In spite of the fact that new yet negative developments have been recorded in Somalia, related to the dangerous stalling of peace talks between the interim government and the Islamic militia, in Iraq, as the number of both civilian and US army soldiers' casualties rose again after celebrations of the end of the Ramadan finished, as well as in Mexico, with renewed clashes between federal police and protesters brought new victims, while the Georgian-Russian relations still sore in spite of diplomatic efforts, and the national political crisis worsens in Fiji, the center stage of this week's events was taken by Iran and North Korea and the entire plethora of developments that were attached to these two countries and their nuclear programmes.

On Monday, it was reported that on Sunday, the Mexican federal police troops managed to sweep the Oaxaca city center off protesters, who had been camping there for over five beleaguered months of standoff with government officials, by fighting demonstrators' offensive led with rocks and wood clubs. However, victory came a little bit too easy for law enforcement units, since after hours of holding police at bay, protesters simply abandoned the plaza at around 8.30 p.m.
At that point, police entered the center, destroying all protesters' tents that the latter erected in May, when hostilities began, as well as banners depicting Joseph Stalin and Vladimir Lenin. According to a spokesman for the protesters, Florentino Lopez, at least two people were officially reported dead, following the clashes, one allegedly being a male nurse, identified as Jorge Alberto Lopez, who was killed upon being hit with a tear gas canister in the chest, and the second as being a professor at a technical college.
The federal police had been called by still President Vincente Fox, to calm the extremely tense situation down, following last Friday's clashes between demonstrators and government authorities, when an American journalist, Brad Will, and two other civilians died, upon being allegedly shot by gunmen that the protesters accused of being employed by the Governor of Oaxaca province, Ulises Ruiz, whose resignation was requested, given that he performed massive fraud on 2004 local elections.

In spite of international pressure exerted on Serbian authorities to carefully judge the situation of the Kosovo province and amid rumors of electoral fraud, Serbia voted its new constitution on Sunday, which claimed that the territory is "inalienable" to the state, and thus refusing to grant it the autonomy it had requested on numerous occasions.
"This is a great moment for Serbia. By defending Kosovo, we are defending something more than our interests, more than the issue of stability in the region. We are defending international law", Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica was quoted by the BBC as stating, after preliminary results, certified by interdependent pollsters from CESID announced that following the participation of 53.5 percent of the approximately 6.6 million eligible voters in Serbia who cast their ballots on Saturday and Sunday, 96 per cent of them supported the new constitution, giving an overall national backing of 51.6 per cent.
"I expect new elections after this referendum. I expect after those elections to see a very strong democratic majority and a democratic government which is going to lead Serbia to the European Union", Serbian President Boris Tadic stressed.

A 700-page report commissioned by British Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown and elaborated by the World Bank's former chief economist, Sir Nicholas Stern, delivers a serious warning with regard to the tremendous 7 trillion dollar estimated losses the world economy would suffer in lost output, as well as the displacement of more than 200 million people, should climate change causes, like the enormous amounts of greenhouse gas emissions that produce floods and droughts, not be immediately and efficiently be dealt with by countries all over the world.
"Our actions over the coming few decades could create risks of major disruption to economic and social activity later in this century and in the next, on a scale similar to those associated with the great wars and the economic depression of the first half of the 20th century", part of the report states.
In addition to this, the report maintains that should 1 percent of the global domestic product be saved for dealing with climate change, it would in turn prevent countries to spend more later on. Should this measure not be adopted as soon as possible, 5 to 20 per cent of the global domestic product would be lost, not to mention the incredibly large surface of the earth which would be made uninhabitable. The first to be stricken would be the developing countries and thus, the richer ones would have the responsibility of aiding them out.
The study also points out to the fact that the level of greenhouse gas emissions would double preindustrial ones by 2050 to 550 parts per million, even if their growth pace kept the same level as up to now.

In an attempt to mend fences between him and Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi Prime Minister, in the security department of the country, US President George Bush announced recently that his administration would allow Iraqi forces more liberty in developing their own system of civilian protection.
Just 10 days before the mid-term Congressional elections, where the war in Iraq seems to represent one of the worst issues to be tackled, and following a growing rift between the military strategies performed by the US forces and their Iraqi counterparts, as highlighted by both the top US envoy Zalmany Khalizad and al-Maliki afterwards, the White House issued a joint statement, where both Bush and the Iraqi head of government highlighted they are "committed to the partnership our two countries and two governments have formed and will work in every way possible for a stable, democratic Iraq and for victory in the war on terror".
In addition to this, the statement stipulated three objectives of both the US and Iraq: "accelerating the pace of training the Iraqi Security Force, Iraqi assumption of command and control over Iraqi forces, and transferring responsibility for security to the Government of Iraq. We have formed a high-level working group including the Iraqi National Security Advisor, Minister of Defense, Minister of Interior, General Casey, and Ambassador Khalilzad to make recommendations on how these goals can be best achieved. This working group will supplement existing mechanisms to better define our security partnership and enhance our coordination".

