New Turkey presidency row looms

Abdullah Gul's candidacy causes continuing controversyTurkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul has confirmed he plans to stand again as a presidential candidate.
His previous presidential bid sparked huge protests in May because of his Islamist roots. Secular institutions, including the army, opposed him.
Mr Gul said his ruling AK Party, which won a convincing victory in elections last month, was backing his bid.
Opponents dislike the fact that Mr Gul's wife wears the Muslim headscarf, which is banned in state institutions.
The failure of his first presidential bid led to an early general election.
Mr Gul is meeting opposition party leaders in an attempt to gather support for his election bid.
Under parliamentary rules, candidates must put themselves forward before midnight on 19 August, with the first ballot scheduled for 20 August.
Lingering opposition
One of the main opposition parties, the MHP, has previously said it would not boycott the latest election, a move likely to ensure a quorum of two-thirds of MPs to make a valid vote.
Mr Gul's previous bid for the presidency failed because opposition parties boycotted the two votes in April and May.
PARTIES IN PARLIAMENT

AKP 341 seats
CHP 99 seats
MHP 70 seats
Kurdish MPs (DTP) 22 seats
Democratic Left Party 13 seats
Independents 4 seats
Total 550 seats
In the first and second round of voting a candidate must win a two-thirds majority to be elected - 367 votes out of the total of 550 deputies.
The AKP does not have 367 deputies sitting in parliament.
But in the third and fourth round only an absolute majority of 276 is required.
The governing party has 341 MPs, so the AKP's candidate would be highly likely to win any contest in a third or fourth round.
The largest opposition party, the secular centre-left Republican People's Party (CHP), has stated its continued opposition to Mr Gul's candidacy.
"Gul is a conscious member of an ideological circle," CHP leader Deniz Baykal told CNN Turk television.
"Turkey would become a country in which the political balances were changing very fast, in which the Middle East identity would become more pronounced."
The job of president is largely ceremonial, but the incumbent has the power to veto legislative bills and government appointments.
The current president, Ahmet Necdet Sezer, often frustrated the government by blocking its initiatives.

Russian hostages freed in Nigeria

Six Russians kidnapped by gunmen more than two months ago from an aluminium firm in southern Nigeria have been freed, government officials say.
The four men and two women are reportedly in good health.
They were seized on 3 June in the south-eastern town of Ikot Abasi, and their Nigerian driver was shot dead.
Kidnappings - more often of oil workers - have become a common occurrence in the south of Nigeria. Victims tend to be released after a ransom is paid.
The Russians were working at an aluminium-smelting plant controlled by Russia Aluminium (Rusal), the world's largest aluminium producer.
The Russian Foreign Ministry has welcomed their release: "If the reports are true, we are satisfied with the outcome of the affair," a spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, Andrei Krivtsov, told RIA Novosti news agency.
"The work for the liberation of the Russians has been long and painstaking. We are satisfied that the matter was resolved in a positive way," he said.
It was not clear which group kidnapped the Russians.
President Umaru Yar'Adua has said tackling the unrest in the south is one of his top priorities.

Koreas announce historic summit

Mr Roh (L) will travel to Pyongyang for talks with Kim Jong-ilLeaders from North and South Korea are to hold their second-ever summit, officials have announced.
President Roh Moo-hyun will meet North Korea's Kim Jong-il in the North's capital, Pyongyang, from 28-30 August.
The summit comes amid an improvement in North Korea's ties with the outside world, and has been warmly welcomed by the international community.
But South Korea's main opposition party rejected the move as an election stunt ahead of December's presidential polls.
'Weighty significance'
The new summit comes seven years after the first one, when Mr Kim met then-South Korean President Kim Dae-jung.
That meeting ushered in improved ties and reconciliation between the two sides, who remain technically at war.
The new summit was finally agreed after senior South Korean intelligence personnel made two trips to the North, officials said.
THE TWO KOREAS

1910: Korean Peninsula colonised by Japan
1945: Divided into US-backed South and Soviet-backed North
1950-1953: Korean War, no peace deal signed
1987: North Korea bombs a South airliner, killing 115
1990s: South Korea introduces conciliatory Sunshine Policy
2000: Kim Jong-il and Kim Dae-jung hold first leaders' summit

The two Koreas have agreed to formalise an agenda at preparatory meetings in the border city of Kaesong, where they jointly run an industrial park.
South Korea's presidential office said that the summit would "contribute to substantially opening the era of peace and prosperity between the two Koreas".
North Korean state news agency KCNA said it would be "of weighty significance in opening a new phase of peace on the Korean Peninsula".
Analysts say the summit is another sign of Mr Kim's increasing willingness to co-operate with the international community.
Last month, North Korea finally shut down its main Yongbyon reactor as part of an international aid-for-disarmament deal aimed at ending its nuclear programme.
The motivation for Mr Roh could well be the fact that it is likely to be his last chance to influence his nation's political future.
The increasingly unpopular South Korean president is approaching the end of his term, and both Mr Roh and Mr Kim are well aware that the opposition Grand National Party (GNP) - which advocates a tougher line towards North Korea - looks likely to win presidential elections on 19 December.
The GNP accused Mr Roh of using the summit to give his preferred candidate a boost in the polls.
"We oppose the inter-Korean summit, which is taking place at an inappropriate time and venue and through opaque procedures," the party said in a statement.
Worldwide welcome
The international community hailed the news of the summit.
"We... hope that this meeting will help promote peace and security on the Korean Peninsula," US State Department spokesperson Joanne Moore said.
"China expects positive results can be achieved in the second South-North summit," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said in statement.
The two Koreas have not signed a formal peace agreement since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.
But after the landmark summit in 2000, ties between the two Koreas warmed. Joint economic projects began and reunion meetings for families divided by the partitioning of the Korean Peninsula in 1953 were initiated.
Kim Dae-jung won a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to engage with Pyongyang, but he was forced to apologise when it emerged that large amounts of cash were sent to North Korea ahead of the talks.
The former president welcomed the news of a second summit as "a great step forward for peace".

