Prime Minister David Cameron had initially discouraged the interpreters from settling in Britain, saying "talented Afghans" should stay and rebuild their country.

But many of the interpreters say their lives are in danger from the Taliban due to their work with British forces in the restive southern Helmand Province.

The vast majority of British troops are due to withdraw at the end of 2014 along with other soldiers in the NATO-led international coalition.

Some 1,100 local Afghan staff work with British forces and government interests in Afghanistan, of which around 500 are interpreters, sources said.

It is believed at least 20 interpreters serving with British troops have been killed since 2001, while dozens have been wounded and a handful have been murdered while on leave.

Although details of the proposals have yet to be released, a government spokesman said "individuals who have regularly served outside the wire, alongside our troops on the frontline in Helmand" will be allowed to move to Britain with close family members on a five-year visa.

If they stay in Afghanistan, all local staff serving with British forces will be offered a training or education package and paid their salary for up to five years.

"These proposals give them a choice: the opportunity to go on working in Afghanistan, learning new skills and to go on rebuilding their country or to come and make a new start in Britain," a source in Cameron's Downing Street office said.

The British government is treating the offer as a "redundancy" package because local staff will be out of a job when British forces leave Afghanistan.

The decision came after three interpreters launched a legal challenge to press for the same treatment afforded to interpreters who worked with British forces during the Iraq war.

One of the Afghan interpreters, who wished to be identified only as Mohammad, said London had made "the right decision".

"Saving those people who have helped the British government is giving a message to the Taliban that the Afghan interpreters will not be left behind for them to be persecuted and hunted down by the terrorists," he told AFP.

Mohammad was forced to leave his wife and three children behind in Afghanistan after receiving death threats from the Taliban for his five years' work with British troops.

"I hope that with this decision now, I would be able to reunite with my family here in the UK and the other interpreters would be able to come here in the UK to live in peace with their family," he said.

His lawyer Rosa Curling, who lodged the interpreters' legal challenge at the High Court in London earlier this month, said she was "delighted" at the government's offer.

"While we await the full details of the scheme, we are delighted that the bravery of the Afghan interpreters now seems to have been recognised."

But she said she was concerned that some interpreters may not be eligible for the scheme if it was limited to those who had served on the frontline and not to others, such as Kabul-based spokesmen and those working for the intelligence services.

"Both groups remain at risk from threats from the Taliban and to refuse them access to the same resettlement options would be unacceptable," Curling said.

A government spokeswoman said Britain had a "mechanism" in place to support local Afghan staff concerned about their future safety. This was separate from the redundancy package.

"In the most extreme cases our 'intimidation policy' allows for relocation to the UK and this will remain in place," the spokeswoman said.

"This intimidation policy is separate from the redundancy package and will remain in place."

]]> Thu, 23 MAY 2013 23:05:36 AEST Lahore, Pakistan (AFP) May 22, 2013 - Pakistani politician Imran Khan left hospital Wednesday, two weeks after breaking bones in his back in a fall at a rally for the country's general election, where his party scored a major breakthrough.

The 60-year-old was ordered to remain immobile in bed after he fractured vertebrae and a rib in a dramatic tumble from a hoist lifting him to a stage just days before the May 11 general election.

The former cricket star who leads the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) party electrified much of the campaign with his calls for reform and galvanised many young people to vote, but was forced to spend polling day in hospital.

Khwaja Nazir, a spokesman for the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Hospital in the eastern city of Lahore, where Khan was being treated, told AFP that the Pakistani politician had been discharged on Wednesday and returned to his home in the city.

"He would stay in his Lahore home for three days and then would be shifted to his home in Islamabad," Nazir said.

"Doctors have advised him rest, for two more weeks."

On Tuesday Khan took his first steps since the injury and a video on the hospital's Facebook page on Wednesday showed him walking gingerly but unaided from his third-floor room to the exit.

He has been fitted with a specially-designed spinal brace which doctors say he will need to wear for some time.

"Imran will continue to receive regular physiotherapy and will need to wear a spinal support for some weeks to come," the hospital spokesman said.

"Imran will gradually increase physical... activity over the next few weeks with a return to his full functional capacity expected in approximately six to eight weeks."

