Reporters have followed a motorcade — apparently used by the reclusive Kim — around several cities in northeast China. The 35-vehicle convoy accompanied by police cars with flashing lights was seen headed to the train station in Changchun.

Kim rarely leaves North Korea and when he does he travels by special train. South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported the train left the station, although it did not give a destination.

North Korea does not announce Kim’s trips until he returns home, and China has refused to say if he is in the country, even though a Japanese television station had a grainy picture of him.

Kim was reportedly accompanied by his son, Kim Jong Un, believed to be in his 20s. Many North Korea watchers predict the son will be appointed to a key party position at a ruling Workers’ Party meeting early next month — the first such gathering in decades.

To pull off the event with sufficient fanfare, North Korea will need Chinese aid, particularly following the devastating floods that battered the country’s northwest this month, analysts said.

“The convention needs to be festive with the party giving out food or normalizing day-to-day life for its people, but with the recent flood damages they are not able to,” said Cheong Seong-chang, a senior fellow at the Sejong Institute think tank outside Seoul.

“The most important thing on Kim’s agenda is scoring Chinese aid, which will ensure that the meeting will be well received by the people.”

Asked whether Kim was visiting China, a duty officer with the press office of the Chinese Foreign Ministry said: “China and North Korea consistently maintain high-level contacts. We will release the relevant information in good time.”

South Korea’s Chosun Ilbo newspaper and Yonhap both reported that Kim was believed to have met Chinese President Hu Jintao in Changchun on Friday.

The Dong-a Ilbo newspaper carried a similar report, saying the two are believed to have discussed the North’s succession, the resumption of six-nation talks on North Korea’s nuclear program, and ways to strengthen bilateral economic cooperation.

China, as North Korea’s biggest diplomatic ally and a major source of food aid and oil, would expect to be kept in the loop about major political transitions in the North, but the Beijing leadership is not likely to be enthusiastic about the prospect of another dynastic succession next door, said Zhu Feng, director of Peking University’s Center for International and Strategic Studies.

Kim also badly needs Chinese aid because of flooding earlier this month that damaged or destroyed more than 7,000 homes, and inundated 17,800 acres (7,200 hectares) of farmland close to the border with China, the North’s official Korean Central News Agency reported this week.

KCNA said China has already agreed to deliver some aid to help North Korea cope with the disaster but didn’t give specifics.

The North faces chronic food shortages and has relied on outside aid to feed much of its 24 million people since a famine that is believed to have killed as many as 2 million people in the 1990s.

In an attempt to improve its meager economy, it has experimented with limited market reforms and sought foreign investment, mostly from China and South Korea. But tensions with the South have caused trade and joint economic projects with the South to wither and raised the importance of Pyongyang’s ties to Beijing. — AP

BEIJING/SEOUL (Reuters) – China is lobbying neighbors to sign up to a road map for renewed nuclear disarmament talks with North Korea, whose leader Kim Jong-il is visiting China amid conciliatory words and threats of “holy war.”

The details of Beijing’s plan for restarting stalled six-party nuclear talks came from a South Korean diplomatic source, who spoke on Saturday after discussion in Seoul with Wu Dawei, China’s top envoy in the talks.

But the source, as well as a Japanese official speaking in Beijing, stressed that big obstacles remained, even if the secretive Kim’s trip to China yields another vow of North Korea’s willingness to sit down and discuss a dormant deal to scrap its nuclear weapons in return for aid.

“We don’t want to restart six-party talks for the sake of talks,” the South Korean diplomatic source said. “North Korea should change its attitude and show seriousness in denuclearizing.”

China’s regional lobbying, and courting of the reclusive Kim, highlight the pressures that North Korea — isolated, poor and with a brace of primitive nuclear bombs — has brought to bear on northeast Asia, home to the world’s second and third biggest economies and a big U.S. military presence.

Kim, 68, and his son and heir apparent, Kim Jong-un, were in China to visit the school of senior Kim’s father and founder of North Korea, Kim Il-sung, a source with knowledge of the secretive trip told Reuters.

“Trust me, it’s 100 percent both are here,” the source said, declining to give details when asked.

