Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul (r) attends a meeting of Iraq and its six neighbors in Amman, Jan. 6. (AFP Photo)

AMMAN, Jordan,
Jan. 7--Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul discussed prospects of reviving the Middle East peace process with his Egyptian and Syrian counterparts after talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders earlier in the week, AFP reported.
Turkey, a strictly secular non-Arab Muslim nation, believes it is in a position to facilitate peace initiatives in the region, drawing on its close ties with both Israel and the Palestinians as well as the remarkable improvement in its relations with Syria, a former foe.
Gul briefed his counterparts, Ahmed Abul Gheit of Egypt and Farouq
Al-Shara of Syria, on the discussions he had with Israeli and Palestinian officials on Tuesday and Wednesday, in bilateral meetings on the sidelines of a conference of Iraq's neighbors here.
"What he (Gul) heard from both sides encourages us to pursue the path of building peace and the speedy implementation of the roadmap and the return of both side to... negotiations aiming at the speedy implementation of this plan," Gheit told AFP after his meeting with Gul.
"We encourage everybody's efforts... Turkey is an important player in the region and Turkey has a responsibility towards the region," he said.
Gul and Gheit both said their countries were planning to step up their peace efforts after the Palestinian presidential elections at the weekend, a senior Turkish diplomat said on the condition of anonymity.
Gheit also told Gul that Egypt was planning to invite both the Israeli and Palestinian sides to Cairo after the polls, without giving other details on the planned initiative, the diplomat said.
In Beit-ul-Moqaddas, Gul also conveyed to Israeli leaders a message of good will from Syria and asserted that Damascus was serious about making peace with the Jewish state.
Israeli leaders, however, insisted that Syria should first stop supporting anti-Israeli militant groups and prove its intentions with humanitarian gestures such as the long-sought return of the remains of Eli Cohen, an Israeli spy executed in Syria four decades ago.
Neither Gul nor Shara made a statement after their meeting in Amman.

TAIPEI, Taiwan,
Jan. 7--Taiwan has successfully test-fired its Hsiung Feng III supersonic anti-ship missile in a major military technology breakthrough expected to beef up the island's defense capabilities against rival China, it was reported here Friday.
The Taipei-based China Times cited defense sources as saying the military-run Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology had conducted "more than one" test-firing for the new missile after a decade-long development, AFP reported.
It said the first test was held in November in southern Taiwan, following several failures in the past two years due to engine problems.
Hsiung Feng III is believed to outperform China's Russia-made SS-N-22 Sunburn supersonic anti-ship missile, the report said.
It said the missile, with a range of 300 kilometers,
was likely to be deployed along Taiwan's eastern coast or offshore islands.
The defense ministry declined to comment on the report.
According to a report in Jane's Defense Weekly last year, Hsiung Feng III's propulsion system compromises a ramjet engine with a solid-fuel rocket booster.
The supersonic vehicle can be fitted with a variety of guidance systems and function as an anti-ship, land-attack or anti-radar missile.
Taiwan is striving to boost its missile defense capabilities to counter the military threat from China, which officials said is targeting the island with some 600 ballistic missiles.
In June, the cabinet approved a special budget of 610.8 billion Taiwan dollars to purchase weaponry from Washington over a 15-year period starting in 2005.
The arms package, pending final approval by parliament, includes eight conventional submarines, a modified version of the Patriot anti-missile system and a fleet of anti-submarine aircraft.
The massive budget proposal has stirred heated debate on the island as critics said the spending could further provoke China and heighten cross-strait tensions.

