Southeast Asia remains an important partner for the United

Southeast Asia remains an important partner for the United States, Deputy U.S. Secretary of State Robert Zoellick said on Thursday amid hurt feelings over his boss' absence from a major security forum. Zoellick, who is standing in for Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, said he stressed this point when he met the foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in the Laotian capital Vientiane. "We consider ASEAN as a good partner and we want to make it even better," Zoellick said at a news conference. -- AFP

Mubarak says he will seek 5th term

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said on Thursday he would seek a fifth six-year term in the country's first presidential elections with more than one candidate on Sept. 7. He also promised constitutional and legislative changes during his next term, on top of the constitutional amendment which in May abolished the old system of referendums on a single presidential candidate chosen by parliament. Mubarak said an antiterrorism law should replace the emergency law, in force for 24 years and a major grievance of the political opposition and human rights groups. -- Reuters

Romania still on track for EU entry: Basescu

Romania will join the European Union (EU) in 2007 as planned, in spite of persistent delays in key reforms and the battle against corruption, the Balkan country's president said on Thursday. Traian Basescu, who led a centrist alliance to election victory by winning the presidency seven months ago, said he was confident the new government was on the right track to bring the poor Black Sea country into the wealthy bloc on time. "We will be an EU member on January 1, 2007, no matter what problems we have," he told a group of foreign reporters. "We know there are difficult problems to solve, the European Commission knows it and European MPs know it." -- Reuters