S. Lanka president calls for all-party govt: Sri Lankan President

S. Lanka president calls for all-party govt: Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga, locked in a power struggle with her prime minister, called on Friday for all political parties to join her in forming a national government. "I call upon all parties in parliament...to join me to form a grand alliance...with the objective of forming a government of national reconciliation," she said in a televised address to the nation, three days after she sacked three cabinet ministers and suspended the legislature. -- Reuters

Iran condemns Bush's remarks: Tehran on Friday condemned U.S. President George W. Bush for calling on the Islamic republic to embrace democracy, dubbing it "open interference in Iran's internal affairs," the state news agency IRNA reported. "The recent remarks by President George Bush is an open interference in Iran's internal affairs and ... are in breach of U.S. obligations in the Algeria declaration (1980) not to interfere in Iran's internal affairs," foreign ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi was quoted as saying. -- AFP

Gusmao says ending poverty top issue: East Timor's President Xanana Gusmao says the first priority of his young nation is to raise living standards. The tiny country of 800,000 people may have rich reserves of oil and gas, but Gusmao, a former guerrilla leader, says removing poverty is the top priority. He said in an interview on Friday in Hong Kong that East Timor would most probably adopt a combination of market and socially driven economic policies. "You must take the fact that we are underdeveloped. We have a high rate of poverty, so we would be fair. A combination of a market economy and an economy directed towards the community," Gusmao told Reuters after a business conference. -- Reuters

Musharraf says Pakistan will match India arms spree: President Pervez Musharraf vowed on Friday that Pakistan would match what he called a huge arms build-up by rival and fellow nuclear power India that had upset the balance of forces in South Asia. Musharraf, wrapping up a three-day state visit to South Korea, also restated his earlier denials that Pakistan had traded its nuclear weapons expertise for North Korean missile technology. The communist North says it has atomic capability. -- Reuters