News Corp's Dow bid now faltering

The Bancroft family has controlled Dow Jones for more than 100 years

Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation has admitted it is now "highly unlikely" it will proceed with its $5bn (£2.5bn) offer for the Dow Jones media group.

It said this was because of the reported present level of opposition from the Bancroft family, which owns 64% of Dow Jones' voting shares.

With the Bancrofts expected to make a statement later on Tuesday, reports say less than a third are backing the deal.

The news came as Brad Greenspan said he had financial support for a rival bid.

Mr Greenspan, the founder of the MySpace social network, said he had now gained the backing of five investor groups interested in buying a stake in Dow Jones to thwart News Corp's bid.

Editorial assurances

The Bancroft family said last week that it had held "very productive" talks with News Corp, and the bid had also gained the backing of the Dow Jones' board.

News Corp first tabled its bid for Dow Jones on 1 May.

The Dow Jones' main newspaper title is the Wall Street Journal.

Rupert Murdoch has promised to maintain the Wall Street Journal's editorial independence if News Corp's bid is successful.

Paulson in China for talks on economy, environment

Henry Paulson
©AFP/File - Saul Loeb

BEIJING (AFP) - US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson arrived in China on Sunday, kicking off a visit aimed at convincing the Asian giant to implement much-needed economic and environmental reforms more quickly.

US diplomats said Paulson was first headed to Xining, the capital of the vast northwestern province of Qinghai, where China has enacted a series of environmental protection initiatives near its largest salt-water lake.

Paulson, who heads to Beijing on Monday, will meet with government officials to discuss the US-China Strategic Economic Dialogue (SED) launched last year.

The forum covers a range of economic and environmental issues, but the issue at the forefront is China's yuan, which is seen by lawmakers in the United States as grossly undervalued.

Paulson's visit comes amid growing pressure to curb the burgeoning US trade deficit with China and moves in the US Congress to punish Beijing for what some say are unfair trade policies.

Last week the Senate Finance Committee overwhelmingly approved a bill requiring the Treasury to identify nations with "fundamentally misaligned" currencies, potentially opening the door to economic sanctions against Beijing.

US lawmakers say the undervalued yuan makes US-bound exports cheaper, thereby fuelling the trade deficit, which hit 232.5 billion dollars last year.

"There is no doubt that China and other nations have been undervaluing their currency to give themselves an advantage," said Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, a member of the committee.

"For too long the game has been rigged against American business."

But Paulson said Friday that lawmakers were sending the wrong message by threatening to punish Beijing.

"We would like to see the Chinese move and show more flexibility," he said.

"The right way to deal with a sovereign nation is not through protectionist actions, but by making the case to them very directly as to why it's in their best interests ... that they proceed with their reforms."

China manages the yuan against a basket of foreign currencies. But it maintains that, after ending the yuan's peg to the US dollar in 2005, its currency has appreciated at a steady pace.

Paulson was due to leave China on Wednesday.

McLaren let off in F1 spying row -- BBC NEWS

McLaren have escaped any immediate penalty after a disciplinary hearing into how they came to be in possession of confidential Ferrari documents.
McLaren suspended chief designer Mike Coughlan after a 780-page technical dossier was found at his home.
But the World Motorsport Council (WMSC) said there was "insufficent evidence" it had affected this year's title race.
McLaren still face a championship ban if in the future they are seen to have gained any advantage from the data.
Ferrari reacted angrily to the decision, saying it "legitimises dishonest behaviour in F1 and sets a very serious precedent".
The official statement from the WMSC read: "The WMSC is satisfied that Vodafone McLaren Mercedes was in possession of confidential Ferrari information and is therefore in breach of Article 151c of the International Sporting Code.
However, there is insufficient evidence that this information was used in such a way as to interfere improperly with the FIA Formula One World Championship. We therefore impose no penalty."
The statement also said it would ask Coughlan and the other man at the centre of the drama, Ferrari's former head of performance development Nigel Stepney, to justify their actions to motorsport's highest authority, the FIA.
The WMSC will also invite Mr Stepney and Mr Coughlan to show reason why they should not be banned from international motor sport for a lengthy period, and the WMSC has delegated authority to deal with this matter to the legal department of the FIA."
But with legal action still pending in Italy and England, the governing body did not rule out returning to the case in the future and potentially imposing harsh penalties.
"If it is found in the future that the Ferrari information has been used to the detriment of the championship, we reserve the right to invite McLaren back in front of the WMSC where it will face the possibility of exclusion from not only the 2007 championship but also the 2008 championship," the FIA said.
McLaren team chief Ron Dennis's immediate reaction was that he was "not completely comfortable with the outcome but the punishment fits the crime," and that a formal comment from the team would come later.
BBC NEWS.

26 killed in Mumbai building collapse --- USATODAY

MUMBAI, India (AP) — At least 26 people were killed and 15 others injured when a seven-story building collapsed in Mumbai, officials said Thursday as rescue workers pulled survivors and bodies out of the rubble.

Several others were feared trapped in the rubble of the residential building in Mumbai's Borivali neighborhood, said Gopal Shetty, a state lawmaker. The building collapsed late Wednesday.

Rescue workers toiled through the night, often pulling aside chunks of masonry with their bare hands, in an attempt to find survivors.

"The priority is to rescue people who may be trapped inside," Shetty said.

By Thursday morning, cranes were brought in to lift large slabs of concrete and workers began removing bodies from the rubble. However, rescue efforts were hampered by sporadic monsoon showers.