In its first military operation of such a magnitude, since the October 9th announcement made by North Korea regarding a new nuclear test, as well as the October 14th announcement of the resolution against the country, plus the fresh drive of applying sanctions against the nuclear program developed by Iran, United States started a two-day series of naval exercises in the Persian Gulf on Sunday, whose main objective is the prevention of weapons' smuggling in the region.
The US Navy issued an official statement on Sunday in order to report that these exercises were conducted under the provisions of the Proliferation Security Initiative, which is headed by the United States and which target the trafficking of weapons of mass destruction, related materials and the methods employed to deliver them. According to some observer's opinions, this program could very well be employed to suspend the weapons' traffic conducted by North Korea, in accordance with the United Nations sanctions against the country.
A spokesman for the US Fifth Fleet, located in Bahrain, Lt. Cmdr. Charlie Brown, highlighted that nine vessels took part in the exercise entitled "Leading Edge", out of which only one was an American coast guard cutter. All of these ships were commanded at sea from an Italian frigate. In spite of being located only 120 miles from Iranian territorial waters, the officials highlighted that the exercises would not affect ships heading towards Iran in any way.

On Tuesday, it was reported that the Bulgarian Central Electoral Commission in Sofia had issued an official statement on Monday evening in order to announce the final results of last weekend's presidential elections, which were won by the candidate of the Socialist Party Georgi Parvanov, who thus, received a second five-year presidential mandate that would make him and his party the direct witnesses of the country's accession to the European Union on January 1st, 2007.
According to the figures released by the Central Electoral Commission, the voter turnout recorded a lower level, of about 41.21 percent in the second round of the presidential polls, as compared to the first round, which recorded a 42.51 percent level, thus being the most modest since 1990. After 99.1 percent of the ballots counted, 49 year old Parvanov led with almost 76 per cent of the votes, while his main rival, Volen Siderov, the leader of the nationalist Attack Party, which rejects the country's accession to the European Union and the NATO membership, recorded only 24.1 per cent of the votes.
"Parvanov's re-election will strengthen the leading position of the Socialists in the ruling coalition. This should enable them to deal more efficiently with EU concerns involving corruption and inefficient administration", the manager of the Center for Liberal Strategies in Sofia, Ivan Krastev, commented on Monday. On the other hand, the leader of the right-wing party, Ivan Kostov, highlighted that Parvanov's victory equals a huge loss for the democratic forces of Bulgaria.

US military officials in Iraq announced that the American forces' overall October death toll just went over the 100 threshold, hitting 101 on Monday, when a member of the 89th Military Police Brigade died in the eastern part of Baghdad and a Marine lost his life during the heavy fighting in the volatile Anbar province on Sunday. Thus, October becomes one of the four most violent months in the entire US military intervention in Iraq.
Also, according to a statistic elaborated by the Associated Press news agency, October was among the bloodiest months for the loss of Iraqi civilian deaths as well, ever since the agency started to keep such a track in May of 2005. Taking into consideration the events on Monday, when a bomb exploded in Sadr neighborhood, killing no less than 29 people, the overall death toll for October reaches 1,170 and the next to follow it, in terms of bloodiness, is March of this year, with 1,038 people who died.

As fears of regional war sparking in the Horn of Africa region, between the interim Baidoa-based Somali government, supported by Ethiopia, and the Islamist Somali movement, which now controls capital Mogadishu and the southern part of the country, backed by Eritrea, heighten, United States officials warned on Monday, against Somalia becoming a proxy war for an Ethiopia-Eritrea political feud, Reuters informs.
Sean McCormack, the spokesman for the US State Department highlighted that both Ethiopia and Eritrea are currently involved in a bitter border dispute, which should be conducted exclusively between them at most, and not extend to neighboring Somalia.
"(I) would hope that states not try to use Somalia as a proxy for any of their disputes. It would be rather unfortunate for Somalia, as well as other countries in the region", McCormack stated. "We do have concerns about some other countries, outside countries involved in Somalia; various troop activities", he was quoted by Reuters as adding, yet without providing additional details with regard to the exact nature of these activities.
The Somali militia, in its turn, highlighted recently that the third round of peace talks which was supposed to start in Khartoum, Sudan, on Monday, would not be attended by them anymore until the alleged Ethiopian troops currently on Somali soil, withdrew.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad issued another fiery statement against any potential sanctions the United Nations might impose on his country as a cause of the uranium enrichment program the state develops, warning that Iran would provide an "appropriate and firm response" against any restriction of any kind.
"Efforts by the big powers will only incite anger and hatred. The Iranian nation will respond to restrictive activities with an appropriate and firm response", Ahmadinejad stated before a large crowd of people, who had gathered on the outskirts of the capital to hear him delivering his speech.
In addition to this, the Iranian chief of state reiterated the fact that the country prefers to attempt to cope with a series of penalties, should that be the case, instead of accepting the pressures of the Western powers. "We want to stand on our own feet. You should know that our nation will not give in one iota in the nuclear case", he added.

Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Hanyieh announced during the Palestinian Authority's cabinet meeting, that a deal involving the freedom for 19 year old Israeli tank gunner Cpl Gilad Shalit, who was kidnapped on June 25th this year by several Palestinian factions, sparking the massive Israeli military incursion in Gaza, is on the verge of completion. "A deal to secure the release of Gilad Shalit is almost closed", he said.
News about this aspect was confirmed by the Cairo Radio, which announced that a delegation representing Hamas is due to arrive in the Egyptian capital for a round of negotiations with Egyptian officials, who broke the agreement regarding Shalit between Palestinians and Israelis, concerning a potential prisoner exchange. The radio station announced that the meeting would also be attended by Jibril Rajoub, an advisor to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who would also attempt to bring his own contribution to the solving of this crisis plaguing the Palestinian territories for so many months.
The Hamas delegation would be made up of Imad al-Alami, the representative of the Palestinian governmental ruling party, in Syria, according to Moussa Abu Marzouk, the deputy leader of the political bureau of Hamas in Syria. Al-Alami is expected to meet with Omar Suleiman, the Egyptian chief of intelligence.

Fiji governmental officials issued a formal statement on Tuesday, in order to report the fact that the executive body of the country has failed in its attempt to oust the military commander of the country, Commodore Frank Bainimarama, which in turn deepened the national crisis through which the country goes at this point, with soldiers controlling most part of the capital, Suva, while sealing army barracks. "People are scared. Most of them are unsure what will happen next", one of the city residents, stated.
Apart from letting himself be driven away from military power, Bainimarama even threatened to force the Prime Minister, Laisenia Qarase, to resign, should the latter not drop the voting for two controversial bills that refer to granting partial amnesty to several plotters involved in a coup in 2000. Back then, Bainimarama was very close to being killed by a group of renegade soldiers, who were arrested and imprisoned afterwards. Since then, the military chief maintained his opinion that the government treated the men who attempted to assassinate him, too mildly. However, Bainimarama is currently during an official visit of the Middle East and is due to return later this week, a moment feared by many.
The Prime Minister held an urgent meeting with the President of Fiji, Ratu Josefa Iloilo on Tuesday morning, after which the chief of state proposed the replacement of Bainimarama with Lieutenant-Colonel Ratu Meli Saubulinayau. However, according to a spokesman for the military department, Major Neumi Leweni, the latter refused the President's offer for the time being.

In what many considered to be quite a diplomatic surprise, which impressed those who had lost all hope for the persuasion of North Korea to suspend its nuclear tests, US officials and their Chinese counterparts announced that North Korea finally agreed to resume negotiations with the six-nation group on Tuesday. The agreement comes amid a series of unofficial talks among envoys from the United States, China and North Korea in Beijing.
According to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, which posted an official statement on its Internet website, the negotiations will start "at the earliest convenient time". The news was confirmed by a US diplomat, who declined to provide additional details regarding this aspect. However, he stated - under condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the matter - that the United Nations resolution, imposing a series of difficult sanctions upon North Korea, following its October 9th announcement of a nuclear test, would continue for the time being.
On the other hand, the US representative at Tuesday's talks, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill stressed upon the fact that these nuclear negotiations could be resumed either in November or in December. "We believe it will be in November or possibly in December", he highlighted during a press conference at the US Embassy in Beijing.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair is currently being challenged by a request advanced by the Scottish National Party and Plaid Cymru, two of the parliamentarian organizations in the British opposition, according to which a government must appoint seven senior politicians to a special committee that would investigate the causes of the war in Iraq in 2003, as well as its aftermath and the involvement of Great Britain in it, just as the Parliament prepares to carry out the first debate of this kind in two years.
"Iraq is a bloody quagmire. It is only a proper inquiry in to how policy-making was hijacked by a small number of people that will show how constitutional arrangements in the U.K. broke down", one of the members of the Plaid Cymru Party, Adam Price, who will deliver a speech in Parliament related to this issue, stated during a telephone interview.
Many political analysts highlighted that such a debate upon the inquiry request is due to produce quite a serious division line among many of the members of Blair's Labour Party, which still rules the government, and one of the most powerful opposition parties, the Conservative one, which initially backed the British intervention in Iraq, yet changed its policy in the mean time.

