Obama hints at talks with Taleban

Making alliances with Afghan tribes is a tricky process, say analysts

President Obama has suggested there could be talks with moderate elements of the Taleban in Afghanistan as part of a process of reconciliation.

Mr Obama told the New York Times that US forces in Iraq had persuaded some Islamic radicals alienated by the tactics of al-Qaeda to co-operate.

He said there might be similar opportunities in Afghanistan, although the situation there was more complex.

Asked if the US was winning in Afghanistan, Mr Obama replied: "No."

A month into his presidency, Mr Obama authorised the deployment of up to 17,000 extra US troops to Afghanistan.

'Fierce independence'

Mr Obama and his advisors are reviewing the US strategy on Afghanistan, and have looked at what has worked in Iraq.

Those tribes are multiple and sometimes operate at cross purposes, and so figuring all that out is going to be much more of a challenge President Obama Obama's new Afghan strategy

"There may be some comparable opportunities in Afghanistan and in the Pakistani region," he said on board Air Force One.

Referring to the US policy in Iraq, he said: "If you talk to General [David] Petraeus, I think he would argue that part of the success in Iraq involved reaching out to people that we would consider to be Islamic fundamentalists, but who were willing to work with us because they had been completely alienated by the tactics of al-Qaeda in Iraq."

But Afghanistan could be a different situation.

"The situation in Afghanistan is, if anything, more complex," he told the newspaper.

"You have a less governed region, a history of fierce independence among tribes.

"Those tribes are multiple and sometimes operate at cross purposes, and so figuring all that out is going to be much more of a challenge."

He also discussed what the US would do if a terror suspect appeared in a country without an extradition arrangement with the US.

"There could be situations - and I emphasise 'could be' because we haven't made a determination yet - where, let's say that we have a well-known al-Qaeda operative that doesn't surface very often, appears in a third country with whom we don't have an extradition relationship or would not be willing to prosecute, but we think is a very dangerous person," he said.

"I think we still have to think about how do we deal with that kind of scenario," he added.

Sudan president plans Darfur trip

President Bashir appeared wearing a traditional feathered head-dress

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir says he will travel to Darfur, his first visit there since an international arrest warrant was issued for him.

Mr Bashir has been accused of committing war crimes in Darfur.

He told a rally in the capital, Khartoum, that if anyone wanted to fight him, they should come to Sudan instead of issuing arrest warrants.

He described as "thieves" the 13 aid agencies whose expulsion he announced earlier in the week.

He accused them of taking "99% of the budget for humanitarian work themselves, and giving the people of Darfur 1%."

The United Nations says the expulsion puts more than a million lives at risk.

They have to come to our land to fight us themselves President Bashir

At Saturday's rally, Mr Bashir danced in front of supporters from south Sudan, wearing a traditional feathered head-dress and colourful beads, AFP news agency reported.

"If someone wants to fight us, then they should not come with resolutions from the United Nations Security Council or the ICC," he said.

"They have to come to our land to fight us themselves."

Correspondents say his planned trip to Darfur on Sunday is a clear sign of defiance.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued a warrant for Mr Bashir on 4 March, accusing him of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur.

It is the first such warrant served against a serving head of state.

But Mr Bashir has questioned the right of the ICC to try him, saying that if the court was genuinely impartial, it would also have jurisdiction over US citizens.

"Is this a court of justice? Are they [the US] members of it? If it is a court of justice, then why don't they join it?" he said.

Aid concerns

The UN Security Council, at its first meeting since the arrest warrant was issued, failed to agree on a statement asking Sudan to reverse the decision to expel the aid agencies.

Khartoum's UN ambassador denied the expulsions were politically-motivated, levelling accusations at the agencies.

"We have a full dossier of information against those organisations," Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem Mohamed said.

"They are messing up everything as far as stability and security of Darfur is concerned. They are abusing the hospitality of the Sudanese people," AFP reported him as saying.

The key powers at the UN Security Council - Russia, China, France, the US and Britain - met to discuss a statement which called on Sudan to reverse the expulsions.

But diplomats say China, Sudan's key ally and trading partner, objected.

A delegation from the African Union and the Arab League is due to ask the Security Council to suspend the war crimes case against Sudan's president.

Button gaffe embarrasses Clinton

Mr Lavrov was not taken with the state department's Russian language skills

Russian media have been poking fun at the US secretary of state over a translation error on a gift she presented to her Russian counterpart.

