We are see the Nine killed in sectarian violence in Cairo

Watches this image Nine killed in sectarian violence in Cairovv




CAIRO (AFP) – Clashes between Muslims and Christians in the Egyptian capital Cairo left nine dead and more than 100 injured and a church was set on fire, medical and security officials said.
The two groups clashed after Muslims attacked the Coptic Saint Mena church in the working class neighbourhood of Imbaba to free a Christian woman they alleged was being held against her will because she wanted to convert to Islam.
A parish priest, Father Hermina, told AFP that at least five of the dead were Copts who died when "thugs and (Muslim fundamentalist) Salafis fired at them" in the late afternoon attack.
The Gospel had been laid on a body wrapped in a sheet that was lying inside the church. The church floor was bloodstained as wounded Christians were brought in for treatment.
Outside, military police parked several armoured cars to block off Muslim protesters.
They fired their guns into the air as Christians in front of the church and Muslim protesters down the street hurled stones at each other. The Muslim protesters threw firebombs, one of them setting an apartment near the church on fire.
"Oh God! Oh Jesus!" chanted the Coptic protesters. They scuffled with soldiers, blaming them for not doing enough to protect them.
The soldiers advanced at Muslim protesters who edged closer to the church, firing over their heads to repel them. Special forces were later deployed outside the church.
An officer ordered a soldier to escort an AFP journalist away from the church, saying "no journalists are allowed."
Hermina and witnesses had said the Muslims tried to storm the church earlier in the day, claiming the Christians were holding a Muslim woman.
Elsewhere in Imbaba, Muslim protesters threw firebombs at another church, setting it on fire, police officials said. They said the fire was put out.
At one of the cordons outside the St Mena church, Muslim protesters said they were first fired upon by the Copts, after they tried to find a Christian woman they say converted to Islam and was being held inside.
"They started firing on us. We were peaceful," said one of the protesters who gave his name as Mamduh. "We won't leave until they give up their weapons and the people who killed us are tried."
No weapons could be seen inside the church and the Copts there said they had none.
Egypt's mufti -- the government's chief interpreter of Islamic law -- Ali Gomaa condemned the clashes and said they "were toying with Egypt's national security."
The violence could not have been caused by "religious people who understand their religion, whether Muslim or Christian," he told the official MENA news agency.

Coppied by http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110508/wl_mideast_afp/egyptunrestreligionpoliticstoll

watches World’s first vending machine for gold installed in Tokyo

World’s first vending machine for gold installed in Tokyo

The special vending machine, which sells gold coins and bullions weighing from one to seven grammes to anyone wishing to do so, has been devised by the Space International Ltd Company.

The sole vending machine of its kind is installed here in a downtown building that houses the Company’s office. Another such vending machine is to be installed soon at Imperial Hotel in downtownTokyo.

The price of gold sold by the hambaiki is regulated every day in line with the stock market current prices. A gold coin weighing 7.2 grammes, issued by the Central Bank, is now the most expensive commodity sold by this vending machine at a price of approximately $410.

Company CEO Makishi Rokugawa points out, “It may so happen that waking up one day you would realize that all your money turned into a mere paper. This is why, I am sure that gold is the best way of monetary investment.”

Rokugawa told journalists that his company got far reaching plans for developing vending machines to sell precious metals. Next year the Space International is planning to reach out to the nationwide level, siting similar vending machines in a majority of large cities of Japan.

The Company also mulls in earnest over the possiblity of getting to the market of Hong Kong.

On the last day of 2010, gold price bounced up to an all-time high.

Many analysts are inclined to think that gold is currently the most optimum object of financial inputs. Besides , gold has been always immensely popular in China and India -- the two most rapidly developing economies of our time.

Coppied by http://www.livemint.com/2011/01/19144537/World8217s-first-vending-ma.html#

Watch NATO: 2 killed, 10 wounded in helicopter explosion

NATO: 2 killed, 10 wounded in helicopter explosion

KABUL, Afghanistan – NATO says two people have been killed and 10 others injured in an explosion aboard a coalition helicopter just after it landed in eastern Afghanistan.
NATO says the helicopter, with about 26 people aboard, was already on the ground Tuesday when the blast occurred.
The coalition says it's unclear what caused the explosion.
The 10 wounded NATO service members were evacuated to a medical facility.
The landing site, which was not disclosed, has been secured by Afghan and coalition forces.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — President Barack Obama promised "to get to the bottom" of a failed rescue attempt by U.S. special forces that ended in the death a captive British aid worker in Afghanistan, after NATO said an American grenade may have killed her.
Obama offered his condolences to Prime Minister David Cameron in a phone call Monday and promised a full investigation.
NATO initially said a Taliban bomb killed Linda Norgrove, 36, during Friday's operation to free her from a compound in the eastern province of Kunar.
However, the coalition said Monday that, after reviewing surveillance footage, it is possible U.S. forces may have thrown a grenade that killed Norgrove nearly two weeks after she was kidnapped while traveling in the east.
"The review showed what was believed to be a member of the rescue team throwing a hand grenade in the area near where Ms. Norgrove was later found," said NATO spokeswoman Maj. Sunset Belinsky. "It's now unclear what the exact circumstances surrounding her death are, and the investigation will attempt to
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Watch UFO Sighting Causes Airport Closure in China