On Wednesday, North Korean officials highlighted that their country would indeed return to six-party nuclear negotiations, but the main reason why it chose to approach such a diplomatic alternative was because it needs to seek a method to terminate the financial restrictions imposed by the United States which, in turn, curb the country's access to foreign banks.
The North Korean Foreign Ministry issued an official statement on Wednesday to announce that the Pyongyang administration "decided to return to the six-party talks on the premise that the issue of lifting financial sanctions will be discussed and settled between the North and the US within the framework of the six-party talks". The statement also explained that the country "recently took a self-defensive countermeasure against the U.S. daily increasing nuclear threat and financial sanctions against it".
However, officials did not dwell too much on the nuclear program that the nation develops and did not make any further comments regarding any potential commitment to a previous agreement that stipulated the suspension of all nuclear-related activities.

As the national political and military crisis in Fiji seems to worsen as days pass, with Fiji Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase highlighting on Wednesday that he would not resign nor would he encourage his government to do so, in order to appease tensions with Commodore Bainimarama, whom he desires to oust, the United States and Australia began voicing concerns regarding a potential coup in the tiny country, the BBC reports.
In addition to this, Australia announced that two of the country's ships have already been positioned on stand-by near Fiji, in case many of the Australian citizens in Fiji want to flee the country, should the political situation derail.
"I declare emphatically that there is absolutely no question of me resigning in response to the situation or of my government standing down", Qarase stated during a national address, stressing upon the fact that any political decisions meant to threaten him or his government would trigger international responses: "The international community is now more proactive in protecting democratically elected governments when the rule of law and its constitutionality are threatened or overturned", he added.

In yet another surprising development of the increasingly tense diplomatic relationship between the Washington and the Baghdad administrations, as the latter strives to gain more independence in security matters and thus break off from the United States' ascendant, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki requested the American commanders to remove their checkpoints from Baghdad, a move which, in turn, seemed to catch the latter completely off guard.
The confirmation of the news came late Tuesday night and was delivered by a top diplomatic official of the US Embassy in Baghdad, who stated that the order given by al-Maliki was "the result of a meeting between Maliki, Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad and Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the top American commander in Iraq. It was essentially something that Maliki wanted to do and Casey agreed to it". Maliki highlighted that the main reason for requesting that all military checkpoints be removed was due to the fact that they had been complicating traffic problems, as well as disturbing daily life activities in the eastern part of Baghdad.
However, the initial announcement of such a decision had been issued by Maliki's office and seemed to have been made without the consent of the American military. At the time, a spokesman for the US military in Baghdad, Lt. Col. Christopher Garver, highlighted that "Our commanders have his press release and are reviewing how best to address these concerns", only an hour after the news broke.

The political attempt made by the Scottish National Party and Plaid Cymru on Tuesday, in order to introduce a motion to appoint a seven-politicians panel to review "the way in which the responsibilities of government were discharged in relation to Iraq" surprisingly failed to pass the vote of the House of Commons, although many had credited it with a sure victory the day before, the BBC informs. Thus, the government was supported in the end by 298 MPs, while it was opposed by 273, including 12 Members of the Parliament from the Labour Party who had rebelled against their official pro-Iraqi war policy.
The decision was commented upon by Defense Secretary Des Browne, who stated during an interview with the BBC, that such inquiries would be made only "when the time is right". His opinion had been agreed upon earlier on by Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett, who declared during her House of Commons speech that "I have no doubt that there will be a time when we want to learn lessons". She explained that the main reason why any reviews at this time would be unnecessary is because they would contribute more negatively than positively to the British troops which are already stationed in Iraq.
She highlighted that the signal they could send to Iraq could be very "wrong" since "our words will be heard a very long way away. They can be heard by our troops who are already in great danger in Iraq".

The Kremlin administration highlighted the fact that it continues to support the idea that its Iranian counterpart does not develop a harmful nuclear program, since it does not possess any information in that regard, Reuters reports. Thus, the path of political dialogue should be pursued in nuclear negotiations, and not that of warnings and threats of sanctions.
"We do not have information that would suggest that Iran is carrying out a non-peaceful (nuclear) program. We believe that the possibilities for continuing political discussion around this problem (Iran's nuclear program) have not been exhausted. Sanctions should not be adopted for their own sake", Igor Ivanov, the Secretary of the Russian Security Council, highlighted during a press conference in Moscow.
On the other hand, he pleaded with Iran to display more cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency: "We think that Iran should not drag out the process, but show more zeal in the clarification of remaining questions. From our point of view, Iran is interested in that (the IAEA assessment of the Iranian nuclear program). An IAEA report confirming that the Iranian nuclear program is totally peaceful will be good for Tehran", he said.

