Thousands Flee China Quake Area Over Flood Fears

BEICHUAN, China,May 17 (AP)  Thousands of Chinese earthquake victims fled areas near the epicenter Saturday, fearful of potential floods from a river blocked by landslides.
Soldiers carried older people out of Beichuan town — one of the areas hit hardest by the magnitude 7.9 quake Monday — while survivors cradled babies on a road jammed with vehicles and people. The death toll jumped to near 29,000.
A policeman told The Associated Press that rescue officials were worried that water from the choked river would inundate the town.
"The river was jammed up by a landslide, now that may burst. That is what we are worried about," the policeman said as he hurried by, not giving his name.
"I'm very scared. I heard that the water will be crashing down here," said Liang Xiao, one of the people fleeing. "If that happens, there will be over 10 yards of water over our heads."
The official Xinhua News Agency said earlier that a lake in Beichuan county "may burst its bank at any time," without giving details on why the water was rising. Residents left homes for higher ground, but 46 seriously injured were still at risk, the agency said.
In what apparently was a similar landslideblocked river, Xinhua said more than 2,000 people were being evacuated farther north near Qingchuan town, where blocked parts of the Qingzhu river formed a large stretch of water.
The confirmed death toll rose Saturday to 28,881, Cabinet spokesman Guo Weimin said.
But more than 10,600 people remained buried in Sichuan province, the regional government said, according to Xinhua. The government has previously said at least 50,000 people were believed killed in the disaster.
Survivors were still being found under destroyed buildings five days after the quake. A 52yearold man buried in the ruins for 117 hours was pulled to safety in Beichuan, just after a German tourist was found in Wenchuan county, Xinhua reported.
The vast majority of survivors are rescued in the first 24 hours after a disaster, with the chances of survival dropping each day, said Dr. Irving "Jake" Jacoby of the University of California, San Diego, who heads a medical assistance team that responded to a 1989 earthquake in California, Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and other disasters.
A person trapped but uninjured could survive a week or even 10 days and in extreme circumstances two weeks or more, he said.
Continuing aftershocks made digging through unstable buildings dangerous. On Friday afternoon, an aftershock rattled parts of Sichuan, burying vehicles on a road leading to the epicenter, Xinhua said.
Rescue teams from South Korea, Singapore and Russia got to work Saturday. They joined a Japanese specialist group, which was the first international rescue crew to arrive in the disaster area after China dropped its initial reluctance to accept foreign personnel.
A U.S. Air Force cargo plane loaded with tents, lanterns and 15,000 meals left Hawaii on Saturday, the first aid flight from the United States to help in Sichuan province. Another Air Force delivery was to fly in from Alaska.
The United Nations announced a grant of up to $7 million from its Central Emergency Response Fund, to be used by U.N. agencies and programs.
The government has not given a figure for the number of people left homeless, but Housing Minister Jiang Weixin said more than 4 million apartments and homes were damaged or destroyed in Sichuan province. He said the water supply situation was "extremely serious" in Sichuan, and not flowing at all in 20 cities and counties.
Caring for the untold tens of thousands or more survivors across the earthquake zone was stretching government resources.
Just north of the provincial capital of Chengdu, the town square in Shifang had become a tent camp for 2,000 people, and coordinator Li Yuanshao reported a lack of tents. Many people walked in from surrounding towns with few belongings.
"We brought almost nothing, only the clothes we are wearing," said Zhang Xinyong, a high school junior who walked several hours to the camp.
The Ministry of Health said there had been no major outbreaks of epidemics or other public health hazards in the earthquake area, according to Xinhua. By late Friday, hospitals in Sichuan had received 116,460 patients, including nearly 16,000 severely injured.
A woman grieves the loss of a loved one in Yinghua in southewest China's quakestricken Sichuan province.


