Brazil, US urge talks in Venezuela, Colombia spat

CARACAS, Venezuela — Brazil and the U.S. urged Colombia and Venezuela on Tuesday to talk out their differences after Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez ordered his military to prepare for a possible war with his neighbor.

The push for diplomacy came as many in both Colombia and Venezuela dismissed Chavez's words as an attempt to distract attention from domestic problems, including the struggling economy and water shortages and power blackouts.

Chavez has warned that troops he ordered to the Colombian border should be ready for a possible conflict if the U.S. attempts to provoke a war between the South American countries. He cited a recent deal between Bogota and Washington giving U.S. troops greater access to Colombian military bases as a threat to regional stability.

Brazil's defense minister, Nelson Jobim, played down the risk of an armed conflict.

"We believe that everything can be resolved with dialogue," Jobim said in Brasilia. "I don't think the tension is going to increase; it's part of the rhetoric of the continent."

In Washington, U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said: "We are very much aware of recent tensions along the Venezuelan-Colombia border."

"I certainly don't think this is about the United States," Crowley added. "But we certainly would encourage dialogue between Venezuela and Colombia and a peaceful resolution of the situation along their border."

The Organization of American States also called on Colombia and Venezuela to settle their problems through dialogue.

Chavez scoffed at Colombia's plans to file complaints with the OAS and U.N. Security Council in response to the instructions he gave to Venezuelan soldiers over the weekend.

"Now they are accusing me of calling for war," Chavez said in a televised speech Tuesday, denying his message to the military was meant as a threat. "They really have to be cynical to say that."

Tensions have escalated and trade has dropped dramatically since the diplomatic crisis erupted in July over the plan to grant U.S. military aircraft and warships expanded access to Colombian bases, including $46 million in construction at the Palanquero air base in Colombia's central Magdalena valley.

Colombia's government has sought to assuage Venezuela's concerns, saying U.S. troops would be operating solely on Colombian soil to help its military combat drug trafficking and leftist rebels. But critics of U.S. policies argue the accord is meant to help Washington expand its influence and interference in the region.

Many in Venezuela oppose the idea of a war with Colombia and view the suggestion of a conflict as pure bluster.

A poll released Tuesday by the Caracas-based polling firm Datanalisis found that nearly 80 percent of Venezuelans said they would disagree with Chavez declaring war on Colombia. The poll consulted 1,300 people and was completed last month, before Chavez's latest remarks. The poll had an error margin of 3 percentage points.

That and other surveys have shown a recent decline in Chavez's popularity as the country copes with its economic woes and other problems.

"It's always more interesting to get the people talking about a war with Colombia than to get them talking about issues like inflation, water problems or electricity problems," pollster Luis Vicente Leon of Datanalisis told The Associated Press.

The biggest effect of the crisis so far has been the fall in trade. The Colombian-Venezuelan chamber of commerce estimates bilateral trade this year could fall 20 percent from 2008, to around $4.5 billion.

Associated Press Writer Desmond Butler in Washington contributed to this report.

Troops kill 12 Taliban militants in NW Pakistan: army

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan's military said Saturday it had killed 12 Taliban militants as government troops pressed a major offensive in the South Waziristan tribal area bordering Afghanistan.

Some 30,000 troops backed by fighter jets and helicopter gunships launched a fierce air and ground offensive into the northwest region three weeks ago and the military has since claimed a series of successes.

It said troops on Friday penetrated into Makin, the hometown of slain Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud who was killed along with some of his family members in a missile strike fired by a US drone on August 5.

Security forces were also consolidating their positions at Sararogha and its surrounding heights in the rugged mountainous region, the military's media wing said in a statement.

"In last 24 hours, 12 terrorists have been killed, and five soldiers including two officers were injured," the statement said.

The strategic town of Sararogha, was a former operational base of Mehsud.

Security forces also captured a 30-feet (10-metre) long tunnel and "plenty of ammunition has been discovered and destroyed" it said.

Pakistan, vowing to crush Tehreek-e-Taliban in the region, said so far 458 Taliban fighters and 42 troops had been killed in the offensive.