Both the Tbilisi and the Moscow administrations highlighted their desire to seek a compromise solution for their ongoing bitter diplomatic row, which had been sparked by the arrest of the four Russian intelligence officers almost two months ago, and resulted into a strain of harsh measures adopted by Russia against the former Soviet republic, ahead of the regular meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Economic Cooperation Organization of Black Sea Countries, which is scheduled to open in Moscow on Wednesday.
"The Georgian side has a new initiative for the settlement of conflicts; we will inform the Russian colleagues of our vision and will discuss prospects for the settlement of conflicts", Merab Antadze, the State Minister for conflict settlement, was quoted by Itar-Tass as positively commenting upon the fresh new strategies for the resolution of the Russian-Georgian conflict. Thus, both the Russian and the Georgian Foreign Ministers announced their intention to conduct a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the Council's convention.
In addition to this, the intention of the Georgian government to make amends with the Russian one was highlighted by Georgian Foreign Minister Bezhuashvili, who reiterated the fact that his country does not need any peace brokers in its negotiations with the Russian side. "We will try ourselves to raise these relations to the level they deserve", he stressed while in Baku, before leaving for Moscow. "I believe we all, the Georgian and the Russian sides, should work for such a meeting to be held in the foreseeable future", he added.

Despite the fact that the federal police managed to control the activities of protesters in the central square of the Oaxaca city on Sunday, demonstrators successfully managed to ignite them again on Tuesday, as promised, causing violent clashes between them and riot police.
According to a representative of the federal police, the government does not currently possess full control of the city, which has been under constant assaults by the leftist activists and teachers' groups requesting the resignation of the governor of the province, Ulises Ruiz, for five months now.
"We feel happy, protected and without fear. It's been about three months since we've come . . . because of the fear that they were going to rob me", a 20 year old student Jesus Velazquez Hernandez stated of the apparent clan that was running through the place before small groups of protesters came in and attempted to re-build barricades on the streets, using some left sand bags, debris and stones that the police cleared a day before.
Others continued to control the Oaxaca University, its radio station, while others took over a bulldozer, put gasoline over and set it ablaze, then began throwing rocks towards a law enforcement unit which attempted to contain the fire. In the meantime, other demonstrators managed to climb up some rooftops in order to be able to monitor the activities of the police, while others maintained a blockade on the main highway between Mexico City and Oaxaca.

On Thursday, United Nations officials announced that both Venezuela and Guatemala have surprisingly decided to withdraw from the United Nations Security Council non-permanent Latin American seat race, allowing Panama, the third compromise candidate, a chance for victory in this department, the BBC informs. The announcement followed a series of meetings between the Foreign Ministers of Guatemala and Venezuela, as well as nearly 50 rounds of UN voting that failed.
"The two foreign ministers have agreed on two issues. Both will withdraw their candidacy to the Security Council, and second, Panama will be the country that the three of us will present to the [Latin American] group to represent the region", the United Nations Ambassador for Ecuador and one of the brokers of these talks, Diego Cordovez, was quoted by the BBC as saying.
As far as the main reason why Panama was chosen as a viable alternative, able to resolve the conflict for the UN seat is concerned, according to Gert Rosenthal, the Foreign Minister of Guatemala, the former is "a country that unites South America and Central America. We're concerned about the idea of divisions between the north and the south of Latin America. We would like to put that idea to rest by seeking a country that is well received at both extremes of our continent".

Even though North Korea made the surprising announcement to rejoin the six-party negotiations over its nuclear program, only on condition that the United States displayed cooperation with regard to the potential lifting of financial sanctions against it, Japan highlighted that it would still not conduct direct talks with their neighbor, stressing upon the fact that such an action would be considered as premature for the time being.
Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso stated that: "We are not considering direct talks with North Korea under the current conditions", during a news conference in Tokyo on Thursday.
In addition to this, Aso declared that the restrictions his country imposed on North Korea, which are separate from the ones instituted by the United States and the United Nations Security Council resolution, adopted on October 14th, establishing a ban on all North Korean imports as well as instituting a prohibition on all North Korea ships to stop in Japanese harbors, would most likely remain unchanged for the time being. "We're not going to lighten or modify our sanctions immediately just because North Korea has agreed to rejoin the talks", Aso stated.

