U.S. Vice President Biden rules out differences with Kurds to be solved prior to election

Turkey intensifies efforts to settle Syria-Iraq row, Iraqi govt. insists wanted persons must be handed over

UN chief says has no powers to interfere in Lebanon investigations

U.S. backs away from missile shield project in Europe

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said during a visit to Iraq on Thursday that disputes over land and oil between minority Kurds and the Arab-led government would not be settled until after national polls in January.

A feud between Baghdad and Iraq's largely autonomous Kurdistan region over oil rights and territorial boundaries is seen as a threat to Iraq's fragile stability.

The entrenched row has also held back passage of proposed hydrocarbon legislation urgently needed to set down a clear framework for foreign investment. Iraq boasts the world's third largest oil reserves but needs foreign cash to boost production.

Biden arrived in Baghdad on Tuesday to urge Iraqi leaders to take advantage of the country's security gains to kick-start a political process mired in divisions.

"In truth some of the more difficult problems are always difficult to solve in the midst of an election cycle," Biden told reporters on Thursday.

"So, a number of the problems, whether it is the oil law or some of the disputed internal boundaries, are going to have to wait for final resolution until the election."

U.S. and U.N. officials have been pressing ethnic Kurds and Shi'ite and Sunni Arab leaders to put aside differences and compromise on oil and other issues.

As the foreign military presence dwindles and the Iraqi state takes over, the influence of western actors like the United Nations and the U.S. government fade.

Biden said progress was being made generally in bridging political differences that also threaten, for example, passage of an election law needed to hold national polls as scheduled.

"I think here and there we can facilitate some of the difficult transitions they have to make ... I think all of the major players ... have an investment in seeing this succeed."

Ensuring a degree of political stability is crucial if Iraq is to be stable enough for U.S. troops to leave, under a bilateral pact that requires them to do so by 2012. Biden said there was nothing to suggest the deadline would not be met.

Asked whether his view was more positive on Kurdish and Arab relations than on his last trip, he said it was.

"There were a whole range of uncertainties that existed two months ago when I was here that haven't been resolved, but a process has been put in motion that leads me to believe all the parties are seized with the need to resolve."

No matter the intentions, it will not be easy to settle a conflict tied to Kurdish identity and to their dreams of a separate state -- especially with so much oil wealth at stake.

Iraqis are due to go to the polls in January in Iraq's first national election since 2005. Some fear this could renew violence just as the worst of the bloodshed unleashed by the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 fades. Yet there are hopes that, if it goes well, it could help put an end to violence.

"The one thing that came across very clearly to me (in meetings) is that everyone understands that the election coming off on January 16 is critical to Iraq's future," Biden said.

"How they get from here to there remains to be seen, but I am absolutely convinced they are all committed to an election that is transparent and legitimate."

Diplomats think Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who is trying to build popularity based on improving security and steps to strengthen the central government, may not want to be seen to be giving too much ground on the Kurdish issue before then.

On the other hand, Maliki might need Kurdish support in parliament to propel his Dawa party to power for a second term.

In Ankara, senior officials from Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Arab League (AL) met on Thursday to establish a dialogue between Syria and Iraq, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported.

The meeting was attended by Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Mualem and AL Secretary General Amr Moussa.

The report quoted Davutoglu as saying that officials decided to set up a security mechanism among Turkey, Syria and Iraq.

Speaking at the opening of the meeting, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said that they hoped to protect the region from terrorist activities and to restore peace and stability in the region.

The top Turkish diplomat said Syria and Iraq are good neighbors of Turkey and respectable AL members, though there were some disagreements between Damascus and Baghdad.

Relations between Iraq and Syria deteriorated after Baghdad alleged that Damascus is sheltering suspects linked to massive bombings, targeting government ministries in Baghdad on Aug. 19, while Damascus said it wanted evidence from Baghdad.

The tension between two countries escalated on Aug. 25 when they withdrew their respective ambassadors.

