Former Chilean dictator general Augusto Pinochet is helped to walk during a public appearance at his house in Santiago, Chile, September 11. (AFP File Photo)

SANTIAGO, Chile, Dec. 14--Lawyers for Gen. Augusto Pinochet appealed a judge's decision to place the former Chilean dictator under house arrest, winning him at least another day of freedom, AP reported.
Judge Juan Guzman ordered Pinochet, 89, confined to his home after indicting him Monday in the kidnapping of nine dissidents and the death of one of them during his 17-year military regime.
It is the third attempt to try him for alleged abuses during his rule in the South American country.
The ruling reversed earlier Chilean court decisions to exempt Pinochet from trial on health grounds.
"Gen. Pinochet has been declared mentally competent to face a criminal trial in Chile," Guzman said.
He said he reached that decision after questioning the former president and examining reports from court-appointed doctors. Guzman said he also was influenced an interview Pinochet gave to a Spanish-language TV station in Miami last year.
Pinochet told the station he sees himself as "a good angel," and blamed abuses on subordinates in his regime. Guzman said Pinochet appeared mentally alert.
"It was not difficult," Guzman said of his decision.
Guzman has a reputation as a crusader in prominent human rights cases. He has tried to bring Pinochet to trial before but was blocked by the Supreme Court, which said the general had a mild case of dementia that made him unfit to stand trial.
The general's defense team quickly filed an injunction with the Santiago Court of Appeals, effectively freezing the house arrest until the court rules on it, probably in the next day or two.
Pinochet's chief attorney, Pablo Rodriguez, called the indictment and detention a violation of Pinochet's rights.
"This is a person that is being tried without having any possibility whatsoever of defending himself," Rodriguez claimed. "Everybody in Chile knows that Gen. Pinochet has been constantly persecuted by Judge Guzman."
The defense, still contending Pinochet has dementia, say his condition has gotten worse.
Pinochet also suffers from diabetes, arthritis and has a heart pacemaker.
A small group of alleged victims of Pinochet's regime and their relatives celebrated Guzman's announcement in the crowded court hallways.

BEIT-UL-MOQADDAS, Dec. 14--Palestinian residents of Beit-ul-Moqaddas will be allowed to take part in presidential elections to choose a successor to Yasser Arafat, Palestinian and Israeli officials said on Tuesday, ending weeks of uncertainty, Reuters reported.
A Palestinian official said the sides agreed at a recent meeting to have polling stations in post offices in East Beit-ul-Moqaddas, as they did in a 1996 vote. Palestinians had said there could be no ballot if Beit-ul-Moqaddas residents were excluded.
Palestinian voting in Beit-ul-Moqaddas is contentious as both Israel and the Palestinians lay claim to the eastern part of the city, captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed in a move not recognized internationally.
"It's not a voting district of the Palestinian Authority, but there are Palestinian voters there who are eligible to vote and they will vote in absentee ballots," said Raanan Gissin, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
The Palestinian official said Palestinians would have at least five polling stations in East Beit-ul-Moqaddas, which they want as capital of a future state, and that ballots would be tallied outside the municipal borders.
Israel has said it will take all necessary steps to help the Palestinians conduct a free and fair election on Jan. 9, and Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz said Israel will pull out of Palestinian cities during the vote.
The only candidate with a real chance of winning is Mahmoud Abbas, a veteran official who is expected to try and revive peace talks.