UFO Sighting Causes Airport Closure in China


Weather, terrorist threats--let's face it, airlines already have enough reasons for delays without bringing alien life into the mix. That, however, is seemingly what happened in the Inner Mongolia region of China, when a "flat and tubular" unidentified flying object shut down a major airport.

The UFO caused flights from Beijing and Shanghai to be diverted to other airports. This, according to British tabloid The Sun, is the third time this year that airfields in China have been closed because of unidentified craft.

This time the object was reportedly sighted via the radar screens of air traffic controllers who alerted the airport after failing to make contact with the object. A spokeswoman said of the event, "To guarantee security, aircraft had to land at secondary airports. Otherwise, it may have led to collision."

A space collision, naturally.
Coppied by http://www.gearlog.com/emerging_tech/

All the day's breaking news from the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa

Watches All the day's breaking news from the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa
breaking news from the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa
Paul, the octopus who became a sensation by correctly predicting the outcome of all seven of Germany's games plus the Spain-Netherlands final - is going to retire.

He will "go into retirement and do what he likes to do best: play with his handlers and delight children who come visit to him," according to Tanja Munzig, a spokeswoman for the Sea Life aquarium in Oberhausen.

Paul took one last curtain call when aquarium employees presented the octopus with a golden cup - similar to the official World Cup trophy.

2215: Spain goalkeeper wins Golden Glove award

The Spain keeper and captain Iker Casillas conceded just two goals in the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Under pressure after La Roja opened their campaign with a shock 1-0 defeat to Switzerland, Casillas answered his critics with a string of superb displays that proved crucial to Spain’s progress to the Final.

In the final it was Casillas ability with the high ball and quick reactions with his feet that denied a number of Dutch chances that could have lost Spain the World Cup.

2040: Dutch return to canal celebration

The Dutch football team, who were beaten 1-0 by Spain in the World Cup final, will return to a heroes welcome and a parade along the canals of Amsterdam, city officials confirmed.

"The players will parade in a boat which will navigate the canals of Amsterdam. The tour will last between two and two and a half hours," Guus Schoker, spokesman for the city of Amsterdam, told AFP on Monday.

"The fans will gather along the banks of the canals and can see the players."

The Oranje will then make their way to a specially-erected podium at the Museumplein in the city centre where 180,000 fans gathered on Sunday night to watch the final on a giant screen.
Coppied by http://www.foxsports.com.au/football/world-cup-2010/all-the-days-breaking-news-from-the-2010-fifa-world-cup-in-south-africa/story-fn50jked-1225921323471?from=public_rss

Watch Officer given life for boy's murder in Greek riot case

Officer given life for boy's murder in Greek riot case
A Greek policeman has been sentenced to life in prison for murdering a schoolboy in 2008, an incident that sparked mass unrest.


A court in the town of Amfissa convicted Epaminondas Korkoneas, 38, of intentionally killing 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos.

He was shot dead on 6 December 2008 in the Athens neighbourhood of Exarchia.

Korkoneas's patrol partner, Vassilios Saraliotis, 32, was given a 10-year jail sentence for complicity.

Continue reading the main story
Related stories

Relief at Greece police verdict
In pictures: Anniversary violence
Rebellion deeply embedded
The riots that followed the killing saw cars being set alight and shops looted in a number of cities. Hundreds of businesses in Athens were targeted and the second city of Thessaloniki also saw serious unrest.

Further rioting took place on the first anniversary.

'We will not forget'
The verdict from a panel of judges and jurors was 4-3 in favour of convicting Korkoneas of intentionally shooting Alexandros.

Continue reading the main story
Analysis


Malcolm Brabant
BBC News, Athens
The decision, by the smallest possible margin, to convict Epaminondas Korkoneas of murder closes one of the darkest chapters of recent Greek history and is a source of considerable relief for the country's socialist government.

Anything other than a guilty verdict could have triggered a violent response from the country's youth, many of whom regard the police with suspicion, mistrust and outright hatred.

The outcome is a source of grim satisfaction for the family of 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos, who had fully expected "The Rambo of Exarchia" to be convicted of murder.

Alexandros's mother Gina Tsakilian, who runs a jewellery store in Athens, was highly distressed by attempts by Korkoneas's defence team to paint her son as a troublemaker and the verdict helps to restore his memory.