Kim Il-sung attended the Yu Wen High School in the northeastern Chinese city of Jilin in the 1920s. The school houses a memorial hall to Kim which is not open to the public.

The museum was renovated recently ahead of a visit by a group of North Korean dignitaries, a second source said.

Classes were suspended on Thursday amid tight security and a school choir performed for the dignitaries, the second source added, but did not know if the Kims were among the guests.

“They sang ‘The song of General Kim Il-sung’ in Chinese and Korean. It’s the school song,” the second source said.

There had been no conclusive sightings in China of Kim, who has appeared frail and gaunt since reportedly suffering a stroke in 2008.

Neither source wanted to be identified because of the political sensitivity of the trip. The two neighbors do not disclose much information about Kim’s travels, and then only after he has left for home.

DIPLOMAT’S WARNING

On Friday, a North Korean diplomat brandished the possibility of nuclear war with South Korea and the United States.

“If Washington and Seoul try to create conflict on the Korean peninsula we respond with a holy war on the basis of our nuclear deterrent forces,” North Korea’s ambassador to Cuba, Kwon Sung-chol, said in Havana, according to a report from there by China’s official Xinhua news agency.

North Korea staged nuclear test blasts in 2006 and 2009, drawing international condemnations and U.N. sanctions backed by China, the biggest economic and diplomatic backer of Pyongyang.

China’s envoy, Wu, proposed a three-stage process to restart the multilateral talks aimed at coaxing Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons in return for aid and other assurances, the South Korean diplomatic source told Reuters.

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter returned home from Pyongyang on Friday with an American who had been sentenced to eight years of hard labor for illegally entering North Korea. The North’s state media said number two leader, Kim Yong-nam, had told Carter that Pyongyang wanted the nuclear talks resumed.

China has sought to defuse confrontation by hosting six-party nuclear disarmament talks since August 2003. But last April, North Korea quit the talks and reversed “disablement” steps intended to cripple its chief reactor complex, unhappy with implementation of an initial disarmament agreement reached in 2007.

North Korea has been retreating from its earlier public renunciation of the talks. South Korea and Washington say resuming the talks will be impossible until Pyongyang also faces up to their conclusion that it was behind the sinking of a South Korean navy ship, the Cheonan, in March.

South Korea lost 46 sailors when the Cheonan sank. Seoul said an inquiry found there was no doubt North Korea torpedoed the ship, but Pyongyang denied it was responsible. — Reuters

It marked Kim’s second trip to China in three months — unusual for a man who never flies and travels only by armored train.

South Korean media and regional analysts said he may be seeking Chinese aid following flooding in his impoverished country’s northwest — and could be laying the diplomatic ground work for the succession of his son, who is thought to be traveling with him.

In any case, it was unclear whether he would return in time for a meeting with Carter, an elder statesman well-regarded in North Korea despite the two countries’ longtime animosity. Carter met with Kim’s father, late President Kim Il Sung, on his last trip to Pyongyang in 1994 — a warm meeting that led to a landmark nuclear disarmament deal.

Neither country announced the trip; Kim’s travels typically are not publicized by North Korea until after his return.

But his stop in Jilin city in northeastern China was confirmed by two teachers at the Yuwen Middle School, a school Kim’s father once attended that carries historic and patriotic significance for North Koreans.

“He definitely came over. But I’m not sure if his son was with him or what time he came,” said a physical education teacher who would give only his surname, Zhao.

Another teacher said Kim visited the school in the morning for about 20 minutes. He refused to give his name.

Kim Il Sung attended the school from 1927 to 1930 after his family fled the Japanese occupation of Korea. Kim biographies say he began absorbing communist ideology while at Yuwen, making it pilgrimage site for North Koreans seeking to pay homage to the one-time anti-Japanese guerrilla fighter-turned-president.

Such a visit just days before the 100th anniversary of Japan’s colonization of Korea carries symbolic weight as well. North Korea tends to play up the Kim family’s patriotism during succession campaigns.

Kim Jong Il watchers will be eager to see television footage or photos of the 68-year-old leader to check his health. In video run by Chinese Central Television in May, Kim appeared thin but vigorous during meetings with China’s President Hu Jintao and other officials, despite having reportedly suffered a stroke in 2008.

