Children among 18 killed as Israel pounds Gaza

Israel pounded Hamas-run Gaza on Thursday, killing 10 militants, four children and four civilians, as Prime Minister Ehud Olmert vowed to make the Islamists pay a heavy price for rocket attacks.

The children, aged eight, nine, 11 and 12, were killed as they played in a field during an Israeli air strike around the northern town of Jabaliya, Palestinian medics said.

Another 12-year-old boy died of wounds sustained in a Gaza raid the previous day, and a shepherd was killed in northern Gaza.

The Israeli army said it carried out several air strikes targeting rocket-launching sites.
Palestinian medical sources said three people were killed in two separate air strikes in the northern Gaza Strip on Thursday evening, two of them in one car. The third was found dead in an electricity company vehicle, they said.

Thirty-two Palestinians and one Israeli have now been killed in two days of bloodshed, all but three of them in and around the impoverished Gaza Strip, where Israel has imposed a punishing blockade.

Among those killed have been a six-month-old baby in Gaza and a man in southern Israel who became the first Israeli victim of a Gaza rocket attack in nine months.

A Hamas gunman was also killed in an Israeli strike near the house of Ismail Haniya, the premier in the Hamas-led government that Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas fired after the Islamists seized control of Gaza in June.

Following talks with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Tokyo, Olmert vowed to punish Hamas for the rocket attacks despite US concerns about civilians in Gaza.

"We will make the terrorists pay a very heavy price," Olmert told reporters. "We are at the height of this battle and we will pursue it until the danger threatening residents in the south ends."

Defence Minister Ehud Barak warned that "a large-scale ground operation is being considered" and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni urged the international community to accept such an operation.

"We don't accept arguments that there are victims in both camps, as one cannot put Palestinian terrorism that targets innocent civilians on the same footing as those who combat it, even if civilians are killed unintentionally," Livni said.

Rice said earlier she told Olmert that she supported his determination to end the Palestinian rocket attacks. "The issue is that the rocket attacks need to stop."

She is due to visit the Middle East next week as part of Washington's efforts to advance the peace process that was relaunched in late November but has made little progress since.
The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees called on Israel "to abide by international law and exercise maximum restraint, and not to endanger civilians".

"The killing of innocent children is always tragic and condemnable," UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness told AFP.

The escalation in Gaza and nearby Israeli towns is causing "unacceptable distress and danger from the ongoing risk of attack", said the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Haniya blasted the "successive crimes committed by the Zionist occupation" and called on Arab countries to "stop their regrettable silence and act with urgency to stop the aggression."

The Palestinian government based in the West Bank also denounced "abominable Israeli crimes" in Gaza.

The latest outburst of violence around Gaza flared early on Wednesday when an Israeli strike killed five Hamas militants in the southern town of Khan Yunis.

In retaliation, the Islamists launched a volley of rockets into southern Israel, killing a man at a university on the outskirts of the town of Sderot, the first Israeli killed by rocket fire from Gaza since May.

At least 232 people, most of them Gaza militants, have been killed since the revival of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks three months ago, according to an AFP tally.

The bloodshed comes as Israel's US ally steps up its diplomacy in the Middle East in the hope of sealing a peace deal between Abbas and Olmert before President George W. Bush leaves office in January.

On Thursday, Israeli troops also killed two militants in the northern West Bank town of Nablus, medics and security sources said.

On the Israeli side, two people were lightly wounded after Gaza militants fired more than 20 rockets and mortar rounds into the Jewish state, the army said.

In his talks in Japan, Olmert cast doubt on whether the goal of striking a deal by the end of 2008 was realistic.

Agence France-Presse - 2/28/2008 9:09 PM

Ex-premier Thaksin arrives in Thailand, ending exile: police

Ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra returned to Thailand on Thursday, ending 17 months of self-imposed exile following a coup against his government, immigration police told AFP.

"His flight landed at 9:38 am (0238 GMT)," said Lieutenant Colonel Pakkapong Sai-ubon, the head of immigration at Bangkok's international airport.

Police were waiting at the airport to take Thaksin into custody and transport him to the Supreme Court, where he will be read corruption charges he faces.

Thaksin said Thursday that corruption claims against him were "made up" by the military to justify their coup, speaking to reporters on his flight to Bangkok.

"The allegations, they are made up to justify the coup," Thaksin said.

