the pakistani army does not inform washington of its plans before launching
operations against taliban militants along its western border senior us
military official said
they don share with us in advance their plans and intentions the military
official who spoke on condition of anonymity told reporters on thursday in the
pakistani capital
we ve got functioning relationship with them and provide them variety of
training and assistance programmes said the american official who is based in
pakistan
but they don bring us into their operations centres and tell us here are
the forces we are going to commit here is the nature of the resistance that
we expect to encounter he said
the comments underscored the uneasy nature of the alliance between washington
and islamabad as defense secretary robert gates paid two day visit to
pakistan
in his public comments on thursday gates struck careful tone warning of the
danger of militant safe havens on the pakistani afghan border while expressing
appreciation of islamabad operations against taliban forces in south
waziristan
the united states has long wanted pakistan to extend its offensive to north
waziristan bastion of al qaeda and the haqqani network known for attacking
us and nato troops fighting the taliban in neighbouring afghanistan
but pakistani military spokesman major general athar abbas said on thursday it
would take between six months to year to completely stabilise south
waziristan before any fresh offensives elsewhere
the us military official agreed that pakistani forces were stretched and not
ready to expand operations
they ve got capacity problem said the official saying pakistan had
committed about seven infantry divisions to the fight in the west
my current assessment is they don have the ability to go into north
waziristan at the moment
us embassy seeks iraqi fans on facebook
baghdad jan afp
in what could be seen as new front in cyber diplomacy or naive gesture
depending on your point of view the us embassy in baghdad launched facebook
page on thursday to reach out to iraqis
the page opened with video posting by ambassador christopher hill who spoke
of his high hopes for the forum where fans will be encouraged to follow
embassy news and learn more about american culture and society
this is something new we are trying said hill who delivered his opening
address from sofa where he sat dressed casually in blue cardigan and white
shirt
we like to be able to reach out little better to the iraqi people
especially young people who know about facebook and know how it all works
statement announcing the page launch promised fans would receive news feed
highlighting events of interest and photo albums as well as audio and video
clips
an english language corner will also be updated every week with american
expressions and useful grammar and vocabulary hints it said
in the video one minute and seconds long hill said the face of america was
going to be changing in iraq with soldiers being replaced by outreach programmes
and cultural exchanges
there gonna be less military more civilians he said alluding to
withdrawal of us combat troops by august and of all other soldiers by the end
of
so this is our way of reaching out to people understanding what iraqi
problems are what iraqi concerns are and we hope you all will be able to reach
out to us little better he added urging people to become fans of the page
more than people had signed up by pm gmt
the page early posts included videos of secretary of state hillary clinton
comments at the us and iraq business conference in washington last october and
link to the white house channel on youtube
california on flood mudslide alert as storms hit
los angeles jan afp
torrential rain and strong winds pummeled california for fourth consecutive
day thursday as officials warned of flash floods and mudslides in areas ravaged
by last year wildfires
around homes in hilly suburbs surrounding los angeles area have been issued
evacuation orders as the fourth storm to hit the region this week arrived
causing power outages and transport chaos
the national weather service said the storm could produce from one to two inches
of rain in coastal and valley areas and two to four inches in the foothills and
mountains
scattered thunderstorms will occur and may become severe this afternoon
possibly generating waterspouts small tornadoes and mile per hour winds
according to an nws advisory
around homes in los angeles were left without power after electricity was
knocked out late wednesday the department of water and power said
flash flood warning would remain in effect until late thursday officials in
los angeles county said
around residents of homes near hillsides denuded of vegetation in massive
wildfires last year had been told to evacuate although around percent of
those had refused to leave
the los angeles county fire department is anticipating that significant mud
flow and debris flow is likely today los angeles county fire department chief
deputy john tripp told morning briefing
the storm caused huge waves at southern california beaches where several piers
were closed
san diego famous seaworld marine mammal park was closed because of torrential
rain
vietnam under fire for jailing dissidents
hanoi jan afp
human rights campaigners and western governments strongly criticised communist
vietnam on thursday for jailing four dissidents as an appeals court upheld
sentences against six more activists
at one day trial in ho chi minh city on wednesday the four were handed
sentences of between five and years for activities aimed at subverting the
people administration prompting swift diplomatic reaction
the trial and verdicts are major and regrettable step backwards for vietnam
the european union delegation to vietnam said
the esteem of the international community and long term economic progress are
not sustainable if peaceful expression is suppressed
american ambassador michael michalak expressed concern about the apparent lack
of due process in the conduct of the trials the convictions raise serious