Latin AmericaEurope Leaders Make Pledges

LIMA, Peru,May 17 (AP)European and Latin American leaders have pledged to fight poverty, global warming and high food prices, presenting a show of unity amid a festering conflict between two South American nations.
The regions' fifth summit in a decade concluded on Friday just a day after Interpol vouched for the authenticity of documents implicating Venezuela's Hugo Chavez in efforts to support Colombian rebels. Interpol's report prompted impassioned denials from Chavez.
Peruvian President Alan Garcia opened the summit with an appeal for nearly 60 leaders or top officials to put aside petty issues and focus on setting clear strategies to combat poverty and global warming.
"It is imperative that what unites us take precedence in our meetings," Garcia said. "We leave aside, for the moment, what we disagree on."
In the summit's final declaration, leaders vowed to fight poverty, drugs and crime and said they were "deeply concerned by the impact of increased food prices," which have spiraled as global demand for commodities soars.
"We agree that immediate measures are needed to assist the most vulnerable countries and populations affected by high food prices," the declaration said, stressing the need to support rural farming "to meet a growing demand."
Garcia suggested that every country aim to increase food production by 2 percent.
The declaration also encouraged free trade and cooperation on biofuels, although those goals were not as universally endorsed.
Bolivia and Ecuador in particular resisted plans for a trade association between the Andean Community and European Union, while Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was forced to defend biofuels such as ethanol — of which his country is the world's largest exporter.
"Obviously, the oil industry is behind" criticism of alternative fuels, Silva told reporters in Lima, dismissing claims that corn and sugarcanebased ethanol are partly responsible for soaring food prices.
But despite persisting policy differences, participants seemed to overcome sharper political feuds, such as that brewing between Venezuela and Colombia.
Interpol on Thursday confirmed the integrity of computer files, seized from a rebel camp, that suggest Venezuela has armed and financed Colombian guerrillas — discrediting Chavez's assertions that Colombia had faked them.
The findings boost pressure on Venezuela's antiU.S. president to explain his ties to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, Latin America's most powerful rebel army.
Chavez on Thursday dismissed Interpol's report as "ridiculous." He denied arming or funding the guerrillas — though he openly sympathizes with them — and threatened Thursday to scale back economic ties with Colombia.
"One of the big problems we have (on the continent) is the government of Colombia," Chavez said in brief remarks during a break at the summit. "The show, the lies, the manipulation. The relations with paramilitary groups and drug trafficking. There are grave problems in Colombia."
He called Colombian President Alvaro Uribe "a promoter of disunion" — saying Uribe did "not fit in" in a region where the leaders of Venezuela, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Bolivia and Paraguay "are a brotherhood."
Uribe told a Lima radio station that he had no problems with Venezuela or Ecuador, and felt "the greatest affection, the greatest respect" for both.
"The only thing we ask is that no one give shelter to terrorists," he said, noting that his greatest problem is dealing with the FARC, a guerrilla movement that has existed for more than 40 years.
Colombia's March 1 attack on a FARC camp where the computer files were discovered prompted Ecuador's Rafael Correa, an ally of Chavez, to sever diplomatic relations with Colombia and to denounce the computer documents, which indicated that his government also had dealings with the FARC.
Ecuadorean Justice Minister Gusto Jalkh insisted Friday that the computer files "cannot have credibility" because they had been mishandled.
During a European tour this week, Correa said he would consider restoring ties only if Uribe halts "Colombia's verbal aggression."
The three feuding leaders met for the first time Friday since an uncomfortable summit in the Dominican Republic in March, when Uribe and Chavez embraced one another at the urging of Dominican President Leonel Fernandez, and Correa reluctantly shook Uribe's hand.
French Prime Minister Francois Fillon urged leaders to put their "personal interests aside" and continue efforts to free Ingrid Betancourt, a dual FrenchColombian citizen and former Colombian presidential candidate kidnapped by the FARC in 2002.
Chavez and Correa have offered to negotiate the release of Betancourt and other hostages.
One personal feud that seemed to have cooled on Friday was between Chavez and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Chavez gave his German counterpart a kiss, apparently ending a verbal spat that had erupted last week.
Merkel had drawn Chavez's wrath by saying he did not speak for Latin America, and that his leftist polices would not solve the region's problems. He responded by accusing her party of sharing the ideals of Adolf Hitler.
"I have not come here to fight. It was a great pleasure to shake her hand," Chavez said Friday. "I told her: 'If I said something very harsh, forgive me.'"