Two judges and one juror had backed a lesser verdict of manslaughter with possible intent.

The nine-month trial heard that Korkoneas had fired three shots, during an altercation with youths on the streets of Athens.

His lawyer said these had been warning shots - responding to a hail of missiles - and cited an autopsy report indicating the boy had been hit by a ricocheting bullet.

However, witnesses and relatives testified that Korkoneas had deliberately taken aim and fired.

At the trial in January, Alexandros's mother, Gina Tsakilian, said the two defendants were "monsters in the guise of men".

Responding to the verdict, her spokesman, Capt Andreas Constantinou, said: "The family is happy with the outcome of the court proceedings. Justice has been done.

"Of course, Alexandros is not coming back, but at least what is important for the family is that his good name has been restored."

The trial was moved from Athens to Amfissa - a small town 200km (120 miles) west of the capital - to deter attacks by anarchist groups that had vowed to kill the two defendants.

Exarchia is a rebellious district, popular with self-styled anarchists, and there are frequent clashes with police.


Saraliotis (left) and Korkoneas denied the charges
The BBC's Malcolm Brabant in Athens says the chairman of the residents' association there, Manos Koufouglou, had told him he welcomed the verdict.

But Mr Koufouglou said that while tensions had eased, the people of Exarchia remained unhappy that the armed Special Guard unit to which Korkoneas belonged had not been disbanded.

"Police violence goes on," he told our correspondent. "The government has not done enough to reform the police.

"There will be a demonstration to mark the anniversary of the murder. We will not forget."
Coppied by http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11513309

Watch Nationalists take narrow lead in tight Kyrgyz poll

Nationalists take narrow lead in tight Kyrgyz poll
Early results in Kyrgyzstan's parliamentary election show a narrow lead for the opposition nationalist party Ata Zhurt.

The poll was held under a new constitution intended to make the country a parliamentary democrac
Members of its leadership worked under President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, who was ousted in a mass uprising in April.

The pro-government Social Democrats and four other parties passed the 5% mark required to gain seats in parliament.

Continue reading the main story
Kyrgyzstan Turmoil

Uncertain poll a first for region
Desperate flight of ethnic Uzbeks
Kyrgyzstan's anger boils over
Kyrgyzstan vote: 'We need change'
Analysts say no party has an overall majority so parties will have to unite to form a coalition government.

Sunday's election comes just months after 400 people died in inter-ethnic violence in the south of the country.

Turnout was 56% nationwide and even higher in the southern city of Osh, which saw some of the worst of last June's clashes between the Kyrgyz majority and ethnic Uzbeks.

Coalition cabinet
In all, 29 parties are competing for 120 seats in parliament.

Early results suggest that coalition-building will be needed to form a parliamentary majority with the right to select a prime minister.

The BBC's Rayhan Demytrie in Bishkek says the emergence of the Ata Zhurt party as a frontrunner will surprise many in Kyrgyzstan.

Continue reading the main story
Analysis


Rayhan Demytrie
BBC News, Bishkek
The big question now is what kind of coalition will emerge in Kyrgyzstan?

Will it be led by the frontrunner, the nationalist Ata Zurt party which wants to go back to a presidential form of government and shut down the US military base.

One of the party leaders infamously said that no other ethnicity in Kyrgyzstan can be equal to Kyrgyz.

Or will the coalition be led by the Social Democrats, whose leader was one of the top members of Kyrgyzstan's provisional government that came to power following a mass uprising in April.

A lot will depend on the party that came third - Respublika. It might become a kingmaker in this parliamentary vote.

The party has strong backing in the south among ethnic Kyrgyz and it wants to go back to a presidential form of government.

In late June the country approved a new constitution that changed the form of government from a presidential to a parliamentary system.

It followed the ousting of the former president in April.
Coppied by http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11511579