Agence France-Presse - 2/28/2008 3:25 AM

Clapton invited to play North Korea: embassy

Guitar legend Eric Clapton has been invited to play North Korea, a spokesman at the country's embassy in London said Tuesday.

"We have invited him for a concert in Pyongyang at a time of his convenience," a diplomat at the mission told AFP by telephone.

"We invited him in mid-January. We haven't received an answer yet. Mr Clapton is a famous guitarist, an icon of the Western music.

"It's a good opportunity for the North Korean people to understand better Western music. Everybody knows who Clapton is."

The invitation emerged on the day the New York Philharmonic orchestra played a landmark concert in the North Korean capital, in a bid to improve relations between Washington and Pyongyang.

The North Korea State Symphony Orchestra is to play two concerts in Britain -- one at London's Royal Festival Hall and in Middlesbrough, north-east England, where its footballers were based for the 1966 World Cup.

Clapton, 62, has a distinguished career in blues and rock music, shooting to fame in the 1960s as a guitarist with The Yardbirds, where he earned his nickname "slowhand".

He went on to join John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and also enjoyed fame with Cream, Derek and the Dominos and as a solo artist.

Obesity more dangerous than terrorism: experts

World governments focus too much on fighting terrorism while obesity and other "lifestyle diseases" are killing millions more people, an international conference heard Monday.

Overcoming deadly factors such as poor diet, smoking and a lack of exercise should take top priority in the fight against a growing epidemic of preventable chronic disease, legal and health experts said.

Global terrorism was a real threat but posed far less risk than obesity, diabetes and smoking-related illnesses, prominent US professor of health law Lawrence Gostin said at the Oxford Health Alliance Summit here.

"Ever since September 11, we've been lurching from one crisis to the next, which has really frightened the public," Gostin told AFP later.

"While we've been focusing so much attention on that, we've had this silent epidemic of obesity that's killing millions of people around the world, and we're devoting very little attention to it and a negligible amount of money."

The fifth annual conference of the Oxford Health Alliance -- co-founded by Oxford University -- has brought together world experts from academia, government, business, law, economics and urban planning to promote change.

An estimated 388 million people will die from chronic disease worldwide over the next 10 years, according to World Health Organisation figures quoted by the alliance.

"There's a political paralysis in dealing with the issue," said Gostin, an adviser to the US government and a professor at Georgetown and Johns Hopkins universities.

He noted that prevention of obesity and its effects had hardly rated a mention in the current campaign for the US presidency.

"Yet the human costs are frightening when we consider that obesity could shorten the average lifespan of an entire generation, resulting in the first reversal in life expectancy since data collecting began in 1900," he said.

Like terrorism, some passing health threats get major government attention and media coverage, while heart and lung disease, diabetes and cancer account for 60 percent of the world's deaths, the meeting was told.

"It is true that new and re-emerging health threats such as SARS, avian flu, HIV/AIDS, terrorism, bioterrorism and climate change are dramatic and emotive," said Stig Pramming, the Oxford group's executive director.

"However, it is preventable chronic disease that will send health systems and economies to the wall."

The conference is due to end Wednesday with a "Sydney Resolution" calling on governments and big business among others to take action to avert millions of premature deaths due to chronic disease.

"The way we live now is making us sick, it's making our planet sick and it's not sustainable," said Asia-Pacific co-director Ruth Colagiuri.

The Sydney resolution focuses on four key areas, including the need to make towns and cities healthier places in which to live by urban design which promotes walking and cycling and reduces carbon emissions from motor vehicles.

Insufficient physical exercise is a risk factor in many chronic diseases and is estimated to cause 1.9 million deaths worldwide each year, said Tony Capon, professor of health studies at Australia's Macquarie University.

"We need to build the physical activity back into our lives and it's not simply about bike paths, it's about developing an urban habitat that enables people to live healthy lives: ensuring that people can meet most of their daily needs within walking and cycling distance of where they live," he said.

The resolution also calls for a reduction in sugar, fat and salt content in food, making fresh food affordable and available and increasing global efforts to stop people smoking.

Gazans form 'human chain' to protest Israeli blockade

Palestinians were forming a human chain the length of the Gaza Strip on Monday in protest at a crushing Israeli blockade, with Israeli forces on alert for any rush on the border.

