“He arrived at around 7 p.m. (Hong Kong time) in the evening yesterday (May 16) and was sent straight to hospital,” said Thomas Tsang, controller of the Centre for Health Protection.

Tsang said the infected man was picked up by airport temperature scanners and had also declared that he had flu symptoms on arrival.

Potentially more than 100 passengers sat in the three rows in front and behind the 23-year-old university student, who lives in China’s Guangdong province, on flight CX 831 from New York, and Tsang urged them to contact the government hotline.

Hong Kong confirmed its second case of H1N1 flu on Wednesday involving a 24-year-old man on a flight from San Francisco to Hong Kong.

The territory’s first confirmed H1N1 case, which involved a Mexican man, was reported on May 1, leading to the quarantine of a downtown hotel where he had stayed.

Some wore shirts that accused Ma of “selling Taiwan” to China or portraying the president as a devil, while others waved Taiwan independence flags.

“Taiwan and China are different counties and can’t be united,” said Wang Chia-ping, 32, who travelled six hours from southern Taiwan for the event. “I think Ma has to respect our voices, since it’s a multi-party democracy.”

China has claimed self-ruled Taiwan since 1949, when Mao Zedong’s Communists won the Chinese civil war and Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalists (KMT) fled to Taiwan. Beijing has vowed to bring the island under its rule, by force if necessary.

Since Ma took office in May 2008, his government has signed trade and transit deals with economic powerhouse China to help Taiwan’s sagging economy and make peace with Beijing.

“The protests will give the government a message that we’re going too fast, doing too much with China, and we need to put a break on it,” said Shane Lee, a political science professor at Chang Jung University in Taiwan.

But the peaceful demonstration, which was organised by the opposition Democratic Progressive Party, will not hurt Ma, analysts say. Ma has said he would not change course, while the opposition lacks votes in parliament to oust him.

“We hope that when done protesting, everyone will peacefully leave the site,” Ma told reporters on Sunday. “They can relax. All of our talks with mainland China are done on the premises of equality and respect. We haven’t lost our sovereignty.”

Protest organisers claimed a total of 600,000 people in Taipei and a smaller demonstration in the southern city of Kaohsiung. Officials and on-site witnesses estimated a total turnout of 50,000.

Some demonstrators also accused Ma of not being transparent about what Taiwan’s ties with Beijing, opposition Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen said.

Others say he has bungled the economy, which slipped into recession in February, joining other export-driven Asian markets.

“I’m out of work. We don’t have any jobs. We’re unemployed,” said protester Chen Chung-hua, 55. “So what are we going to do?”

Similar mass demonstrations against Ma took place in August and October last year. A smaller, more violent one coincided with a meeting in November between Ma and China’s top negotiator.

The device, known by the acronym STIS, splits light into its component wavelengths. It was shut down in 2004 after electronics problems cut off its power.

Buoyed by Saturday’s successful spacewalk, astronauts Michael Massimino and Michael Good floated out of Atlantis’ airlock just before 10 a.m. EDT/1400 GMT with high hopes of repairing STIS too.

“At this point we’re feeling really good,” Hubble project manager Preston Burch told reporters after Saturday’s work.

Sunday’s foray was the fourth of five spacewalks to upgrade the world-famous telescope for another five to 10 years of operation. Atlantis’ mission is the fifth and final servicing call to Hubble before the shuttle fleet is retired next year.

Atlantis’ crew have already installed two new science instruments, replaced Hubble’s steering system and half its batteries, and repaired the advanced camera.

Engineers tested the camera overnight and found that one of its three channels was not restored.

It appeared “down for the count,” said NASA mission commentator Josh Byerly. But Burch said that this only partial recovery of the camera was not unexpected.

FIFTH SPACEWALK ON MONDAY

NASA only had time and resources to rewire one part of the camera and scientists’ chose the more popular wide-field mode.

“We would have liked to have a done a similar thing with the high resolution channel,” Burch said.

But the scientists were not complaining.

With the refurbishments already accomplished, NASA is close to fulfilling its goals for the mission, with only the installation of another three batteries remaining. That job is scheduled for the mission’s last spacewalk on Monday.

“They’ve made huge strides in restoring the health of the observatory,” Burch said.

