all the news: April 2008

Friday, April 11, 2008

U.S., North Korea near nuke deal, officials say

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The United States is close to finalizing a deal with North Korea over its nuclear program, senior State Department officials tell CNN.

In the deal being discussed, North Korea would finish disabling its nuclear reactor and provide a full accounting of its plutonium stockpile, the officials said.

In an addendum to the main agreement, North Korea also would "acknowledge" concerns about its proliferation and uranium enrichment activities and agree to continue cooperation with a verification process to ensure no further activities, the officials said.

Meanwhile, U.S. military intelligence is closely watching a North Korean missile launch site after seeing signs of activity in recent days, according to two U.S. military officials.

The activity has prompted concerns Pyongyang is planning a new round of ballistic missile tests of either medium or longer range missiles, they said.

In recent weeks, U.S. satellite imagery of the site at Sinori, North Korea, northwest of Pyongyang, has shown movement of military personnel, vehicles and some equipment to the site that had not been seen there on a regular basis, the officials said.

North Korean military personnel also have engaged in training on the site, they said, adding the activity is in its early stages and it's not yet possible to determine what the North Koreans are doing.

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Negotiations over the nuclear agreement stalled for months when North Korea balked at publicly admitting to a highly enriched uranium program and to providing Syria with nuclear technology.

In softening its demand for a full declaration from North Korea, the United States concluded it is more important to get North Korea to surrender its weapons-grade plutonium than risk the deal fall apart all together, officials said.

The officials said it is less important to have North Korea "confess" to its past activities than it is to find a formula under which the parties have an understanding of North Korea's nuclear program.

In exchange, they said, North Korea would be removed from the United States' list of state sponsors of terrorism and would have sanctions removed under the Trading with the Enemy Act.

"We have found a formulation which is probably good enough" to address North Korea's past behavior, one official said.

On Friday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice suggested that verifying North Korea's claims is more important than the actual document.

"You can't verify overnight some of these complicated programs that the North Koreans have been engaged in," she told reporters. "But we have to be absolutely certain that we've got means to do it.

"We are not yet at a point where we can make a judgment as to whether or not the North Koreans have met their obligations, and we are therefore not at a point at which the United States can make a judgment as to whether or not it is time to exercise our obligations," she said following a meeting with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

One State Department official said, "We have found a formulation which is probably good enough" to address North Korea's past behavior.

North Korea has allowed U.S. officials, including Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, to visit a missile factory believed to have been used for uranium enrichment in an effort to prove there were no "ongoing" enrichment activities.

Hill told CNN it is still important to resolve North Korea's uranium and proliferation activities, but North Korea's plutonium is the more immediate threat because it can be used to make nuclear weapons.

"North Korea still has difficulty admitting things publicly," Hill said. "We still have to deal with the proliferation issue and the HEU [highly enriched uranium] program, but it is very important to get a plutonium declaration that is not only accurate but is completely verifiable."

The United States also wants the deal to address Japan's questions about North Korea's alleged abductions of more than a dozen Japanese citizens in the 1970s and 1980s, officials said.

Officials said Rice has signed off on the elements of a deal. But they made clear nothing is final unless the whole package is agreed to by the other parties that have been involved in the six-party talks: Russia, South Korea, China and Japan.

They added that while progress has been made, more negotiations are needed and the deal could change slightly. The United States hopes to wrap up negotiations in the next few weeks, they said.

If the deal goes through, it would pave the way to move to the third part of the Six Party Agreement, which requires North Korea to permanently dismantle its nuclear reactor and destroy its plutonium stockpile

Iraq, with U.S. air support, said to attack Sadr City

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Iraqi tanks, with U.S. air support, are "attacking Sadr City," the office of Muqtada al-Sadr said Friday, just hours after the Shiite cleric called for calm in the wake of the assassination of one of his top aides in the southern city of Najaf.

Eyewitnesses and media in the heavily Shiite Baghdad neighborhood of Sadr City, home to the cleric's power base in the capital, reported heavy fighting between U.S.-backed Iraqi troops and al-Sadr's Mehdi Army militia.

The witnesses said U.S. aircraft had been bombarding the area for hours, and media reported rockets slamming into houses and many casualties.

Witnesses and al-Sadr's office said mosques were making loudspeaker announcements about Mehdi Army attacks on U.S. military armored vehicles.

U.S. Army Maj. Mark Cheadle said the fighting began when a U.S. Army patrol, supporting Iraqi soldiers who were working to establish a checkpoint in the northwest of Sadr City, was hit by 10 roadside bombs followed immediately by small-arms, machine gun and rocket-propelled grenade fire from nearby buildings.

The soldiers fired back at the snipers, killing at least four, Cheadle said. Two subsequent rounds from an M1A2 Abrams tank killed "an undetermined number of criminals and end(ed) the small arms attack," Cheadle said.

Cheadle also said that the U.S. Air Force, operating an unmanned aerial vehicle, fired a Hellfire missile at three men setting roadside bombs, killing all three.

Earlier, al-Sadr issued remarks about the killing of Sayyed Riyadh al-Nuri, who was shot outside his house in Najaf's Adala neighborhood after returning from Friday prayers.

"The hands of the occupiers and their collaborators have treacherously reached our beloved martyr Sayyed Riyadh al-Nuri," al-Sadr wrote in a statement on the Web.

Al-Nuri is one of 17 people killed over 24 hours in airstrikes, fighting and attacks in areas wracked in recent weeks by fighting among Shiites.

The assassination prompted an immediate vehicle ban in the Shiite holy city of Najaf, anger among mourners and an intensification of fighting in Baghdad's Sadr City neighborhood.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki issued a statement deploring the killing and ordering an investigation.

Al-Sadr issued remarks about the killing in a statement on a Web site. Spokesman Sheikh Salah al-Obeidi emphasized that the cleric is not accusing anyone in particular of the killing but believes that the killers "are the ones who are following the occupiers' steps and don't want stability for the country."

But al-Obeidi called the killing an "act of provocation" after the "siege of Sadr City."

He was referring to the battles since Sunday involving members of al-Sadr's Mehdi Army militia and Iraqi security forces dominated by a rival Shiite political movement, the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq.

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That fighting started with an offensive in Basra and spread to other Shiite regions, including Sadr City and the Babil provincial capital of Hilla.

The al-Nuri assassination prompted officials to expand the daily curfew in Hilla. Police said a ban on all outside movement that usually begins at 11 p.m. and ends at 8 a.m. will instead start at 8:30 p.m.

Violence continued Friday in several places in Iraq.

