BRIEFS

WORLD

ANKARA, Turkey – Turkey’s prime
minister said Tuesday increased military
action against separatist Kurdish
rebels was “unavoidable” and pressed
the United States for a crackdown on
guerrilla bases in northern Iraq.

Turkish soldiers patrol mountains
near the Iraq border in the province of
Sirnak. Turkish helicopters pounded
rebel positions near the border with
rockets for a second day, and Turkey
brought in troops by the truckload
in an operation against mountainside
emplacements.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan told members of his party
in parliament “it is now unavoidable
that Turkey will have to go through a
more intensive military process.”

But he also suggested he was not
seeking an immediate cross-border
offensive against the rebels of the
Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK,
holed up in bases in northern Iraq.

“The responsibility of leadership
does not allow for narrow mindedness,
haste or heroism,” he said.

“We must remember that Turkey is
part of this world, and diplomacy has
certain requirements,” Erdogan added,
suggesting the world expected Turkey
to exhaust all nonmilitary options.

Erdogan flies to Washington on
Nov. 5 for talks with President Bush
that could be key to whether Turkey
carries out its threat of a major
military incursion. Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice is also expected in
Turkey later this week.

NATION

PHILADELPHIA – Democrats
Barack Obama and John Edwards
sharply challenged Sen. Hillary
Rodham Clinton’s candor, consistency
and judgment Tuesday in a televised
debate that underscored her frontrunner
status two months before the
first presidential primary votes.

Obama, the Illinois senator, began
immediately, saying Clinton has
changed her positions on the North
American Free Trade Agreement,
torture policies and the Iraq war.
Leadership, he said, does not mean
“changing positions whenever it’s
politically convenient.”

Edwards, the former North Carolina
senator, was even sharper at times,
saying Clinton “defends a broken
system that’s corrupt in Washington,
D.C.” He stood by his earlier claim that
she has engaged in “doubletalk.”

Clinton, standing between the
two men, largely shrugged off the
remarks and defended her positions.
She has been the focus of Republican
candidates’ “conversations and consternation,”
she said, because she is
leading in the polls.

She said she has specific plans
on Social Security, diplomacy and
health care.

“I have been standing against the
Republicans, George Bush and Dick
Cheney,” she said, “and I will continue
to do so, and I think Democrats know
that.”

But she avoided direct answers
to several questions. The New York
senator wouldn’t say how she would
address the fiscal crisis threatening
Social Security, she declined to pledge
whether she would stop Iran from
developing a nuclear weapon or say
whether she supports giving driver’s
licenses to illegal immigrants. Rather,
she tried to turn every issue into an
argument against President Bush.

It was the Democrats’ first debate
in a month, and during that time
Clinton has solidified her front-runner
position, gaining in polls, taking the
lead in fundraising and dominating
the agenda.

LOCAL

RICHMOND – Philip Morris USA,
moving to protect its signature cigarette,
sued Lorillard Tobacco Co., claiming
its use of the letter “M” to promote its
Newport cigarettes cashes in on Philip
Morris’s iconic Marlboro brand.

The nation’s No. 1 tobacco company
filed suit in U.S. District Court seeking
to block Lorillard from using an “M” in
its packaging for Newport, contending
it unfairly infringes on its top-selling
brand.

“For over 50 years Philip Morris USA
has devoted significant resources and
assets to build the value of its Marlboro
brand and trademarks,” Philip Morris
states in its suit, filed this week.

Lorillard, which is based in Greensboro,
N.C., filed an application in
February with the U.S. Patent and
Trademark Office to register “M
Newport Blend” and “M Newport Blend
The Way to Chill” as trademarks.

The Richmond tobacco giant claims
Lorillard is engaged in “a blatant
attempt to trade on the long-standing
goodwill and equity of Philip Morris
USA’s M mark and its related Marlboro
brand.”

Philip Morris USA asked the court to
find Lorillard in violation of Marlboro’s
trademark; block the company from
using the “M” logo with its Newport
cigarettes or any other brand; and to
pay compensatory damages, among
other demands.