In Brief

Nuclear facilities shut * BEIJING – North Korea is willing to disable all its nuclear facilities this year, a top negotiator said, just hours after UN experts confirmed that Pyongyang had shut down its main reactor complex.

Pakistan to battle militants * ISLAMABAD – President Pervez Musharraf said Pakistan was now in open battle with Islamic militants who have launched a spate of suicide attacks, as 34 troops and rebels were killed in new clashes near the Afghan border. Japan shuts down nuclear plant * KASHIWAZAKI – Authorities ordered the world’s largest nuclear plant to stay shut indefinitely after Japan’s deadly earthquake, as its operator revealed a radiation leak was worse than thought.Russian response still awaited * MOSCOW – Russia kept Britain in suspense over how it would respond to the expulsion of four of its diplomats in a row over the London murder of a former Russian agent, as an exiled Russian Kremlin critic said he had learned of a plot to kill him in the British capital.Iraqi top official arrested * BAGHDAD – US forces have arrested a top Iraqi militant who acted as a link between al Qaeda’s Iraqi offshoot and the global jihadist network’s Saudi founder Osama bin Laden, the US military said.Ban on political parties lifted * BANGKOK – Thailand lifted a ban on forming new political parties, but it remained unclear whether ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra’s party can regroup in time to contest polls expected by year’s end.Nampa-AFPJapan shuts down nuclear plant * KASHIWAZAKI – Authorities ordered the world’s largest nuclear plant to stay shut indefinitely after Japan’s deadly earthquake, as its operator revealed a radiation leak was worse than thought.Russian response still awaited * MOSCOW – Russia kept Britain in suspense over how it would respond to the expulsion of four of its diplomats in a row over the London murder of a former Russian agent, as an exiled Russian Kremlin critic said he had learned of a plot to kill him in the British capital.Iraqi top official arrested * BAGHDAD – US forces have arrested a top Iraqi militant who acted as a link between al Qaeda’s Iraqi offshoot and the global jihadist network’s Saudi founder Osama bin Laden, the US military said. Ban on political parties lifted * BANGKOK – Thailand lifted a ban on forming new political parties, but it remained unclear whether ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra’s party can regroup in time to contest polls expected by year’s end.Nampa-AFP