South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency reported that Kim checked into the Jilin Crystal Hotel, and roads leading to the secluded luxury hotel were blocked by police. The hotel’s website advertises plush suites, a billiard room, swimming pool and sauna, with a scrolling banner in broken English that reads: “Loosely expressing one-self and let the mood flying high.”

It wasn’t clear how many rooms Kim booked but Yonhap and YTN television in Seoul said he may be traveling with a son to consult with Chinese officials on succession plans.

It’s widely believed that Kim is preparing to transfer power to his third and youngest son, Kim Jong Un, and many North Korea watchers predict the son will be appointed to a key party position at a rare ruling Workers’ Party meeting early next month.

“Kim is at a crucial crossroads — whether to hold the party’s conference as scheduled or delay it until after they’ve recovered from floods,” said Cheong Seong-chang, a senior analyst at the Sejong Institute think tank outside Seoul. “Kim desperately needs Chinese food aid to hold the party’s conference as planned.”

The flooding earlier this month damaged or destroyed more than 7,000 homes, and wiped out bridges and railways, the North’s official Korean Central News Agency reported Thursday. China has already offered aid to help North Korea cope, KCNA said.

The North faces chronic food shortages and has relied on outside aid to feed its people. Seeking to improve its meager economy, Pyongyang has experimented with limited market reforms and sought foreign investment, mostly from China and South Korea. But joint projects with South Korea have withered in the face of tensions, heightening Pyongyang’s reliance on Beijing.

For its part, China is certain to use Kim’s visit as an opportunity to prod North Korea toward rejoining international talks aimed at nuclear disarmament.

China has hosted the six-nation talks since 2002 but North Korea walked away from them last year in protest over the international condemnation that followed its testing of a long-range missile. Prospects for restarting negotiations were undermined further after a South Korean warship sank in March, killing 46 sailors. Seoul and Washington accuse North Korea of torpedoing the vessel, while the North denies involvement and has threatened harsh retaliation if punished.

It is not known who Kim was to meet on this trip, although someone of his stature would likely meet a senior leader. The Tokyo Shimbun reported that Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping was headed to Jilin to meet Kim.

Still, North Korea watchers puzzled over the timing of the visit — so soon after his last trip to China and during Carter’s visit.

“He should be seeing Carter, but perhaps he has lost all hope in the U.S.” said Cui Yingjiu, a retired professor of Korean language at Peking University in Beijing who was a schoolmate of Kim’s in the 1960s and retains ties to the North Korean elite.

U.S. officials have stressed that Carter’s trip is an unofficial, private visit to negotiate the release of 31-year-old Aijalon Gomes, an American sentenced to eight years of hard labor in a North Korean prison and fined some $700,000 for entering the country illegally.

However, such visits, like the journey by ex-President Bill Clinton a year ago to secure the release of two American journalists, also offer an opportunity for unofficial diplomacy between the U.S. and North Korea.

Analysts said Carter and Kim could still meet Friday, after Kim returns to Pyongyang and before Carter’s departure. — AP

Violence related to near-daily protests against Indian control of Kashmir has led to the deaths of at least 64 people over the last two months, mostly civilians. The protesters have set official buildings and vehicles ablaze, and government forces have fired guns and tear gas to contain the unrest.

Speaking to police chiefs from around India, Singh noted that militant activities have declined in Kashmir, but maintaining public order there has become a serious concern and a challenge for the government.

“We cannot have an approach of one size fits all,” Singh said. Public agitation has to be dealt with “with non-lethal, yet effective and more focused, measures,” he said.

Civil rights activists have accused Indian paramilitary soldiers and police of using a heavy-handed approach, and each death caused by security forces sparks further clashes with rock-throwing demonstrators.

Singh has made at least two recent appeals for calm, telling the people of Kashmir his government is ready to hold talks to resolve their problems.

Rule by Hindu-majority India is widely opposed in the majority Muslim region, which separatists want to become independent or merge with Pakistan.

