for the next round of technical discussions in Vienna at the IAEA headquarters," Soltanieh said by telephone, adding that the IAEA should now arrange a date.
Iran's U.N. Ambassador Mohammad Khazaee did not mention the fuel proposal in his speech to the General Assembly, which was meeting to discuss the annual report of the IAEA.
NEW SANCTIONS?
Western powers have signalled that their patience is limited and that they will consider new sanctions early next year if Iran does not make its nuclear work more transparent. France and Germany urged Iran to accept ElBaradei's deal, echoing earlier comments from Britain and Russia.
"We are waiting for a reply. If the reply is aimed at delaying matters, as we believe, then we will not accept it," French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner told a news conference in Paris with German counterpart Guido Westerwelle.
The plan, backed by the other participants, aims to reduce Iran's LEU stockpile below the minimum quantity that could be turned into the highly enriched uranium needed for a bomb.
"We are ready to buy the fuel from any supplier under the full scope of safeguards and surveillance of the IAEA," said Soltanieh, Tehran's veteran ambassador to the atomic watchdog.
"The core issue is the assurance and guarantee of the supply, keeping in mind the past confidence deficit where we did not receive the fuel we had paid for," he said, alluding to supply deals that fell through after the Islamic Revolution.
Iran's foreign minister said Tehran wants the IAEA to set up a "technical commission" to review the deal.
Iran gave the IAEA an "initial response" to the draft deal on Friday after talks in Vienna on Oct. 19-21 with the three big powers. Diplomats say ElBaradei told Tehran to come back with a full answer and a better proposal.
Western diplomats say Iran has asked to receive fuel for a Tehran reactor making radio-isotopes for cancer treatment before shipping out any of its own LEU. Iran also wants to transfer the enriched uranium in small shipments, not in one go.
Diplomats say the Iranian demands are unacceptable because the deal in this form would not lessen Tehran's potential to turn LEU into bomb-grade nuclear fuel if it wanted, a scenario the West fears due to Iran's history of nuclear secrecy.
"The messages from Tehran are negative, I am quite pessimistic," one European diplomat said.
10. CLINTON MODERATES STATEMENT ON ISRAELI SETTLEMENTS
MARRAKECH, Morocco (AP) – In the face of Arab criticism of the administration's recalibrated Mideast peace tack, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton moderated her praise Monday for Israel's offer to restrain building settlements in Palestinian areas. While Israel was moving in the right direction in its offer to restrict but not stop the settlements, Clinton said, its offer "falls far short" of U.S. expectations. She repeated, however, that it reflected a potentially important step forward for Mideast peace.
Clinton said her earlier praise of Israel's offer, during a stop in Jerusalem, had been intended as "positive reinforcement." But they drew widespread criticism from Arab countries which interpreted it as a softening of the U.S. position on settlements, which stand in the way of a resumption of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
In a sign of U.S. eagerness to calm Arab concerns about the U.S. position on settlements, Clinton is extending her trip by one day to fly to Cairo to meet with President Hosni Mubarak on Wednesday, her staff announced. She had been scheduled to return to Washington on Tuesday.
Clinton's comments in Jerusalem on Saturday appeared to reflect a realization within the Obama administration that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government will not accept a fullon settlement freeze and that a partial halt may be the best lesser option. Her appeal on Saturday seemed designed to make the Israeli position more palatable to the Palestinians and Arab states.
"We have to work with what we've got," said one U.S. official, adding: "We need to press both sides not to miss this opportunity."
Clinton had traveled to the region only reluctantly, concerned her visit might be seen as a failure, according to several U.S. officials. She agreed to meet Israeli and Palestinian leaders after pressure from the White House, according to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal administration thinking.
The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment. During a photo-taking session Monday with her Moroccan counterpart, Clinton was asked by a reporter about the Arab reaction, and she responded by reading from a written statement that appeared designed to counter the skepticism about the Obama administration's views on settlements.
"Successive American administrations of both parties have opposed Israel's settlement policy," she said. "That is absolutely a fact, and the Obama administration's position on settlements is clear, unequivocal and it has not changed. As the president has said on many occasions, the United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements."
Clinton's tweaking of her earlier remarks appeared to satisfy at least some of the Morocco meeting attendees. Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki said Monday that "we have heard her say something completely different from that statement in line with previous statements, so we are happy that such a position was highlighted and brought back to the right line and right now we will see how things will go."
Malki added that "we completely appreciate the sincere efforts made by President Barack Obama and his team to take this issue as a top priority and to try to deal with it from day one."
