N.Korea positive over talks with Japan: US envoy

TOKYO — A senior US envoy told Japan on Saturday that North Korea showed a "forward-looking" stance to resuming dialogue with Tokyo, when he held ice-breaking meetings in Pyongyang.

Stephen Bosworth held talks with Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada shortly after he arrived in Tokyo following his meetings with North Korean officials from December 8 to 10.

Bosworth told Okada that during the meetings, he raised Tokyo's demand for the release of all Japanese citizens kidnapped by North Korean agents during the Cold War era.

"Bosworth explained that North Korea showed a forward-looking stance to dialogue between Japan and North Korea on the abduction and other issues," Okada told reporters after he met Bosworth at the foreign ministry.

But Okada said Pyongyang stopped short of providing Bosworth with any proposals for conditions on resuming talks with Tokyo.

The emotive issue has long been a major stumbling block to resuming stalled talks between Tokyo and isolated Pyongyang, which has raised tensions in the region with its repeated missile and nuclear tests.

Japan's Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, who took power in September ending decades of conservative rule, has vowed that his centre-left government would push to clear up the fate of 12 people who remain missing.

During the meeting with Okada, Bosworth also said that he was able to hold a "quite straight and pragmatic" dialogue with North Korean officials during his stay in Pyongyang.

"(Bosworth) told me that he held a different impression on (North Korea) from the past," Okada said.

"Bosworth told me that it is extremely important for the five countries -- all participants of the six-way talks except North Korea -- to form a united front and take concerted action firmly," Okada said.

"I don't think we will be immediately close to a breakthrough ... but all we have to do is to patiently insist our demand."

Bosworth is to leave for Moscow on Sunday as part of a lightning tour to brief officials in the countries involved in stalled denuclearisation talks with North Korea about his meeting in Pyongyang.

Lesbian Episcopal priest elected LA assist. bishop

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — The Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles has elected the second openly gay bishop in the national church and the world Anglican fellowship.

The Rev. Mary Glasspool of Baltimore won election as assistant bishop in Los Angeles in voting Saturday. The first openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, was consecrated in 2003.

The Episcopal Church is the Anglican body in the United States. The election of Robinson already has deeply fractured the global Anglican Communion.

Within the United States, theologically conservative Episcopalians this year formed a rival church, called the Anglican Church in North America.

Glasspool lives with a female partner. Her election as assistant bishop must be approved by a majority of national church leaders.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (AP) — An openly lesbian priest is among the candidates for assistant bishop in the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles. If elected Saturday, she would become the second openly gay bishop in the national church and the global Anglican fellowship.

Two rounds of voting at the diocese's annual convention late Friday did not produce a winner. Balloting resumed at 9 a.m. Saturday.

When voting ended Friday, the Rev. Mary D. Glasspool of Baltimore, who has a female partner, was drawing a large share of votes. Another gay candidate, the Rev. John L. Kirkley of San Francisco, withdrew late Friday, winnowing the original field of candidates to five.

The Episcopal Church, which is the Anglican body in the United States, caused an uproar in 2003 by consecrating the first openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire.

Breakaway Episcopal conservatives responded by forming a rival church, the Anglican Church in North America. Several overseas Anglicans have pressured Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, the Anglican Communion's spiritual leader, to recognize the new conservative entity.

Anglican leaders in 2004 had asked the Episcopal Church for a moratorium on electing any more gay bishops while they tried to prevent a permanent break in the 77 million-member fellowship. However, last July, the Episcopal General Convention, the U.S. church's top policy body, voted that the job of Episcopal bishop was open to priests in same-sex relationships.

The Los Angeles diocese had openings for two assistant, or suffragan, bishops.

In the election for the first vacancy Friday, the winner was the Rev. Diane M. Jardine Bruce, rector of St. Clement's-By-The-Sea Episcopal Church in San Clemente. She will be the first female bishop in the diocese.

The Los Angeles diocese has 70,000 members and covers six Southern California counties.

US says 'playing leadership role' at WTO

GENEVA — The United States said Sunday it was "playing a leadership role" at the World Trade Organisation, even as some developing nations pointed the finger at Washington for holding up global trade talks.

On the eve of a WTO meeting of ministers, President Barack Obama's trade envoy Ron Kirk stressed that Washington remained committed to bringing the elusive Doha Round of trade negotiations to a successful conclusion.

"The United States engages with other economies and plays a leadership role at the World Trade Organization in order to boost American exports and grow the well-paid jobs Americans want and need," Kirk said in a statement.

"This ministerial is an important opportunity for the WTO?s 153 members to take stock of the trading system overall, to build on the foundation of our rules-based trading system, and to consider the potential of a balanced and ambitious conclusion to the Doha Round of world trade negotiations," he added.

