Sudan leader warns south on referendum

KHARTOUM — A boycott of national elections next month by former southern rebels would result in the north rejecting the south holding a secession referendum in January, President Omar al-Beshir warned Monday.

"If the SPLM boycott the elections, we will reject the referendum," Beshir said in comments carried on local television.

Rumours have been making the rounds of the capital Khartoum that the Sudan People's Liberation Movement would seek to have the legislative, regional and presidential elections scheduled for next month delayed, or would boycott them.

But a party leader said Monday that "The SPLM are ready for elections."

Anne Itto, the party's deputy secretary general in south Sudan, said: "Any further delay of the election would effect our preparations for the referendum."

The elections for April 11 and 13 will be Sudan's first multi-party elections in almost a quarter of a century.

Under the 2005 peace deal that ended a 22-year civil war, mostly Christian and animist southern Sudan obtained the right to hold a referendum on breaking away from the Muslim-majority north in January 2011.

Iran nuclear plant launch unrelated to sanctions: Russia

MOSCOW — Iran's launch of a Russian-built nuclear power plant will go ahead and is in no way linked to possible new sanctions over its alleged weapons programme, Russia's foreign ministry said Thursday.

"It would be wrong to make any links between the construction and the launch of the plant and the growing need to take new measures towards Tehran," ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko said, quoted by Russian news agencies.

In Moscow last week, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned that going forward with the inauguration of the nuclear plant that Russia has helped build at Bushehr would send Tehran the wrong message.

But Nesterenko denied that the United States had voiced any concern over Bushehr in bilateral talks.

"I would like to put an stop to this once and for all," he said in response to a reporter's question.

"Everything is being done under IAEA regulations," he said, referring to the UN's nuclear watchdog agency.

"Spent fuel deliveries to Iran will be returned to Russia with the IAEA's seal according to the standards of all the existing technology in this field."

His comments came after Prime Minister Vladimir Putin announced last Thursday -- on the eve of his meeting with Clinton -- that the Bushehr plant would come online this summer.

Russia, which had enjoyed close ties with Tehran for many years, has shown growing irritation with Iran and has repeatedly said it may back new UN sanctions over the nuclear weapons issue.

The United States and its allies accuse Tehran of plans to build an atomic bomb, while the Islamic republic insists its nuclear drive is purely for peaceful, civilian purposes.

Statements by officials this week did more to detail Russia's stance after President Dmitry Medvedev called for "smart" sanctions against Iran in comments early this month in Paris.

A senior Russian diplomat on Wednesday stressed Moscow was against "paralysing sanctions", saying at an anonymous briefing that it will only back measures targeting non-proliferation.

Nesterenko meanwhile said measures against Iran must not aim at "the financial and economic suffocation" of the country.

Russia has been helping Iran build the power station in the southern city of Bushehr since the mid-1990s but its launch has been marred by a series of delays, not least the standoff over Iran's nuclear activities.

Clinton, who visited Moscow last week hoping to secure Russia's support for a tougher line on Iran, said Tehran was entitled to civil nuclear power but called the start-up of Bushehr premature.

Obama targets bank reform after health care win

WASHINGTON — Fresh from a landmark health care victory, President Barack Obama on Monday trained his sights on sweeping reforms of Wall Street's "too-big-to-fail" banks.

Obama -- who is expected Tuesday to sign health care legislation that will overhaul one sixth of the economy -- was joined by key lieutenants in pressing for a similar remake of the banks blamed for dragging the economy to the brink.

In the Senate, Obama ally Christopher Dodd pushed a 1000-plus page finance reform package through his powerful banking committee, while Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner appeared at a conservative think tank to call for reform.

Dodd's key committee passed the bill without Republican support in a 13 to 10 vote, paving the way for a full Senate vote and leaving Dodd -- who will retire by the end of 2010 -- to promise reform by year's end.

The bill would introduce a slew of Wall Street reforms, creating a potentially powerful consumer financial protection agency, placing checks on executive bonuses and curbing risky investments.

The White House quickly moved to welcome passage of the bill, which Obama said would help ensure "the American taxpayer never again pays the price for the irresponsibility of our largest banks and financial institutions."