Seven people, including four women, were plucked from under mounds of concrete, twisted metal bars and mud by rescuers who carried them to a nearby hospital on makeshift stretchers.

Some relatives waited anxiously by a white board at the hospital where names of the dead were posted, while others chose to huddle under umbrellas at the site waiting and hoping for survivors.

"My uncle and aunt are dead," said a weeping Sushil Kothari. "We can't reach my cousins. They aren't answering their phones. Why is this happening?"

Witnesses described the chaos of the collapse.

"There was a huge sound and a crash," said Meghna Parekh, who lives nearby. "We rushed out and all we saw was this huge mountain of mud and no building."

The building housed several stores and a clinic in addition to residences.

It was not immediately clear what caused the collapse, and the government had launched an inquiry, said K. Dhode, an official at the state disaster control center.

Shetty said poor quality cement may have been used in the construction of the 20-year-old building.

However, J. Phatak, a senior city official, said residents reported extensive renovations to the building by a jewelry store on the ground floor of the building.

Mumbai authorities routinely demolish shoddy buildings ahead of the monsoon rains but this building was not listed as dangerous, Phatak said.

Building collapses are frequent in India — where construction is often hastily done with little regard for safety regulations.

IN http://www.usatoday.com

The French fox that ate the grapes

The following blog post is from an independent writer and is not connected with Reuters News. The opinions and views expressed herein are those of the author and are not endorsed by Reuters.com.

MAHMUD TURKIA/AFP/Getty Images

France's chattering classes are agog at l'audace of Nicolas Sarkozy, who sent his wife Cécilia to Libya earlier this week. Cécilia flew to Tripoli to secure the dramatic release of five Bulgarian nurses in a deal that, in truth, had already been all but inked by more publicity-shy EU and Bulgarian negotiators. Back in 2006, the Bulgarians, the Libyans, and the European Union set up a fund for over 400 Libyan kids who had been infected with HIV. That was the vehicle through which this deal eventually worked, but Cécilia is getting most of the credit for her last-minute involvement. Miffed EU officials have, understandably, grumbled to the press about how the Sarkozys are stealing their diplomatic triumph.

But the French are actually getting away with more than mere publicity here. French companies are wasting no time cutting deals with the Libyans in the defense, oil, gas, and civilian nuclear sectors, with more likely on the way.

So what does Libya get? The nurses' harrowing tales of their internment certainly give Libyan jails a black eye, but the regime is getting the international recognition and investment it has long craved. No domestic reform necessary. Thus, the real long-term winner of Libya's euros-for-hostages deal may be not Sarkozy, but Seif al-Islam al-Qaddafi, the Western-educated son of the Libyan leader who was heavily involved in the negotiations over the Bulgarian nurses. You can bet that Seif is going to take his share of the proceeds, and that Libya's heir apparent has advanced his claim to the throne with this coup.

Court throws out city's illegal immigration law

By Jon Hurdle

HAZLETON, Pa (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Thursday struck down as unconstitutional a local law designed to crack down on illegal immigration, dealing a blow to similar laws passed by dozens of towns and cities across the country.

U.S. District Judge James Munley said the city of Hazleton, 100 miles north of Philadelphia, was not allowed to implement a law that would fine businesses that hire illegal immigrants and penalize landlords who rent rooms to them.

"Federal law prohibits Hazleton from enforcing any of the provisions of its ordinances," Munley wrote in a 206-page opinion following a federal trial in which Hazleton's law was challenged by civil rights groups.

The city of 30,000 blames a recent rise in illegal immigration for boosting crime and overburdening social services. The law was passed in July 2006 but was not implemented because of a court injunction won by opponents.

About a third of the city's residents are immigrants from Central America and around a quarter of the immigrant population is believed to be undocumented, according to civil rights campaigners.

Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta said the city would likely appeal the decision.

"I believe both sides realized this wasn't going to be the last day. This small city isn't ready to stop fighting yet," Barletta told CNN.

Dozens of towns and cities have modeled their own immigration laws on Hazleton in a bid to deal with an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants living in the United States.

How BBC exposed Bulgarian baby trade

An undercover BBC News report has exposed a bid to sell Bulgarian babies and smuggle them into the UK. Sangita Myska from the Ten O'Clock News reports from Varna on how the investigation unfolded.

Harry said he was an experienced people-smuggler

ontact of mine - with whom I had previously worked undercover - told me he had heard of a trafficker operating out of Bulgaria.

It was a country that evidence showed was grappling with a people-smuggling problem.

As a condition of entry to the European Union, it had introduced strict anti-trafficking laws and banned families from selling their children but the problem was persisting.

We dispatched an undercover team to make contact with the man, known as Harry, that we had heard about.

He was part of a criminal gang working out of the costal resort of Varna - a popular destination for foreign holiday-makers.

Our three-man undercover team was taking a huge risk. And their bravery would help clinch the story.

The trafficker

The first step was to find his preferred place of business: it turned out to be a rather unlikely petrol station and neighbouring cafe...

One of the more innocent sides to the resort city of Varna

It might look like odd place to do business but actually it was pretty smart.

With lots of cars going in and out, Harry could easily cover his tracks. If he is nervous, he arranges to meet clients here. Picking them up and then driving them out of Varna - switching cars to avoid being tailed.

It was on one such drive that our team got a taste of Harry's lucrative trade in people.

Along a five-km stretch of road, flanked by woodland, he pointed out the prostitutes he had put to work - bragging that he routinely trafficked women across Europe.

He boasted about a previous conviction for people-trafficking in Germany some years earlier.

Then, chillingly, he said that children were now part of his portfolio. During a secret recording, he said he had successfully smuggled them into two countries - Norway and Germany.

The sting

With Harry boasting about trafficking women and selling children, it was time to put him to the test.

Our sting was simple. One of our undercover team told him he wanted to buy a child for his childless wife.

