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TOKYO: Japan said Wednesday it may scale down
a naval mission supporting US-led forces in Afghanistan to try to
resolve a row with the opposition that helped bring down the
previous government. Lawmakers are to debate whether to halt the
refueling of foreign supply ships in the Indian Ocean so Japan is
not seen to be providing indirect support for military activities
outside of the Afghanistan theater, said Chief Cabinet Secretary
Nobutaka Machimura. But Japan would continue to supply fuel directly
to coalition ships involved in the Afghanistan mission. Under
legislation passed after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks in
the United States, Japanese ships refuel and give other logistical
support to coalition forces, which overthrew Afghanistan’s
extremist Taliban regime.
--AFP
DILI: A former East
Timorese guerrilla fighter was arrested on Wednesday and charged in
connection with deadly unrest that flared here last year, the United
Nations mission said. Vicente “Railos” da Conceicao was among a
number of key protagonists in a complex plot that surrounded East
Timor’s descent into chaos in April and May last year that is
still being unraveled by investigators. At least 37 people were
killed when fighting between various factions of the security forces
and gang warfare erupted following the sacking of deserting
soldiers. Thousands of foreign peacekeepers were deployed to restore
calm. Da Conceicao and his civilian followers alleged they received
weapons from Alkatiri’s now-jailed interior minister Rogerio
Lobato and were paid to kill their political opponents.
--AFP
BEIJING: A leading Chinese
human rights lawyer said Wednesday he was beaten and told to leave
Beijing, as police rounded up rights activists and dissidents ahead
of a crucial Communist Party meeting. Li Heping said police told him
to leave the capital ahead of the October 15 Communist Party
Congress, and that a group of unidentified thugs kidnapped him and
roughed him up after he refused. Li said he could not confirm that
the thugs were police, but the incident occurred after police had
told him to leave the capital. Police continued to follow him on
Wednesday, he said. Chinese police routinely round up activists and
dissidents ahead of sensitive political events.
--AFP
JERUSALEM: Israeli and
Palestinian leaders are to meet on Wednesday for the first time with
their new negotiating teams to try to bridge gaping differences
ahead of a US-sponsored Middle East peace summit. Israeli Prime
Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas were to
join with their teams at the premier’s Jerusalem residence after
holding their fourth round of one-on-one talks in less than two
months. But the two sides remain far apart over what kind of
document to draw up ahead of the Middle East conference, expected to
take place in Annapolis, Maryland, in November.
--AFP
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan said
Wednesday that the fate of a proposed power-sharing deal with
Benazir Bhutto lay in her hands after the government offered the
former premier an amnesty on graft charges. Bhutto has said that any
pact with President Pervez Musharraf, who is seeking re-election
on Saturday, hinges on several demands including that corruption
cases against her are dropped. Ministers and officials said on
Tuesday that the government had agreed to an amnesty, which would
smooth the path for the self-exiled Bhutto’s planned return to
Pakistan on October 18. Bhutto, who left Pakistan in 1999 to avoid
what she says are politically motivated charges against her, is to
chair a meeting of her party’s central executive committee in
London on Wednesday to discuss the offer.
--AFP
SEOUL: The leaders of
South and North Korea opened summit talks Wednesday aimed at ending
half a century of hostility amid signs of progress in international
efforts to shut down the North’s nuclear program. With a slight
smile on his face, reclusive North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il shook
hands with President Roh Moo-Hyun before the meeting at the
guesthouse in Pyongyang where Roh is staying. Kim, who came out in
person Tuesday to welcome Roh, thanked the president for crossing
the world’s last Cold War frontier by land, saying the symbolism
was “very meaningful.” The two leaders closed a morning session
and were due later Wednesday to resume the talks, only the second in
the history of the communist North and the capitalist South.
--AFP
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