The election was won by the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, but the PTI scored a major breakthrough, finishing in third place with 28 national assembly seats, according to partial results.

Though the "tsunami" predicted by Khan did not sweep PTI to power in Islamabad, the result represented a huge achievement for a party that had only ever won one national assembly seat before, in 2002.

The party also emerged as the largest in the provincial assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and will lead a coalition government in the restive province, which borders the lawless tribal districts along the Afghan frontier and suffers frequent militant violence.

On Sunday PTI won a repeat election in one constituency in violence-plagued Karachi, where polling was re-run after allegations of ballot-stuffing, a day after a senior party official was gunned down in the street.

Khan blamed the killing on the rival Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) party, which has long held sway in the southern port city, and its leader-in-exile Altaf Hussain, who lives in London.

]]> Thu, 23 MAY 2013 23:05:36 AEST New Delhi (AFP) May 21, 2013 - Afghan President Hamid Karzai held talks with Indian leaders Tuesday, hoping to secure more military aid as he looks to beef up his security forces after international troops pull out next year.

An Indian foreign ministry source confirmed that Karzai had held talks late Tuesday with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh after a separate meeting earlier in the evening with his Indian counterpart Pranab Mukherjee.

But there were no immediate details about the discussions and officials said there would be no official statement as is customary after such meetings nor any plans for a press conference.

Officials had said before the meeting that Karazai would use his trip to India to drum up support from a long-time ally.

Karzai's spokesman, Aimal Faizi, said last week that Karzai would ask for "all kinds of assistance from India in order to strengthen our military and security institutions" during his talks in the capital New Delhi.

An Indian foreign ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity, also said at the weekend that the discussions would cover a potential arms deal between the two countries.

"India is ready to meet any request that would strengthen Afghan security institutions," said the official.

India has been training a limited number of Afghan military officers for years at its military institutions, but has provided little weapons assistance except for some vehicles.

Speaking on Monday night as he accepted an honorary degree from a university in the northern state of Punjab, Karzai thanked India for its support since he came to power in 2001 after the fall of the Taliban.

"India, as a friend of Afghanistan, has made an immense contribution in uplifting its youths," he said.

"India has contributed $2 billion from the hard-earned money of its taxpayers for the betterment of Afghanistan."

India's support for Karzai is a reflection of its desire to ensure that the departure of the United States and other foreign forces in 2014 does not lead to the return of the radical Islamist Taliban to power in Kabul.

The two countries are attempting to step up their already solid relationship before international troops leave Afghanistan in 2014, foreign policy expert Brahma Chellaney told AFP.

But any extra aid from India will be in the form of "indirect security assistance" such as more training of security officers and transfer of technology, said Chellaney, strategic studies professor at New Delhi's Centre for Policy Research, a think-tank.

"This (Karzai's visit) is part of a more intense interaction between the two countries before 2014," he said. "(But) there is no intention for India to have boots on the ground there."

In 2011, India and Afghanistan began a "strategic partnership" to deepen security and economic links. But Indian activity in Afghanistan has triggered unease in neighbouring rival Pakistan, which fears losing influence in Afghanistan.

The former Taliban regime was allied with Pakistan and gave refuge to virulently anti-Indian Islamist extremists.

India has been notably cool about US-backed attempts to negotiate a peace settlement with Taliban elements.

Speaking on a visit to Washington in February, Indian Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai said New Delhi saw little "dividing line" between Al-Qaeda and other militants.

Karzai is a regular visitor to India and spent time as a student in the northern resort city of Shimla. He was last in New Delhi in November when he told Indian business leaders that Afghanistan was ripe for investment and promised them a "red carpet welcome".

]]> Thu, 23 MAY 2013 23:05:36 AEST New Delhi (AFP) May 21, 2013 - Afghan President Hamid Karzai will seek to secure more military aid in talks with Indian leaders on Tuesday as he looks to beef up his security forces after international troops pull out next year.

Karzai was to hold talks late Tuesday with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Indian counterpart Pranab Mukherjee after accepting an honorary degree on Monday night from a university the northern state of Punjab.

