UNITED NATIONS, Dec 2 (AFP): UN Secretary General Kofi Annan Monday convened the first meeting of his newly-formed contact group on Iraq to discuss the future of the country and what role the United Nations will play there.
The 17 nations - Iraq''s six neighbours, 10 members of the UN Security Council and Egypt - held informal talks as the United States faces new obstacles in its plans for handing over power to Iraqis.
But no Iraqi officials were present for the talks, and no date was set for when the next meeting would be held.
"It was a good discussion," said US ambassador John Negroponte. Other diplomats said the first meeting aimed at "welcoming" the neighbours - Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Turkey - into the process.
But diplomats said Annan still set no date for when he would name a replacement for Sergio Vieira de Mello, his top envoy to Iraq who was killed along with 21 others in the August 19 suicide bombing of UN offices in Baghdad.
Annan has since pulled all international UN staff out of the Iraqi capital and has indicated the UN office for Iraq would be re-established in either Cyprus or Jordan until security conditions improve.
Meanwhile, Baghdad report says: The US military vowed to continue aggressive tactics after saying it killed 54 people following a coordinated ambush of its troops in the northern Iraqi city of Samarra where eight civilians were among the dead.
But a top US military commander acknowledged Monday that the Samarra death toll was based entirely on estimates gleaned from troop debriefings and that US forces had not recovered a single body from the scene of Sunday''s clashes.
In London meanwhile, British Prime Minister Tony Blair''s spokesman said the US-led coalition, which lost 14 people in the worst weekend of violence in seven months, would not be "bombed or intimidated" into a humiliating retreat.
The ambush in Samarra "was a coordinated attack ... on a convoy that was delivering a significant amount of Iraqi currency," said Colonel Fredrick Rudesheim.
The bloodshed from Sunday''s clashes prompted members of Samarra''s tribal council to demand an immediate US pullout from the built-up area.
But the US military officials denied their forces had fired indiscriminately, as charged by senior police, hospital and municipal officials in the town.
In Tokyo, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi lashed out at "indiscriminate" attacks in Iraq that killed two of the country''s diplomats as a poll showed little public backing for sending troops.
Another message adds: British Prime Minister Tony Blair will have no advance warning of a report, expected early next year, into the death of British weapons expert David Kelly, London''s Financial Times said Tuesday.

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BELFAST, Dec 2 (AFP): Hopes of reviving Northern Ireland''s power-sharing government looked bleak Tuesday after the big winner of last week''s legislative elections said he would never share the table with "armed terrorists".
Britain''s Northern Ireland Minister Paul Murphy met representatives of the hardline Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) Monday after it clinched 30 seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly -- more than any of its rivals.
But the DUP''s firebrand Protestant leader Ian Paisley made it clear that he would never agree to form a government with Sinn Fein, the political wing of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and leading Roman Catholic party.
"I don''t accept the principle that we must sit down with armed terrorists who have enough weapons in their possession to blow up the whole of Northern Ireland," said Paisley on BBC radio.
In a warning to Prime Minister Tony Blair, he added: "The British government can neither buy us nor beat us nor break us."
"It is a democratic principle that we don''t engage with armed terrorists to find a solution to a situation like this," he said.
When asked if he could accept the title of first minister of Northern Ireland, Paisley replied: "Not with IRA-Sinn Fein in government."
Last Wednesday''s elections were supposed to breath new life into the Good Friday agreement of 1998, which put an end to three decades of inter-communal violence in Northern Ireland that claimed more than 3,000 lives.
The Northern Ireland Assembly and executive have been suspended since October 2002 when Blair reinstated direct rule from London amid a crisis of confidence between Protestants and Catholics at Stormont, the province''s seat of government.
Compounding the problem has been the pace of the IRA''s surrender of the guns and explosives it used in its armed struggle against British rule in Northern Ireland, where largely pro-British Protestants are in the majority.
Protestants say the IRA -- which is still respecting a ceasefire it declared in July 1997 -- is not "decommissioning" fast enough; republicans say they want power-sharing to advance further before the IRA gives up more weapons.