In her recalibrated comments Monday, Clinton also called on the Israelis to do more to improve "movement and access" for Palestinians and on Israeli security arrangements. She added, however, that Israel deserved praise for moving in the right direction.
"I will offer positive reinforcement to either of the parties when I believe they are taking steps that support the objective of reaching a two-state solution," Clinton said.
"This offer falls far short of what we would characterize as our position or what our preference would be," she added. "But if it is acted upon, it will be an unprecedented restriction on settlements and would have a significant and meaningful effect on restraining their growth."
In her statement to reporters, Clinton also stressed that the Palestinian authorities deserved credit for what she called "unprecedented" steps to improve security in the West Bank and praised the Palestinians for progress in training their security forces.
On Monday evening, Clinton met with representatives of the Gulf Cooperation Council, plus officials from Egypt, Jordan, Iraq and Morocco. Afterward she told a news conference that none of them characterized her remarks in Jerusalem as a change in U.S. position. And she said some of them had not fully understood the details of the settlement "restraint" offer by the Israelis. Clinton also flew Monday to the southern-central city of Ouarzazate for an audience with King Mohammed VI, then returned to Marrakech for talks with foreign ministers of several Persian Gulf nations.
Clinton was expected to meet separately with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal, who has rejected U.S. appeals for improved Arab relations with Israel as a way to help restart Middle East peace talks, saying the Jewish state is not interested in a deal.
After taking office in January, Obama buoyed Palestinian hopes for progress toward establishing a Palestinian state with his outreach to the Muslim world and an initially tough stance urging a full freeze to all settlement construction.
But after making little headway with the Israelis in recent months, Clinton urged Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas in a face-to-face meeting in Abu Dhabi on Saturday to renew talks, which broke down late last year, without conditions. Abbas said no, insisting that Israel first halt all settlement activity in the West Bank and east Jerusalem – lands the Palestinians claim for a future state.
Then, at a joint news conference with Netanyahu late Saturday in Jerusalem, Clinton praised Netanyahu's offer to curb some settlement construction, saying it was an unprecedented gesture.
"I believe that the U.S. condones continued settlement expansion," Palestinian government spokesman Ghassan Khatib said Sunday in a rare public chiding of Washington.
"Calling for a resumption of negotiations despite continued settlement construction doesn't help because we have tried this way many times," Khatib added. "Negotiations are about ending the occupation and settlement expansion is about entrenching the occupation."
Palestinians expressed deep disappointment and frustration at Clinton's words, and Jordan and Egypt also issued statements Sunday critical of the latest U.S. approach. Clinton spoke by telephone with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit.
11. ISRAEL FREES HAMAS MINISTERS
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) – Israel has released six Hamas Cabinet ministers jailed after Palestinian militants captured an Israeli soldier in Gaza in 2006.
Israeli defense officials say the ministers had just completed their prison terms and their release was not connected to a swap of the captured Sgt. Gilad Schalit for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
The officials spoke Monday on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak with the media.
Israel arrested 45 Hamas lawmakers in the West Bank following Schalit's capture and convicted them of belonging to an illegal organization. Hamas says 15 remain in prison. Hamas won control of the Palestinian parliament in 2006 elections, then seized the Gaza Strip in 2007, leading to rival governments in the West Bank and Gaza.
12. AL QAEDA CALLS FOR HOME- MADE BOMB ATTACKS IN WEST
DUBAI, Nov 2 (Reuters) - The leader of al Qaeda's wing in the Arabian Peninsula called on militants to attack airports and trains in the West and said they could easily make bombs from household materials, the group's Internet magazine said.
The Islamist group has been trying to secure small victories to maintain its feared image after its leaders' threats to carry out large-scale attacks on Western targets have been discounted as words without deeds, analysts say.
Abu Basir Nasser al-Wahayshi, in an article in the e-magazine Sada al-Malahem, also urged militants to assault secular media figures and columnists who promote the policies of rulers in the world's top oil exporting region.
"You do not need to exert great effort or spend a lot of money to make 10 grams of explosives, more or less. Do not spend a long time searching for materials as they already exist in your mother's kitchen," Wahayshi wrote in the article, posted on an Islamist website on Sunday.
"Make them (bombs) in the shape of a bomb you hurl, or detonate through a timer or a remote detonater or a martyrdom-seeker belt or any electrical appliance."
Wahayshi said bombers should attack countries involved in wars in Muslim countries as well as government figures and security bodies in the Middle East.
Over the past two years, al Qaeda has been active mainly in Muslim countries like Algeria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Yemen after carrying out the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on U.S. cities. Wahayshi urged followers to use knives or sticks to attack "secular media figures and writers who mock the orders of religion and those who promote and justify (the actions) of infidel rulers".
