RAMALLAH, Occupied Palestine, Nov. 20--The 12-day period for candidates to register for January's Palestinian leadership election opened Saturday, the central election committee announced, AFP reported.
Candidates must sign up to run in the presidential race to appoint a successor to Yasser Arafat at the main commission offices in Ramallah, Gaza City or one of the regional offices dotted across the West Bank.
Application forms are available at the offices or on the Internet.
All contenders must be aged 35 or over, themselves registered to vote and able to put down a deposit of 3,000 dollars (2,300 euros).
Independent candidates have the additional hurdle of having to collect at least 5,000 signatures.
Candidates working for the Palestinian Authority, local authorities and international organizations must also quit their jobs in the run-up to the election, scheduled for January 9.
Palestinian negotiations minister Saeb Erakat told AFP that he was ready to discuss security and voting arrangements with Israel in order to implement the same agreement that the two sides came to before the 1996 leadership election.
"We're are ready to meet the Israeli side to put in place the mechanism and security preparations for the coming election that we agreed upon in 1995."
He also called on international observers to monitor the poll in order to "guarantee free elections for the Palestinian people in the West Bank, east Beit-ul-Moqaddas and Gaza Strip".

BRUSSELS, Belgium, Nov. 20--The European Union is expanding plans to set up several elite battle groups for rapid deployment to international trouble spots, AP reported.
The original plan was to have nine such groups of 1,500 troops ready by 2007, but EU military officials said an enthusiastic response from nations wanting to contribute forces meant that at least 12 would now be set up. Of that, four--led by France, Britain, Italy and Spain--should be in place next year.
Ministers are to firm up their contributions to the forces at a meeting at talks in Brussels on Monday.
They are also set to expand an EU police training mission in Congo, widening its role in setting up a 1,000-strong force drawn from various forces previously in conflict with each other in the African nation's civil war.
France, Britain and Germany developed the battle group idea early this year to give the EU more military reach by allowing it to intervene quickly in international crises before they spin out of control. Smaller EU nations will be taking part in joint groups, often with their larger partners.
Of the 12 battle groups, two will be kept on high alert, ready to deploy within 10 days and be self-supporting for up to four months. The units will be used mostly for peacekeeping or humanitarian operations mandated by the United Nations.
The EU police mission in Congo will be expanded from 15 to around 25 officers and be given a wider role in monitoring, training and equipping a local force that will be tasked with protecting the country's transitional government ahead of elections next year.
Besides the operation in Congo, the EU is already running missions helping local law enforcement operations in Bosnia and Macedonia and has a much smaller mission in Georgia.

KUWAIT CITY, Nov. 20--Kuwait's Al-Sabah ruling family must avoid dispute and unite to better serve the interests of this tiny oil-rich Persian Gulf state, AFP quoted a senior family member as saying in remarks published Saturday.
"As a (ruling) family, we need to unite our ranks more than ever ... All (family members) are no longer under its single roof," Sheikh Salem Al-Ali Al-Sabah, who ranks fourth in the family hierarchy, told Al-Siyassah newspaper.
Sheikh Salem, who heads the National Guard, made the statements during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan which ended November 12.
The public appeal was his second since September, when he spoke of "key decisions" to be made by the family to "herald a new era" in the emirate.
At the time, diplomatic sources said the changes were postponed due to a "lack of consensus" in the family.
"I hope that ... after Ramadan, we continue with contacts and unity, forget differences and disputes and overcome feelings of avoidance and disunity, especially among members of the ruling family," Sheikh Salem said.
"I want relations and contacts among members of this family to continue," especially after the health condition of "our political leadership", he said, in reference to the ailing emir, Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah, and the crown prince, Sheikh Saad Al-Abdullah Al-Sabah.
He also urged the family, which has ruled Kuwait for the past 250 years, to embrace reform.
Besides the country's top three posts, the family also controls the key ministries of defense, interior, energy and foreign affairs, as well as communications.

Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi

Osama bin Laden

WASHINGTON, Nov. 20--Osama bin Laden and Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, the Islamic militants the United States most wants to catch, are trying to communicate with each other, AFP quoted a top US general as saying Friday.
They probably have not succeeded because of the long distances couriers have to travel to carry messages between them, said Lieutenant General Lance Smith, deputy commander of the US Central Command.
"But we know for a fact that there are attempts at communication between them," he said at a Pentagon press conference, acknowledging that the assessment was not confirmed by multiple source intelligence reporting.
"And whether it is to congratulate him on having announced he wants to be part of Al-Qaeda, or it's to communicate instructions, or what it is, we don't know," he said.
Zarqawi, who, like bin Laden, has a 25 million dollar bounty on his head, is blamed for suicide attacks, spectacular car bombings and beheadings of foreigners, all of which have made him as feared a figure as Al-Qaeda's leader.
Last month, his group pledged allegiance to Al-Qaeda and changed its name from Al-Tawhid wal Jihad (Unity and Holy War) to The Al-Qaeda Group of Jihad in the Country of Two Rivers (Iraq).
The US military believes Zarqawi was using Fallujah as a safe haven, but escaped the city before a US assault.
Smith said he thought Zarqawi was still in Iraq.
US military intelligence has reviewed materials found at insurgent operations centers in Fallujah.
"Initial indications are it is a fairly significant treasure trove of information," the general said.
"You'll recall after we got Saddam we didn't really know what we got. And when we went through the pocket litter and other things that were out there, there was a certain amount of information that was very useful to us," he said.
Smith said there was "reasonable agreement" between the military and the CIA that bin Laden and Al-Qaeda's senior leadership were unable to operate effectively from their remote hideouts in Pakistan or Afghanistan.

