Abdul Qadeer Khan

VIENNA, Austria,
Oct. 1--Pakistan has refused to let the UN atomic watchdog interview disgraced nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan, ringleader of a smuggling network, agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei told the BBC.
"We have not been allowed by Pakistan to talk to the man," ElBaradei, who is director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said in a BBC World Service interview aired Thursday and monitored by AFP.
It was the first time the IAEA has admitted that Pakistan is refusing to let it see Khan, the father of Pakistan's atomic bomb and ringleader of a trafficking network that supplied Iran, Libya and North Korea with sensitive nuclear technology.
The IAEA has been asking Pakistan regularly to help it investigate the international black market run by Khan, who confessed last February to passing on nuclear secrets.
Pakistan's cooperation with the probe is crucial in resolving how Iran, and other states like North Korea, have supplied themselves with nuclear parts and technology that can be used to make atomic weapons.
Asked why Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf reportedly said that nobody had asked to question Khan, ElBaradei said: "I can tell my Pakistani friends that I will be happy to send a team tomorrow to talk to him if we can, absolutely."
ElBaradei said Khan's network had "more than 30 companies and 30 countries all over the globe involved in this fantastic sophisticated illicit trafficking."
But ElBaradei said "as far as I know Mr. Khan has not talked to any non-Pakistani until now."
Pakistan's Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud said in Tehran in August that his country was cooperating with the IAEA probe into Iran's suspect nuclear program but ruled out allowing international inspectors into Pakistan.
He pointed out that Pakistan was not a signatory of the NPT (nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty), which mandates the IAEA to monitor compliance with international atomic safeguards.

Tony Blair

LONDON, Britain, Oct. 1--British Prime Minister Tony Blair was admitted to hospital Friday to correct an irregular heartbeat, a day after announcing that he intends to serve a full third term if re-elected, AFP reported.
With his wife Cherie at his side, Blair checked into Hammersmith Hospital in west London for a relatively routine operation to restore his heart rhythm, called a catheter ablation, that will require only local anesthetic.
Asked how he felt as he left Downing Street, his official residence, Blair - who underwent a different procedure for the same problem in October last year -- waved, smiled and replied: "Fine."
"It's not particularly alarming, but it's something that you should get fixed. It's a routine procedure," he said in a television interview Thursday evening in which he disclosed the operation.
"I've had it for the last couple of months, and it's not impeded me doing my work and feeling fine, but it is as well to get it done."
Beyond his heart problem, Blair used the interview to drop a political bombshell--that he intends to serve "a full third term", but no more, if his Labour Party wins the next general election.
If the election comes next year, as many expect, that means Blair -- who led Labour to power in 1997 and 2001, and who has never been so unequivocal about his long-term plans -- could be prime minister until as late as 2010.
"The decision as to who is the prime minister of the country is the decision of the British people. They're the boss," he told BBC television.
"But if I am elected, I would serve a full third term," he said.

RAMALLAH, Occupied Palestine, Oct. 1--More than 90 percent of Palestinians support calls for sweeping reforms of Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority but far fewer think they will happen, a poll published on Thursday said.
Arafat has faced unprecedented unrest amid demands at home and abroad for reforms to curtail corruption, shake up a plethora of security forces and strengthen democracy. Little concrete action has been taken so far, Reuters reported.
The poll from the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research found that 93 percent of the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip support calls for fundamental political reforms.
But only 51 percent of the 1,319 respondents believed the Authority was serious about carrying out the changes.
The poll showed that 36 percent hold the Authority, rather than Israel, responsible for chaos that has gripped Palestinian areas in recent months. Only 25 percent of respondents questioned in March held this view.
"Doubts exist about the seriousness of the Palestinian Authority in holding elections, implementing reform, of dealing with corruption. The public therefore views the Authority's performance in very negative terms," the center said.
Angered by the leadership's failure to make reforms, lawmakers said on Wednesday they plan to force a parliamentary no-confidence vote that could bring down the government of Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie, an Arafat appointee.
The poll showed a rise in the number of Palestinians calling for Qurie's resignation to 49 percent up from 39 percent in March.

STRASBOURG, France, Oct. 1--President Jacques Chirac said Thursday that he favors changing France's constitution in order to require a national referendum on Turkey's bid to join the European Union, AFP reported.
Speaking at a press conference with Germany's Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, Chirac said he has asked his government to look at ways of adapting the constitution so that the admission of all new EU members must be submitted to a vote in France.
A clear majority of the French public is opposed to Turkish entry to the European Union, and the French government fears the issue will influence a referendum planned for next year on the EU's new constitutional treaty.
Chirac repeated his view that Turkey's eventual admission to the European Union is to be welcomed, but said it would take between 10 and 15 years for the country to carry out the reforms required by Brussels.
"We have an interest in having Turkey with us, " Chirac said.
"It opens the perspective of democracy and peace taking root on the whole of the European continent--in the wider sense of the term--so that we avoid the mistakes and violence of the past."
Schroeder said he shared the French position on Turkish entry.