Myanmar Regime 'Inhuman' by Blocking Foreign Aid: British PM

LONDON,May 17 (AFP)  Myanmar's military regime is acting inhumanely by continuing to block foreign aid for cyclone victims and should be held accountable, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said in an interview Saturday.
"This is inhuman," he told BBC World Service radio in his strongest comments since the cyclone hit on May 23, leaving at least 133,000 people dead or missing. "We have an intolerable situation, created by natural disaster.
"It is being made into a manmade catastrophe by negligence, the neglect and the inhuman treatment of the Burmese people by a regime that is failing to act and to allow the international community to do what it wants to do."
He added: "The responsibility lies with the Burmese regime and they must be held accountable."
Dozens of Asian doctors headed into Myanmar Saturday to treat survivors but with some 2.5 million people in need, aid agencies say more help is required and soon to prevent disease and provide food, water, shelter and medical care.
Brown's comments echo those from senior diplomats across the world but stopped short of those from France's Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner who said Thursday that the situation was approaching "a crime against humanity".
Navy ships from France and the United States, among others, were positioned off the Myanmar coast stocked with food and emergency supplies awaiting entry.
US lawmakers have asked President George W. Bush to consider "humanitarian intervention" to help those in the stricken Irrawaddy Delta region.
The British prime minister said nothing was being ruled out to resolve the situation forced, including forced airdrops, although he accepted that aid agencies believe they could be counterproductive.
Britain is channelling its aid through the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
Brown's junior Foreign Office minister Mark MallochBrown, a former UN deputy secretarygeneral, said Thursday that "we are way behind the curve compared to any other international disaster in recent memory".
He added: "I cannot recall a relief operation where... the international response has been subjected to such delays."


Dominican Republic President Declares Victory

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic ,May 17 (AP) President Leonel Fernandez declared victory early Saturday in the Dominican Republic's national election and pledged to continue pushing forward economic projects that have helped pull the Caribbean nation's economy out of crisis.
His main rival, centerleft construction magnate Miguel Vargas, said he accepted the results. Vargas received 41 percent of the vote, while populist candidate Amable Aristy led a batch of other challengers to hold third place with less than 5 percent.
Fernandez had 53 percent of the vote, or 1.8 million of 3.3 million votes counted as of early Saturday, the Central Electoral Commission said. The commission had not yet declared him the winner, however.
The former New Yorker needs to win at least 50 percent of votes to avoid a runoff. Fernandez said that he interpreted his apparent victory as a renewal of confidence in the Dominican Liberation Party. He said he would continue revitalizing the economy as he has done throughout his most recent term.
Vargas said in a latenight speech that he "accepts and recognizes" the results.
It was not yet clear how many of the country's 5.7 million eligible voters had cast ballots in any of 13,000 operating precincts.
A victory would make Fernandez the first Dominican president to be reelected since the country's last strongman was ousted 12 years ago — showing many voters have overcome hesitations about longserving politicians in a country with a painful history of ironfisted rule.
Fernandez is credited with stabilizing the peso, taming 30 percent inflation and bringing the country back from an economic crisis sparked by a bank collapse in 2003 — along with the help of US$695 million (euro450 million) in loans from the International Monetary Fund.
But official unemployment is still nearly 16 percent and about a quarter of the population lives below the poverty line, according to the government.
Opponents played on memories of former President Joaquin Balaguer, who dominated the top office for decades while jailing critics and rigging elections.
In 1994, Congress finally barred sitting presidents from seeking new terms, a restriction that kept Fernandez from running for reelection after his first term, from 1996 to 2000. Congress lifted the ban in 2002, allowing presidents to run for four more years.
Because candidates were listed alongside the name of each political party that endorsed them, Fernandez appeared on the ballot 12 separate times. Vargas was listed four times and each of the other candidates was listed once.
Dominican citizens also voted abroad in 17 cities in Latin America, Europe and the United States. Voters braved the rain to cast votes in New York, where Fernandez grew up.
In a country where only baseball stirs greater passions than politics, bars and liquor stores were closed in the hopes of preventing violence.
Observers from the Organization of American States said the election went smoothly despite isolated incidents of violence. Four people were killed, including an exlawmaker and Fernandez supporter who died in a clash Wednesday between partisans.
At one polling station, a pair of neighbors got into an armwaving debate after casting their ballots.
Adamilka Castro, a 37yearold elementary school teacher who supported Vargas, said some of her students lack shoes and get their only daily meal at school. "We need to meet our basic needs as human beings," she said.
Rafael Saldania, her 35yearold artist neighbor, retorted that Fernandez's government was on the right track: "Give it four more years; things will get better."
Dominican Republic's President Leonel Fernandez, center, who is running for reelection for the Dominican Liberation Party, delivers a speech in Santo Domingo, Saturday, May 17, 2008.