The Afghan leader used his acceptance speech to thank India for its support since he came to power in 2001 after the fall of the Taliban.

"India, as a friend of Afghanistan, has made an immense contribution in uplifting its youths," he said, according to the Press Trust of India news agency.

"India has contributed $2 billion from the hard-earned money of its taxpayers for the betterment of Afghanistan."

India's support for Karzai is a reflection of its desire to ensure that the departure of the United States and other foreign forces in 2014 does not lead to the return of the radical Islamist Taliban to power in Kabul.

According to his spokesman, Aimal Faizi, Karzai will ask for "all kinds of assistance from India in order to strengthen our military and security institutions" during his talks in the capital New Delhi.

An Indian foreign ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the discussions would cover a potential arms deal between the two countries.

"India is ready to meet any request that would strengthen Afghan security institutions," said the official. "He (Karzai) is visiting India to discuss a potential arms deal."

India has been training a limited number of Afghan military officers for years at its military institutions, but has provided little weapons assistance except for some vehicles.

The two countries are attempting to step up their already solid relationship before international troops leave Afghanistan in 2014, foreign policy expert Brahma Chellaney told AFP.

But any extra aid from India will be in the form of "indirect security assistance" such as more training of security officers and transfer of technology, said Chellaney, strategic studies professor at New Delhi's Centre for Policy Research, a think-tank.

"This (Karzai's visit) is part of a more intense interaction between the two countries before 2014," he said. "(But) there is no intention for India to have boots on the ground there."

In 2011, India and Afghanistan began a "strategic partnership" to deepen security and economic links. But Indian activity in Afghanistan has triggered unease in neighbouring rival Pakistan, which fears losing influence in Afghanistan.

The former Taliban regime was allied with Pakistan and gave refuge to virulently anti-Indian Islamist extremists.

India has been notably cool about US-backed attempts to negotiate a peace settlement with Taliban elements.

Speaking on a visit to Washington in February, Indian Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai said New Delhi saw little "dividing line" between Al-Qaeda and other militants.

He doubted that "these groups and those who support them have either had an epiphany or made a real strategic reassessment of their objectives".

Karzai is a regular visitor to India and spent time as a student in the northern resort city of Shimla. He was last in New Delhi in November when he told Indian business leaders that Afghanistan was ripe for investment and promised them a "red carpet welcome".

]]> Thu, 23 MAY 2013 23:05:36 AEST Erbil, Iraq (UPI) May 16, 2013 - Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government is threatening to sabotage a peace process between Turkey and Kurdish separatist rebels, a plan that could end a 29-year insurgency and transform the region's politics, by refusing to let them into Iraqi Kurdistan.

The first of 1,500-2,000 fighters of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, known by its Kurdish language initials of PKK, reportedly arrived Tuesday in the northern Heror region, which is controlled by Iraq's Kurds, en route to PKK bases in the Qandil Mountains on the border with Iran.

The PKK militants operating inside southeastern Turkey began quitting their hideouts May 8 in line with a cease-fire in March declared by the organization's leader, Abdullah Ocalan, imprisoned in Turkey since 1999 and long branded an arch-terrorist.

That's the first stage in a landmark peace deal with Turkey that was initiated in December 2012 by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a sharp shift in policy that underlines his ambitions to restore Turkey as a regional power.

"We're at the point of no-return," Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu observed recently. "The cost of abandoning the process now would be too high for everyone."

Baghdad sees thing differently, mainly that the growing ties between the energy-rich Kurdistan Regional Government to northern neighbor Turkey will intensify the Iraqi Kurds' increasingly independent foreign and energy policy.

Baghdad's relations with Turkey have been steadily deteriorating in recent years.

But despite Maliki's fury at the PKK withdrawal into what his government insists remains Iraqi territory, even if the KRG increasingly acts as thought it's a sovereign power, his options are limited -- unless he takes military action against the KRG.

The Kurds control Iraq's border with Turkey, although it's far from clear whether Ankara would directly support the KRG in a showdown with Baghdad.

KRG and Baghdad forces are locked in an armed confrontation on Kurdistan's southern border in a territorial dispute over the Kirkuk oilfields but Maliki's Shiite-dominated government is preoccupied with an escalating terror campaign by al-Qaida.