The national political crisis in Fiji took yet another turn for the worse, with the head of the country's military, Frank Bainimarama, currently on an official trip in Egypt to visit his country's peacekeeping troops stationed there, warning that a bloodshed may be imminent in case the Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase maintained his refusal to resign, the BBC informs.
However, he stressed that he does not intend to act upon such a dramatic alternative, since the military does not want to deliver a coup and seize power, yet that may be the only available possibility.
"The last thing we want to do is have violence... But Qarase is pointing us in that direction. The fact that he doesn't want to resign and the fact that he's called for the meeting of the Great Council of Chiefs means to the military that he's put us in a situation where there is going to be bloodshed and violence", he stated on Wednesday during a telephone interview from Egypt.
On the other hand, the Prime Minister continues to harden his stance against the military chief, threatening him that he could even face arrest upon returning to Fiji, according to a report released by the AFP. By employing such a strategy, Qarase intends to show the fact that Bainimarama's remarks would not intimidate him.

Although the people of heavily-populated Shia neighborhood Sadr City in Baghdad joyfully welcomed Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's decision to lift all US security checkpoints in that area on Wednesday, other Iraqi officials were not so content, going to such length as to accuse the Premier of performing unnecessary, even negative, changes on an already established security plan, which had initially been unanimously agreed upon.
Thus, the Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi's remarks were included in this line of comments, the official blaming al-Maliki for having acted alone in making such a dangerous decision: "Those checkpoints were installed according Baghdad security plan, and was approved by all government components. By lifting them, the prime minister is acting alone without consulting his partners in the government who were involved in the process".
He motivated his point of view upon the fact that this particular neighborhood represents the headquarters of the already famous al-Mahdi Army militia, the group loyal to Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and thus, al-Maliki'a decision would facilitate the "movement of terrorists" in that perimeter.
In addition to this, the Vice President warned that he would be forced to resign, if the Prime Minister did not annul his decision and debated the issue of the security system of the capital city with other Iraqi parties as well. His comments were joined by those of the chief of the Iraqi Accordance, the largest Sunni political alliance in the Iraqi Parliament, Adnan al-Dulaimi, who accused al-Maliki and his government of implementing what he called as "double standards" as far as acting in the benefit of the Shia population.

One of the officials of the Arab League, the chief of the African department of the Arab League, Samir Hosny, issued an official statement in order to announce that the round of negotiations scheduled for yesterday in the capital of Sudan, Khartoum, between the interim United Nations-supported Somali government and the Islamic militia, which currently controls the southern part of the country and the capital city, Mogadishu, were postponed for an indefinite period of time.
The official recalled the fact that both delegations arrived late for the talks on Monday and then refused to conduct any talks with each other, preferring to stay in their hotel rooms all Tuesday. Given these uncomfortable circumstances, the Arab League, which is one of the brokers for peace in Somalia, as well as the Sudanese government, which heads it for the time being, decided it would be best to delay these peace talks without specifically announcing for how long.

In what has been regarded as a very assertive political decision by British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the British Embassy in the Syrian capital, Damascus, issued an official statement, in order to announce that the Premier has just decided to send his top foreign policy adviser, Nigel Sheinwald, as envoy to Syria to persuade the government and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to cooperate in the curbing of sectarian killings in Iraq, given that it is known the country does possess a certain amount of influence with insurgents there.
On the other hand, Downing Street and other British officials denied allegations that this is part of a larger campaign performed by both the United States and by Great Britain to force some of the neighbors of Iraq to take part in the revitalizing of the country's security system in order to allow US troops withdraw.
"That is not part of the thinking. We are very serious about revitalizing the Middle East peace process, therefore it is the right thing to do to talk to all those who in some way have an influence. It is up to others to decide what role they play", a spokesperson for Tony Blair, asserted.

Russian media announced on Thursday that gas giant company Gazprom plans to double gas supplies' prices from Georgia, from the current 110 dollars to 230 dollars per 1,000 cubic meters, starting 2007, a decision Georgian officials considered to be based upon political reasons.
Civil Georgia organization highlighted that such a financial move is actually meant to increase pressure upon the Tbilisi administration, given the series of negative developments that have already strained the frail relationship between the two countries for over two months, following the arrest of the four Russian intelligence services' officials.
One of the supporters of such a claim is Georgian Foreign Minister Gela Bezhuashvili, who is currently conducting an official trip to Moscow for a series of official meetings with his Russian counterpart. He stressed upon the fact that the Russian gas monopoly "was anticipated".