"Knives are a good remedy for some and ... (for others) severe beating until they are confined to bed or lose one of their senses," added the militant leader.
Calling on militants to assassinate al Qaeda's enemies, Wahayshi stated that "It is a duty that a Muslim mujahid be busy planning to reap the heads of infidels."
In August, an al Qaeda suicide bomber tried to kill the Saudi prince in charge of the kingdom's anti-terrorism campaign, the first attack on a member of the royal family since the group began a wave of violence in the country six years ago.
Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter and a key U.S. ally in the Middle East, was forced to confront its own role in rising militancy at home and abroad when its nationals turned out to be behind the Sept. 11 attacks.
Several countries in the region have been attacked by al Qaeda militants trying to destabilize Western-allied governments.
13. SUSPECTED SOMALI PIRATES CLASH WITH NORWEGIAN NAVY
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) – The European Union's anti-piracy force says a Norwegian warship has clashed with suspected Somali pirates.
A statement from the force says a team from Norwegian warship HNOMS Fridjof Nansen on Sunday went to talk to the crew of four fishing boats near Alula, a northeastern Somali coastal village known for piracy.
The crew on the first three boats cooperated but when the Norwegian team approached the fourth boat, shots were fired at them. The team fired in self-defense and retreated to avoid further violence, the statement says.
Alula village head Hareed Issa Omar says the Norwegian team fired first, killing a Somali and a Yemeni man. Omar says they were fishermen and not pirates. Somalia has become the world's piracy hotspot.
14. RIVAL SOMALI GROUPS FIGHT OVER BRITISH COUPLE
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) – Rival pirates and militia groups have fought for control over a British couple held hostage for more than a week, an Islamic militia commander and a local elder said Monday. The couple were not injured in the fighting.
Meanwhile, a U.S.-flagged cargo vessel with 21 Americans aboard came under gunfire from suspected Somali pirates but managed to escape, a U.S. Navy spokesman said.
Elders sent local fighters to thwart an attempt by some of the pirates holding the couple to take them to an extremist Islamic group, said a commander of a rival moderate Islamic militia who gave his name only as Ilka'ase.
"We did not want the pirates to use our territory to hold hostages or hand them over to another group. We took up arms with the help of (the moderate Islamic group) Ahlu Sunna Waljama and opposed" the other group, said Hussein Mohamed Kahiye, a clan elder in the central Somali village of Bahdo.
It was not possible to independently verify the reported fight over the British couple. The couple had been held on a ship at sea, but Kahiye said the couple were now in the coastal areas and traveling in two minibuses and an all-terrain vehicle.
A pirate claiming to speak on behalf of the group holding the British couple had said on Saturday that they want a $7 million ransom to release Paul and Rachel Chandler. The British government has said it would not pay a ransom.
The Chandlers were headed to Tanzania in their yacht, the Lynn Rival, when a distress signal was sent Oct. 23. The British navy found their empty yacht last Thursday, and the Chandlers have been in sporadic contact with the British media since.
Also Monday, the MV Harriette was targeted by pirates aboard two skiffs about 360 nautical miles off Mombasa, Kenya, Lt. Nate Christensen said. The pirates – about six in each craft – came within 3 feet (a meter) of the cargo vessel but were unable to board, Christensen said from U.S. 5th Fleet headquarters in Bahrain. No one on the U.S. ship was injured, he said, and no other details of the incident were available from the U.S. Navy, which is part of anti-piracy patrols off the Horn of Africa. A security officer with Sealift Inc., the company that operates the MV Harriette, said the captain steered the ship to prevent the pirates getting on board and drew fire from the pirates.
The captain, "was able to turn away from the boat, he was able to maneuver to keep the small boats far away so that they could not get a ladder on the boat (MV Harriette)," John Belle told The Associated Press from the company's headquarters in Oyster Bay, N.Y.
"After they attempted to board and they were unsuccessful ... they did fire. No one was injured. Some of the rounds hit the lifeboat of the ship," Belle said. He said the attack ended within 25 minutes. Belle said the Harriette has a 21-member crew who are all Americans. The ship had offloaded U.S. food aid at the Kenyan port of Mombasa, where it had been since Oct. 20. The Harriette had set sail for Mumbai, India on Sunday, Belle said.
The attack came a day after a Norwegian warship clashed with suspected Somali pirates, the European Union's anti-piracy force said. A statement from the force said a team from Norwegian warship HNOMS Fridjof Nansen on Sunday went to talk to the crew of four fishing boats near Alula, a northeastern Somali coastal village known for piracy.