MANAMA, Bahrain, Nov. 20--A Bahraini court will Sunday issue its ruling in the case of a Bahraini activist charged with inciting hatred against the regime, who will not attend the hearing out of protest, his brother said Saturday.
Abdul Hadi Al-Khawaja, who has been on a hunger strike since November 14, "will not attend the session tomorrow," Salah Al-Khawaja told AFP.
He said that if his brother is forced to appear in court, as was the case earlier this month, he will have to be brought in on a wheelchair due to his deteriorating health.
Khawaja's lawyers will also boycott Sunday's verdict and sentencing session at the defendant's request, said the brother, adding that the family is prepared for the worst. If convicted, he could face a maximum of three years in prison.
"The family is not pinning hope on the verdict, but we are also not ruling out the possibility" of a positive outcome, the brother said.
Khawaja, vice president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, was arrested in September and his organization closed on the grounds that its activities violated the Persian Gulf state's associations law.
Before his arrest, Khawaja had addressed a poverty symposium at which he made remarks critical of the government's management of the economy and called for the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Khalifa bin Salman Al-Khalifa.
"We are ready for the worst-case scenario as long as there is no clear law and according to the mood in the country now," said the brother.
"Abdul Hadi announced from the beginning that he rejected the trial because he doesn't trust the judicial system and protested the unconstitutional articles in the law which the charges against him are based on."
Representatives from Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch will be present at Sunday's hearing, according to the brother, who said a public protest will be organized outside the court to show solidarity with Khawaja.

A water cannon vehicle disperses demonstrators during a protest against the APEC summit and US President George W. Bush''s visit to Chile, November 19. (AFP Photo)

SANTIAGO, Chile, Nov. 20--More than 25,000 protesters marched through downtown Santiago on Friday, demonstrating against an economic summit of Pacific Rim leaders, the attendance of President Bush and the US-led war in Iraq. Protests elsewhere turned violent and dozens were arrested, AP reported.
The march opposing the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit was peaceful, but riot police used water cannons and tear gas earlier to break up an unauthorized demonstration by hundreds of rock-throwing protesters.
The summit, which opens Saturday, has been greeted by four straight days of protests. Bush and leaders from 21 other nations were expected to discuss issues ranging from trade and security to growing corruption. Bush is also expected to seek support to pressure on North Korea to return to nuclear talks.
In the face of growing opposition, security has been heavy with about 4,500 extra police posted on the streets of Santiago and another 1,500 on call should the need arise in the city of 5.5 million.
The demonstrators then hurled Molotov cocktails at a car dealership a block away, burning two vehicles, before fleeing.
About 130 protesters were detained, and Deputy Interior Minister Jorge Correa blamed the violence "on a group of vandals who are the real threat to Chileans' rights to gather peacefully and freely."
"The whole weight of law will follow them," Correa said.
Shortly before Bush arrived in the capital Friday night, a fresh round of protests broke out in Valparaiso, a port city 75 miles north of Santiago.
Police used water cannons and tear gas to break up the demonstration, chasing the protesters and detaining more than 50. Two demonstrators were injured, none seriously.
Organizers of the Santiago march said 40,000 protesters took part in the government-authorized event far from the conference center where leaders of 21 Pacific region economies will meet. Police put the number at 25,000.

NEW DELHI, India, Nov. 20--A top Indian official has criticized Washington's reported decision to sell $1 billion in weapons to Pakistan, saying it could cast a shadow on New Delhi's relations with the United States as well as Pakistan, AP quoted the foreign ministry as saying Friday.
Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran, meeting in Washington on Thursday with President Bush 's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, "conveyed the government of India's strong concern at the reports of sales by the Unites States to Pakistan," Indian foreign ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna said in New Delhi.
India and Pakistan, neighbors and longtime rivals, are often sensitive to large-scale arms purchases by the other that might tilt the region's strategic balance.
The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency said it had notified the US Congress of the possible sale of eight P3C surveillance planes, 2,000 TOW anti-tank missiles, and six Phalanx gun systems, which are mounted on ships to shoot down incoming anti-ship missiles. However, it said no sales had been concluded.
The total cost of the items would be more than $1.2 billion, it said.
The state-run Associated Press of Pakistan reported late Thursday that the sale is expected to be completed in the coming weeks. "We can express satisfaction over burgeoning relations between Pakistan and the United States in the area of defense," Foreign Ministry spokesman Masood Khan said.
A 5-decade-old territorial dispute over the Himalayan region of Kashmir and attacks by Pakistan-based Islamic militants on targets in Indian territory are at the heart of the often-hostile relationship between the two countries. India charges that Pakistan provides financial and logistical support to the militants. Pakistan denies that, and says it is cracking down on the separatists.
But India and Pakistan are in the early stages of a wide-ranging peace process to try to resolve their disagreements.

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania, Nov. 20--Eleven African countries signed a UN-backed peace deal for the Great Lakes region on Saturday, pledging to end genocide, war, hunger and disease that killed 3 million over more than a decade, Reuters reported.
Thirteen heads of state signed the peace framework--the first step toward stability in an area encompassing Rwanda, Burundi and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)--on Saturday at the close of a two-day summit in Dar es Salaam.
"No one has got everything they wanted from this process, but everyone has got what they need--a real chance for peace, stability, democracy and development in a vast region," UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said at a signing ceremony.
The Dar es Salaam Declaration pledges regional leaders to confidence-building measures, including efforts to disarm rebel groups, stop arms flows and cooperate on resolving the plight of millions of refugees.
Officials call the pledge an important move toward stability for one of Africa's most chaotic regions, but it contains few details on implementation. The next steps are to be considered at a Nairobi summit scheduled for November 2005.
Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, chairman of the 53-member African Union, hailed the Great Lakes peace framework as an example of Africa's new willingness to craft solutions to its own problems.