Davutoglu expressed pleasure over the determination shown at the meeting to cooperate to find those who staged attacks on Iraqi government and people.

Moussa said that there was need for time to solve some problems caused by the general chaos in the Middle East.

"But I guess that we are walking on the right and strong path," Moussa told a press conference in Istanbul.

Moussa said that he was defining the situation as a summer cloud and hoped it is overcome soon.

The AL chief said that a comprehensive Turkish-Arab forum would be organized soon on political, economic and cultural issues, which is important for not only the region but also the entire world.

He said Thursday's meeting could be helpful in ensuring harmony between Iraq and Syria and reducing tension between the media of the two countries.

On Sept. 9, Syrian foreign minister said following a quadrilateral meeting of Iraq, Syria, Turkey and AL in Cairo that he reached an agreement with his Iraqi counterpart to stop media campaigns and speed up returning ambassadors.

Moussa also noted that regional problems should be solved rapidly and fairly to ensure security of all countries in the geography.

Davutoglu said at the press conference that "We have held a very constructive meeting to overcome tension between the two countries."

"Maintaining this atmosphere of confidence is of utmost importance," he said.

He added that Turkey was determined to maintain this process and further improve relations between Iraq and Syria, and would continue to work on confidence-building measures, security and diplomacy.

The Turkish host said the three countries would also discuss specific steps to be taken from now on, and Turkey was thinking of a new meeting under the margin of the United Nations.

A series of bomb attacks on targets including government buildings in Baghdad on Aug. 19 killed over 100 people and injured hundreds more.

Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned on Friday the firing of at least two rockets against Israel from southern Lebanon earlier in the day.

"The Secretary-General urges all parties to exercise maximum restraint," Ban's press office said in a statement.

The UN chief urged the parties to "fully adhere to Security Council resolution 1701," which was adopted in 2006 to help end a month-long war between Hezbollah and Israel.

Ban called on the parties to "respect the cessation of hostilities agreement."

The statement noted that the Israel Defense Forces returned fire with artillery rounds towards the direction of where the rockets were launched. There were no reports of casualties on either side.

The UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) is investigating the circumstances of the incident in close cooperation with the Lebanese Armed Forces, it added.

Syria said Thursday it reserves the right to take legal measures against former prosecutor Detlev Mehlis of Germany, accusing him of politically targeting Damascus in the murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Mehlis headed the independent commission of inquiry following the murder of Hariri in Beirut in February 2005 and stepped down about a year later. The Syrian government now charges Mehlis and his assistant Gerhard Lehmann with implicating Damascus "at any cost" in the Hariri murder and misusing his authority as a prosecutor.

"The Syrian Arab Republic greatly regrets that misuse of power by the commissioner, which was operating under the aegis of the UN secretary general and believes that the secretary general should investigate the matter," Damascus said in a letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the UN Security Council president, US Ambassador Susan Rice.

Ban said on Thursday that it is "not his domain" to investigate the Syrian charges against Mehlis.

Mehlis and his team of international investigators issued preliminary reports in 2006, suggesting that Syrian and Lebanese security forces were responsible for the murder.

Mehlis was succeeded by a Belgian prosecutor and the current prosecutor is from Canada.

Syria said Mehlis accepted "perjured evidence and other practices that were aimed at a predetermined charge, whereby the commission was used to target Syria politically."

Damascus based its letter on televised interviews made by General Jamil El Sayed, who was released from jail with four other Lebanese army officers this April by the pre-trial judge of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, a court set up by the UN Security Council to try the Hariri murder.

"They attempted to induce El Sayed to persuade Syria to identify an official victim who would admit to the crime and subsequently be discovered to have committed suicide or killed in a road accident, whereupon a settlement would be reached with Syria," the Syrian letter said.

It said El Sayed was jailed for four years after rejecting the alleged demand by the Mehlis commission. Syria has rejected accusations that it was involved in the murder of Hariri, who was opposed to Syria's military occupation of Lebanon for decades.