Pakistan's Additional Secretary of the Foreign Office Tariq Osman Hyder (r) greets his Indian counterpart Meera Shankar upon her arrival for talks in Islamabad, December 14. (Reuters Photo)

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Dec. 14--South Asian rivals Pakistan and India began two days of talks on Tuesday aimed at agreeing on measures to build confidence about their nuclear and conventional arms programs, Reuters reported.
The talks in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, between foreign ministry experts are part of a cautious peace process relaunched under international pressure early this year.
The two sides will discuss proposals aimed at building mutual confidence about each other's nuclear arsenals to avoid any miscalculations and will try to formalize an agreement to notify each other in advance of missile tests--a practice they already follow informally.
"I look forward to a result-oriented process which will be in the interest of both our people and our governments," Meera Shankar, additional secretary at the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, told reporters.
Analysts do not expect any major breakthroughs.
On Monday, Pakistan objected to India raising Pakistan's plans to acquire conventional arms from the United States as an issue, given India's own arms-buying program.
India said last week any US arms sales to Pakistan would affect its relations with the United States, and the slow-moving India-Pakistan peace process.
At a news conference on Monday, Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman Masood Khan called the Indian statement "disturbing".
Khan called Pakistan's program "modest" compared with that of India, which was spending tens of billions of dollars to acquire sophisticated weapons from around the world. "We do not want to match India gun-for-gun, missile-for-missile, aircraft-for-aircraft," he said.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Dec. 14--Afghan security forces have captured Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar's personal security chief as he traveled in a van to the southern city of Kandahar, provincial officials told Reuters on Tuesday.
The capture of Toor Mullah Naqibullah Khan, who headed Mullah Omar's household security, could help US and Afghan forces track down his boss, one of the most wanted fugitives in the US-led war on terror.
Osama bin Laden, who ran his Al-Qaeda network in Afghanistan under the protection of the Taliban, is also believed to be at large in the region.
"We have arrested top Taliban figures Toor Mullah Naqibullah Khan and Mullah Qayoom Angar on the way between Arghandab and Kandahar. They were carrying a satellite telephone and some important documents," said a senior Kandahar security official, who requested anonymity.
"We are hopeful we will arrest more Taliban figures and we hope that we can arrest their leader Mullah Omar," he said.
Khalid Pashtun, spokesman for the provincial government, confirmed the arrests.
With the latest capture, security forces have picked up at least 19 militants since Saturday night, including the brother of a former Taliban governor of Kandahar.
Naqibullah Khan was unarmed when he was arrested with Angar, another Taliban commander, on Monday evening. The security official said they were picked up following a tip-off from a Taliban insider.
Mullah Omar's Taliban militia have been waging an insurgency in the south and southeast of Afghanistan since they were driven from power in late 2001 by US and Afghan forces after Al-Qaeda attacked the United States on Sept. 11.
The Taliban's most senior military commander played down the significance of the arrests.
"Maybe they are ordinary Taliban," Mullah Dadullah, one of the movement's 10-member leadership council, told Reuters by satellite telephone.
But Pashtun said Naqibullah Khan was a dangerous killer who was still in charge of security for Mullah Omar.
"During the (October presidential) election this man killed nine government intelligence agents in the Meyansheen district of Kandahar province," he said.

TAIPEI, Taiwan,
Dec. 14--China's rapid arms build-up will cause an imbalance of power in the Taiwan Strait by 2008 and increase the likelihood of war if Taiwan fails to beef up its defenses quickly, Reuters quoted the island's military as saying on Tuesday.
The assessment, in the Taiwan defense ministry's biennial white paper, came hours before opposition lawmakers blocked a US$18 billion special arms budget from being included on the legislative agenda for a sixth time.
"By 2006, the military advantage in the Taiwan Strait will tilt in favor of communist China," the defense ministry said.
"If the situation continues to deteriorate, there will be an imbalance of military power between the two sides, which will be extremely unfavorable for our national security."
Many security analysts see the Taiwan Strait as the most dangerous flashpoint in Asia. China claims sovereignty over Taiwan and has threatened to attack the democratic island of 25 million people if it formally declares independence.
Tension between the arch-foes has simmered since the reelection of Taiwan's president, Chen Shui-bian, in March.
Beijing, which sees Taiwan as a renegade province, believes Chen may declare formal independence before his second and last four-year term ends in 2008.
The defense ministry said an imbalance of power could tempt the mainland to use force.
"The imbalance of military power will be conducive for communist China to resolve the 'Taiwan issue' through military means," it said.
Assessing scenarios, the ministry said in its 298-page report China's 2.23 million-strong army would most likely launch a surprise attack, such as by invading offshore islands, firing missiles or imposing a sea blockade, and seek to paralyze government and military command.

