CENTRAL ASIA

KARZAI TO FREE PAKISTANI PRISONERS

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – President Karzai promised yesterday to repatriate 400 Pakistani prisoners who fought with the former ruling Taliban regime and have been held in Afghan jails since 2001, a Pakistani official said.

In exchange, Pakistan was expected to return nearly 250 Afghans held in Pakistan, mostly for minor offenses. The agreement was reached during talks between Mr. Karzai and Prime Minister Hussain.

Mr. Karzai is on a two-day visit aimed at patching up relations strained by persistent allegations that Taliban rebels are staging attacks on Afghanistan from Pakistani border regions. Mr. Karzai praised Pakistan’s efforts in fighting Al Qaeda, despite the lingering fears that cross-border attacks by insurgents could sabotage landmark Afghan presidential elections scheduled for October.

“I think there has been a breakthrough,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Masood Khan told a news conference.” President Hamid Karzai said all 400 Pakistani prisoners would be returned to Pakistan.”

Mr. Khan said the release would be “soon” but no date had been set. The planned prisoner exchange follows complaints by the U.N’s independent expert on human rights in Afghanistan, Cherif Bassiouni, who urged Afghanistan this week to release an estimated 725 former Taliban fighters, many of them Pakistanis. He said the prisoners live in conditions that violate “every standard of human rights” and there was no legal basis to continue their imprisonment.

– Associated Press

PERSIAN GULF

IRAN: ANTI-RADIATION EQUIPMENT IN DEVELOPMENT

TEHRAN, Iran – Iran said yesterday it was producing nuclear defense equipment to protect its citizens in case of any possible attack on its nuclear facilities, according to press reports.

The defense minister, Ali Shamkhani, said American sanctions had forced Iran to seek self-sufficiency to meet all its defense requirements, the government owned Persian daily Iran reported. “Iran has produced nuclear defense equipment,” Iran quoted Mr. Shamkhani as saying.

“If our nuclear power plants are targeted, there will be radioactive releases. You need special equipment to control it. Also, some countries in our neighborhood have achieved nuclear technology. We have to be prepared if there is an accident there,” Mr. Shamkhani was quoted as saying. The minister did not elaborate on the type of equipment Iran was producing. Defense Ministry officials refused comment. India and Iran’s western neighbor, Pakistan, have nuclear weapons. Israel is also believed to possess hundreds of nuclear warheads. Mr. Shamkhani said American sanctions have benefited Iran, rather than harming it.

“One of the reasons for our success is various sanctions imposed on us. When we felt all technological doors are closed to us, we had no option but to seek self-sufficiency and produce our needs ourselves,” he said.

– Associated Press

EAST ASIA

JAPAN REJECTS FISCHER’S REFUGEE BID

TOKYO – Japan’s Justice Ministry rejected former chess champion Bobby Fischer’s demand for protection as a political refugee yesterday and issued an order to deport him.

Mr. Fischer, in custody since he was detained by Japanese airport authorities on July 13 with an invalid American passport, immediately appealed the decision.

The former chess great is wanted in America for violating international sanctions against Yugoslavia in 1992, but he has alleged the charges against him are politically motivated. The Justice Ministry would not say when Mr. Fischer would be deported, but ministry official Hideharu Maruyama said Mr. Fischer would most likely be sent to America.

Mr. Fischer’s lawyers said they had already filed suit in Tokyo District Court demanding that the order be canceled. His attorney, Masako Suzuki, said the court typically takes about one month to consider the written request for an injunction on the whole deportation process, supporters said.

– Associated Press

OCEANIA

AUSTRALIA TURNS TO BANANAS FOR POWER

SYDNEY – Australia is looking to boost its energy supplies from the unlikely source of bananas.

Each year around 50,000 tons of bananas, most of them grown in the tropical north of Queensland, are thrown away because they are either bruised, pockmarked, or too small. Until now they have been fed to cattle or plowed back into the soil as fertilizer.

Researchers plan to harness the fruit’s potential by fermenting vast quantities in giant steel vats and producing electricity. Scientists at the University of Queensland estimate that the bananas could produce enough electricity to meet the needs of at least 800 households. After being left to ferment the bananas will rot and produce methane, which will then be used to drive turbines and create electricity.

“To the best of my knowledge it is a world first,” said the chief executive of the Australian Banana Growers Council, Tony Heidrich. If the plant is a success, the scheme could be extended to other parts of the country, where household vegetable waste could be used to generate power instead of bananas.

– The Daily Telegraph

MIDDLE EAST

ISRAEL PREPARING WITHDRAWAL PLANS

JERUSALEM – Israel’s defense minister, undaunted by growing resistance within the ruling party to a planned pullout from the Gaza Strip, said yesterday that the army’s blueprint for the withdrawal will be ready next month.

Gaza settlers charged that the government is already preparing to throw them out of their homes. Also yesterday, Israel’s attorney general urged the government to consider adopting an international convention governing the treatment of residents in occupied lands. This showed increased Israeli sensitivity to international criticism, particularly in the aftermath of a world-court ruling against its contentious West Bank separation barrier.

The barrier and the Gaza withdrawal are hallmarks of Prime Minister Sharon’s “disengagement” plan, which he says is meant to reduce friction between Israel and the Palestinian Arabs. Mr. Sharon hopes to carry out the Gaza pullout next year, but it has sparked an internal uprising by hard-liners within his Likud Party.

– Associated Press

SHALOM TO MEET PALESTINIAN COUNTERPART

The Israeli foreign minister, Silvan Shalom, is slated to meet his Palestinian Arab counterpart, Nabil Sha’ath, in Rimini, Italy, on Thursday, Mr. Shalom’s office said yesterday.

This will be the first meeting the two have held since last May. Mr. Shalom is currently in France for meetings with French leaders. Mr. Shalom’s office said the Italian foreign minister, Franco Frattini, invited the two men to a conference in Rimini, and stressed that the two will not be meeting alone.

An Italian diplomatic official said the conference is an annual one held at the end of August organized by a Catholic group called Communion and Liberation that deals each year with a different international issue. The subject this year is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and Mr. Frattini, Mr. Shalom, and Mr. Sha’ath are slated to take part in a roundtable discussion. The official said that the invitations to Mr. Sha’ath and Mr. Shalom were issued in May, but only this week was their participation confirmed.

– Jerusalem Post