He said his attempt to adopt in the UK had been thwarted because of his criminal record.

Official figures suggest that, worldwide, most of the thousands of children smuggled are destined for the sex trade or domestic slavery.

We wanted to test whether Harry would check our story.

Soon after, our team arranged to meet and secretly record Harry at this upmarket hotel.

The lure of a big-money deal was enough to tempt him.

At 10pm sharp, he arrived.

Harry asked no questions about his new client's criminal record.

Favourite route

Instead, he wanted to fix a price: 50-60,000 euros for the child.

The deal included getting the child out of Bulgaria with false adoption papers.

He then revealed how to smuggle the child into the UK.

He recommended going overland to avoid checks and explained various tried and tested people-trafficking routes.

He said that his own favourite route was via France and the Republic of Ireland.

"I take Cherbourg and Rosslare - there are many ways," he said.

The children

We now had our first insight into how his criminal operation worked. We arranged for the team to meet him the next day, when he would specify which children were for sale.

The infants put on display were unaware of what was happening

At 11pm the next night, Harry returned to the hotel.

Again, he did nothing to verify the buyer's identity or what would happen to the child. He wanted to get on with business. He showed photographs of two children. He handed over his camera.

One was a beautiful little girl with dark hair, olive skin and blue eyes.

Harry said she was one and a half years old, from a poor family and from an ethnic Turkish background, like his own.

He then showed a photograph of another child, the daughter of a Bulgarian single mother.

She had blonde hair and pale skin and was pictured with a man.

Our undercover team asked if he was the father but Harry said she had no father though both parents were Bulgarian.

As the night wore on, Harry offered to smuggle the child into the UK himself for a bit more money.

Our team made their excuses and left...

It took Harry about two weeks to get back to us.

We headed back to Varna where he told us that there were up to four toddlers on sale.

He remained vague about their exact locations but we know that they are in and around Varna.

The grandfather's offer

Over the next 36 hours, Harry repeatedly changed venues for planned meetings, ensuring we could not locate the children.

This man said he wanted to sell his "jewel of a granddaughter"

Instead he said he would bring them to our team.

The first viewing, at a cafe, was of a toddler called Fitiya.

She came with her mother and a man who claimed to be the child's father. It looked suspicious.

The man was decked out in gold and seemed to know little about the child.

We suspected he might be another, more senior member of the gang.

Fitiya's mother told us she was too poor to properly care for her.

She said: "I want a guarantee that the child will have a happy life."

Our next meetings, opposite a courthouse, involved a man who wanted to sell his granddaughter.

He showed us a photo of a girl, purportedly just 20 months old. The deal was to be kept secret from the toddler's mother.

Finally we met little Nazar.

Her father said he had seven other children to feed and needed the money.

It was clear Harry had a number of children ready to be sold to the highest bidder.

We had not given Harry any money for the children. Our undercover team left telling him we would be in touch.

The economics of poverty

Since meeting the children, we have handed our evidence over to the police and child welfare agencies in Bulgaria.

Three men were arrested within an hour of the BBC report being published.

In large part, it is enclaves of crushing poverty in Bulgaria that make fertile pickings for the likes of Harry.

Despite economic and social reform since Bulgaria joined the EU, the country is struggling to fight organised crime.

Social welfare organisations are very new and a law enshrining children's rights was only passed seven years ago.

Experts say that, traditionally, state interference in matters within the family was widely frowned upon.

Although things are changing, unless the authorities act with more vigour, children will continue to be sold into domestic slavery, the sex trade or for illegal adoption.

What we have seen is deeply disturbing but this is the economics of poverty in Bulgaria, in which people are the commodities and organised criminals are the profiteers.

Viewers in the UK can watch more on this story on the Ten O'Clock news. A version of the TV report will be available for international viewers later today, with some changes to protect the identities of the children.

Afghan villagers answer your questions

Nearly two years ago, BBC News website readers put their questions to people in a village north of the capital, Kabul, where the Taleban had destroyed many homes during the civil war.

Since we met the villagers in September 2005, international aid pledges to the country have risen to more than $10.5bn (£5.9bn). But corruption has got worse, and the Taleban have been fighting back.

Our reporter Soutik Biswas revisited the village of Asad Khyl to find out how life has changed during the last two years. Here, villagers answer questions sent to them by readers.

---

Are things improving? Is there safety, shelter, enough food and water? Roy, Kansas, US

RAHMAT GUL, teacher: In our village, security has actually improved a bit. But living conditions haven't changed much. People are poor, there are no jobs and the crop is poor because of lack of water.

I have a job as a teacher and my salary is about US$60. It is not enough to maintain my family.

Rahmat Gul - inflation is now a big issue

In my opinion, one good way to improve our lives is to provide us opportunities to export our grapes and raisins because they are of a very good quality.

MOHAMMED SHARIF, village chief: Rahmat is right, but I think a better way to bring prosperity to our village is to set up factories, which make fruit juices.

We can sell our good fruit to these factories, and residents can get jobs there. So it will solve the problem of unemployment and our farmers can make money too.

RAHMAT GUL: Unfortunately, not much has been done in our village. Out biggest problem is water. We just don't have enough water to irrigate our land.

We had two wells when you last visited us. Since then, the government has dug out two more wells.

Inflation has gone up and food costs more in the market.

A bag of flour used to cost 900 Afghanis ($19) two years ago, today it costs 1400 Afghanis (US$30). Five kilograms of vegetable oil used to cost 200 Afghanis (US$4) two years ago, now it costs 340 Afghanis (US$7). Beef costs more too - from 120 Afghanis (US$2.5) for a kg of meat two years ago, it has now gone up to 200 Afghanis (US$4).

We need more water to irrigate our fertile land. With enough water we can have two crop seasons - one to grow paddy (rice), and the other - to grow grains and fruits. Do you know that we can easily grow peach, apricot, pomegranates, apple, pears, watermelons, cherries and grapes?