Recovering STIS would be a bonus.

“STIS is not a Spartan instrument. It had many bells and whistles, all of which have been proven to be valuable to many types of science,” said Hubble project scientist David Leckrone.

The instrument was used, for example, to survey galaxies for black holes. It also made the first measurements of the atmosphere of a planet in another solar system.

On Saturday, astronauts installed the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph, which will use the light from distant quasars, or starlike celestial objects, to study the web-like gas and dust between the galaxies.

“It’s very difficult to think of a project in spectroscopic astrophysics that you could not do with these two instruments,” Leckrone said.

“Chicago is that most American of American cities,” Obama said in a video address on the first day of the IOC Evaluation Commission’s tour of the “Windy City.”

“It’s a city where the world’s races, and religions, and nationalities all live and work and play and reach for the American Dream that brought them here; where our civic parades wave the colors of every culture; where our classrooms are filled with the sounds of the world’s languages; and where jazz and rancheras and bhangra can be heard down the street from one another.”

The IOC panel is meeting with bid officials and will tour proposed venues over the coming days as the US Midwestern metropolis challenges Tokyo, Madrid and Rio de Janeiro to host the 2016 spectacle.

Once considered the frontrunner, according to the influential GamesBids.com site, Chicago has slipped to fourth after a series of apparent setbacks.

But organizers are hoping to cash in on Obama’s star power and a cityscape deliberately designed to host large civic festivals and events.

The bid includes plans to build just five event venues and to make use of Chicago’s ample existing sports facilities and a network of lakefront parks to transform the downtown area into a single civic arena.

“Once you discover the Chicago that I know… I am confident you will discover that you’re already in the perfect host city for the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games,” Obama said.

“And when those games are finally held here, I promise you this: they will not only stir the soul of this city, they will not only stir the soul of America, they will stir the soul of the entire world.”

The initial meeting to discuss the city’s vision, concept and legacy plans “got off to a great start” said Patrick Sandusky, a spokesman for the Chicago 2016 bid.

The bid’s slogan is “let friendship shine” and the overarching vision is to “celebrate the Olympic movement’s power to unite all humanity,” organizers said.

An opening video described Chicago as a city of festivals and the “ultimate canvas” for the world’s greatest architects and highlighted some of its most prominent residents: basketball legend Michael Jordan, talk show phenomenon Oprah Winfrey, and Obama whose election night victory party was held in the city’s lakefront Grant Park.

The national emergency department is reporting that the 10,250-foot-high (3,125-meter-high) Llaima volcano has hurled explosive materials up to 600 meters (650 yards) above the crater and issued a flow of lava more than 1,000 yards (meters) long.

A statement from the department Saturday noted that villagers were evacuated as a precaution after officials conducting flyovers saw snow melting around the crater, “which means a high risk of mudslides … (and) the possible rising of the Calbuco River.”

Police Chief Nate Harper said the motive for the shooting isn’t clear, but friends said the gunman recently had been upset about losing his job and feared the Obama administration was poised to ban guns.

Richard Poplawski, 23, met officers at the doorway and shot two of them in the head immediately, Harper said. An officer who tried to help the two also was killed.

Poplawski, armed with an assault rifle and two other guns, then held police at bay for four hours as the fallen officers were left bleeding nearby, their colleagues unable to reach them, according to police and witnesses. More than 100 rounds were fired by the elite police teams and Poplawski, Harper said.

The three slain officers were Eric Kelly, Stephen Mayhle and Paul Sciullo III. Kelly had been on the force for 14 years, Mayhle and Sciullo for two years each. Another officer, Timothy McManaway, was shot in the hand and a fifth broke his leg on a fence.

Poplawski had gunshot wounds in his legs but was otherwise unharmed because he was wearing a bulletproof vest, Harper said. He was charged with three counts of homicide, aggravated assault and a weapons violation.

The shooting occurred just two weeks after four police officers were fatally shot in Oakland, California, in the deadliest day for U.S. law enforcement since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The officers were the first Pittsburgh city officers to die in the line of duty in 18 years.

“This is a solemn day and it’s a very sad day in the city of Pittsburgh,” Harper said. “We’ve seen this kind of violence happen in California. We never would think this kind of violence would happen in the city of Pittsburgh.”