Obama vowed to continue to fight to strengthen the measures as they move to the full Senate in the coming weeks.

Geithner, whose legacy as treasury secretary will likely depend on the recovery from banking-induced crisis, told the American Enterprise Institute "financial reform is not a war of choice; it is a war of necessity."

He also vowed to fight opponents of reform, who he alleged were spending over one million dollars a day to neutralize the package, which would also create a committee with the power to break up "too-big-to-fail" banks.

Geithner warned lawmakers the passage of the bill would be a "test of our capacity as a nation to deal with complex and consequential problems."

"If we fail to act, America will lose this opportunity to set the global agenda," he cautioned.

The American Bankers Association on Monday denied opposing reform but said the current bill would "reduce the ability of our industry to support the economy."

Still, with widespread popular support for reform, the Obama White House may also see an easy next legislative target, particularly with Congress plagued by partisanship after the health care vote.

In an ABC World News poll released Monday, 77 percent of Americans said the financial industry had not done enough to atone for its role in the economic crisis.

With Democrats likely to paint Republican health care opposition as pro-industry, Republicans may be reluctant to cast their lot with despised bankers ahead of this year's midterm elections, according to Douglas Elliot of The Brookings Institution.

"The politics are very different than for health care reform. The public is demanding action, although the area is too technical for them to know exactly what they want," he said.

"It is not clear that there are 41 senators who would be willing to stand up and filibuster a bill when that action would be portrayed as siding with the bankers."

After Monday's vote Dodd's long-time interlocutor in the Republican Party, Bob Corker -- who voted against the bill -- sounded an optimistic tone about the prospect of bipartisan support for reform.

"(I) hope that there is still an opportunity to produce a sound piece of legislation that will merit broad bipartisan support from the full Senate and stand the test of time," he said.

Obama says no crisis in US-Israeli relations

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama denied a crisis was rocking US-Israeli relations, as one of the worst rows in years between the allies rumbled on over new homes for Jewish settlers.

Obama's first public comments on the showdown came as his administration awaited a response from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about Washington's sharp complaints over the episode.

The president was asked in an interview with Fox News if there was a "crisis" in US-Israeli relations after the announcement on 1,600 new settler homes in annexed east Jerusalem embarrassed Vice President Joe Biden during a visit to the Jewish state.

"No," Obama answered. "We and the Israeli people have a special bond that's not going to go away.

"But friends are going to disagree sometimes... there is a disagreement in terms of how we can move this peace process forward."

Obama noted that the announcement on the new settler homes last week was the work of the Interior Ministry in Israel and that Netanyahu had apologized.

And he called on both Israelis and Palestinians to "take steps to make sure that we can rebuild trust."

Tensions eased in Jerusalem as Israel reopened the flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound one day after the Holy City saw the heaviest Palestinian rioting in years with dozens of police and protesters injured.

Israeli police, however, remained on high alert in and around the Old City where the mosque compound, the holiest site for Jews and the third holiest for Muslims, is located.

The New York Times meanwhile reported that the White House was considering proposing a US plan to form the basis of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations as US officials questioned the commitment of Netanyahu's government to peace talks.

Should Obama present his own proposal, complete with territorial maps, it would likely not take place until his special envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell, had engaged in several months of US-brokered indirect "proximity" talks between the two sides, the Times said.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton meanwhile headed to Moscow, for a meeting of the international Quartet on Middle East peace talks, without holding an expected telephone call with Netanyahu.

"We're still looking forward to a response. It hasn't happened yet. There hasn't been a call yet," Mark Toner, a State Department spokesman, told reporters after Clinton's departure.

Netanyahu did speak overnight, however, with Vice President Biden, the prime minister's office in Jerusalem said.

A White House aide would only say that the call was part of "ongoing negotiations."

In a previous call last week, Clinton told Netanyahu that Israel's treatment of Biden sent a "deeply negative signal," just as Washington had persuaded Palestinians to join indirect "proximity" peace talks.