Under a light rain, thousands of schoolchildren were joined by adults along Salaheddin Road, the main highway traversing the centre of the impoverished coastal strip, an AFP correspondent witnessed.

Slogans such as "The Siege of Gaza Will Only Strengthen Us", "The World Has Condemned Gaza to Death" and "Save Gaza" were among banners brandished by demonstrators, who were gathering peacefully.

The Popular Committee Against the Siege, a politically independent group headed by Jamal al-Khudari, an MP with close links to the Islamist Hamas movement, had called for the demonstration against the months-long siege.

"This is a peaceful and civilised act to let the people express their rejection of the siege and of collective punishment," Khudari told journalists. "We are raising a cry to the world for it to act."
Hamas, which seized the Gaza Strip in June from forces loyal to Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, backs the demonstration.

"This is a message addressed to the international community and to the Israeli occupation, and I hope it will seize the opportunity to lift the siege," Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum said.
Hamas MP Ismail al-Ashqar warned that if this does not happen "there will be a hurricane that will flood the whole region."

Israel has sealed the territory to all but vital humanitarian supplies since Hamas seized power, in a bid to put pressure on the group to halt rocket and mortar attacks on southern Israel by its own militants and others.

The Palestinians and several international agencies have said the sanctions amount to collective punishment of the civilian population.

Huzeifa al-Masri, 14, said he and his classmates from the northern border town of Beit Hanun had come because "there is hardly any food, and the Israeli incursions are frequent. We want to live in security like the rest of the world."

Israel has warned Hamas that it will defend its territory if there are any disturbances.

"Israel will not intervene in demonstrations inside the Gaza Strip but it will ensure the defence of its territory and prevent any violation of its sovereign borders," said a joint statement from Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Defence Minister Ehud Barak.

Their statement accused Hamas of "orchestrating a premeditated effort to put civilians on the front line.

"Israel is working to prevent an escalation, but has made it absolutely clear that if there is an escalation, the responsibility will be entirely on Hamas's shoulders."

Media reports said the army was prepared for any attempt to storm the border fence around the Gaza Strip aimed at breaking the blockade. The army and police said they had beefed up forces in the border area.

According to Israeli army radio, Hamas may stage a mass march on the border to protest against Israel's closure of Gaza, where most of the 1.5 million population depend on aid.

By late morning, demonstrators led by Hamas officials had begun to march towards the Erez crossing point -- the major one between Gaza and Israel -- but had said nothing about what their intentions were.

Media reports said organisers were planning to place one person every metre (yard) along the roughly 40-kilometre (24-mile) road running from Rafah to Beit Hanun, for a total of around 40,000 people.

Salaheddin Road runs through the centre of the territory and is never much closer than around three kilometres (two miles) from the border.

Reports said the Israelis' main concern was what might happen at its northern terminus near the Erez crossing.

On January 23, Palestinian militants blasted several holes in the border barrier between Gaza and Egypt, sending a tide of hundreds of thousands of people streaming into the Sinai on a mission to replenish depleted stocks.

Hamas gunmen and Egyptian troops resealed the border on February 3.

Meanwhile, an Israeli youth was moderately wounded when a rocket fired from Gaza hit the entrance to a housing complex in the southern city of Sderot, officials said.
That attack came after four Palestinian militants were killed by Israel raids overnight.

Agence France-Presse - 2/25/2008 12:37 PM

Former businessman Lee Myung-Bak took office as South Korea's president Monday, promising economic revival for his nation and a better life for impoverished North Korea if it scraps its nuclear drive.

"We must move from the age of ideology into the age of pragmatism," the conservative leader announced as he was inaugurated for a single five-year term following a decade of left-leaning rule.

The colourful open-air ceremony in near-freezing weather was attended by some 50,000 guests, including US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda.
Lee, 66, is the first president from a business background in a nation that has been ruled largely by ex-generals or former rights activists during its turbulent 60-year history.

He paid tribute to the economic miracle which followed the devastation of the 1950-53 Korean War but stressed South Korea must find a new growth engine.

"We are at the crossroads where the destiny of the nation over the next 60 years will be determined," Lee said in a speech after swearing the oath of office.

"I hereby declare the year 2008 as the starting year for the advancement of the Republic of Korea," he added, using the formal name of the nation founded in 1948.

Lee won a record victory margin in December's presidential election with his "Economy, First!" pledge.