Kirk's remarks came as some developing nations indirectly blamed the United States for holding up the Doha negotiation process in the run-up to the three-day ministerial meeting.

Brazil's Foreign Minister Celso Amorim pointed to "one country which is stopping us from moving forward," in an apparent reference to the United States.

Another Latin American diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, was more explicit, saying: "We clearly lack an explicit position from one of the most important members of the negotiations. We are of course talking about the United States."

He added that the WTO ministerial meeting "should pressure" US President Barack Obama's administration to take a deeper engagement on trade talks.

The Obama administration, grappling with domestic problems such as health care and the war in Afghanistan and facing a Congress largely hostile to trade liberalisation, has not put concrete trade reforms on the table, analysts say.

"If the Obama Administration wants to have a significant proactive trade policy, it will need to persuade the Congress to renew fast-track authority at least for the WTO negotiations, so that it can attempt to salvage the Doha Round," said economist Marcus Noland of the Washington-based Peterson Institute for International Economics.

However, some diplomats said Kirk had been active in Doha negotiations, albeit in a low-key fashion.

He has been holding low profile but direct talks with key US trading partners, including India and Japan, in additional to multilateral meetings to push the Doha Round forward, the diplomats said.

These talks were aimed at clarifying issues and bridging gaps, particularly with regard to market openings, one diplomat said.

At the same time, Washington wants to cut a deal on the lucrative services sector as the Doha Round gets bogged down by disagreements on agriculture and manufacturing issues.

"We have said flat out that there will be no deal without a solid result on services which would result in new market opportunities, but we believe that a positive outcome is still achievable," Kirk said last month.

World leaders have set a 2010 target to conclude the Doha process, launched in the Qatari capital in November 2001.

With little progress in negotiations, WTO chief Pascal Lamy recently warned that "it will be difficult to get to 2010 without a serious acceleration of pace."

While previous ministerial meetings have been venues for governments to make detailed offers and counter-offers, the WTO's 153 member-states have decided that Doha is not officially on the agenda this time in Geneva.

Ministers are instead expected to stress their overall commitment to completing the round, even though such pledges have been made over the years and deadlines repeatedly missed.

Brown warns leaders on climate change

LONDON — Prime Minister Gordon Brown warned fellow world leaders on Sunday that they "cannot afford to fail" to strike a substantial deal on climate change in Copenhagen next month.

Brown said the upcoming summit had to mark a "decisive global shift" towards tackling the issue, amid fears about the outcome of the crunch talks.

Brown made the comments in a letter to Danish Prime Minister Lars Rasmussen and released by Downing Street, confirming his attendance at the UN gathering.

"I am committed to doing everything in my power to secure an agreement that marks the decisive global shift towards combating climate change," the prime minister said.

"I believe all leaders have a responsibility to come together at Copenhagen to do this. We cannot afford to fail."

Sixty-five world leaders have so far confirmed they will attend the summit, said Rasmussen earlier Sunday.

Hopes have been dashed in recent weeks that the December 7-18 talks will result in a binding agreement on cutting emissions and giving poor countries access to green technologies and to cope with the ravages of climate change.

Instead countries attending are set to push for a political deal to prepare the way for a binding pact next year to follow on from the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.

The European Union has vowed to reduce its own greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2020, raising the target to 30 percent in the event of an international agreement on the issue.

World waits for action to back Karzai's words

KABUL — Hamid Karzai, due Thursday to be sworn in as Afghan president for another five years, will take his oath of office wearing the stain of corruption that pervades his government.

In what is being billed by the presidential palace as a "glorious" occasion, Karzai is expected to use his inauguration speech to calm some of the disquiet among his international backers by promising change.

Scepticism about his willingness to comply with conditions for continuing Western support will be difficult to dispel, as even many among his own people have doubts about Afghanistan's future with Karzai still at the helm.

"He has to give an appearance of action because he has no political capital, so he has to print his own political money," said a Western diplomat.

"If you consider that Jesus Christ walked on water, anything is possible," he said of Karzai's second chance to prove he is a statesman worthy of support.

Nevertheless, said a senior US official, Karzai "is being set up for success and whatever he proposes we will echo with support".

"Karzai's pledges and promises to the Afghan people have to include corruption, jobs, security, better governance, delivery of services.

"What is he going to propose? And then is he going to deliver? What if it is empty rhetoric for the next five years?"

The deadline for progress, he said, is mid-2010 when the US political class will begin to focus on mid-term elections.

"From day one the talk in Washington has been by next summer, because they are funding this and if they don't see progress, they will want to scale back.

"It's a matter of degrees. If you are President (Barack) Obama you have one eye on the casualty figures in Helmand and indicators like corruption, but you also have one eye on jobs in Detroit," he said.