In his speech to police chiefs, Singh dwelt on a slew of problems faced by police and security forces in the country, including threats by separatists and Maoist rebels, commonly known as Naxalites.

Singh, who has often called the rebels India’s biggest internal security threat, again Thursday voiced the government’s willingness to talk to the guerrillas if they give up violence.

“We recognize that the Naxalites are our people and are ready to talk to them provided they abjure the path of violence,” he said.

The rebels, who have tapped into the rural poor’s anger at being left out of the country’s economic gains, are present in 20 of the country’s 28 states and have an estimated 10,000 to 20,000 fighters, according to India’s home ministry. About 2,000 people have been killed in rebel-related violence over the past few years. — AP

The visit, which has not been announced by either country, is highly unusual, coming just three months after the last visit of Kim, who rarely travels and when he does goes by train. It came particularly as a surprise because former U.S. President Jimmy Carter is in North Korea and many had speculated he would meet the leader.

But his stop in Jilin city in Jilin province in northeastern China was confirmed by two teachers at the Yuwen Middle School.

“He definitely came over. But I’m not sure if his son was with him or what time he came,” said a physical education teacher who would give only his surname Zhao.

Another teacher said Kim visited the school in the morning for about 20 minutes. He refused to give his name.

Kim may be traveling with a son to consult with Chinese officials on plans to transfer power to a successor, South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency and YTN television in Seoul said.

It’s widely believed that Kim is preparing to transfer power to his third and youngest son, Kim Jong Un, and many North Korea watchers believe the son will be granted a key party position next month.

Kim’s father, late President Kim Il Sung, attended the school from 1927 to 1930 after his family fled the Japanese occupation of Korea. At the time, Yuwen was a hot-bed of leftist thinking. Biographies of Kim say that he began absorbing communist ideology while at Yuwen. In 1928, Kim organized protests against “reactionary teachers” at Yuwen in addition to demonstrations against Japan and the purchase of Japanese goods, according to the Jilin government’s website.

According to Yonhap, citing an unidentified high-ranking Seoul official, Kim’s special armored train crossed the border into China early Thursday. YTN carried a similar report but said Kim arrived in China late Wednesday night.

The surprise trip comes as former Carter makes a rare visit to North Korea on a private mission to secure the freedom of an imprisoned American. There was no word on whether Carter — who met in 1994 with Kim Il Sung — had been scheduled to meet the current leader.

There was no comment from China’s Foreign Ministry or from the Communist Party’s international liaison department, which deals with relations with North Korea.

North Korea announced in June that new ruling Workers’ Party leaders would be elected in early September, sparking speculation that the move is aimed at boosting a government campaign to hand over power to a Kim heir.

Speculation on the succession intensified after the 68-year-old Kim reportedly suffered a stroke in 2008. Kim’s health problems prompted concerns about instability and a possible power struggle in the nuclear-armed country if he were to die without anointing a successor.

Kim last visited China in May, meeting top leaders, including President Hu Jintao. — AP

Carter was making a private humanitarian visit to negotiate the release of Aijalon Gomes, sentenced to eight years of hard labor in a North Korean prison and fined some $700,000 for entering the country illegally from China, U.S. officials said.

There was no indication Thursday that Gomes was free. Carter, originally slated to depart Thursday, appeared to have extended his trip by at least a day, South Korea’s YTN television reported in Seoul.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, meanwhile, appeared to be making a surprise trip to China. Teachers in Jilin province in northeastern China told The Associated Press he paid a 20-minute visit to their school Thursday morning — a rare trip for a man who never flies and travels only by armored train.

Neither country announced the trip; Kim’s travels typically are not publicized by North Korea until after his return.

It was unclear whether he would return in time for a meeting with Carter, an elder statesman well-regarded in North Korea despite the two countries’ longtime animosity. Carter met with Kim’s father, late President Kim Il Sung, on his last trip to Pyongyang in 1994 — a warm meeting that led to a landmark nuclear disarmament deal.

U.S. officials have stressed that Carter’s trip is an unofficial, private visit. However, such visits, including the journey by ex-President Bill Clinton a year ago to secure the release of two American journalists, also offer an opportunity for unofficial diplomacy between the U.S. and North Korea.