The casualty figures cannot be verified because communication lines are down and journalists and aid workers are barred from the area.

South Waziristan has been dubbed by Washington as the most dangerous place in the world because of an abundance of Al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters.

The long-awaited assault on South Waziristan came after a spring offensive in the northwestern Swat valley. In July, the government declared the offensive a success but sporadic outbreaks of violence have continued in the valley.

The South Waziristan offensive has displaced more than 250,000 people and the the United Nations has urged Pakistan to ensure safety and security of civilians during the operation.

Report: Kidnap suspect improperly supervised

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A state report released Wednesday blasts corrections officials for missing chances to catch the sex offender accused of holding Jaycee Dugard captive in his backyard for 18 years.

The 45-page report by the state inspector general paints a heartbreaking picture of overlooked opportunities to rescue Dugard, but also contains new details of the now 29-year-old's first interactions with law enforcement after her captivity.

It says Dugard repeatedly tried to conceal her identity in the hours before it was revealed, telling authorities she was hiding from an abusive husband in Minnesota and defending Phillip Garrido, the man now charged in her abduction and rape.

Garrido and his wife, Nancy, have pleaded not guilty to 29 counts related to 1991 Dugard's abduction, rape and imprisonment.

Inspector General David Shaw, appointed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to monitor the prison system, said the failures by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation began almost immediately after the state took control in 1999 of Garrido, who had been convicted in 1977 of raping and kidnapping a 25-year-old woman. He was previously under federal supervision.

They included neglecting to interview Garrido's neighbors or to investigate the utility wires running from his Antioch house to the secret backyard compound where Dugard and her daughters are said to have lived. They also included temporarily misclassifying Garrido as a low-risk offender.

Such mistakes by the department resulted "in the continued confinement and victimization of Jaycee and her two daughters," Shaw said.

Dugard's identity was discovered when she and her daughters, ages 12 and 15, who were fathered by Garrido, accompanied Garrido and his wife to his parole agent's office. Dugard said her name was Alyssa. The report said investigators grew suspicious of the Dugard and children's relationship to Garrido and separated them into different rooms.

Unbeknownst to Dugard, Garrido told another agent that Dugard and the girls were his nieces.

Confronted about the inconsistencies, Dugard "explained that she was from Minnesota and had been hiding for five years from an abusive husband, the report said. "She was terrified of being found, she said, and that was the reason she could not give the parole agent any information."

Garrido eventually told the parole agent he had kidnapped and raped Dugard, the report said, an account later confirmed by Dugard, who then identified herself.

According to the report, Dugard told investigators before she identified herself that she knew Garrido was a convicted sex offender, but that he was a changed man. She called him "a great person who was good with her kids."

Corrections Secretary Matthew Cate said Wednesday he deeply regretted if the mistakes made by his department kept Dugard in captivity for even one additional day.

He said he could not comment for privacy reasons on whether any disciplinary actions would be taken against the parole officers who oversaw Garrido.

A statement issued by Dugard's lawyer McGregor Scott said the report "clearly sets out many missed opportunities to bring a much earlier end to the nightmare of Jaycee Dugard and her family."

It also said Dugard is "fully committed" to holding Garrido accountable for his alleged crimes.

The report said for almost the entire first year he was in the California parole system, Garrido was not visited by a parole agent. It said he also was passed over between June 2001 and July 2002, and received only one visit between June 2004 and August 2005.

Parole supervisors also failed to detect and address the inadequate oversight, the report said.

"Put another way, 90 percent of the time the department's oversight of Garrido lacked required actions," the inspector general said.

Garrido was required to register as a sex offender because of the 1977 conviction. He was paroled in 1988, supervised by federal parole authorities.

In March 1999, the U.S. Parole Administration terminated Garrido's federal parole supervision and Nevada briefly took over until June 1999, when California began his supervision.

U.S. Department of Justice spokesman Charles Miller said he could not immediately comment on the report's findings or Garrido's case.