The former construction CEO and Seoul mayor, nicknamed "The Bulldozer" for his forcefulness, has vowed to boost growth, cut high youth unemployment and raise competitiveness in the face of challenges from China and Japan.

"Our number one concern is how to find a job after graduation," said student Yu Byung-Kwan, one of thousands of members of the public chosen by Internet lottery to attend the ceremony.
Lee stressed his practical approach would apply both to the economy and to dealing with his nuclear-armed communist neighbour.

He expressed willingness to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il whenever necessary and said his attitude to inter-Korean relations "will be pragmatic, not ideological."
Lee reiterated promises of massive economic aid if the North fully scraps its nuclear weapons "and chooses the path to openness."

After a decade-long "sunshine" engagement policy with North Korea, seen by critics as a one-way street, Lee wants to tie South Korean aid more closely to nuclear disarmament.

The South's 680,000-strong military was put on alert "against any possible contingencies," the Joint Chiefs of Staff office said, an apparent reference to North Korea which has yet to comment on the new administration in the South.

Lee also promised a stronger strategic alliance with decades-old ally the United States, and better relations with China, Japan and Russia.

The new president was to hold talks later in the day with Fukuda as well as with Rice, who is touring the region to try to end an impasse in a six-nation deal on scrapping the North's nuclear programmes.

But it was the economy that was the focus for much of his speech.

"Economic revival is our most urgent task," he stressed. "Our nation's competitiveness has fallen and instability in the resource and financial markets threatens our economy."

He said South Korea's middle class had "crumbled" and the lives of ordinary people were becoming harder. The country was also rapidly becoming an ageing society due to a record low birthrate.

"New engines of growth must emerge assuredly, the economy grow vigorously, and more jobs be created," he added, pledging to start by slimming down the government.

He promised privatisation, tax cuts and major deregulation among other business-friendly policies aimed at raising the growth rate from around five percent last year to seven percent by 2013.

"Opening the market to the foreign sector is an unavoidable mega-trend," he said, vowing to pursue free trade pacts.

South Koreans gave their new leader a generally warm welcome.

"I greet a president who is willing to work hard for our economy," said Lee Yong-Sup, 46. "We need a fresh start. I believe he can do it."

Obama hammers Clinton again in ninth straight nominating win

Surging Barack Obama hammered White House foe Hillary Clinton in Wisconsin's primary Tuesday, racking up his ninth win in a row in the bitter Democratic White House race.

Presumptive Republican nominee John McCain meanwhile fired a pre-emptive strike on his increasingly likely Democratic general election foe, ripping Obama's "eloquent but empty" rhetoric, after his own easy win in the midwestern state.

Obama's victory cemented his front-runner status, and left Clinton needing an astonishing turnaround in must-win contests in her firewall states of Ohio and Texas on March 4 to keep her fading presidential hopes alive.

"I think we've achieved liftoff here," said Obama, as he addressed a delirious rally in Houston, Texas, which hosts NASA's mission control for US space missions, as he set a rhetorical course the November 4 presidential vote.

"The change we seek is still months and miles away," he said.

Though Obama and Clinton had been tightly matched going into the primary -- which had 74 delegates on offer, he was headed for a comprehensive win. With 71 percent of precincts reporting, Obama led 57 percent to 42 percent.

Way to the west in the Pacific, Obama, vying to make history as America's first black president, was also favored to capture his native Hawaii, which has 20 delegates on offer, after its caucuses end at 0530 GMT Wednesday.

Clinton, stung by another grievous blow to her hopes of becoming America's history-making first woman president, pleaded with voters to pause to consider who was truly qualified to lead the country.

"Both Senator Obama and I would make history. But only one of us is ready on day one to be commander in chief, ready to manage our economy, and ready to defeat the Republicans.
"That is the choice in this election."

Arizona Senator McCain, 71, edged even closer to mathematical certainty of grasping the Republican nomination, handily beating his pesky Republican rival Mike Huckabee in Wisconsin.
The Vietnam war hero struck an immediate contrast with Obama, 46, trying to leverage the campaign onto national security territory where McCain draws strong support.

"Thank you Wisconsin, for bringing us to the point where even a superstitious navy aviator can claim with confidence and humility that I will be our party's nominee for president of the United States," McCain said in a victory rally in Columbus, Ohio.

