Washington, May 9
A US judge has rejected a request by convicted terror conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui to withdraw his guilty plea, in which he had claimed he lied about his role in the September 11, 2001 attacks.

The motion was rejected four days after Moussaoui was sentenced to life in prison without parole for his role in the terror strike.

Moussaoui, in the motion filed on Friday, asked District Judge Leonie Brinkema to allow him to withdraw his original plea and said he lied when he testified that he was meant to be part of the whole hijacking plot. The 37-year-old also said he now believed he could get a fair trial in America.

The judge denied the plea on the basis of a federal rule that prohibits a defendant from withdrawing a guilty plea after being sentenced. “Because defendant was sentenced on May 4, 2006, his motion is too late and must be denied on this basis only,” Brinkema said in her order.

In his affidavit, the French national of Moroccan descent said he pleaded guilty against the advice of lawyers because his understanding of the legal system was “completely flawed”.

“Because I now see that it is possible that I can receive a fair trial, even with Americans as jurors, and that I can have the opportunity to prove that I did not have any knowledge of and was not a member of the plot to hijack planes and crash them into buildings on September 11, 2001, I wish to withdraw my guilty plea and ask the court for a new trial to prove my innocence of the September 11 plot,” Moussaoui said. — PTI

Athens, May 9Iran’s top nuclear negotiator said today that “there should not be hasty movements that will lead us to a confrontation” over his country’s nuclear programme and promised “every possible cooperation” if the issue was dealt with by the IAEA, rather than by the UN Security Council.

“There is the time for diplomacy, the basic body that must solve this issue is the International Atomic Energy Agency,” Ali Larijani said during a visit to Athens.

Sending Iran’s nuclear file to the Security Council was “a step in the wrong direction”, he added.

Larijani was meeting with Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis, a day after a series of meetings in neighbouring Turkey that were apparently part of an Iranian push to boost support in the region, as tension grows with the US.

Greece, a non-permanent member of the Security Council, has called for a diplomatic solution to the problem. Larijani again denied today that Iran wanted nuclear weapons.

“We don’t intend to make nuclear weapons, that is one of the lies US President George W Bush has said,” he said. “We believe such weapons are catastrophic for global peace.” At the Security Council, Alijani said, “Some countries are behaving more realistically and others are trying to create headaches”. — APUnited Nations: Foreign Ministers of major powers failed to come up with a joint strategy for dealing with Iran after Teheran sought to influence the negotiations with a stunning last-minute diplomatic manoeuvre, officials said.

French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said a US-hosted meeting yesterday of ministers from Russia, Britain, China and Germany did not reach agreement.

''We are still considering our work,'' he told reporters after the three-hour session had ended. The late night meeting hosted by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was also attended by Javier Solana, the European Union's foreign policy chief.

A senior State Department official said: ''I think the prospects for an agreement this week are not substantially good. Clearly we had a ways to go.'' Russia and China have been resisting a UN Security Council resolution sponsored by Britain and France, and backed by the United States, that would legally require Iran to halt uranium enrichment.

Britain and France had wanted to get the resolution passed before last night’s ministers' meeting.

The meeting of the Security Council's five veto-wielding permanent members plus Germany came after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad wrote to President George W. Bush proposing ''new ways'' to resolve their differences.

It was the first letter from an Iranian Head of State to a US President since Washington broke off relations after the 1979 Islamic revolution.

A European diplomat who works on the Iran issue but not authorised to speak publicly called the letter ''another tactical masterstroke that was deliberately timed to come out ahead of the ministers' meeting and has made Administration officials very nervous.'' Washington and its allies accuse Iran of developing nuclear weapons. Teheran says it only wants to make civilian energy. — AP

New Delhi, May 9
Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera categorically said today that Colombo was not looking for a new facilitator as Norway was doing its best and his government would continue to seek a negotiated settlement to the protracted ethnic issue as that was the only answer. “We are willing to be patient but how long it will take is a million dollar question,” he observed winding up his wide ranging discussions with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other leaders.

