The Iraqi parliament's biggest political bloc is calling for all American troops to leave this country by the end of 2011 as a condition for approving a new agreement extending the U.S. military presence in Iraq, a senior official said Sunday.

The United Iraqi Alliance is also insisting that Iraq have a bigger role in determining whether U.S. soldiers accused of wrongdoing are subjected to prosecution in Iraqi courts.

If the conditions are not met, "I cannot see that this agreement will see the light," said Sami al-Askeri, a Shiite parliamentarian and political adviser to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

It was not immediately clear if the U.S. would accept the conditions, which would make significant changes to the draft agreement produced in recent days. The bilateral accord is aimed at replacing a United Nations mandate that provides the legal authority for U.S. troops to be in Iraq. It expires on Dec. 31.

The Bush administration has resisted setting firm dates for the departure of U.S. troops from Iraq, saying it should be based on security conditions. U.S. authorities ultimately accepted a compromise in the agreement, which set a withdrawal date of the end of 2011 but provided for an extension by mutual agreement.

Askeri said the possibility of an extension raised concerns among members of the Shiite bloc, who met on Saturday night.

"Some people say, what's going on?" he said. "This article opens the door to the next government" of Iraq to lengthen the U.S. troops' stay, he said. Iraq holds national elections next year.

On the issue of legal jurisdiction, the draft accord says that U.S. forces can be subject to Iraqi law if they are accused of a major crime while outside their bases and off-duty. American troops rarely leave their bases when not on official missions, so it would appear that soldiers would rarely, if ever, be subject to Iraqi law.

Askeri said that lawmakers did not want U.S. military authorities to make the decision on when a soldier was considered off-duty. That determination should be made by a joint committee, and if they deadlocked, it should go to an Iraqi court, he said. The Pentagon insists on having sole legal jurisdiction over U.S. troops in most foreign countries.

The draft status of forces agreement was being discussed Sunday night by the Iraqi Political Council for National Security, an advisory body of senior executive, legislative and judicial officials. If the council gives it the green light, the accord is to be sent to the Cabinet and the Parliament for approval.

The concerns voiced by Shiite lawmakers are the first major hurdle in what many U.S. and Iraqi officials anticipate will be a contentious and drawn-out process.

"We continue to be in discussion with the Iraqis and the Iraqis continue to discuss this amongst themselves," said Susan Ziadeh, the spokesperson at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. "That's to be expected. We'll see where these discussions lead."

Lawmakers aligned with Shiite cleric Moqtada al Sadr are the most vocal critics of an agreement that would extend the presence of U.S. troops in Iraq. They control 30 seats in the 275-seat Parliament, while the Shiite alliance has 85. Sadr leaders convened a large demonstration in Baghdad on Saturday during which thousands marched to express their opposition to the accord.

Kurdish lawmakers, who make up the second biggest block in parliament, support a deal. Leaders of Sunni blocs have not publicly expressed a strong opinion for or against the proposed agreement, saying they need time to examine the draft.

Discussions about contentious bills have stalled in Iraq's parliament for months amid bickering and deadlocks. Many lawmakers are likely to be particularly sensitive to the potential political ramifications of their stance on the agreement because it is expected to come up for a vote weeks before provincial elections.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy reported the theft from his account last month, say media.

The French Cabinet's spokesman says "swindlers" have broken into the personal bank account of President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Spokesman Luc Chatel told France's Radio-J an investigation is under way and insists the incident "proves that this system of checking (bank accounts) via the Internet isn't infallible." He did not elaborate.

Weekly Journal du Dimanche reported Sunday that thieves seized Sarkozy's bank account information and swiped small sums of money.

The newspaper said Sarkozy reported the theft last month and that those responsible haven't been found. The report cited an unnamed official close to the investigation for its information.

The press service for Sarkozy's office declined comment.

Former Beijing Official Receives Death Sentence With Reprieve

BEIJING. Oct. 19 -- Beijing's former vice mayor received a suspended death sentence for taking more than a million dollars in bribes, his lawyer and state-run media said Sunday.