Hillary Clinton gave Sergei Lavrov a mock "reset" button, symbolising US hopes to mend frayed ties with Moscow.

But he said the word the Americans chose, "peregruzka", meant "overloaded" or "overcharged", rather than "reset".

Daily newspaper Kommersant declared on its front page: "Sergei Lavrov and Hillary Clinton push the wrong button."

Relations between Washington and Moscow have cooled in recent years over Russia's role in the war in Georgia, US support for the entry of Georgia and Ukraine to Nato, and the planned US missile shield based in central Europe.

'Was it right?'

Efforts to heal the rift got off to an awkward start on Friday as the two sides met in Geneva, when Mrs Clinton presented Foreign Minister Lavrov with a green box tied in green ribbon.

You got it wrong Sergei LevrovRussian foreign minister Pressing the US-Russia reset button US and Russia seek 2009 arms deal

As reporters watched, the US secretary of state assured her Russian opposite number her staff had "worked hard" to get it right.

"Was it right?" she inquired with a smile.

"You got it wrong," Mr Lavrov responded, also smiling, before pointing out the mistake.

Despite the embarrassment, the two made light of the moment in front of the cameras and pushed the button together to show they shared a hope for better relations.

At a joint news conference after two hours of talks, both joked about the error.

"We reached an agreement on how 'reset' is spelled in both Russian and English - we have no differences between us any more," Mr Lavrov said through an interpreter.

Mrs Clinton put it this way: "The minister corrected our word choice. But in a way, the word that was on the button turns out to be also true.

"We are resetting, and because we are resetting, the minister and I have an 'overload' of work."

The gift was a light-hearted reference to US Vice-President Joe Biden's recent remark that the new US administration wanted to reboot ties with Russia after years of friction.

US envoys set for Syria meeting

US envoy Jeffrey Feltman said the list of concerns was long

Two senior US envoys are heading to Damascus for the first high-level contact with Syria since 2005.

Jeffrey Feltman and Dan Shapiro are due to meet Foreign Minister Walid Muallem as the Obama administration seeks to evaluate Syria's openness for dialogue.

Mr Feltman said the pair had a long list of concerns that they planned to discuss with Syrian officials.

US-Syria relations soured after Syria was widely accused of involvement in the killing of a former Lebanese PM.

Rafik Hariri was killed by a devastating car bomb in Beirut in February 2005.

Shortly afterwards Syria pulled out its troops from Lebanon, ending a 29-year presence in the country.

Diplomatic problems

Mr Feltman served as US ambassador in Beirut until 2008, and is currently an acting assistant secretary of state.

Our trip... is an opportunity for us to start addressing these concerns and using engagement as a tool to promote our objectives in the region Jeffrey Feltman US Department of State Syria inches in from the cold

As a congressional aide, Mr Shapiro was instrumental in drafting the Syria Accountability Act, which placed sanctions on Damascus in 2003.

During his time in Lebanon, Damascus accused Mr Feltman of orchestrating an anti-Syrian movement in Lebanon.

The last senior US official to visit Damascus was Richard Armitage, then a deputy assistant secretary of state, in January 2005.

Washington withdrew its ambassador from Syria shortly afterwards, following Mr Hariri's assassination.

That bombing was widely blamed on Damascus, athough Syria denied any involvement.

Addressing concerns

Washington's list of complaints is long when it comes to Syria's behaviour and that policy has not changed with the change of US administration, says the BBC's state department correspondent, Kim Ghattas.

The killing of Rafik Hariri sparked outrage in Lebanon

There is still concern about support for militant groups, like Hamas and Hezbollah, about covert nuclear activities and about meddling in Lebanon's affairs, our correspondent adds.

Ahead of their visit, the US envoys said their trip to Syria was an opportunity to start addressing those concerns with the Syrians.

And they stressed that engagement was a way to promote US objectives in the region.

Damascus has tried to paint the visit as something of a victory, proof that standing fast in the face of US pressure over the last few years has paid off, our correspondent says.

However, the choice of envoys seems to signal that Washington is taking a tough but serious approach to its engagement, she adds.

Speaking a day before the pair arrived in Syria, Mr Feltman said: "Our trip to Syria... is an opportunity for us to start addressing these concerns and using engagement as a tool to promote our objectives in the region."

They were also keen to reassure the Lebanese that the US stood solidly behind Beirut, despite the new overtures towards Damascus.