Making it clear that he had not come with any fresh proposals for the consideration of the Congress-led UPA government as India is firmly committed to the territorial integrity and unity of Sri Lanka, Mr Samaraweera recalled that special envoys of many countries had tried to deal with the intransigient militant outfit — the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) — but never got anywhere. “We are not looking at a new facilitator. The ethnic issue has eluded a solution for 30 years. It is a thankless job and Sri Lanka has a frank and open relationship with Norway and they are doing their best.”

In an interface with the media here before emplaning for Colombo, he said India is studying forging defence cooperation with Sri Lanka. He stressed reports in the media about stepped up defence cooperation between his country and Pakistan as misleading. “There is no stepping up at all.”

Stating that the recent upswing in the LTTE violence and attacks since the ceasefire came into force in 2002 is “trying the patience of the Mahinda Rajapaksa government very severely.” In this context, he recalled that the Sri Lankan President had invited LTTE supremo Prabhakaran for talks which was met with escalated violence. In the past 8-9 weeks, more than 200 people had been killed by the LTTE.

Maintaining that the offensive by the Sri Lankan armed forces was a “deterrent act in time and scope,” Mr Samaraweera reiterated “We have not closed the doors to peace.”

He insisted that the international community must put pressure on the LTTE using all its powers to get them back to the negotiating table. The EU and others must also work towards evolving stringent measures for curtailing the fund raising activities of the LTTE in the West. Mr Samaraweera found it surprising that the LTTE should put the onus on the Sri Lankan government for disarming the dissident Karuna group of the militant organisation. Both the terrorist groups — the LTTE and its Karuna faction — are welcome to join the democratic mainstream. The Tamil parties in Sri Lanka are working very closely with the government and “if the LTTE comes to the democratic mainstream, we will also talk to them,” he added.

On his discussions with the Prime Minister and others about the peace process in Sri Lanka, he said the LTTE has a track record of entering into negotiations and then withdrawing from the process using the flimsiest of pretexts. “This they have done whenever a sound window of opportunity emerges to address issues such as democracy, human rights and development in the North and the East, as an integral part of normalisation under the ceasefire and the peace process. The onus is now on the LTTE. The international community must make it clear to the LTTE that the decision whether the peace process goes ahead rests entirely with them.”

Mr Samaraweera said that the two sides want to build on the FTA through a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA).

Nyala (Sudan), May 9
Darfur refugees rioted and forced the visiting U.N. humanitarian chief to rush out of their camp, attacking African peacekeepers and killing a translator, a sign of the continued fear in the wartorn region despite a fragile peace deal.

The violence broke out yesterday as U.N.'s Jan Egeland toured Kalma camp, home to some 90,000 displaced people driven from their villages in Darfur. He was met by about 1,000 protesters - mainly women - demanding U.N. peacekeepers be deployed in the region.

The protesters attacked a translator after someone in the crowd accused the man of working with the Janjaweed, the feared Arab militia blamed for atrocities against villagers, U.N. spokeswoman Dawn Blalock said. — AP

New Delhi, May 9
The second meeting of the BIMSTEC joint working group on counter terrorism and transnational crime (JWG-CTTC) has agreed upon concrete steps to strengthen cooperation among Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) countries to make its sub-groups more vibrant and effective.

The two-day meeting, reviewed the reports of the meetings of its four sub-groups on legal and law enforcement issues, intelligence sharing, combating financing of terrorism and illicit trafficking in narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and precursor chemicals. The first BIMSTEC summit held in Bangkok on July 31, 2004, had decided to set up a joint working group to strengthen joint efforts on counter terrorism and transnational crime, and the first meeting of the joint working group on counter terrorism and transnational crime was held in New Delhi on December 9-10, 2004. The Meeting was chaired by Mr Rajiv Sikri, Secretary (East), Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India. Other delegations to the meeting were led by Mr Anwarul Karim, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs, Bangladesh; Mr. Tharchean, Senior Legal Officer/Under Secretary, Bureau of Law and Order, Ministry of Home and Cultural Affairs, Bhutan; Brig Gen Phone Swe, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Home Affairs, Myanmar; Mr Deepak Kumar Shrestha, Counsellor of Royal Nepalese Embassy, New Delhi; Mr Karunatilaka Amunugama, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sri Lanka; General Winai Phattiyakul, Secretary General, Office of the National Security Council, Thailand. — TNS