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Israel says strikes first part of assault

GAZA, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- Four days of aerial assault on Gaza are the first stage of a broader military campaign the Israeli Cabinet approved, government officials said Tuesday.

When briefing Israeli President Shimon Peres on the air campaign on Gaza, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told Peres the military is "currently at the first stage of the operation," CNN reported.

Israel said the airstrikes are a measure of self-defense aimed at stopping rocket and mortar fire from Gaza into southern Israel. Since the assault began lasr weekend, more than 375 Palestinians, most of them Hamas militants, have died, Palestinian medical sources said Tuesday. The United Nations reported at least 60 of the dead were civilians.

Israel airplanes Tuesday bombed a Hamas government compound, destroying at least three structures, including the foreign ministry building, witnesses and Hamas security sources told CNN.

In the Mediterranean Sea, an Israeli patrol boat Tuesday rammed a boat loaded with medical volunteers and supplies bound for Gaza as it tried to intercept the vessel, witnesses and Israeli officials said.

In a radio message, the Israelis accused the Gibraltar-registered Dignity of being involved in terrorist activity, the ship's captain said. The Dignity was carrying 16 passengers, including physicians from Britain, Germany and Cyprus and several human rights activists, including former U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney.

The patrol boat rammed the Dignity after pursuing the vessel for about 30 minutes before the collision. Crew members said they believe the Dignity was intentionally struck, which Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor called "absurd."

In Gaza, meanwhile, Hamas militants killed at least six people in hospitals accused of collaborating with Israelis, The New York times reported.

No troop buildup along border, India says

NEW DELHI, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- Indian army officials Tuesday denied reports of a troop buildup along the India-Pakistan border, saying Pakistan had "whipped up war rhetoric."

Indian troops were on alert, an official said, because Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi asked Indian officials to "relocate forces to peacetime locations," the Indo-Asian News Service reported.

"We have not deployed any troops along the border. It was Pakistan that whipped up war rhetoric and not us," the official told the news service. "Our forces are only on alert so that they can be pressed into operations if need arises."

Tensions between India and Pakistan have risen since the assault on Mumbai, India's financial and entertainment hub, in late November in which more than 170 people died. Indian officials said they believe the attackers were militants based in Pakistan.

Pakistan will act against suspected terrorists if Indian officials can provide evidence against them, Qureshi said on Pakistani television.

Also Tuesday, Pakistan's National Security Adviser Mahmud Ali Durrani called for the countries to resume talks to resolve issues arising from the Mumbai attacks.

"The media has created unnecessary hype. We have to remove mistrust. We have to talk, "Durrani said.

Hasina posts landslide Bangladesh win

DHAKA, Bangladesh, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- Former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will return to power after her party posted a landslide win in national elections, officials said.

Election officials said Hasina's Awami League took 255 of the Bangladesh Parliament's 300 seats in Monday's vote, paving the way for Hasina, 61, to once again become prime minister just months after spending a year in custody on murder, extortion and corruption charges that haven't been fully resolved, The Times of London reported Tuesday.

Only 32 seats went to Begum Khaleda Zia of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, Hasina's bitterest rival, The Times said.

Hasina is the daughter of Sheik Mujibur Rahman, the leader of Bangladesh's 1971 struggle for independence against Pakistan and who was assassinated in a military coup four years later. She was toppled from office in 2001 and charged with corruption and murder, and was released from jail in June to obtain medical treatment in the United States.

While she was allowed to lead the Awami League upon her return, the charges against her have been "frozen" but not resolved, the newspaper said.

Pakistan blocks NATO forces' supply route

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- A key supply route for U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan was blocked Tuesday by Pakistani troops beginning an offensive against militants, officials said.

Troops backed by tanks and helicopter gunships began operations in the Khyber Pass, where vehicles carrying supplies to U.S. and NATO forces have been hijacked or attacked, the BBC reported.

"Supplies to NATO forces will remain suspended until we clear the area of militants and outlaws who have gone out of control," said Tariq Hayat, a Khyber leader.

Hayat said a curfew was instated and the main road to the Afghan border was closed. The operation in the Jamrud district would continue until the route to Kabul was secured, he said, adding that the operation could be extended to other areas of Khyber if need be.

The main border crossing between Pakistan and Afghanistan at Torkham also was closed, the British broadcaster reported.

Recently thousands of protesters have demonstrated in Peshawar, Pakistan, calling for an end to the supply route and to U.S. missile attacks on targets inside Pakistan.

Chinese dairies to compensate milk victims

BEIJING, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- Chinese dairy companies blamed for selling deadly tainted milk agreed to pay $160 million in compensation to the victims, a dairy association official said.

A fund has been established for the victims from which payments would be made, a spokeswoman for the China Dairy Industry Association told The New York Times.

Six children died and more than 300,000 others were sickened earlier this year by milk contaminated with melamine, an industrial chemical. The food safety crisis led to one of the largest Chinese food recalls in decades, as well as to global recalls of Chinese-made dairy products.

China's state-controlled media reported a group of 22 dairy companies would make one-time payments to the families of the victims. The association has also agreed to help defray costs of caring for victims who sustained long-term effects from the poisoning, reported Xinhua, the official Chinese news agency.

Several lawsuits have been filed by families of the victims but none have been accepted by Chinese courts.

More than a dozen dairy officials have been tried on charges of endangering public security, accused of intentionally contaminating dairy products to gain higher profits, the Times said.