Suicide bombings killed at least four people -- three of them police -- and wounded 15, officials said.

The first bombing was in Ramadi, the provincial capital of the predominantly Sunni Anbar province west of Baghdad, an Interior Ministry official said. At least three national police officers were killed and five wounded, the official said.

The second attack took place at a checkpoint about 20 km (12 miles) north of Baiji, according to police, who said the bomber and one other person were killed and 10 were wounded.

The casualties were members of a local Awakening Council who were manning the checkpoint, police said. The suicide bomber was driving a pickup carrying sheep.

Awakening Councils, or Sons of Iraq, are made up of Sunnis who have turned on al Qaeda in Iraq.

Also, at least three people were killed and five wounded in a mortar attack on Baghdad's Palestine Hotel, an Interior Ministry official said.

The Palestine Hotel -- across the Tigris River from the International Zone, the heavily guarded seat of U.S. power in Baghdad -- is in the path of many of the rockets and mortars aimed at the zone.

The U.S. military has blamed Iranian-backed Shiite militants for recent mortar and rocket attacks in Baghdad and International Zone, also known as the Green Zone.

Unmanned aerial vehicles targeted and killed six suspected insurgents in Basra on Friday and six "heavily armed criminals" in northeastern Baghdad on Thursday night, the U.S. military said. Watch the Baghdad drone attack »

The U.S. and Iraqi militaries have consistently said they have not been targeting specific groups in their recent battles in Shiite areas.

Iraqi and U.S. government officials say they differentiate between Mehdi Army members obeying al-Sadr's seven-month cease-fire pledge and "gangs," "criminals" or "outlaws" who aren't obeying al-Sadr's orders.

The intra-Shiite fighting in Iraq that has killed hundreds of people in the past two weeks has involved two main movements: members of the Mehdi Army militia loyal to al-Sadr, and Iraqi security forces dominated by the chief political rival of the Sadrists, the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq.

Many of those security forces had been integrated into police and army units from the council's Badr Brigade militia.

On Thursday, a high-level Sadrist delegation held talks with Tariq al-Hashimi, a Sunni who is one of Iraq's two vice presidents, his office said in a statement.

The delegation, headed by senior al-Sadr aide Sayyed Hazim al-Araji, told al-Hashimi that the Sadrists don't plan to be "an extension of any other country," a reference to Iran. The delegation said it doesn't object to the disarming of militias as long as it includes all militias.

Al-Hashimi told the delegation the Sadrists need to "act in a better way and allow the government and its forces to confiscate illegal weapons and detain suspects without any obstacles." He emphasized that the Sadrists "should be limited to peaceful political activity."

At the same time, al-Hashimi said, security forces should conduct themselves professionally and respect human rights.

Brown: Patience with Zimbabwe is 'wearing thin'

LONDON, Britain (AP) -- British Prime Minister Gordon Brown says the international community's patience with Zimbabwe's regime is "wearing thin."

Brown has said Friday he cannot understand why it is taking so long to announce the results of the March 29 presidential elections in Zimbabwe. The British prime minister says in an e-mailed statement that he is appalled by signs that Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's regime is resorting to "intimidation and violence."

"The international community will remain careful to do nothing to undermine efforts to secure an outcome that reflects the democratic will of the people of Zimbabwe," Brown says, before adding that the international community's "patience with the regime is wearing thin."

The warning is the strongest yet from the British leader

Samsung chairman arrives for questioning

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee arrived Friday for a second round of questioning by an independent counsel probing allegations of bribery and other wrongdoing at South Korea's biggest industrial conglomerate.

Lee, 66, appeared at the office of the special prosecutor for the second time in a week, though did not speak to reporters. He was summoned the first time last Friday and was questioned almost 11 hours.

The independent counsel, sanctioned by South Korea's National Assembly and former president, began its probe in January. Investigators have until April 23 to collect evidence.

Kim Yong-chul, a former top lawyer for Samsung, claimed in November that the conglomerate had 200 billion won ($205 million, 130 million euros) in a slush fund and used it to bribe prosecutors and judges. He also alleged that Lee's wife, who heads a Samsung art museum, used some of the money to buy expensive paintings from abroad.

Samsung denied Kim's allegations when they were raised.

Lee told reporters upon arrival for questioning a week ago that he did not order the creation of the alleged slush fund or direct that any bribes be paid.

Upon emerging early Saturday morning, Lee said "not 100 percent" when asked by reporters if he admitted to the principal allegations during questioning.

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Samsung chief denies corruption allegations

He also said he was "responsible for everything." It remains unclear if he was admitting specific wrongdoing or making a general statement of responsibility for the scandal as the conglomerate's top official.

Samsung Group is a massive conglomerate consisting of dozens of businesses. It has interests in industries including electronics, shipbuilding, construction, insurance and leisure.

Lee, who has led the group for 20 years, is credited with turning Samsung Electronics Co., its flagship enterprise, into a top global brand. His late father established the conglomerate 70 years ago.

Besides the slush fund, bribery and art claims, investigators are looking into long-simmering allegations of murky dealings involving the family-run group's complex ownership structure.

South Korean conglomerates, known as "chaebol," have long been accused of influence-peddling as well as dubious transactions between subsidiaries to help controlling families evade taxes and transfer wealth to heirs.

Special prosecutors questioned Lee's wife for more than six hours last week. His son, an executive at Samsung Electronics, brother-in-law and senior Samsung Group officials have also endured hours of questioning

Suspects in video beating could get life in prison

(CNN) -- Eight Florida teenagers -- six of them girls -- will be tried as adults and could be sentenced to life in prison for their alleged roles in the videotaped beating of another teen, the state attorney's office said Thursday.

The suspects, who range in age from 14 to 18, all face charges of kidnapping, which is a first-degree felony, and battery, said Chip Thullbery, a spokesman for the Polk County state attorney. Three of them are also charged with tampering with a witness.

Everyone involved in the case was under a gag order imposed by a judge. The only attorney for the teens who has been publicly identified did not return calls from CNN, and his assistant cited the gag order as the reason. The teens are scheduled for their first appearance in court Friday.

The video shows a brutal scene: The 16-year-old victim is punched, kneed and slapped by other girls. She huddles in the fetal position, or stands and screams at her attackers, but the assault continues. Authorities say the eight teens said they were retaliating for insults posted on the Internet by the attack victim.

Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd called the March 30 attack "animalistic."

