AP - December 31st, 2003

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) -- A former journalist who used the Internet to criticize the Vietnamese government was sentenced Wednesday to seven years in jail and three years house arrest for spying, a court official said.

Nguyen Vu Binh, 35, was charged with gathering anti-government information and documents for ``reactionary organizations'' in exile to help them oppose the government, the official said on condition of anonymity.

During the half-day trial at the People's Court in Hanoi, Binh admitted he had contacts with foreign organizations but maintained he did not do anything wrong, he said.

The judge ruled his actions constituted espionage, he added.

Binh was arrested in September 2002 for writing an article that circulated on the Internet criticizing a border agreement between Vietnam and China. A month earlier, he joined 20 others in signing a petition to government leaders demanding legal reforms to protect human rights and to establish an independent anti-corruption body. That same year, he also submitted testimony to the U.S. Congress criticizing Vietnam's human rights record.

Binh left his job at Tap Chi Cong San (Journal of Communism) in 2001, after applying to form an independent opposition party. The Communist Party, Vietnam's only political party, strictly forbids any calls for a multiparty system.

London-based Amnesty International and New York-based Human Rights Watch issued a joint statement Tuesday calling on the international community to denounce the trial and push for Binh's freedom.

``Nguyen Vu Binh faces a summary trial and hefty jail term for speaking out against abuse,'' said Rory Mungoven, global advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. ``The U.S. Congress, which heard testimony from Binh last year, has a responsibility now to protest his case.''

Dozens of police and security guards, some dressed in plain clothes, stood outside the courthouse, blocking anyone from standing on the sidewalk. Across the street, police harassed Binh's family members by shouting through bullhorns and blowing whistles in their faces when they tried to speak to foreign journalists and diplomats from several embassies, who also were denied access to the trial.

``If it's an open and fair trial, the defendant's relatives should be allowed into the courtroom so they could see what crimes he committed, but his parents and siblings were not allowed inside,'' said Binh's older sister, Nguyen Thi Phong. ``Is it an open and fair trial?''

She said Binh has been jailed for more than a year, but no one in the family has been allowed to visit him. Only his wife was allowed inside the courthouse.

International rights groups, as well as the U.S. State Department, have regularly criticized Vietnam for its repressive treatment of religious and political dissidents. Hanoi maintains that only lawbreakers are punished.

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) -- A former Khmer Rouge leader expected to face a U.N. tribunal acknowledged Tuesday there is ``no more doubt left'' that his regime committed genocide, the first admission of the communist group's collective guilt.

Khieu Samphan's surprising statement in an interview with The Associated Press is a major step in the long overdue effort to bring to justice those responsible for the deaths of 1.7 million Cambodians during the ultra-leftist group's 1975-79 rule.

Many of the victims were executed; the rest died of starvation, disease and overwork in the Khmer Rouge's attempt to create an agrarian utopia. Now, with an agreement on a tribunal earlier this month between U.N. and Cambodian officials, ex-Khmer Rouge leaders should soon face charges for the first time.

A former head of state and one of the few top Khmer Rouge leaders still alive, Khieu Samphan, 72, is certain to be indicted. Speaking by telephone from his home, he apparently hoped to begin giving his version of Cambodia's bloody history before his likely prosecution for genocide and crimes against humanity.

He insisted he never ordered any killings -- and claimed he only learned from a documentary two months ago about the extent of the Khmer Rouge's crimes.

``Everything has to go the trial's way now, and there's no other way,'' he said. ``I have to prepare myself not to let the time pass away. But I also want the public to understand about me, too. I was not involved in any killings.''

Until Tuesday, none of the Khmer Rouge's top leaders had publicly accepted that the government committed genocide.

But Khieu Samphan said he realized he could no longer ignore the Khmer Rouge's atrocities after he saw a documentary about the notorious S-21 prison, presented to him by a Cambodian-French filmmaker, Rithy Pan.

``When I saw the film, it was hard for me to deny (the killings). There's no more doubt left,'' said Khieu Samphan, who lives in Pailin, 175 miles northwest of the capital, Phnom Penh.

``I was surprised, because I never thought it (the regime) went to that extent in its policies. S-21 was in the middle of Phnom Penh. It was clearly a state institution. It was part of the regime.''

Until he saw the film, he said he had reserved his judgment about the prison's existence and atrocities.

As many as 16,000 people are believed to have passed through the gates of the infamous prison but only 14 are thought to have survived. The prison is now the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum.

None of the Khmer Rouge's surviving leadership has faced justice. Many are infirm but -- like Khieu Samphan -- live and move freely in the country. Pol Pot, the regime's supremo, died in 1998.

After five years of negotiations, U.N. and Cambodian officials tentatively agreed this month on steps to set up the tribunal. But the court's creation has been delayed by a lack of funds and by political instability after Cambodia's inconclusive general elections left three parties jostling to create a coalition.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan plans to launch an appeal in early February for contributions toward the tribunal's $40 million operating budget. Sok An, the Cambodian government's chief negotiator for setting up the court, has said its formalization will be ``addressed immediately'' once a new legislature is formed.

The other senior leader expected to face trial is Nuon Chea, the former Khmer Rouge's ideologue, who also lives in Pailin. He and Khieu Samphan surrendered to the government in December 1998, just a few months before the capture of Ta Mok, the former Khmer Rouge army chief, which capped the final collapse of the movement.

Ta Mok and Kaing Khek Iev, the S-21 prison's chief, are now in prison.

Copies of a book linking Russia's FSB security service to apartment blasts in 1999 have been seized by the Russian police, the book's sellers say.