Islamist Fighters Seize Somali Town

MOGADISHU, Somalia ,May 17 (AP) Islamic insurgents in Somalia seized a major agricultural center overnight, sending hundreds of people fleeing, a human rights leader said Saturday.
The attack underscored the government's vulnerabilities, as U.N.sponsored peace talks stalled in neighboring Djibouti.
Ali Bashi, of Fanole rights group, said the Islamic Courts Union ousted militiamen loyal to Somalia's fragile government from Jilib overnight and were patrolling the southern town Saturday. Two militia fighters were killed and three others were wounded in the fighting, he said, citing reports from his office in Jilib.
Jilib resident Mohamed Sandhere said he saw two dead government fighters near a checkpoint and five others, including two civilians, who were badly wounded.
After the insurgents entered the town from several directions, the two sides fought with guns and rocketpropelled grenades. The Islamic militants seized some weapons and equipment from the government side, including four armored trucks, said witness Elmi Ali.
Hundreds of refugees were streaming out of the town Saturday.
"These people already had fled from fighting in Mogadishu and today again were forced to flee because they fear more violence," Bashi told The Associated Press in a telephone call from southern Kismayo town. Jilib had a population of about 5,000 before the influx of people displaced from the capital.
The town is in a volatile area where two foreign U.N. contractors were abducted months ago. The Briton and Kenyan still are missing.
Somalia's weak U.N.backed government has been struggling to quash a reemerging Islamist insurgency. In December 2006, neighboring Ethiopia sent troops that still are propping up the government. Thousands of civilians have been killed and hundreds of thousands forced from their homes in a burgeoning humanitarian crisis.
Somalia has been without a functioning government since 1991, when clan warlords ousted longtime dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and then turned on each other, creating chaos in the Horn of Africa nation.
Islamist insurgents have intensified attacks since a U.S. airstrike May 1 killed the alleged alQaida leader in Somalia.
The U.N. Security Council unanimously approved a resolution Thursday calling for a U.N. political presence in Somalia for the first time in years and said it would consider deploying U.N. peacekeepers to replace African Union troops, if there is improved political reconciliation and security.
But another round of peace talks ended in Djibouti on Friday with no more than an agreement to meet again May 31. U.N. negotiators failed to organize direct talks between the government and the biggest opposition alliance, which supports the insurgency.
The Alliance for the ReLiberation of Somalia said it would not be involved in direct talks until the government agrees to a timetable for Ethiopian troops to withdraw.
Without Ethiopian support, it is feared the government would fall.

