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Hillary Clinton in Northern Ireland

BELFAST, Northern Ireland, Oct. 12 (UPI) -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is using her visit to Northern Ireland to push for a pact on policing and judicial powers, diplomats said.

Clinton was to meet First Minister Peter Robinson and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness Monday, the Belfast Telegraph reported. However, government and Sinn Fein officials indicated they didn't anticipate any dramatic breakthrough Monday over the protracted talks.

Sources told the Telegraph that Monday's meetings seen as another step toward a deal.

"It's nothing more than that," he said.

Clinton's visit coincides with an announcement by the Irish National Liberation Army that declared its war over in a statement delivered Sunday over the grave of founder Seamus Costello, The New York Times reported.

After talks in Dublin with Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen, Clinton said the stand-off between the Democratic Unionists and Sinn Fein is surrounded by questions and apprehensions, "but I believe that due to the concerted effort of the British government, the Irish government, the support of friends like us in the United States, the parties understand that this is a step they must take together."

Abbas pushes for U.N. rights report

JERUSALEM, Oct. 12 (UPI) -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has asked the U.N. Human Rights Council to endorse the Goldstone report and punish "brutal crimes" committed in Gaza.

In a televised address aired on Palestinian television Sunday night, the Palestinian Authority leader, who has been harshly criticized for failing initially to support the findings in the United Nations report, said he bears full responsibility for the delayed response, the Palestinian news agency Maan, said.

The Goldstone report accused Israel of committing alleged war crimes during Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip early this year.

"Our people have the right to criticize (their leaders), and the elected president should take all responsibility. ... I respect and appreciate the views of those who are angry, including the PLO factions, parties, and ordinary people, because their motivation was to bring (war) criminals to justice," Maan quoted Abbas saying.

There is no point in resuming peace talks with Israel as long as settlements continue to exist, Israel's Channel 10 television quoted the Palestinian leader saying.

"Jerusalem is the gateway and the key to peace … any agreement that does not include ending occupation of (East Jerusalem) is a failure," Al Arabiya news channel reported Abbas said.

"We are facing an escalation of Israel's actions in Jerusalem, including home demolition, land confiscation, and settlement construction, carried out on a daily basis aimed at implementing a program of ethnic cleansing while targeting Al Aqsa mosque," Abbas said.

Botched Ohio execution may spur changes

WASHINGTON, Oct. 12 (UPI) -- A move by Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland to delay the executions of several death row inmates could influence U.S. death penalty procedures, experts say.

trickland, a Democrat, has delayed three executions and has ordered a review of the state's lethal injection procedures after officials worked unsuccessfully for hours to find a suitable vein to use to execute death row inmate Romell Broom last month, The Washington Post reported Monday.

Everything's on the table at this point," Julie Walburn, a spokeswoman for the Ohio corrections department, told the newspaper, adding that the state is virtually certain to change its protocols to deal with cases like Broom's, including analyzing the effectiveness of the currently used lethal three-drug combination.

Other states will be watching," added Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center. "Waiting an hour or two hours for this to end, that just doesn't seem right."

He told the Post that several states, including Maryland, are working on modifying their lethal injection protocols.

Philippines typhoon death toll to rise

MANILA, Philippines, Oct. 12 (UPI) -- The death toll from landslides and floods caused by a pair of Philippines typhoons is expected to rise as volunteers pick through debris, officials say.

The successive typhoons Ketsana and Parma, have officially claimed more than 600 lives in the Philippines, but searchers examining debris with picks, shovels and their bare hands will likely unearth more victims, The New York Times reported Monday.

The death toll from Ketsana, which struck late last month in Manila and nearby provinces, has been set at 337, while Parma, which hit on Oct. 3, killed 193 people and caused more than $100 million in damage to crops and property, the newspaper said.

"Much of the rescue work is done manually," Santos Nero, deputy secretary general of the nonprofit relief group Cordillera Peoples Alliance told the Times, adding that Benguet province was affected severely due to erosion caused by heavy mining activity there.

"Our worry now is that the next storm could unleash so much rain that it might break the tailings dams of these mining companies," Nero said. "That would be the worst disaster."

S. Korea seeks talks on flooding, reunions

SEOUL, Oct. 12 (UPI) -- South Korean officials say they are proposing talks with North Korea on flood control and reuniting families separated by the Korean War.

Chun Hae-sung, a spokesperson for Seoul's Unification Ministry, indicated Monday the government sent a letter proposing working-level talks this week at the border city of Kaesong, the South Korean Yonhap news agency reported.

Chun said the proposed talks would focus on preventing the flooding of the Imjin River that runs along the western section of the inter-Korean border, specifically on ways to make sure that sudden discharges of dammed waters by the North don't take downstream campers by surprise. Such an incident last month resulted in the deaths of six people in the South, Yonhap said.

Meanwhile, South Korean National Red Cross chief Yoo Chong-ha says he has sent a letter to his Northern counterpart Jang Jae On, asking to hold talks Friday at the North's Mount Kumgang resort in a bid to re-start cross-border family reunions.

Hiroshima, Nagasaki plan Olympics bid

HIROSHIMA, Japan, Oct. 12 (UPI) -- Hiroshima and Nagasaki will make a joint bid to bring the 2020 Summer Olympics to the atomic-bombed Japanese cities, their mayors say.

Tadatoshi Akiba of Hiroshima and Tomihisa Taue of Nagasaki announced their plans Sunday, the Japanese Kyodo news agency reported. The announcement comes after Akiba called on the world in Mexico City last month to eliminate all nuclear weapons by 2020 and to stage the Olympics in the cities to celebrate the coming of a nuclear-free world.

"The Olympics symbolize the abolition of nuclear arms and world peace, and we want to work to realize our plan to host it," Akiba told reporters, adding that he will also try to enlist more cities to join the bid.

The Japanese Olympic Committee, however, has been reluctant to endorse the effort for fear of "politicizing" the Games.

"We know that a call for nuclear disarmament is a powerful appeal, but various issues must still be resolved," JOC Deputy Chairman Tomiaki Fukuda told Kyodo.

Japanese officials also said they were unsure whether joint bids by different cities are allowed under the Olympic Charter.