The crew on the first three boats cooperated but when the Norwegian team approached the fourth boat, shots were fired at them. The team fired in self-defense and retreated to avoid further violence, the statement said.
Alula village head Hareed Issa Omar claimed the Norwegian team fired first, killing a Somali and a Yemeni man – whom he said were fishermen and not pirates. Norwegian military spokesman John Espen Lien said Monday that Norway was "not able to confirm or deny" allegations by local authorities that two men were killed. Lien added that the Norwegian navy was escorting a cargo ship transporting U.N. World Food Program food aid to Somalia.
The Horn of Africa nation does not have a navy or coast guard because it has not had an effective central government for 18 years. Warlords overthrew longtime dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991. They then turned on each other, plunging Somalia into chaos and anarchy and creating the lawlessness that has allowed piracy to flourish off the country's coast.
Pirates attacks in 2009 already have exceeded last year's total off the Horn of Africa, an international maritime watchdog group reported last month. A total of 306 attacks were reported between January and September, surpassing the 293 incidents recorded throughout 2008, according to a statement released by the International Maritime Bureau's piracy reporting center in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
As a further example of Somalia's lawlessness, two Somali men tried and failed on Monday to hijack an airplane operated by Somali company Diallo Airlines, a company official said.
The attempted hijacking took place minutes after the Antonov plane carrying 30 passengers had taken off from the northeastern Somali port town of Bossaso, said Ahmed Yare, the marketing manager.
Yare said when the hijackers drew guns on the aircraft, passengers challenged them, confusing the hijackers and allowing the pilots to turn the plane back to Bossaso. On the ground, the hijackers tried to escape but police caught them after a brief gunbattle during which one hijacker was wounded. Neither the passengers were injured nor was the plane damaged, said Yare. It resumed its flight to neighboring Djibouti, Yare said.
15. SUICIDE BOMBER KILLS 35 NEAR PAKISTAN'S CAPITAL
RAWALPINDI, Pakistan (AP) – A suicide bomb killed 35 people near Pakistan's military headquarters Monday while a second blast wounded several police, continuing a wave of terrorism that prompted the United Nations to suspend long-term development work near the Afghan border.
The rash of attacks by Islamist militants has killed at least 300 people across Pakistan over the past month – including 11 U.N. workers – and threatened to destabilize the nuclear-armed nation.
The violence has grown bloodier since the government launched an anti-Taliban offensive in mid-October, pushing into the impoverished and underdeveloped tribal region of South Waziristan.
The U.N. decision to suspend non-emergency aid could weaken efforts to counter the appeal of extremism by improving ordinary people's daily lives.
The first suicide bomber Monday killed 35 people outside a bank near Pakistan's military headquarters in Rawalpindi, just a few miles (kilometers) from Islamabad. Most of those waiting in line were from the military and were there to cash paychecks, said Mohammad Mushtaq, a wounded soldier.
"I was sitting on the pavement outside to wait for my turn," said Mushtaq, who suffered a head injury. "The bomb went off with a big bang. We all ran. I saw blood and body parts everywhere."
Four soldiers were killed in the attack and nine were wounded, said the army's chief spokesman, Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas. In total, 35 people were killed, Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira said.
No group claimed responsibility for the bombing, though suspicion immediately fell on the Pakistani Taliban.
Hours later, another suicide bombing ripped through a police checkpoint on the outskirts of the eastern city of Lahore. At least seven policemen were wounded and two were in critical condition after a car with two men inside blew up as police went to search it.
"By putting their lives in danger, our men have saved the city from enormous sabotage," Lahore Police Chief Pervaiz Rathor told reporters at the scene.
Police checkpoints, where cars are forced to drive slowly past officers looking inside, have become common sights in Pakistan.
Pakistan's president and other top officials condemned the blasts but vowed to press on with the South Waziristan offensive. Taliban militants have de facto control in many of the semiautonomous tribal areas.
The U.S. has reportedly provided technical support to the South Waziristan offensive, seeing the rugged mountain area as a haven for Islamist extremists involved in attacks on Western troops in Afghanistan.
The government has sealed off the battle zone to outsiders, making confirmation of military reports impossible to confirm, but officials insist the offensive is going well. On Monday, Abbas said the army had captured the Taliban town of Kaniguram and killed 12 militants in the past 24 hours.
Washington, which has long provided massive military assistance to Pakistan, has stepped up its efforts to use development aid in a broader battle against the spreading militancy. The U.S. government recently approved $7.5 billion in aid over five years to improve Pakistan's economy, education and other nonmilitary sectors. But the U.N. decision to suspend long-term development work in Pakistan's tribal areas and its North West Frontier Province could complicate international efforts to win hearts and minds.