Liu Zhihua, 59, oversaw construction, real estate, sports and traffic projects for the Beijing Olympic Games until he was fired in June 2006 over charges of corruption and bad morals. His high-profile antics and "decadent lifestyle" attracted the shocked attention of the country's top leaders, according to Chinese media reports.

Liu is the highest-ranking Beijing official to be disgraced since Beijing party leader Chen Xitong was fired for corruption in 1995. Liu was expelled from the Communist Party at the end of 2006, a few months after President Hu Jintao moved to dismiss Chen Liangyu, the party secretary of Shanghai, for directing pension funds into illegal investments.

Liu was charged with accepting more than $1 million in bribes. He abused his power as vice mayor and director of the management committee of Zhongguancun Science Park from 1999 to 2006 to get contract projects, loans and other favors for money, the official New China News Agency reported. The court said bribes were pocketed by Liu and his mistress Wang Jianrui.

The Intermediate People's Court of Hengshui, a city outside of Beijing, sentenced Liu Saturday to death with a two-year reprieve. With good behavior, his sentence could be commuted to life imprisonment.

Wang, 48, who worked for a Beijing construction engineering company, was tried separately last week. Her sentence is pending.

Wang allegedly won projects for a tennis court, hockey ground and archery field at the Olympic Green with Liu's help, the Chinese magazine Caijing reported.

But Liu's lawyer, Mo Shaoping, said the accusations against Liu did not mention Olympic construction projects, nor did they mention the founder of a Beijing supermarket chain who was arrested in connection to Liu's case and sentenced Friday to 18 years in prison for bribery.

To be more easily entertained, Liu allegedly built a 150-room villa in the suburbs of Beijing. He was believed to have several mistresses, one of whom, Zhang Yike, videotaped them having sex after Liu failed to adequately return her favors. She then sent the hour-long, graphic tape to party officials, the Chongqing Evening News and Hong Kong China News Agency reported.

Liu, a former coal miner, was elected vice mayor in 1999. He reportedly wept three times during his trial, with his wife and son in attendance. He may appeal because he doesn't agree with all the accusations, his lawyer said.

"It's necessary to punish corruption because it's an issue of the government's survival," Mo said. "But the punishment should be fair and equal."

The judiciary should be independent and the investigation and trial fair, Mo added. "Otherwise, ordinary people will think corrupt officials are not rightly punished but simply have the bad luck to be caught or have a political conflict."

But China's judiciary is controlled by the Communist Party and rarely bucks leaders' decisions. Ordinary citizens said they were not surprised by Liu's case.

"Those officials only care about how to grab money. Some corrupt officials are caught, but there are more who are not caught," said Yuan Jianli, 52, a car repairman. "If you stand with the right team, even if you're corrupt, you'll probably be fine. If you're on the wrong team, you'll be caught. Politics in China is too dark, and we ordinary people can do nothing about it."

Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi gave few details of the nuclear deal with China.

Pakistan said Saturday that China will help it build two more nuclear power plants, offsetting Pakistani frustration over a recent nuclear deal between archrival India and the United States.

The agreement with China was among 12 accords signed during Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari's recent visit to Beijing, said Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi.

While Qureshi gave few details, the accord deepens Pakistan's long-standing ties with China at a time when its relations with Washington are strained over the war against terrorism.

U.S. officials including Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher, who arrived in Islamabad on Saturday for talks, have rejected Pakistani calls for equal treatment with India on nuclear power.

Chinese leaders "do recognize Pakistan's need, and China is one country that at international forums has clearly spoken against the discriminatory nature of that understanding" between Washington and New Delhi, Qureshi said.

Zardari met with China's top leaders during his first official trip to Beijing since replacing stalwart U.S. ally Pervez Musharraf as president in September.

China, a major investor and arms supplier for Pakistan, has already helped it build a nuclear power plant at Chashma, about 125 miles southwest of the capital, Islamabad. Work on a second nuclear plant is in progress and is expected to be completed in 2011.