She said Tuesday Washington was engaged in "very active consultation" with the Israelis over steps that would demonstrate the requisite commitment getting peace talks on again.

Earlier, the Israeli government showed no sign of backing down on the wider issue of Jewish settlements, even if it welcomed US assurances that its bond with the United States was safe following the row.

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said demands for a halt to building homes for Jewish settlers in mostly-Arab east Jerusalem were "unreasonable."

The row erupted when Washington, frustrated by the lack of success for its peace brokering, reacted angrily last week to an Israeli announcement that the new homes for Jewish settlers would be built in east Jerusalem, the mainly Arab half of the Holy City that was annexed after being captured in 1967.Related article:Abbas asks EU to press Israel on settlements

Mitchell decided to cancel a planned trip to meet Israeli and Palestinian officials until after Clinton joins her Quartet partners Russia, the United Nations and the European Union in Moscow on Thursday.

The US envoy had been scheduled to visit the Middle East at the beginning of the week.

The State Department said Mitchell first delayed his visit to give Netanyahu time to respond to the US concerns on settlements, but then said logistics were the reason the envoy canceled plans to visit the Middle East this week.

It gave no date for when the talks will occur.

Netanyahu is due to visit the United States next week to speak at a meeting of AIPAC, the pro-Israel lobby.

American-Canadian historian wins Norway's Holberg Prize

OSLO — American-Canadian historian Natalie Zemon Davis was on Tuesday named the winner of the Holberg Prize, a Norwegian award for scholarly work in the arts and humanities, social sciences, law and theology.

Davis, 81, thus became the second consecutive professor at the University of Toronto to win the prize after her colleague at the school Canadian philosopher Ian Hacking won the award last year.

She "is one of the most creative historians writing today, an intellectual who is not hostage to any particular school of thought or politics," the prize committee said in a statement.

Davis, who specialises in modern European history and who has written several works on 16th and 17th century France, was hailed for her "imaginative approach to history".

That, "coupled with intensive archival research, makes the past come alive," the prize committee said, adding that "her fundamental method is to pursue a dialogue between the past and the present."

"The uniqueness of her work lies in connecting early modern Europe with new areas of comparative history, exploring cultural, geographical and religious interchange," it said.

Davis has taught at a range of prestigious universities, including Yale, Princeton and Berkeley in the US, Oxford in Britain and Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in France.

The prize, created in memory of 18th century Danish-Norwegian academic and playwright Ludvig Holberg, is worth 550,000 euros (754,000 dollars).

UN chief hears progress, challenges for Haiti aid

PORT-AU-PRINCE — UN chief Ban Ki-moon has made his second visit to Haiti since the country's killer earthquake in January to hear the formidable challenges - and progress made by - aid groups.

In a meeting with of the various UN officials overseeing the massive relief operation in Haiti, Ban said Sunday he was "deeply grateful" for all they had done to date.

"I wanted to see for myself the progress made in the past two months," since his first visit on January 17, he said.

He said the trip would give him a much "clearer picture" of the situation ahead of a donors' conference at the UN headquarters in New York on March 31.

The officials seated at the table with Ban described a problematic situation which was staggering in its scale.

Damage equivalent to 120 percent of Haiti's gross domestic product was caused in the January 12 quake, they said.

The impending rainy season was going to bring further misery to the 1.3 million homeless, only 60 percent of whom had emergency shelter in the form of tents, tarpaulins or kits to build their own.

Security, especially for women and children, was of concern. Ban thanked them, and urged them to "try to be more creative, more productive" as they forged on.

Afterwards, in a joint media conference with Haitian President Rene Preval and Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive, Ban admitted that "we are a little behind" in providing shelter to the Haitians.

He said, though, that it was one of the main priorities for the United Nations.

Thailand imposes tough security law for Thaksin protests

BANGKOK — Thailand's government Tuesday agreed to impose a tough security law ahead of protests this weekend, vowing to use "all means" to stop violence by backers of ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

The Internal Security Act allows authorities to deploy troops on the streets during mass anti-government rallies in Bangkok by the so-called "Red Shirts" and also to impose curfews and ban gatherings.

