G24

| pdf edition | Tuesday October 16 2007 World

Downloaded 17:00 GMT

Putin warns US against military action on

Iran
Military intervention would be unacceptable, Putin says.  Page 2

Beijing rails against US welcome for Dalai

Lama
Bush’s red carpet welcome and medal cause anger in Beijing.
Page 4

India-US nuclear deal stalls indefinitely

Indian PM tells Bush pact stalled for foreseeable future. Page 4

Turkey plays down Pakistan agrees US presses Growth is not our

talk of imminent Iraq border ceasefire, Palestinians and only goal, Hu tells
incursion  Page 5 tribal elder says  Israel to find Chinese Page 10
Page 7 common ground
Chávez cements Page 8 Tamil Tigers kill
ties with Castro in Thai police name seven soldiers in
growing anti-US suspected web Japan turns wildlife park Page 11
alliance Page 6 paedophile Page 8 economic screw on
Burma Page 9

See in more than black and white.

Explore world events from every angle
with the new-look Guardian Weekly.
Subscribe now and get four weeks free.
Visit guardianweekly.co.uk/freetrial

Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007 guardian.co.uk

Registered in England and Wales. No. 908396. Registered office: Number 1 Scott Place, Manchester M3 3GG
Page  G24 World Tuesday October 16 200717:00 GMT

safety by Thai rescuers after a flash flood in a cave drowned

eight p...’;
Putin warns US against military action videoConfig[2][‘duration’]=’⊳⊳’;
on Iran videoConfig[2][‘thumb’]=’http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-
images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2007/10/15/thai_survivor_freeze_
Robert Tait in Tehran, Mark Tran and agencies frame_CORRECT_84.jpg’;
Tuesday October 16, 2007 videoConfig[2][‘link’]=’http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/
Guardian Unlimited
video/2007/oct/15/thai.flood.survivor’;
videoConfig[3] = new Object();
var config = new Object(); videoConfig[3][‘title’]=’Chinese president addresses party
config[“videoId”] = congress’;
1252317185; videoConfig[3][‘description’]=’Hu Jintao speaks about
config[“playerId”] = corruption, the economy and Taiwan at the 17th Communist
979376896; party congress in Bei...’;
config[“videoRef”] = null; videoConfig[3][‘duration’]=’⊳⊳’;
config[“lineupId”] = null; videoConfig[3][‘thumb’]=’http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-
config[“playerTag”] = null; images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2007/10/15/hu_jintao80.jpg’;
config[“autoStart”] = false; videoConfig[3][‘link’]=’http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad config[“preloadBackColor” video/2007/oct/15/hu.jinato.congress’;
greets Vladimir Putin ] = “#FFFFFF”; videoConfig[4] = new Object();
config[“showOverlay”] = videoConfig[4][‘title’]=’Thai plane crash aftermath’;
true; videoConfig[4][‘description’]=’A survivor recounts her story
as investigators search through the wreckage of the passenger
config[“width”] = 372; plane tha...’;
config[“height”] = 346; videoConfig[4][‘duration’]=’⊳⊳’;
videoConfig[4][‘thumb’]=’http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-
if (isVideoAdDisplayed()) { images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2007/09/17/ThailandCrash_140.
config[“adServerURL”] = “”; jpg’;
} else { videoConfig[4][‘link’]=’http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/
config[“adServerURL”] = “”; video/2007/sep/17/thailand.crash’;
} videoConfig[5] = new Object();
videoConfig[5][‘title’]=’China’s tallest building rises’;
function onVideoPlayed(ignored) { videoConfig[5][‘description’]=’China’s tallest building, the
videoPlayed(“guardian.co.uk”); Shanghai World Financial Centre, reaches its final height of
} 492m as co...’;
videoConfig[5][‘duration’]=’⊳⊳’;
videoConfig[5][‘thumb’]=’http://image.guardian.co.uk/
function onAdComplete(ignored) { sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2007/09/14/china_tall_
videoAdPlayed(“guardian.co.uk”); building84.jpg’;
} videoConfig[5][‘link’]=’http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/
video/2007/sep/14/china.tallest.building’;
function onTemplateLoaded(message) { videoConfig[6] = new Object();
callFlash(“addEventListener”, “streamStart”, videoConfig[6][‘title’]=’Bhutto predicts ‘upheaval’ without
“onVideoPlayed”); proper elections’;
callFlash(“addEventListener”, videoConfig[6][‘description’]=’The exiled former Pakistan
“adComplete”, “onAdComplete”); prime minister Benazir Bhutto says any unrest over Nawaz
} Sharif’s deportat...’;
var videoConfig = new Object();videoConfig[1] = new Object(); videoConfig[6][‘duration’]=’⊳⊳’;
videoConfig[1][‘title’]=’Chávez signs trade deals with Castro’; videoConfig[6][‘thumb’]=’http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-
videoConfig[1][‘description’]=’Venezuela’s president, Hugo images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2007/09/14/bhutto_freeze_
Chávez, signs economic partnership agreements ranging from frame84.jpg’;
oil to tourism...’; videoConfig[6][‘link’]=’http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/
videoConfig[1][‘duration’]=’⊳⊳’; video/2007/sep/14/bhutto.return’;
videoConfig[1][‘thumb’]=’http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys- videoConfig[7] = new Object();
images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2007/10/16/chavez_castro_freeze_ videoConfig[7][‘title’]=’Bush national address on Iraq’;
frame84.jpg’; videoConfig[7][‘description’]=’The president endorses the
videoConfig[1][‘link’]=’http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/ recommendation of the US commander in Iraq, General David
video/2007/oct/16/chavez.castro’; Petraeus, for a ...’;
videoConfig[2] = new Object(); videoConfig[7][‘duration’]=’⊳⊳’;
videoConfig[2][‘title’]=’Thai flood survivor’s rescue’; videoConfig[7][‘thumb’]=’http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-
videoConfig[2][‘description’]=’Briton Helena Carroll is led to images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2007/09/14/bush84.jpg’;

Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007 guardian.co.uk

Page  G24 World
videoConfig[7][‘link’]=’http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/
video/2007/sep/14/bush.speech’;
videoConfig[8] = new Object();
videoConfig[8][‘title’]=’Extract from Baghdad: A Doctor’s
Story’;
videoConfig[8][‘description’]=’The Guardian Films
documentary Baghdad: A Doctor’s Story has won an
International Emmy Award. The fil...’;
videoConfig[8][‘duration’]=’⊳⊳’;
videoConfig[8][‘thumb’]=’http://image.guardian.
co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2007/09/27/
BagdadDoctorThumb.jpg’;
videoConfig[8][‘link’]=’http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/
video/2007/sep/27/iraq’;
videoConfig[9] = new Object();
videoConfig[9][‘title’]=’Al Gore wins Nobel peace prize’;
videoConfig[9][‘description’]=’The former US vice-president
Al Gore shares the Nobel peace prize for raising awareness of
climate ch...’;
videoConfig[9][‘duration’]=’⊳⊳’;
videoConfig[9][‘thumb’]=’http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-
images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2007/10/12/alGore140x84.jpg’;
videoConfig[9][‘link’]=’http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/
video/2007/oct/12/nobel’;
videoConfig[10] = new Object();
videoConfig[10][‘title’]=’Cameron calls Brown a phoney’;
videoConfig[10][‘description’]=’David Cameron launches a
savage attack on the prime minister’s credibility at PMQs.’;
videoConfig[10][‘duration’]=’⊳⊳’;
videoConfig[10][‘thumb’]=’http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-
images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2007/10/10/Cameron140x84.
jpg’;
videoConfig[10][‘link’]=’http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/
video/2007/oct/10/cameron’;
var textConfig = new Object();
textConfig[“endOverlayTitle”] = “Related videos”;
textConfig[“endLinkText”] = “All Videos”;
textConfig[“endLinkURL”] = “http://www.guardian.
co.uk/video”;
function getConfigObject(which) {
if (which == “config”) return config;
else if (which == “videoConfig”) return
videoConfig;
else if (which == “textConfig”) return
textConfig;
} However, he has also called on Iran to show greater openness
Any military intervention in the Caspian Sea area would be
unacceptable, Mr Putin declared as he attended a five-country
regional summit in Tehran.
“We should not even think of making use of force in this
region,” Mr Putin told his fellow leaders.
His remarks also appeared directed at Azerbaijan, amid
Russian media speculation that the US might be trying to
negotiate with the republic on the right to use military facilities
there, something Azeri officials deny.
“We are saying that no Caspian nation should offer its
territory to third powers for use of force or military aggression
against any Caspian state,” Mr Putin said.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007
Tuesday October 16 200717:00 GMT
A summit declaration from the five, which include
Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan beside Russia, Iran
and Azerbaijan, subsequently stressed that “under no
circumstances will they allow (the use of their) territories by
third countries to launch aggression or other military action
against any of the member states”.
The first Kremlin leader to visit Iran since Joseph Stalin in
1943, Mr Putin is holding talks with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,
the Iranian president, on Tehran’s nuclear dispute with the west
during the summit.
The importance of Mr Putin’s trip to the Iranian side was
clearly illustrated by the presence of Manouchehr Mottaki,
Iran’s foreign minister, who greeted Mr Putin as he stepped of
his plane after it landed at Tehran’s Mehrabad airport at around
9am local time (6.30BST).
Leaders from Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan
were met by lower-level dignitaries.
Mr Putin was later greeted personally by Mr Ahmadinejad,
before the start of the summit at the palatial Saad Abad complex
in north Tehran, local media reported.
Mr Putin has been accompanied by a retinue of 180 staff,
aides and security personnel. A fleet of armoured cars has also
been shipped from Russia for his trip.
The Russian leader’s arrival had earlier been in doubt after
the Russian special security services disclosed on Sunday that
they had uncovered a plot to assassinate him in a suicide bomb
in the Iranian capital. Iranian officials angrily dismissed the
alleged conspiracy as “psychological warfare”.
Mr Putin’s presence was widely expected to overshadow the
official purpose of the conference, which is ostensibly to thrash
out disagreements over the sharing of resources in the oil-rich
Caspian Sea.
Iran sees the arrival of Mr Putin — who accepted Mr
Ahmadinejad’s invitation to visit when the pair met at an
Asian co-operation summit in Shanghai in August — as a major
coup in its efforts to resist western pressure over its nuclear
programme, which the US and its allies suspect is aimed at
building an atomic bomb.
Russia’s veto on the UN security council means its support is
vital if Iran is to avoid a third round of sanctions when the body
meets next month.
Moscow has criticised US attempts to pressure Tehran
through economic sanctions and military threats and has called
for greater engagement with Iran.
Last week, Mr Putin angered the US by declaring that there
was no “objective evidence” that Iran is trying to develop a
nuclear bomb.
and flexibility over its uranium enrichment programme.
The nuclear issue is not on the summit agenda, but it will
be discussed when Mr Putin holds one-on-one meetings with
Mr Ahmadinejad and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme
leader, who has the final say on all state matters.
Despite the official hype, Mr Putin’s visit is being treated