The PKK has been fighting for Kurdish rights since 1984 in a conflict in which 40,000 people have been killed.

The withdrawal, which could take six months, is being monitored by Turkey's National Intelligence Organization and the KRG.

The final shape of the peace agreement has yet to be defined but the objective is a permanent disarmament of PKK fighters and some form of autonomy for Turkey's 13 million Kurds, about 18 percent of the population.

Murat Karayilan, the PKK's field commander and de facto leader with Ocalan behind bars, says the success of the plan depends on the willingness of Edrogan's Islamist government to recognize "the existence of the Kurdish people."

There have been other attempts to end the fighting, but all collapsed and despite the PKK cease-fire, there's still deep distrust between the two sides.

Right-wing Turkish nationalists bitterly oppose a process they claim is jeopardizing Turkish unity but the dynamic Erdogan, who's ruled since 2002, is determined to restore Turkish power in a region once ruled by the Ottomans.

Ending the PKK insurrection is an important step toward that goal. It would mark a historic achievement and transform the geopolitical landscape in the region on Iran's western border.

Ankara's growing links with Iraq's Kurds, who were set up in their own self-government enclave by the Americans in 1992 after Saddam Hussein's defeat in the Gulf War, is a vital part of Erdogan's ambitious strategic plan.

He's forged links with the KRG in landlocked Iraqi Kurdistan that include a commitment to build oil and gas pipelines to Turkey's export terminals on the Mediterranean.

That frees the KRG, which sits on oil reserves of 45 billion barrels, from having to use Baghdad's export network and bolsters the aspirations of an independent homeland long cherished by Iraq's 5.5 million Kurds, some 20 percent of the population.

Erdogan's willingness to compromise with Turkey's Kurds and the KRG's acceptance of them, despite Baghdad's opposition, opens up the possibility of an eventual Kurdish entity spanning Kurdish populations in Iraq, Syria, Turkey and possibly even Iran.

Syria's Kurdish zone includes oil fields that linked to the KRG's reserves would provide an economic core for such an independent state for a scattered people that history has treated harshly and left without a homeland.

]]> Thu, 23 MAY 2013 23:05:36 AEST Peshawar, Pakistan (AFP) May 16, 2013 - Gunmen on Thursday opened fire on NATO supply trucks passing through northwest Pakistan near the Afghan border, killing two drivers, local officials said.

The first driver was killed in the Jamrud area of Khyber, one of seven districts that make up Pakistan's semi-autonomous tribal belt where Taliban and Islamist militants are active.

"Two gunmen on a motorcycle fired at a NATO truck and killed its driver," local official Asmatullah Wazir told AFP.

In a separate attack, gunmen opened fire on another NATO supply truck in a suburb of Peshawar, killing its driver, senior police official Muhammad Faysal Murad told AFP.

"The truck was empty and had returned from Afghanistan after delivering supplies," Murad said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the killings.

Pakistan is a key transit route for the NATO mission in landlocked Afghanistan, from where it is driven to the border from the Arabian Sea port of Karachi.

Incoming prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who claimed victory in last week's general election, has promised Pakistan's "full support" as the United States withdraws most of its combat troops from Afghanistan by the end of next year.

From November 2011 to July 2012, Pakistan shut its Afghan border to overland NATO traffic after botched US air raids that killed 24 Pakistani troops.

Pakistan and the United States have signed a deal allowing NATO convoys to travel into Afghanistan until the end of 2015.

]]> Thu, 23 MAY 2013 23:05:36 AEST Seoul (AFP) May 16, 2013 - South Korea Thursday criticised an "unhelpful" visit to North Korea by a senior aide to Japan's prime minister, saying it weakened the united front needed to deal with Pyongyang.

Isao Iijima arrived in Pyongyang on Tuesday on a visit that clearly surprised both Seoul and Washington, which have been working closely with Tokyo on coordinating North Korea policy.

On Thursday he met the ceremonial head of state Kim Yong-Nam, Pyongyang's state media reported without saying what was discussed.

South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman Cho Tai-Young said it was "important" that the US and its two close allies continue to work in tandem.

