U.S. sees record world food crops easing crisis

By Charles Abbott

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Good weather will help the world's farmers reap record wheat and rice crops this year, the U.S. government said on Friday, which should allay fears of shortages and help bring prices down from current high levels.

The U.S. Agriculture Department also forecast a record global crop of feed grain, used to feed livestock.

The USDA announcement was expected to calm fears of food shortages, worsened by the cyclone that hit Myanmar's rich rice-producing Irrawaddy delta last week, and by a larger than expected 500,000 metric ton Malaysian rice purchase on Thursday.

Disappointing harvests, the boom in biofuels and higher meat consumption have pushed up grain prices in the past two years, raising food prices and sparking protests in some 40 poorer countries whose people have felt the effect most strongly.

Officials at the U.N. Human Rights Council said it would hold a special session on May 23 to assess the effect of the food crisis on the right to food of millions of people suffering from high prices, notably in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

"We're keeping our fingers crossed that we get good harvests this year ... and that it brings prices down some from their high peaks," said analyst David Orden of the International Food Policy Research Institute, a think tank.

Even with bountiful crops, Orden said, larger international food aid efforts would be vital because prices would be higher than usual for the next couple of years at least.

The USDA said the world wheat crop would rise 8 percent to a record 656 million metric tons in 2008/09. It projected global rice output at a record 432 million metric tons, up 5 million metric tons from 2007/08."This ought to take the edge off commodity prices" said private U.S. consultant John Schnittker, making it easier for poor people to buy enough food.

Other signals that the supply crisis might be easing came from India, which said on Friday that it might allow limited rice exports, and from the Philippines, where traders held off purchases hoping for new crops soon from southeast Asia.

India, the world's second-biggest rice exporter last year, banned shipments of all rice except basmati in March, one of a series of protectionist measures worldwide that triggered a wave of panic buying.

"We are reviewing the situation and may allow limited exports," Commerce Secretary Gopal Pillai said on the sidelines of a conference in Kochi, adding that the government might also review an export tax on basmati rice.

The USDA forecast depressed wheat prices on the Chicago Board of Trade, but rice prices rose on the USDA prediction that Cyclone Nargis would reduce Myanmar's rice crop by 7 percent. The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation had said it expected Myanmar to export 600,000 metric tons of rice this year.

The soaring cost of food has fuelled unease among governments and street protests from Haiti to Bangladesh. The situation has worsened as grain exporting nations curb shipments to ensure domestic supplies and keep inflation under control.

The Philippines, the world's biggest rice importer, has so far bought about 1.7 million metric tons of the 2.2 million metric tons of rice it needs this year, and officials and traders said they expected prices to fall within a few months.

The USDA said the record harvests expected this year meant there would be an end-year world wheat surplus of 124 million metric tons, despite a rise in consumption of 3.5 percent.

The higher rice crop would leave a stockpile of 82.6 million metric tons, the largest in six years, it said.(Additional reporting by Rosemarie Francisco in Manila, Debiprasad Nayak in Kochi)

(Writing by Tim Pearce)

Battles kill 13 in Sadr City, blockade eased

By Wisam Mohammed

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. and Iraqi forces killed at least 13 gunmen in heavy battles overnight around Baghdad's Sadr City, the U.S. military said on Saturday, but authorities went ahead and eased a two-week-old blockade of the slum.

Cars were allowed in and out of Sadr City through some entrances, although other routes remained blocked and the sound of fighting was still audible on Saturday morning.

A U.S. military statement described a "complex" battle in the slum, a stronghold of militiamen loyal to Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. Residents described the clashes as among the worst fighting there since Iraqi forces launched an offensive into the area a week ago.

The Sadr City fighting, we well as fierce battles in the southern city of Basra between security forces and Sadr's Mehdi Army militia late last month, has thrust the Iraq war back onto the centre stage of the U.S. presidential election campaign.

U.S. forces fired at least one Hellfire missile from drone aircraft and two rounds from the main battle gun of an M1 tank against fighters who targeted them with roadside bombs, rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, the military said.

"No U.S. or Iraqi army soldiers were seriously injured and we went on to complete our mission," Major John Gossart, executive officer of the battalion involved in the fighting, said in a statement.

Police said seven people had been killed and 17 wounded in the overnight fighting. Sadr City's two hospitals said they received at least 33 wounded.

Despite the fighting, the Iraqi government's Baghdad security spokesman, Major-General Qassim Moussawi, said the situation was stable and the overnight clashes would not interfere with long awaited plans to lift the blockade.
"If more such clashes take place, we will deal with them by raiding the targets in an intelligent way," he said, adding that some roads were still shut to clear away bombs.