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TOKYO: A senior official of the United Nations Development Programme has expressed concern that Japan might cut its contribution to an environment body because of reductions in its overseas aid budget.
Frank Pinto, co-ordinator of the Global Environment Facility, said Japan was a direct beneficiary of the GEF''s activities in curbing sea pollutants in east Asia, particularly around China.
Japan contributes about $440m (£260m, €367m) to the GEF, which helps developing countries fund projects related to biodiversity, international waters, land degradation, climate change, the ozone layer, and persistent organic pollutants.
Japan''s contribution makes up about 19 per cent of GEF''s budget. There is concern the country may follow in the footsteps of the US, which has reduced its donation from about 25 per cent to 22 per cent.
Japan''s contribution is also under pressure because of cuts Tokyo has made to its development assistance budget over the past four years. It is expected to make a further cut this year, with aid to China coming under particular scrutiny.
"Japan at present doesn''t plan to cut its contribution. But is it under threat? Yes," Pinto said in an interview.
He said Japan benefited from GEF projects in the seas of east Asia and the South China Sea. "Two-thirds of large cities in east Asia are coastal, many of them in China, spilling industrial pollution and waste into the ocean. Our work in the project has cleaned up that pollution and that helps Japan.
"Another area is the build-up of mercury in fish, which is harmful to humans if consumed. After five years of operation, we now have fish with much lower levels of toxicity. This also directly benefits Japan, where fish features heavily in the diet."
GEF is also trying to prevent the spread of harmful aquatic organisms from ships discharging ballast water - used to stabilise vessels - which can take invasive species from one part of the world to another.

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UNITED NATIONS, Dec 2 (Reuters): Palestinian President Yasser Arafat told the United Nations Monday that Israel was threatening to end chances for a Middle East peace by insisting on building a barrier cutting deep into West Bank land.
Continued construction of the barrier, which Israel calls a security fence, amounted to a rejection of a final settlement leading to a Palestinian state and was "nurturing the seeds of malice and hatred and putting an end to the prospect of peace between the parties," Arafat said.
He made the remark in a message read by Palestinian UN envoy Nasser al-Kidwa during a UN observance of the annual International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.
Newly installed Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie has demanded that Israel stop building the separation barrier through the West Bank as a condition for peace talks, but his Israeli counterpart, Ariel Sharon, has rejected the demand.
Described by the Israelis as a fence to keep out suicide bombers and by the Palestinians as a land grab, the barrier of concrete, razor wire, ditches and electric fencing cuts deep into territory occupied by Israel in 1967.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said last week that building the wall was "a deeply counterproductive act" at a time Israel and the Palestinians were being asked to follow the international "road map" peace plan.
Meanwhile, AFP from Paris says: European leaders responded positively Monday to an alternative Middle East peace initiative launched in Geneva, while thousands of enraged Palestinians denounced it as treason.
US Middle East envoy William Burns also welcomed the unofficial initiatives launched by Israeli and Palestinian groups for a final peace settlement, but without actually endorsing them.
French President Jacques Chirac praised the plan as a major initiative, but reaffirmed his commitment to the "roadmap" that has struggled to make headway.
German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer called the scheme "an encouraging signal of hope."