Shaw faulted the California department for not reviewing copies of Garrido's federal parole file that included information about a search a federal agent did of Garrido's backyard, including the secret tented area and a soundproof studio there.

Shaw said a parole agent also failed to adequately investigate the relationship between Garrido and a young girl seen by the agent during a home visit.

As a parolee, Garrido wore a GPS-linked ankle bracelet that tracked his movements. But the report said agents ignored alerts about violations. A review of the GPS information found that over a 32-day period from July 23, 2009, to August 23, 2009, he traveled outside of the 25-mile zone seven times.

Shaw recommended that corrections officials require active GPS monitoring of all sex offenders, so that agents get near real-time updates on the whereabouts of the parolees.

Cate, the corrections secretary, said that requirement would be adopted.

Associated Press Writers Lisa Leff and Jason Dearen in San Francisco also contributed to this report.

On the Net:

• Office of the Inspector General,: http://oig.ca.gov/

Obama: Hiring last to come as economy rebounds

WASHINGTON — As the prospect of double-digit unemployment looms, President Barack Obama on Monday sought to set expectations for the nation, saying job losses will likely roll on "for weeks and months to come" because hiring always lags behind in an economic rebound.

"We just are not where we need to be yet," Obama said as he met with a panel of economic advisers. "We've got a long way to go."

Unemployment hit a 26-year high of 9.8 percent in September. The next monthly reports come out Friday and could show it topping 10 percent.

Still, the economy is growing again. Reports out Monday show improvement in manufacturing, construction and contracts to buy homes.

Obama said that building a sustainable economy and getting people back to work remain his "administration's overriding focus." Obama helped push through a $787 billion economic stimulus package earlier this year, and he says the administration, Congress and the private sector must take more bold steps to help.

Obama spoke as he met with his Economic Recovery Advisory Board. The session was open to reporters and streamed live on the White House Web site.

Obama added that the U.S. must break out of a "debilitating gridlock on trade policy," by ending the false choice between a wide-open, freewheeling import policy or fearful, protectionist approach to trade. He called for a more balanced policy of letting the world know America will compete and trade fairly.

White House: http://www.whitehouse.gov

UN says police, NATO slow to respond to attack

UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations demanded to know Friday why it took an hour for Afghan police and NATO troops to respond to a Taliban attack on a guest house filled with U.N. staff in Kabul.

Afghan authorities denied that they were slow to respond, and a NATO spokesman said the Afghans did not ask the international force for support.

As guests cowered inside their rooms or jumped from windows, two U.N. security officers fought with three militants who attacked the guest house at dawn Wednesday, carrying grenades and automatic weapons and wearing suicide vests. Fire consumed part of the building during the two-hour siege, which left 11 people dead including the attackers.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said two Afghan security guards outside the house where 34 U.N. staffers lived appear to have been killed immediately in the assault, which apparently targeted the U.N. for its role in the Nov. 7 presidential runoff election. The Taliban, which claimed responsibility for the attack, views the balloting as a Western plot.

At that point, two U.N. security officers living in the house took up the job of protecting their fellow U.N. staff.

"For at least an hour, and perhaps more, those two security officers held off the attackers. They fought through the corridors of the building and from the rooftop," Ban told the U.N. General Assembly. "They held off the attackers long enough for their colleagues to escape, armed only with pistols against assailants carrying automatic weapons and grenades and wearing suicide vests."

Ban said that "the U.N. security team repeatedly called for help from both Afghanistan government forces and other international partners." He said "initial reports suggest that it was approximately an hour, if not longer, before Afghan police or others arrived on the scene."

U.N. spokeswoman Michele Montas said the U.N. was demanding an explanation.

The secretary-general told the U.N. Security Council that "we were a little taken aback by the fact that our security officers died or were wounded fighting, by themselves, a battle," Montas said.

"We cannot assess yet why. And we have asked, of course, to find out. We have to find out why," Montas said.

Jamil Jumbish, a top Interior Ministry official who is chief of Afghanistan's criminal investigation police, denied that Afghan authorities were slow to respond.