Under the law, to be in force between March 11 and 23, the government also banned farm vehicles from the capital in an apparent bid to block the movement of protesters from Thaksin's heartland in the rural north.

"The cabinet has approved the imposition of the Internal Security Act and the prime minister has assigned each ministry certain responsibilities," said Satit Wongnongtaey, a minister attached to premier Abhisit Vejjajiva's office.

Organisers say they expect up to 600,000 Red Shirts to start gathering in Bangkok from Friday for the main day of protests on Sunday against a court ruling last month that confiscated 1.4 billion dollars of Thaksin's fortune.

The government predicts that around 100,000 protesters will gather.

Security officials said at least 30,000 troops and police would be deployed or on standby along with thousands more civilian security volunteers, although final numbers had yet to be determined.

The government has also prepared safe houses for senior figures.

The country remains deeply divided between supporters of the populist Thaksin, who was deposed in a military coup in 2006, and those among the Bangkok-based elites who view him as corrupt.

Satit said the transport ministry would ban improvised farm trucks -- open-sided vehicles that drive on tractor engines -- from entering Bangkok as they could be used to ferry large numbers of protesters from the countryside.

Thaksin, who made his fortune in telecommunications, has been egging on his supporters from self-imposed exile in Dubai, where he is living to avoid a jail term for graft.

Thai Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij on Monday said the government would take all means within the law to prevent violence.

Korn said Abhisit respected the right to peaceful protest but added that the government also fully intended to "use all means within its powers, within the laws of the country, to make sure that the property and safety of its citizens are protected".

On Monday Abhisit briefed Thailand's revered king, who has been hospitalised for the past five months, on the weekend's planned rallies, dubbed "The Red March" by local media.

Any migrant workers attending the rallies would meanwhile be subject to a five-year jail term and fines of up to 100,000 baht (3,100 dollars), Labour Minister Phaitoon Kaeothong said.

Thailand's economy relies on workers from its poorer neighbours Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia, but in recent months the country has become tougher on immigration and has been accused of widespread mistreatment of migrants.

Senior Reds insist they will protest peacefully, but it promises to be the biggest rally since last April, when up to 100,000 Red Shirts derailed a major Asian summit and ensuing riots left two people dead.

The Philippines on Tuesday advised its citizens to avoid travelling to Thailand ahead of the protests.

"Filipinos are advised to postpone all non-essential travel to Thailand, specifically Bangkok," the foreign office said, adding that those in Bangkok had been advised to avoid potential flashpoints and protest spots.

Interpol issues new arrest notices for Dubai killing

LYON, France — International police agency Interpol issued arrest notices Monday for 16 further suspects wanted by Dubai for the assassination of a Hamas leader in his luxury hotel room.

Alongside the new alerts, Interpol also announced that it had joined a Dubai-based international police task force investigating the killing.

The announcement brought to 27 the total number of suspects on Interpol's wanted list for the January 19 murder of Mahmud al-Mabhuh, which Dubai police allege was ordered by the Israeli secret service Mossad.

Mabhuh, a founder of the Palestinian Islamist Hamas movement's military wing, had been drugged and suffocated, apparently by a group of people seen on hotel closed-circuit security cameras following him to his room.

Interpol's "Red Notices" -- which are not international arrest warrants but alert member states that Dubai would like the suspects to be arrested and extradited -- made no mention of the alleged Israeli connection.

Instead it provided what it said were photographs and known aliases of 16 suspects, including six who were using British and three Australian passports, along with several whose nationalities were not given.

Interpol said the latest suspects' aliases were: Mark Daniel Sklar, Gabriela Barney, Roy Allan Cannon, Stephen Keith Drake, Daniel Marc Schnur and Philip Carr, travelling on British passports.

Suspects travelling as Adam Marcus Korman, Nicola Sandra McCabe and Joshua Daniel Bruce had Australian passports, according to Interpol's website.

Interpol gave no nationality for Chester Halvey, Anna Shauna Clasby, Ivy Brinton, David Bernard Lapierre, Melanie Heard, Joshua Aaron Krycer and Eric Rassineux. Dubai has said they carried German, Irish and French passports.