"I've been involved in law enforcement for 35 years, and I've seen a lot of extremely violent events, but I've never seen children, 14 to 18 years of age, engage in this conduct for a 30-minute period of time and then make these video clips," he said. Police say the teens planned to post the video on YouTube. Watch the disturbing video »

The victim, a 16-year-old from Lakeland, Florida, was hospitalized, and still has blurred vision, hearing loss, and a swollen face, her mother told CNN on Wednesday.

The video shows only girls doing the beating; Judd said the boys acted as lookouts.

The idea of girls administering a vicious beating so they can post the video online may seem shocking, but it's becoming an increasingly common scenario, according to experts and news reports.

Another example was also in the news this week: A high school art teacher in Baltimore told police a female student beat her up last week, and a video of the attack was posted on YouTube, according to CNN affiliate WBAL.

A search for "girl fight" on YouTube gets thousands of results, and a suggestion to also try "girl fight at school, boy girl fight" and other search terms. There's at least one Web site devoted exclusively to videos of girls fighting.

In 2003, 25 percent of high school girls said they had been in a physical fight in the past year, according to a survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (The figure for boys was 40.5 percent.)

A Justice Department report released in 2006 showed that by age 17, 21 percent of girls said they had assaulted someone with the intent to cause serious harm.

Frank Green is executive director of Keys to Safer Schools, a group that studies and tries to prevent school violence. He said he's not sure whether girls have actually become more violent, or whether there's just more awareness of their fights.

"In one respect, girls have always been more vicious than boys," Green said. "Their violence is of a personal nature." He said boys usually have some focus and a concrete goal when they fight. "But girls want to cause pain and make the other girl feel bad," he said.

Judd, the Polk County sheriff, said an important part of the plan in the Lakeland attack was to post the video of the beating on YouTube to humiliate and embarrass the victim.

"It's the next stage of cyberbullying," psychologist Susan Lipkins said. "They want to show what they're doing."

"Our kids are being peer pressured, in another sense of a trend, to put these shock videos out there at other peoples' expense," said Talisa Lindsay, the victim's mother. "And I hope that it doesn't come to the point where there's more people's lives that are being affected by having to take a beating for entertainment, or possibly being killed." Watch mother describe how the victim is doing »

The suspects didn't have a chance to post the video online before police moved in and seized it, Judd said. The Sheriff's Department made it public, and it wound up on YouTube anyway. Judd recognizes the irony.

"In a perverted sense, we were feeding into exactly what the kids wanted," he said. "But according to Florida law, [the video] is public record, and it's going to be in the public domain whether we agree with that or not."

Judd said the suspects showed no remorse when they were arrested and booked.

"They were laughing and joking about, 'I guess we won't get to go to the beach during spring break.' And one ... asked whether she could go to cheerleading practice," he said.

Lipkins, the psychologist, says there's a "disconnect between their actions and their thoughts."

"They think the entire society is doing it, and they think it's funny. So they put it on YouTube. And I don't think they expect kids to get really hurt, and they also don't expect to get really caught."

Nude photo of French first lady sells for $91K

NEW YORK (AP) -- A nude photo of France's first lady was auctioned Thursday for $91,000, about 30 times more than anticipated, the Christie's auction house said.

The image was taken by photographer Michel Comte in 1993, when Carla Bruni-Sarkozy was one of the world's most sought-after models.

The 13-by-10-inch photo was bought by an anonymous bidder on behalf of a collector, Christie's said.

It was part of a selection of photographs auctioned by collector Gert Elfering that also included nude photos of models Lauren Hutton, Gisele Bundchen and Kate Moss. The money from the sale of the Bruni-Sarkozy photo will go to the Swiss charity Sodis, which provides clean drinking water to developing nations, Christie's said.

A late-night call to French President Nicolas Sarkozy's office was not immediately returned Thursday. The office previously declined to comment on the sale, saying it concerned the leader's private life.

The photo had been expected to fetch $3,000 to $4,000 at the auction, Christie's said.

Sarkozy divorced his second wife in October and married the Italian-born former model, now a successful singer, in February after a quick courtship. Bruni-Sarkozy made her first state visit as France's first lady in late March with a two-day trip to Britain, where she and her husband attended a lavish banquet held by Queen Elizabeth II

U.N. chief may skip Beijing ceremony

(CNN) -- The United Nations secretary general has joined a growing list of high-profile leaders who have indicated they will not attend the Olympic Games' opening ceremony in Beijing, as the troubled torch relay moved to Argentina on Friday.

Ban-Ki Moon said he has told Chinese authorities that he "may not" be in a position to attend due to scheduling issues.

His spokeswoman Marie Okabe said Ban was planning "a substantive visit to China" instead, The Associated Press reported.

"The secretary-general had conveyed to the Chinese government some months ago that he may not be in a position to accept the invitation to attend this important event due to scheduling issues," Okabe said.

Ban's announcement came a day after British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he would not attend.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel will not be there either, while French President Nicolas Sarkozy is considering staying away.

U.S. President George W. Bush has not yet committed to attending the opening ceremony, and Democratic presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton have urged him to boycott it, but he does plan to attend the games.

"While he's there, he can also take an opportunity to press them on religious freedoms, because this is something that is going to continue after the Olympics," said White House Press Secretary Dana Perino.

"And not attending an opening ceremony, whether anyone does or not, does not really change the fact that we need to press them before, during and well after the Olympics."

Argentine officials are preparing for possible disruptions to Friday's planned leg of the Olympic torch run in Buenos Aires following the protests which marred the sections in Britain, France and the United States.

"There is a little bit more attention, mostly because of the things that have happened in London, in Paris, in San Francisco," said Francisco Irarrazaval, an official with Argentina's sports ministry.

"But we also don't want to convert this into a military event. This is a sports event, it is a cultural event, a beautiful event."

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The protests that have occurred in other cities are likely to be repeated here, but in diminished form, protest planners said. The denunciations of China's human rights policy will be accompanied by "creative and peaceful" interventions, one planner said.

"We know that it will not be violent," said Axel Borgia, from the World Human Rights Torch Relay group.

"We joined all type of organizations from Tibet. They too will carry out activities during the relay of the China torch. Our activity is beforehand. We don't plan anything during the Olympic torch."

The flame is to be carried 13 kilometers (8 miles) by athletes, artists, journalists and even an economist and a Taiwanese businessman -- each person is slated to carry the torch for 90 seconds.

The final carrier is to be Gabriela Sabatini, Argentina's top female tennis player and winner of the silver medal in Seoul in 1988.

In Beijing on Thursday, International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge called the events a "crisis" in an address to the 205 National Olympic Committees.

"It is a crisis, there is no doubt about that," he said. "But the IOC has weathered many bigger storms. The history of the Olympic games is fraught by a lot of challenges. This is a challenge."