At 7 a.m. (1100 GMT), Sciullo and Mayhle responded to an emergency call from Poplawski’s mother, who remained holed up in the basement during the entire dispute and escaped unharmed, Harper said.

When they arrived at the home, Sciullo was immediately shot in the head. Mayhle, who was right behind him, was also shot in the head.

“It appears he was lying in wait for the officers,” Harper said.

Kelly, who was on his way home after completing his overnight shift when he heard the call for help, rushed to the scene and was killed trying to help Sciullo and Mayhle, Harper said. Elite police teams and other officers arrived and were immediately fired on as well.

Don Sand, who lives across the street from Poplawski, said he was woken up by the sound of gunfire. Hunkering down behind a wall in his home, he saw the first two officers go down and then saw Kelly get shot.

“They couldn’t get the scene secure enough to get to them. They were just lying there bleeding,” Sand said. “By the time they secured the scene enough to get to them it was way too late.”

Deputy Chief Paul Donaldson, who lives nearby, was one of the first officers to arrive. He saw Mayhle by a bush to the right of the door; Kelly was in the street and McManaway, his hand injured, was kneeling beside him, yelling that Kelly needed help.

Donaldson suggested using a police van to get them. They draped a bulletproof vest on the window to protect the driver and several officers got into the van to get Kelly and McManaway.

During this time, Poplawski was somehow distracted, Donaldson said.

“We were fortunate that he didn’t fire on us. I don’t know why he was distracted, but he apparently didn’t see us coming down to get them,” he said. “It could have been worse.”

Poplawski had feared “the Obama gun ban that’s on the way” and “didn’t like our rights being infringed upon,” said Edward Perkovic, his best friend.

Perkovic, 22, said he got a call at work from him in which he said, “Eddie, I am going to die today. … Tell your family I love them and I love you.”

Perkovic said: “I heard gunshots and he hung up. … He sounded like he was in pain, like he got shot.”

Poplawski had once tried to join the Marines, but was kicked out of boot camp after throwing a food tray at a drill sergeant, Perkovic said.

Another longtime friend, Aaron Vire, said Poplawski feared that President Barack Obama was going to take away his rights, though he said he “wasn’t violently against Obama.”

Vire, 23, said Poplawski once had an Internet talk show but that it wasn’t successful. He said Poplawski owned an AK-47 rifle and several powerful handguns, including a .357 Magnum.

Obama has said he respects Americans’ constitutional right to bear arms, but that he favors “common sense” gun laws. Gun rights advocates interpret that as meaning he would approve some curbs on assault and concealed weapons.

Poplawski had been laid off from his job at a glass factory earlier this year, said another friend, Joe DiMarco. DiMarco said he didn’t know the name of the company, but knew his friend had been upset about it.

The last Pittsburgh police officers killed in the line of duty were Officers Thomas L. Herron and Joseph J. Grill, according to a Web site that tracks police killings. They died after their patrol car collided with another vehicle while chasing a stolen car on March 6, 1991.

In 1995, an off-duty officer was shot with his own gun after he confronted a group of teenagers about graffiti. Tests later showed the officer had been drinking.

According to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, 133 law enforcement officers died in the line of duty in 2008, a 27 percent decrease from year before and the lowest annual total since 1960.

Poplawski had often fought with neighbors and had even gotten into fist fights with an unnamed couple in the neighborhood, Sand said.

“This is a relatively really quiet neighborhood except for him,” Sand said. “He was just one of those kids that we knew to stay clear from.”

Harper confirmed police had responded to calls from the Poplawski house several times but said the incidents were still being investigated.

Soon tens of thousands of people were lining up under the blazing sun for hours, sometimes days. They carried cups, plastic bags or buckets of water, waiting for the 9-year-old shaman to dip in his rock to transform the water into a cure-all potion.

“I’ve tried going to hospitals, but it’s always horrible,” said Mohammad Anas, a 65-year-old with high blood pressure. “It was expensive, I was sent from one department to the next, waiting in long lines, filling out papers, and in the end, I still was sick … I’d much rather take my chances here.”