On the other hand, U.S. President Barack Obama has told east European states he is backing away from plans for an anti-missile shield there, in a move that may ease Russian-U.S. ties but fuel fears of resurgent Kremlin influence.

Russia said it would welcome abandonment of the plans, which have been a major source of Russian-U.S. tensions.

Poland said Obama would announce a final decision later on Thursday (1400 GMT) on a project that has raised the prospect of multi-billion dollar contracts for U.S. defense giants.

The shield, involving interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar complex in the Czech republic, was promoted by Obama's predecessor George W. Bush to defend against any missile launches from "rogue" states such as Iran and North Korea.

Barack Obama “telephoned me to announce that his government is backing away from the intention of building a missile defense radar on Czech territory," Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer told reporters. "The Czech Republic acknowledges the decision."

A senior Polish source close to the negotiations told Reuters Warsaw had received a similar message. "We will not have the interceptors for now."

A U.S. defense official said Washington was now examining an alternative to the "large, fixed system" of the shield. This would target short- and medium-range missiles rather than the long-range rockets seen until now as the threat. He gave no details.

The Wall Street Journal newspaper said Washington had decided Iran was not as advanced in developing long range missiles as it had previously thought.

The Obama administration seeks to "reset" battered ties with Russia so that the two former Cold War foes can cooperate on Iran, on fighting Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan and on reducing their vast arsenals of nuclear weapons.

Russia is allowing the United States to move trains carrying supplies for U.S. forces across the country via Central Asia to Afghanistan, avoiding routes through Pakistan that had come under frequent attack from the Taliban.

Washington also wants Russian support in economic sanctions against Tehran, which it accuses of developing nuclear weapons.

Diplomats in Moscow say Russian hardliners could read the shield backdown as a sign of U.S. weakness. Far from doing the bidding of the United States, they may instead press for further gains to shore up Russian power in the former Soviet bloc.

Eastern European states, especially Poland and the Baltic states, saw the missile plan as a symbol of U.S. commitment to the defense of the region against any encroachment by former Soviet masters 20 years after the collapse of communist rule.

Some east Europeans see Russia's brief war with Georgia last year and confrontations with Ukraine over gas supplies as symptoms of a Russian 'neo-imperialism' driven by a view of eastern Europe as belonging to Moscow's sphere of influence.

"This would be very bad," said Witold Waszczykowski, deputy head of Poland's National Security Bureau which advises President Lech Kaczynski. "Without the shield we would de facto be losing a strategic alliance with Washington."

Ignoring U.S. assurances that the system was not targeted at Russia, President Dmitry Medvedev threatened last year to station missiles in a Russian enclave near Poland if the United States implemented the plan.

For Poland, the timing of the announcement is particularly sensitive. Thursday marked the 70th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of eastern Poland following a pact between Moscow and Nazi Germany, an event seen by Poles as "a stab in the back."

"I hope this is just a coincidence," said Waszczykowski.

The West is also concerned about Iran's nuclear research program, which it believes is a cover for development of an atomic bomb. The Islamic Republic says it wants to use nuclear technology only for power generation and to allow it to export more oil and gas for foreign currency.

A senior Iranian government source said the move could signal a move away from what he called 'threats and confrontation'.

"There could be two reasons behind such a decision; either the U.S. has reached the conclusion that Iran is not a threat, or the Russians may have convinced the Americans that there is no need for such a defense shield."

Multi-billion dollar contracts contested by U.S. defense giants are at stake in the future of U.S. missile-defense plans.

Boeing Co, the Pentagon's No.2 contractor, last month unveiled a proposal to build a mobile interceptor missile in a bid to blunt Russian fears of U.S. fixed sites in Europe.

Boeing, which manages the hub of a layered U.S. anti-missile shield deployed in 2004, was eyeing a 47,500-pound interceptor that could be flown to NATO bases as needed.