THE INTERNATIONAL HERALD DAILY NEWS

INTERNATIONAL HERALD DAILY  NEWS ON LINE   CLICK HERE

1

Overseas Bureau Chief/International Senior Foreign Correspondent: Maximillien de Lafayette

South Korean hostage beheaded: in Saudi Arabia

Photo: A man identified as South Korean Kim Sun-il, front, sits in front of his captors in this image taken from an undated but recent video obtained by Al-Jazeera television station Sunday. (AP/Al-Jazeera via APTN)

An Iraqi militant group beheaded its South Korean hostage, U.S. officials said Tuesday, just hours after a go-between said the execution had been delayed and there were negotiations for the man's release. The kidnappers had initially threatened to kill Kim Sun-il at sundown Monday unless South Korea cancelled a troop deployment to Iraq. The government rejected the demand, standing firm with plans to dispatch 3,000 soldiers starting in August. Hours after the execution, Seoul reaffirmed it would send the troops as planned, but ordered all its non-essential civilians to leave Iraq as soon as possible. On Tuesday night, the United States launched an air strike in Fallujah on a safe-house used by followers of Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi - the second strike against the group in three days, the U.S. military said. Al-Zarqawi's Monotheism and Jihad movement was believed to be behind the beheading of Kim. The South Korean Foreign Ministry confirmed that Kim had been killed but did not say he was beheaded. However, U.S. Brig.-Gen. Mark Kimmitt, coalition deputy operations chief, said the body of an Asian male was found west of Baghdad on Tuesday evening. ''It appears that the body had been thrown from a vehicle,'' Kimmitt said in a statement. ''The man had been beheaded, and the head was recovered with the body.'' Kimmitt said the Fallujah strike involved precision weapons to ''target and destroy'' the safehouse and was based on ''multiple confirmations of actionable intelligence.'' Large explosions rocked the restive Sunni city west of Baghdad. Ambulances raced to the area after the 10:30 p.m. blasts. Wounded and dead were being evacuated, said Iraqi police Col. Mekky Zeidan. Al-Jazeera TV reported that three people were killed and six wounded. Kim's body was found by the U.S. military between Baghdad and Fallujah, 35 kilometres west of the capital, at 5:20 p.m. Iraq time, said South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman Shin Bong-kil. After news of Kim's death broke, South Korean television showed Kim's distraught family members weeping and rocking back and forth with grief at their home in the southeastern port city of Busan. ''I don't want to die, I don't want to die,'' Kim pleaded in a first video released by his captors Sunday as he begged his government to end its involvement in Iraq. The South Korean Embassy in Baghdad confirmed that the body was Kim's by studying a picture of the remains it received by e-mail, Shin said. ''It breaks our heart that we have to announce this unfortunate news,'' Shin said. Kim, 33, worked for Gana General Trading Co., a South Korean company supplying the U.S. military in Iraq. He was abducted last week, according to the South Korean government. The video of Kim, apparently made shortly before his death, showed him kneeling, blindfolded and wearing an orange jumpsuit similar to those issued to prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Five hooded men stood behind Kim, one reading a statement and gesturing with his right hand. Another captor had a big knife slipped in his belt. One of the masked men said the message was intended for the Korean people. ''This is what your hands have committed. Your army has not come here for the sake of Iraqis, but for cursed America.'' The video as broadcast did not show Kim being executed. U.S. President George W. Bush condemned the beheading as barbaric. ''The free world cannot be intimidated by the brutal actions of these barbaric people,'' he said. The grisly killing was reminiscent of the decapitation of American businessman Nicholas Berg, who was beheaded last month. A video of the execution was posted on an al-Qaida-linked website by the same group, which claimed responsibility for Kim's death. In Saudi Arabia, American helicopter technician Paul Johnson, 49, was kidnapped by al-Qaida militants who followed through on a threat to kill him if the kingdom did not release its al-Qaida prisoners. An al-Qaida group claiming responsibility posted an Internet message that showed photographs of Johnson's severed head. Meanwhile, gunmen opened fire on a U.S. military convoy north of Baghdad, killing two American soldiers and wounding a third, the military said. The convoy was attacked by small arms fire at 12:45 p.m. near Balad, 80 kilometres from Baghdad, the military said in a statement. Tod Titman reported that on Tuesday, U.S. officials said they would hand legal custody of Saddam Hussein and an undetermined number of former regime figures to the interim government as soon as Iraqi courts issue warrants for their arrest and request the transfer. However, the United States will retain physical custody of Saddam and the prisoners, while giving Iraqi prosecutors and defense lawyers access to them, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Two American pilots who landed at wrong airport suspended from flying

 Two pilots at the controls of a Northwest Airlines flight when it landed at the wrong airport have been suspended from flying pending an investigation, an airline spokesman said. Northwest spokesman Kurt Ebenhoch said Monday that the two pilots "have been held from service" until the review is complete. No other details were released. The flight carrying 117 passengers to Rapid City, South Dakota, veered off course Saturday and landed at nearby Ellsworth Air Force Base. The plane remained on the ground for more than three hours as the pilots told Air Force security officers what went wrong, and a new crew was dispatched to continue the flight to Rapid City. Air Force Lt. Christine Millette said the pilots reported that they were in contact with Rapid City controllers on their approach when they descended into a cloud. When the plane came out of the cloud, the first runway the pilots saw was the one at Ellsworth. Millette said the two runways are about 11 kilometres apart and parallel to one another.