He said Afghan police were stationed in the district and reached the site of the attack "very quickly." He said reinforcements were also sent in shortly afterward. Jumbish, however, did not specify how long it took police to respond to the attack.

NATO spokesman James Appathurai said in Brussels that Afghan forces did not ask NATO's ISAF force for support.

"Of course we make all efforts to support our international partners at all times," Appathurai said. "In this case, ISAF mobilized both medical and quick reaction forces."

The deadly assault pointed to one of the deficiencies in plans for protecting sensitive targets in Kabul.

Afghan authorities are the designated first responders in attacks against civilians in the capital, and the better-equipped and better-trained NATO force is supposed to intervene only if asked by the Afghans.

Although the guest house was full of United Nations employees, the building itself was a privately owned Afghan business.

Ban spoke first at a town hall meeting at U.N. headquarters where hundreds of staff members stood in silent tribute to the U.N. staff members killed in the attack — including two U.N. security officers, Louis Maxwell from Miami and Laurance Mefful of Ghana. Nine other U.N. staff members were injured.

Mefful's widow, Emma, brought tears to many eyes when she spoke with great composure about her husband of 30 years whose life was guided by two principles: "loving his lord and loving his neighbor."

"It was, therefore, not surprising about his heroic actions at a time of crisis, especially doing something to save the lives of others," she said. "He was just a selfless person and would do anything to make others comfortable — and that's what he did. We are very proud of him."

Maxwell's mother, Sandra Maxwell, told The Associated Press that her son was an outstanding trumpet player at Miami Central High School — so good that he was offered a full music scholarship to Florida A & M University, but he decided instead to enlist in the Navy and then joined the United Nations, where he was a close protection officer.

"I'm told from U.N. top officials that because of my son, 17 people are alive," she said, crying. "He was brave. He fought until he couldn't fight anymore. He paid the ultimate price. He was a hero."

Maxwell, 27, is survived by his parents, sister and two children, aged 7 years and 11 months.

In his remarks, the secretary-general went out of his way to commend the U.N. guards.

"I am so grateful for their courage and bravery," Ban said.

His comments echoed those of John Christopher "Chris" Turner of Kansas City, Missouri, who said he also fended off the militants while some guests hid in a back room.

"The real hero here was not me," Turner told NBC on Thursday. "It was the U.N. guards that died fighting in the front of the building. I was merely the last line of defense for the 24 people hiding in the washroom."

Ban identified two of the three other U.N. employees who died in the attack as election workers — Lydia Wonwene of Liberia and Jossie Esto of the Philippines. He said the third worked for the U.N. children's agency, UNICEF.

The secretary-general warned Thursday that the U.N. has become a "soft target" and urgently appealed for more security personnel to protect U.N. staff and facilities in Afghanistan, especially in the run-up to the Nov. 7 presidential runoff election.

Ban said the United Nations will be consolidating U.N. staff in Kabul and around the country, and told Friday's meeting that some personnel not engaged in "critical duties" may be relocated in the coming weeks.

U.N. staff in the capital are currently scattered in 93 guest houses, U.N. officials said.

The secretary-general said staff who survived the attack have been flown out of the country. He said movement of all U.N. staff "remains restricted" and that staff "not directly engaged in critical, election-related duties are being encouraged to take leave" during the run-up to the election and the period immediately thereafter.

As of Oct. 15, there were 6,700 people working for the U.N. mission and all U.N. funds and programs in Afghanistan, including 1,100 international staff and 5,600 local staff, U.N. deputy spokeswoman Marie Okabe said.

That includes more than 300 election staff from the U.N. Development Program whose work in support of the runoff is largely completed though some will be assisting the international observers during the runoff, UNDP spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

"U.N. staff continue to help Afghans prepare for the run-off election," Ban said. "That includes pre-positioning election materials in the provinces."

Ban appealed to the General Assembly for an additional $50 million to beef up security at vulnerable U.N. locations, $25 million to assist the U.N. Department of Safety and Security meet new demands "in an increasingly dangerous world," and $10 million for a new fund to help victims and their families.