The interest in Ponari reflects the longtime popularity of shamans in Indonesia, where Hindu, Buddhist and animist beliefs and traditions held sway long before 14th-century traders brought Islam. But it also seems to suggest that some people, like Anas, have all but given up on the long-neglected health care system in this sprawling nation of 235 million people.

Chronic funding shortages and chaotic decentralization efforts have forced many local clinics in the poorest parts of the country to scale back operations in recent years, reducing the time and money spent on community outreach, education and routine immunization.

The result: skyrocketing cases of measles, tuberculosis and other preventable diseases and often too-late diagnoses of illnesses such as high blood pressure, stroke and cancer.

“The government doesn’t spend near what it should,” said Zuber Safawi, a lawmaker who oversees parliament’s health commission, noting that only 1.1 percent of the country’s gross domestic product goes to health. “It shows a real lack of political will.”

Few if any can recall quite so much hysteria around a single healer, much less one as young as Ponari. The boy is exhausted and can barely hold up his head as he rides piggyback on one man, while another dips his hand into containers of water.

The lines of people waiting to see him stretch for miles (kilometers), and he has brought more than $500,000 into the economy of the desperately poor village of Balongsari. It costs 50 cents to see the boy shaman, and many people donate more money.

So eager are people to see Ponari that four died in a crush in February to reach him, temporarily forcing police to shut down his practice. It reopened last month, despite objections by the boy’s father. Villagers punched the father in the face after he complained the third-grader was being exploited and belonged in school, playing with his friends.

“This is a hassle, sure,” said Sudarmanto, a 45-year-old diabetic patient, as he jostled with the crowds to see Ponari, rent a room from villagers and find a place to park his car. “It’s still cheaper and better than going to the hospital.”

Another diabetes patient, Suyatman, 60, traveled 160 miles (257 kilometers) to see the boy shaman.

“I just don’t trust state clinics,” he said. Another woman nodded, smiling as she held up her ticket with her number in line - 4,138 - written in pen on a purple square of paper.

They, like others, said they were at first excited about a program introduced several years ago to provide free medical insurance to the country’s most vulnerable. But they quickly became frustrated with the reams of paperwork and long waits, the result of so many people flocking to the hospitals for affordable care.

The plan, criticized as poorly enforced, also put a burden on the state. Some hospitals had to wait seven months before their bills were reimbursed. In many cases, patients with the free insurance cards said they were afraid that disgruntled doctors wouldn’t give them the same time or attention as those who paid upfront.

Indonesian Health Minister Siti Fadillah Supari insists Ponari’s case says nothing about the state of the country’s health system.

The loss ended Williams’ reign at Key Biscayne. She was bidding for her third title in a row. Instead, she fell to 38-2 in the tournament since 2001, with the only other loss to her sister Venus.

“I’m not that bummed, because I feel like there’s next year,” Williams said. “And then there’s the year after and the year after.”

The result continued the rise of 10th-ranked Azarenka, who won her first career titles at Brisbane in January and Memphis in February, and beat world No. 2 Dinara Safina en route to the semifinals at Indian Wells two weeks ago.

On Sunday, Novak Djokovic will bid for his second Key Biscayne men’s title against Andy Murray, the tournament’s first British finalist.

Williams played with her left thigh taped and struggled to move to her left. She served poorly and had trouble putting Azarenka’s 90 mph (145 kph) serves into play.

Williams said her left thigh began bothering her in the quarterfinals, and she also was bothered by a sprained ankle. “It was a little difficult moving to the left and a little bit to the right,” she said.

With a chuckle, she added, “A little forward was also difficult.”

Williams limped at times and said she considered pulling out before the match. “I don’t like to not play,” she said. “I gave the effort that I could give today.

That’s all I could give.”

Azarenka quickly realized Williams wasn’t 100 percent and took advantage with pinpoint strokes to the corners.

“You could see the leg tape right away,” 19-year-old Azarenka said. “But I wasn’t really paying attention too much, because I had to play my game, and I had to keep her moving as much as I could.”

Williams led 3-2 before Azarenka won five consecutive games to take control. The teenager also won the final five games and closed out the biggest win of her career when Williams sailed a backhand long.

Azarenka tossed away her racket, covered her face and hopped to the net.

Her voice shook during the trophy ceremony.