North Korea and the U.S. fought on opposite sides of the Korean War. Three years of warfare ended in 1953 with a cease-fire but not a peace treaty, and the two Koreas remain divided by one of the world’s most fiercely fortified borders.

To this day, the U.S. stations 28,500 troops in South Korea to guard its longtime ally, a presence that chafes at North Korea, which cites the forces as a main reason behind its need for nuclear weapons.

For more than a year, relations have been particularly tense, with North Korea testing a nuclear weapon and long-range missile technology, and the U.S. leading the charge to punish the North for its defiance of U.N. sanctions.

The March sinking of a South Korean warship, which killed 46 sailors, has provided fresh fodder for tensions. Seoul and Washington accuse North Korea of torpedoing the vessel, while the North denies involvement and has threatened harsh retaliation if punished.

With all sides digging in, six-nation talks on North Korea’s nuclear disarmament have remained stalled. Last year, it took Clinton’s visit to get the U.S. and North Korea talking again. Carter’s mission to bring Gomes home could again provide another face-saving opening for contact.

Paik Hak-soon of the private Sejong Institute think tank near Seoul predicted that Kim would ask Carter to relay a positive message to Washington on the resumption of the nuclear talks. He noted Carter’s popularity and symbolic role in defusing tensions in 1994.

North Korea agreed to release Gomes to Carter if the ex-president paid Pyongyang a visit, one U.S. official told AP earlier in the week, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.

U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters in Washington that he could not give details of Carter’s trip.

“We don’t want to jeopardize the prospects for Mr. Gomes to be returned home by discussing any of the details,” Toner said Wednesday.

Gomes, who taught English in South Korea, was described by acquaintances as a devout Christian who may have followed an American friend, Robert Park, into North Korea. Park has said he entered the country deliberately last Christmas to call attention to its human rights record. He was expelled about 40 days later.

Last month, the North’s Korean Central News Agency said Gomes, 31, attempted suicide, “driven by his strong guilty conscience, disappointment and despair at the U.S. government that has not taken any measure for his freedom.”

U.S. officials have pressed for his release on humanitarian grounds, but the State Department said officials who made a quiet trip to North Korea earlier this month failed to secure his freedom. — AP

It was not clear what prompted the remarks by Democratic Party heavyweight Ichiro Ozawa at a political seminar, in which he otherwise paid tribute to Americans’ commitment to democracy, saying it was something Japan should learn from.

“I like Americans, but they are somewhat monocellular,” the former Democratic Party leader said. “When I talk with Americans, I often wonder why they are so simple-minded.”

Ozawa didn’t elaborate on what aspect of Americans made him compare them monocellular organisms, a term also used to mean shortsighted or dumb.

There is growing speculation that the 68-year-old former party leader — renowned as a backroom dealer and election strategist but unpopular among the wider public — may run against rival Prime Minister Naoto Kan in a Sept. 14 election for the party leadership.

Ozawa steered clear of that topic in his speech at the seminar to about 50 lawmakers from the party and dozens of other invitees. But later Wednesday he hinted he would, telling supporters his decision on whether to run would hopefully “respond to your expectations.” He said he needed more time to make that decision.

Ozawa was forced to resign as party secretary-general in early June over a funding scandal, though he has denied any wrongdoing.

Despite the Democratic Party-led government’s monthslong tussle with Washington over the planned relocation of a major U.S. military base in Okinawa — which has weakened public support for the government — Tokyo and Washington remain close allies, and Ozawa’s comments on Americans did not appear geared at currying support within the party.

Ozawa, who advocates a U.S.-style two-party political system for Japan — which currently has a coalition government — praised Americans for electing President Barack Obama.

“I don’t think Americans are very smart, but I give extremely high credit for democracy and choices by its people,” he said. “They chose a black president for the first time in U.S. history,” adding that he thought once that would never be possible. — AP

“We are not sending Viktor Bout back today,” Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva told reporters. “There are still several legal steps to go through.”