"The United States' support for a sovereign and independent Lebanon remains unwavering," Mr Feltman said.

"The president [Barack Obama] has said he wants to sustain in principle engagement with all states in the region and that includes Syria," he added.

Zimbabwe PM's wife dies in crash

The Tsvangirais were south of Harare when the crash happened

The wife of Zimbabwe's Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has been killed in a car crash in which he was also hurt, party officials say.

Susan Tsvangirai was travelling with her husband south of the capital, Harare, when the crash happened.

Mr Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party, formed a unity government with President Robert Mugabe last month.

Mr Mugabe has reportedly gone to visit his former long-term rival in hospital.

Zimbabwean journalist Brian Hungwe told the BBC that both the president and his wife were visiting the clinic in Harare where Mr Tsvangirai is being treated for his injuries.

Hungwe said he had been told that Mr Tsvangirai, who will turn 57 next week, was in a stable condition but in a state of shock.

The prime minister is said to have been on his way to his rural home in Buhera, where he planned to hold a weekend rally, when his vehicle was involved in a crash near Beatrice.

A spokesman for Mr Tsvangirai, James Maridadi, told the AFP news agency: "The prime minister was travelling to Murambinda [in Buhera district] at about 1600 hours when his vehicle was involved in an accident with a haulage truck.

"The vehicle in which the prime minister was travelling rolled over about three times with its four occupants."

The AFP quoted an MDC minister as saying the driver of the lorry had been asleep at the wheel.

The crash comes just two days after Mr Tsvangirai delivered his maiden speech to parliament after being sworn in as prime minister in Zimbabwe's power-sharing government.

A look at the important role Susan Tsvangirai played in her husband's life

He and his wife Susan, who were married in 1978, had six children.

The BBC's Andrew Harding in Johannesburg says that Mrs Tsvangirai was very discreet and stayed out of the limelight, but was a very important part of her husband's life.

She was a great source of strength to her husband, when in the past he was charged with treason and assaulted for his opposition to Mr Mugabe, and sat through all his treason trial, our correspondent says.

She also made a point of visiting MDC members who were jailed while the party was in opposition, he adds.

Her death comes at a very challenging time for the fledgling power-sharing government, our correspondent says, and will only make matters more complicated.

Mr Tsvangirai still relied on his own security teams and used his own convoys when he travelled, he adds, in a sign that he was not entirely comfortable with the security provided by the new government.

There are no dual carriageways on Harare's inter-city roads, making overtaking dangerous, our BBC News website's Africa editor Joseph Winter adds.

Traffic accidents are common, often because of speeding and drink-driving.

Gaza homes destruction 'wanton'

Amnesty said the way houses had fallen suggested they had been blown up from under walls and pillars

Human rights investigators say Israeli forces engaged in "wanton destruction" of Palestinian homes during the recent conflict in Gaza.

Amnesty International's has told the BBC News website the methods used raised concerns about war crimes.

Israel's military said buildings were destroyed because of military "operational needs".

The Israeli Defense Forces said they operated in accordance with international law during the conflict.

However, the use of mines to destroy homes contradicted this claim, the head of the Amnesty International fact-finding mission to southern Israel and Gaza, Donatella Rovera, has argued.

The IDF emphasises that the terrorist organisation, Hamas, and its infrastructure were the target of Operation Cast Lead, and not the civilian population in Gaza Israeli military statement

Israeli troops had to leave their vehicles to plant the mines, indicating that they faced no danger and that there was no military or operational justification, she said.

Breaking the Silence, an Israeli group that gathers and circulates the testimonies of Israeli soldiers, has also told the BBC News website that its findings from the Gaza war suggested many demolitions had been carried out when there was no immediate threat.

"From the testimonies that we've gathered, lots of demolitions - buildings demolished either by bulldozers or explosives - were done after the area was under Israeli control," said Yehuda Shaul, one of the group's members.

Destruction of civilian property is not illegal in itself under international law, but it must be justifiable on military grounds - for example if the building was booby trapped or being used as cover for enemy fighters.

Thousands of buildings were destroyed in the 22-day Israeli operation.

Some of them were police stations, mosques and government premises attacked in targeted airstrikes, in many cases with surrounding buildings left in tact.

Reduced to rubble

There were also whole neighbourhoods reduced to rubble in areas where the Israeli ground forces were present.