"Investigative information provided by the authorities in Dubai bore out the international links and broad scope of the number of people involved," said the statement, issued from Interpol's Lyon headquarters.

Dubai police have identified two 11- and 16-strong teams of foreign suspects they believe were connected to the killing of Mabhuh, a Hamas commander and arms buyer wanted by Israel for the alleged murder of two of its citizens.

Interpol said the newly listed suspects formed the second of the two teams, in addition to 11 for whom Interpol issued arrest alerts on February 18.

Three Palestinians have also reportedly been arrested in connection with the investigation.

"According to the Dubai police investigation, the first team consisted of a smaller core group alleged to have carried out the killing," it said, referring to the 11 named last month.

The second "is believed to have aided and abetted the first team by closely watching, following and reporting Mabhuh's movements from the moment he landed at Dubai airport until his murder," it said.

Interpol said the suspects travelled using other people's identities and several countries have summoned Israeli ambassadors to ask about the use of their passports, although none have yet directly accused Mossad.

"The case reportedly involves multiple cross-border movements worldwide and the use of fraudulently altered passports by individuals using aliases," said Interpol Secretary General Ronald Noble.

Noble said officers from Interpol's Dubai bureau and Lyon-based command and coordination centre would work with authorities in the United Arab Emirates and in the countries whose passports were forged or misused.

Dubai police chief Dahi Khalfan has also called for the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Mossad chief Meir Dagan, alleging they ordered agents with European and Australian passports to commit the murder.

Neither Interpol nor Israel has responded to this claim.

Most of the people named in connection with the case -- many of them Israelis with dual European citizeship -- were shocked to find themselves linked to it and appear to have been unwitting victims of identity theft.

Notable quotes from the 82nd annual Academy Awards

Quotes from Sunday night's 82nd annual Academy Awards at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles:

"I'd just like to dedicate this to the women and men in the military who risk their lives on a daily basis in Iraq and Afghanistan and around the world. And may they come home safe." — Kathryn Bigelow, upon winning the Oscar for best director.

___

"This has been such a dream, beyond a dream. ... We had this fantasy of making our film our way with the talent that we hoped to have and hopefully we would find a distributor and somebody might even like the movie. So to be standing here, this was really, truly, honestly never part of anything we even imagined in our wildest dreams." — Mark Boal, accepting the best picture award for "The Hurt Locker."

___

"I would like to thank what this film is about for me which are the moms that take care of the babies and the children no matter where they come from. Those moms and parents never get thanked." — Sandra Bullock, after winning the award for best actress.

___

"Thank you, Mom and Dad, for turning me on to such a groovy profession. Oh, my dad and my mom, they loved show biz so much. ... I feel an extension of them. You know, this ... is honoring them as much as it is me." — Jeff Bridges, after winning the Oscar for best actor.

___

"What we did with Avatar, if you really look at it, we took things that are out there in the world every day, we just made them bigger, shinier. ... But all our inspiration comes from the real world. So if you really look, you can see all those things around you, and I would just encourage people to get out and look for it." — Joe Letteri, after winning the award for achievement in visual effects.

___

"I want to thank the Academy for not considering Na'vi a foreign language." — Argentine director Juan Jose Campanella, after winning the award for best foreign language film.

___

"I would like to thank the Academy for showing that it can be about the performance and not the politics. ... Thank you so much to my amazing husband, Sidney. Thank you for showing me that sometimes you have to forgo doing what's popular in order to do what's right. And baby, you were so right." — MoNique, after winning the Oscar for best supporting actress.

___

"This is for everybody who works on the dream every day: precious boys and girls everywhere." — Geoffrey Fletcher, after winning the best adapted screenplay award for "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire."

___

"Oscar and Penelope, that's an uber-Bingo." — Christoph Waltz, accepting the best supporting actor Oscar.

___

"Never did I dream that making a flip book out of my third-grade math book would lead to this." — Pete Docter, accepting the best animated feature film award for "Up."

___

"A lot of people have said it to me 'You made me cry.' And it was only because I cried myself when I watched the movie." — Michael Giacchino, on his award-winning score for "Up."