As he left the town hall meeting, Guy Candusso, one of the representatives on the U.N. Staff Union, said more resources are critical, but not enough.

Unless additional funds are coupled with a systemwide security policy encompassing all U.N. staff that is enforced by the secretary-general, "the result will be further deaths," he warned.

Associated Press Writers Robert H. Reid in Kabul, Slobodan Lekic in Brussels, and Tamara Lush in Miami contributed to this report.

Japanese destroyer collides with South Korean ship

TOKYO — A Japanese navy destroyer and a South Korean container ship collided Tuesday off southern Japan, sparking fires on both ships and injuring three crew members, officials said.

The ships collided under a bridge linking the Japanese main islands of Kyushu and Honshu in the narrow Kanmon Strait, Japan Coast Guard spokesman Seishi Izumi said.

One crew member on the destroyer JS Kurama was slightly injured with scratches and bruises while two others were suffering from smoke inhalation, a Defense Ministry spokesman said on condition of anonymity, citing policy.

None of the South Korean ship's 16 crew members — 12 from South Korea and four from Myanmar — was injured, Izumi said.

The fire on the 7,400-ton container ship Carina Star was extinguished shortly after the collision. The blaze on the destroyer was mostly under control late Tuesday but its temperature was still extremely high, the defense official said.

Officials are investigating the case as possible professional negligence and have begun questioning crew members on both ships, Izumi said.

The defense official said the Japanese ship's bow was badly burned and mangled, but the vessel was still capable of traveling on its own. The container ship's hull was grazed near its bow.

TV footage showed orange flames shooting from the vessels in the dark.

Izumi said the fire apparently broke out as a result of the impact of the collision, with paint inside a storage room on the destroyer catching fire.

The accident occurred under the Kanmon Bridge connecting Kyushu and the western end of Honshu — the narrowest part of the strait — about 530 miles (850 kilometers) southwest of Tokyo, Izumi said.

All sea traffic in the strait was suspended for about four hours after the accident.

The Kurama, carrying 360 sailors, was on its way to its home port of Sasebo on Kyushu after serving as the flagship for the country's triennial fleet review Sunday at the port of Yokosuka. The container ship had left the South Korean port of Busan and was headed to Osaka in western Japan.

Last year, a collision between a destroyer and a tuna trawler off the coast of Chiba, near Tokyo, left two fishermen dead. That accident triggered an uproar in Japan, where many people harbor pacifist sentiments and remain sensitive to anything related to the military.

Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa quickly held a news conference to express regret.

"We deeply apologize to the people for causing concerns," he said. "We will quickly find out what caused the accident."

Ontario cellphone ban starts Monday, violators could face $500 fine

TORONTO — Starting Monday, Ontario drivers will be the latest Canadians prohibited from using cellphones or BlackBerrys while behind the wheel.

Millions of motorists in the country's most populous province are banned from using any hand-held electronic devices to text, email or talk while driving, except for 911 calls.

They're also forbidden from using portable video games or DVD players while chugging along. Global positioning systems are allowed, as long as they're properly secured to the dashboard.

It's the fourth province to enact such a ban, following Newfoundland and Labrador, Quebec and Nova Scotia.

Manitoba's cellphone ban is expected to be proclaimed into law next year, British Columbia has introduced similar legislation and Saskatchewan has promised a bill this fall.

Hands-free devices aren't covered under the Ontario ban, but provincial officials say they're not recommended for use while driving.

Cabinet ministers usually have a driver to shuttle them around on official business, but Ontario Corrections and Community Safety Minister Rick Bartolucci said he still made sure he was prepared for the ban.

"Guess what? I purchased my earpiece," he said.

"I won't be using my hands to use the cellphone. I respect the law because it respects the safety of my fellow Ontarians."

Ontario drivers could be fined up to $500 if they're caught, but unlike other provinces, there are no demerit points attached.

There will be an "education" period in the first three months where police will show some leniency and, in many cases, simply let drivers off with a warning.