Iraq Arrests 1,100 in Qaeda Crackdown in Mosul

MOSUL, Iraq, May 17 (AFP) – Around 1,100 people have been arrested during the first four days of a government crackdown on AlQaeda jihadists in Iraq's main northern city of Mosul, the defense ministry said on Saturday.
Defense ministry spokesman Major General Mohammed alAskari said there had been no clashes during the operation and that 530 of those arrested were wanted by the authorities.
"There are no clashes or killings," Askari said, adding that the crackdown codenamed "Mother of Two Springs" was continuing in Mosul, described by US commanders as AlQaeda's last urban bastion in Iraq.
On Friday, Maliki announced a 10day amnesty for those surrendering heavy and medium weaponry and also offered cash in exchange for arms, but there were no immediate reports of weapons being handed in.
"Any house in Mosul has the right to have only one small weapon  a pistol or rifle," Askari said on Friday, adding the amnesty applied across the Nineveh province.
In February Maliki announced plans for a decisive campaign against AlQaeda in Iraq.
He has said he wants to replicate in Mosul the success his aides boasted of in the main southern city of Basra where a major crackdown against militias began on March 25.
That offensive sparked an uprising across Shiite areas of Iraq, notably the teeming Baghdad slum district of Sadr City where hundreds have been killed in seven weeks of deadly battles between militiamen and US troops.
A truce was agreed last Saturday between the Mahdi Army militia of antiAmerican leader Moqtada alSadr and the government, and the Shiite movement voiced optimism that it would hold.
Despite the truce, one woman was killed and two children were wounded in overnight violence, medics in Sadr City said. There was no immediate confirmation from the US military.
Iraqi soldiers patrol the northern city of Mosul on May 15.


Police to Grill Olmert Over Corruption

BEITULMOQADDAS, May 17 (Dispatches) – The occupying Zionist Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is to be questioned again soon by police in connection with a corruption investigation, media reports said Saturday.
The private channel two television station said the premier would be questioned "by Sunday," while the Ynet Internet site of the daily Yediot Aharonot said it would be "within the next 48 hours."
Ynet said police wish to question Olmert before his lawyers are made aware of testimony by Morris Talansky, a US millionaire businessman suspected of illegally funding Olmert.
Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said on Saturday he was unable to confirm the reports that Olmert will be questioned soon.
Talansky is to give sworn evidence on May 25 before a judge in a closeddoor session and then be allowed to return to the US, public radio reported on Wednesday.
Olmert's lawyers have appealed the decision to summon Talansky as a witness.
Antifraud police are seeking to establish whether Olmert dispensed any favors in exchange for alleged illegal funds he received from Talansky in the 13 years before he became premier in 2006.
Olmert was occupied AlQuds' mayor from 1993 to 2003, and then trade and industry minister until 2006.
Olmert, who has been dogged by scandals since he became prime minister, last week insisted he had never taken a bribe and said he would quit if charges were pressed.
Talansky said on Sunday that he had given financial contributions to Olmert but insisted that he believed they were intended for legitimate purposes.
"I never thought in any way that the money I gave was illegal or wrong," the 75yearold Jewish financier told Israel's private Channel 10 television in his first public comments on the scandal.
Zionist Prime Minister Ehud Olmert


Bomb Kills Afghan Civilian, Several Rebels Dead in Airstrikes

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, May 17 (AFP) – A bomb fixed to a bicycle killed an Afghan civilian in Kandahar city Saturday and strikes by international forces killed at least nine insurgents a day earlier, officials said.
The bomb went off in the troubled southern city as a police vehicle passed by, police officer Faiz Mohammad told AFP from the site.
"Police did not suffer any casualty but a civilian passerby was killed and another was injured," he said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility but the extremist Taliban movement is behind a spate of similar bombings in Kandahar province, the heartland of the movement that was in government between 1996 and 2001.
The Afghan army said meanwhile that international forces had bombed a Taliban mountain hideout in the southwestern province of Farah on Friday, killing seven rebels.
The strikes were part of a new Afghan and international military operation kicked off in Farah on Friday, said the most senior Afghan army commander in western Afghanistan, Jalandar Shah Behnam.
Farah has seen a string of bloody attacks in recent weeks, including a bombing on Thursday that killed about 16 people.
The US military said separately that "several extremists" were killed in operations in the eastern province of Khost aimed at a Taliban militant who was known to have helped to organize bomb attacks on Afghan and international soldiers.
The operation on Friday was in the Sabari district where an attack in March killed two NATO soldiers and two civilians.
The international forces operating in Afghanistan do not issue figures for the casualties they inflict in their operations against militants.
It said however that among those killed in Khost were two militants seen maneuvering against soldiers and who were targeted in air strikes.
Four more suspects were arrested, it said. Afghan and US military officials announced separately that 15 suspected militants were captured Friday in the western province of Herat and in eastern Nangarhar, bordering Pakistan.
The Taliban are trying to take back power in an insurgency that has gained pace in the past two years with a string of attacks, some of which Afghan security officials say show signs of AlQaeda influence.