"In that sense, we think that the visit by Iijima to North Korea is unhelpful," Cho said.

Glyn Davies, the US special representative on North Korea, who is in Tokyo on the third leg of an East Asia tour, attempted to move on from the surprise.

"I don't want to get into going back into recent days how this came about, whether or not certain parties were told about it," he said after telling reporters in Seoul the visit had been "news" to him.

"I think obviously we look forward to hearing from the government of Japan more details about this in coming days.

"All I can really do is to speculate and I don't want to be getting into speculating, that is not helpful."

China was positive on the subject, with foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei telling reporters Beijing had "noted" reports of the trip.

"And we hope relevant engagement can help relax the tension on the Korean peninsula and maintain peace and stability of this region," Hong said.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has refused to comment on the purpose of Iijima's trip.

But Abe said that he himself would consider meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un if it could help resolve the longstanding issue of Pyongyang's kidnapping of Japanese citizens.

The North's state media said Iijima held talks Wednesday with Kim Yong-Il, secretary of the ruling Workers' Party Central Committee.

Iijima was also a senior aide to Japan's then-prime minister Junichiro Koizumi, and is known to have played a role in organising his trips to Pyongyang in 2002 and 2004 for talks with then-North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il.

His visit fuelled speculation that the North may be trying to thaw icy relations with Japan at a time when ties with the United States and South Korea have gone into deep freeze after nuclear and missile tests.

The US, along with its two Asian allies, has increased pressure on Pyongyang to drop its nuclear ambitions and to join the international community.

burs-hg/sm

]]> Thu, 23 MAY 2013 23:05:36 AEST Washington (UPI) May 15, 2013 - Sixty-six percent of Pakistan's 185 million people are under the age of 30 and almost all of them say they are worse off today than when they were 21.

They also say they would rather have a "strong leader" or one with a "strong hand" than a democracy.

Now they have what they wish -- Nawaz Sharif, 63, a former prime minister who was ousted in 1999 in Pakistan's fourth military coup since independence in 1947.

Thus, Pakistan has been ruled by the military for 33 years, or half of its life as an independent nation.

Almost 1 million Pakistani boys ages 6-16 attend single-discipline madrassas (Koranic schools), where they are taught the Koran by rote. These schools are free and the majority graduate with messages of hate against India, the United States and Israel.

Most Pakistanis (53 percent), a Pew Research Center analysis indicates, "doubt they can have any real political influence."

In Pakistan's first democratic transition from one elected civilian government to another in 66 years, Sharif returns to power.

Sharif spent most of his years out of power in exile as a guest of Saudi Arabia.

He was ousted in a military coup led by army Chief of Staff Pervez Musharraf.

He was returning from a conference in Sri Lanka only to be kept in a holding pattern until his aircraft almost ran out of fuel. His assigned runway in Karachi was blocked by obstacles. The plane landed on a nearby military strip and Sharif was arrested and accused of treason.

Now Sharif is back with a comfortable win over all opponents to take over a dirt-poor country of 185 million as it faces a bloody jihadist insurgency.

In the past year, some 33,000 people were killed in a wide variety of terrorist attacks that spared Sharif's Punjab province, where he reigns.

Punjabis are Pakistan's largest ethnic group -- more than 40 percent of the population. And Punjab borders on all the other provinces. It was also the center of early civilization 3,300 B.C.

Since his return from his Saudi exile (which he chose instead of a long prison sentence), Sharif spearheaded verbal attacks against U.S. drone bombings of Taliban guerrillas in Pakistan's federally administered border region. His sympathies are clearly with Taliban's guerrillas fighting NATO forces in Afghanistan.

But in the wake of his Pakistan Muslim League-N Party's electoral victory, Sharif could afford to be magnanimous. He visited in the hospital his runner-up, the former cricket star Imran Khan, leader of Pakistan's Tehreek-e-Insaf.

Khan, with two days left in the campaign, fell off a forklift as it raised him to a platform for his closing speech. Skull and back injuries seemed almost symbolic for anyone who had the wherewithal to challenge Sharif.

To some long-time observers of Pakistan's political stage, Taliban rule in Pakistan is dangerously close to reality.