BEIRUT, Lebanon, Dec. 14--The television channel run by Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrillas said on Tuesday France's decision to ban it on grounds of anti-Semitism was politically motivated and promised to pursue its case to get back on air, Reuters said.
On Monday, a French court gave the France-based company Eutelsat 48 hours to end broadcasts by Al-Manar television beamed from its satellites to Europe, saying the channel had violated a ban on hate speech.
Al-Manar said the decision was made under pressure from Israel and Jewish lobbies.
Head of news Hassan Fadlallah said it was unfair to close a channel because of one guest who, while live on air in November, said there were Zionist attempts to spread diseases including AIDS to Arabs--comments that sparked the latest court action.
"This is a political decision, not a legal decision," he told Reuters.
"How is it possible in a country that proclaims freedom and says its laws and constitution uphold the right to free speech, that they shut a TV station on the basis of one person speaking on the telephone?"
The conservative government in France and Jewish groups have pressed for about a year for a ban on Al-Manar, one of several Arabic-language stations popular among France's 5 million Muslims.
Paris has expressed concern about Islamist influence among disaffected Muslims and anti-Semitic views it says are spread by Hezbollah, a group that fought Israel's occupation of southern Lebanon and describes itself as Islamic resistance.
France has said Al-Manar could return to the airwaves if it modified its content to satisfy French law.
The head of Eutelsat, Giuliano Berretta, told France's Europe 1 radio on Tuesday that the satellite operator was only one of four currently broadcasting Al-Manar in Europe.

YANGON, Myanmar, Dec. 14--Thirteen members of Aung San Suu Kyi's opposition National League for Democracy were arrested just days before Myanmar's junta freed more than 5,000 prisoners last week, Reuters quoted a party official as saying on Tuesday.
NLD Secretary U Lwin said 13 party officials in Bogalay Township, about 80 miles southwest of Yangon, were detained on Dec. 6 for organizing a National Day ceremony even though the event did not take place. "They were accused of trying to incite unrest and we hear they will be sent for trial," U Lwin told Reuters.
Human rights groups say a crackdown on the opposition in military-ruled Myanmar has continued since the junta began releasing thousands of prisoners following an internal purge in October.
More than 14,000 prisoners have been freed since late November, with the latest batch of 5,070 on Sunday. But they have included only a handful of an estimated 1,300-1,400 political prisoners.
Nine NLD members and two Democracy Party leaders were let go on Sunday, raising to 56 the number of political detainees freed since the mass releases began.
Western governments and human rights groups have demanded the generals free all other political prisoners, including NLD leader Suu Kyi, who is under house arrest in the capital.
The military has ruled the former Burma in various guises since 1962, ignoring a 1990 election victory by the NLD and keeping Nobel laureate Suu Kyi confined for most of the past 15 years.

TOKYO, Dec. 14--The US ambassador said Tuesday that Japan should have veto rights if the UN Security Council is enlarged, the first time a top US official has backed giving another country full powers in the world body, AFP reported.
"If you are elected permanent membership of the Security Council, you should have all rights and responsibilities that go with that," Ambassador Howard Baker told a press conference.
"If you have two different classes of permanent members of the Security Council... you would defeat its purpose," Baker said.
Baker, a former senator who is expected to retire soon, was the first US official to back full veto rights for Japan on the Security Council.
The United States has explicitly backed Japan's bid for a seat, but had earlier not said whether it would support letting its close Asian ally veto resolutions.
Brazil, Germany, Japan and India are on a joint bid to secure prestigious permanent seats in the Council, whose set-up giving veto rights to Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States dates from World War II.