Abhisit’s comments came after a flurry of overnight rumors that Bout’s extradition had already taken place or that Bout would be escorted by commandos and handed over to U.S. authorities Wednesday morning. Other Thai officials also indicated that the U.S. was trying to speed the legal process but said that Thailand would not be pressured.

Bout, a 43-year-old former Soviet air force officer, is reputed to be one of the world’s most prolific arms dealers. He is known as “The Merchant of Death” and was an inspiration for the arms dealer played by Nicolas Cage in the 2005 film, “Lord of War.”

A Thai appeals court on Friday ordered Bout’s extradition within three months to face four terrorism-related charges in the U.S.

American authorities want him turned over quickly but a legal bottleneck appears to have stalled the process.

The U.S. Embassy declined any comment on the case or on Thai news reports that an American government plane had landed at a military airport adjacent to Bangkok’s Don Muang airport Tuesday.

“Due to security reasons we will not comment on pending extradition cases,” said embassy spokeswoman Kristin Kneedler.

Thailand’s National Security Council met Wednesday to discuss Bout’s extradition.

“The United States must not exert pressure in any way,” Abhisit told reporters afterward. “Every country has to respect the sovereignty of other countries. There are treaties and laws to follow.”

U.S. State Department spokesman Philip J. Crowley would not discuss timing of extradition Tuesday night, except to say it is “pending.”

“We look forward to seeing him in a U.S. court,” Crowley said.

In an illustration of the confusion, the Bangkok Post newspaper reported on its front page Wednesday that the extradition had already taken place, with the headline “US swoops to grab Bout.”

Prior to Friday’s ruling, the U.S. had filed additional charges against Bout — a step that was now slowing down his extradition because Bout cannot legally leave Thailand until he goes to court to hear the charges or the U.S. drops them, said Sirisak Tiyapan, director of the international division at the Office of the Attorney General. The new charges of money laundering and wire fraud stem from an updated U.S. indictment against Bout filed in February 2009.

“I gather the U.S. government has contacted the Foreign Ministry asking to drop the second charges,” Sirisak said. If that happens, the ministry will notify the Attorney General’s office, which would ask the court to drop the charges, and then the court can process the request. The extradition itself involves separate paperwork.

Bout was arrested in Bangkok in March 2008 as part of a U.S.-led sting operation. The case set off a diplomatic tug-of-war between Washington and Moscow which opposes the extradition.

Bout has allegedly supplied weapons that fueled civil wars in South America, the Middle East and Africa, with clients including Liberia’s Charles Taylor and Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi and both sides of the civil war in Angola.

The head of a lucrative air transport empire, Bout had long evaded U.N. and U.S. sanctions aimed at blocking his financial activities and restricting his travel. He has denied any involvement in illicit activities and claims he ran a legitimate business.

Bout’s arrest at a Bangkok luxury hotel was part of an elaborate sting in which U.S. agents posed as arms buyers for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, which Washington classifies as a terrorist organization.

Bout was subsequently indicted in the U.S. on four terrorism-related charges that include conspiring to kill Americans and conspiring to sell millions of dollars worth of weapons to FARC, including more than 700 surface-to-air missiles, thousands of guns, high-tech helicopters and airplanes outfitted with grenade launchers and missiles. — AP

KATMANDU, Nepal – A power battle that has left Nepal’s political system in limbo for months has also frozen efforts to solidify peace, write a constitution and push ahead with development in this desperately poor nation.

With no one in charge, plans to build badly needed rural roads, increase electricity generation in power-starved cities and move ahead on constructing Nepal’s first rail line have all sat untouched.

Demands for new police officers to help fight rising crime have also gone unfilled.

“People are suffering. The monsoon rain has washed away roads, but repairs are not being done,” said Sita Sharma, a government office worker in Katmandu, the capital.

Since resigning in June, Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal and his cabinet have been running a caretaker administration, attending to little more than the most urgent functions of government.

None of the political parties has a majority in parliament. The former insurgents in the Maoist party say they should form the government since they have the most seats, but they have been unable to forge a coalition with the Marxist party or the Nepali Congress Party.

On Monday, parliament failed in its fifth attempt to elect a new prime minister.

The political standoff has led many to lose faith with the leaders they backed during 2006 street protests that ousted a centuries-old monarchy and turned this Himalayan nation into a republic.