Turning to Obama, he rapped an "eloquent but empty call for change that promises no more than a holiday from history and a return to the false promises and failed policies of a tired philosophy."

"Will we risk the confused leadership of an inexperienced candidate who once suggested bombing our ally, Pakistan?" he said, referring to Obama's threat to strike at Al-Qaeda without Islamabad's permission if necessary.

McCain also hit out at Obama for suggesting talks without preconditions with US foes like Iran and North Korea.

But in his own victory speech Obama was unrepentent, saying America should not be afraid to talk to its enemies.

The two head-to-head showdowns set the stage for the crucial contests in Ohio and Texas on March 4, which one-time front-runner Clinton is billing as a firewall.
Obama's win was his ninth straight victory in a row since the deadlocked Super Tuesday nationwide clash two weeks ago.

On the face of it, Wisconsin, with its legions of blue collar white voters, should have been Clinton territory, but exit polls showed Obama repeating his feat in the Virginia and Maryland primaries last week of cutting into her powerbase.

He shared Clinton's core constituency of women, and union households. The former first lady won only one age group, those of voters 60 years and over.

Households who earn less than 50,000 dollars also narrowly went for Obama, and he also won the category of households earning more than that figure.

Going into Tuesday, Obama led Clinton by 1,302 to 1,235 delegates, according to independent political website RealClearPolitics.com.

Neither candidate is likely to reach the winning line of 2,025 delegates, which has led to speculation of a convention brawl when the Democrats select their White House nominee in August.

Pakistan's Musharraf rejects opposition calls to quit

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf rejected demands to quit Wednesday and called for a "harmonious coalition" as victorious opposition parties mulled a grouping that could force the key US ally from power.

Musharraf was making his first official comments since Monday's crucial parliamentary vote, which left him fighting for his political life after his allies suffered a heavy defeat.

"The President emphasised the need for harmonious coalition in the interest of peaceful governance, development and progress of Pakistan," a foreign ministry statement said after Musharraf met a visiting US congressman.

"The elections have strengthened the moderate forces in the country," it quoted Musharraf as saying.

Nawaz Sharif, who Musharraf removed from office in a 1999 coup, and the widower of assassinated former premier Benazir Bhutto both said they wanted to work with other opposition groups after the polls.

Sharif urged Musharraf to quit, while Asif Ali Zardari said he would not work with anyone associated with the party that backed Musharraf in the last parliament.

Zardari might meet Sharif on Thursday for their first encounter since the election, said Farhatullah Babar, spokesman for Bhutto's party.

A statement from Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) on Wednesday "recalled General Musharraf's recent statements that if the parties supporting him were defeated in the elections, then he would resign from his office."

Despite the intensifying pressure on Musharraf, he told an American newspaper that he has no plans to resign.

Asked by the Wall Street Journal whether he would resign or retire, Musharraf said: "No, not yet. We have to move forward in a way that we bring about a stable democratic government to Pakistan."

Opinion polls before the election showed that up to three-quarters of Pakistanis questioned said it was time for Musharraf to go.

US President George W. Bush embraced the elections as "a significant victory" for democracy and said he hoped the new government would "be friends of the United States."

Meanwhile, US senator and poll monitor John Kerry told reporters in India that Musharraf displayed "a kind of grace in accepting" the defeat of his allies.

Bangladesh's foreign minister, Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury, said he hoped the election "will usher in a new dawn of stability and prosperity in Pakistan." Bangladesh won independence from Pakistan after a war in 1971.

China said it was pleased that elections in its long-time ally went calmly and urged the nation to maintain political stability.

With votes counted in 258 out of 272 constituencies, the PPP and Sharif's party had a combined total of 153 seats, the election commission said. The former ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q) and its allies together had 58.

A close presidential ally and PML-Q stalwart, Sheikh Rasheed, cited three factors for his party's defeat: an army raid at a radical mosque in Islamabad, pro-US policies and inflation.
More than 100 people were killed last July when government troops stormed the mosque where militants were holed up.

European Union election monitors said balloting took place in a generally positive atmosphere even though "a level playing field was not provided for" in the campaign.

Results showed a near total defeat for hardline Islamic parties that under the previous administration ruled Pakistan's North West Frontier Province bordering Afghanistan.