questions about vietnam commitment to rule of law and reform he said
internet entrepreneur tran huynh duy thuc was sentenced to years in prison
while blogger nguyen tien trung received seven years human rights lawyer le
cong dinh and le thang long were each given five years
some observers see their case the highest profile in series over the past
year as linked to next year communist party congress when high ranking
leadership posts will be determined
london based amnesty international said the men were prisoners of conscience
and should be freed immediately
the trial made complete mockery of justice disregarding fundamental human
rights such as the principle of presumption of innocence and the right to
defence said brittis edman amnesty vietnam researcher
judge nguyen duc sau convicted the men of well organised non violent campaign
in collusion with overseas exile reactionary organisations aimed at
overturning the government with the help of the internet
supporters of trung french trained computer expert have set up website
that denounces this sham of trial while paris based press freedom group
reporters without borders called it travesty of justice
as vietnam came under scrutiny an appeals court in the port city of haiphong
upheld sentences of between two and six years for six dissidents who hung out
democracy banners distributed leaflets and wrote and distributed other anti
state documents
they were originally sentenced in october for propaganda against the state
the prison sentences of all six convicted by the lower court were confirmed
court official said
the alleged leader nguyen xuan nghia received six years while nguyen van
tuc got four year sentence
ngo quynh got three years while nguyen van tinh and nguyen manh son each got
three and half years and nguyen kim nhan two years
tuc said at his trial in october he was poorly educated farmer and combat
veteran who had lost his land to corrupt officials
no one was for the rights of the people that why asked for pluralism
for multi party system he said
foreign journalists were not allowed to attend the proceedings which lasted
day
ben kerkvliet emeritus professor and vietnam specialist at the australian
national university said that as far as he knew the year sentence handed
down on wednesday was the longest against political dissident in the last
dozen years
the central leadership of the government and communist party is getting tougher
with outspoken critics of the state particularly those operating in an
organised way through the internet or self proclaimed political parties he
said
law and order advocates may be gaining ground among the authorities he added
us partners will not back down on iran clinton
washington jan afp
us secretary of state hillary clinton said thursday the international community
is unified in its resolve to put pressure on iran over its disputed nuclear
program and will not back down
however the chief us diplomat omitted to explicitly raise the threat of
sanctions following weekend six power meeting in new york where china which
is reluctant to use such measures sent lower level envoy
let me be clear we will not be waited out and we will not back down clinton
told reporters as she stood with european union foreign affairs chief catherine
ashton on her first trip to washington in that role
iran has long balked at an offer from the vienna based un international atomic
energy agency iaea to ship abroad low grade nuclear fuel so it can be further
enriched and returned to refuel tehran medical research reactor
in vienna diplomats said wednesday the islamic republic had effectively
rejected the deal because it refused to accept some of the conditions called for
by the west and insisted on simultaneous exchange of fuel
western countries have ruled out such an exchange as unacceptable
but iran foreign minister manouchehr mottaki was quoted by the mehr news
agency as saying tehran had not rejected the principle of the exchange of
nuclear fuel
our position has not changed from what we already expressed in the past we
are ready for gradual exchange of fuel mehr quoted foreign ministry
spokesman ramin mehmanparast as saying
the proposal made by the iaea last october which was supported by france
russia and the united states continues to be on the table said iaea
spokeswoman gill tudor
clinton said the united states will continue our close consultations on the
next steps with its partners the four other un security council permanent
members russia china britain and france plus germany
we are focused we are unified in our resolve to work toward pressure on iran
in the face of their continuing rejection of the overtures by the international
community the chief us diplomat said
but she gave no details about when the plus would next meet after weekend
meeting in new york at the political directors level yielded no apparent results
and was attended by lower level chinese official
china as well as russia has been more reluctant to support tougher sanctions
on iran than the united states or its european partners
but the state department has hailed the meeting as useful
and clinton said the last meeting was another productive step along the
way toward accomplishing unified international action
she added we re going at this in very concerted and unified manner because
we think it important to send that message to the iranian leadership that the
world will act and the world will act together
ashton echoed clinton point
it is very important that we do this in measured and collective way and there
are very clear steps that we now need to take together to move forward it not
about rushing into but determined and concerted steps ashton said
clinton repeated the state department often used mantra
iran has very clear choice between continued isolation and living up to its
international obligations she said
the iaea proposal is designed to buy breathing room as the big powers try to
halt iran uranium enrichment which the west fears masks drive to build
nuclear bomb