But make no mistake - drivers should not assume they're "scot-free" until February, said Sgt. Dave Woodford, a spokesman for the Ontario Provincial Police.

Cops still have discretion to lay charges by way of summons under the new law, where the driver would have to go to court to find out how big the fine will be, he said.

Motorists using a banned device can also be charged under careless driving laws and face fines, six demerit points, licence suspension - even jail time.

"If we see someone driving erratically or they're involved in a collision and they've been on their cellphone, there are already offences in place under the Highway Traffic Act where people can be charged," he said.

"So you don't want to send out he wrong messaging that you're allowed to talk on the phone for the next three months and not be charged with any offences, because you could be."

According to the 2006 Ontario Road Safety annual report, there were 77 fatalities among the 33,551 accidents due to "inattentive" drivers, which included talking on a cellphone while driving.

It's hard to know how many accidents were caused by drivers talking on their cellphones, said Woodford. The cause of many accidents are never known because the driver was killed.

Ontario was the first province to extend the ban to all hand-held electronic devices, a move that B.C. has followed in legislation introduced last week.

The proposed new rules - billed as the most comprehensive in Canada - would go a step further by banning new drivers in B.C. from hands-free phones. Drivers caught violating the rules would receive three penalty points on top of a $167 fine.

But motorists should go beyond the letter of the law if they want to stay safe on the roads, said Robert Tremblay of the Insurance Bureau of Canada.

"Using hands-free devices while driving is certainly better than using hand-held devices, but not using any distracting devices, or participating in any distracting behaviour at all, is the best policy," he said in a statement.

The bureau's tips for obeying the new law include:

-Eat before driving so you won't be tempted to juggle distracting snacks behind the wheel.

-Pull over and park before using a cellphone or other hand-held electronic device.

-Create a "driving" playlist on your iPod or music player and activate it before you hit the road so you won't be searching for a good song while driving.

-If there's something distracting you - something fell on the floor, the kids are acting up in the back seat - pull over to a safe area first, then deal with it.

-Check the map, adjust the seat, the climate control and the radio, and familiarize yourself with the dashboard controls, before heading out.

-Make sure pets are safely secured and in the back seat.

-Listen to your GPS device, don't look at it.

Massive security at Asian summit in Thailand

CHA-AM, Thailand — Thailand has deployed more than 36,000 military and police to guard a summit of Asian leaders, working to prevent any repeat of the disruptions that shut down another meeting earlier this year, an official said Thursday.

The government is still smarting from the storming of the East Asian Summit in April in the seaside city of Pattaya, where anti-government protesters charged through thin police ranks and forced the evacuation of several leaders by helicopter and boat.

A main protest organizer said no new demonstrations are planned this week.

Leaders of 16 Asian and Pacific nations, including Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, will gather Friday for an annual conference of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Cha-am, a beach resort 200 kilometers (120 miles) south of Bangkok.

About half of the security forces mobilized have thrown a security cordon around this summit venue, and the others will be on alert in the Thai capital, said government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn. He said 20 newly bought bulletproof SUV's will chauffeur leaders to their meetings.

"Security forces have also set up emergency escape routes by land, air and sea," he said. "We don't expect it to be necessary but we want to be ready and to assure leaders that they will be able to meet without distraction."

Security forces have also been empowered to impose curfews and restrict freedom of movement around Cha-am and Bangkok.

Roadblocks were thrown up around the summit venue Thursday. Sniffer dogs patrolled hotels and even local fishermen were stopped from going out to sea.

Thailand has been rocked by years of protests and counterprotests by supporters and opponents of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a 2006 military coup on accusations of corruption, abuse of power and disrespect to the country's monarch.

Nearly 10,000 demonstrators took to Bangkok's streets last Saturday, demanding a pardon for Thaksin and that he be allowed to return from exile.

However, Nattawut Sai-kua, one of the protest leaders, said no demonstrations will be staged during the conference.

"There is no plan to protest or disrupt the summit," he said. He added that a protest letter will be handed to ASEAN representatives outside the security zone.