US President George W Bush meets with the Pope, as the Italian capital  protests against the US-led war in Iraq.

Thousands of police have been deployed amid fears that the demonstrations in Rome could turn violent. Mr Bush is on a three-day visit to Europe for World War II ceremonies. The US president is also meeting Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi who, unlike the Pope, has been a firm supporter of the Iraq war. Mr Berlusconi is among Mr Bush's closest European allies. Despite the opposition of most people in Italy to the war in Iraq, he has repeatedly pledged he will keep Italian troops in Iraq and rejected suggestions that they might leave early.

Thousands expected: As security forces cordoned off entire areas of Rome in preparation for the visit, Mr Berlusconi said he was worried about violence and called on protesters to show "maturity and understanding of history". Small groups of protesters, some carrying the rainbow-coloured flags that have become the symbol of the anti-war movement in Italy, gathered in the capital late morning. In isolated incidents, they set fire to overturned rubbish bins and threw fireworks at government buildings. Thousands travelling to the march by bus and train from across Italy were expected to arrive in Rome by late afternoon. Mr Bush will spend two days in the Italian capital before travelling to France for D-Day commemorations. In his meeting at the Vatican, Mr Bush presented the Pope with the American Medal of Freedom, calling him a "son of Poland who became the Bishop of Rome and a hero of our time". The Pope, who has Parkinson's Disease, struggled to speak clearly as he addressed the US president. He reiterated the Vatican's opposition to the war in Iraq and said everyone wanted the situation to be normalised as quickly as possible "with the active participation of the international community and in particular the United Nations". He added: "In the past few weeks other deplorable events have come to light which have troubled the civic and religious conscience of all, and made more difficult a serene and resolute commitment to shared human values: in the absence of such a commitment neither war nor terrorism will ever be overcome." The Pope did, however, praise Mr Bush's "commitment to the promotion of moral values in American society, particularly with regard to respect for life and the family".

Wreath laying: This is an important trip to Europe for Mr Bush - an opportunity to push for a new UN resolution on Iraq with some key Nato allies face to face. But recent images of Italian hostages being held in Iraq have reinforced opposition to the war among many Italians, our correspondent says. Some anti-war campaigners were out on the streets on Wednesday as a military parade marked Republic Day. Some protests are expected to focus on the centre of Rome while Mr Bush lays a wreath at a memorial to victims of a massacre by Nazis several miles away at the Ardeatine Caves, or Fosse Ardeatine. The US state department has warned Americans in Italy of the "potential for violence" and to avoid areas in which crowds are expected to gather. Rome police chief Achille Serra said he had not had any indications of the possibility of terrorist attacks targeting the visit, but there were "signs of a difficult situation regarding public order". "If there is violence, it will be violence for violence sake," he said. "When the world is so mixed and especially when protesters are planning to demonstrate in so many different locations in the city, it becomes difficult to predict." At the weekend, Mr Bush will fly to France for ceremonies marking the 60th anniversary of D-Day. A huge security operation is also in place there, with 30,000 police and security forces mobilised, including a 12,000-strong contingent of the French army. Up to 100,000 visitors are expected in the Normandy region for the D-Day anniversary ceremonies, including world dignitaries, thousands of veterans and representatives from the media.-BBC

New Iraqi president.

Photo: Iraqi Governing Council chief Ghazi Mashal Ajil al-Yawer walks inside the Green Zone in Baghdad, Iraq,

 A powerful Sunni Muslim tribal leader and critic of the U.S.-led occupation was named president of Iraq's incoming government Tuesday, after Iraqi leaders rejected Washington's preferred candidate for the post. After the selection of Ghazi Mashal Ajil al-Yawer to the largely ceremonial position, officials announced the makeup of the entire interim government due to take power on June 30 - and the body moved quickly to begin its work. The U.S.-appointed Governing Council decided to dissolve immediately to make way rather than wait until June 30. The incoming prime minister, Iyad Allawi, said his government would soon negotiate a crucial agreement on the status of the U.S.-led occupation forces that will remain in Iraq. As word of al-Yawer's appointment was announced, a car bomb blew up outside the offices of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, which is located just outside the green zone U.S. coalition headquarters in central Baghdad. At least three people were killed and 20 were injured, the military said. Also, a roadside bomb also exploded near a U.S. base in the northern town of Beiji, killing 11 Iraqis and wounding more than 22 people, including two U.S. soldiers. Iraq still needs the presence of U.S.-led forces "to help in defeating the enemies of Iraq," Allawi said at a welcoming ceremony for the new government. "We will enter into alliances with our allies to accomplish that." The U.S.-led occupation authority will continue to run Iraq until June 30, a senior Bush administration official said. Washington praised the new government and suggested it would help ease the way for winning support for a United Nations resolution that the United States and Britain have submitted on post-occupation Iraq. "These are not America's puppets," national security adviser Condoleezza Rice insisted to reporters at the White House. "This is a terrific list and really good government and we're very pleased with the names that emerged."

Continues on the following pages.