Over 4,000 issues of FSB Blows Up Russia were confiscated in western Russia on Sunday, Alexander Podrabinek of the Prima news agency said.

Mr Podrabinek said "the books were seized as anti-government propaganda".

The book is co-authored by former FSB agent Alexander Litvinenko, who fled to Britain in 2000 and was given political asylum there.

Mr Litvinenko has accused his superiors of carrying out the apartment bombings and also of ordering him to kill Russia's exiled tycoon Boris Berezovsky.

Last year, Mr Litvinenko was tried in absentia by a Russian court and sentenced to three-and-a-half-years in prison sentence for abuse of office and stealing explosives.

The sentence was suspended.

Full story here.

Embattled Russian oil giant Yukos owes $3.3bn in back taxes and fines, the Russian tax ministry says.

The ministry accused the firm of evading taxes by setting up a web of affiliated firms.

But since the tax ministry's accusation, the first to hit the firm itself, applies only to the year 2000, analysts fear further tax demands are likely to make an appearance.

The 2000 tax bill is roughly equivalent to Yukos' net profits for 2002.

Alfa Bank in Moscow said the company's results indicated it had paid roughly the same level of tax on its profits - 21%, compared to an oil sector average of 23%.

Full story here.

BELGRADE, Serbia-Montenegro - Jailed former President Slobodan Milosevic and another U.N. war crimes suspect won seats in Serbia's parliament as an extreme nationalist party swept weekend elections, according to results released Monday.

Vojislav Seselj's Serbian Radical Party, which supported Milosevic's Balkan war campaigns in the 1990s, won 81 seats in Sunday's ballot for the 250-seat parliament — far more than the pro-Western groups that toppled Milosevic three years ago, the state electoral commission said.

Milosevic of the Serbian Socialist Party and Seselj are jailed by the U.N. tribunal at The Hague on atrocity charges stemming from the wars in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo.

They topped their parties' lists in a parliamentary vote considered crucial for the still-volatile Balkans, meaning they each have a right to a seat. Milosevic's Socialists won 22 seats.

Milosevic and Seselj can't attend parliamentary sessions, but their parties can still decide to award them seats when the new parliament convenes in January.

"It would be symbolic for Milosevic to get a seat in the parliament," said his party deputy, Ivica Dacic. "We'll talk to Milosevic about it, and we'll see if he wants it."

The Radicals' deputy leader, Tomislav Nikolic, said he spoke on the phone with Seselj briefly Monday, but claimed the conversation was interrupted by prison authorities in The Hague.

"Vojislav Seselj has been placed in isolation because of the victory he and his party gained at the elections in Serbia," Nikolic said.

The tribunal slapped a 30-day gag order on Seselj and Milosevic during the elections, which Seselj managed to violate at least once when he addressed supporters by phone on the eve of the vote.

Murat Mercan, the head of the Europe Parliamentary Assembly observer team, Serbia sends a negative message to the world by including the war crimes suspects on candidate lists.

"While formally not in breach of the law, it shows a lack of political responsibility and is a reminder that a number of political parties in Serbia are still caught up in the denounced legacy of the past," Mercan said.

Full story here.

QUESTION: Do you have any -- anything on the Serbian election, the strong showing of Milosevic allies, in fact, he seems to have been elected to Parliament?

MR. ERELI: I would not, as a general matter -- and we'll be putting out a statement on this later today -- as a general matter, we welcome the orderly elections in Serbia that took place on Sunday, and we commend the Serbian people for their participation in the democratic process. The elections were conducted freely and fairly with no major incidents reported. We urge the parties which will enter the new Parliament to reach a consensus and form a new government quickly to continue the reform processes begun in October 2000.

We certainly expect those parties representing democratic ideals and standards to continue the process of economic, judicial and military reform, as well as support the full implementation of the Dayton Agreement, full cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, including the arrest and transfer of Ratko Mladic to the International Criminal Tribunal for trial, and good relations with neighboring countries, which will allow Serbia and Montenegro to attain full membership in the Euro-Atlantic institutions.

On the specific results of the elections, I would note that parties that represent the democratic transition process were chosen by over 60 percent of the Serbian electorates, and that parties that espouse nationalist agendas garnered only one-third of the vote. I think that it is likely that any future government will come from the majority of democratic transition parties.

Editor's commentary: For them even Slobodan Milosevic and his party are those who support democratic transition and has nothing to do with crimes committed in the name of nationalism during the last decade. For them even Nazi killer Kostunica is not a nationalist. The worst news recently was that American ambassador representing bin Laden interests in Belgrade tried to convince Ivica Dacic to renounce Slobodan Milosevic in order to get American support. Although Dacic refused, State Department now claims that Milosevic's party is party of progress that will help Serbia!? It would be more suitable for them to move their HQ to Moscow or even better some Afghan hole so that they can represent all evildoers in the world and help them destroy the world. Who is going to provide judicial reforms now when Batic is out of parliament, who is going to provide military reforms and extradite war criminals when two thirds of Serb parliament is supporting Mladic and Pavkovic? The biggest threat today for the free world is not Al Qaeda but State Department infested with terrorists and criminals posing as liberals promoting "Third Way".

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Saddam Hussein has acknowledged depositing billions of dollars abroad before his ouster and has given interrogators the names of people who know where the money is, a member of the Iraqi Governing Council said in remarks published Monday.

The U.S.-appointed council estimates that the Iraqi dictator seized $40 billion while in power and is now searching for that amount deposited in Switzerland, Japan, Germany and other countries, Iyad Allawi told the London-based Arab newspapers Al-Hayat and Asharq al-Awsat.

