Exiled former premier Nawaz Sharif urged fellow opposition leader Benazir Bhutto to join him in boycotting Pakistan’s upcoming elections, as he said he had spurned a meeting with president Pervez Musharraf.
   The former premier’s comments in a telephone interview with AFP came amid fevered political manoeuvring in nuclear-armed Pakistan, as Musharraf jousts with his foes over his imposition of a state of emergency.
   Musharraf was flying Tuesday to Saudi Arabia, Sharif’s home in exile, fuelling reports that he would reach out to the former premier in a bid to split a possible Benazir -Sharif alliance.
   Sharif, however, ruled out any meeting with the man who ousted him eight years ago, telling AFP: ‘I am not prepared to meet that man when he has arrested the judiciary, gagged the media and suspended the constitution.’
   ‘I think the nation needs to prepare for a decisive battle against dictatorship,’ Sharif said from his home in Jeddah late Monday.
   Sharif said Musharraf tried to contact him three times in the past two months asking for a meeting. ‘I regretted it, I said no, it will not serve any purpose,’ he said.
   The industrialist-turned-politician was kicked out of Pakistan within hours when he tried to return from exile in September.
   Instead, Sharif said talks to form an opposition front with Benazir had progressed further – so long as they can agree on an agenda to adopt against military ruler Musharraf.
   ‘I welcome the proposal by Benazir Bhutto for holding an all-parties conference,’ he said, referring to a meeting called by Benazir for the middle of this week.
   ‘I discussed the agenda by telephone with her and today (Monday) we discussed it in the APDM meeting,’ he said. The APDM, or All Parties Democracy Movement, is an opposition coalition that does not include Benazir’s party.
   Sharif, who leads his faction of the conservative Pakistan Muslim League from exile, shared alternating periods in power between 1988 and 1999 with Bhutto, the chief of the moderate Pakistan People’s Party.
   ‘We have come out with a clear agenda which has been conveyed to the PPP, this is the agenda that we all need to follow,’ Sharif said.
   ‘Musharraf should lift the emergency, free the judiciary and the media, install a government of national consensus and reconstitute the election commission.’
   Sharif said that the agenda would also include a boycott of general elections that Musharraf has recommended should be held on January 8. The official date is set to be announced later Tuesday.
   ‘When everyone is in jail, the election commission is subservient to him (Musharraf), the judiciary is subservient to him, under these circumstances how can one participate in elections?’ Sharif said.

Iran said on Tuesday it has agreed to a new round of talks with United States on improving security in Iraq, despite mounting tensions between the two arch-foes over the Iranian nuclear drive.
   The announcement comes after the United States said Iran has stemmed the flow of weapons and militants across the border, amid declining violence in its conflict-torn western neighbour.
   The foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, said Washington had made an offer for the new talks via the Swiss embassy in Tehran, which looks after US interests in Iran in the absence of a US mission.
   ‘The Swiss embassy in Iran passed on the message of the US government for a new round of talks on Iraq to my colleagues in the foreign ministry,’ Mottaki told reporters alongside his visiting Syrian counterpart Walid Muallem.
   ‘Iran has agreed with this request within the framework of its policy of helping the Iraqi people. The exact date of the fourth round of the talks will be announced in the near future,’ he said.
   Mottaki confirmed the talks would take place in Iraq.
   The United States broke off diplomatic ties with Iran in 1980 during the 444 day siege of the US embassy in Tehran by student militants in the aftermath of the 1979 Islamic revolution.
   Relations were never restored and exchanges between the two countries have been marked by mutual suspicion ever since.
   But Iran and the United States have already held three rounds of talks over Iraq this year. The sheer fact the talks took place despite such an acrimonious history was hailed as a landmark event.
   US ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker and his Iranian counterpart Hassan Kazemi Qomi have held two sets of face-to-face talks May 28 and July 24, the highest level public contacts between the two sides for 27 years.
   The two sides also met at experts level on August 6 but no meeting has been held since then.
   It appeared at the time that all the talks failed to achieve a major breakthrough. The discussions were marked by mutual accusations over who was to blame for the violence in Iraq.
   Iran says the problems are caused by ‘occupying’ US forces while Washington accuses Tehran of backing Shiite militants and shipping in armour-penetrating bombs for attacks on US troops. Iran has always denied the charges.

Lawmakers are striking a note of alarm over reported US plans to sell sophisticated satellite guided bombs to Saudi Arabia, as part of a 20 billion dollar arms sale.
   A coalition of 188 members of the House of Representatives warned that if the technology fell into the ‘wrong hands’ it could harm US forces in the Middle East and threaten Israel.
   ‘Any sale of JDAM technology to Saudi Arabia must come with guarantees backed by strict conditions notified to Congress followed by regular reporting,’ the lawmakers said in a letter to the president, George W Bush.
   They also called for tight congressional oversight of the sale, and intense US consultations with key US ally Israel.
   The New York Times reported in April that the US-Gulf arms package had been delayed because of Israeli concerns over the sale to Saudi Arabia of certain precision guided munitions.
   ‘Saudi Arabia remains in a formal state of war with Israel-the preeminent democracy in the Middle East,’ the members of congress wrote in the letter.
   ‘Additionally, Saudi groups continue to export Wahabi extremist ideology throughout the world-an anti-American ideology we face on battlefields of the Global War on Terror.’
   The letter was coordinated by Republican congressman Mark Kirk and Democrat Christopher Carney, and contained the signatures of members of both parties.