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WASHINGTON, Dec 2 (AFP): The United Nations Monday asked for help in an ambitious scheme to bring medication to three million poor HIV patients by 2005, as developing nations sought to reduce the stigma of the disease on World Aids Day.
In Geneva, the World Health Organisation and Unaids pleaded for assistance with the so-called ''3 by 5'' initiative, expected to cost about 5.5 billion dollars (4.6 billion euros).
Even if it is achieved, the plan would still only aid about half of the people with HIV who are poor and in need.
WHO Director General Jong-wook Lee said the pandemic was perhaps "the toughest health assignment the world has ever faced."
"The lives of millions of people are at stake. This strategy demands massive and unconventional efforts to make sure they stay alive."
The plan got a boost when international medical charity Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF - Doctors without Borders), announced in Nairobi that an Indian drug manufacturer had slashed by half the cost of one of the most effective treatments used to fight Aids.
Drugmaker Cipla will offer Triomune, which combines three generic medications in one pill taken twice a day, for 140 dollars per patient per year - or half the current price, MSF spokesman Weger Wentholt told newsman.
Antiretroviral drugs prevent the onset of full-blown AIDS in people infected with HIV and make such infections manageable.
For lack of such drugs, three million people died in 2003.
The equivalent patented drugs - only available in three separate pills - cost about 700 dollars per patient per year.
Unlike earlier price-reduction deals, the latest offer is not restricted to specific countries. MSF said hundreds of thousands of people will benefit in the short term and will do much to help the "3-by-5" programme.
Meanwhile, Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao staged a meeting, reputedly the first of its kind at this top level, with Aids patients.
The two UN agencies last week named China, India, Russia and Indonesia as major countries that could follow African nations, home to three-quarters of HIV/Aids victims, down the path to disaster.
The agencies estimated that by the end of this year, 40 million people will be living with Aids or the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes it.
Three million people will have died this year - the equivalent to a fully-laden jumbo jet crashing roughly every 90 minutes - and five million others will have become infected.
Their report warned that official indifference, denial, social taboo and discrimination enabled HIV to leap out of ''risk'' groups such as prostitutes and intravenous drug users and enter the population mainstream.
In India, where the government Sunday unveiled a programme to provide free HIV medication to some of its 4.58 million people with the disease, the stars of Bollywood joined World Aids Day to promote safer sex and open talk about Aids.

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SEOUL, Dec 2 (AFP): North Korea said Tuesday plans to beef up Russia''s military would benefit world peace and act as a check on a hegemonic United States.
Last month President Vladimir Putin said Russia would boost its nuclear weapons arsenal and could resort to pre-emptive strikes because Washington had already adopted the same policy.
"Nobody can criticize Russia for opting to increase its national defence capability, especially its strategic armed forces," said Rodong Sinmun, North Korea''s ruling Workers Party newspaper.
It said Washington was pursuing a new military confrontation and had listed Russia as a target for nuclear attack.
North Korea, former Cold War ally of Russia, said Moscow''s descision to build up its strategic arsenal was "a very just one" needed to contain Wshington''s hegemonic and unilateral policies.
"This is in line with the desire and interests of the Russian people and helpful to ensuring global peace and security," the newspaper said in a dispatch carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.
It said that Russia''s military attache in Pyongyang has called a press conference on November 20.

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KATHMANDU, DEC 2 (Xinhua): At least 17 anti-government guerrillas were killed Monday by government security forces in various parts of Nepal, the Nepali Defence Ministry said Monday evening.
The armed guerrillas were killed in the districts of Sunsari, Syangja, Siraha, Sindhupalchowk, Tanahu and Panchthar in clashes with the government security forces, the state-run Radio Nepal quoted a press statement issued by the ministry as saying.
The government forces also seized some arms, ammunition and explosive materials from the guerrillas during their cordon and search operations, the statement said.
The anti-government guerrillas on Aug. 27 unilaterally declared the breakdown of the cease- fire, which was announced by the two sides on Jan. 29 this year.
More than 700 guerrillas have been killed in their clashes with the government security forces since the breach of truce, while about 170 government security personnel have also been killed in the clashes.
The insurgency has claimed over 8,000 lives since it began in the Himalayan kingdom in 1996.

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LONDON, DEC 2 (AFP): Thirty-seven letters written by Britain''s World War II prime minister Winston Churchill to his lover Pamela Plowden are expected to fetch over 600,000 dollars when they go under the hammer Tuesday at Christie''s auction house in London.
"The letters are being sold by a descendant of Pamela Plowden," Mark James, a Christie''s expert told newsmen.
The most valuable letter, dated July 19, 1942 and seven pages long, is expected to fetch between 25,000 (43,000 dollars, 36,000 euros) and 35,000 pounds.
"This is a very intimate and long letter showing two levels of interest, a public one and a personal one," James explained.
"Unfortunately, the archives don''t have budget to purchase" the letters, Packwood said. "We''re certainly interested to learn about these letters of course."