A hostile parliament threatens the political survival of Musharraf, who could theoretically face impeachment if the opposition gets a two-thirds majority.

Analysts said Musharraf's most likely strategy would be to woo Bhutto's party and split it from Sharif's by preying on the one-time rift between the ex-prime ministers.

Bhutto was killed in a December gun and suicide attack on a campaign rally.

Musharraf, who shed his dual role as army chief late last year, had already been weakened by a bruising months-long stand-off with the country's deposed chief justice and deepening unpopularity.

To bolster his position he has relied on backing from the United States -- and financial aid of 10 billion dollars, mainly military, since he joined the Washington-led 'war on terror' in 2001.

East Timor president in 'serious' condition after shooting

East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta was in a serious condition Monday after he was shot by rebel soldiers in coordinated attacks aimed at assassinating the nation's top leaders.

The 58-year-old Nobel peace laureate was injured in a dawn gunbattle at his residence on the outskirts of the capital of Dili which also left rebel leader Alfredo Reinado dead, said Deputy Prime Minister Jose Luis Guterres.

Gunmen also targetted the home of Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao in the attacks, which plunged the nation into a fresh crisis following 2006 unrest in which international forces deployed to restore calm.

"I understand that the condition of Jose Ramos-Horta is very serious but stable," said Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, adding that the leader was about to be airlifted to Australia for emergency treatment on bullet wounds.

Rudd told reporters in Canberra his government would send "substantial" reinforcements to the 800-strong Australian troop contingent already deployed in East Timor to help stabilize the situation.

"This government will stand resolutely with the democratically-elected government of East Timor at this time of crisis," said Rudd.

Guterres said that two carloads of people went to the president's house at around 6:00 am (2100 GMT Sunday) and "assaulted him, but after rapid reaction by security his attackers fled away."

Timorese Foreign Minister Zacarias da Costa said Ramos-Horta had undergone exploratory surgery at an Australian military hospital in Dili to locate bullets, one of which hit him in the back and passed through to his stomach.

Gunmen attacked the house of Prime Minister Gusmao shortly after Ramos-Horta came under assault, Guterres also told CNN.

"The attack was on the president's residence around 6:00 and at around 7:30 they ambushed the prime minister," he said.

A neighbour of Gusmao, Leandro Isa'ac, said "rounds of automatic fire were fired against Xanana's residence".

Gusmao and his Australian wife Kirsty Sword live at Balibar, in the foothills south of Dili, with their three young sons.

Addressing a press briefing, Gusmao said that the situation was now under control.

"Even though the state has been attacked by an armed group and the president was wounded, the state is in control of stability ... The current situation is proceeding normally and is under control," Gusmao said.

East Timor rebel leader Reinado was shot dead at Ramos-Horta's residence, Guterres said.

"Major Reinado was killed and at the same time one of the presidential guards was injured," Guterres said, adding that security forces were hunting for more of the attackers.

Reinado emerged as a key figure in the 2006 unrest and was arrested on charges of illegal weapons distribution, desertion and attempted murder. He had however escaped from jail and eluded security forces since then.

Indonesia said it was concerned over the development and a senior military official said forces had tightened security along its border to prevent the rebels escaping.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda said the attack "once again showed that the security situation in East Timor continues to be disturbed."
He said that with the death of Reinado, "hopefully the rebellion will weaken and it is our hope that his followers surrender so that the problem of security disturbances in this neighbour of ours can soon be overcome."

Reinado had emerged to lead a ragtag bunch of rebels who were demanding that they be reinstated in the army after being sacked in 2006 following their desertion.

Factions within the security forces clashed on Dili's streets, leading to at least 37 deaths and forcing East Timor's government to call for international peacekeepers to be deployed to restore stability.

More than 150,000 people were forced from their homes and the majority remain in camps at night, still too concerned about the fragile security situation to return home, or with no homes to return to.

Ramos-Horta was elected president in peaceful elections last year after serving as foreign minister and prime minister, while Gusmao was elected as prime minister after serving as president.

The International Crisis Group warned last month that East Timor risked descending into violence again if its government and the UN failed to quickly reform the security forces, which it said remained vulnerable to political influence.

France unveils super-fast train

French engineering giant Alstom unveiled a new super-fast train on Tuesday which it claims will be quicker, cleaner and bigger than its Japanese and German rivals.