Watch this American economists in the buzz for Nobel

American economists in the buzz for Nobel


STOCKHOLM – Research into market behavior and the psychology of decision-making could be awarded the Nobel prize for economics on Monday and improve the weak U.S. representation among this year's Nobel laureates.
Betting agency Ladbrokes says American behavioral economists Richard Thaler at the University of Chicago and Robert Shiller of Yale University are the top bets for this year's award.
The 10 million Swedish kronor ($1.5 million) prize is not among the original awards established by Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel in his 1895 will, but was created in 1968 by the Swedish central bank in his memory.
Thaler is considered a pioneer in behavioral finance, having studied the psychology of decision-making and the behavior of markets, and Shiller is an influential economist who long predicted the U.S. housing bubble.
The economics prize — the last of this year's Nobel announcements — offers the U.S. a chance to boost its meager tally among the 2010 winners. So far there is only one American laureate: Richard Heck who shared the Nobel Prize in chemistry with two Japanese researchers.
Since the economy prize was first awarded in 1969, more than 40 Americans have received it. Last year, Americans Elinor Ostrom and Oliver Williamson won the prize for their work in economic governance, marking the first time ever a woman received the economics award.
"Usually the prize doesn't go to work that is popular right now, or that lies close in time. It absolutely doesn't have to have anything to do with the financial crisis for example," said Hubert Fromlet, a professor in International Economics at the Jonkoping International Business School and Linnaeus University in Sweden.
"Research results have to lie some 20 years or so back in time because that's about the amount of time needed to see whether it's sustainable," he said.
Fromlet's own top picks include American economist Dale Mortensen of Northwestern University, whose research focuses on labor economics.
Other names in this year's speculation include American finance researcher Eugene Fama, French microeconomist Jean Tirole, and American macroeconomists Robert Barro and Paul Romer.
The science unit of Thomson Reuters listed political economics professor Alberto Alesina, economic professors Kevin Murphy, Nohubiro Kiyotaki at Princeton and John Moore as front-runners for this year's award.
Last week, British professor Robert Edwards was awarded the Nobel Prize in medicine for his fertility research that led to the first test tube baby. Russian-born scientists Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov won the physics prize for groundbreaking experiments with graphene, the strongest and thinnest material known to mankind.
The chemistry award went to Heck and Japanese researchers Ei-ichi Negishi and Akira Suzuki for designing techniques to bind together carbon atoms.
Peruvian novelist Mario Vargas Llosa won the literature prize and the imprisoned Chinese democracy campaigner Liu Xiaobo was named the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.
The awards are always handed out on Dec. 10, the anniversary of Nobel's death in 1896.
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Watches Kyrgyz vote in landmark poll amid fears of violence

Kyrgyz vote in landmark poll amid fears of violence


Poll organisers are hoping the vote goes without a hitch
People in Kyrgyzstan are voting in a landmark parliamentary election, the first since 400 people died in inter-ethnic violence.

Twenty-nine parties fielding over 3,000 candidates are competing for 120 seats.

Six or seven parties are expected to dominate, although none is expected to easily win a majority of seats.

Authorities have vowed that the elections will take place without a renewal of the violence that hit the south of the country in June.

Continue reading the main story
Kyrgyzstan Turmoil

Desperate flight of ethnic Uzbeks
Kyrgyzstan's anger boils over
Kyrgyzstan vote: 'We need change'
Q&A: Kyrgyzstan's ethnic violence
Polling stations across the country opened at 0800 local time (0200 GMT) and will close at 2000 (1400 GMT).

The BBC's Rayhan Demetrie, in the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, says the level of participation and the unpredictability of the outcome make the election significantly different from every other election that has ever taken place in Central Asia.

The vote is the first to be held under a new constitution adopted in a June referendum that changed the form of government from a presidential system to a parliamentary democracy.

The country's former President Kurmanbek Bakiyev was ousted following a popular uprising in April.
Coppied by http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11508349

watch Kyrgyz vote in historic parliamentary election

Kyrgyz vote in historic parliamentary election


A Kyrgyz policeman provides security at a polling station in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, Saturday, Oct. 9, 2010. Of the 29 parties in the running in Sunday's elections, at least half a dozen are expected to make it into a newly strengthened parliament, as an intensely fought and often ugly campaign draws to an end. (AP Photo/Nina Gorshkova)
By Peter Leonard
Associated Press Writer / October 10, 2010
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OSH, Kyrgyzstan—Polls opened in Kyrgyzstan for parliamentary elections Sunday to choose a new and empowered parliament that the government hopes will usher in a new era of democracy.


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The vote comes after an exhausting year of political turbulence and ethnic violence in the south.

Security has been tightened for the vote in the Central Asian nation in a bid to prevent any possible outbreaks of unrest.

Kyrgyzstan, which hosts a strategically vital U.S. air base near Afghanistan, is set to embrace a parliamentary system of governance. This marks a sharp departure from the strongman model exercised under President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, who was ousted in April amid violent public demonstrations.

Heading to cast his ballot a polling station at the agriculture institute in the southern city of Osh, 49-year old history teacher Ermek Suleimanov said the vote was a momentous turning point for the country.

"If in the past voting was just a formality, now we will find out who the people really want to lead them," Suleimanov said.

President Roza Otunbayeva said Saturday that the elections will be held in a spirit of fairness and transparency.

All eyes are on the southern cities of Osh and Jalal-Abad, where violent clashes between ethnic Kyrgyz and minority Uzbeks in June left more than 400 people dead, most of them Uzbeks, and displaced around 400,000 people.

Truckloads of police drove into Osh throughout the night, boosting the presence of security forces in the city.