denying the charge iran says it seeks peaceful uses of nuclear energy
football juve contest doctor bans in cannavaro case
rome jan afp
juventus have appealed to the court of arbitration for sport against two month
bans handed out to two club doctors
bartolomeo goitre and luca stefanini were hit by the suspensions after giving
banned substance to italy captain fabio cannavaro after he was stung by wasp
the centre back escaped punishment for taking the substance but the troubled
club doctors have instead been sanctioned by italy national anti doping
body
we take into account the sanctions handed out by the national anti doping body
but remain firm in our conviction that the doctors goitre and stefanini offered
the maximum collaboration with the relevant sporting institutions said brief
club statement
juventus applied for doping exemption but failed to include all the necessary
documents and cannavaro subsequently failed dope test following match
against as roma
the former world player of the year was exonerated of any blame in november
kindle beefs up for what apple has in store
san francisco jan afp
amazon on thursday further bolstered the defenses of its popular kindle
electronic readers in apparent anticipation of apple unveiling hot new tablet
computer next week
day after pumping up the royalties it pays to authors or publishers who offer
digitized books for sale to kindle users amazon invited software savants to
craft fun functional or hip programs for the readers
we ve heard from lots of developers over the past two years who are excited to
build on top of kindle amazon kindle vice president ian freed said while
announcing the pending release of kit for building programs for the devices
the kindle development kit opens many possibilities we look forward to being
surprised by what developers invent
an interactive zagat guide is in the works to wirelessly deliver updated
restaurant reviews and ratings to kindles sonic boom is crafting word games and
puzzles for amazon readers
we look forward to bringing some of the world most popular and fun games to
kindle and their users said adam sussman vice president of worldwide
publishing at the mobile division of us videogame titan electronic arts
applications made by outside developers should be on the virtual shelves of the
online kindle store later this year according to amazon
developers can learn more about the development kit at website at
www amazon com kdk and sign up to be notified when limited testing phase
starts next month
amazon on wednesday unveiled higher royalty payment scheme for authors and
publishers who use self publishing platform on its kindle platform
the online retail giant said the new royalty option will allow authors to keep
percent of the list price of digital book minus delivery costs which work
out to around six cents per unit
amazon did not reveal the amount of the previous standard royalty option
amazon said the new percent option will be available from june and comes
with number of conditions
the list price of digital book must be between dollars and dollars
and percent below the lowest list price for the physical book
seattle based amazon said the percent royalty option only applies to in
copyright works and for the moment is only be available for books sold in the
united states
amazon moves come less than week ahead of hotly anticipated product
announcement by apple which is widely expected to unveil tablet computer
which can double as an electronic reader on january
they are battening down the hatches and getting ready for war silicon valley
analyst rob enderle of enderle group said of amazon bracing for apple launching
tablet size version of its ipod touch device
according to various reports apple has been holding talks with book newspaper
and magazine publishers about making their content available for the device
apple is clearly moving into areas that amazon thinks of as its own amazon has
to move into apps much like apple is moving into their space enderle said
amazon is aggressively moving against the itablet islate or whatever apple
device is going to be called
amazon is expected to upgrade its kindle line adding color screen and
multimedia capabilities along the lines of features expected in an apple tablet
amazon kindle is considered the runaway leader in the book reader field but
has been facing increasing competition from japan sony britain cool er and
us bookstore barnes and noble among others
haircuts and gunfire as haiti sputters back to life
port au prince jan afp
as police open fire to disperse looters in downtown port au prince boy nearby
is cutting hair for two dollars go small sign that normal life is
returning to quake hit haiti
going back to work is the only thing can do to help my family says young
danache metelus between snips at man hair at the imposing champs du mars
square where thousands of survivors have taken refuge
he returned to work on thursday morning at exactly the same spot he was when
the devastating magnitude earthquake struck the capital on january
leaving at least people dead and one million homeless
around metres yards away from him dozens of haitians are pillaging the
topolino mini market through hole in the rubble fighting each other with
sticks over litre of cleaning fluid or tablecloth
the police arrive firing pump action shotguns in the air and the looters flee
one is arrested policeman orders him to empty his pockets and then thrashes
his buttocks four times with baton much to the amusement of his friends
in the next street another haitian police team fires in the air to disperse yet
more looters one of the thieves lies wounded on the ground still breathing
and residents say he was hit by police bullet
amid the chaos colin shiller the logistics chief of haiti telecoms waits in
front of his company devastated headquarters
waiting for an engineer to see how we can clear all this don know how
long it will take says shiller dressed in striped shirt
it is the third time he has been here since the earthquake he adds and he sees
signs that people are at least beginning to rebuild their shattered lives