Ms Rovera said Amnesty International was concerned about "large scale destruction of homes and other civilian properties" during the conflict.

"The destruction was, in our view, and according to our findings, wanton destruction - it could not be justified on military grounds," she said.

GAZA DESTRUCTION 14,000 homes 219 factories 240 schools UNDP estimates In pictures: Samouni Street Who will rebuild Gaza?

Ms Rovera said her team found fragments of anti-tank mines in and around destroyed properties.

Their use was also consistent with remains of houses, collapsed in on themselves as if blown up from below, rather than destroyed from above as in an airstrike, she said.

Troops would have had to leave their armoured vehicles to plant them and rig up the detonators, she said.

"Unless those operating on the ground felt not just 100% but 200% secure - that the places were not booby trapped, that they wouldn't come under fire - they could not have got out of the vehicles," she said. "They would not have used that method."

"The use of the method tells us even more that there wasn't the kind of danger that might have made it lawful to destroy some of those properties," Ms Rovera said.

"Wanton destruction on a large scale would qualify as a war crime," she said, adding that the practice was among several used in the conflict by both sides that Amnesty is concerned may constitute war crimes.

In one case visited by the BBC, six homes belonging to the extended family of Raed al-Atamna in the Izbit Abed Rabbo area, near the border with Israel, were destroyed.

Mr Atamna said a UN ordnance clearance team had found several mines in and around the remains of one of the homes.

He said he and his family had fled the area during the Israeli military operation, and returned to find their homes demolished.

'Substantial operational needs'

The IDF said buildings in the Gaza Strip were destroyed during Operation Cast Lead due to "substantial operational needs".

In a written statement, it said: "For example, buildings were either booby-trapped, located over tunnels, or fire was opened from within them in the direction of IDF soldiers.

"The terrorist organisations operated from within the civilian population, using them as a cover and made cynical use of the IDF's strict rules of engagement, opening fire from within civilian population centres, mosques, schools, hospitals and even private residences of citizens in the Gaza Strip.

"The troops were briefed and trained to avoid harming uninvolved civilians and did all they could to give warning in advance so that civilians could distance themselves from combat zones.

"The IDF emphasises that the terrorist organisation, Hamas, and its infrastructure were the target of Operation Cast Lead, and not the civilian population in Gaza."

A military source said the mines used do not detonate automatically and therefore do not represent a danger when left unexploded in the field.

S Korea diverts jets over threats

About 30 flights a day pass through the North's airspace to and from the South

Two airlines in South Korea are to re-route flights after North Korea said it could no longer guarantee their safety.

The North's threat follows its warnings that a US-South Korean military exercise due to take place next week, could trigger a military clash.

North Korea has long described such exercises as provocative but tensions between the two Koreas are now high.

About 30 international flights a day usually pass through North Korean airspace to and from the South.

This year North Korea raised objections to the annual exercises at a rare meeting between its generals and the US-led United Nations command in the South.

Tensions are also high in the region amid speculation that the North is planning to test-fire a long-range missile from a base in Hwadae.

Build-up

The BBC's John Sudworth in Seoul says passenger jets normally leave Seoul for the eastern United States by swinging north over the Sea of Japan to follow the Korean coastline towards Russia and North Alaska.

With those flights by Korean Air and Asiana now re-routed to avoid North Korean airspace, the government has demanded that North Korea retract the implied threat.

"The government urges North Korea immediately to withdraw military threats against civilian air flights," the ministry said in a statement.

"A military threat to the normal operations of civil airplanes not only violates international rules but is also an inhumane act that can never be justified," the statement said.

The heightened threats are part of a build-up in rhetoric from the North, after South Korean President Lee Myung-bak came to power just over a year ago.

Mr Lee has ended his predecessors' so-called "sunshine policy" in which the South gave unconditional aid to the North.

Pyongyang has scrapped a series of peace agreements with Seoul over its decision to link bilateral aid to progress on denuclearisation.

In the latest of a series of statements on Thursday, a North Korean committee warned that "security cannot be guaranteed for South Korean civil airplanes" during the forthcoming military exercises.

It said no-one knew what "military conflicts will be touched off by the reckless war exercises".

The annual US-South Korean drill, which involves tens of thousands of troops, starts on Monday and continues for 12 days.

America's top envoy on North Korea, Stephen Bosworth, is currently visiting China, Japan and South Korea in a bid to breathe life into the stalled nuclear disarmament talks and reduce regional tensions