The blockade has led to skyrocketing food prices and days of claustrophobia for residents in the densely populated slum, which is under nightly bombardment. Residents said they were relieved to get out but wary about the future.

"I went today to university and it felt to me like a new fresh day in my life after two weeks of being isolated from the world," said law student Ahmed Kadhim.

But Nadeem Qasim, a civil servant in the water department, said he would not be optimistic "as long as the Iraqi army vehicles are still there and U.S. planes hover over the city. It means the problems and bombardment may resume".

LOUDSPEAKERS

As the fighting raged overnight, loudspeakers on mosques blared out speeches in support of Sadr's Mehdi Army fighters.

"We will not allow the Americans to enter the city whatever happens, if we lose our lives and our sons," they called out.

A Reuters correspondent who spent the night inside Sadr City said U.S. helicopters and jets flew overhead before midnight and several of the aircraft could be seen firing missiles.

The sound of heavy gunfire erupted in several parts of the slum, and fighters could be seen on the streets carrying rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns into battle."If more such clashes take place, we will deal with them by raiding the targets in an intelligent way," he said, adding that some roads were still shut to clear away bombs.

The blockade has led to skyrocketing food prices and days of claustrophobia for residents in the densely populated slum, which is under nightly bombardment. Residents said they were relieved to get out but wary about the future.

"I went today to university and it felt to me like a new fresh day in my life after two weeks of being isolated from the world," said law student Ahmed Kadhim.

But Nadeem Qasim, a civil servant in the water department, said he would not be optimistic "as long as the Iraqi army vehicles are still there and U.S. planes hover over the city. It means the problems and bombardment may resume".

LOUDSPEAKERS

As the fighting raged overnight, loudspeakers on mosques blared out speeches in support of Sadr's Mehdi Army fighters.

"We will not allow the Americans to enter the city whatever happens, if we lose our lives and our sons," they called out.

A Reuters correspondent who spent the night inside Sadr City said U.S. helicopters and jets flew overhead before midnight and several of the aircraft could be seen firing missiles.

The sound of heavy gunfire erupted in several parts of the slum, and fighters could be seen on the streets carrying rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns into battle.
Hundreds have died in clashes between Sadr's followers and U.S. and Iraqi forces since late last month, when Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki launched a crackdown against the militia in the southern city of Basra.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Sadr would not be treated as an enemy if he played a peaceful political role.

"Those who are prepared to work within the political process in Iraq, and peacefully, are not enemies of the United States," Gates told reporters at the Pentagon on Friday.

A top aide to Sadr, related to the cleric by marriage, was shot dead in the Shi'ite holy city of Najaf on Friday.

Assassinations have been a frequent part of the power struggle between Shi'ite groups in southern Iraq, but the slaying of someone so close to the cleric could increase tension. Police imposed a curfew in Najaf, and a Reuters correspondent in the city said it was quiet on Saturday.

(Additional reporting by Khalid Al-Ansary, Aws Qusay and Peter Graff; Writing by Peter Graff; Editing by Michael Winfrey)

China in focus as Taiwan votes

TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan went to the polls on Saturday to elect a president who could usher in a new era in relations with political rival China in one of the hottest potential flashpoints in Asia.

Taiwan's more than 17 million voters will choose a successor to President Chen Shui-bian, an anti-China firebrand who steps down in May and who has repeatedly angered Beijing with his pro-independence rhetoric.

China has claimed self-ruled Taiwan as its territory since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949 and has pledged to bring it under its rule, by force if necessary.

Frank Hsieh's ruling Democratic Progressive Party favors formal independence while Nationalist Party candidate Ma Ying-jeou wants reunification once China embraces democracy.

"Whether you vote for Hsieh or for Ma, be sure to vote for Taiwan," Chen told reporters after voting with his wife. "...Don't let Taiwan become the next Hong Kong. Don't let Taiwan become the next Tibet."

The former British colony of Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule in 1997. Chinese troops marched into Tibet, the scene of anti-Chinese rioting last week, in 1950.

The polls close at 0800 GMT and a result is expected a few hours later.

The election has drawn keen international attention, with the United States, Russia and Britain criticizing a referendum on U.N. membership, to be held alongside the vote, which they believe could upset the delicate balance with China.

Whatever the referendum result, U.N. membership is out of the question with just 23 countries recognizing Taiwan, and with China a veto-wielding permanent member of the U.N. Security Council.

The United States switched diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China in 1979, recognizing "one China", but remains the island's biggest ally.