“They were supposed to bring the nation out of misery, instead they are so busy trying to grab power while the nation slides toward more chaos,” said Ram Shrestha, an engineer.

The government is unable to do much more than pay government workers and continue work on established projects, because the annual budget has been delayed by the political paralysis, said Bal Krishna Khad, a minister in the caretaker government.

“Development work has come to a complete halt,” said Shreekant Regmi, an independent analyst, who fears the deadlock could turn the country into a failed state.

Nepal is in desperate need of new infrastructure. Katmandu endures hours of electricity cuts every day, because the hydroelectric power plants cannot meet demand. Residents get drinking water for only two hours every three days from a government-run utility.

Tulsi Sitaula, a top official at the transport ministry, says a program to repair hundreds of roads and highways and to build new ones has fallen victim to the dispute.

The peace process, which brought the Maoist insurgents into mainstream politics in 2006, has also stalled. Thousands of former rebels are still living in U.N.-run camps, awaiting a government decision to integrate them into the national army or try to return them to civilian life.

Lawmakers also failed to meet a May 2010 dateline to write a new constitution aimed at cementing the peace. After giving themselves a one-year extension, they have made little progress.

Businesses are hesitant to invest, because they have no indication what the future government’s financial policies will be, said Kebal Raymajhi, a business executive. — AP

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Critics of Myanmar are voicing hope for intensified global pressure on the military regime after the United States signaled it would support a UN inquiry into alleged war crimes.

President Barack Obama’s administration last year opened a new policy of engagement with Myanmar, also known as Burma, concluding that longstanding Western efforts to isolate the junta had failed to bear fruit.

But the administration has voiced growing dismay over the junta, which has faced allegations it is pursuing nuclear weapons and has stepped up efforts to marginalize democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi ahead of rare elections.

An administration official said the United States has opened discussions on how to set up a war crimes probe, a longstanding demand by activists as it could lead to the eventual indictment of junta leaders.

“The United States supports establishing an international commission of inquiry to investigate alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Burma,” the official said.

While most global attention on Myanmar focuses on Aung San Suu Kyi, the world’s only detained Nobel Peace laureate, activists point out that millions more have suffered in the country’s ethnic conflicts.

“It is long overdue that the world acknowledges that the Burmese regime is guilty of heinous and brutal acts against its own people,” said Representative Joseph Crowley, who led calls in the US Congress for a war crimes probe.

“Burma’s military regime has destroyed or forced the abandonment of 3,500 villages, raped countless ethnic minority women and recruited thousands of child soldiers,” said Crowley, a member of Obama’s Democratic Party from New York.

Crowley called for more nations to back an inquiry, saying the Obama administration’s move “brings us one step closer to delivering the justice the Burmese people rightfully deserve, but the fight does not end here.”

The US Campaign for Burma, led by exiled activists, said that Australia, Britain, the Czech Republic and Slovakia have also supported an inquiry.

It pledged to shift attention to persuading the European Union as a whole and Canada to offer support.

China, the main commercial and political partner of Myanmar, wields veto power on the UN Security Council, meaning that any effort to establish an inquiry would likely come instead at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

Former US president George W. Bush’s administration, while determined to isolate Myanmar, would have been in an awkward position to press for a war crimes panel.

Under Bush, the United States shunned the Human Rights Council — considering it ineffectual and tainted by poor membership — and staunchly opposed the International Criminal Court.

State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said that the Obama administration was committed to using a “range of tools” on Myanmar, including dialogue.

“Our strategy has always envisioned not only direct engagement, but also using tools like sanctions to put pressure on the Burmese government,” said Crowley, who is not related to the congressman.

The State Department spokesman said the United States hoped to press the junta to “open up political space in its society for broader participation, to have a credible dialogue with minority and ethnic groups (and) to improve its human rights record.”

The junta last week announced elections on November 7, but the United States has voiced doubt that the vote would be “inclusive or credible.”

Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy won the last election in 1990 but was never allowed to take power. It is boycotting the upcoming vote, viewing it as a sham to cement the junta’s power. — AFP