“I’m sorry. I think I forget my English right now,” she told the crowd. “It was such an honor for me to play Serena. She’s the greatest player for me. I was so happy to be able to play her and win.”

For Azarenka, it was a big improvement on their match in the fourth round at the Australian Open in January, when she became sick to her stomach beforehand and lost.

Azarenka said she battled nerves on Saturday, but they betrayed her only with an occasional double fault. She was so poised serving in the final game that when she challenged a call and was advised the replay system had malfunctioned, she smiled and won the next point.

“She has really, really improved,” Williams said. “I actually look forward to playing her again so I can play a little better, and obviously do better. She’s going to be a really good player.”

Azarenka was the steadier player in rallies, often punctuating her shots with a two-tone shriek worthy of Maria Sharapova.

A subdued Williams remained impassive throughout, even as the match slipped away, in contrast with Roger Federer’s racket-breaking outburst that stunned the entire stadium on Friday.

Williams dropped serve five times and committed unforced errors on 34 of the 64 points she lost. Despite reaching the final, she was erratic throughout the tournament: She lost five games in a row a staggering five times.

Despite the defeat, she’ll retain the No. 1 ranking for a 10th consecutive week next week, while Azarenka will keep climbing to No. 8.

Azarenka improved to 23-2 this year. She grew up in Minsk and befriended NHL goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin, who invited her to the United States to train. She moved to Arizona and has lived there with Khabibulin and his wife since 2005.

Azarenka said her title would be big news in Belarus, where the most famous tennis player has been men’s doubles specialist Max Mirnyi, who teamed with Andy Ram to win the doubles title on Saturday. She was expecting a congratulatory phone call from President Alexander Lukashenko, whom she met when she was in grade school.

“He came to one of the tennis tournaments, and I was presenting flowers to him,” she said.

Azarenka won $700,000, more than the men’s first prize of $605,500. The two tours offer the same total prize money but distribute it differently.

The official spoke after Israel’s new ultranationalist foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-leaning government would not be bound by U.S.-backed understandings on a Palestinian state reached in 2007.

The official Saudi news agency said Bashir visited the Red Sea port city of Jeddah to perform umrah, a short Islamic pilgrimage. He earlier attended a summit of Arab and Latin American leaders in Qatar’s capital Doha.

“We went to the summit to show the people who said that we couldn’t travel outside Sudan that we can travel outside Sudan … nobody can intimidate us into not travelling,” he told reporters at Khartoum airport, while a large crowd of supporters gathered outside waving banners bearing his image.

ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo has raised the idea of diverting a plane carrying another Darfur war crimes suspect but the court has no enforcement apparatus of its own and depends on member states to arrest any suspects.

Bashir has so far visited only countries that are not members of the court.

His trip to Doha on Sunday was his longest and most risky journey abroad so far. The visit to Saudi Arabia gave him a shorter return leg, across the Red Sea.

Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal has said that issuing the arrest warrant was a politicised decision that “will not lead to the stability of Sudan or solve the Darfur issue”.

International experts say at least 200,000 people have been killed and more than 2.7 million driven from their homes in almost six years of ethnic and political fighting in Darfur. Khartoum says 10,000 people have died.

Bashir again defended his decision to expel 13 foreign aid groups that he had accused of helping the ICC mount its war crimes case against him, saying the aid groups were spies.

The U.N. has warned that expulsions could have a devastating impact on the humanitarian impact in the long term. The aid groups, including parts of prominent organisations like Oxfam and Save the Children, deny helping the court.

Bashir also repeated his promise that Sudanese aid groups would take over the distribution of all humanitarian relief in north Sudan within a year.

“This is a challenge to the international community and to the United States that adopted the two-state solution,” said Nabil Abu Rdainah, spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

“The United States should take a clear position against this policy before things get worse,” he told Reuters. “The international community should respond to these provocations that may undermine security and stability in this region.”

Refusing to enter final-status negotiations until the Palestinians meet their road map commitments, including a crackdown on militants, was Israeli policy under former prime ministers Ariel Sharon and, initially, his successor, Ehud Olmert.

But much to the chagrin of rightists like Lieberman, who now dominate the government of new Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, that policy changed at a November 2007 peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland.