Karzai's inauguration is controversial as it follows an August 20 election marred by massive ballot-stuffing -- mostly in Karzai's favour -- and the withdrawal of his main challenger Abdullah Abdullah from a run-off.

Election officials said around a million of the 1.3 million fake votes they found -- of a total less than six million -- had been cast for Karzai.

To many Afghans, Karzai's presidency lacks legitimacy, his government lacks authority, and the way in which he took the presidency lacks credibility.

"I believe if things continue as they have in the past several years, if no changes are made the situation won't improve," Mohammad Amin Farhang, former cabinet minister, told AFP.

"Definitely there are corrupt people in the government, they must be replaced by those who think for the people, not for themselves."

For the public in the 40-plus nations with troops fighting the Taliban, revelations of the extent of official fraud have led to an alarming drop in support for the war.

Corruption watchdog Transparency International on Tuesday lowered its rating for Afghanistan to second, from fifth, most corrupt nation in the world, better only than lawless Somalia.

The report comes as Obama considers deploying 40,000 more troops amid arguments from commanders that without more boots on the ground they are fighting a lost cause.

Karzai has come under enormous pressure to show commitment to eradicating graft, with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton making a clear connection between action and the continued cost to the West, both in lives and money.

Clinton's call was followed by the announcement on Monday of the establishment of an anti-corruption task force -- complementing another graft fighting office that has made little progress in the year since it was set up.

Diplomats have referred to Karzai's first public appearance after his re-election, during which he promised to clear Afghanistan of the "stain of corruption" while flanked by Vice President Mohammad Qasim Fahim, a warlord accused of human rights abuses and drug trafficking.

"That message was not lost on anyone," said a Western diplomat. "It's just going to be business as usual and the long-suffering Afghan people just have to put up with it."

Others were not so gloomy about another five years of Karzai.

"There's not unbridled optimism, it's tempered with reality," said another US official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"The sense in Washington is here's a moment, here's the inaugural address, what are we going to see in the next six to eight months?

"But so many things depend on political will. It's not just pretty words -- and Karzai is pretty good at that -- but actions to back that up."

Switzerland takes Google to court

Web search giant Google faces a court case in Switzerland because of privacy concerns over its Street View service.

The application allows a 360-degree view of any street-level location.

"Numerous faces and vehicle number plates are not made sufficiently unrecognisable," said data protection commissioner Hanspeter Thuer.

Google said it was disappointed by the move. The firm says it is sure that Street View is legal in Switzerland and will "vigorously contest" the case.

Line of sight

Mr Thuer is especially concerned about people shown in sensitive locations such as hospitals, prisons or schools.

He also said that the height of the camera was problematic because it allowed a view over fences, hedges and walls, meaning that more could be seen from Street View than by a normal passer-by.

The commissioner said Google was asked in August to take various measures and had not complied with the requests.

It is likely to take months before any court case actually starts, but it could have a more immediate impact on the Swiss availability of the service.

Mr Thuer has asked a tribunal to order Google to remove all pictures of Switzerland and to cease taking any more until a ruling has been made.

Man carrying $800K in gold freed

A man held on suspicion of being a national security threat after trying to bring nearly $1 million into Canada secretly has been released from custody and now says he's the victim of profiling.

Agents with the Canada Border Services Agency said that when Khaled Nawaya arrived at the Canada-U.S. border south of Vancouver last month, he told them he was carrying $10,000 cash.

But a search of his vehicle found more than $800,000 in Canadian gold coins, $80,000 cash and other paraphernalia that agents deemed suspicious. The money has been confiscated.

Officers said the search also turned up a pro-Palestinian scarf, DVDs about Sept. 11 conspiracy theories and a ring featuring the insignia of Hezbollah.

Hezbollah is a Shia Islam group based in Lebanon and is listed as a terrorist organization in Canada.

An Immigration and Refugee Board adjudicator released Nawaya on Thursday on the condition that he provide documentation on the source of his money.

'Money from lawsuit'

Nawaya, who was born in Saudi Arabia and holds Syrian citizenship, said most of the money came from a lawsuit he won in the United States, where he had lived since 1993.

"I'm still in a shock and trying to digest everything and thanks God for everything," Nawaya, 35, told reporters later.

Nawaya declined to comment on the politically related items the CBSA found or his decision to mislead border guards about the money.

"I want to tell everyone who's suspicious [of me] there's no reason to be suspicious, and not everyone who comes from the Middle East is a bad person."

Nawaya's Canadian lawyer admitted Nawaya's behaviour at the border did not serve him well. "He raised their alarm bells, needlessly," Phil Rankin said.

Nawaya's conditions for release require that he provide an address to authorities and check in monthly with the CBSA.

Rankin said Nawaya still faces the possibility of charges for not declaring the money, which he may never get back.