An Indonesian villager dubbed ‘treeman’ for massive bark-like warts growing on much of his body may be barred from travelling to the United States to receive treatment, a report said Tuesday.
   Woody growths entirely cover 32-year-old Dede’s hands in long, root-like tendrils that leave him unable to work – except as a member of a travelling ‘freak show’. He was in a Discovery Channel documentary this month.
   ‘We’re clear about not giving them (US doctors) permission to bring Dede to the US,’ health ministry spokeswoman Lily Sriwahyuni Sulistiyowati was quoted as saying by Warta Kota daily.
   ‘Moreover, people like Dede, who live in small villages, don’t want to be taken away, especially to give blood samples. Normally village people don’t easily give foreigners permission to test their blood,’ she said.
   The spokeswoman declined to give an immediate comment when contacted by AFP.
   Anthony Gaspari, a dermatologist from the University of Maryland, examined Dede as part of the documentary.
   He believes the massive growths are a combination of the human papilloma virus, which causes warts, and a genetic disorder that means his immune system is too weak to fight them off.
   Gaspari said from the United States that he was disappointed by the reported health ministry decision but said it would not stop his initial plan to treat his condition.
   Gaspari said he was in negotiations with a US pharmaceutical company to provide Dede with an ongoing supply of vitamin A, which would hopefully boost his immune system and hinder the growth of the warts.
   ‘My initial plan would be to send medication to Indonesia to a local doctor to administer,’ he said. ‘If it doesn’t work I won’t have any choice but to try to get him over here.’
   Possible alternative treatments, such as chemotherapy, carried higher risks and needed to be closely monitored outside of Indonesia, Gaspari said.
   Genetic testing would also require fresh blood samples, which meant they would have to be taken in the United States, he added.
   ‘I suppose at a university in Indonesia it’s maybe possible to do the testing, I just don’t know whether the expertise would be available,’ he said.

A record number of women candidates are contesting Jordan’s legislative polls on Tuesday, vying for a seat in the 110-member lower house of parliament, where six seats are reserved for them.
   More than three times as many women are contesting this election than in the last polls in 2003, when only 54 ran-encouraged by the six-seat quota imposed by King Abdullah II as part of his drive to reform the conservative desert kingdom.
   ‘Women were encouraged to take part in the polls, not only because of the quota, but also to try to win a seat on their own,’ a political analyst said.
   ‘Nothing prevents the election of a woman outside the quota, but chances that such a thing could happen are rare,’ said the analyst, who declined to be named.
   The elections will be the second under King Abdullah who ascended the throne in 1999, and analysts say independents, mainly representatives of tribes and families loyal to the royal family, are expected to sweep the polls.
   But that leaves open the question of how the record 199 women candidates-out of a total of around 885 — will fare.
   In a country where women represent nearly half the population of nearly six million and where their menfolk can kill them in so-called ‘honour crimes’ and walk away with a mild punishment, many female votes go to male relatives because of family and social pressures.
   No woman won a seat in the 2003 polls except through the quota system.
   Hayat Mseimi, an Islamist candidate running for a seat for the impoverished city of Zarqa, northeast of Amman, said the women’s quota is ‘unconstitutional.’

Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge court opened its first public hearing Tuesday, in what many see as a landmark moment for a country trying to come to terms with the brutal 1970s regime.
   Judges began hearing arguments by lawyers for jailed regime prison chief Duch, who is appealing against his detention by the UN-backed tribunal pending a trial expected to take place next year.
   Duch, whose real name is Kaing Guek Eav, allegedly oversaw the torture and extermination of 16,000 men, women and children at the Khmer Rouge’s Tuol Sleng prison during the regime’s 1975-1979 rule.
   He was arrested by the tribunal in July, becoming the first top Khmer Rouge cadre to be detained, and charged with crimes against humanity ahead of further investigation of the case against him. Duch’s lawyers argued that years spent imprisoned without trial by another court – he was first arrested by the government in 1999 – are grounds for his release.
   ‘The detention of Duch for more than eight years gravely violates Cambodian and international human rights laws,’ said Cambodian lawyer Kar Savuth, who with Frenchman Francois Roux is defending the former jailer.
   ‘He has promised to cooperate with the tribunal,’ Kar Savuth told a panel of five judges who will rule on Duch’s release. Prosecutors, however, contend that Duch’s freedom would risk creating public disorder and that he may try to flee justice if released.
   In his first public appearance since he was seized by the government, Duch, 65, appeared grim-faced but in good health, quickly walking to his chair to sit with his lawyers while dozens of photographers jockeyed to take his picture as he entered the court chamber.
   Dressed in a crisp, white short-sleeved shirt, Duch later stood, pressing the palms of his hands together in a prayer gesture, as he answered questions from the judges about his background.
   ‘I am appealing because I have been jailed without trial for eight years, six months and 10 days already,’ said Duch, speaking in a soft voice.
   Before the hearing opened, Duch was driven by bullet-proof vehicle from the tribunal’s detention facility to the court house, just 50 metres away, tribunal spokes-man Reach Sambath said.