Qureshi said the Chashma III and Chashma IV reactors would provide Pakistan with an additional 680 megawatts of generating capacity.

He didn't say when they would be built or what assistance China would provide.

Nor did he discuss any measures to prevent nuclear materials from the new plants from being diverted to Pakistan's atomic weapons program. Pakistan has placed several other civilian reactors under International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards.

China's Foreign Ministry had no immediate comment on Qureshi's remarks.

However, ministry spokesman Qin Gang said Thursday that China was willing to continue its cooperation with Pakistan on peaceful nuclear programs supervised by the IAEA.

Pakistan's nuclear program remains a sore topic with Washington because of its past record of proliferation.

International sanctions were slapped on Pakistan after it detonated its first nuclear charges in 1998 in response to similar tests by India.

The sanctions were eased after Musharraf agreed to help Washington hunt down al Qaeda terrorists responsible for the September 11, 2001, attacks in the United States.

But the revelation in 2004 that the architect of Islamabad's nuclear program, Abdul Qadeer Khan, had passed nuclear secrets to Iran, Libya and North Korea set back Pakistan's hopes of becoming a trusted member of the world's exclusive nuclear club.

The U.S.-India deal allows American businesses to sell nuclear fuel, technology and reactors to India in exchange for safeguards and U.N. inspections of India's civilian -- but not military -- nuclear installations.

Boucher told reporters earlier this month that the pact with India was "unique" and that a similar agreement with Pakistan was "just not on the table."

He said Washington would help Pakistan -- where chronic power shortages are contributing to a gathering economic crisis -- develop its huge coal reserves, expand hydroelectric power generation and build wind farms on its Arabian Sea coast.

Pakistan, the Islamic world's only known nuclear weapons state, began operating its first nuclear power station with Canadian assistance near the southern port city of Karachi in 1972.

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Saudi Prince and billionaire Al-Waleed bin Talal says he will build the world's tallest building, planned to be over a kilometer (3,281 feet) high. The tower will be built in the Saudi town of Jeddah and will be part of a larger project that will cost $26.7 billion, (100 billion Saudi riyals) said the Prince's firm, Kingdom Holding Company.

The project, entitled Kingdom City, will span 23 million square meters (248 million square feet) and will include luxury homes, hotels and offices.

The booming city of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates has also joined the skyscraper race.

While the ever-growing Burj Dubai is already the tallest man-made structure in the world, the Nakheel Tower is set to go even higher.

Developers suggest the finished building will be at least 1 km tall.

While in Europe, Paris is leading the skyscraper revolution -- plans for a 50-story building have been given the green light, which will make it the first skyscraper to be built in the city for 30 years.

These buildings are part of a new generation of innovative, exciting skyscrapers set to appear all over the world over the next 10 years.

ome truly mind-blowing structures are being planned for the Middle East.

Hot on its heels, the Burj Mubarak Al Kabir, proposed for the planned 'City of Silk' in Kuwait, could also break the 1000-meter barrier.

While they may be mere midgets compared to the mega structures of the Middle East, Russia Tower in Moscow and the Okhta Center Tower in St Petersburg promise to provide some stunning eye candy.

Spiraling its way through the Chicago skyline, the Chicago Spire will have a striking corkscrew design, while a gleaming Freedom Tower is to be the highlight of the rebuilt World Trade Center. And proving the skyscraper renaissance is a global phenomenon there are stylish giants planned for Panama, Pakistan and South Korea.

BEIJING, Oct 12 (Reuters) - China's Communist Party vowed on Sunday to double the income of the country's hundreds of millions of farmers by 2020 and boost their spending, as it looks to home markets as a bulwark against the global financial crisis.

The country's leaders gathered for a four-day conclave focused on the farmers who pioneered China's economic reforms 30 years ago but have since been left behind by booming cities.