"Saddam has started to give information on money that has been looted from Iraq and deposited abroad," Allawi told Asharq al-Awsat. "Investigation is now concentrated on his relationship with terrorist organizations and on the money paid to elements outside Iraq."

Allawi said Saddam, who has been questioned by American interrogators since his capture this month, gave names of people who know where the money is deposited and also know the location of arms and ammunition depots used by insurgents in attacks against the coalition forces and the Governing Council.

Full story here.

BELGRADE, Serbia-Montenegro (AP) -- The strong election showing by hardline nationalists allied to former strongman Slobodan Milosevic has left Serbia's fractured pro-democracy groups with little choice but to unite or risk seeing a slide toward authoritarianism.

Milosevic, who is currently imprisoned in The Hague, and three other war crimes suspects are candidates in Sunday's parliamentary elections, and could win seats.

Preliminary results showed the Serbian Radical party winning, ahead of more moderate nationalists. The outgoing pro-democratic government was in third place.

The independent Center for Free Elections and Democracy said exit polls had the Radicals with 82 seats, compared with 53 for the Democratic Party of Serbia and 37 for the Democratic Party. Full official results were not expected before Monday.

``It is important that democratic groups now form a bloc that will ensure that Serbia remains on the path of democratic reforms'' and focused on membership in the European Union, said Boris Tadic, the Democratic Party chief.

Although the Radicals won most seats, they still cannot form the government alone, not even with Milosevic's Socialists with whom they ruled in coalition until a popular revolt in 2000 replaced them with the now outgoing pro-Western government. The Socialists came sixth.

The failure of the post-Milosevic leadership -- more than a dozen pro-democracy groups whose unity crumbled after 2000 -- brought disillusionment among many Serbs and contributed to the swing back to the hardliners.

Average monthly salaries equal about $300 and the Radicals also profited from a deep anti-West feelings generated by the NATO bombing of Serbia during the 1999 Kosovo campaign.

``Serbia is on the path of political chaos,'' said prominent analyst Aleksandar Tijanic. He predicted that if democratic groups do not reunite, that could lead to new early elections and further gains by the Radicals.

Prominent members of the democratic bloc suggested they had learned their lesson

``We will do everything to ensure creation of a stable, democratic government,'' said Miroljub Labus, the leader of G17 party that won a projected 22 seats.

But with the Radicals strong, even a Serbian government that leaves them in the opposition will not be as pro-Western as the one formed after Milosevic's ouster.

Radical leader Vojislav Seselj earlier this year surrendered to the U.N. war crimes court in the Netherlands, joining Milosevic who was extradited by the pro-Western leadership in 2001 for his alleged role the Balkan wars of the 1990s.

Seselj's deputy and the key figure of the Radicals' election campaign, Tomislav Nikolic, dedicated the party victory to ``Seselj and other Serb inmates in The Hague'' -- an allusion to Milosevic.

Both Milosevic and Seselj were candidates in the elections, despite their imprisonment by the U.N court. Two other indicted war crimes suspects from other parties were also running.

The Radicals openly call for ``Greater Serbia'' at the expense of the republic's Balkan neighbors and have pledged to cut diplomatic ties with Serbia's main wartime rival, Croatia. They also vow not to extradite to the Hague tribunal the two top U.N. war crimes fugitives -- former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and his wartime military commander, Gen. Ratko Mladic.

Editor's commentary: So much about democracy in Serbia and moronic human rights watch groups who advocate elections at any cost although even the dumbest out there know that power comes with money and force. Result is so ridiculous that new elections will be probably held within three months similar to endless presidential elections that never produce a president. There are only a few options left and they are:

1. Majority government consisting or SRS and DSS (135 seats)
2. Minority government consisting or DS, G17, SPO-NS (94 seats)
3. Minority government formed by SRS alone (82 seats)

Only first option seems viable because those two parties have almost identical political programmes while other two options are very unlikely. First because of big animosity between DS and SPO-NS and second because you can't rule with only 82 seats (less than a third of all seats). Anti-Serb, traitor, criminal, anti-EU, anti-NATO parties (SRS, DSS, SPS) have won 156 seats and that alone is tragic but even worse is that once again, Solana, Prodi, Powell continue to support Nazi murderer Kostunica and present him as a pro-Western democratic option although he protected Milosevic's criminals and war criminals, voted against reforms and openly spoke against Dayton, America, West, capitalism and even asked for union of Serbia and RS. Kostunica is one of those who organized assassination of Zoran Djindjic and yet he still gets support in the West. This is a dangerous message that might inspire others to do similar thing and that is to assassinate their political opponents in order to take the power. You can check out full results of this silly election at CESID web site here. Nebojsa Covic, Dusan Mihajlovic, Vladan Batic are out of parliament, Mira Markovic's JUL won less than 4,000 votes, popular youth movement Otpor won only 62,000 votes and most popular politicians from Vojvodina were left out of parliament including all minorities. Animosity among all wining parties and their history might result in no coalition of any kind and new elections to be held very soon. There are many idiotic comments about this election and some of them are:

1. People in Serbia voted for SRS because they would help them improve life in Serbia,
2. Radicals won most seats but there is nothing to worry because Democratic parties won more seats and they will form new democratic government,
3. People in Serbia resent West because of NATO bombing and that's why they once again voted for totalitarian parties,
4. People in Serbia are disillusioned with Western reforms and that's why they voted for Radicals.