Mustafa Barghuti

BEIT-UL-MOQADDAS, Jan. 7--The main challenger to Palestinian presidential hopeful Mahmud Abbas was arrested by Israel Friday as candidates in the race to succeed the late Yasser Arafat wrapped up their election campaigns, AFP reported.
While Palestine Liberation Organisation chairman Abbas appeared set to cruise to a comfortable victory in Sunday's polls, his main rival made an aggressive bid to close the gap on the last day of campaigning.
Mustafa Barghuti, an independent candidate who trails Abbas in the polls by a huge margin, was arrested by the Israeli security services in occupied east Beit-ul-Moqaddas as he was on his way to Friday prayers at the revered Al-Aqsa mosque
"You are arresting a presidential candidate who has permit to be in east Beit-ul-Moqaddas," Barghuti said as he was dragged into a white van by two Israeli civilian-clothed agents.
At a press conference earlier, Barghuti had announced his intention to take part in prayers at the mosque, the third holiest site in Islam and the symbol of the Palestinian struggle for independence.
Israeli police spokesman Shmulik Ben Ruby confirmed that Barghuti had been detained and charged that he had violated an agreement by trying to reach the compound.
During an address in English to reporters, Barghuti presented himself as the "leader of the democratic opposition" and hailed Sunday's vote as possibly the first fully democratic election in the Arab world "in a thousand years".
Meanwhile, Abbas, the official candidate of the ruling Fatah party he co-founded with Arafat in the late 1950s, was ending his campaign in a more low-profile fashion.
He reportedly renounced a planned visit to the Al-Aqsa mosque in order not be seen escorted by the Israeli security services.
Abbas is already perceived as having the tacit backing of Israel and the United States, and his calls for an end to the armed intifada have triggered furious reactions from Palestinian militant organizations.
Arafat's likely successor kicked off the final day of campaigning with meetings in the West Bank town of Ramallah, and the nearest he was scheduled to come to Beit-ul-Moqaddas on Friday was during a visit to the West Bank Beit-ul-Moqaddas suburbs of Al-Ram and Bir Nabala.

NEW DELHI, India, Jan. 7--Talks between India and Pakistan to resolve a dispute over a dam in Kashmir have ended without an agreement, an Indian official said on Friday, in another blow to a delicate peace process between the rivals, Reuters reported.
"They have failed to reach an agreement," an Indian water resources official told Reuters, adding details would be given at a news conference later on Friday.
The latest setback came a week after bureaucrats heading the foreign ministries in the countries said they had narrowed some of the many differences that plague their relations, but reported no breakthrough.
Islamabad had said the talks were a last-ditch bilateral effort to reach an agreement and threatened to seek international mediation if they failed.
Although the talks were officially scheduled for two days from Jan. 4, water resources officials of the countries extended negotiations into a third day to discuss specific technical issues but still failed to arrive at a settlement.
The dispute centers on India's construction of the $1 billion Baglihar hydropower dam on the Chenab river, which flows from Indian Kashmir into Pakistan.
Islamabad has objected to the design of the dam, saying it would affect flows into its territory, and contravene a 1960 river water-sharing treaty brokered by the World Bank.
India counters that the 450-megawatt power project does not propose to store water and will not disrupt flows.
Islamabad is also worried the project could present a strategic threat, giving India control over waters vital to agriculture in Punjab, Pakistan's granary state, analysts and diplomats say.
The Himalayan state of Kashmir lies at the heart of tension between the rivals, sparking two of the three wars they have fought since independence in 1947.
However, the two sides have come a long way in patching up their ties since going to the brink of another war in 2002.

WASHINGTON,
Jan. 7--With the US military heavily engaged in Iraq and Afghanistan, a senior general said on Thursday he expected the Pentagon will make permanent a temporary increase of 30,000 soldiers in the Army, Reuters reported.
The senior Army general, briefing reporters on condition of anonymity, said, "As far as I can see, it will be hard for us to come off of the 30 (thousand)." Maintaining the additional 30,000 soldiers costs $3 billion annually, he said.
A permanent increase to 512,000 soldiers in the Army would require congressional approval.
"There is stress in the force," the general added. "That's why we asked for the temporary 30-K increase to relieve some of that pressure. That's why we instituted stop-loss."
The Army has issued so-called stop-loss orders blocking thousands of soldiers from leaving the military if their volunteer service ends while they are in Iraq and Afghanistan.
A year ago, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld authorized the addition of 30,000 soldiers beyond the Army's approved limit of 482,000, using emergency powers granted by Congress.
The move came as the Army was struggling to maintain troop levels for the guerrilla war in Iraq that scuttled earlier plans to draw down forces there.
Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers have called for a permanent increase in the size of the Army--which provides most of the troops for the two wars. Rumsfeld has resisted, arguing that restructuring the force and making it more efficient could reduce some of the stress.
The general's comments followed news of a memo by Lt. Gen. James Helmly, head of the US Army Reserve, in which he said the reserve was "rapidly degenerating into a 'broken' force" because of dysfunctional military policies.
With the regular Army stretched thin and crucial specialists like military police concentrated in reserve units, the Pentagon has tapped heavily into the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard to keep up troop levels in Iraq.
Reservists make up 40 percent of U.S. troops in Iraq. "I would not use the term 'broke,'" the senior general told reporters. "'Stressed' is probably a much more accurate term."