As part of efforts by then-U.S. President George W. Bush to shore up Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in his power struggle with Hamas Islamists, Olmert agreed to enter so-called final-status talks over statehood borders, and the fate of Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees.

The long-stalled road map peace plan, introduced by Bush in 2003, would be implemented alongside final-status negotiations.

Olmert later tempered the concession by insisting a Palestinian state would only come into being once commitments under the road map were met.

Palestinians decried what they saw as a “shelf agreement” that would only give them a state in the distant future, once Abbas found a way to end Hamas’s rule in the Gaza Strip and to crush other militant groups that oppose a peace deal.

Lieberman, who quit Olmert’s cabinet after Annapolis to protest talks over Jerusalem, made clear in his inaugural address as foreign minister that Annapolis is dead and peace efforts could only move forward on the basis of the road map.

‘NO TALKS SOON’

“That means no serious talks anytime soon,” a senior Western diplomat said.

The first phase of the road map calls on the Palestinians to rein in militants and to build up governing institutions. It also calls on Israel to freeze all settlement activity and uproot outposts built without government approval.

Lieberman and Netanyahu advocate expanding settlements, not freezing them, whereas Abbas has mounted a major crackdown on Hamas in the West Bank.

While he rejected Annapolis, Lieberman said the new government would “work exactly according to the road map,” and would be “meticulous” in implementing its three phases.

He said this meant checking “every dot in every phase” and vowed never to agree to “go straight to the final phase: negotiations for a final status agreement”.

Nicolas Pelham of the International Crisis Group said the new Israeli government’s stance created the “potential for confrontation” with Washington.

“It is the view of this government that by trying to reach a final settlement, you’re putting the cart before the horse,” Pelham said, whereas Obama wants talks to resume now simultaneously with Palestinian security and institutional reforms.

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Lieberman was using the road map’s phasing as a “pretext” to avoid peacemaking.

“He’s trying to rewrite the road map to suit his agenda of refusing to stop settlement activities and to negotiate on the core issues,” Erekat said.

But in embracing the road map, Lieberman took a step towards meeting at least one of the international community’s demands: acceptance of a two-state solution.

The road map’s title line reads: “A performance-based roadmap to a permanent two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”

Lieberman, a Soviet immigrant denounced as a racist by many Arabs, did stress however that Israel was obliged to follow the course charted by a U.S.-backed peace “road map” of 2003. That obliges Palestinian leaders to curb attacks on Israel before any negotiations on the final shape of a statehood deal take place.

Lieberman was effectively confirming that Netanyahu’s new administration has withdrawn from its predecessors’ commitment to negotiate on borders and issues like the status of Jerusalem before the two sides are satisfied road map pledges are met.

That could push negotiations on statehood deep into the future. With Gaza in the hands of Hamas Islamists, many doubt Western-backed Palestinian leaders in the West Bank can meet Israeli security conditions for such talks any time soon.

A spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Lieberman’s comments threatened regional stability and urged the United States to come out and make its opposition clear.

U.S. President Barack Obama reaffirmed only last week his commitment to the establishment of a Palestinian state.

A spokesman with Obama in London said: “We are committed to working vigorously for this two-state solution.”

He added: “We look forward to working with the new Israeli government and understand that we will have frank discussions.”

Netanyahu’s office said Obama telephoned to congratulate him on taking office and that they agreed to “cooperate closely” and to meet soon.

ANNAPOLIS

At a conference in November 2007 hosted at Annapolis in the U.S. state of Maryland by Obama’s predecessor, George W. Bush, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert agreed to further “the goal of two states” in immediate negotiations with the Palestinians.

But Lieberman said only Bush’s earlier road map, produced in 2003, was binding on Israel — a distinction in accord with Netanyahu’s expected emphasis on curbing violence before embarking on negotiations on statehood. In the talks begun at Annapolis, Olmert was effectively seeking to do both at once.

“There is only one document that binds us and that is not Annapolis, it has no validity,” Lieberman said in a brief speech as he took over the ministry from the centrist Tzipi Livni.

He added that the road map was “the only document approved by the government and … ratified by the (U.N.) Security Council as a binding document”.

An Israeli official said: “He doesn’t want to jump to final status negotiations as was laid out in Annapolis.”