FS Net would really, really like that Radicals form the government and show Serbs better life. Even a total idiot knows that they can't provide a single loan, credit or any good business deal so their promises would go flat into the toilet bowl. For the past ten years these people promised lies over and over again and not once delivered anything. If it is the only way to let them rule Serbia then let it be just to shut them up once and for all. They are mostly used as a threatening card by Milosevic and now Kostunica. "Better vote for us because we are not as bad as Radicals are". Just check out Tijanic's (Kostunica's mouth piece) statement in above's story and you know what is going on. Kostunica would like to use Radicals as bargaining and threatening chip like Milosevic used to in order to put pressure on the West so that West forces DS and G17 to once again form coalition with Kostunica DSS although he is the one of those who organized Djindjic's assassination. Kostunica and his DSS are Nazis not democrats so total score is overwhelming for totalitarian parties. If Serbs resented West because of NATO bombings then how come they voted for DOS in 2000 and ousted Milosevic? What Western reforms were implemented in Serbia during past three years so that people can become disillusioned with them? It is more likely that they are disillusioned with lack of reforms and that is the reason why thousands of Serbs continue to leave Serbia permanently every month. Machinery of lies paid by Moscow and ran by Moscow agents is obviously crumbling and becoming desperate as Saddam Hussein who tried to hide himself in some broken septic tank. It is time for reality check or even better sanity check because if they think that repeating same lies over and over again will help them keep status quo then they should think again. The only thing they will achieve is radicalization of political fight in Serbia because now everyone is aware that the only way to save the country is to fight and not to wait for bogus elections and more lies to be repeated again and again and again. Think twice if you think that civil war is not possible in Serbia.

PS: Any party that joins DSS in coalition will be permanently banned and without any support of FS Net.

Russian tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky will be held in jail for another three months, a Moscow court has ruled.

The former Yukos oil boss, who is charged with embezzlement and tax evasion, had been seeking bail. His supporters say the case is politically motivated and claim the Kremlin is behind it.

The latest decision means that Mr Khodorkovsky - considered a potential candidate for the presidency - will be in jail on election day in March.

Mr Khodorkovsky's appearance in handcuffs on the opening day of the case on Monday was the first time he had been seen in public since his arrest in October.

He arrived in an armoured van, and officials said he had been placed behind metal bars in the courtroom.

Another Moscow court on Tuesday turned down a bail application from a close associate of Mr Khodorkovsky, Yukos shareholder Platon Lebedev.

Mr Lebedev has been held since July in connection with the privatisation of a fertiliser firm.

Full story here.

The trial of 15 people charged with direct involvement in the assassination of Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic has begun.

Among the accused is the man who is alleged to have pulled the trigger.

But the supposed mastermind behind the shooting in March remains a fugitive, and will be tried in absentia.

The high-profile trial starts less than a week before general elections designed to end Serbia's long-running political stalemate.

Full story here.

Italian police have raided an alleged hide-out of the Red Brigades, the country's most notorious left-wing militant group. Police evacuated the entire apartment block in Rome for fear of an explosion. They found explosives and arms as well as police uniforms and documents claiming responsibility for the killing of a labour consultant last year. The raid follows the arrests of nine suspected members of the Red Brigades in October.

The haul found in a basement in an eastern suburb of Rome included 100 kilos (220 pounds) of explosives, detonators and guns. Also seized were fake identity cards, police uniforms and, according to some reports, the original document claiming responsibility for last year's murder of a labour consultant, Marco Biagi.

He was targeted because he was helping to draft laws to make it easier to fire workers. That crime and the killing of another labour advisor, Massimo D'Antona, were claimed by the New Red Brigades for the Combatant Communist Party.

Full story here.

On a sunny November morning in 1982, more than a dozen American reporters sat around a vast table in Baghdad's Republican Palace, waiting for an audience with Saddam Hussein.

The vigorous, 45-year-old Saddam had been in power for three years. His war with Iran, then in its third year, was not going well. Saddam needed all the international support he could get.

Inviting a delegation of reporters to visit Iraq was part of an Iraqi strategy of reaching out to Washington, which was alarmed at the prospect that the Iranians might defeat the Iraqis and assume a dominant role in the oil-rich Middle East.

Nearly an hour later, Saddam and his aides marched in. Saddam, dressed in military fatigues, pranced to his chair, placed his 9 mm pistol on the table and sat.

It was a performance meant to establish authority. As the world was to learn in the decades that followed, Saddam Hussein was a master of intimidation. And he liked being in control.

Without waiting for any formalities, Saddam glared at the assembled reporters and asked the first question: ``What do you think of my country?''

After a few moments of stony silence, he repeated the question. Still no response.

``If you do not answer Saddam's questions, perhaps Saddam will not answer yours,'' he growled through his interpreter.

That elicited a tepid question about allegations of human rights abuses. Saddam bristled and demanded the names of anyone whose rights had been abused.

Someone mentioned the health minister, Riyadh Ibrahim Hussein. Rumor had it that he had been executed, perhaps by Saddam himself, because he supervised the import of defective medicine that caused the deaths of some wounded Iraqi soldiers.

``If you kill, so shall you be killed,'' Saddam replied, paraphrasing a Quranic verse. End of discussion.

Perhaps tiring of the exchange, which labored on for perhaps 20 minutes, Saddam decided to get rid of the reporters by giving them a story.

``I have news for you,'' he said. ``Today we have achieved a great victory at Mandali. You must go there immediately,'' he added. Hundreds of Iranians, he said, had been killed or captured. We were hustled onto a bus for the 65-mile journey northeast to Mandali.

Mandali, a town on the Iranian border, looked almost deserted. In the distance, we could hear the thud of mortar fire. An Iraqi jeep sped by with a wounded soldier on a stretcher. But clearly no major battle had occurred there. The Iraqis promised to show the ``hundreds'' of prisoners but produced only a handful of frightened youngsters.