Still, he defended the demonstrators' rights to protest.

"A person's ability to express his or her opinion is a basic human right and as such does not need to have a specific clause in the Olympic Charter because its place is implicit," he said.

"But we do ask that there is no propaganda nor demonstrations at Olympic games venues for the very good and simple reason that we have 205 countries and territories represented, many of whom are in conflict, and the games are not the place to take political nor religious stances."

He predicted that there would be few breaches of decorum. "Athletes are mature and intelligent people," he said. "They will know what they can say or not say. If they have doubts, the IOC and the NOCs are here to guide them."

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Sean Penn decides against divorce

Hollywood star Sean Penn and his actress wife Robin Wright Penn have withdrawn their petition for a divorce.

A court in Marin County, California, dismissed the divorce proceedings at a hearing which neither attended.

The couple, who married in 1996, filed for divorce in December, with Wright Penn citing irreconcilable differences.

But they went to an Eddie Vedder gig on Monday, with Sean Penn reportedly dedicating a song to his wife from the stage. The pair have not commented.

When they filed for divorce, they were seeking joint custody of their two teenage children.

Penn has been nominated for a best actor Oscar four times, winning in 2004 for Mystic River.

He has also been acclaimed for his work as a director, with credits including The Indian Runner and 2007's Into The Wild.

He worked with Wright Penn on his 2001 movie The Pledge, which also starred Jack Nicholson.

The actress has also appeared in Beowulf and Forrest Gump.

Sean Penn, 47, was married to Madonna for almost four years during the 1980s.

BAE inquiry 'put lives at risk'

The government thought "British lives on British streets" would have been at risk if an arms deal inquiry had not been dropped, court documents show.

The claims were made at the start of a High Court challenge brought by the pressure groups Corner House Research and Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT).

The groups want to overturn a decision to halt a corruption inquiry into an arms deal between BAE and Saudi Arabia.

They claim that business rather than security reasons brought it to an end.

A lawyer for the groups argued that the decision had been influenced by hopes of winning new contracts.

BAE denies claims

BAE, the UK's largest defence group, has always said it acted lawfully.

The judicial review at the High Court in front of Lord Justice Moses and Mr Justice Irwin is expected to last for two days.

In the documents released to the court, Helen Garlick, assistant director of the Serious Fraud Office, was quoted as recalling what the Foreign Office told her about its fears of another bomb attack in the UK.

"If this caused another 7/7 how could we say that our investigation, which at this stage might or might not result in a successful prosecution was more important?," the notes quoted her as saying.

Judicial review

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) had been examining whether BAE gave money to Saudi officials to help secure contracts in the 1980s.

The allegation investigated by the SFO centred on BAE's £43bn Al-Yamamah arms deal to Saudi Arabia in 1985, which provided Tornado and Hawk jets plus other military equipment.

BAE was accused of operating a slush fund to help it secure the contract.

The SFO inquiry into the Al Yamamah deal was stopped in December 2006 by the government, with attorney general Lord Goldsmith announcing that it was threatening the UK's national security.

Corner House and CAAT are trying to prove in court that hopes of winning a huge new arms contract from Saudi Arabia influenced officials.

Threats from members of the Saudi royal family to withdraw security and intelligence cooperation were also to blame, lawyers for the groups argue.

Under pressure

The SFO began its investigation into the Saudi arms deal in November 2004.

Documents released to the High Court showed that a year later BAE wrote letters to the Attorney General setting out the "reasons why the company considers it not to be in the public interest for the investigation to continue".

In one letter, BAE expressed concern that the disclosure of payments to agents and consultants involved in the deal would be seen by the Saudi Arabian government as a "serious breach of confidentiality by the company and the UK government".

It said this would "adversely and seriously" affect diplomatic relations between the UK and Saudi Arabian governments and "almost inevitably prevent the UK securing its largest export contract in the last decade".

Nicholas Hildyard, director of Corner House, said that the documents made it clear that national security, "the reason ultimately given for pulling the plug on this investigation", was used as a last resort.

"It was trotted out as a concern only when all these other special pleadings of commercial and diplomatic consequences had failed," he said.

UK wrong to halt Saudi arms probe

The High Court has ruled that the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) acted unlawfully by dropping a corruption inquiry into a £43bn Saudi arms deal.

In a hard-hitting ruling, two High Court judges described the SFO's decision as an "outrage".

Defence firm BAE was accused of making illegal payments to Saudi officials to secure contracts, but the firm maintains that it acted lawfully.

The SFO said national security would have been undermined by the inquiry.

The legal challenge had been made by Corner House and the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT).

'Failure of government'

In handing down the decision on Thursday, one of the judges, Lord Justice Moses, told the High Court that the SFO and the government had given into "blatant threats" that Saudi co-operation in the fight against terror would end unless the probe into corruption was halted.

He added that the SFO had failed to assure them that everything had been done to meet the rule of law.

"No one, whether within this country or outside, is entitled to interfere with the course of our justice," he said.

"It is the failure of government and the defendant to bear that essential principle in mind that justifies the intervention of this court."

CAAT had argued that the SFO's decision to drop the probe was illegal under the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD's) Anti-Bribery Convention.

"We are delighted," said CAAT's Symon Hill after the decision.

"It has been clear from the start that the dropping of the investigation was about neither national security nor jobs. It was due to the influence of BAE and Saudi princes over the UK government."

Susan Hawley of Corner House said: "This is a great day for British justice. The judges have stood up for the right of independent prosecutors not to be subjected to political pressure."

Following the judgement, BAE said: "The case was between two campaign groups and the director of the SFO. It concerned the legality of a decision made by the director of the SFO.

"BAE Systems played no part in that decision."

For its part, the Serious Fraud Office said it had no further comment, but was "carefully" considering the implications of the judgement. It could appeal to the House of Lords.

Downing Street refused to comment.

The Conservatives said the High Court's ruling was "extremely troubling".

A party spokesman said: "We were told, and Parliament was told, that national security was the reason for dropping this prosecution.

"The government has failed to persuade the court that this was the true reason.

"Gordon Brown must now decide whether to appeal - or, if not, to make a statement to Parliament on the matter."

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg told BBC Two's Newsnight programme that national security had been used as a "magic wand" solution by Tony Blair and the government to absolve itself.

He said: "I find that absolutely astonishing, that we should simply accept that due process should be suspended, that a fraud investigation into allegations of massive bribery and corruption should be suspended, because the Saudi individuals want their privacy protected."