with scepticism. Russia is mistrusted by many Iranians, who
point to a history of hostile relations going back two centuries.
Iran is angry over delays in a £500m contract with Russia
to build the Bushehr nuclear power station. Russia has put
completion on hold because of alleged late payments by the
Iranians. Iran has denied the accusation and believes Russia is
merely trying to use the issue to wring concessions over the
guardian.co.uk
Page  G24 World
nuclear programme.
The historic suspicions were reflected in an article today
on the reformist No Rouz website, headlined The Second
Turkmanchai Is On Its Way, a reference to an 1828 peace treaty
in which Iran was forced to cede large swathes of territory in the
Caucasus to Russia.
The article claimed Iran was being pressed to accept a
“shameful” agreement giving it an 11% share of Caspian
resources in a package that would allow Russian nuclear
submarines to sail close to the Iranian coast.
Until 1991, Tehran and Moscow had equal shares in the
Caspian Sea, but the break-up of the Soviet Union triggered
moves to re-allocate resources.
Iran says the resources should be shared equally among
the five Caspian states, but Russia believes it should be based
on coastal size, giving Tehran a much smaller proportion and
depriving it of gas and oil resources.
Opening today’s conference, Mr Ahmadinejad ignored such
difficulties. “The five countries are all cradles of civilisation and
have existed in peace for thousands of years,” he said.
Beijing rails against US welcome for
Dalai Lama
Mark Tran and agencies
Tuesday October 16, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
The Dalai Lama arrives in Washington to receive a
congressional medal. Photograph: Lawrence Jackson/AP 
China expressed anger today at America’s red carpet treatment
of the Dalai Lama and warned that plans to honour him would
seriously damage relations with Beijing.
Despite Chinese protests, President Bush was scheduled
to meet Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader later today at the White
House, the first sitting US president to do so.
Tomorrow, Mr Bush is to attend a ceremony on Capitol Hill
where the Dalai Lama, who won the Nobel peace prize in 1989,
will receive the congressional gold medal. Past recipients of
America’s highest award for civilians have included Tony Blair,
Winston Churchill and Nelson Mandela.
The Dalai Lama’s special envoy, Lodi Gyari, said images of Mr
Bush standing beside the spiritual leader at the congressional
ceremony would send a clear message that “people do care
about Tibet. We have not been forgotten.”
“I have no doubt this will give tremendous encouragement
and hope to the Tibetan people,” he told reporters ahead of the
visit. It also “sends a powerful message to China that the Dalai
Lama is not going to go away”.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007
Tuesday October 16 200717:00 GMT
The Dalai Lama’s triumphant visit to the US, from packed
audiences in New York to his welcome in Washington, has
delighted Tibetan exiles but has infuriated Beijing.
“The move will seriously damage China-US relations,” a
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, Liu Jianchao, said of
tomorrow’s congressional award.
Mr Liu told a news conference that China hoped the US
would “correct its mistakes and cancel relevant arrangements
and stop interfering in the internal affairs of China by any
means”.
Officials in Chinese-controlled Tibet used even stronger
language.
“We are furious. If the Dalai Lama can receive such an award,
there must be no justice or good people in the world,” Zhang
Qingli, the communist part leader of Tibet, told reporters.
The Dalai Lama has lived in India since the failed uprising
against Chinese rule in 1959. He remains popular among
Tibetans and has a strong following in the west. But Beijing
views him as a separatist and a traitor.
China this week pulled out of a meeting of world powers to
discuss Iran in protest at the Dalsi Lama’s visit to the US visit.
Beijing also cancelled its annual human rights meeting with
Germany, angry at the Dalai Lama’s meeting with the German
chancellor, Angela Merkel.
The Dalai Lama has not shied away from talking tough
either. During a two-hour session at the Jacob Javits convention
centre in New York, he said: “The Tibetan cause is a cause of
justice, and that’s something that cannot fade away. That is
the nature of truth — that it cannot die with time and with the
change of generations.”
Beijing considers the Dalai Lama a political exile bent
on establishing an independent Tibet, an accusation he has
repeatedly denied. He claims he only wants greater autonomy
and is waging a non-violent campaign for greater rights for his
six million people.
China has been consistently criticised by human rights
groups over Tibet. Amnesty International said this week that
four Tibetan children aged 15 who have been detained since
last month are at grave risk of torture and mistreatment on
suspicion of writing pro-Tibetan independence slogans.
India-US nuclear deal stalls indefinitely
Randeep Ramesh in New Delhi
Tuesday October 16, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
The controversial nuclear deal
between India and the US has
been put into “deep freeze”
after the Indian prime minister
told the US president, George
Bush, “certain difficulties”
had stalled the pact for the
foreseeable future.
Described by the Bush
administration as the “single
A long-range missile capable most important initiative in the
60 years of our relationship”’
of carrying a nuclear
warhead is paraded through the landmark agreement would
New Delhi. Photograph: AP   have allowed India to become
guardian.co.uk
Page  G24 World Tuesday October 16 200717:00 GMT