We could question the prisoners but the translations by the Iraqis were all the same -- the captives were happy to be in the hands of the kindly Iraqi forces.

One reporter suggested the Iraqis had stolen a prisoner's watch. The prisoner gestured affirmatively. Back to the bus, the Iraqis ordered.

In Saddam Hussein's Iraq, it was best not to ask too many questions. And truth was whatever the regime said it was.

Editor's commentary: Don't argue with Saddam! He is staunch supporter of death penalty and he knows what must be done. The only disappointment with capture of Saddam is that Bush decided to evict him from his septic tank condo and move him into decent prison cell. Why not let him stay there until the rest of his stinking life? It must be Saddam who objected this idea because killers must be killed. End of discussion.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- Iraq's foreign minister accused the United Nations on Tuesday of failing to rescue his country from Saddam Hussein's 35-year ``murderous tyranny.'' He urged the world body not to fail Iraq again and to return to help build a democratic nation.

But Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he needed ``much greater clarity'' on what the Iraqis and the U.S.-led coalition expect of the United Nations. That would help, Annan said, to gauge whether the job was worth the risk to U.N. staff.

Annan pulled all U.N. international staff out of Iraq in October after two bombings at U.N. headquarters in Baghdad and a series of attacks on humanitarian organizations. The first bombing on Aug. 19 killed 22 people, including top U.N. envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello.

Annan presented the Security Council with a report -- issued last week -- in which he said Iraq remained too dangerous to reopen the Baghdad U.N. office. Instead, he said, the world body would open an Iraq office in Nicosia, Cyprus, and an annex in Amman, Jordan, with staff traveling to Iraq as needed. The operation will be under the leadership of newly named acting envoy Ross Mountain.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said the Iraqi Governing Council understood ``the devastating losses that the U.N. suffered'' but said the world body needed to return to play an expanded role in helping to establish a provisional Iraqi government in June, draft a constitution, and prepare for general elections by the end of 2005

The United Nations has always worked in ``war-torn regions and crisis areas -- and Iraq is one of them,'' he stressed.

``The United Nations is the key forum for collective international action to help us achieve our goals of restructuring and democratizing our country,'' he told the council. ``Your help and expertise cannot be effectively delivered from Cyprus or Amman.''

``We are ready and willing to help provide whatever security is required to see it return to Iraq,'' he said, adding later that ``the Interior Ministry can provide whatever aid or help is needed to improve security for the U.N.''

Zebari invited Mountain, the new U.N. envoy, to visit Baghdad and discuss the U.N.'s role with the Governing Council -- a move U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte called ``a good first step.''

But Annan said he wasn't sure Zebari was ``in a position to offer that security,'' though he would be happy if he could. He said he planned to ask Zebari about the security offer and specifics of the U.N. role at a meeting late Tuesday.

While paying tribute to the United Nations and its humanitarian relief efforts that helped millions of Iraqis during recent years, Zebari accused the world body of failing to take action to oust Saddam.

``One year ago, the Security Council was divided between those who wanted to appease Saddam Hussein and those who wanted to hold him accountable,'' he said. ``The United Nations as an organization failed to help rescue the Iraqi people from a murderous tyranny that lasted over 35 years. Today we are unearthing thousands of victims in horrifying testament to that failure.''

``The U.N. must not fail the Iraqi people again,'' Zebari said. ``So we ask you today, please put aside your differences, pull together and work with us and all those who have contributed and sacrificed so much to realize our shared objective of a sovereign, united and democratic Iraq.''

The Iraqi minister said afterwards that ``we were critical of not only the U.N. but many other nations ... for doing nothing to help us overcome those years of dictatorship and tyranny and utlmost brutality.''

Asked about the criticism, Annan said ``this is not time to pin blame and point fingers when everybody is trying to figure out how creatively we can organize ourselves to help the Iraqis.''

Annan urged the international community to ensure the restoration of sovereignty to the 26 million Iraqis which he stressed would ``define the future of their country.''

While there may not be time to organize elections early next year, Annan said, ``it is essential that the process leading to the formation of a provisional government is fully inclusive and transparent'' and that every segment of Iraqi society feels represented.

ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- The leader and chief assassin of Greece's November 17 terrorist cell were sentenced Wednesday to multiple terms of life imprisonment.

An anti-terrorist tribunal sentenced Alexandros Giotopoulos, 59, the leader of the group, to 21 life terms. It also sentenced Dimitris Koufodinas, 45, the terror group's main hit man, to 13 life terms. Four other men that made up the core group of November 17 gunmen received sentences ranging from one to 10 life terms.

The decisions make parole virtually impossible for most of the men. Greece does not have the death penalty.

The three-member court also was to sentence another 13 men for participation in November 17, once Greece's most elusive and feared terrorist group.

The same court on Dec. 8 convicted the 15 men following a nine-month trial. Four defendants were acquitted because of lack of evidence.

November 17 is blamed for 23 murders and dozens of rockets and bomb attacks since 1975. The victims included four U.S. officials, two Turkish diplomats and a British defense attache.

SHANGHAI, China (AP) -- An Internet writer who posted articles online supporting China's unofficial Christian church has been arrested amid a widening police crackdown on unregistered religious activities, a U.S.-based monitoring group said Tuesday.

Computer technician Zhang Shengqi was detained last month in a raid on the home of his fiancee in the northeastern city of Jilin and has been charged with leaking state secrets, the China Aid Association said.

Zhang was later transferred to a jail in the eastern city of Hangzhou, where local authorities earlier detained two other activists as part of a crackdown on unofficial church activities, the association said.