Mr Clegg said there was a "pressing need" for a full inquiry into the SFO's decision.

However, Conservative former foreign secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind told the programme: "There have to be circumstances where the national security of this country becomes the priority for the government and which leads to a prosecution being suspended."

'Serious damage'

The SFO's inquiry was into the al-Yamamah deal with Saudi Arabia, which was first signed in 1985 but ran into the 1990s.

Under the agreement, BAE sold Saudi Arabia Tornado and Hawk jets and other assorted weapons. The deal also included long-running maintenance and training contracts.

In December 2006, the then Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, announced that the SFO was suspending its inquiry.

Lord Goldsmith said its continuation would have caused "serious damage" to UK-Saudi relations and, in turn, threatened national security.

Saudi Arabia is also reported to have threatened to cancel last year's deal to buy 72 Eurofighter Typhoon jets from BAE Systems.

Worth an initial £4.4bn, contracts for maintenance and training are expected to take the final bill to £20bn.

BAE argued that the SFO probe could "jeopardise" both this deal and "seriously affect" relations with the Saudi kingdom.

Details of the alleged bribes to Saudi officials were revealed in June of last year in an investigation by the BBC's Panorama programme.

It said that up to £120m a year was sent by BAE Systems from the UK into two Saudi embassy accounts in Washington.

Panorama established that these accounts were actually a conduit to Saudi Prince Bandar for his role in securing the al-Yamamah deal, something he has strongly denied.

The OECD said last month that it was launching its own investigation into the decision to drop the SFO inquiry.

Google and Yahoo to share web ads

Yahoo and Google, the world's two biggest search engines, have announced a two-week experiment that will see them share advertising space.

During the pilot, Google will be able to place ads alongside 3% of search results on Yahoo's website.

Analysts say the move is designed to frustrate Microsoft, which has offered to buy Yahoo for $44.6bn (£22.6bn), or extract a higher offer.

The news came as both sides were reported to be forging other alliances.

Joint offer

Microsoft and News Corp are discussing making a joint bid for Yahoo, according to the New York Times.

The idea would be to combine three of the world's most visited websites: MySpace, Yahoo and MSN.com.

News Corp had previously discussed working with Yahoo to see off Microsoft's offer.

At the same time, Yahoo is looking to Time Warner's AOL to keep out of Microsoft's hands, according to the Wall Street Journal.

It reported that the deal would involve Time Warner making a cash investment for 20% of the merged firm, which Yahoo could then use to buy back shares.

'Less competitive'

Microsoft criticised Yahoo's advertising trial with Google, saying any lasting deal would not be in the consumers' interests.

"Any definitive agreement between Yahoo and Google would consolidate over 90% of the search advertising market in Google's hands. This would make the market far less competitive," Brad Smith, Microsoft's General Counsel said.

But Yahoo said the testing did not necessarily mean that "any further commercial relationship with Google will result".

Investors reacted positively to the announcement, with Yahoo shares rising 7%.

"Yahoo has made a really clever move here," Cowen and Co analyst Jim Friedland said.

"It looked like Microsoft had all the cards, Yahoo is at least now able to use this for leverage to get Microsoft to pay more," he said.

Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer on Saturday gave Yahoo three weeks to agree to the company's offer or risk having the offer lowered.

Attacks mark Baghdad anniversary

At least six people have been killed in mortar attacks in Baghdad on the fifth anniversary of the city's capture by American forces.

The attacks, in the Sadr City district of the city, came as the capital observed a vehicle curfew.

Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr had called for a mass anti-American rally, but cancelled it amid security concerns.

It is five years since US troops pulled down a large statue of the late Saddam Hussein in the city centre.

Witnesses and officials told the BBC that one mortar exploded at a funeral wake, killing one person and wounding unknown others.

A second mortar landed on a building, killing five.

Baghdad's Green Zone, which houses diplomatic missions and much of Iraq's government, also came under mortar fire but there are no reports of injuries.

Cars and motorcycles have been banned from the streets until midnight (2100 GMT), the Iraqi government said.

People have been mostly staying at home, reports say.

Clashes overnight in Sadr City between Iraqi and US forces and militiamen loyal to the cleric left at least 12 people dead, medical workers said.

Fragile truce

Moqtada Sadr had said that a one-million-strong protest was planned to mark the anniversary, but he called it off, saying he feared there could be bloodshed.

He also threatened to suspend a truce - credited with helping curb violence levels in Iraq since last year - by his powerful Mehdi Army militia.

"If necessary the ceasefire will be lifted in order to implement our aims, ideology, religion, principles, nationhood," a statement said.

On Monday, Iraq's prime minister threatened to exclude the radical Shia cleric's movement from politics unless he disbanded the Mehdi Army.

In recent weeks, Moqtada Sadr's followers have clashed with Iraqi government troops and US forces in southern Iraq and Baghdad, as the government tried to crack down on militias.

On Tuesday, the top US military leader in Iraq, Gen David Petraeus, told US Congress that any progress recently made in Iraq were "fragile and is reversible".

He recommended a suspension of US troop withdrawals after July to protect security gains made during the Iraq "surge", which saw an increase in US forces.

After the planned "drawdown" of about 20,000 troops, there should be a 45-day "period of consolidation and evaluation", Gen Petraeus said.

Bush hails 'major shift' in Iraq

President George W Bush has declared a "major strategic shift" in Iraq following the US troop surge.

He said the US now held the initiative and was looking to deliver a "crippling blow" to al-Qaeda in the country.

US troop levels in Iraq are now due to be reduced by about 20,000 by July, but Mr Bush said after that, the "drawdown" process would be frozen.

Then, he said, senior commander General David Petraeus would have "all the time he needs" to assess the next step.

Gen Petraeus had called for a 45-day "period of consolidation and evaluation" after July, before any more troops left.

Graph of US troops and military deaths

Mr Bush said: "I strongly support that. And therefore I won't commit beyond July."

Signs of progress

The president said that since the launch of the US troop surge 15 months ago, there had been significant military, political and economic progress in Iraq, and that "today we have the initiative".

He said sectarian violence had decreased, and Iraqis were increasingly turning against al-Qaeda. Meanwhile businesses were reopening and national laws were being passed.

By July the US presence should be reduced from 20 brigades to 15 - leaving about 140,000 troops in Iraq, about the same number as were present before the surge began in early 2007.

Mr Bush is portraying the withdrawal as a sign of the success of the surge, and is trying to make as much capital from it as possible, says the BBC's Adam Brookes in Baghdad.

But by referring to a "major strategic shift" he has used language that Gen Petraeus and US ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker have deliberately avoided, our correspondent adds.