In the frontier province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Khan's PTI and Jamat-e-Islami are the new coalition partners, which means born-again MMA (United Council of Action, a coalition of religious parties), influenced by and sympathetic to, the Taliban, fighting U.S. and NATO forces in neighboring Afghanistan.

Stripped of political verbiage, Pakistan's first truly free national election moves Taliban guerrillas dangerously close to checkmating the United States and its NATO allies as they prepare to leave Afghanistan by the end of 2014.

Sharif, Khan and Islamic fundamentalists are on the same political page. Sharif could take all but he is most likely to broaden his base before informing the United States about the conditions for a new relationship.

Sharif presumably believes that whatever military funding he may lose from the United States will be adequately compensated by his Saudi friends.

One long-time observer of Pakistan's political theater says privately this will put an end to U.S. drone strikes against Taliban targets in their own country.

And if it doesn't, he adds, drones will be shot down by anti-aircraft fire or attacked by Pakistani air force F-16s.

Cognoscenti pessimists predict that Sharif's support of Khan, the Taliban and the "fundos" -- local slang for fundamentalists -- is the beginning of an "evil nexus against all moderate forces, both nationally and internationally."

Even cognoscenti moderates say U.S. "wishful thinking needs to be replaced with serious analysis and a better comprehension of ground realities."

Failing that, both pessimists and moderates agree 2014 could turn out to be a geopolitical nightmare.

Always lurking in the background when politics spin out of control in Pakistan: the formidable military establishment.

Sharif was turfed out 14 years ago by Pakistan's fourth military coup since independence. The threat of a fifth has to be front and center in his political and geopolitical calculations.

]]> Thu, 23 MAY 2013 23:05:36 AEST Harur, Iraq (AFP) May 14, 2013 - A first group of Kurdish fighters pulling out of Turkey under a truce arrived in the autonomous Kurdish region of Iraq on Tuesday to handshakes and embraces after a gruelling week-long journey.

But the Iraqi government slammed the movement of Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) fighters into its territory as a "flagrant violation" of its sovereignty and said it would complain to the UN Security Council.

"We are the first group to reach the safe area in Iraq," said Jagar, leader of the group of PKK fighters that comprised nine men and six women.

The fighters, who arrived in the Harur area of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region at about 6:00 am (0300 GMT), were armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles, light machineguns and rocket-propelled grenade launchers.

They were greeted by Iraq-based PKK members who embraced them and shook their hands.

After the welcome, the apparently exhausted fighters put down their weapons and warmed themselves at a fire.

"Our withdrawal came in response to orders from the leader (Abdullah) Ocalan, as we want to open a way for peace through this withdrawal," Jagar said, referring to the PKK chief held by Turkey since 1999.

"We faced many difficulties because of rain and snow" during seven days on the road, he said, adding that their movements had been monitored by Turkish aircraft.

"We were getting ready to start a big fight with Turkey, but we responded to the call of our leader Ocalan and withdrew," said Midiya Afreen, one of the group.

"This is a new phase," she said. "This is the phase of peace."

The PKK took up arms for Kurdish self-rule in southeastern Turkey in 1984, sparking a conflict in which some 45,000 people have died.

But it is now withdrawing its fighters as part of a push for peace with the Turkish authorities.

The roughly 2,000 fighters in Turkey are leaving on foot, travelling through the rugged border zone to reach safe havens in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region, where they will join thousands of fighters already present in rear bases.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly vowed that retreating rebels "will not be touched," and said that "laying down weapons" should be the top priority for the PKK.

The PKK, however, is demanding wider constitutional rights for Turkey's Kurds, who make up around 20 percent of the 75 million population, before disarming.

"We will continue to organise and train, and we are waiting for the Turkish government to take the necessary steps for peace," said Rohat, an Iraq-based PKK commander, who was in Harur on Tuesday.

These steps include "making amendments to the Turkish constitution and recognising the national rights of the Kurdish people," he said.

Over the years, the PKK has scaled back its original demand for outright secession to a call for autonomy and cultural and language rights for Turkey's Kurdish minority.

A permanent peace could transform Turkey's Kurdish-majority southeast, where living standards have lagged far behind the rest of the country because of a lack of investment in the face of the violence.