Two U.S. aircraft carriers are in the region for training exercises. China fired missiles into the Taiwan Strait in 1996, trying to intimidate voters during an election.

"China hopes the United States and Japan will carry out their promises of not supporting 'Taiwan independence' or Taiwan authority's proposed 'referendum on U.N. membership'," Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said in an interview with Russia's Interfax news agency.

In Taiwan, a faltering economy is a priority with voters.

"Domestic issues, such as the economy and corruption, are bigger than China or foreign policy," said Ralph Cossa, president of the U.S.-based think tank Pacific Forum CSIS.

The two candidates have toughened their stances on China following Beijing's crackdown in Tibet, but to help the economy, both advocate more direct flights, tourism and investment opportunities between Taiwan and China.

Ma advocates a common market with China.

"I'd like to see us become the Switzerland of the east, not the Cuba of the east," he told a campaign rally late on Friday.

Hsieh says that could cause Taiwan to be flooded by Chinese laborers and shoddy products, and the island may end up suffering the same fate as Tibet.

On the campaign trail, both camps have marshaled tens of thousands of people at noisy rallies up and down the island.

Both have trotted out groups of attractive young women to get attention and have run television commercials that play on voter fears such as China or a government fractured by bickering.

Yet voters are smarter, more practical and more fatigued than ever by politicking, analysts say.

"For me, the key topic is economic improvement," said Taiwan voter Mei Yi-ying, 60. "Most of us at our age want to work."

Afghans chant death to Danish, Dutch in protest

By Ahmad Masood

KABUL (Reuters) - Some 5,000 Afghans chanted "death to Denmark" and "death to the Netherlands" in Kabul on Friday, protesting against the reprinting of a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammad in Danish newspapers and a Dutch film on the Koran.

Sporadic demonstrations have sprung up across the deeply conservative country in recent weeks against the cartoons and the film with protesters demanding Danish and Dutch troops be withdrawn from Afghanistan and their embassies shut down.

Protesters gathered around a mosque in the west of the Afghan capital after Friday prayers chanting "death to Denmark", "death to the Netherlands, "death to America" and "death to Jews".

Demonstrators burned Danish and Dutch flags and also an effigy of Dutch right-wing politician Geert Wilders, who is due to release a film thought to be critical of the Koran later this month. Wilders has given few details of the film, but in the past he has called Islam's holy text a "fascist" book that "incites violence".

One unidentified speaker addressing the angry crowd through a megaphone from the back of a truck said the Afghan government should expel Danish and Dutch troops and close their embassies within two days or "we will take action".

The Netherlands has some 1,650 troops, mainly in southern Afghanistan and 14 Dutch soldiers have been killed fighting Taliban militants. Denmark, meanwhile, has 550 troops in northern and southern Afghanistan and 11 of its soldiers have been killed.

Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden this week warned that Europe would be punished for the cartoons, first published by a Danish paper in September 2005. The images ignited violent protests across the world, including in Afghanistan, when newspapers around the world reprinted them the following year.

Last month, some Danish newspapers reprinted one of the cartoons in solidarity with the cartoonist after three men were arrested on suspicion of plans to kill him, sparking more anger.

Many Muslims consider any depiction of the Prophet as offensive.

Resentment is growing against the presence of more than 50,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan.

Many Afghan are frustrated at poor security and the slow pace of development more than six years after U.S.-led and Afghan forces toppled the Taliban after the hardline Islamist movement refused to hand over bin Laden in the wake of the September 11 attacks on the United States.

Tibet riot death toll at 19

BEIJING (Reuters) - Eighteen civilians and a policeman were killed in anti-Chinese rioting that rocked the Tibetan capital of Lhasa last week, the regional government said.

The official death toll in the violence, which China has blamed on the region's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, had been 13. Exiled Tibetans say as many as 100 people died.

Tibetans in China's tense southwestern province of Sichuan said they believed police had killed several people in anti-Chinese riots there this week, disputing official claims that none died.

The unrest has alarmed China, keen to look its best in the run-up to the August 8-24 Olympic Games in Beijing when it hopes to show the world that it has arrived as a world power.

In the rioting in Lhasa, "241 police officers were injured, 23 critically, and one police officer was killed by the mob," the government in a statement carried by Xinhua.

The number of injured civilian rose to 382 from 325. Some 58 were seriously wounded.

Police in Tibet issued a notice last Saturday, urging rioters to give themselves up. The number had climbed to 183 by Friday.

The Public Security Bureau of Lhasa has issued a "most wanted" list for 21 suspects and posted their pictures on the Internet.

Tensions remain high in Tibet, Sichuan and other neighboring areas where the government has poured in troops.