US Defence Secretary Robert Gates later emphasised that he expected the drawdown to resume later in the year.

"The hope, depending on conditions on the ground, is to reduce our presence further this fall," he said.

Mr Bush also said he was cutting tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan from 15 to 12 months, effective from 1 August, and that service personnel would have a year at home for every year served overseas.

The decision to halt withdrawals means the US presence in Iraq is likely to last well beyond January, when Mr Bush will leave office and a new president will take over.

Iraq is one of the key battlegrounds of the election campaign, with Republican John McCain arguing for continued engagement while Democratic rivals Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama call for full withdrawal.

Optimistic

Mr Bush said the two main threats to US progress in Iraq were al-Qaeda and "the destructive influence of Iran", and that US failure would allow both to increase their influence in the region.

However, he insisted the outlook was optimistic, saying: "Fifteen months ago, Americans were worried about the prospect of failure in Iraq; today, thanks to the surge, we've renewed and revived the prospect of success."

Democratic leaders welcomed Mr Bush's shortening of combat tours, but said keeping troops committed to Iraq was unacceptable.

The speech "can only be described as one step forward and two steps back," said the leader of the Democrats in the Senate, Harry Reid.

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Haiti leader urges cut in food taxes to stop riots

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) -- Haiti's president tried to halt a week of rioting Wednesday by calling for tax cuts on imported food, but the capital descended deeper into chaos as looters and protesters took control of the streets.

Bands of young men carrying sticks and rocks set up roadblocks of burning tires. Mobs looted stores, warehouses and government offices, and gunfire rang through slums and upscale neighborhoods alike.

Businesses were closed and few cars were on the streets. Police and U.N. peacekeepers patrolled in pickups but were unable to control the city.

Haiti's U.S.-backed president, Rene Preval, delivered his first public address since the rioting began last week, urging Congress to cut food taxes and appealing to the rioters to go home. Watch as the food riots intensify »

"The solution is not to go around destroying stores," he said. "I'm giving you orders to stop."

The speech had been widely anticipated by observers who said Preval's response could determine the course of the demonstrations -- and of his government.

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"I believe if President Preval talks to the people about the high cost of living, people will listen to the president and go home," said Sen. Joseph Lambert, a former senate president and a member of Preval's party. "If not, if there is an attempt at a coup d'etat to remove the president, things will get worse."

Food prices, which have risen 40 percent on average globally since mid-2007, are causing unrest around the world. But they pose a particular threat to democracy in Haiti, where most people live on less than $2 a day.

Preval acknowledged that in his address, saying Haiti's predicament comes partly from its dependence on imported rice that has weakened national production.

But it was unclear whether the address would appease the rioters, who are demanding Preval's resignation for failing to tame the rising prices. On Tuesday, U.N. peacekeepers had to use tear gas and rubber bullets to chase away a mob that tried to storm the presidential palace.

On Wednesday, helicopters circled the air amid black smoke rising from intersections as protesters set tires ablaze, and gunfire was heard throughout Petionville, where many diplomats and foreigners live. On the road to the airport, groups of protesters surrounded makeshift barricades and threw rocks at passing cars.

Looters could be seen sacking a supermarket and several gas-station mini-marts. Radio stations reported the looting of a government rice warehouse outside Port-au-Prince and the office of Petionville's mayor.

Protests also were reported Wednesday in two northern towns, St. Marc and Cap-Haitien.

Several people have been injured by bullets and rocks in the capital, including a Haitian police officer, U.N. police spokesman Fred Blaise said. Five people have been killed in food riots in the southern city of Les Cayes, where protesters tried to burn down a U.N. compound last week.

The U.S. Embassy suspended visa services and routine operations Wednesday because of the violence, and advised Americans in Port-au-Prince and Les Cayes to remain indoors. Embassy buildings were pelted with rocks Tuesday, but there were no reports of injuries to U.S. citizens.

"We hope the president says food prices are going to go down," said Paul Fleury, a 53-year-old man who has been unemployed for a decade. "I have five kids, and I provide food if I can. Some days it's bread and sugar."

'Lord of War' faces extradition to U.S.

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -- Thai police will seek court approval to extradite a Russian man accused of being one of the world's most prolific black market arms dealers to the United States.

Thai authorities had lodged charges against Viktor Bout related to his alleged arms smuggling activities, but are dropping them to process the U.S. request to try him.

"We are working on the legal procedures to extradite him to face trial in United States as requested by America, so police and the attorney general decided to drop the related charges against him here," said Lt. Gen. Phongphan Chayaphan, chief of the Thai police's Crime Suppression Division, on Wednesday.

Bout, 41, faces several counts in the U.S. of "conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization" for allegedly arranging to sell and transport weapons, including portable surface-to-air missiles to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

Bout's lawyer in Thailand, Lak Nitiwatanavichan, said he would fight extradition.

Phongphan said Bout would remain detained pending the extradition hearings, which he estimated would take 60 days.

Bout, who has been called the "Merchant of Death," was arrested on March 6 at a Bangkok hotel after a sting operation in which undercover U.S. agents pretended to be arms buyers from the Colombian rebels.

He could face 15 years in prison on the U.S. charge.

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Thai authorities had held him on a charge of using the country as a base to negotiate a weapons deal with terrorists, for which he could have been imprisoned for 10 years.

Regarded as one of the world's most wanted arms traffickers, Bout's alleged list of customers since the early 1990s includes African dictators and warlords, including former Liberian President Charles Taylor, Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi and both sides of the civil war in Angola.

In the process, he has been accused of breaking several U.N. arms embargoes.

Bout, who was purportedly the model for the arms dealer portrayed by Nicolas Cage in the 2005 movie "Lord of War," has denied the current allegations against him and any criminal activities in the past.

Bout's lawyer Lak said the U.S. charges were political in nature and did not represent a criminal case because the Colombian government is fighting the FARC rebels over differences of ideology. He also said the conflict in Colombia was outside of U.S. jurisdiction.

Extradition treaties between nations generally do not allow turning over suspects in cases of a political nature.

Lak said the Thai Attorney General's Office was awaiting more documents from the United States before officially forwarding the extradition case to court

Peru plane crash kills 5 French tourists

LIMA, Peru (AP) -- Five French tourists visiting Peru's Nazca lines were killed Wednesday when their small plane crashed after becoming tangled in power lines, police and witnesses said.

The Aero Ica Cessna plane went down near a landing strip in Peru's southern desert and all five tourists aboard died, police chief Col. Guillermo Arteta told Canal N cable news channel. Local media reported the Peruvian pilot survived.