In the ethnic Uzbek suburb of Sharq, a steady flow of voters headed to a local polling station Sunday morning on the site of a school burned down during the riots.
Coppied by http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2010/10/10/kyrgyzstan_goes_to_the_polls_in_historic_election/

Watches this National security shuffle: Jones out, Donilon in

National security shuffle: Jones out, Donilon in


AP – President Barack Obama watches as outgoing National Security Adviser James Jones, center, shakes hands …
y BEN FELLER, AP White House Correspondent – Sat Oct 9, 2:20 am ET
WASHINGTON – Gen. James Jones, the gruff-talking military man President Barack Obama drafted as his national security adviser, announced Friday he was quitting after a tenure marked by ambitious foreign policy changes and undercurrents of corrosive turf battles.
Jones will be replaced by his chief deputy, Tom Donilon, a former Democratic political operative and lobbyist who in many ways is already the day-to-day leader of the White House national security operation. The move deepens a season of White House turnover near the midpoint of Obama's term, with White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel departing last week, chief economic adviser Lawrence Summers leaving by year's end and other changes expected before long.
Obama described the transition from Jones to Donilon as expected and seamless, thanking both men in a sunny Rose Garden ceremony. The president put an emphasis on the patriotism of Jones, a Marine who served in Vietnam and retired as a four-star general after a career of more than 40 years. The two barely knew each other when Jones took the post.
As Obama's chief national security aide, Jones served during a time when Obama has sought to reshape American foreign policy on many fronts, from ending the combat mission in Iraq to expanding the war in Afghanistan to attempting to improve relations across Europe and Asia.
Jones had quiet clout but found himself in a world of squabbles given the competing demands, ideas and personalities in the government and the challenge of trying to coordinate them through the National Security Council. Questions always seemed to loom over whether Jones' vast military experience translated as Obama had hoped into the job of national security adviser, which requires informing and counseling the president and coordinating views from agencies.
"Jim has always been a steady voice in Situation Room sessions, daily briefings and with meetings with foreign leaders," Obama said. He added that Jones had represented the U.S. before its allies in every region of the world, and he said the American people owe the general a debt for making the nation "safer and stronger."
Jones, 66, is expected to serve in the job for about two more weeks. He recalled that he met Obama just over two years ago and that he was persuaded to join him because of the Obama's desire to take on the hardest issues of the day in a difficult time for the nation.
The general said, "I believe that where we are today in the global playing field and how the United States is held in the esteem of the rest of the world is an accomplishment that I frankly find astonishing in such a short period of time." To Obama, he said: "Thank you for letting me be a part of it."
Donilon's promotion has a significant spillover effect on the rest of the White House. He had emerged as a top candidate to replace Emanuel as the permanent chief of staff. Now that job appears even more likely to go to Pete Rouse, the newly installed interim chief and a longtime adviser to Obama.

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Watch Gunmen in Pakistan torch nearly 30 NATO fuel tankers

Gunmen in Pakistan torch nearly 30 NATO fuel tankers


QUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) – Gunmen in southwestern Pakistan set fire to nearly 30 tankers carrying fuel for NATO troops in Afghanistan on Saturday, an official said, two days after the United States apologized to Pakistan for a cross-border air raid that killed two Pakistani soldiers.
Suspected Islamist militants have stepped up attacks on convoys carrying supplies for NATO forces since the September 30 NATO air strike in northwestern Pakistan described by the U.S. ambassador as a terrible accident.
About 20 gunmen set fire to around 30 tankers parked outside at a roadside restaurant near the southwestern town of Sibi in a pre-dawn attack, the official said.
The tankers were on their way to the border town of Chaman.
"The attackers first fired shots and then fired small rockets at the tankers. Twenty-eight to 29 tankers caught fire," local government official Naeem Sherwani told Reuters. He said one of the paramilitary soldiers escorting the convoy was wounded.
The U.S.-backed Pakistani government is battling Taliban insurgents who remain effective despite military crackdowns on their strongholds in the northwest near the Afghan border.
Two suspected suicide bombers struck at a crowded Sufi Muslim shrine in the Pakistani city of Karachi on Thursday, killing at least seven people and wounding 65.
The U.S. apology for the September 30 cross-border raid had raised the hopes that Pakistan would reopen a vital supply route in the northwest for coalition forces which Islamabad shut after the NATO strike, citing security reasons.
A second supply route passing through southwestern Pakistan has remained open.
Pakistan's foreign ministry said after the U.S. apology that security was being evaluated and a decision on reopening the supply route through the famous Khyber Pass would be taken "in due course," but also emphasised Washington and Islamabad were "allies in the fight against militancy."
Trucking routes through Pakistan bring in around 40 percent of supplies for NATO forces in Afghanistan, according to the United States Transportation Command. Of the remainder, 40 percent come through Afghanistan's neighbors in the north and 20 percent by air.
The helicopter strike was the most serious of recent cross-border incidents involving NATO-led forces fighting in Afghanistan, which have stoked tensions with Pakistan.
The United States has been pressing Pakistan to take a harder line against militants launching cross-border attacks from their Pakistani safe havens on Western forces in Afghanistan.
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Watch China and US in stand-off at climate talks