This used to be a very fertile area before the Soviets bombed our irrigation canals. I had apple trees full of the fruit, my brother had two dozen peach trees at home. Now things are different.

MOHAMMAD SHARIF: There was a time before the Soviets invaded us Asad Khyl was so prosperous that we used to feed poor people coming to the village.

RAHMAT GUL: The government did build a canal, which passes through the village, but it does not help irrigate our land. The water is of no use to us - there is no way we can channel it from there to our lands.

Shukrullah - now teaches football at school

There have been a few minor achievements though - when you visited us last, we did not have electricity. Now a generator has been installed in the village, which supplies us with electricity for five hours between 7 pm and 11 pm every day. We have to pay 75 Afghanis ($1.55) for every light bulb a month.

With electricity available, 60% of the people in the village have television sets and have more entertainment, compared to only listening to the radio.

Television has made us more aware, and better informed. When we see TV, we realise how backward we are. At the same time, we want to preserve our Islamic values.

SHUKRULLAH, student: I love watching educational programmes and music programmes on TV. TV has helped me understand mathematics better and has taught me some English.

Shukrullah, what kind of changes happened in your life since last time? What is your most urgent need now? Kamran, Birmingham

SHUKRULLAH: I am 20 years old now, I am studying in the sixth grade. I study Dari, geography, geometry, mathematics, English, Pashtun and history four hours a day at school. These days I also go to the local madrassa [religious school] in the morning.

I still want to become a civil engineer. I still help my father to weave carpets in my free time. We earn $170 for a carpet but it takes two months to weave one.

The one change that has happened is that I have become a football trainer at school. I always played football, but now I teach the game to the youngsters.

What scares me is the joblessness that I see around me. Factories and new towns need to be built so enough jobs are created. I worry a lot when I see people hanging around with no work.

It is often argued that Afghanistan was peaceful during the Taleban rule, and that after their fall, the country has not enjoyed the same level of peace and stability. Do you agree? Do you see the presence of foreign forces important for the future of Afghanistan or should the Taleban be invited to participate in a broad national government? Farid Mamundzay, Birmingham, UK

RAHMAT GUL: You are partly right. People did enjoy peace and stability. But Taleban laws were harsh and draconian. Now the laws are within the framework of a democracy and if we implement them we could have more peace and security.

To your second question - I think foreign forces should coordinate their operations with Afghan forces in a bigger way to avoid civilian casualties.

The thing is that if you invite the Taleban to join a broad-based national government, there will be no need for foreign troops in the country at all. It would not be such a bad idea, though I wonder how the Taleban would react to such a proposal.

It would be a good idea to declare an amnesty for all the indigenous Taleban and bring them into the mainstream of politics. The foreign Taleban should be kept out.

What are your hopes for an end to corruption and fighting? Anne Thorpe, Conder, Australia

RAHMAT GUL: Corruption has become a big problem in Afghanistan. It openly mocks the laws. I haven't been affected personally, but I keep hearing stories of how deep-rooted and wide-spread it is.

MOHAMMAD SHARIF: I can tell you some stories about how corruption is ravaging our society.

Two months ago, a judge in Qarabagh district [Asad Khyl is in Qarabagh] was caught taking a 10,000 Afghani (US$210) bribe from a man in return for forging some land documents. The man complained to the shura [village council] and the judge was caught and sacked by the villagers.

Mohammad Sharif - the village was very prosperous before the Soviets

When I became village chief last year, I went to Kabul to get a letter of approval about my position from authorities. The officer made me wait for a couple of days, and then he demanded a bribe for the letter.

Whenever you visit government offices, employees are telling you, 'shirni bee', which means 'give me sweets.' 'Sweets' is a euphemism for a bribe. So 'shirni' has become a dreaded word in Afghanistan now.

The only way to curb corruption is to punish officials. But the salaries of government workers should also be increased. They are paid too little, so there is a lot of incentive to take bribes.

Are you happy by the efforts by the government to improve the condition of the people? Ritesh, Hyderabad, India

RAHMAT GUL: I think that the government has done a fairly decent job. They have built some roads and schools, provided some electricity. Twenty four new schools have been opened in the Qarabagh district alone.

But the progress is very slow, and a lot more needs to be done.

The international community should help more. They should give aid directly to the government, and not through NGOs to help us. I know that people working with NGOs have very high salaries, so most of the aid actually goes back to the foreign countries as pay and prerequisites.

The government should set up an independent commission, which will be responsible for receiving aid and allocating it to various departments. The commission should have honest, patriotic people at the top so that the money is not stolen or misused.

How passionate do you feel about your right to vote and about building a democratic Afghan society? Savannah, Houston, Texas

RAHMAT GUL: Democracy only in name is nonsense. It should be put into practice. Democracy alone does not deliver much. People should work hard and be honest.

Yes, I am passionate about my right to vote. I use my vote carefully - I must know the person and his work well enough to vote for him. I voted for Hamid Karzai in the presidential election. I also voted in the parliamentary election.

What do you see as the biggest threat to the future of Afghanistan - the Taleban, the West, corruption, illiteracy, poverty, drought or something else? Kate Mather, London, England

HAJI ABDULLAH SALEH, village elder: The Taleban is the biggest threat to the future of Afghanistan. They are not powerful enough to topple the government, but they are a big problem. Pakistan and Iran are supporting them with arms and funds.

Haji Abdullah Saleh - the Taleban are bad for Islam

They don't want the country to stand on its own feet, prosper and become peaceful. They destroyed most of the country, and their legacy is all about burning schools, gardens and houses. This is unacceptable and it is against Islamic law.

The Taleban have made a comeback in the past year, they have re-grouped. You can even see them in the north of the country these days. They have begun using suicide attackers. This is another big worry. Recently, they killed some schoolgirls. All this is all very worrying.