Arteta said the crash appeared to be the result of "human error." He said witnesses reported seeing the plane caught in high-tension cables before it crashed.

The names of the French tourists were not immediately released.

Juan Carlos Pavic, head of the civil aeronautics office of the Transportation Ministry, said the pilot's license was valid and the plane's paperwork up-to-date.

Aero Ica spokeswoman Angela Rosel said the Cessna aircraft crashed during a 30-minute flight over the Nazca lines. The lines, mysterious markings etched into the desert sands more than a millennium ago, are one of Peru's top tourist destinations.

Tourists often take short flights on small airplanes for a better view of the lines. Lima-based Aero Ica runs 80 flights over the lines a day.

The Nazca lines cover a 35-mile stretch of desert some 250 miles south of Lima and were named a UNESCO World Heritage Site list in 1994

House passes Chinese crackdown resolution

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a resolution Wednesday calling on China to end its crackdown on Tibet and release Tibetans imprisoned for "nonviolent" demonstrations.

The vote was 413-1. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, who recently dropped out of the presidential race, was the lone congressman voting against it.

The resolution passed just hours before runners were to carry the Olympic torch on a six-mile route around San Francisco Bay.

San Francisco, California, which is in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's 8th District, is the only U.S. stop for the torch relay, which is wrapping up the first week of a 23-city international tour.

Pelosi and other House members introduced the resolution, which urges China to end the crackdown in Tibet and "enter into a substantive dialogue" with the Dalai Lama, who lives in exile in northern India.

"It is my hope that the House of Representatives will send a clear message that we support the fundamental freedoms of the Tibetan people and a peaceful solution to the instability in Tibet," Pelosi said Tuesday on the House floor.

"It is long past time for Beijing to reassess its failed policy to attack and demonize the Dalai Lama, and show the world it can have civilized discussions as a responsible world power," she said.

The resolution, which has no force of law, also asks the State Department to reconsider its decision to exclude China from its list of countries considered the "world's most systematic human rights violators," and calls Chinese officials to allow independent international monitors and journalists access to Tibet.

In the Senate, Sens. Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat from California, and Oregon Republican Gordon Smith introduced a similar resolution, The Associated Press reported.

By mid-morning, protesters were marching along the San Francisco's Golden Gate bridge, where on Monday three protesters scaled suspension cables and unfurled a large banner that read, "One World. One Dream. Free Tibet."

In some places in the city, protesters acted out violent confrontations between Chinese authorities and Tibetan monks. One protester moved through a crush of people in a makeshift military tank. Watch the protests in San Francisco »

However, pro-Chinese demonstrators also were out in droves, waving Chinese flags.

In one incident, a man with a Tibetan flag snuck into a pro-Chinese crowd and a skirmish ensued. The pro-Chinese protesters surrounded the Tibetan demonstrator, yelling. No arrests were made.

San Francisco authorities have put up barricades around the flame's planned route. Police were also monitoring the protests from the bay, where they sat on jet skis and boats.

When the flame arrived in the city Tuesday, thousands of people chanted slogans and waved banners to demonstrate against China's human rights record, including its treatment of Tibet.

Also Wednesday, Sens. Robert Byrd, D-West Virginia; Hillary Clinton, D-New York; and Robert Menendez, D-New Jersey; wrote President Bush a letter stressing the recent crackdown in Tibet, as well as years of human rights abuses in China.

"If the Chinese government is ever to treat its people with basic human rights, it must be sent a bold and clear message that its record of violence and suppression is completely unacceptable," the letter says. "[We] urge you not to attend the opening ceremonies in Beijing this summer."

Clinton called on Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama to join her in the request.

Obama released a statement Wednesday saying a presidential boycott of opening ceremonies should be on the table.

"If the Chinese do not take steps to help stop the genocide in Darfur and to respect the dignity, security, and human rights of the Tibetan people, then the president should boycott the opening ceremonies."

He called on China "to allow foreign journalists and diplomats access to the region [Tibet], and to engage the Dalai Lama in meaningful talks about the future of Tibet."

But, Obama said, the decision over whether to boycott the opening ceremonies should be made closer to the beginning of the Olympic Games.

Brooke Buchanan, a spokesperson for McCain, told CNN that the Arizona senator "believes the president should evaluate the situation as it evolves and ought to keep his options open."

"He continues to condemn the brutal oppression that the Chinese inflicted on the Tibetans and protestors around the world," Buchanan said.

President Bush, however, has publicly committed to attend the Beijing games.

When a reporter recently said to him, "You're planning to ... be at the opening ceremonies," Bush neither confirmed or denied the statement.

When pressed on the issue Wednesday, White House spokesperson Dana Perino stated only that the president is going to the Olympics.

A number of other international leaders have decided to skip the opening ceremony, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves and Estonian Prime Minister Andrus Ansip.

Some, however, made the decision separate from a human rights issue. Brown, for instance, will attend the closing ceremony, when the London will be recognized as the next host.

Brown never had any plans to attend any other part of the Beijing Olympics, his office said.

Clinton, speaking at the Irish American Forum Wednesday in New York, issued a statement on Brown's decision.

"I wanted to commend Prime Minister Gordon Brown for agreeing not to go to the opening ceremonies of the Olympics in Beijing. That was an important decision by Prime Minister Brown and I am calling on Sens. McCain and Obama to join me in my request that President Bush also not attend the opening ceremonies."

UK's Brown to skip Olympics opening

LONDON, England (AP) -- British Prime Minister Gordon Brown will skip the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics.

He became the second major world leader after German Chancellor Angela Merkel to decide to stay away from the opening ceremonies, although Brown's office insisted Wednesday that he was not boycotting the Olympics and would attend the closing ceremony.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said last month that he was debating not attending the opening ceremony.

Asked whether U.S. President George W. Bush would go to the opening portion of the Olympics, White House press secretary Dana Perino demurred, citing the fluid nature of a foreign trip.

"It is extremely premature for me to say what the president's schedule is going to be" in August, she said.

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and others have urged Bush to consider staying away from the opening ceremony as a way to underscore U.S. concerns about the recent unrest in Tibet and questions about China's relationship with Sudan.

Brown, too, has been under intense pressure from human rights campaigners to send a message to China. But his decision not to attend the opening ceremony is not an act of protest, a spokeswoman for his office said, speaking anonymously in line with government policy.

She said the decision was made weeks ago and was not a stand on principle.

"He had never planned to attend," she said. "There is absolutely no change in our position."