the first nation allowed to keep its atomic weapons and to trade
in nuclear technology despite not having signed international
treaties on non-proliferation.
Turkey plays down talk of imminent
Although India’s prime minister, Manmohan Singh, had Iraq incursion
personally backed the deal, the government was unable to
convince communist allies the agreement was in the country’s Mark Tran and agencies
interest. Tuesday October 16, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
In the two months since the pact was finalised, the row
between Mr Singh and communist politicians, vital for his
government’s survival, has become increasingly bitter.
The communists’ argument is that India’s foreign policy
is becoming subservient to the US, and that Washington is
steadily moulding the country’s economy. The nuclear deal,
they say, tightens America’s hold on India.
In the end, leftwing parties threatened to bring down
the administration with an ultimatum: either back us or the
US. The ruling coalition has another one and half years left
before it needs to call for elections.That led, analysts say, to a
government climbdown.
In Washington, the Indian embassy put out a statement The Turkish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
saying: “The prime minister also explained to President Photograph: Burhan Ozbilici/AP 
Bush that certain difficulties have arisen with respect to the
Turkey today played down the possibility of an early attack
operationalisation of the India-US civil nuclear cooperation
on Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq as Baghdad sent its vice-
agreement.”
president to Ankara for urgent talks.
K Subramanyam, a defence analyst who has written in
Amid warnings that Turkish military action could exacerbate
support of the nuclear pact, said this was part of an “ideological
what is already the Middle East’s worst refugee crisis since the
battle in India between isolationists and globalisers”.
1940s, the Turkish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said
“The deal is in suspended animation,” he said. “It is not dead
a parliamentary green light did not necessarily mean that a
yet. The US Congress has an act on its books; there is another
military incursion was imminent.
bilateral agreement that has been negotiated. So everything
The Turkish parliament is expected to agree tomorrow to Mr
is in place when an Indian government feels it is ready to
Erdogan’s request for possible cross-border offensives into the
do a deal. Even a new president in Washington will have to
semi-autonomous, oil-rich Kurdish region of Iraq. The prospect
acknowledge that 80% of the US Congress voted for the deal.”
of military action by Nato’s second-largest army helped push
Mr Subramanyam said the government could still try to pass
crude prices to a record high of over £43 ($88) a barrel today.
the deal as a “final act”. “It is still possible to dissolve the house
“I sincerely wish that this motion will never be applied.
and call for polls. Meanwhile, an interim government could go
Passage of this motion does not mean an immediate incursion
ahead [with the agreement].”
will follow, but we will act at the right time and under the
Signs that the deal was close to collapse first emerged over
right conditions,” Mr Erdogan told his ruling Justice and
the weekend, when the prime minister told a conference in
Development (AK) party in a speech. “This is about self-
New Delhi: “One has to live with certain disappointments. We
defence.”
are not a one-issue government. The deal not coming through is
To head off any action that might destabilise one of the
not the end of life.”
country’s few largely peaceful regions, Iraq’s Sunni Arab vice-
The nuclear pact was first conceived in July 2005. It was seen
president, Tariq al-Hashemi, flew to Turkey for urgent talks.
as a way of bringing India, which has an advanced military and
The Iraqi prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, also called for a
civilian nuclear programme, in from the cold. Supporters say it
“crisis cell” to meet today to monitor developments along the
would help to supply India’s growing energy needs and mitigate
Turkish border.
against greenhouse gas emissions.
“We are ready to have urgent talks with senior officials in
However, some scientists remain sceptical of the deal’s
the Turkish government to discuss all the pending issues and
value. The former chairman of India’s atomic energy
to give guarantees which would regulate relations between
commission, HN Sethna, said the government had been
the two neighbouring countries,” Mr Maliki’s office said in a
“sensible” to stall the agreement. “It would have seen India
statement.
become reliant on imports of enriched uranium rather than
The US has urged Turkey, one of its key allies in the region,
relying on our own supplies.”
not to attack northern Iraq. But US-Turkish relations have taken
a turn for the worse amid moves in Congress to recognise the
mass killings of Armenians in 1915 as genocide.
Turkish military commanders have been clamouring for
action after dozens of soldiers and civilians were killed in
recent weeks by fighters from the Kurdistan Workers party
(PKK). Turkey has long complained about the inability or
unwillingness of the US and Iraq to rein in the estimated 3,000
Kurdish rebels based in northern Iraq.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007 guardian.co.uk
Page  G24 World Tuesday October 16 200717:00 GMT

As Mr Hashemi headed to Turkey, the head of the UN’s “adComplete”, “onAdComplete”);