It seems people are supporting the Taleban on the pretext that the Taleban are defending Islam against Western values. Do you agree? Ezra Kaimukilwa, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

HAJI ABDULLAH SALEH: The Taleban has trampled upon the good name of Islam. They don't observe Islamic values and laws. They are against education.

If they served Islam, people would not have hated them, and they would have succeeded. They don't even have the power to defend Islam, let alone protect it. They get outside support to create trouble.

Do you still think Americans can establish democracy in Afghanistan? Is President Hamid Karzai acting independently or as a puppet of US? Saran , Bremen, Germany

HAJI ABDULLAH SALEH: American style democracy is not going to work in Afghanistan. Our democracy has to be moulded by ourselves, not any outsider.

As for Karzai - yes, he cannot act independently. He had to release people who worked against Islam because of pressure from foreign powers - the Muslim man who converted to Christianity was released.

Village men discuss changes over lunch

He could not secure the release of the kidnapped Afghan translator of an Italian journalist, who was also taken hostage by the Taleban. The journalist was freed, but the translator lost his life.

Karzai should be the puppet of the Afghan people, instead he is the puppet of the US.

Has support for the Taleban risen due to lack of improvements in daily life? Karen DeBiase, Chester, VA

HAJI ABDULLAH SALEH: Support for Taleban is coming from countries like Pakistan.

There is a big rumour these days that the US is actually helping the Taleban to keep the war going. The Taleban were created by the US and the US has all the powers in the world, so people here find it very difficult to believe that the US can't take them out. It just doesn't make sense.

Would you like to see the grandson of the previous king back in power and would he able to unite the country? Simon, London, UK

HAJI ABDULLAH SALEH : It is possible. People are still fond of the royal family. The grandson of the former king is a member of a coalition of parties opposed to the government. It is possible for the royal family to reunite the people. They will get a lot of support from the people.

Shaista, have you been able to carry on going to school and do you still plan to be a doctor? Thone, Liege, Belgium

SHAISTA: I am in grade seven in school. I want to reach my dream and still wish to become a doctor and help my people.

Shaista - still dreaming of being a doctor

There are still a lot of difficulties I am facing - I don't have shoes, I don't have proper school clothes, I don't have enough books.

I bought eight books for school recently. I needed more, but I could afford to pay only for eight. Each book cost 20 Afghans (US$0.40). This was from my own money that I had saved.

Now we have electricity for few hours in the evening, and I watch TV, some educational programmes and Indian serials.

I've never missed a class.

But my father tells me these days that I should stop going to school from next year.

My father and other people say girls don't go to school, only boys do. But I want to continue, study medicine and graduate. It is my dream to become a doctor.

Are there more opportunities for women to work and support themselves? What kind of education opportunities do they have? Tammy Georgeson, Salt Lake City, US

LAL BIBI, widow : There are no opportunities for women to work here. Women always stay home.

If men are jobless at least they can go to bazaar and find work there. But for women like us there are no opportunities.

Widow Lal Bibi - no aid gets to me

I have tried a lot to find some work for myself, but I have not succeeded.

I need to do some tailoring, embroidery and literacy courses, which would be helpful to earn a living.

There is absolutely no opportunity for education for women. We have not received any aid from foreign NGOs.

In fact no-one is helping women here. If the government or the NGOs that are working for women establish some courses in tailoring, embroidery and literacy, that can help women to make a living.

I did a month-long training course last year, conducted by a Dutch NGO on how to keep cows and livestock.

I passed the training, borrowed some money and bought a cow. I collect fodder for the cow from the gardens.

I sell the milk in the market to buy sugar, tea and basic food.

That is not enough for me. Everything is expensive.

I can work as a tailor, embroider, carpet weaver. But there is no such opportunity. Life is too difficult for me.

Pentagon makes contingency plans for Iraq pullout

By Kristin Roberts

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon is making contingency plans for a gradual U.S. withdrawal of troops from Iraq, according to U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who called the planning a "priority."

In a letter delivered on Tuesday to Sen. Hillary Clinton, a New York Democrat and presidential candidate who tangled with the Pentagon to learn whether such plans exist, Gates said he was actively involved in drafting them.

He said he would work with the Senate Armed Services Committee to find a way to keep senators informed about the "conceptual thinking, factors, considerations, questions and objectives associated with drawdown planning."

"You may rest assured that such planning is indeed taking place with my active involvement as well as that of senior military and civilian officials and our commanders in the field," Gates said. "I consider this contingency planning to be a priority for this department."

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman stressed the Pentagon was not planning for a quick or wholesale withdrawal of forces. A phased reduction would be in line with a Bush administration view that some long-term U.S. presence in Iraq may be needed.

"Planning for reducing our forces, drawing down our forces, is certainly something that is an appropriate thing to do," Whitman said. "We are doing that kind of planning, planning for the eventual drawdown, eventual reduction, the beginning of withdrawing of forces from Iraq."

The Defense Department develops contingency plans for a range of scenarios worldwide.

This spring some 30,000 more U.S. troops were sent to Iraq, bringing the total force to about 157,000, under the current plan aimed at establishing enough security to allow Iraqi politicians to make progress toward reconciliation.

All of the so-called "surge" forces have been in place since June 15. Democrats in Congress, however, are calling for a strategy change leading to withdrawal.

Clinton had asked the Pentagon in May for information about contingency planning for a possible troop withdrawal from Iraq.

Defense Under Secretary Eric Edelman, in the Pentagon's written response, did not address whether the Defense Department was making such plans. Instead, he said public discussion of withdrawal "reinforces enemy propaganda that the United States will abandon its allies."

Clinton called the response unacceptable and outrageous.