International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge said in February that he expected many heads of state -- including Bush, Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy -- to attend the opening ceremony.

Hollywood director Steven Spielberg withdrew in February as an artistic adviser to the opening and closing ceremonies, saying China had not done enough to halt the bloodshed in Sudan's Darfur region. China buys much of Sudan's oil and supplies many of the weapons used in the Darfur conflict.

The leader of Britain's Liberal Democrat party, Nick Clegg, told British Broadcasting Corp. that Brown "seems to do the right thing late in the day when he is forced to do so because of public opinion."

London is hosting the next Olympics in 2012 and British officials were expected to be prominent at events throughout the games in China.

Bloodshed casts shadow as polls open in Nepal

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) -- Polls opened in Nepal Thursday in an election marred by an outburst of bloodshed that has left eight people dead and stoked fears of more violence on voting day.

The voting for a new assembly - aimed at cementing a peace deal with communist insurgents - is intended to usher in sweeping changes for this long-troubled Himalayan country, and will likely mean the end of a centuries-old royal dynasty.

But with one candidate gunned down, a protester shot dead by police and six former rebels slain in a clash with police, it was clear that fashioning a lasting peace in this largely impoverished, often ill-governed and frequently violent country won't be easy.

"For the peace process to be successful, the election needs to be credible," said Yubaraj Ghimire, editor of the newsweekly Samay. This week's violence "raises a lot of questions about how credible the election will be."

The demonstrator was killed Wednesday after police fired on a mob smashing shops and vandalizing buses to protest the slaying a day earlier of a candidate in the mountainous Surkhet district, the area's police chief, Ram Kumar Khanal, said. Police did not have any suspects in the candidate's slaying, he said.

A curfew was imposed in the remote district, and authorities said they would delay voting in the area by at least a week while the election would go ahead elsewhere.

Dozens of parties, from centrist democrats to former Maoist rebels to old-school royalists, were competing for seats in a new Constituent Assembly, which will govern Nepal and rewrite its constitution.

The vote is the first in the two years since King Gyanendra was forced to end his royal dictatorship and the Maoist movement gave up its decade-long fight for a communist state that left about 13,000 people dead.

For the 27 million people of Nepal, wedged between Asian giants India and China, the vote brings a promise of peace and an economic revival in this grindingly poor land that often more resembles a medieval fiefdom than a modern state.

But after weeks of near-daily clashes between supporters of rival parties and a handful of small bombings -- including two in Katmandu on Wednesday that caused no injuries -- the mood on election eve was one of ambivalent optimism.

"We have no choice but to be hopeful," said Biraj Shresthra, a 43-year-old who runs an electronics shop in Katmandu. "We've seen so much fighting. Maybe now it will stop."

Campaigning ended Monday and security was tight across the country Wednesday as Nepalis scrambled back to their home towns and villages. Many businesses closed and streets were empty in Nepal's ordinarily traffic-choked cities.

Chief Election Commissioner Bhoj Raj Pokhrel told reporters that "we are all concerned regarding election day violence."

The biggest threats to a peaceful vote were armed ethnic minorities on the southern plains, where fighting has twice delayed the poll, and the Maoists, whose supporters are accused of roughing up rival candidates and attempting to intimidate voters.

Supporters of other parties -- from the centrist Nepali Congress to the left-wing Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) -- also have engaged in fights.

But the majority of the violence since the start of the election campaign has been by the Maoists, according to a United Nations mission overseeing the vote.

On Tuesday, a gang of Maoists clashed with police in southwestern Nepal after the former insurgents attacked a prominent candidate from a rival party. Initial reports said one person was killed, but police said Wednesday that six of the former rebels died.

The Maoists are the wild card. They have 20,000 former guerrillas camped across the country and their weapons are easily accessible in containers where the arms are stored under a U.N.-monitored peace deal.

It would be easy for them to resume their insurgency if they don't like the election results, and one of the big questions was whether they would do well enough to keep them engaged in the peace process.

Most observers believe the Maoists would place second or third behind Nepal's traditional political powers, the Nepali Congress and the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist).

The Maoists insisted they would respect the voters' decision, and their leader urged restraint following Tuesday's clash.

"We should respond to such provocative crimes by the feudal forces ... through demonstrations of patience and determination in favor of free and fair polls," said Pushpa Kamal Dahal, whose goes by his rebel nom de guerre, Prachanda, which means "the fierce one" in Nepali.

Nepal's king, meanwhile, made a rare statement Wednesday urging people to vote. "We call upon all adult citizens to exercise their democratic right in a free and fair environment," he said in a written statement.

His good wishes weren't likely to win him new friends in the Constituent Assembly.

Their first order of business will be deciding whether to get rid of the throne, and the major parties have already agreed that the 239-year-old Shah dynasty should go

54 Myanmar migrants suffocate in freezer

BANGKOK, Thailand (CNN) -- The bodies of 54 migrant workers from Myanmar were found Wednesday suffocated in a freezer on the back of a truck, police said.

Torsak Harnsanam, a police officer at Suksumran Police Station in Ranong province in southern Thailand, said a village chief alerted police at 10 p.m. (11 a.m. ET) that he had found the truck.

Police investigated and, in addition to discovering the bodies, found 67 other migrants from Myanmar who were alive inside the freezer, Harnsanam said.

The chief said survivors told him they had tried from inside the freezer to signal the driver, who eventually pulled over, discovered the bodies and fled.

Some survivors were taken to a hospital in a nearby village; others were jailed.

Survivors told police they sneaked into Ranong province from Myanmar's Victoria Point by fishing boat, according to reports from The Associated Press. They were then packed into a small container truck for a trip to Phuket.

Ranong province is located about 467 kilometers (290 miles) south of Bangkok just across from Myanmar's Victoria point. The province is regarded as a major trading route between the two countries, the AP reported.

Thailand has long depended on inexpensive labor from neighboring countries, including Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar, which formerly was known as Burma.

The Thai government allows only a small number of immigrants from those countries, which has led to a number of smuggling cases.

There are about a million Myanmar workers registered to work in Thailand, and an additional million estimated to be in the country illegally to work mostly as laborers, the AP reported.

Some of the Myanmar migrants flee their country to escape armed conflicts between ethnic minority rebels and the Myanmar army, and others for lack of economic opportunity in their impoverished country, one of the poorest in Asia.

Many of those Myanmar migrants who do make it to Thailand, many illegal workers, wind up being abused by their employers.

The London-based human rights group Amnesty International found in a 2005 report that workers from Myanmar take jobs that Thais consider too dirty, dangerous or demeaning, the AP reported.