refugee agency warned that an incursion could worsen the }
region’s refugee problem. var videoConfig = new Object();videoConfig[1] = new Object();
“I can only express our very deep concern about any videoConfig[1][‘title’]=’Thai flood survivor’s rescue’;
development that might lead to meaningful displacements of videoConfig[1][‘description’]=’Briton Helena Carroll is led to
populations in that sensitive area,” said Antonio Guterres, the safety by Thai rescuers after a flash flood in a cave drowned
UN high commissioner for refugees. eight p...’;
On a visit to the EU, he also urged western nations to help videoConfig[1][‘duration’]=’⊳⊳’;
Syria and Jordan cope with an influx of 4 million Iraqi refugees, videoConfig[1][‘thumb’]=’http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-
and appealed to the EU not to close its borders to Iraqi asylum images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2007/10/15/thai_survivor_freeze_
seekers. frame_CORRECT_84.jpg’;
The UN fears a Turkish cross-border offensive against videoConfig[1][‘link’]=’http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/
Kurdish rebels could force thousands more people to flee video/2007/oct/15/thai.flood.survivor’;
northern Iraq. videoConfig[2] = new Object();
“The northern governates, or Kurdistan, or whatever you videoConfig[2][‘title’]=’Chinese president addresses party
want to call that area, has been the most stable area in Iraq,” Mr congress’;
Guterres said. “It is an area also where you will find Iraqis from videoConfig[2][‘description’]=’Hu Jintao speaks about
the south and from central Iraq that went there to seek security, corruption, the economy and Taiwan at the 17th Communist
and of course we strongly hope that this relative security in party congress in Bei...’;
Kurdistan will not be affected.” videoConfig[2][‘duration’]=’⊳⊳’;
videoConfig[2][‘thumb’]=’http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-
images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2007/10/15/hu_jintao80.jpg’;
Chávez cements ties with Castro in videoConfig[2][‘link’]=’http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/
growing anti-US alliance video/2007/oct/15/hu.jinato.congress’;
videoConfig[3] = new Object();
videoConfig[3][‘title’]=’Thai plane crash aftermath’;
Peter Walker and agencies
Tuesday October 16, 2007 videoConfig[3][‘description’]=’A survivor recounts her story
Guardian Unlimited as investigators search through the wreckage of the passenger
plane tha...’;
videoConfig[3][‘duration’]=’⊳⊳’;
var config = new Object();
videoConfig[3][‘thumb’]=’http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-
config[“videoId”] = 1243712779;
images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2007/09/17/ThailandCrash_140.
config[“playerId”] = 979376896;
jpg’;
config[“videoRef”] = null;
videoConfig[3][‘link’]=’http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/
config[“lineupId”] = null;
video/2007/sep/17/thailand.crash’;
config[“playerTag”] = null;
videoConfig[4] = new Object();
config[“autoStart”] = false;
videoConfig[4][‘title’]=’China’s tallest building rises’;
config[“preloadBackColor”] = “#FFFFFF”;
videoConfig[4][‘description’]=’China’s tallest building, the
config[“showOverlay”] = true;
Shanghai World Financial Centre, reaches its final height of
492m as co...’;
config[“width”] = 372;
videoConfig[4][‘duration’]=’⊳⊳’;
config[“height”] = 346;
videoConfig[4][‘thumb’]=’http://image.guardian.co.uk/
sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2007/09/14/china_tall_
if (isVideoAdDisplayed()) {
building84.jpg’;
config[“adServerURL”] = “”;
videoConfig[4][‘link’]=’http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/
} else {
video/2007/sep/14/china.tallest.building’;
config[“adServerURL”] = “”;
videoConfig[5] = new Object();
}
videoConfig[5][‘title’]=’Bhutto predicts ‘upheaval’ without
proper elections’;
function onVideoPlayed(ignored) {
videoConfig[5][‘description’]=’The exiled former Pakistan
videoPlayed(“guardian.co.uk”);
prime minister Benazir Bhutto says any unrest over Nawaz
}
Sharif’s deportat...’;
videoConfig[5][‘duration’]=’⊳⊳’;
videoConfig[5][‘thumb’]=’http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-
function onAdComplete(ignored) {
images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2007/09/14/bhutto_freeze_
videoAdPlayed(“guardian.co.uk”);
frame84.jpg’;
}
videoConfig[5][‘link’]=’http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/
video/2007/sep/14/bhutto.return’;
function onTemplateLoaded(message) {
videoConfig[6] = new Object();
callFlash(“addEventListener”, “streamStart”,
videoConfig[6][‘title’]=’Bush national address on Iraq’;
“onVideoPlayed”);
videoConfig[6][‘description’]=’The president endorses the
callFlash(“addEventListener”,
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007 guardian.co.uk
Page  G24 World
recommendation of the US commander in Iraq, General David
Petraeus, for a ...’;
videoConfig[6][‘duration’]=’⊳⊳’;
videoConfig[6][‘thumb’]=’http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-
images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2007/09/14/bush84.jpg’;
videoConfig[6][‘link’]=’http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/
video/2007/sep/14/bush.speech’;
videoConfig[7] = new Object();
videoConfig[7][‘title’]=’Extract from Baghdad: A Doctor’s
Story’;
videoConfig[7][‘description’]=’The Guardian Films
documentary Baghdad: A Doctor’s Story has won an
International Emmy Award. The fil...’;
videoConfig[7][‘duration’]=’⊳⊳’;
videoConfig[7][‘thumb’]=’http://image.guardian.
co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2007/09/27/
BagdadDoctorThumb.jpg’;
videoConfig[7][‘link’]=’http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/
video/2007/sep/27/iraq’;
videoConfig[8] = new Object();
videoConfig[8][‘title’]=’Al Gore wins Nobel peace prize’;
videoConfig[8][‘description’]=’The former US vice-president
Al Gore shares the Nobel peace prize for raising awareness of
climate ch...’;
videoConfig[8][‘duration’]=’⊳⊳’;
videoConfig[8][‘thumb’]=’http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-
images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2007/10/12/alGore140x84.jpg’;
videoConfig[8][‘link’]=’http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/
video/2007/oct/12/nobel’;
videoConfig[9] = new Object();
videoConfig[9][‘title’]=’Cameron calls Brown a phoney’;
videoConfig[9][‘description’]=’David Cameron launches a
savage attack on the prime minister’s credibility at PMQs.’;
videoConfig[9][‘duration’]=’⊳⊳’;
videoConfig[9][‘thumb’]=’http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-