Telephones rang unanswered at Hangzhou's city government offices. A woman at the city's police bureau who would only give her family name, Liu, said she had ``never heard of this case,'' while a man at the provincial jail said he was ``unclear'' about the matter. He refused to give his name.

Zhang's arrest appeared to be related to police suspicions that he helped church historian Liu Fenggang post information on the Internet about the Hangzhou crackdown. Liu, a veteran pro-democracy campaigner, has also been detained in Hangzhou on state secrets charges.

City authorities earlier this year demolished a number of unregistered churches and detained preachers in what activists said was a trial run for techniques to be used against unregistered religious groups elsewhere in China.

Bob Fu, president of the Glenside, Pennsylvania-based China Aid, said authorities tried to keep the crackdown quiet, but church activists elsewhere soon spread word about it and several traveled to Hangzhou to investigate.

Zhang's case could be more complicated because it brings together two key security concerns for China's secretive communist rulers: Unauthorized religious activity and political use of the Internet.

China allows worship only in tightly controlled state churches and regards unregistered congregations as subversive channels for foreign infiltration. Those who meet outside the official church are routinely harassed and fined, and sometimes sent to labor camps.

And while authorities have promoted the Internet for commercial use, they have given long prison terms to people who send or post messages online that criticize the government or advocate greater political or religious freedoms.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Without firing a shot, American forces captured a bearded and haggard-looking Saddam Hussein in an underground hide-out on a farm near his hometown of Tikrit, ending one of the most intensive manhunts in history. The arrest was a huge victory for U.S. forces battling an insurgency by the ousted dictator's followers.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we got him," U.S. administrator L. Paul Bremer told a news conference Sunday, eight months after American troops swept into Baghdad and toppled Saddam's regime.

"The tyrant is a prisoner."

In the capital, radio stations played celebratory music, residents fired small arms in the air in celebration and passengers on buses and trucks shouted, "They got Saddam! They got Saddam!"

Full story here.

KEY WEST, Fla. (Reuters) - A Florida jury found six Cuban men guilty on Thursday of hijacking an aging DC-3 plane from Cuba to the United States, one of a rash of plane and boat hijackings from the communist island in March and April.

The Cubans, convicted of air piracy, face 20 years to life in prison for hijacking the 1940s-era Aerotaxi plane from Cuba's Isle of Youth airport in Nueva Gerona, Cuba, to Key West on the southern tip of Florida on March 19.

The flight was one of the most dramatic arrivals of would-be Cuban migrants, although there is a constant trickle of Cubans crossing the 90-mile Florida Straits to the United States in smugglers' boats and homemade vessels.

The jury of seven women and five men -- none of whom were from south Florida's large Cuban community -- deliberated for 6-1/2 hours before reaching a verdict. Sentencing was set for Feb. 26.

Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque said in Havana: ``It was a correct decision, a positive signal and inevitable given the idea of fighting terrorism and armed airline hijackings.''

The flight carried 37 people, including the six defendants and six crew members. Fourteen passengers opted to stay in the United States after the hijacking although the entire crew asked to return home to Cuba. Nobody was hurt.

One issue in the trial in federal court in Key West was how much it really was a hijacking. The prosecution said the crew was forced at knife-point to divert the plane while the defense argued that crew members went along with a staged hijacking.

The Cuban pilot and co-pilot testified that the defendants overpowered the crew, broke down the cockpit door and threatened lives using knives, rope and an airplane ax.

Defense attorneys emotionally argued that the hijacking was a flight to freedom. The defendants served snacks and drinks during the flight, they said.

Leaving the court after the verdict, the wives of some defendants wept. One relative furiously disagreed with court's ruling that Cuba's political system not be discussed in the trial.

``It's the dirtiest thing I've ever seen in my life,'' said Angel Norneilla Morales, brother of two of the convicted men. ``They closed the jury's eyes when they said they couldn't talk about Cuban politics.''

But lead prosecutor Harry Wallace defended the verdict, saying, ``It (the flight) really did endanger everyone on that plane. But for the cool hand of the pilot, who knows what would have happened.''

MAXIMUM SENTENCES OF LIFE IN PRISON

Each defendant was charged with four counts: conspiracy to commit air piracy, air piracy, conspiracy to interfere with a flight crew and interfering with a flight crew.

Three of the men were acquitted on some counts but all six were convicted of air piracy and could be sentenced to life in prison.

The defendants were Alexis Norneilla Morales, 32, a veterinarian, and his brother Miakel Guerra Morales, 26, their cousin Eduardo Javier Mejia Morales, 26, Yainer Olivares Samon, 21, Neudis Infantes Hernandez, 31, and Alvenis Arias Izquierdo, 24.

Cuba, a longtime foe of the United States, says Washington encourages illegal migrants by allowing those who make it to U.S. shores to stay.

Thursday's verdict followed that of another Cuban hijacker, who used fake grenades to hijack a passenger plane to Florida on April 1. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Cuba executed three hijackers who commandeered a Havana ferry with 50 passengers on board in April.