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TEHRAN, DEC 2 (AFP): The Iranian foreign ministry summoned the Swiss ambassador to Tehran, who acts as the head of the US interest section office in the Islamic Republic, "to receive Iran''s strong objection" over the killing of an Iranian pilgrim by US forces in the Iraqi town of Samarra, the state news agency IRNA said Tuesday.
The foreign ministry official in charge of US relations, Mehdi Mohtashami, informed the envoy, Tim Guldimann, of "the Islamic Republic of Iran''s strong protest regarding the killing of an Iranian citizen at the hands of the US troops in Iraq."
Iran also demanded that the US "clarify the circumstances leading to the incident," and that it both announce the results of its own investigation and provide compensation.
At the city''s hospital there were corpses of eight ordinary civilians, including two elderly Iranian pilgrims and a child. In the report issued Tuesday, Iran referred to only one Iranian national, however.
"The blind attack, disregard for the sanctity of the holy sites and incitement of pure religious feelings is an act of insanity. Such actions are intolerable," said foreign ministry spokesman Kamal Kharazi.
"America is responsible for the killing of the Iranian national in Samarra. It must account for this crime," he said.

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THE HAGUE, DEC 2 (AFP): The UN war crimes tribunal will deliver a verdict Tuesday in the case of a Bosnian Serb officer who pleaded guilty to taking part in the massacre of thousands of Muslims in Srebrenica, officials said.
Momir Nikolic was the first Bosnian Serb officer to admit his involvement in the incident and acknowledge the slaughter of over 7,000 Muslim men and boys from the Srebrenica enclave in 1995.
Nikolic, a deputy commander for security and intelligence of the Bratunac brigade operating in Srebrenica at the time of the massacre, was originally charged with genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity after his arrest last year.
In return for a guilty plea and full cooperation, the prosecutor agreed to drop many of the charges against him and he was convicted in May this year for persecution.

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WASHINGTON, DEC 2 (AFP): US President George W Bush Monday put his stamp of approval on a bill allocating millions of dollars for research into new types of nuclear weapons - and for bolstering readiness at the Nevada nuclear test site.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Bush had signed into law the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act of 2004 that contains funds for the Department of Energy and its nuclear programmes.
The measure includes 7.5 million dollars to study the possibility of developing so-called "bunker-busting" nuclear bombs officials say would enhance America''s ability to destroy underground command and control centres and hidden arms depots.
An additional six million dollars have been earmarked to study low-yield nuclear weapons that some experts believe could be useful in high-precision strikes.
Experts say a five-kilotonne or smaller nuclear explosive detonated, for example, right on a missile silo door will vaporise both the door and the missile inside.
But Congress chose to tamp down the request in the face of vocal opposition from disarmament experts, who have interpreted it as a sign of the administration''s weakening determination to maintain a moratorium on nuclear tests.

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WASHINGTON, Dec 2 (AFP): The US Department of Homeland Security Monday scrapped rules introduced after the September 11 terror attacks that orders visitors in the United States from 25 Middle Eastern countries to register at intervals with authorities.
Under the old rules the visitors, mainly from countries where al-Qaeda terrorist activity was suspected, had to reregister with authorities after 30 days or a year continuously in the United States.
Civil rights groups complained the rules infinged on the rights of immigrants.
Under the programme, known as the National Security Entry Exit Registration System (NSEERS), the selected visitors had to show up at intervals to be photographed, fingerprinted and interviewed by immigration officials.
While tens of thousands of immigrants met the requirements, several hundred were kicked out of the country.