___

"The biggest change this year, the best picture category has doubled. When that was announced, all of us in Hollywood thought the same thing: What's five times two?" — Oscars co-host Steve Martin.

Winnipeg boy escapes house fire with jump from second storey

WINNIPEG — A 13-year-old boy has escaped a house fire in Winnipeg by jumping from the second floor into the arms of police officers.

Police say several constables were patrolling a neighbourhood early Saturday morning when they came across the fire.

A man was trying to get his family out of the house, but the teen was reluctant to escape from a second-storey window.

The officers managed to talk him into jumping into their arms.

A man, woman and six children between 11 months and 13 years all managed to escape the flames, and were taken to hospital where they were treated for minor injuries.

There was significant damage to the home. The cause of the fire has not yet been determined.

House panel wants more Toyota acceleration details

WASHINGTON — A House committee on Friday questioned the rigor of Toyota's sudden acceleration tests, challenging the automaker's commitment to finding the causes of safety problems that have led to millions of recalled vehicles. Other lawmakers zeroed in on federal investigators' response.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee told Toyota executive Jim Lentz in a letter that there is "an absence of documents" to show whether the company thoroughly investigated the possibility of unintended acceleration. The committee asked who is involved with the testing and demanded that it be given quarterly reports detailing allegations of the unwanted acceleration.

"We do not understand the basis for Toyota's repeated assertions that it is 'confident' there are no electronic defects contributing to incidents of sudden unintended acceleration," wrote Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., and Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich.

Also Friday, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y., and Rep. Darrell Issa of California, the panel's top Republican, asked NHTSA for more details on steps the agency is taking to address the acceleration issues and for more information on the number of complaints by Toyota drivers.

Toyota has recalled more than 8 million vehicles worldwide to address gas pedals that can become sticky or trapped under floor mats, prompting scrutiny from Congress. The world's No. 1 automaker has said it is investigating reports of sudden acceleration but remains confident there are no problems with Toyota's electronic throttle control systems.

Adding to the doubts, the government has received more than 60 complaints from Toyota owners who had their vehicles fixed following the recalls but say they've had more problems with their vehicles surging forward unintentionally. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is looking into the claims.

Toyota dealers have been fixing the accelerator pedals. But NHTSA said Thursday that if the remedy provided by Toyota is not addressing the issue, the government could order the company to provide a different solution.

Toyota spokeswoman Cindy Knight said the automaker will cooperate with the committee's request and is "quickly investigating verifiable complaints" from drivers about sudden acceleration. The company is already updating the committee on a regular basis, she said.

Toyota hired a consulting firm to study whether electronic problems could cause unintended acceleration. The firm, Exponent Inc., released an interim report that has found no link between the two. But committee investigators have said the Exponent test was flawed because it studied only a small number of Toyota vehicles.

David Gilbert, a Southern Illinois University-Carbondale professor, testified before the committee last week that he was able to create sudden acceleration in a Toyota by manipulating the vehicle's electronics. Knight said Toyota will provide the committee with Exponent test results that will disprove Gilbert's conclusions. Toyota said it was able to do the same with vehicles made by competitors and that Gilbert's tests do not replicate "real world" conditions.

In the letter, Waxman and Stupak also request more details on brake override systems and "black box" information in Toyota vehicles.

Toyota plans to install brakes that can override the gas pedal in future models and many vehicles already on the road. The safety measure is meant to prevent the unintended acceleration that has caused some Toyota drivers to speed out of control.

The committee also wants to know what information is available in Toyota electronic data recorders. The "black box" information could help investigators learn more about what is happening in the vehicles before crashes. A review by The Associated Press found that Toyota has been inconsistent — and sometimes contradictory — in revealing what the devices record and don't record, such as critical data about whether brake or accelerator pedals were depressed at the time of a crash.

NHTSA has linked 52 deaths to crashes allegedly caused by Toyota's acceleration problems.

AP Business Writer Stephen Manning contributed to this report.

US commander to get more Afghan authority

WASHINGTON — General Stanley McChrystal, the top commander in Afghanistan, is being given expanded authority over US and NATO forces in the country, a defense official said.