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia, Jan. 7--Cambodia renewed its call Friday for the United Nations to find money for a genocide tribunal as the country marked the 26th anniversary of the end of the Khmer Rouge's brutal rule, AP reported.
Many former Khmer Rouge leaders are still alive but none has been tried for the regime's radical policies that led to the deaths of 1.7 million people from disease, starvation, overwork, torture and execution.
"The Cambodian people hope and believe that the United Nations ... will solve this last stumbling block," said Chea Sim, president of the ruling Cambodian People's Party.
"We cannot close this darkest historical chapter totally unless justice is rendered for the victims of the genocidal regime," he said.
Cambodia and the United Nations last month agreed on a budget of $56.2 million for the tribunal but they are still trying to raise the funds. The two sides began discussing an internationally assisted tribunal in 1997. As the process grinds on, victims fear that the perpetrators will die of old age before going to trial.
The murderous Khmer Rouge was toppled by Vietnam's invading army on Jan. 7, 1979, after four years in power. The Vietnamese withdrew in 1989, but their 10-year occupation continues to rankle some Cambodians.
On Friday, about a dozen people protested the anniversary celebrations but were quickly subdued by more than 50 riot police.
"Down with the Vietnamese puppets!" shouted protest leader Im Sinath during a short march in front of Cambodia's National Assembly.
Police confiscated the protesters' banners and beat Im Sinath during a scuffle before arresting him and two others. Phan Phaeng, police commander at the scene, refused to comment to reporters.

SANTIAGO, Chile, Jan. 7--A judge investigating Augusto Pinochet on corruption charges seized Thursday what sources describe as an important cache of financial records belonging to the former military dictator, AFP reported.
Judge Sergio Munoz is investigating the origin of four to eight million dollars that Pinochet held in Washington's Riggs Bank. He carried out a surprise raid along with police agents on offices that Pinochet maintains in the affluent Las Condes neighborhood, in east Santiago.
The move came as Pinochet, 89, remained under house arrest at his coastal residence west of Santiago after Chile's Supreme Court upheld his indictment on murder and kidnapping charges stemming from his 1973-1990 rule.
Pinochet attorney Pablo Rodriguez said that Munoz's order was "illegal and inconstitutional" because his client is protected by special privileges the Chilean congress granted him for being a former president.
A 2004 US Senate investigation found that Riggs Bank had laundered money in Pinochet's secret accounts between 1994 and 2002.
The accounts held between four million and eight million dollars.
In August, a Chilean newspaper said Pinochet held at least five more secret bank accounts in the United States, in addition to the eight already discovered at Riggs. La Tercera reported that some of the accounts were opened by the former dictator under his name and under the names of two of his children, Lucia and Marco Antonio, in four other US banks, including Citibank in Miami. Pinochet's lawyer said that judge Munoz questioned various staff who worked for Pinochet during the raid.

CAIRO, Egypt,
Jan. 7--The peace agreement for southern Sudan, to be signed in Kenya on Sunday, helps take the heat off the Khartoum government, which for most of the past year has faced a barrage of international criticism for its handling of the separate conflict in the western region of Darfur, Reuters reported.
The United States and European governments will portray the peace deal in the south as a model for Darfur and press the government to make similar arrangements to end a crisis which has displaced more than 1.6 million Darfuris, analysts said.
But their margin for maneuver will be limited because Khartoum expects some reward for coming to terms with the southern rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) and Western states will be reluctant to do anything to endanger the smooth implementation of the complicated arrangements.
"Just as it (the international community) has pulled its punches on Darfur partly in order not to jeopardize the peace process in the south, it may well end up doing the same supposedly in order not to jeopardise the implementation," said John Ryle, a Sudan specialist at the Rift Valley Institute.
Analysts say the international campaign to solve the Darfur crisis peaked several months ago because the United States and Britain, the major players on Sudan policy in the UN Security Council, have no appetite for the kind of direct intervention which Khartoum most fears.
Khartoum appears to have survived the genocide label Washington has used to describe aspects of the Darfur conflict and any conceivable new sanctions could hardly be worse than those imposed on Sudan at various times over the past 10 years.
Peace in the south also takes some of the wind out of the sails of the US Sudan lobby, a loose alliance of Christians and African Americans which has helped to drive US policy against a Sudanese government dominated by Arabs and Muslims.
Kent Dagerfeld, head of the European Union delegation in Khartoum, said that peace in the south could trigger the release of up to 400 million euros ($540 million) in European aid to Sudan, even if the Darfur conflict continues.