Iranian state television announced on Thursday that the Islamic republic began an impressive 10-day series of military maneuvers, which include missile test-fires and drills in the Gulf and Sea of Oman, in order to display the military might of the state, especially its "defensive strength", Reuters informs.
"Dozens of missiles were fired including Shahab-2 and Shahab-3 missiles. The missiles had ranges from 300 km (190 miles) up to 2,000 km (1,240 miles)", the Iranian TV station reported, attaching footage of six missiles being fired from mobile launchers. Their launching was accompanied by statements of praise to the divinity, such as "God is the Greatest", by the commander-in-chief of the Revolutionary Guards, Yahya Rahim Safavi. Prior to these war games, the commander highlighted that the series of military exercises would be called "The Greatest Prophet" and would include testing of ground, air and naval-related equipment.
"We want to show our deterrent and defensive power to trans-regional enemies, and we hope they will understand the message of the maneuvers. The first and main goal is to demonstrate the power and national determination to defend the country against possible threat", Safavi commented upon the objective of these practices.

On Friday, just one day after the military chief of all armed forces in Fiji, Commodore Frank Bainimarama issued a very worrisome warning to the country's Prime Minister, Laisenia Qarase, according to which the country should prepare for bloodshed since that may as well be the last viable alternative to resolve the ongoing dispute, acting commander Captain Esala Teleni conducted a surprising breakthrough official visit to the Premier's office, the first of this kind ever since the Prime Minister attempted to remove Bainimarama with the aid of President Ratu Josefa Iloilo on Tuesday, in order to hold a series of talks with the latter.
In spite of the fact that neither made too many comments about the conclusion of these talks, both sides were optimistic. "He gave me an assurance again that the military never intended to stage a coup and they are continuing with their war of words, as they put it. I think that the message to our people is that things are normal. Unfortunately we had this hiccup but we will deal with our own problem in our own way", the Prime Minister stated.
"I met with him this morning, and there's open dialogue with the military", Teleni highlighted, adding that a meeting between the military commanders and Qarase is due next week, before the Great Council of Chiefs approaches the national political crisis on Thursday.

In spite of the fact that North Korea announced that it would resume its attendance of the six-party nuclear talks in order to persuade the United States to halt the financial restrictions the latter had imposed on the country following the October 9th nuclear test, therefore from a subordinate position, some political analysts believe that the situation is exactly the opposite.
On the contrary, North Korea could ultimately change the tone of the six-party negotiations into a somewhat "blackmailing" one, since it could impose a higher price for the other six countries to pay in exchange for its abandonment of nuclear ambitions, which in turn could stall debates for another long period of time.
Furthermore, experts believe that following the nuclear test it conducted, North Korea dissipated the ambiguity that existed with regard to its international status from this point of view, which in turn could mean that the country could wholly claim its status as a nuclear power, thus an equal to the United States, and request the six-nation group to acknowledge it. "The North's main priority will be to make their nuclear weapons possession a new status quo", Kim Tae-woo, senior research fellow at the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses in Seoul, stated.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani issued an official statement, in order to deliver a warning regarding the withdrawal plan envisaged by the US military in Iraq, highlighting that it may take more time than expected, given the current dramatic situation of the security system in the country, Reuters informs.
Issued during a seven day visit to France, where Talabani has come to request President Chirac to contribute with his country's help in rebuilding Iraq, the statement of the Iraqi chief of state, nevertheless, dismissed that the country is on the brink of civil war, blaming the media, which allegedly focused only on the negative side of things. "There is no civil war. The media is focusing only on the negative side of Iraq. ... We need to give the real picture. It's not just car bombs. Visit Iraq from the north to the south. Never mind Baghdad", he said.
Still, the threat posed by what he labeled as "international terrorists" is real and they must be dealt with.

Thousands of angry demonstrators, throwing large rocks and Molotov cocktails at riot police in downtown tourist Oaxaca city, managed to take control of the main square yet again, as Mexican law enforcement units employing tear gas and water cannons were forced to acknowledge being overwhelmed by the intensity of the protests, Reuters informs.
Police officials reported that at least 10 officers were seriously wounded, while numerous people were beaten and suffered serious burns in the violent clashes that took place near the Oaxaca Benito Juarez Autonomous University, one of the main points around which a series of the most brutal street riots occurred.
The federal army, dispatched to that perimeter by Mexican President Vincente Fox during the weekend after the death of three civilians, including one American journalist, used armored vehicles and fighter helicopters in order to throw water and tear gas at the rioters and disperse them, as well contain the fire of the vehicles set ablaze.
As police units and helicopters started to retreat, some of the latter attempting to throw more water and tear gas, the people hugged each other and cried "Ulises has fallen!", referring to the Governor of Oaxaca province, whom the people want to resign for alleged fraud performed in the 2004 local elections, in spite of the fact that the official continues to reject such an option.