Lebanon Talks Under Way in Qatar

DOHA, May 17 (Dispatches) –Lebanese leaders agreed on Saturday to form a fourmember panel that will debate a new electoral law and the political standoff in the country during a meeting in the Qatari capital Doha.
The committee will focus on the issues of the electoral law and the government since the Lebanese ruling majority and the opposition have agreed that Michel Suleiman, the army's commanderinchief, will be elected the new president.
Lebanese sources told DPA that the issue of the electoral law is a difficult one, as the government majority and the opposition are not yet settled on its wording.
The first session of the "Lebanon Dialogue" conference witnessed a quarrel when a governmental member verbally attacked a member of Hezbollah.
The opposition delegation considered the attack an attempt to put Hezbollah on top of the meeting's agenda.
Lebanon's Premier Fouad Seniora and the leader of majority in parliament Saad alHariri were present at the conference, while Nabih Berri, parliament speaker, and Micheal Aoun represented the opposition delegation.
The Dohahosted meeting on forming a national unity government and electing a president was agreed under a deal, mediated by the Arab League, to end Lebanon's worst violence since the 19751990 civil war.
Telecommunications Minister Marwan Hamadeh told The Associated Press from Qatar that the talks would along with the unity government and a new election law to achieve internal political aims'' in the wake of recent violence.
Lebanon's crisis has paralyzed the country and left it without a president since President Emile Lahoud's term ended last November.
A week ago, the standoff dissolved into violence when the government passed measures to rein in Hezbollah, whose fighters then responded by overrunning neighborhoods of west Beirut in clashes that left 67 people dead and over 200 wounded.
The violence eventually forced the government to revoke the measures, making it a major victory for Hezbollah and indicating that the resistance group had gained the upper hand in the power struggle.

Fadlallah Hails Lebanese Talks
Fadlallah has hailed Lebanese leaders' return to talks, saying the US is the biggest threat to peace and plays a key role in the Lebanon crisis.
Lashing out at the top leadership in the United States, the senior Lebanese Shia cleric, Seyyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah, said, "The US administration is the biggest threat to peace." He also accused the US of trying to instigate chaos in Lebanon and Syria.
In his weekly Friday sermon delivered from the Imamayn Hassanayn Mosque in Haret Hreik, Fadlallah said that any "consensus step" aimed at gathering the Lebanese around a dialogue table "is welcome," and urged Lebanon's religious and political officials to stop talking about sectarian strife.
"We welcome any step that makes the Lebanese go back to the table of dialogue and agreement despite the hidden reservations of the US administration," he said, adding, "Participants in the Qatarsponsored dialogue should rise above their political and confessional fanaticism and think of Lebanon as a people and nation where everyone can share its protection and development."
"Lebanon should be again an example for citizenship, where all categories are equal and where discords are part of political balance," he added.
The cleric stressed the need to establish a national unity government that "plans for the interests of the Lebanese people."


Lebanon's Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri (L) Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem AlThani (C) and Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa, look on, before the start of the talks on Lebanon in Doha.