images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2007/10/10/Cameron140x84.
jpg’;
videoConfig[9][‘link’]=’http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/
video/2007/oct/10/cameron’;
videoConfig[10] = new Object();
videoConfig[10][‘title’]=’Indonesian earthquake aftermath’;
videoConfig[10][‘description’]=’The Indonesian vice-president,
Jusuf Kalla, pays tribute to citizens affected by the tremors.’;
videoConfig[10][‘duration’]=’⊳⊳’;
videoConfig[10][‘thumb’]=’http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-
images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2007/09/13/indonesia_quake84.
jpg’;
videoConfig[10][‘link’]=’http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/
video/2007/sep/13/earthquake.indonesia’;
var textConfig = new Object();
textConfig[“endOverlayTitle”] = “Related videos”;
textConfig[“endLinkText”] = “All Videos”;
textConfig[“endLinkURL”] = “http://www.guardian.
co.uk/video”;
function getConfigObject(which) {
if (which == “config”) return config;
else if (which == “videoConfig”) return
videoConfig;
else if (which == “textConfig”) return
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007
Tuesday October 16 200717:00 GMT
textConfig;
}
The pair agreed on a series of trade-related deals in Havana
yesterday, in areas ranging from oil production to tourism.
Venezuela and Cuba “can form a confederation of republics,
two republics in one, two countries in one”, Mr Chávez said.
At the weekend, the Venezuelan president met Fidel Castro,
the 81-year-old Cuban leader whose long convalescence from
serious illness has seen him temporarily replaced by his 76-
year-old brother, Raul, since last year.
The Cuban leader has not been seen in public since
reportedly undergoing surgery for an unknown complaint.
In a videotape of the Saturday meeting, the elder Mr Castro
looked somewhat frail but was alert and in good spirits.
He also joined Mr Chávez by telephone on Sunday as the
Venezuelan leader hosted his weekly live television and radio
show, Alo, Presidente!, from the central Cuban city of Santa
Clara.
The pair discussed the legacy of the Cuban revolutionary
figure Che Guevara. Mr Chávez is in the country to mark the
40th anniversary of Guevara’s killing.
The new trade deal is part of Mr Chávez’s push for a so-called
Bolivarian trading zone, also comprising Bolivia and Nicaragua,
and intended as an alternative to US free trade pacts.
Yesterday, the US state department spokesman, Tom Casey,
said he was “delighted that Fidel Castro has had an opportunity
to discuss things with his good friend President Chávez”,
adding: “It’s too bad that in almost half a century of misrule
in Cuba, he’s never had the same conversation with his own
people.”
Pakistan agrees border ceasefire, tribal
elder says
Peter Walker and agencies
Tuesday October 16, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
Pakistan has agreed to a ceasefire with militants near the
country’s border with Afghanistan after battles last week that
killed around 250 people, a tribal elder said today.
The deal would see soldiers end operations around the North
Waziristan region in return for an assurance that local tribes
would not let foreign militants base themselves in the area, said
the head of a tribal council, Faizullah Khan.
“A temporary ceasefire has been agreed and four army
checkpoints in the area have been removed,” he was quoted by
the AFP news agency.
A local intelligence official said troops had begun
withdrawing today from a series of checkpoints between Miran
Shah, the main town in North Waziristan, and Mir Ali, the town
at the centre of the recent fighting. A curfew imposed in Mir Ali
last week had also been lifted, he added.
However, an army spokesman said while the military had
reopened some roads the ceasefire was not yet confirmed.
“There is no ceasefire as such. They [tribal elders] have
made a request and it will be considered today,” Major General
Waheed Arshad said.
In the fiercest fighting in the region for years, the military
used jet fighters and artillery to bombard suspected militant
guardian.co.uk
Page  G24 World
positions in Mir Ali and surrounding villages last week.
According to the army, around 200 militants and almost 50
troops died. Some local people said, however, that dozens of
civilians were among the dead.
Most of the fighting ended last week, after the start of talks
and the Muslim festival of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of
Ramadan.
Pakistan’s president, General Pervez Musharraf — who
gained a new term in office in a controversial electoral college
vote earlier this month — faces pressure from Washington to
tackle militants linked to al-Qaida in the largely lawless tribal
regions near the Afghan border.
US officials have expressed concern that al-Qaida took
advantage of a September 2006 peace deal in North Waziristan
to regroup.
Thai police name suspected web
paedophile
Mark Tran and agencies
Tuesday October 16, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
A composite picture of the suspected paedophile, Christopher
Paul Neil taken from the Interpol website. Photograph:
Reuters  • Envoy says UN should consider leaving
A suspected paedophile pictured on websites sexually abusing
young boys has been identified as a 32-year-old Canadian, it
emerged today.
Thai police named him as Christopher Paul Neil after a
worldwide appeal by Interpol using reconstructed images of his
face.
Interpol had more than 200 internet photos of the suspect
abusing boys in Thailand and Cambodia, but his face had been
digitally disguised until experts in Germany rebuilt the photos.
The English language teacher is thought to be on the run in
Thailand. Interpol said security cameras documented his arrival
at immigration on Thursday. He had apparently been working
as an English language teacher in South Korea.
“We believe he is still in Thailand and we are now collecting
information from neighbouring countries where he committed
crimes of paedophilia so we can issue an arrest warrant for
him,” said Colonel Apichart Suribunya, of the Thai police.
Police have been hunting the man for three years, ever since
German police found online pictures of him abusing under-age
Asian boys.
The suspect was allegedly shown sexually abusing 12
Vietnamese and Cambodian boys, apparently ranging in age
from six to their early teens.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007
Tuesday October 16 200717:00 GMT
The man’s face was initially disguised behind a digitalised
swirl but German police managed to rebuild an image of him
and released four reconstructed photos last week.