The move will put all but a small number of US special operations forces and some support troops from other nations under the command of the American army general.

McChrystal is already commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan but the additional authorities will give him greater control over the estimated 121,000 international troops in the country than any of his predecessors have had.

He "will have US operational control of all US forces less a small number of special operations forces," an American defense official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

As the NATO commander, the only forces not under McChrystal's control will be a special US task force that handles detainees, the small number of special operations forces and some support troops from other nations, the official said.

McChrystal's expanded authority come amid a surge in US forces to Afghanistan that will boost foreign troop levels in the country to 150,000 by August.

NATO officers, meanwhile, are planning a new US-led military command in southern Afghanistan to prepare for a major offensive against the Taliban bastion of Kandahar, officials said Thursday.

The new command would oversee military operations in Helmand province, where an allied offensive has taken on Taliban forces in Marjah, while an existing NATO command under British leadership would be freed up to focus on the pivotal campaign planned for Kandahar, defense officials told AFP.

Passive smoking artery risk warning

Children who regularly inhale second-hand smoke can suffer signs of artery damage by the age of 13, a study has shown.

Researchers found significant evidence of artery wall thickening and poor functioning in youngsters with higher levels of "passive smoking" exposure.

Both are precursors of the artery hardening and narrowing which can increase the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

Greater exposure to tobacco smoke was also associated with higher levels of a biological marker for "bad" cholesterol, or low-density lipoprotein (LDL).

The study followed 494 Finnish children recruited as infants by scientists investigating heart disease risk factors. It showed that those with higher levels of exposure to second-hand smoke from the age of eight were already significantly affected by the age of 13.

Study leader Dr Katariina Kallio, from the University of Turku in Finland, said: "Although previous research has found that passive smoke may be harmful for blood vessels among adults, we did not know until this study that these specific effects also happen among children and adolescents.

"These findings suggest that children should not face exposure to tobacco smoke at all. Even a little exposure to tobacco smoke may be harmful for blood vessels. We need to provide children a smoke-free environment."

Ultrasound measurements comparing teens with the highest and lowest exposure showed that the walls of carotid arteries carrying blood to the brain were 7% thicker among those inhaling the most second-hand tobacco smoke. Similar measurements of the wall of the aorta, through which the heart pumps blood to the rest of the body, showed an 8% increase in children with the highest exposure levels.

A test of the ability of blood vessels to dilate in response to blood flow revealed a 15% reduction in high exposure children.

The children were taking part in the Special Turku Coronary Risk Factor Intervention Project (Strip) which began in 1990.Click Here!

Ukrainian PM's Orange coalition dissolves

KIEV, Ukraine — Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko's pro-Western Orange coalition dissolved Tuesday as her former allies turned against her, setting her up to be ousted in a no-confidence vote.

The development spells the final repudiation of the Orange Revolution Tymoshenko helped lead in 2004, and paves the way for Ukraine's new Kremlin-friendly president to consolidate his power.

President Viktor Yanukovych defeated Tymoshenko in last month's election, but she has been a thorn in his side, refusing to resign and challenging the vote results.

In a sign that she will be removed, speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn told parliament Tuesday the Orange coalition had been unable to prove it still had majority support in the 450-seat chamber.

"This coalition did not come up with enough votes ... I therefore announce the termination of this coalition's activity," Lytvyn said.

Russia's new ambassador arrived in Kiev to congratulate Yanukovych on now appears to be total victory.

Ukraine's political parties must now form a new majority coalition, and are most likely to group around Yanukovych's Party of Regions. Yanukovych says that if no majority can be reached he will disband parliament and call elections.

Tymoshenko lashed out at Lytvyn, who is also a leader of the Orange forces in parliament, for "illegally ruining the democratic coalition" and paving the way for Yanukovych's "anti-Ukrainian dictatorship."

"This was the last barricade worth defending if we wanted to protect our independence, sovereignty, strength and the European development of our country," Tymoshenko said in a televised speech.

"History will hold him responsible," she said.