President Nicolas Sarkozy helped cut the ribbon on the AGV, which stands for Automotrice Grande Vitesse, or High-Speed Railcar -- a bullet-train with a cruise speed of up to 360 kilometres per hour (210 mph).

The AGV is only 40 kilometres an hour faster than the company's current TGV fast-train but Alstom says it will be to the rail world what the superjumbo Airbus A380 jet is to the skies.

"We wanted this train because we had understood that the ultra high-speed market was going to evolve," Alstom chairman Patrick Kron told some 500 guests gathered at a rail test centre in the Atlantic city of La Rochelle.

"To answer that challenge we had to expand and modernise our offer," he said as he unveiled the sleek black-and-grey train, which shunted forwards in a pool of blue light.

Kron said it marked a "major technological break" wih successive models of TGV, from the 1981 original to the double-decker launched in 1996 -- although he said the TGV and its successor would be complementary.

The AGV's key innovation is a system of motors fitted under each passenger carriage instead of at the front and rear only, which constructors say slashes energy consumption by 15 percent and cuts maintenance costs.

Lighter than the TGV, it is also designed to be 98-percent recyclable.

Sarkozy, who as finance minister intervened in 2004 to save Alstom from being broken up, was guest of honour at its launch along with top rail executives from France, Germany, Russia and Italy.

The president hailed the AGV as proof of the group's "renewal", saying he had been right to prop up the company.

"We need to entrench a simple message in people's minds: industry is not over, industry is essential for the economy of a rich nation as much as an emerging nation," Sarkozy said.

Alstom designed the AGV alone, unlike the TGV which was a joint project with the state rail firm SNCF 27 years ago, aiming for a more spacious interior and greater energy efficiency and targeting the export market.

The AGV's launch comes at a time when "ultra high-speed is entering a phase of expansion," in its core market Europe but also in emerging economies from China to Brazil, Kron said.

The firm will be bidding later this year for the AGV to replace 300 to 400 of the oldest French TGVs, a mammoth SNCF contract that would see the trains go into service on home soil in 2014.
But the French manufacturer has already secured a 1.5-billion-euro (2.2 billion dollar) contract with Italy's new rail operator Nuovo Transporto Viaggiatori (NTV), which plans to put 25 trains in circulation from 2011.

Alstom's AGV beat the Inter-City Express (ICE) of German company Siemens and the Canadian Bombardier's superfast Zefiro for the Italian contract, and German newspapers report Alstom is well-placed to beat Siemens on home turf for a contract with state rail operator Deutsche Bahn.

Pride of French engineering, the current-generation TGV is one of the world's fastest rail services, with high-speed lines criss-crossing France and links to London and Brussels.
A supercharged French TGV smashed the world speed record for a train on rails last year, hurtling into the history books at 574.8 kilometres (357.2 miles) per hour -- close to half the speed of sound.

Japan's Shinkansen "bullet train" and Siemen's ICE train are the other major players in a global fast-train market that has been boosted by environmental concerns about the impact of air transport.

The Shinkansen and the ICE average about 300 kph (185 mph) but a new version of the Japanese train, the Fastech 360Z, is expected to operate at 360 kph (225 mph) when it enters service.

Weekend Kenya violence claims 70 despite peace plan

Weekend clashes in Kenya left 70 people dead as tribal violence gripping the country since flawed polls a month ago showed no sign Sunday of abating despite a peace plan set in place by Kofi Annan.

"A total of 13 people were killed overnight" along the Kisii-Kalenjin tribal border and in nearby areas in western Nyamira district, a police commander told AFP, declining to be named.
And on Sunday, an AFP photographer said hundreds of fighters armed with bows and arrows and rocks fought pitched battles there as police struggled to contain them.

Police reported at least 47 new deaths Saturday, on top of 13 on Friday, as President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga traded further barbs, despite a tentative first peace accord since the start of the crisis.

Friday's deal, overseen by Annan, aimed to end weeks of unrest that has claimed around 1,000 lives, within two weeks.

Odinga claimed Kibaki robbed him of the presidency in closely fought December 27 elections amid widespread concerns from local and international observers over the vote-counting process.

The new deal called for illegal militias to be disbanded and for the investigation of all related crimes, including those allegedly committed by the police, who have killed scores of people.
Both sides also promised to address the ongoing humanitarian crisis, after 300,000 people have fled their homes.