China and US in stand-off at climate talks


AFP/File – Smoke is seen rising from a chimmny in the northern port city of Tianjin where the UN Climate Change
TIANJIN, China (AFP) – UN climate talks were set to wrap up on Saturday with China and the United States locked in a stand-off, slowing down progress ahead of a major summit next month on global warming.
The major powers sparred throughout the six days of talks in the northern Chinese city of Tianjin, prompting the hosts to warn on the penultimate day that the atmosphere for negotiation had deteriorated.
"I want to emphasise no compromise... on the interests of developing countries," the Chinese foreign ministry's special representative for climate change, Huang Huikang, told delegates on Friday.
"We are losing trust and confidence."
Delegates from more than 170 countries attended the latest round of the long-running United Nations negotiations that are aimed at eventually securing a binding global treaty on how to limit and cope with climate change.
World leaders failed to broker such a treaty in Copenhagen last year as developed and developing nations battled over who should carry more of the burden in cutting greenhouse gas emissions that are blamed for global warming.
The Tianjin meeting was the last big gathering before an annual UN climate summit, which will be held in Cancun, Mexico, from November 29 to December 10.
Delegates reported that progress had been made on some specific issues in Tianjin, but many others also said that negotiations were not moving quickly enough to limit global warming below dangerous levels.
"We want to call for greater urgency in the negotiations," Dessima Williams, Grenada delegate and chair of the Alliance of Small Island States, told reporters on Friday.
"We have seen some movement, we are pleased with the engagement and the atmosphere, but there's much more that needs to be done and greater urgency is needed."
Chinese delegate Huang on Friday repeated China's long-held positions that for progress to be made the United States and other rich nations must commit to making bigger cuts in emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
He said they must also give money and transfer technology to developing countries to help them cut their emissions and adapt to climate change.
"Now the key is there is a lack of substantive progress on the developed countries' side," Huang said.
The United States, meanwhile, has insisted all week that it will not provide climate funds unless the big developing countries such as China allow their greenhouse gas emission reduction efforts to be monitored and verified.
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Strugling Eight killed in Pakistan shrine bombing

Eight killed in Pakistan shrine bombing

KARACHI — Two bombs ripped through a Sufi shrine in Karachi killing at least eight worshippers, including two children, as Pakistan battles a wave of violence linked to Taliban and Al-Qaeda extremists.
Senior police official Hamid Parhial said 65 people were also wounded in the suspected suicide attack late Thursday in Karachi, a teeming port city that is a maelstrom of communal and criminal violence.

The bombs exploded at the entrance of the shrine to Abdullah Shah Ghazi, a saint in the Sufi mystical strain of Islam, as devotees packed it for a weekly gathering in the city’s seaside Clifton district.

Witness Gul Mohammad said he was outside the shrine when two huge blasts were heard in quick succession. “I rushed inside and saw blood and human flesh,” he said.

“Some bodies were lying on the ground and several people wounded in the blasts were crying in pain. Then ambulances started arriving and moving the injured to hospitals.”

Doctor Seemin Jamali of Civil Hospital Karachi said 10 women and seven children with serious injuries were among those admitted.

“It was a terrorist attack,” said Sindh provincial home minister Zulfikar Mirza, who said the government had decided to seal all shrines in the city immediately over security fears.

A bomb attack in July at a popular Sufi site in the eastern city of Lahore killed more than 40 people. Militant Islamists see visits to Sufi shrines and some rituals as un-Islamic.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility but the Pakistani Taliban has been blamed for similar bombings in the past.

More than 3,700 people have been killed in a series of suicide attacks and bombings, many of them carried out by the Taliban and other Al-Qaeda-linked extremists, in Pakistan during the past three years.

The United States, whose intensifying drone strikes against Islamist militants in northwest Pakistan have raised tensions with Islamabad, condemned the attack.

State Department spokesman Mark Toner said Washington stood “shoulder-to-shoulder with Pakistan in its struggle against terrorism”.

The United States has dramatically increased drone strikes against militants in the lawless tribal areas allegedly at the centre of a plot to carry out Mumbai-style attacks on European cities.

On Sunday, the United States warned that its citizens may be at risk of terrorist attacks while travelling in Europe, followed by similar alerts from Britain, Japan and Sweden.

Pakistan’s ambassador to Britain however said Washington’s alert may have been politically motivated, ahead of mid-term US elections next month.

“I will not deny the fact that there may be internal political dynamics, including the forthcoming mid-term American elections,” High Commissioner Wajid Shamsul Hasan was quoted as saying in Friday’s Guardian newspaper.