Tymoshenko laid out no plan of action. She said only that she would seek to unite Ukraine's "truly democratic and patriotic forces."

Parliament is set to hold a confidence vote Wednesday on Tymoshenko's government.

"As of today, we have a majority capable of creating a coalition in parliament, and we definitely have a majority capable of holding a no-confidence vote against the government," said Oleksandr Yefremov, a lawmaker with Yanukovych's party.

"The dissolution of the coalition makes Tymoshenko's ouster inevitable," said Viktor Nebozhenko, a political analyst in Kiev. "The Orange forces have been defeated on every front."

The Orange coalition, formed in December 2008, was loosely centered on the political ideals of the Orange Revolution, a series of massive street protests in 2004 led by former President Viktor Yushchenko and Tymoshenko.

Those protests against vote fraud resulted in the Supreme Court overturning Yanukovych's election victory in 2004. Yushchenko, a reformer who wanted closer integration with the West, won a revote. Tymoshenko became his prime minister.

But their constant bickering and inability to deliver on promises of European integration and economic growth fueled Yanukovych's comeback. He defeated Tymoshenko in a Feb. 7 runoff by 3.5 percentage points.

Yushchenko, whose mysterious poisoning in 2004 made him a martyr for the Orange cause, appears now to have tacked with Ukraine's shifting political winds. Members of his party, Our Ukraine, are expected to join the coalition forming around Yanukovych.

"The new coalition will combine the Party of Regions, Our Ukraine, and Lytvyn's bloc," said Yury Yakimenko, a political analyst at the Razumkov Center, a Kiev think tank.

This would not be the first time Tymoshenko, known for her sharp wit and political cunning, is removed as prime minister.

In 2005, soon after the Orange Revolution brought them to power, Yushchenko dismissed Tymoshenko for mismanagement. She regained the post two years later.

This time, the failure of her coalition will likely force her back into an opposition role, but she will retain significant clout as the leader of the second-biggest faction in parliament.

Russian Ambassador Mikhail Zurabov presented his credentials Wednesday to Yanukovych, renewing diplomatic relations between the two countries for the first time since August 2009, when the Kremlin declined to send an ambassador to Kiev until Yushchenko left office.

Yushchenko's efforts to take Ukraine out of Russia's orbit and join NATO and the European Union infuriated the Kremlin.

Yanukovych, whose base of support is in Ukraine's Russian-speaking east, has said he would not seek membership in either organization. He is expected to invigorate ties with Russia through energy interdependence and military cooperation, and plans to visit Moscow on Friday.

"Allow me to express my respect for the Ukrainian people and wish you success in your role as president," Zurabov told Yanukovych during a televised ceremony.

Shuster reported from Moscow. Associated Press Writer Yuras Karmanau in Minsk, Belarus, contributed to this report.

S.Korean leader urges N.Korea to show sincerity

SEOUL — North Korea needs to show sincerity to the international community, South Korea's president said Monday, and should "change its mindset" towards its neighbour.

Lee Myung-Bak also urged Pyongyang to open talks with Seoul, as diplomatic efforts to bring the North back to six-nation nuclear disarmament talks intensify.

"Now North Korea must take action and show sincerity to the international community," Lee said in an address marking the anniversary of a popular uprising in 1919 for Korea's independence from Japan's colonial rule.

"For the bright future of South and North Korea, North Korea should change its mindset to regard South Korea only as a partner for economic cooperation."

The frozen dialogue groups the two Koreas, Japan, China, Russia and the United States.

The North has set two conditions for returning to the long-running talks it abandoned last April, a month before staging a second nuclear test.

It calls for UN sanctions to be lifted and wants a US commitment to discuss a formal peace pact, replacing the armistice which ended the 1950-1953 war on the Korean peninsula.

North Korea has in recent months been making peace overtures to the South.

But cross-border military tensions have run high since a Yellow Sea firefight last November left a North Korean patrol boat in flames.

The North's military last week accused South Korean and US troops of planning a surprise attack under the pretext of a joint military exercise. It warned it could respond with atomic weapons.

Pyongyang also announced the detention of four South Koreans for illegally entering the country. Seoul could not confirm the case.