China hopes that boosting rural growth will help counter wilting export demand as the global financial crisis forces foreign consumers to tighten their belts.

Rural discontent about expensive education, shoddy health care and corrupt local government is also fuelling unrest that has Beijing's stability-obsessed cadres worried.

"We must give a new impetus to rural development, in order to give a new, increased vitality to the entire economy and society," the official Xinhua agency said in a report on the meeting, strictly closed to foreign media.

The report gave no details on the new rural regulations agreed at the conclave, but state media have flagged that they will include land reforms and rural spending initiatives.

State media are already acclaiming the farm changes as a breakthrough parallel to reforms pioneered under Deng Xiaoping almost 30 years ago, when the huge communes that were the jewels of Mao Zedong's communism began to crumble.

Farmers are hopeful but wary.

Yu Bin, a villager in Anhui province who has protested against the confiscation of local farmland for development, welcomed the promises but said enforcing well-intentioned announcements was not always easy.

"Policy enforcement is always a problem at the grassroots," Yu told Reuters by telephone.

"The key is to give farmers more protection of what rights they are promised. Only if we can get that will farmers' lives improve. I hope this will be the start of some real improvement."

FOOD SECURITY

Since 1978, farmers' incomes have soared from 134 yuan per year on average to 4140 yuan ($605.8). The number of people living in poverty has shrunk from 250 million to just 15 million.

But urban residents' incomes are much higher and until this year were rising faster than farmers', an imbalance Beijing is now keen to address.

The leaders plan to entirely eliminate absolute poverty and also ensure China can feed its vast and growing population, said the official summary of the meeting.

State media also suggested the world financial crisis might give extra impetus to efforts to boost domestic development.

"The global credit crisis freezing up the world's finances may be a blessing in disguise for China as it aims to modify its economic structure," Xinhua said in a commentary on Sunday.

"The government turned to the vast rural market, which has 55 percent of the nation's consumers," the report added, before mentioning the leadership meeting and the reforms it passed. (Additional reporting by Chris Buckley)

Copyright 2008 Reuters, Click for Restriction

  The Associated Press
Saturday, October 11, 2008; 11:38 AM

Tips for driving in Europe

(Budget Travel) -- A more unified Europe has made it simpler to go from one country into another. Driving on the continent, however, remains a challenge because of inconsistent traffic laws and road signs. We asked representatives of several rental-car companies about little-known rules and conventions that visitors should know before hitting the road in Europe.

United Kingdom
• On weekdays from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., London charges a fee to enter the city's congestion zone, which is marked with signs showing a white C in a red circle.

The charge may be included in the cost of your rental car, so ask. Otherwise, you can pay online (cclondon.com) or at stores, gas stations, and newsstands where you see the congestion logo. Your car's license-plate number is then registered in an electronic database. Cameras take pictures of your plate when you enter the zone, and a computer system checks the database to make sure you've paid.

• In rural Scotland, watch for Highland cattle that like to lie on sun-warmed roads after dark. See European traffic signs and learn their meanings

France
• Children under 10 are prohibited from riding up front -- they must be buckled up in the backseat.

Germany
• Obstructing traffic on the autobahn is against the law -- so running out of gas is not only dangerous, it can get you fined.

• You're required to use low-beam headlights if it's overcast, raining, or snowing.

Italy
• Only local traffic is permitted during certain hours in the historic centers of many Italian cities. White signs with an open red circle and the times that traffic is restricted mark the entrances to the zones. If your hotel is in one of these areas, ask the concierge to register your license-plate number with the local authorities. Cameras take pictures of the plates when cars enter the zones, and a computer system tracks down vehicles that aren't registered. Violators are fined.

• On roads too narrow for two vehicles, the larger one has the right-of-way.

Spain
• You must put on a reflective safety vest any time you get out of your car on the sides of highways or unlit roads. Most rental-car companies provide one in the trunk, but you should check before leaving the agency.

• People who wear eyeglasses are required by law to have a spare pair in the car.