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BEIJING, DEC 2 (AFP): Heavy snow and biting cold are hampering rescue efforts in China''s northwestern Xinjiang region where a powerful earthquake killed 11 people and injured 73, state media reported Tuesday.
A foot of snow was dumped on the worst-hit Zhaosu county near China''s rugged border with Kazakhstan, making road travel treacherous and delaying the arrival of rescue staff from Yining City, 300 kilometres (186 miles) away.
Temperatures plunged to minus 17 degrees Celsius although those made homeless by the 6.1 magnitude tremor have been relocated to warm houses with heating, the Xinhua news agency said.
The Monday morning quake in an area where seismic activity is common left 11 people dead.

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CANBERRA, Dec 2 (Reuters): In a surprise result, Australia''s opposition Labour party voted its outspoken treasury spokesman Mark Latham as its new leader Tuesday in a bid to unite the divided party ahead of an election expected next year.
Latham, 42, is viewed as a new generation leader for the centre-left party which has been wracked by internal bickering .

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HANOI, Dec 2 (AFP): Conjoined Vietnamese twins Le Thu Cuc and Le Thuy An, who were successfully separated by surgeons in October, left hospital in Hanoi Tuesday and returned home.
The 11-month-old girls were taken by car back to the northern province of Thanh Hoa, some 200 kilometres south of the capital, an administrative official at the Central Paediatric Institute said.

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JAKARTA, Dec 2 (AFP): Seven detainees Tuesday broke out of a police jail in the Indonesian town of Medan after cutting rusty window bars with a chainsaw, police said.
The seven used a sarong tied to the bars to scale the wall and ran off into a residential area, said police spokesman.

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LONDON, Dec 2 (Reuters): Kurdish forces in Iraq have arrested a British student suspected of trying to join a radical Islamic guerrilla group linked to al Qaeda, the Times newspaper reported.
Urslaan Khan (21), from Yarm in northeastern England, was picked up by a Kurdish security police patrol in northern Iraq in early November. He has been studying for a degree in Arabic Studies at Manchester University.

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MOSCOW, Dec 2 (AFP): Moscow investigators questioned Monday Russia''s Education Minister Vladimir Filippov over a fire which killed 38 students in a dormitory last week, the RIA-Novosti news agency reported.
Prosecutors also questioned top officials at the Peoples'' Friendship University, pointing out "the administration''s numerous violations of fire security regulations.

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JAKARTA, Dec 2 (AFP): Three Indonesian high school students were killed and three injured when they fell from a packed train during the peak travel season after a major Muslim holiday, a railway official said.
The students were clinging to the outside of the crowded carriages when one of their backpacks became entangled in barbed wire and they were swept off early Monday at Bandung station.

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NANNING, Dec 2 (Xinhua): Some 76 college students in Yizhou city of south China''s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region were poisoned after having breakfast at the dining hall of Hechi College early Monday.
Soon after taking breakfast at seven o''clock, 76 students began to vomit or have stomachache. Six students have been seriously poisoned, one of whom had even stricken into grave toxic shock.

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JAKARTA, Dec 2 (AFP): Pakistan is to deport six Indonesian students who are suspected to have links to terrorism and Jakarta is considering whether to detain them on their return home, the foreign ministry said Tuesday.
"We have been officially notified by the Pakistani government of the plan to deport the six students," said ministry spokesman Marty Natalegawa.

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MOSCOW, Dec 2 (AFP): A Russian oil worker kidnapped in Nigeria last week has been released, the foreign ministry announced here Monday.
"According to the information received by the Russian embassy in Lagos, Russian citizen Roman Murugov, one of foreign hostages seized earlier, was released by kidnappers early Monday," ministry officials said.

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VILNIUS, Dec 2 (AFP): Lithuania''s President Rolandas Paksas faces the almost certain launch of impeachment proceedings against him Tuesday when the parliament meets to examine a report that he posed a threat to state security over mafia links in his office.
The parliament was due to meet at 3:00 pm (1300 GMT) to examine the report published Monday by a parliamentary committee of inquiry, as Paksas insisted he would not resign over the crisis.

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