Gates, in a follow-up letter, backed Edelman, noting the official was given his first senior presidential appointment as an ambassador in 1998, during the administration of the senator's husband, former President Bill Clinton.

S Korean hostage pleads for help

Relatives of the hostages have been waiting anxiously for news

A South Korean woman held hostage with 21 others in Afghanistan has pleaded for help to secure their release.

The woman, who identified herself as Yo Syun Ju, told an Afghan reporter by telephone all the hostages were sick.

"Tell them to do something to get us released," she said in an interview carried out in the presence of the Taleban militants holding her captive.

A group of 23 Koreans was abducted a week ago. The kidnappers have since killed one of the hostages.

In an interview obtained by the BBC from an Afghan journalist, Ms Yo, who said she was from Seoul, described her situation as "dangerous", adding: "Day by day it is getting very difficult...

SAEMMUL COMMUNITY CHURCH Based in Bundang, on southern outskirts of Seoul One of a number of big Presbyterian churches in South Korea, with about 1,500 members Funds social programmes in Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Middle East Sends volunteers from the church to work on projects for short stints

"We are all sick and we have a lot of problems."

The hostages are aid workers for a Christian group.

The Koreans, who are mostly women, were abducted one week ago in Ghazni province, south-west of the capital Kabul.

The Taleban have threatened to kill the hostages if the Afghan government refused to meet their demands.

On Wednesday, the body of one of the hostages - later identified as 42-year-old pastor Bae Hyung-kyu - was found with multiple bullet wounds in Ghazni.

The office of South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun condemned the killing as an "inhumane act".

The Seoul government has sent an envoy to Afghanistan to negotiate the remaining hostages' release.

Following an increase in insurgent attacks, Afghan police have banned foreigners from travelling outside Kabul without their permission, the Associated Press news agency reports.

There has been an increase in kidnappings, as well as more frequent clashes between Taleban and foreign troops, roadside bombings and suicide attacks in recent months.

After the mass kidnapping, South Korea banned its citizens from travelling to Afghanistan.

US lawmakers vote for contempt charges on W House aides

Harriet Miers
©AFP/File - Brendan Smialowski

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The White House and Congress lurched toward a constitutional showdown as lawmakers on a key committee voted Wednesday to file rare contempt of Congress citations against senior White House staff.

The move raised the stakes in a legal row between lawmakers and President George W. Bush over the firing of a group of at least eight federal prosecutors. Critics say the lawyers were sacked for political reasons.

Members of the Democratic-led House of Representatives Judiciary Committee voted 22-17 to pass to the full House contempt citations against White House chief of staff Joshua Bolten and former legal counsel Harriet Miers.

Bolten and Miers refused to comply with subpoenas filed by the committee to testify about the affair, after Bush invoked executive privilege.

If the full House, as expected, also endorses the citations, Bush's right to apply this legal doctrine, under which the president can refuse to produce certain documents and testimony to Congress, could land the case in the courts.

Committee chairman John Conyers said he did not seek the citations lightly but felt he needed to "protect our constitutional prerogatives as a co-equal branch of government."

However, Republicans said the White House had done nothing wrong in firing the attorneys and said Democrats motivated by hatred for Bush were on a partisan witchhunt.

"In our view, this is pathetic," spokesman Tony Snow said as the White House mounted a fierce counter-offensive.

Snow argued it was unlikely a US court would honor a criminal contempt petition on the basis of an executive privilege claim.

"What you have right now is partisanship on Capitol Hill that quite often boils down to insults, insinuations, inquisitions and investigations," spokesman Tony Snow said after the party-line vote.

"You've got to ask yourself, why not simply work along the road of accommodation, which this administration has done, rather than try to provoke something that seems to be aimed at creating a courtroom showdown?" he said.

He also said that, "ironically," the committee wanted to question Miers while it is about to approve a bill protecting attorney-client privilege, "apparently not believing that attorney-client privilege applies to the president and his own lawyer."

The charge of contempt of Congress, which is rarely invoked, is intended to punish anybody who obstructs an inquiry by lawmakers or who refuses to testify.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales
©AFP - Tim Sloan

Snow strongly suggested that the US Department of Justice, headed by longtime Bush confidant Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, would not enforce the contempt charges.

"Nevertheless, that is a decision to be made by the Department of Justice," Snow said. "We don't choose the response. The Department of Justice will handle the referral."

The hearing came a day after US senators assailed Gonzales during testimony over the affair and said they did not trust him, accused of him of dodging questions and raised doubts about his integrity.

The fired prosecutors worked under Gonzales's direction. Bush has repeatedly defied calls to fire Gonzales, one of his closest aides dating from his days as Texas governor, and said repeatedly he retains confidence in him.

Asked if Gonzalez had been truthful, Snow said that in dealing with classified matters in an open session of Congress "it becomes difficult to walk the line about what is permissible and what is not permissible to say in public."

Nonetheless, he added, "we continue to believe that the attorney general has testified truthfully."

Snow, who accused the Democrats of indulging in cheap political theater, also showed a graphic claiming that a stack of 430,000 papers the White House had given Congress in the case would reach twice the height of the White House.

He approvingly quoted a Democratic senator under similar circumstances calling contempt charges a "fruitless endeavor" because they were unlikely to be enforced. "This is not likely to go anywhere," he said.

Taliban say 22 SKorea hostages still alive

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AFP) - The Taliban said 22 South Korean hostages they were holding in Afghanistan were still alive Thursday despite an overnight deadline to start killing them.

Hours after killing one hostage on Wednesday, the Islamic militants had set what they called a "final" deadline for a prisoner swap, but a spokesman said no others had been slain.

"Since the last deadline no more Koreans have been killed," spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi told AFP in a telephone call from an unknown location. "They are all alive so far."