Ukraine mourned Tuesday as the toll from a weekend coal mine blast jumped to 88, making it the worst mining catastrophe in the country’s post-Soviet history.
   ‘The bodies of 88 miners have been found’ and 12 others are missing, the statement said after the toll passed that of the 2000 disaster at the Barakov mine in eastern Ukraine that killed 80.
   The first victims were due to be buried on Tuesday in Donetsk, a city deep in the industrial heartland of the former Soviet republic.
   The president, Viktor Yushchenko, declared Tuesday a national day of mourning.
   ‘I ask every one of you to offer all support you can to the families of the victims,’ Yushchenko said during a trip to the scene on Monday, RIA Novosti news agency reported.
   Rescuers on Tuesday continued to battle fires as they searched for the remaining 12 missing miners, the emergency situations ministry said in a statement.
   ‘Nine emergency units are taking part in the liquidation of isolated fires and preparing for the isolation of the emergency zone,’ the statement said.
   The explosion occurred early on Sunday some 1,000 metres underground at the Zasyadko mine, which has a long history of such disasters.

The sister of Pakistan cricket legend Imran Khan said she was ‘very worried’ about his health after he went on hunger strike to protest against his detention under emergency rule.
   Khan was arrested in Lahore last week and charged with offences under anti-terrorism laws, before being transferred to a high security prison in the remote central town of Dera Ghazi Khan.
   ‘We are very worried about his health. His health is absolutely critical,’ Khan’s younger sister Allema Khan said.
   ‘Imran has stopped eating since yesterday (Monday). We can’t leave him alone. It is not a token hunger strike, it is a serious one,’ she said.
   Allema Khan said she was going to the isolated prison on Wednesday to try to meet her brother – who now leads a small opposition party with little of the success that he enjoyed in his cricketing days.

The government will impose presidential rule in the IT hub of Karnataka after the BJP chief minister resigned as his coalition ally refused to back him in a confidence vote.
   The Bharatiya Janata Party’s BS Yeddyurappa quit after a week in power when the Janata Dal (S), junior partner in the coalition government, set conditions for its support, such as ministerial portfolios demands, which were rejected by the BJP.
   ‘The cabinet has recommended presidential rule in the state,’ said a government official.
   The local political crisis is a blow for the BJP as the party, with a small presence in other southern states, hoped to use Karnataka as a gateway to the south and gain a larger national footprint to eat into support of the ruling Congress party.

Princess Diana may have survived her fatal Paris car crash in 1997 if French medical staff had not wasted precious time, a leading British surgeon indicated at her inquest Monday.
   Professor Thomas Treasure, a former president of the European Association for Cardio-thoracic Surgery, said there may have been a ‘window of opportunity’ to get her to hospital half an hour earlier and save her.
   Medics did ‘very substantial good’ when they were first on the scene but once the princess was put in an ambulance for the drive to hospital, time began ‘slipping away’, he told the High Court in London.

China hit out Tuesday at what it called ‘groundless’ US accusations that it was blocking moves to pressure Iran on its nuclear programmes, but refused to commit to new talks on tougher sanctions.
   ‘Some on the US side have made groundless accusations against China and this is not in line with the facts,’ foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao told reporters.
   ‘We believe China and the US have common interests on this issue. That is, to safeguard the international non-proliferation regime.’
   A meeting of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council – Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States – plus Germany was due to take place on Monday in Brussels to discuss possible sanctions aimed at halting Iran’s nuclear drive.
   But it was cancelled after China, which opposes sanctions on Iran, said it would not attend.
   Liu said on Monday that China’s representative could not attend because of a scheduling conflict, and not for any other reason.

A villager in West Bengal married his teenage daughter on grounds that he was following divine instructions, the police said on Tuesday.
   Afazuddin Ali, 36, appeared before a court on Monday after villagers in West Bengal complained that he had confessed to marrying his daughter, who was now pregnant, six months ago. But he was released because the police had filed the wrong charges.
   The police said they would try to bring new charges against him.
   ‘This is a very strange case as no one in the family has complained, but we will conduct medical tests to verify the girl’s exact age, before filing a strong case against her father,’ said Ravinder Jit Singh Nalwa, a senior police officer.
   ‘She has never been to school as well and seems clearly terrified,’ Nalwa said on Tuesday.