The world body will reduce the level of international staff in Pakistan and confine its work to emergency, humanitarian relief, and security operations, and "any other essential operations as advised by the secretary-general," the organization said in a statement. The U.N. made its decision after losing 11 personnel in attacks in Pakistan this year, including last month's bombing of the World Food Program's office in Islamabad that killed five people, said U.N. spokeswoman Amena Kamaal. "All of the decisions are being made in light of that."
The U.N. has been deeply involved in helping Pakistan deal with refugee crises resulting from army offensives against militants – work that will apparently continue – but Kamaal said the organization was still determining which programs would be suspended and how many staffers would be withdrawn. Staff that remain in the country will be assigned additional security.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Abdul Basit said Pakistan understood the U.N.'s decision, but said he hoped the organization would resume its work after the military completes the South Waziristan offensive.
16. FRENCH DOUBT ISLAMIST ROLE IN PAKISTAN BOMB-SOURCE
PARIS, Nov 2 (Reuters) - French secret service documents have cast doubt on a theory that Islamist militants were responsible for a 2002 bomb attack in Karachi that killed 11 French nationals, a source close to the case said on Monday.
The documents were declassified in October at the request of magistrates who will investigate the possibility that the attack was ordered by Pakistani soldiers angry with France over the nonpayment of bribes tied to a defence deal.
"The documents, which are all top secret, show strong scepticism of the al Qaeda theory," the source said.
The 11 French naval engineers and technicians, who were building a French submarine, died when their coach was bombed as it left a Karachi hotel in May 2002. In all, 14 people were killed in the attack.
Pakistani authorities at first blamed Islamist militants and two men were sentenced to death for taking part, but their convictions were overturned on appeal in 2003. The source also said the magistrates had dropped an arrest warrant for a suspected Pakistani Islamist leader, Mati Ur Rehman, whom they had been seeking as part of the investigation.
The French judges are studying the theory that the Pakistani soldiers ordered the attack after a dispute on the payment of commissions in Pakistan linked to the building of the submarine. French President Nicolas Sarkozy dismissed the allegations as a "fable" when they surfaced in June.
The lawyer for the families of the victims, Olivier Morice, said the documents did not mention the submarine contract.
17. NORTH KOREA CALLS FOR DIRECT TALKS WITH U.S.
SEOUL, Nov 2 (Reuters) - North Korea called on Monday for direct talks with its long-time foe, the United States, and gave the clearest signal so far it was ready to return to nuclear disarmament talks it has boycotted for almost a year.
The comments follow last week's rare visit by a North Korean official to the United States and what has been a "charm" offensive by the ostracised state that some analysts say is looking increasingly desperate for finance and aid.
"The conclusion we have reached is that the direct parties, which are the North and the United States, must first sit down and find a rational solution," a Foreign Ministry spokesman was quoted as saying by the official KCNA news agency.
"Now that we have shown the generosity of stating the position that we would be willing to talk to the United States and hold multilateral talks including the six-way talks, it is time for the United States to make a decision."
The comments were the strongest so far on the secretive state's willingness to return to talks it walked out on last December. But Washington gave no indication whether it was close to a decision on direct talks.
State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said U.S. and North Korean envoys had "very useful discussions" on Oct. 24 dealing with Washington's goal of restarting six-party talks.
"We know that there is an invitation to (North Korea Policy) Ambassador (Stephen) Bosworth to come to North Korea," he said. "We're still considering that invitation."
Last month, leader Kim Jong-il said he would consider rejoining the six-party talks with China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States, provided it had direct discussions with Washington.
U.S. academics and former officials said on Friday after meeting Pyongyang's second-ranking nuclear envoy that North Korea appeared to be more open to resuming the six-way talks on its nuclear programme.
North Korea's Ri Gun met the U.S. special envoy to disarmament talks in the past week in rare contacts in the United States, viewed as a prelude to a visit to Pyongyang by senior U.S. officials. Pyongyang has demanded direct talks with Washington as the best way to resolve hostility it argues has given it no option but to build a nuclear arsenal.
However, the United States has said there would be no negotiations outside the six-party forum. A well-placed diplomatic source in Seoul said it was not clear whether there has been a fundamental shift in North Korea's position to abandon its nuclear programme if the price is right.
"North Korea's financial plight likely has led to its charm offensive but we don't know if that means it is ready to make major concessions on its nuclear arms plans," he said.
Destitute North Korea has been reaching out to its traditional foes after being hit by U.N. sanctions to punish it for its second nuclear test in May. The sanctions were aimed at cutting into its vital revenue source of overseas arms sales.