As thousands languished in makeshift displacement camps across the country, amid reports of rapes and fears of ethnic reprisals, a government newspaper advert reminded Kenyans "you have a right to be wherever you choose in the country."

The political unrest has stirred up latent ethnic clashes, economic and land disputes.
Members of Kibaki's Kikuyu tribe suffered heavily in the first wave of violence at the hands of Odinga's Luo tribe and other ethnic groups, but have since carried out numerous revenge attacks.

Ethnic fighting between villagers armed with bows and arrows, spears and machetes spiralled in western Kenya after the killing of David Kimutai Too in Eldoret on Thursday, the second opposition MP killed in two days.

Police said at least 57 people died on Friday and Saturday in clashes and a police crackdown in Nyanza province, and in Too's home village of Ainamoi in the Rift Valley province and nearby localities.

While Ainamoi was deserted after a police crackdown Sunday, tension remained high in nearby Nyanza.

Police trailed fighters after they razed more than 100 houses and a primary school, a police commander said, and the trading post of Chepilat was burned down overnight.

Arsonists burnt down a church overnight Friday in the northwestern town of Eldoret where Too was killed, causing no injuries. A school was also destroyed there overnight Saturday.
Odinga on Sunday called for the deployment of foreign peacekeepers, saying security forces were not impartial in crackdowns.

"It is necessary that we should have a peacekeeping deployment from the United Nations or the African Union because the police have often been misused and we do not have faith in the army to be neutral," he told reporters in his hometown of Bondo, near Kisumu in western Kenya.
The Kenyan army has so far played a backseat role in the crisis, deployed to assist police in clearing road barricades and transporting humanitarian supplies to affected zones.

As the peace roadmap was inked Friday, Kibaki insisted, in a speech in Ethiopia, that opposition protests over the election results be taken to court, and accused the opposition of instigating the violence.

Odinga rejected the claims and said Kibaki's comments "undermined the mediation talks."
He also hinted Sunday that he had a contingency plan in case the talks should fail.
"We have a fall-back (plan)," he said, without elaborating.

The two sides were due to resume Annan-led talks Monday, joined by South African businessman Cyril Ramaphosa -- who chairs the African National Congress's Negotiating Commission.

Spice Girls scrap China, Australia, S. Africa gigs

The Spice Girls announced Friday they had cancelled their planned concerts in China, Australia, South Africa and Argentina, shortening their reunion tour.

The British girl group pulled out for "family and personal commitments", a spokesman said. The tour will now finish in Toronto on February 26.

Reports have suggested lack of interest in some of the cities.
The concerts in Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Sydney, Cape Town and Buenos Aires are now off.
The dates outside North America and Europe were originally moved to accommodate extra London performances, and never re-set.

"Sadly the tour needs to come to an end by the end of February due to family and personal commitments," a spokesman said.

"It was announced in June that, as well as the Europe and the US, the girls planned to visit Australia, China, South Africa and Argentina.

"Due to the phenomenal demand for tickets in the UK and the US along with the touring logistics for such a massive production it was not possible to fit everything in.
"As the girls return to normal family life and the kids go back to school they are reviewing all the options. Who knows what the future might bring."

Emma Bunton ("Baby Spice"), Victoria Beckham ("Posh Spice"), Melanie Brown ("Scary Spice"), Melanie Chisholm ("Sporty Spice") and Geri Halliwell ("Ginger Spice") started their world tour in Vancouver, Canada, on December 2, 2007.

The Spice Girls said: "We've had such an amazing time over the last three months.

"It's been incredible being back together and seeing our fans again.

"We want to thank everyone who came to see us. It was all so mad the first time round, so we've really been able to appreciate it properly this time.

"There have been so many highlights and good times that we know it will be hard to be apart after Toronto.

"Really sorry if we didn't get to see you this time round. We all have other commitments in our lives now but who knows what will happen next."

The band is playing dates in Montreal, Toronto and the north-eastern United States throughout February.

The Spice Girls formed in 1994 after their management company placed a newspaper advertisement.

Their last tour was almost 10 years ago -- it was during that tour that, on May 31, 1998, Halliwell announced she was quitting. The four remaining girls put out a third album in 2000 before officially splitting in February 2001.

They sold over 50 million records worldwide and scored nine British number one singles in the 1990s.