The three-day conference includes the annual gathering of the 10-member ASEAN leaders and those of China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

ASEAN is due to unveil a human rights body for Southeast Asia, sign a declaration on climate change and discuss food security, disaster management, bio-energy and economic integration. The group aims to set up an economic community by 2015.

China wants to expand regional trade and investment and plans a $10 billion infrastructure building fund to deepen ties with its Southeast Asian neighbors. A free trade zone between China and ASEAN is slated to be completed by January 2010.

As at previous ASEAN conferences, violation of human rights in military-ruled Myanmar, which joined the group in 1997, could cast a shadow over the proceedings. The international community is urging ASEAN to pressure the junta to reform.

The group prefers to steer clear of the internal affairs of its members, and with Myanmar recently allowing detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi contact with Western diplomats and the United States unveiling a new policy of trying to engage rather than shun the country's leaders, the tone at the conference may be more positive.

The leaders of Cambodia, Indonesia and Malaysia were not expected to arrive in time for Friday morning's opening ceremony, Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya said.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen is hosting an official visit by South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, Indonesia is swearing in a new government and Malaysia's government was presenting its budget to Parliament, he said.

Honduras crisis talks stall again

The latest talks on the political crisis in Honduras have stalled with both sides still at odds over the fate of ousted President Manuel Zelaya.

A spokesman for Mr Zelaya, who was exiled in June, said the interim government's proposals were insulting.

Interim leader Roberto Micheletti accused Mr Zelaya's side of promoting "an agenda of insurrection".

The stumbling block is whether Mr Zelaya can return to the presidency ahead of November's elections.

Mr Zelaya, who slipped back into Honduras in September, is insisting he be allowed to serve out his remaining weeks in office before the presidential election on 29 November.

The interim government has proposed that the country's Supreme Court and Congress should submit official proposals to the negotiating commission on Mr Zelaya's possible reinstatement.

The Supreme Court was the body that ordered Mr Zelaya to be removed from office in June, arguing that he had violated the constitution. Congress overwhelmingly backed this.

Curbs lifted

Negotiator Victor Meza, speaking for Mr Zelaya, said the interim government was obstructing progress.

"We're not going to meet again until we have a constructive and serious proposal [from Micheletti]," Mr Meza said.

Talks, while not broken off, were stalled, he said.

Meanwhile, the interim government has now lifted an emergency decree that had curbed civil liberties, although it continued to accuse Mr Zelaya of trying to destabilise Honduras.

"Unfortunately, in recent days, ex-President Zelaya and his followers have promoted an agenda of insurrection in the country," a statement from the interim authorities said.

A pro-Zelaya television channel and radio station, which had their offices closed and equipment confiscated, went back on air on Monday after the measures were officially rescinded.

Mr Zelaya was sent into exile on 28 June after trying to hold a vote on whether a constituent assembly should be set up to look at rewriting the constitution.

The vote was deemed in violation of the constitution by the Supreme Court.

Mr Zelaya's opponents accused him of trying to lift the current ban on presidential re-election to remain in office - a charge he has repeatedly denied.

Some commentators point out that a new constitution allowing presidential re-election was unlikely to have been ready before January 2010, when Mr Zelaya's term was due to end.

Canadians intercept migrant ship

A ship carrying 76 suspected illegal migrants has been seized off Canada's Pacific coast, officials say.

Those on board the ship said they were trying to reach Canada, according to local authorities.

The identity of the migrants was not confirmed, although Canada's public safety minister said there were indications they were from Sri Lanka.

He said it appeared to be a case of human smuggling. The migrants, all men, were said to be in good health.

The merchant vessel, named Ocean Lady, was intercepted by a navy frigate off Vancouver Island before being escorted to a dock in Ogden Point in Victoria, British Columbia.

Officials there were carrying out health and safety and immigration checks.

Those on board the ship were pictured wearing civilian clothes. Some were shirtless.

"The signs do point toward human smuggling," said the public safety minister, Peter Van Loan.

Several ships attempting to smuggle migrants from China to Canada's Pacific coast were intercepted off Vancouver Island a decade ago.