Saudis Reject Bush's Call for More Oil

RIYADH, May 17 (AFP) – US President Bush has failed to win Saudi Arabia's help to relieve skyrocketing American gas prices, a setback for the former Texas oilman who took office predicting he would jawbone oilproducing nations to help the US.
Bush got a redcarpet welcome to the kingdom, home to the world's largest oil reserves, and promised to ask King Abdullah to increase production to reduce pressure on prices, which soared past $127 for the first time Friday.
But Saudi officials said they already were meeting the needs of their customers worldwide and there was no need to pump more.
Their answer recalled Bush's trip to Saudi Arabia in January when he urged an increase in production but was rebuffed.
Saudi oil minister Ali alNaimi said the kingdom decided on May 10 to increase production by 300,000 barrels a day to help meet US needs after Venezuela and Mexico cut back deliveries.
"Supply and demand are in balance today," alNaimi told a news conference, bristling at criticism from the US Congress. "How much does Saudi Arabia need to do to satisfy people who are questioning our oil practices and policies?"
Early this week, Senate Democrats introduced a resolution to block $1.4 billion in arms sales to Saudi Arabia unless Riyadh agreed to increase its oil production by 1 million barrels per day.
Saudi Foreign Minister Saud alFaisal said the discussion with Bush about oil was friendly. "He didn't punch any tables or shout at anybody," the minister said. "I think he was satisfied."
That couldn't be said for at least one of the candidates hoping to succeed Bush in January. Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton said: "I think it's very important that we do something more dramatic than going to have tea with the Saudis."
National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley said consumers would not see dramatic price reductions. Oil experts agreed.
Bernard Picchi, an energy analyst at Wall Street Access, an independent research firm, called the 300,000 barrel Saudi production increase "a token amount."
It would be different, he said, if Saudi Arabia boosted production by 1 million or 1.5 million barrels a day. The announced increase will have Saudi Arabia pumping 9.45 million barrels a day by June, Saudi officials said. That's about 2 million barrels below its capacity. Analysts also discounted the impact of the US Energy Department's announcement that it would cancel shipments into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve for six months beginning July 1.
"It's ridiculous because I don't think this is going to bring the price down," said Phil Flynn, analyst at Alaron Trading Corp., of the Energy Department's move.
Midway through a fiveday Mideast trip that began in the occupied territories of Palestine and ends in Egypt, Bush spent the day with Abdullah at his weekend retreat outside the capital. It is known as a horse farm since the king maintains 150 Arabian stallions there. The farm also produces thousands of goats and sheep, bred for the king's royal banquets.
The sagging US economy and painful gasoline prices are the top concerns of Americans in the heart of a heated presidential campaign. The runup in oil prices has been alarming.
Futures prices of crude on the New York Mercantile Exchange have more than doubled in the past year, from $62.46 a barrel in the first week of May, 2007. Prices reached $100 a barrel for the first time in February and continued rising. They closed at $126.29 Friday.
On Jan. 26, 2000, during a presidential debate, Bush opposed taking oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and instead said thenPresident Clinton should "jawbone" oil producing nations. That week crude oil prices were $28 a barrel.
Hadley said the Saudis briefed Bush on plans to increase their production capacity. They also argued that even an increase would be unlikely to bring down the soaring prices, which they said were driven more by uncertainty in the market, lack of refining capacity for the type of oil readily available and other complicated dynamics.
Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah (2nd R) welcomes U.S. President George W. Bush (L, front) upon his arrival at RiyadhKing Khaled International Airport in Riyadh May 16, 2008.