Interpol said that more than 350 people supplied
information to authorities worldwide after the appeal. Officials
are still collecting and analysing evidence to bring charges if the
suspect is arrested, it said.
Mr Neil’s date of birth, passport number, and current and
previous places of work had also been established, Interpol
said.
“Thailand is at the centre of an international manhunt, and
authorities in the country, in cooperation with Interpol and
police around the world, are hunting him down,” the Interpol
secretary general, Ronald Noble, said yesterday.
Cambodian police alerted border authorities to look out for
the suspect after a request from Interpol.
“We have issued the alert in case that person tries to enter
Cambodia through any of the international checkpoints on
Cambodia-Thai borders,” said Keo Vanthan, a senior police
official in charge of Cambodia’s Interpol division.
He said police were investigating whether the suspect had
previously entered Cambodia.
The case marks Thailand’s latest high-profile paedophile
manhunt.
John Mark Karr, who confessed to killing the six-year-old
American beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey, was arrested in
Bangkok last year, only to be freed for lack of corroborating
evidence. He taught English at several schools in Bangkok.
US presses Palestinians and Israel to
find common ground
• Rice speaks to Abbas and Olmert before
conference
Quartet
Ian Black, Middle East editor
Tuesday October 16, 2007
The Guardian
The US yesterday urged Israel and the Palestinians to work to
overcome their differences before an international conference
next month even as a top UN expert lambasted the “Quartet”
of Middle East peacemakers for failing to promote Palestinian
rights.
Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, travelled to the
West Bank town of Ramallah to try to persuade the Palestinian
president, Mahmoud Abbas, to narrow gaps with Israel on a
“declaration of principles” for the conference, provisionally
scheduled to be held in Annapolis, Maryland, sometime next
month.
Earlier she held talks with the Israeli prime minister, Ehud
Olmert, who generated headlines by signalling that outlying
Arab areas of Jerusalem could be surrendered in an agreement
with Mr Abbas.
Until recently, the question of dividing Jerusalem — annexed
after the 1967 war — was a taboo in Israeli politics, and it
remains hugely divisive. There were “legitimate questions”
about some of these suburbs, he said. But the issue of the city’s
guardian.co.uk
Page  G24 World
holy sites has yet to be tackled.
“Frankly it is time for the establishment of a Palestinian
state,” Ms Rice said. “The US sees the establishment of a
Palestinian state, a two-state solution, as absolutely essential to
the future... We have got quite a long time to go but we are not
going to tire until I have given my last ounce of energy and my
last moment in office.”
It is still far from clear, however, whether the Annapolis
conference will go ahead. Arab states have said they do not
want to attend if it is just a “photo-opportunity.” Officials
on all sides have hinted that the event could be postponed
or cancelled if a positive outcome could not be assured.
Palestinians say failure would undermine Mr Abbas and could
trigger a new intifada.
And amid the wrangling, there was a reminder of the gap
between rhetoric and reality on the ground with a warning from
John Dugard, the UN’s special rapporteur on the rights of the
Palestinians.
“Every time I visit, the situation seems to have worsened,”
the retired South African law professor said in a BBC Radio
interview. “This time, I was very struck by the sense of
hopelessness among the Palestinian people.” Mr Dugard
attributed this to “the crushing effect of human rights
violations”, and to Israeli restrictions on Palestinians’ freedom
of movement.
Israel did face a security threat but “its response is very
disproportionate”. He said the purpose of some of the hundreds
of Israeli checkpoints or barriers in the West Bank was to break
it up “into a number of cantons and make the life of Palestinians
as miserable as possible”.
Mr Dugard suggested the UN should leave the Quartet unless
it adopted a more proactive approach to protecting Palestinian
rights. The grouping is composed of the UN, US, EU and Russia.
The UN “does itself little good by remaining a member of the
Quartet”. It is “not playing the role of an objective mediator
that behoves it”.
Mr Dugard’s comments echoed a complaint by a former
UN envoy, Álvaro de Soto, in a report leaked to the Guardian
in June. At the heart of the issue is whether the international
community should be boycotting the Palestinian Islamist
movement Hamas, which won free elections in 2006 and took
over the Gaza Strip this June, effectively splitting the occupied
Palestinian territories in half and vastly complicating already
difficult efforts to revive the peace process.
The Quartet, now represented by Tony Blair, is backing
the government of Mr Abbas, the Fatah leader, and his prime
minister, Salam Fayyad. The Quartet position is that Hamas
is a terrorist organisation which will remain off limits unless
it renounces violence, recognises Israel and accepts existing
peace agreements. Critics say boycotting Hamas is collective
punishment that is causing untold suffering in Gaza and
ignoring the free will of the Palestinians who voted for the
movement.
The UN “should be playing the role of the mediator”, Mr
Dugard said. “Instead the international community has given
its support almost completely to one faction — to Fatah,” he
added.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007
Tuesday October 16 200717:00 GMT
Japan turns economic screw on Burma
Ian MacKinnon, south-east Asia correspondent
Tuesday October 16, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
Burmese soldiers take their position to quell protesters in
Rangoon. Photograph: AP 
Burma’s military regime came under further economic
pressure today after Japan halted aid for a multimillion-pound
humanitarian project in protest at the bloody suppression of
last month’s pro-democracy protests.
The cut in grants by one of the Asian regions most influential
players followed the EU’s decision to toughen sanctions, and
signals from the US that it will shortly stiffen its measures
against the junta’s leadership.
Japan, once Burma’s largest aid donor, said it had decided
to cut funding in response to international outrage over the
crackdown. It hoped the move would encourage the regime to
change course and move towards democracy.
Tokyo had been considering its course of action since the