It was the first word on the fate of the remaining Christian aid workers since the 1:00 am (2030 GMT Wednesday) deadline, which was fixed after the bullet-riddled corpse of one hostage was found.

South Korea identified the dead man as 42-year-old Bae Hyung-Kyu, a Presbyterian pastor and the leader of the aid mission, which was reportedly in the country to provide free medical services.

Map showing Ghazni province in Afghanistan where 23 South Koreans were kidnapped last week by the Taliban
©AFP/Graphic - Martin Megino

The rebels said they had executed him because talks with the government to secure the release of eight insurgent prisoners had stalled.

"We killed one of the Koreans today because the government is not being honest in talks," Ahmadi said on Wednesday.

The South Korean government, which has 200 troops serving with US-led coalition forces in Afghanistan, bitterly denounced Bae's murder.

"The organisation responsible for the abduction will be held accountable for taking the life of a Korean citizen," South Korean President Roh Moo-Hyun said in a statement.

"The killing of an innocent citizen cannot be justified under any circumstance or for any reason, and any such inhumane act cannot be tolerated."

The South Koreans, reportedly being held in Ghazni province about 140 kilometres (90 miles) south of the capital Kabul, were seized while travelling on the road from Kabul to Kandahar last Thursday.

A man holds a South Korean newspaper showing a group of South Korean Christians before leaving for Afghanistan
©AFP/File - Kim Jae-Hwan

At the time, the Taliban demanded that Seoul withdraw its troops. South Korea responded by saying it would pull them out as previously scheduled by the end of the year.

The Taliban are also holding a hostage from Germany, which also has troops in Afghanistan, and had demanded the withdrawal of all German forces from the war-torn country as well.

But the issue of the troops has not figured in the most recent demands by the militants, who controlled the country until being toppled from power by a US-led invasion after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

They have instead pressed for the release of insurgents in exchange for the South Koreans -- the biggest group of foreigners to be abducted during the Taliban's nearly six-year insurgency.

A South Korean woman attends a vigil demanding the withdrawal of South Korean troops from Afghanistan
©AFP - Ha Tae-Hwang

Any prisoner exchange would run counter to President Hamid Karzai's pledge not to allow the practice after his government in March freed five Taliban militants in exchange for an Italian reporter.

Mansour Dadullah, the militia's new military commander who took over from his slain brother in May, said in an interview with British television at an undisclosed location that he had ordered his men to take more foreigners.

"Of course, kidnapping is a very successful policy and I order all my mujahideen to kidnap foreigners of any nationality wherever they find them and then we should do the same kind of deal," he said, referring to the March swap.

The Taliban wanted to "give children a military education," he told Channel 4 news.

"We want to use children to behead infidels and spies so that they will become brave," he said.

Senators challenge Gonzales at hearing

By Thomas Ferraro and James Vicini

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales drew fire at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday where lawmakers challenged his truthfulness and ability to lead his battered Justice Department.

"The attorney general's lost the confidence of the Congress and the American people," said Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat. He described the department as "shrouded in scandal," and told Gonzales: "I don't trust you."

"It looks to me ... as if the department is dysfunctional," added Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, the committee's ranking Republican and a leading critic of Gonzales, particularly for his firing of nine federal prosecutors.

"What keeps you in the job, Mr. Attorney General?" asked Sen. Herbert Kohl, a Wisconsin Democrat.

"I have decided to stay and fix the problems," replied Gonzales, whose department has been wracked by allegations that politics played a role in hiring practices and the administration of justice.

Gonzales, with the support of President George W. Bush, has rejected calls to resign in recent months from Democrats as well as some fellow Republicans in Congress, many of whom again questioned Gonzales' credibility at Tuesday's hearing.

"We have every reason to believe that the Attorney General testified truthfully," White House spokesman Tony Fratto said.

Yet Democrats have stepped up pressure on the attorney general and the administration to answer questions as they head toward a possible court fight over Bush's claim of executive privilege in denying lawmakers access to documents and witnesses.

Gonzales refused to answer when asked if the White House was on solid legal ground in contending Congress cannot force the Justice Department to pursue a possible congressional contempt citation against the administration or its current or former aides.

'I'M NOT GOING TO ANSWER THAT QUESTION'

"Your question relates to an ongoing controversy which I am recused from," Gonzales told Leahy. "I can't -- I'm not going to answer that question."

Since shortly after taking control of Congress in January, Democrats have been investigating Gonzales' firing last year of nine of the 93 U.S. attorneys. Critics charge partisan politics were behind the dismissals. The White House denies it.

Specter urged the administration to consider appointing a special prosecutor to investigate the firings.

Gonzales was asked about testimony in May by a former aide, Monica Goodling. She said that although Gonzales had earlier testified he had not discussed the probe with colleagues, he had raised the topic with her shortly before she left the Justice Department.

"Which one of you is telling the truth?" Leahy asked.

"I did have that conversation with her in the context of trying to console and reassure an emotionally distraught woman," Gonzales said. "I tried to reassure her (that) as far as I knew no one had done anything intentionally wrong."

"My conversation with her was not to shape her testimony," he told dubious lawmakers.

Congress is also examining Gonzales' role in Bush's warrantless domestic spying program, which critics have denounced as illegal.

Lawmakers noted that although Gonzales testified earlier this year "there has not been any serious disagreement" about the surveillance program, former Deputy Attorney General James Comey told Congress in May that a number of top Justice Department officials threatened to quit over the issue.

The dispute was heated enough that Gonzales, then White House counsel, and Andrew Card, then Bush's chief of staff, went to a hospital in 2004 to discuss it with a critically ill John Ashcroft, who was then attorney general but had handed over his powers to his deputy.

"The disagreement that occurred ... was about other intelligence activities," Gonzales insisted under questioning. "It was not about the terrorist surveillance program."

"Mr. Attorney General, do you expect us to believe that?" Specter fired back.