Pakistan won't allow U.S. to hunt Bin Laden on its turf

Pakistan's top diplomat said Saturday there are no U.S. or other foreign military personnel on the hunt for Osama bin Laden in his nation, and none will be allowed in to search for the al-Qaida leader.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said his nation's new government has ruled out such military operations, covert or otherwise, to catch militants.

"Our government's policy is that our troops, paramilitary forces and our regular forces are deployed in sufficient numbers. They are capable of taking action there. And any foreign intrusion would be counterproductive," he said Saturday. "People will not accept it. Questions of sovereignty come in."

The United States has grown increasingly frustrated as al-Qaida, the Taliban and other militants thrive in Pakistan's remote areas and in neighboring Afghanistan, and has offered U.S. troops to strike at terror networks. Critics in Washington also have expressed frustration with the new Pakistani government's pursuit of peace deals with tribes in the region. Bin Laden is believed to be hiding somewhere in the Afghan-Pakistan border region.

Israeli PM: new accusations distorted

TEL AVIV, Israel -- Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Saturday that accusations revealed in a broadening corruption investigation that he stole thousands of dollars from charities are "distorted" and "despicable."

Police said on Friday that they had widened an investigation against Olmert. They said Olmert was suspected before he became prime minister of asking several charities and institutions to pay for the same trips abroad. Olmert pocketed the surplus, and used it for family trips abroad, according to the accusations.

The new allegations "break a norm of what should be appropriate in a democratic regime," Olmert told reporters on his plane as he departed for a summit of Mediterranean countries in Paris. "I was shocked by these distorted reports."

Olmert said he felt personally affronted because he had worked so hard for the organizations named in the accusations, which included the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial and the Nazi watchdog Simon Wiesenthal Center.

Sudan says results of war crimes indictment would be 'disastrous'

CAIRO, Egypt -- An indictment of Sudan's president for war crimes in Darfur would be "disastrous" for the region and could affect humanitarian organizations working there, a Sudanese government spokesman said Saturday.

Mahjoub Fadul Badry told the Arabiyah news channel that if the International Criminal Court sought to indict Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, it would be a violation of the country's sovereignty and would have consequences.

"If an international organization or the organizations working in the humanitarian field are behind such an indictment of the head of state, our symbol of national sovereignty, then no one should expect us to turn our left cheek," said Badry.

He did not specify what actions might be taken but there are fears the charges could provoke reprisals against international aid workers and the U.N.-African Union peacekeepers that are already experiencing difficulties in doing their work.

The prosecutor of the ICC is expected to seek an arrest warrant Monday charging Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir with orchestrating violence in Darfur that has left hundreds of thousands of people dead since 2003.

Syria, Lebanon will open embassies in each other's countries

PARIS -- France's president affirmed Saturday that Syria and Lebanon will open embassies in each other's countries. However, Syria's leader was more cautious.

Syria and Lebanon have not had full-fledged embassies in each other's countries since Lebanon became independent in 1943 and Syria in 1945.

Syrian President Bashar Assad said last month that establishing diplomatic ties with Lebanon would be possible if a national unity Cabinet were formed in Beirut.

Such a government, including members of Syria's ally Hezbollah, was formed Friday after weeks of haggling.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy met with Assad and with Lebanese President Michel Suleiman, who said he wanted an exchange of ambassadors with Syria.

At a joint news conference later, Sarkozy affirmed that the establishment of embassies in Beirut and Damascus was in the works.

Liberia's president decries Zimbabwe vote

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- All Africans must speak out about injustices in places like Zimbabwe, Liberia's leader said Saturday during a speech honoring former South African President Nelson Mandela.

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf devoted her speech, a week before Mandela's 90th birthday, to painting an optimistic picture of Africa's future.

But the Liberian president said she could not ignore current troubles, and that it was her duty to "express my solidarity with the people of Zimbabwe, as they search for solutions to the crisis in their country."

The remark earned applause from Mandela and a crowd of several hundred gathered in a community hall in Soweto, the famed Johannesburg township.

Sirleaf acknowledged that Liberia was far from southern Africa, and did not share this region's history of British colonial rule.

Clash kills at least 6 security forces, 3 insurgents in northwest Pakistan

PESHAWAR, Pakistan -- A militant ambush and subsequent shootout Saturday killed at least six security forces and three insurgents in Pakistan's northwest, police said.

Saturday's clash also came as Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, visited Pakistan on a surprise, one-day trip. U.S. Embassy officials confirmed the visit but said they had no details on Mullen's itinerary.

The United States considers Pakistan's cooperation critical to success in its war on terrorism, but U.S. officials have voiced concern about the new Pakistani government's efforts to strike peace deals with some militant groups.

Mullen recently said militants are flowing into neighboring Afghanistan more freely this year compared with last year because Pakistan's government and military are not putting enough pressure on insurgents.

Study finds Myanmar, Indonesia, Thailand face high risk from arsenic contamination

BANGKOK, Thailand -- Myanmar's cyclone-devastated Irrawaddy delta and Indonesia's Sumatra island face high risks of arsenic contamination in groundwater that could cause cancer and other diseases in residents, according to a new study.

Using a digitalized model that examines geological features and soil chemistry in Southeast Asia, researchers writing in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Geoscience mapped several likely hot spots that had never been assessed for arsenic risks.

"Obviously, there is concern," said Michael Berg, one of the five authors, who is a senior scientist at the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology in Dubendor, Switzerland. "If you look at our data, there is risk of arsenic in the ground water."

Arsenic, especially in drinking water, is a global threat to health, affecting more than 70 countries and 137 million people. The country worst affected is Bangladesh, where hundreds of thousands of people are in danger of dying from cancers of the lung, bladder and skin.