CAIRO, Egypt, Oct. 1--Sudanese President Omar el-Beshir has accused the United States of backing rebels "to the hilt" in the country's war-torn Darfur region and said the crisis there has been blown out of all proportion, AFP reported.
His remarks in an interview Thursday in Egypt's government daily
Al-Ahram, came as violence in the region continued and as one of his ministers slammed the chief of the UN refugee agency for meddling in Sudanese politics.
"I must again point out that the United States is supporting the rebels in Darfur to the hilt and (highlight) its pressure on the (UN) Security Council" to impose solutions on Sudan, Beshir was quoted as saying.
He added the crisis in Darfur, where about 1.4 million people have been displaced and an estimated 50,000 killed in a conflict that erupted in February 2003, "has taken on dimensions much larger than it really represents."
Claiming that Sudan was "behaving itself," Beshir said there would be "no turning back on peace, democracy and political pluralism" in the country.
The United States has charged that genocide is being carried out in the vast Darfur region and is has been pushing the Security Council for tough action against Khartoum.
Sudan denies the charge, but has grudgingly accepted the demands of the council, which called for Khartoum in a resolution this month to rein in militias and provide security and aid distribution to allow displaced people to return to their homes.
In the latest fighting, government troops repulsed a rebel attack in South Darfur state after killing three rebels and seizing numerous weapons, Sudanese police said Thursday.

KANO, Nigeria,
Oct. 1--Nigeria launched its first nuclear reactor for scientific research in the northern university city of Zaria, AFP quoted the research project director, Ibrahim Umar, as saying.
The reactor, which is solely for scientific purposes and constructed with technical assistance from the International Atomic Energy Association (IAEA), was launched in Ahmadu Bello University, the largest university in northern Nigeria, Umar told AFP in a telephone interview.
Umar, director of the university's Center for Energy Research and Training, which is in charge of the project, said that the reactor was commissioned by Nigeria's science and technology minister in the presence of representatives of IAEA and the Nigeria's Energy Commission.
"The reactor will solely be applied for scientific research which includes soil mapping to quantify different elements in the soil to boost agricultural production and to reduce the use of chemical fertilizer as well as for solid minerals identification in Nigeria", he said.
"It will also be used in petroleum exploration and for identifying elements associated with diseases in the human body and other human-related research purposes", Umar said.
He ruled out the possibility of expanding the project for research in nuclear weapons, saying the project is under the strict supervision of the IAEA.
"We are not involved in strategic research like nuclear weapon because we are a university-based research center, located within the university. We have been doing this kind of research using other techniques which are just expanding using nuclear reactor," he said.

TAIPEI, Taiwan,
Oct. 1--China is likely to have 800 ballistic missiles targeting Taiwan before the end of 2006, AFP quoted Taipei's defense minister as saying as he pressed the case for an 18 billion dollar special defense budget.
Lee Jye told parliament's defense committee that the People's Liberation Army (PLA) now operates some 600 short-range ballistic missiles--mostly deployed in coastal provinces facing Taiwan.
"The number of Dong Feng-11 and Dong Feng-15 ballistic missiles is expected to rise to 800 before the end of 2006," Lee said.
Should war break out in the Taiwan Strait, the PLA could launch five waves of extensive strikes lasting for 10 hours, he said.
"They may also fire 200-odd cruise missiles from bases 1,000 miles away from Taiwan to attack the island's key targets," Lee said.
"Given missile defensive capabilities, we are hardly able to cope with the threat."
Since pro-independence president Chen Shui-bian was re-elected in March, Beijing has stressed its long-standing vow to take Taiwan by force should it declare formal independence.
Lee said Taiwan's other armed forces are also inferior to China's and China's sustained rise in military spending is expected further to tilt the balance towards the mainland in coming years.
The number of China's second-generation military aircraft like the Russian-made Su-27 and Su-30 may increase to 400 in two years from 300 now, he said.
China's military spending, which rose at an average double-digit rate over the past decade, is estimated at 24.5 billion US dollars in 2004.
Taiwan's defense outlays in 2004 were 264.1 Taiwan dollars (7.76 billion US) after peaking in 1999 at 284.5 billion Taiwan dollars.
Military analysts say the island's military commands, communications, airports and seaports would be vulnerable to surprise missile attacks.
Taiwan has put into service three US-made PAC-2 anti-missile systems to protect the greater Taipei area, and is planning to acquire six more improved PAC-3 systems.
The Patriot weaponry is part of a controversial arms sales package offered by US President George W. Bush in April 2002.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Oct. 1--An explosion ripped through a Shiite Muslim mosque in the eastern Pakistani city of Sialkot during Friday prayers, killing at least 18 people and wounding dozens, AP quoted police as saying.
Witnesses reported that a man with a briefcase entered the mosque shortly before the blast and the briefcase had exploded, Sialkot police chief Nisar Ahmed said.
More than 100 people were inside the mosque at the time of the blast, Ahmed said, though others said at least 500 people were there.
"Dozens of people have been taken to hospital in critical condition, and I think the casualties and death toll will rise," he told The Associated Press.
Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao said 18 people were killed and dozens were injured, but said he had no information about what caused the explosion.
Ahmed said body parts were scattered inside the mosque, and a mob was preventing police from entering inside. People had started pelting police with bricks and stones and wrecking property.
The attack comes less than a week after Pakistan arrested a top Al-Qaida suspect, Amjad Hussain Farooqi, believed to be behind the kidnapping and beheading in 2002 of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, and two failed assassination attempts on Musharraf that left 17 other people dead in December 2003.