“If the Americans have definite information about terrorists and Al-Qaeda people, we should be provided (with) that and we could go after them ourselves.”

Hasan further said recent US attacks inside Pakistan had “set the country on fire” and warned that mounting public anger could lead to American personnel in Pakistan being attacked.

“There is a figure that there are 3,000 American personnel in Pakistan. They would be very easy targets.”

Pakistan’s US envoy had said Wednesday the increased drone strikes were linked to the alleged European terror plot.
coppied by http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle08.asp?xfile=data/international/2010/October/international_October309.xml§ion=international

Watch Security contractors in Afghanistan 'fund Taliban'

Security contractors in Afghanistan 'fund Taliban'


Private security guards are often used to guard compounds or convoys
Heavy US reliance on private security in Afghanistan has helped to line the pockets of the Taliban, a US Senate report says.

The study by the Senate Armed Services Committee says this is because contractors often fail to vet local recruits and end up hiring warlords.

The report demands "immediate and aggressive steps" to improve the vetting and oversight process.

Some 26,000 private security personnel, mostly Afghans, operate in Afghanistan.

Nine out of 10 of them work for the US government.

Private security firms in Afghanistan provide guards for everything from diplomatic missions and aid agencies to supply convoys.

In August, Afghan President Hamid Karzai gave private security companies four months to end operations in Afghanistan.

'Mr White'
"All too often our reliance on private security contractors in Afghanistan has empowered warlords, powerbrokers operating outside Afghan government control," Democratic Senator Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate committee, said.

"These contractors threaten the security of our troops and risk the success of our mission," he added.

The report paints a disturbing picture of how some of those hired have little training or experience in firing weapons, while other contractors are warlords with known links to the Taliban, the BBC's Steve Kingstone in Washington says.

The document gives several notorious examples, including a man the Americans have nicknamed Mr White - after a character in the violent film Reservoir Dogs.

He is said to have funded the Taliban and to have hosted a meeting with a senior commander responsible for a wave of roadside bombs targeting Nato troops.
Coppied by http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-11498443

Watches this 26 NATO tankers torched in new attack in Pakistan

26 NATO tankers torched in new attack in Pakistan

PESHAWAR—At least 26 NATO oil tankers were torched when militants opened fire on a convoy of dozens of vehicles parked in Nowshera in northwestern Pakistan, senior police officials said Wednesday.

The attack was the second of the day after militants opened fire on a terminal on the outskirts of the southwestern city of Quetta earlier, killing a staff member and destroying at least 18 vehicles.

The Nowshera attack was the fifth of its kind in a week, and both were claimed by the Pakistani Taliban "to avenge US drone attacks" in the northwestern tribal region on the Afghan border.

There were more than 70 vehicles including oil tankers and containers at the depot in Nowshera, and so far 26 tankers have been gutted, local police chief Nisar Ahmed Tanoli told AFP.

"Militants opened fire and also lobbed rockets which triggered fire," he said. "We have summoned fire brigades and efforts are underway to extinguish the fire."

There was no immediate report of casualties, he said.

Siraj Ahmed, a doctor at a state-run hospital near the depot, said he heard gunfire and several explosions.

"I went out and saw fire is raging at two places in a long row of NATO supply vehicles parked in the area. Firing was also heard," he said.

Another police official Imtiaz Ali said more than 25 tankers were destroyed.

"We are trying to remove other tankers to prevent fire from spreading further," he said.

Local Taliban militants have launched five attacks on NATO supply vehicles in Pakistan in the past week to avenge the new wave of US drone strikes targeting Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants.

Pakistani authorities have reported 25 drone attacks since September 3 which have killed more than 140 people in the region, a hub for homegrown and foreign militants fighting in Afghanistan.
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Watches this France arrests 12 in counter-terrorism raids

France arrests 12 in counter-terrorism raids


PARIS: Police in southern France arrested 12 suspects in sweeps against suspected Islamic militant networks on Tuesday, including three men linked to a network recruiting fighters for Afghanistan, officials said.

The roundups were part of two entirely different counterterrorism cases under investigation by French judges, and fell on the same day only by coincidence, one police official in Paris said.

Firearms were seized in one of the sweeps, another official said. The arrests come as France and many other European nations have stepped up terrorism alert vigilance amid what has been described as an abstract though heightened threat in recent weeks. The U.S. government warned Americans over the weekend to use caution when travelling in Europe.

In one of the cases, nine suspected Islamic militants were detained in southeastern Marseille and its suburbs, and authorities turned up at least one automatic rifle and a pump gun, the officials said.

In Tuesday's other roundup, two men were arrested in Marseille and another in southwestern Bordeaux on suspected ties to a Frenchman arrested in Naples, Italy, last month accused of links to an Afghan recruiting ring.