While the withdrawal is a positive move for the peace process, some Iraqi Kurds living near the border are still wary of a return to violence that has forced some to abandon their farms and also resulted in civilian deaths.

And the Iraqi government sharply criticised the movement of more PKK fighters onto its soil.

"The Iraqi government confirms its rejection of the withdrawal and the presence of armed men of the Kurdistan Workers' Party inside Iraqi territory, which is a flagrant violation of Iraq's sovereignty and independence," a statement from the cabinet said.

The move "causes severe damage to neighbourly relations between the two countries and their common interests," it added.

Iraq plans to complain to the UN Security Council, asking it to "take the necessary decision to prevent the violation of Iraq's sovereignty."

But security forces under the command of the autonomous Kurdish region, not the federal government in Baghdad, man Iraq's border with Turkey and ultimately decide who enters the region.

]]> Thu, 23 MAY 2013 23:05:36 AEST Lahore, Pakistan (AFP) May 14, 2013 - Pakistan's incoming prime minister Nawaz Sharif Tuesday pledged to work with his rival Imran Khan for the good of the country as he visited the cricketer-turned-politician in hospital.

During campaigning Sharif and his PML-N party were harshly critisised by Khan, who is recovering from a fractured spine after falling from a makeshift lift taking him to the stage during a rally last Tuesday.

Khan had said Sharif was on a list drawn up of 500 corrupt people who would face the consequences if he was elected. But Sharif told media outside the hospital that they had sorted out their differences.

"I told him that we should work together to bring prosperity to the people of Pakistan. He also said that we should remove our anger," Sharif said.

"We have completely solved our differences today. He assured me of a good working relationship."

Partial official results released Tuesday confirmed Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) on 123 seats, with the Pakistan People's Party on 31, and Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on 26. Another 18 of the 272 directly elected seats in the national assembly are still to be declared.

Khan electrified the campaign with his calls for a new Pakistan, galvanising the youth and urban middle class in particular with promises to end corruption, introduce tax reform and stand up to the Americans.

He promised a "tsunami" that would sweep him into power, but has now vowed to go into opposition and try to form a government in the Taliban-hit northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

"He congratulated me for victory and I also congratulated him for his victory in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province," Sharif said.

"We don't have any personal rivalry. Pakistan is in trouble and we should work together to give a better Pakistan to next generations."

Results confirm big win for Sharif in Pakistan poll
Islamabad (AFP) May 14, 2013 - Official partial results released Tuesday confirmed a convincing victory for the party of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in Saturday's election.

With 18 of the 272 directly elected seats in the national assembly still to be declared, Sharif's centre-right Pakistan Muslim League-N party had 123, the election commission said.

Sharif's victory means that his party will likely only need the support of independents to secure an overall majority in the legislature.

The partial results show the outgoing Pakistan People's Party suffered a crushing defeat, dropping from 95 directly elected seats to 31 as of Tuesday.

But cricket star Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party moved into third place on 26 seats compared to none in the last assembly.

Khan electrified the campaign with his calls for a new Pakistan, galvanising the youth and urban middle class in particular with promises to end corruption, introduce tax reform and stand up to the Americans.

He promised a "tsunami" that would sweep him into power, but has now vowed to go into opposition and try to form a government in the Taliban-hit northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

If the PPP remains the second largest party after all seats are declared, it will probably inherit the official position as leader of the opposition. It was unclear when final results would be announced.

The secular Muttahida Qaumi Movement, which controls Pakistan's largest city of Karachi, has so far dropped from 25 to 18 seats in the national assembly.

The secular Awami National Party which ruled in the northwest and has its power base rooted in the ethnic Pashtun community, was wiped out -- going from 13 seats to one as of Tuesday.

The national assembly has 342 members. Another 60 seats reserved for women and 10 for religious minorities will later be apportioned to various parties, depending on their share of the directly elected seats.

]]> Thu, 23 MAY 2013 23:05:36 AEST Subscribe to our daily selection of space, military, environment and energy newsletters responseText http://visitor.constantcontact.com/manage/optin/ea?v=0016gbbKsaiGSpQFojVO8ZoHw%3D%3D