Kuwaitis Vote to Elect 2nd Parliament in Two Years

KUWAIT CITY, May 17 (AFP) – Kuwaitis started casting votes Saturday to elect a new parliament in this oilrich Persian Gulf state which has been rocked by political turmoil.
Kuwaitis are electing a 50seat parliament, the second in two years, after a series of disputes between MPs and the government held up development in the wealthy OPEC member.
The early election is being held after Emir Sheikh Sabah alAhmad alSabah dissolved parliament in March for the second time in 22 months over a standoff between the government and the house.
A total of 275 candidates are standing in the elections, which will be contested under a new system in which the number of constituencies has been cut from 25 to five, a demand which united the opposition in the June 2006 polls.
The candidates include 27 women, the same number of female hopefuls in the previous election.
Women are standing and voting for only the second time. No female candidate won a seat in the last polls.
About seven Muslim, liberal and nationalist opposition groups are fielding some 45 candidates and backing 20 others, according to a survey. But they are less united than
they were two years ago.
Kuwaiti tribes, which constitute half of the electorate, are fielding around 35 candidates.
Thirtyeight members of the outgoing parliament and 14 from previous parliaments are seeking reelection.
The electorate will vote at 94 polling stations in schools, 47 each for men and women who vote separately in line with the law.
About 361,700 people are eligible to vote in a country with a native population of just over one million. Voting age is 21 and servicemen in the police and army are banned from taking part in the ballot.
Women voters outnumber their male counterparts. They number 200,500, or 55.4 percent of the eligible electorate, against 161,200 male voters.
The polls opened at 8:00 am (0500 GMT) and will close 12 hours later, with the first results expected early on Sunday as ballot papers are still counted manually.
The justice ministry, which supervises the election, has appointed about 800 judges to conduct the polls. Kuwait has no female judges. They will be assisted by hundreds of male and female interior ministry staff.
Analysts have predicted that more than half of the outgoing MPs will lose their seats, but Sunnis and tribal conservatives are expected to retain a majority in the assembly.
Parliament in oilrich Kuwait, which is elected for a fouryear term, has legislative and monitoring powers and can vote ministers out of office. Unelected ministers become exofficio members of parliament.
A Kuwaiti citizen casts his vote in a polling station in Salwa, Kuwait, during parliamentary elections on Saturday.


Bush in Egypt for Talks With Arab Leaders

CAIRO, May 17 (Dispatches) – President Bush flies to Egypt Saturday where he will meet Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas and address the World Economic Forum on the Middle East.
Arriving in the Red Sea resort of Sharm elSheikh via Saudi Arabia at the end of a regional tour, Bush will also meet Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak and Jordan's King Abdullah II at the capitalist networking jamboree.
The WEF meeting, dubbed the Davos of the Middle East, will bring together 1,500 people, including heads of state, business leaders and ministers from 55 countries, under the theme "learning from the future."
But the region's future is as uncertain as ever, with the IsraelPalestinian conflict increasingly intractable, Lebanon rocked by eight days of sectarian bloodshed and Egypt seeing a wave of social unrest over skyrocketing prices.
Bush's regional tour, his second since January, comes in the wake of last year's Annapolis conference aimed at restarting the stalled Middle East talks.
However, hopes of a deal by the end of his term in January are dwindling.
Prime minister Ehud Olmert had been mooted to attend, but with little progress to justify a threeway summit, foreign minister Tzipi Livni and president Shimon Peres will be leading the Israeli delegation.
Bush met Zionist authorities during celebrations of the 60th anniversary of the creation of the occupying regime.
Bush picks up negotiations with the Palestinians on Saturday with talks and a dinner with Abbas. On Sunday, Bush is due to meet with Palestinian Authority PM Salam Fayad.
The Middle East settlement will also likely come up in Bush's talks with Mubarak Saturday as Egypt acts as the interlocutor between Israel and Hamas.
The IsraeliPalestinian settlement may also feature in Bush's talks with Jordan's Abdullah II on Sunday.
Bush will discuss his ongoing socalled "war on terror" with leaders of two of the countries on the front line, meeting Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Saturday and Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Barham Ahmed Saleh on Sunday.
And he is expected to raise US concerns over the new Pakistani government's more conciliatory line towards the Taliban and extremists in a meeting with Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani.
However, a meeting with Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora was dropped from Bush's agenda after the opening Friday of Arabbrokered talks among Lebanese leaders aimed at ending a longrunning feud.


Afghan Census Tied to Security

KABUL (AFP)  A historic population count due to start in warravaged Afghanistan next month is dependent on the security situation, census authorities assessing safety on the ground warned Saturday.
Census workers have fanned out across the insurgencyhit country to check if it is safe enough to go ahead with the head count, Central Statistics Office chief Abdul Rahman Ghafoori said.
Ghafoori rejected the possibility of Afghan security forces or international troops being brought in to protect census takers, saying, "We want the process to be independent."
In April a district census official was killed.