``This very morning, police operations were launched in Marseille and Bordeaux that led notably to three arrests directly linked to the fight against terrorism,'' Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux said during a question-and-answer session in parliament's lower house.

He made no reference to the nine other arrests. Asked about the U.S. travel advisory, Hortefeux said France ``has been very attentive and has heard the advisory by American authorities to their nationals'' and noted France's strong cooperation with its allies.

A third police official said agents from counterterrorism agency DCRI had detained the suspects in Marseille and Bordeaux over suspected links to a group offering lodging and fake identity papers to Islamic militants looking to come to France.
Coppied by http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/europe/France-arrests-12-in-counter-terrorism-raids/articleshow/6692739.cms

Ancident More Nato trucks burnt in Pakistan

More Nato trucks burnt in Pakistan
At least eight trucks are set on fire and one driver killed in the Pakistani city of Quetta, police officials say

Armed men in Pakistan have burned up to eight tankers carrying fuel for Nato forces in Afghanistan, killing a lorry driver, according to Pakistani police.

Shah Nawaz Khan, a police official, said on Wednesday that the attack, the latest on supply convoys since Pakistan closed a key border crossing to Nato forces last week, occurred in the parking lot of a roadside hotel on the outskirts of the southwest city of Quetta.

The attacks have raised tensions already elevated by Pakistan's decision to close the Torkham crossing in an apparent protest against alleged Nato helicopter strikes on its territory. One of those strikes killed three Pakistani soldiers.

The torched tankers are believed to have been on their way for a smaller border crossing that remains open.
Coppied by http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2010/10/20101063176915658.html

Watches Massive floods kill 26 in Vietnam; 9 missing

Massive floods kill 26 in Vietnam; 9 missing


HANOI, Vietnam—Helicopters dropped food aid Wednesday to people in villages cut off by high water as the death toll from flooding this week in central Vietnam rose to 26, with nine people missing, disaster officials said.
In the worst-hit province of Quang Binh, 11 people were dead while authorities searched for five sailors from a sunken barge, disaster official Nguyen Ngoc Giai said.
Giai said two helicopters dropped food and water to several villages still cut off by floodwaters while rescuers rushed food aid to other villages over land.
In other central provinces, seven people were reported dead and one missing in Ha Tinh province, five dead and three missing in Nghe An and three dead in Quang Tri, disaster officials there said.
Light rains were reported in the region Wednesday and floodwaters began receding slowly, officials said. Forecasters said a tropical depression was expected to bring rains to the region in the coming days, but they were unlikely to cause major floods.
Rail service in Quang Binh province has been disrupted since Tuesday and many parts of the track remain under water, the Vietnam Railway Corp. said.


Read more: Massive floods kill 26 in Vietnam; 9 missing - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/rawnews/ci_16263919#ixzz11dyWnP00
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Watches Afghan leaders, Taliban reportedly in high-level talks to end war

Afghan leaders, Taliban reportedly in high-level talks to end war


WASHINGTON — Taliban representatives and the government of President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan have begun secret, high-level talks over a negotiated end to the war, according to Afghan and Arab sources.


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The talks follow inconclusive meetings, hosted by Saudi Arabia, that ended more than a year ago. While emphasizing the preliminary nature of the current discussions, the sources said that for the first time they believe that Taliban representatives are fully authorized to speak for the Quetta Shura, the Afghan Taliban organization based in Pakistan, and its leader, Mohammad Omar.

“They are very, very serious about finding a way out,’’ one source close to the talks said of the Taliban.

Although Omar’s representatives have long publicly insisted that negotiations were impossible until all foreign troops withdraw, a position seemingly buoyed by the Taliban’s resilience on the battlefield, sources said the Quetta Shura has begun to talk about a comprehensive agreement that would include participation of some Taliban figures in the government and the withdrawal of US and NATO troops on an agreed timeline.

The leadership knows “that they are going to be sidelined,’’ the source said. “They know that more radical elements are being promoted within their rank and file outside their control. . . . All these things are making them absolutely sure that, regardless of [their success in] the war, they are not in a winning position.’’

A half-dozen sources directly involved in or on the margins of the talks agreed to discuss them on the condition of anonymity. All emphasized the preliminary nature of the talks.

The United States’ European partners in Afghanistan, with different histories and under far stronger domestic pressure to withdraw their troops, have always been more amenable to a negotiated settlement.

“What it really boils down to is the Americans both supporting and in some cases maybe even participating in talking with the enemy,’’ a European official said.

“If you strip everything away, that’s the deal here. For so long, politically, it’s been a deal breaker in the United States, and with some people it still is.’
Coppied by http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2010/10/06/afghan_leaders_taliban_reportedly_in_high_level_talks_to_end_war/