Editor's commentary: This is another huge blow for State Department and we now have to wonder how long it will last without any major changes. Several months ago they made a deal with Castro to return hijackers to Cuba and have them sentenced up to ten years in prison. Now American federal government sentences Cuban hijackers to twenty to life!? Where is the land of the free? It seems that Cuba is the country with far more freedom that the U.S. Stupid argument that hijacking is hijacking and that Cuban politics should not be considered in the court, which is the main reason why people hijacked that plane in the first place is not only ridiculous, insane and preposterous but also a brutal violation of American laws, court procedure and justice system itself. Obtaining conviction without even considering motive for the crime is plane and simple wrong and illegal. This and other similar verdicts must be reversed in appellate courts. If not, credibility of American justice system will be tarnished forever. For example, father comes with his badly wounded son who is going to die in matter of hours to the airport located on some remote island without any doctor or hospital. Pilot replies that he doesn't feel like flying and that they can come tomorrow. Money doesn't work, explanations don't work and father points a knife at the pilot and forces him to fly them to the closest land where there is a doctor who will save his son. They arrive safely, son's life is saved but then federal prosecutor orders arrest of the father and then try him for hijacking and asks for life in prison!? His argument is that hijacking is hijacking and that motive is unimportant. If this is the kind of justice served in America then we can certainly call it country of the oppressed where injustice is the only thing served. Clear message that is coming from State Department is that you should stay where you are, obey like a zombie to whatever government tells you to do and if they decide that you should die then you just die and say thank you. Was it that government represents people or that government rules the people on its own? Some bureaucrats in State Department have become demi gods who decide who lives and who dies, who goes to jail for life.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraq's interim government established a special tribunal Wednesday to try top members of Saddam Hussein's government for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, and said Saddam could be tried in absentia.

The tribunal will cover crimes committed from July 17, 1968 — the day Saddam's Baath Party came to power — until May 1, 2003 — the day President Bush declared major hostilities over, said Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim, the current president of the Iraqi Governing Council. Saddam became president in 1979 but wielded vast influence starting from the early 1970s.

"This tribunal will show the world the horror of the crimes committed against this people," said Dara Noor al-Din, head of the Governing Council's legal committee.

Al-Hakim added: "Today is an important historic event in the history of Iraq."

The tribunal will try cases stemming from mass executions of Iraqi Kurds in the 1980s, as well as the suppression of uprisings by Kurds and Shiite Muslims soon after the 1991 Gulf War.

Full story here.

The Russian President, Vladimir Putin, has hailed the result of Sunday's elections for the lower house of parliament as another step towards "strengthening democracy" in Russia.

The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, which had 400 observers in Russia in the build-up to and during the vote, described it as a "regression in the democratisation of the country".

Three months before he is due to stand for re-election, the Russian president has been given a Duma which he will be able to use as a rubber stamp for his own wishes.

Just how pleased Mr Putin is with his new democracy may become evident in the Duma's first three months. The chances are high that parliament will change the constitution and extend from two the number of terms for which the president can serve.

Local leaders in Russia can already go to three terms, so the precedent is there. But will Mr Putin be happy to stop at three? No doubt he'll discuss it at length with his new colleagues.

Full story here.

The United States has joined European human rights officials in expressing concern about the fairness of the Russian parliamentary elections. Sunday's poll delivered a clear victory to allies of President Vladimir Putin.

But the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe said Russia's Government used resources and control of the media to dominate the election.

The White House said Washington shared European concerns at how the United Russia Party achieved its success.

The election was "overwhelmingly distorted" by pro-government bias, the OSCE said.

Two liberal, pro-free market parties, the Union of Right Forces (SPS) and Yabloko, failed to get the 5% of votes needed to win party list seats in the State Duma, Mr Veshnyakov said.

The OSCE - who had about 400 observers in Russia - said the elections called into question Moscow's commitment to Western standards of democracy.

The organisation criticised the biased use of taxpayer money and state television to promote certain parties.

"In this election the enormous advantage of incumbency and access to state equipment, resources and buildings led to the election result being overwhelmingly distorted," said Bruce George, president of the parliamentary assembly of the OSCE.

Full story here.

Editor's commentary: This is even worse than 1990 elections in Serbia when Milosevic's party SPS won 80% of all parliamentary seats in Serbia. The rest of 20% of parliamentary seats went to minorities and free market parties. Russian parliament will be consisted of 'Mini Me' Stalinist dictator's lackeys (60-70%) while the rest goes to fascists and communists. Welcome to the permanent darkness where barbed wire will substitute flowers. This is the worse tragedy for Russians than Nazi invasion of Russia in 1941. Stalin had more international friends to help him then than Putin has today not to mention far better economy during Stalin's days. Putin has nothing to go for except massive exports of raw oil, gas and other minerals while industry simply doesn't exist. From former colonial empire to colony itself.

ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- A Greek anti-terrorism court on Monday convicted 15 members of the November 17 terrorist cell, including its leader and chief hit man, for their roles in a nearly 30-year killing spree that claimed U.S. and British diplomats, among others.

The rulings bring to a close one of the last trials in Europe against militant groups that took shape during the 1970s. The crackdown on November 17 was relief to authorities planning security for the Aug. 13-29 Olympics.

Following a nine-month trial in a bunker-like prison courtroom, the three judges on Monday issued multiple convictions against Alexandros Giotopoulos, 58, as the mastermind of the group that outwitted authorities for more than a generation.

Among the others convicted was the main hit man, Dimitris Koufodinas, who is linked to most of the group's 23 slayings.

Four defendants, including the lone woman, were acquitted. Sentencing is expected when the court reconvenes Wednesday. Many of those convicted face multiple life sentences.

``It was a decision that I was expecting,'' a tired and nervous-looking Giotopoulos said after the chief judge read through the decisions on the hundreds of charges against the 19 defendants.

Giotopoulos, a 58-year-old French-born academic, steadfastly denied any links to the group. But others freely admitted their roles. Koufodinas told the court he took ``political responsibility'' for all the group's actions, which began with the ambush killing of a CIA station chief in 1975.

But because of Greece's statue of limitations, the trial only considered acts during the past 20 years.

The trial was conducted by three judges and no civilian jurors. Non-jury trials -- designed to prevent intimidation or tampering -- were sanctioned by special anti-terrorism laws approved in June 2001.