In view of the fact that peace talks between the Baidoa-based interim Somali government and the Islamic militia collapsed this week in Khartoum, as well as increased warnings pointing to a civil war in Somalia, between the Somali UN-backed cabinet and Ethiopia, on one hand, and Somalia militia, supported by Eritrea, on the other, the United States issued an official statement, in which it is voicing concern over the potential regional conflict that might spark in the Horn of Africa region.
In addition to this, the joint statement issued by US embassies in Kenya and Ethiopia, mentioned the fact that such countries could become the target of suicide attacks, therefore all citizens, but especially American ones, should act with caution.
"The U.S. has reports of terrorist threats emanating from extremist elements within Somalia, which target Kenya, Ethiopia, and other surrounding countries. These threats specifically mention the execution of suicide explosions in prominent landmarks within Kenya and Ethiopia. American citizens are advised to remain vigilant and to use extreme caution when frequenting prominent public places", part of the statement said.
The warning did not provide additional details with regard to the nature of such threats and the elements behind them, such as the exact terrorist organizations that could carry out such attacks, yet the US State Department highlighted on Friday that the main cause for concern are the Somali groups that possess connections with outside terrorist ones, such as al-Qaeda, which is no stranger to such concerns.

On Saturday, the North Korean Foreign Ministry released a quite unusual harsh official statement against both the United States and Japan, highlighting the fact that it does not desire Japan to take part in the six-party nuclear negotiations, since "it is no more than a state of the US".
The statement stressed upon the fact that, while the entire world positively reacted to its return to the talks, Japan "expressed its wicked intention", referring to earlier comments of Japanese officials, who maintained their position towards the fact that their country would continue with the sanctions imposed on North Korea, given that it would not accept its new nuclear status in the international community. "The Japanese authorities have thus clearly proved themselves that they are political imbeciles", the statement highlighted.
In reply, Japanese representatives confirmed the fact that they had knowledge about the official statement issued by North Korea and its content, and that it would soon issue an appropriate reply.

As expected earlier on, Russia continued to manifest its rejection of the provisions of the European draft resolution to impose UN sanctions against Iran, labeling them as too harsh.
The initial European draft resolution stipulates the prohibition of all trade of technology related to the building of nuclear or ballistic missiles with Iran by any country in the world. Moreover, another provision calls for an asset freeze and travel ban imposed on all people, organizations and companies that are in any way related to the Iranian uranium enrichment development programmes.
In exchange, Russia came with a counterproposal that was discussed by the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and Germany in New York on Friday only for an hour, when the meeting was adjourned and no specific date was revealed for another session of debates.
According to the United States representative, UN Ambassador John Bolton, the Russian version of the resolution made quite "extensive" changes of the initial one, therefore the Washington administration would soon present its own view upon the European draft as well. "The Russians gave us a complete, line in, line out version of edits, and I said the United States would have some other suggestions to make, and in light of the extent of the Russian changes, we've decided we will refer all these back to capitals and meet again at some later date", Bolton stated.

Following the premature collapse of peace talks between the Baidoa-based interim Somali government and the Islamic militia controlling the capital city and most of the southern part of the country, in Khartoum earlier this week, as well as major rising concerns of an extended war in the Horn of Africa region afterwards, a speaker for the Somali Parliament, Sharif Hassan Sheik Aden, issued an official statement on Friday in order to report that he would conduct an official trip to Mogadishu on Sunday for a series of peace talks with the militia, an initiative which was welcomed by the latter.
"We will welcome the speaker to Mogadishu because he is one of the MPs who care about the Somali people", a spokesman for the Islamic Courts Union, Sheik Abdirahim Ali Mudey, replied.
"I intend to lead a parliamentary delegation to Mogadishu to meet the [Islamist] leadership and seek their cooperation to avoid war and bloodshed. We are going to Mogadishu to seek peace", Aden commented, highlighting that this sudden drive for peace did not enjoy the support of either the Somali Prime Minister or that of the interim President, since this idea was regarded by them as a direct threat to their legitimacy and authority over what was left of the country.

Georgian chief of state Mikhail Saakashvili issued an official statement in order to announce that he would meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of a regional summit in Belarus, which is scheduled to take place this month, in order to mend the extremely strained diplomatic relations between the two countries, beginning two months ago, when four Russian intelligence officers were arrested in Tbilisi, followed by a series of harsh sanctions imposed by Moscow on Georgia and culminating with Russian gas giant Gazprom allegedly intending to double gas supplies' prices for Georgia in 2007, a definite economic blow for the latter's economy.
"We are going to meet by the end of this month hopefully in Minsk. Hopefully I can surprise Putin there", Saakashvili stated.
The peace initiative statement about the future meeting of the two at the Summit of the Commonwealth Independent States in Minsk, issued by the Georgian President in Monaco, where he attended a security conference, also made reference to the meeting of the two countries' Foreign Ministers in Moscow this week, whose talks ended without a clear objective to fulfill since "most of the questions obviously will remain for some time, but there is no alternative to dialogue".