The centrist Olmert, who resigned last year over corruption allegations, finally stepped down on Tuesday as Netanyahu was sworn in following an election on Feb. 10 that produced a right-wing majority in parliament. Lieberman’s ultranationalist party is the biggest ally of Netanyahu’s Likud in the cabinet.

A political source close to Netanyahu said his remarks reflected the position of the new leader. He has not endorsed statehood for the Palestinians, in so many words. He has said instead he thinks they should govern themselves but have limited powers of authority that would not endanger Israeli security.

Netanyahu also defends expanding existing Jewish settlements in the West Bank, despite Palestinian — and U.S. — complaints that the road map obliges Israel to halt settlement activity.

SIGNAL

Eytan Gilboa of Israel’s Bar-Ilan University said of Lieberman: “His purpose was simply to send a message that this is a new government and the policy of this government is going to be different … It’s a signal, a message. But the real meaning of it will have to be explored in subsequent months.”

Abbas aide Nabil Abu Rdainah said Washington “should take a clear position against this policy before things get worse”.

Lieberman surprised some Foreign Ministry officials: “He said Annapolis goes down the drain and we’re only committed to the road map. So I guess that’s the new path,” one said.

Officials said Israeli embassies were immediately sent a cable setting out the key quotes from Lieberman’s statement. A senior Israeli diplomat said this amounted to a directive saying “Israel is not committed to the Annapolis process”.

The United States, Japan and South Korea say they see no difference between a satellite and a missile launch because they use the same long-range rocket, the Taepodong-2, which is designed to carry a warhead as far as Alaska.

Any attempt to punish North Korea after the planned April 4-8 launch will infuriate Pyongyang, which has threatened to restart its plant that makes arms grade plutonium and also quit nuclear disarmament talks if the United Nations takes action.

“Whether it is a satellite or a missile, it is still a violation of U.N. sanctions,” a South Korea Foreign Ministry official said.

Takeshi Akamatsu, assistant press secretary at Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, added: “We consider this would be a breach of the resolution and thus of international law.”

In London, a U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity on the sidelines of a G20 meeting, said Washington would respond to any North Korean missile launch by raising the matter in the U.N. Security Council.

“The president made clear we are deeply concerned about the prospective missile launch by the North Koreans … There will be a reaction to it,” the official said

Earlier, U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a commercial satellite image of the Musudan-ri missile test site showed a Taepodong-2 with a bulb-shaped payload cover, consistent with a satellite payload, rather than a warhead.

North Korea was hit with U.N. sanctions barring it from ballistic missile tests and halting its trade in weapons of mass destruction after it tried unsuccessfully to test the Taepodong-2 in July 2006 and conducted a nuclear test a few months later.

Several missile-interceptor ships with sophisticated radar from Japan, the United States and South Korea are expected to be in waters along the rocket’s flight path but there are no plans to intercept it unless it threatens their territories.

DO NOT MEDDLE

North Korea, which said any attempt to shoot down the rocket would be an act of war, issued a new threat on Wednesday.

“(Our army) will relentlessly shoot down U.S. reconnaissance aircraft if they intrude into our territory and meddle with our peaceful satellite launch preparation,” it said in a state radio broadcast monitored in Seoul.

U.S. spy planes regularly fly in the South’s airspace near the border to keep an eye on the North’s troop movements.

The International Crisis Group think tank said in a report that if the outside world overreacted, it could harm talks aimed at ending Pyongyang’s nuclear programme and rattle security in North Asia, which accounts for one sixth of the global economy.

“In the worst case, it could risk a war with potentially devastating damage to South Korea, Japan and the world economy,” the report said.

Analysts said they expect China, a veto-wielding member of the U.N. Security Council and the closest thing Pyongyang can claim as a major ally, to block any new sanctions or allow for the tighter enforcement of existing ones.

The launch poses a major risk for the cash-strapped North.

A failure would deal a blow to missile sales, one of its few successful export businesses, and embarrass North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, 67, whose suspected stroke in August raised questions about his leadership of Asia’s only communist dynasty.

“(It) is the best possible advertisement they could make to let the rogues of the world know that they have a missile that they might want to buy,” said Peter Beck, an expert in Korean affairs at American University in Washington.