killing of a Japanese video journalist, Kenji Nagai, at the height
of the protests. Film of the killing appeared to show him being
shot at close range by a soldier.
Japan’s foreign minister, Masahiko Komura, said Japan
was cancelling a £2.3m grant it had been discussing with the
Burmese regime for a business education centre at Rangoon’s
university.
‘The Japanese government needs to show our stance,” the
minister said. “We cannot take action that would effectively
support the military regime at this moment.”
The funding cut represents only a small proportion of the
£13m in humanitarian aid the Japanese government gave to the
regime last year, but the minister said further grants would be
reviewed on a case-by-case basis in future.
Japan, which until 1998 was Burma’s largest donor, remains
one of the pariah nation’s biggest humanitarian aid backers. But
it suspended low-interest loans for big infrastructure projects
in 2003 in protest at the rearrest of the opposition leader, Aung
San Suu Kyi, who has been detained for 12 of the last 18 years.
The significance of today’s move is that Japan, unlike the
EU and US, has largely stuck by the generals over the years,
refraining from imposing sanctions.
The shift sends a strong symbolic message to the
Burmese leadership, and may yet encourage countries of the
neighbouring Association of South-East Asian Nations, which
numbers Burma among its members and opposes sanctions, to
adopt a stronger stance.
The Thai prime minister, Surayud Chulanont, proposed
guardian.co.uk
Page 10 G24 World
a UN-backed regional forum on Burma, bringing south-east
Asia together with India and China, the two countries with the
greatest potential influence on the junta.
Growth is not our only goal, Hu tells
Chinese
• Sustainability and cutting inequality high
on agenda
• Few political reforms in speech at party
congress
Jonathan Watts in Beijing
Tuesday October 16, 2007
The Guardian
The Chinese president, Hu Jintao, delivers his speech to
the 17th Communist party congress in Beijing. Photograph:
Michael Reynolds/EPA 
President Hu Jintao admitted yesterday that China’s
Communist party had failed to live up to the expectations of the
people and promised a more sustainable and accountable policy
of development.
In a speech that will set China’s direction for the next five
years, Mr Hu spoke of the need to address the problems of
environmental degradation, political corruption and income
inequality between the rich cities on the eastern seaboard and
villages in the poor western interior.
Mr Hu was speaking at the opening of the 17th Communist
party congress — the most important political event in China
since the last congress in 2002 — at a time when the leader’s
words have never carried more weight in the outside world.
Boasting of an average growth rate of more than 10% a year
since taking power, Mr Hu vowed to continue the reforms that
had pushed China past Britain to become the fourth biggest
economy. “To stop or reverse reform and opening up would
only lead to a blind alley,” he warned.
In the political sphere, he held out the prospect of only
limited changes, none of which would challenge the one-party
system. An expansion of “inner party democracy” will give 73
million party members more opportunities to vote on policy
and leadership, introduce a tenure system for delegates to
congress and make the decision making process more open
to scrutiny. For most of the 1.3 billion population, there was
no clear timetable for an expansion of accountability beyond
choosing village chiefs, the lowest level of government.
“Citizens’ participation in political affairs will expand in an
orderly way,” he said. “Power must be exercised in the sunshine
to ensure that it is exercised correctly.”
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007
Tuesday October 16 200717:00 GMT
During his time in office, Mr Hu said the number of rural
poor had fallen from 250 million to 20 million, the military
had been modernised and the first Chinese astronauts had
ventured into space. But, after record levels of protests in the
countryside, he admitted that the party had struggled to keep
pace with the rapid changes in society. “While recognising our
achievements, we must be well aware that they still fall short
of the expectations of the people,” he said. “The governance
capability of the party falls somewhat short of the need to deal
with the new situation and tasks.”
Among the problems he identified were weak grass-roots
organisations, excessive bureaucracy, and waste and corruption
by a “small number of party cadres”. Last year, 8,310 members
were punished for accepting bribes, but that figure accounts
only for those who were caught and corruption is endemic.
Mr Hu used the 135-minute speech to amplify his theory of
a “scientific outlook on development”, which will be written
into the party charter. It represents a change of focus from
quantity to quality in national governance, and from revolution
to plutocracy in party ideology. Instead of merely aiming for
high growth, it emphasises sustainability and social harmony.
“Our economic growth is realised at an excessively high cost of
resources and the environment,” Mr Hu noted.
He made his speech in front of a giant hammer and sickle
symbol. But decades after the semi-religious reverence of Mao
Zedong, the former hydro-engineer relies less on ideology and
charisma and more on asserting his qualities as a pragmatic
manager. Mao’s theory of class struggle, he said, was an
erroneous theory.
Mr Hu held out an olive branch to Taiwan. “We would like to
make a solemn appeal: On the basis of the one-China principle,
let us discuss a formal end to the state of hostility between the
two sides, reach a peace agreement,” he said. “We are willing to
make every effort with the utmost sincerity to achieve peaceful
reunification of the two sides and will never allow anyone to
separate Taiwan from the motherland in any name or by any
means.” Taiwan’s government rejected the overture as “devoid
of significance”.
At the end of the congress, the party will unveil a new line-
up of the standing committee of the politburo, China’s most
powerful political body. Mr Hu will promote several supporters,
but given the influence of his predecessor Jiang Zemin and the
need to balance factional interests, he is also expected to make
compromises that would have been undreamed of by past
leaders.
*
The Guardian digital edition
Read the Guardian on the web exactly the
way it was printed.
With award-winning Guardian
photography accessible from anywhere in
the world.
guardian.co.uk/digitaledition
guardian.co.uk