The group's victims include four American envoys, two Turkish diplomats and prominent Greek political and business figures. November 17's last victim was British defense attache Brig. Stephen Saunders, killed in June 2000.

``Greek justice spoke today and its decisions are respected by all. The road ahead is still long and, for us, this is a first stage. Our loved ones, of course, can't come back,'' Athens Mayor Dora Bakoyianni said outside the court.

Bakoyianni's husband Pavlos, a spokesman for the conservative New Democracy party, was killed by the group in 1989.

But Heather Saunders, wife of the slain brigadier, said she would never feel complete vindication.

``We will get a token because obviously those people that have been killed will never come back,'' she told British Broadcasting Corp. radio. ``They killed 23 people, but it is 23 widows, there's goodness knows how many children, how many parents. They will all carry this scar for the rest of their lives.''

November 17 was named after the date of a student-led uprising in 1973 which helped topple the 1967-74 military dictatorship. It mixed hard-line Marxism with Greek nationalism.

Its targets included Greek officials linked to the junta, which mercilessly persecuted its leftist opponents. It also struck at military and diplomatic envoys from the United States, which backed the junta and remains an object of scorn by many Greeks.

The November 17 trial has cost more than $2.4 million, involved about 500 witnesses, more than 50,000 pages of court documents and more than 80 lawyers.

BEIJING (AP) -- A former Chinese schoolteacher who appealed on the Internet for free labor unions and other political reforms was sentenced Monday to two years in prison on subversion charges, a human rights organization said.

Yan Jun was sentenced after a trial in the Intermediate People's Court in the city of Xi'an, said a statement by the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy.

Noting that the sentencing came as Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao began a visit to the United States, the Information Center appealed to President Bush ``to press Wen Jiabao to change human rights conditions.''

Phone calls to the court and Xi'an prosecutors' offices on Monday weren't answered.

China promotes Internet use for business and education, but tries to block users from spreading criticism of communist rule. Activists abroad say more than 30 people have been detained in recent years for posting political comments online.

Yan, 32, was detained in April after posting comments online appealing for Beijing to reassess its verdict on 1989 pro-democracy protests, the center said. Communist leaders ruled the demonstrations a counterrevolutionary riot -- a position that numerous activists have demanded the government overturn.

Yan appealed for the release of Zhao Ziyang, a former Communist Party general secretary who has lived under house arrest since losing a power struggle following the protests, the Information Center said.

Yan also called for freedom of the press and for Chinese to be allowed to form independent labor unions, the Information Center said in a statement.

The New York-based group Human Rights in China has described Yan as one of the most active dissidents in Xi'an.

A Bosnian Serb general has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for his role in the siege of Sarajevo, during which thousands of civilians died.

General Stanislav Galic is the first suspect to be tried exclusively in connection with the three-year siege of the Bosnian capital that ended in 1995.

The general was convicted of commanding forces which terrorised the Bosnian capital with mortar and sniper attacks.

The Hague judge said: "No civilian of Sarajevo was safe anywhere."

The court cited dozens of attacks on Sarajevo residents during the siege as evidence of the deliberate targeting of civilians, many of whom were killed or injured while shopping, attending funerals or even resting in their own homes.

These included a market massacre in 1994 which killed more than 65 people and caused widespread revulsion in the global community.

Full story here.

CARACAS (AFP) - The Venezuelan opposition declared victory in its bid to get enough signatures for a petition to force a referendum on President Hugo Chavez's future.

Opposition leaders said they had 3.6 million signatures backing the recall, 1.2 million more than needed under Venezuela's constitution.

Enrique Naime, one of the leaders of the Democratic Coordination which organised the nationwide campaign that ended late Monday, declared it "a great success" and praised those who helped collect the signatures.

Full story here.

The leaders of right- and left-wing Russian political parties have accused President Putin of making a mockery of the 7 December parliamentary elections.

The Union of Right Forces (SPS) and the Communist Party say the elections will be neither free nor fair.

The Communists are warning they may challenge the legality of the polls.

And in an unprecedented attack, SPS leader Boris Nemtsov told the BBC he blames the president for what he calls Russia's slide into ultra-nationalism.

The next parliament, or Duma, will be dominated by bureaucrats and nationalists, Mr Nemtsov says, and it is they who will bring to power an ultra-nationalist president in 2008.

Mr Nemtsov says the Kremlin and the state-controlled media are doing everything to help ultra-nationalists to get into parliament at the expense of the traditional opposition parties.

Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov has issued a public statement saying the sheer scale of manipulation and lies meted out by the state-controlled TV channels puts the Nazi propaganda of Josef Goebbels to shame.

Which makes Putin Russian Hitler. Full story here.

A major European security conference has ended on a sour note as differences between Russia and the US over Georgia and Moldova became public.

Russia left the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) conference, saying it was not bound by the final statement's text.

The document re-affirms support for Georgia's territorial integrity and a multinational peace force for Moldova.

Russia's policies in the countries have drawn criticism from Western nations.

Full story here.

Russia says it will not ratify in its present form the Kyoto Protocol designed to mitigate global warming.

"The Kyoto Protocol places significant limitations on the economic growth of Russia," presidential aide Andrei Illarionov has announced in Moscow.

The landmark environmental pact cannot now enter into legal force, especially since the US has also repudiated it.

It means the protocol will either have to be renegotiated or the nations that have signed will have to go it alone.

The Russian decision will come as a devastating blow to many of the delegates at a meeting of the signatories to the United Nations Climate Change Convention, being held in Milan this week.

Full story here.