the situation has improved overall the mentality is improving he says
in front of him lorry escorted by police has come to recover goods from the
super home electrical shop one of the rare buildings in port au prince that
is still upright
further off man leaves pile of rubble with carton containing red toy
car next to him dozen boys are wearing brand new sunglasses one of them
still has the label hanging from the nose
to ward off criminals several men armed with sticks and iron bars stand guard
outside an ice cream shop inside in front of around refrigerators powered
by generator line of haitians queues up to buy cone
we started selling ice creams again two days after the disaster people living
outdoors have been buying loads we would have sold more today but we had to
stop because we had no electricity says the cashier chale delence
along the entrances to the champs de mars which dozens of street sweepers from
the haitian company smcrs have been cleaning for the last three days street
vendors have also reappeared
they sell coconuts from wheelbarrows new audio headphones and black market
medicines
every day that passes is victory reflects colin shiller the telecoms
company executive haiti is coming back to life
norway telenor wins serbian telecom licence report
belgrade jan afp
nowegian owned telenor serbia already the country second biggest mobile phone
operator has won licence to develop second fixed line service to the state
run one minister said on thursday
the government accepted telenor offer of million euros million
dollars for the licence telecommunications minister jasna matic told beta
news agency
the offer is expected to be formally confirmed on friday by the executive board
of ratel the state agency supervising telecommunications the minister said
adding that the licence should be issued by mid february
in that case telenor should start providing landline and internet services in
serbia by the end of the year matic said
telenor already has million cellphone users in serbia
state controlled telekom srbija percent of which is owned by greece ote
has so far had monopoly in fixed line services in the country of some
million people
eu puts off reply to us request for airport body scanners
toledo spain jan afp
the eu will decide on us request that europe install body scanners at its
airports after studies into their effects on health and privacy are completed
eu officials meeting in spain said thursday
spanish interior minister alfredo perez rubalcaba whose country holds the
rotating presidency of the eu said the european commission was carrying out the
studies into the scanners effectiveness and possible impacts on health and
privacy
once we have these studies on the table we will make decision he told
news conference with us homeland security secretary janet napolitano following
talks with interior ministers from across the nation bloc in the central
spanish city of toledo
the united states has accelerated the installation of body scanners at its
airports since the attempted attack on christmas day on jet bound for detroit
from amsterdam and it would like the eu to follow its lead to monitor
passengers crossing the atlantic
napolitano said the united states currently uses body scanners at its
airports and intends to have at least within the next year
al qaeda has used and will use its best minds against aviation security and we
must do no less she added
spain wants the eu to develop common policy on the use of the scanners which
can see through clothing to reveal concealed liquids explosives or weapons
napolitano said the us was not seeking to impose decision on the bloc but she
defended the effectiveness of the devices
do think they are helpful that is why the us is moving forward and moving
forward with alacrity she said
britain and the netherlands have already said they will employ the scanners
while france and italy plan to try out the expensive devices
scandinavian nations and germany and spain have been more cautious
but german interior thomas de maiziere said there had been some very promising
tests in the netherlands with the scanners and berlin could reach decision
regarding their use by the middle of the year
they have to be effective not harm health and not violate privacy he said
adding it would be better to have joint eu decision in the long term
it is not question of acting under pressure it is question of national and
european security
the outgoing european commission dropped plans to introduce the scanners europe
wide in after the european parliament opposed the move calling for more
studies on the possible radiation dangers and privacy issues involved
privacy campaigners say the technology violates european law by producing
sexually explicit images of the passengers
they have raised the possibility that images taken by the scanners could be
leaked online
but napolitano said she believed that new technologies could address many of the
privacy issues raised by the use of the scanners
eu interior ministers also discussed the possibility of sharing passenger data
amongst member states and placing sky marshals on flights within europe
the bloc already shares passenger information with the united states and sky
marshals already operate on some trans atlantic flights
obviously we are looking at the possibility of posting people on board
passenger flights to maintain security the eu outgoing justice
commissioner jacques barrot told reporters
year old nigerian umar farouk abdulmutallab has been accused of trying to
detonate bomb on the flight to detroit and has been charged with the attempted
murder of people he has pleaded not guilty
football hull launch legal action against ex chairman
london jan afp
premier league side hull city have launched legal proceedings against former
chairman paul duffen the club said thursday
hull city football club has now issued legal proceedings against paul duffen in
the high court said the statement
this action has been taken to protect the commercial best interests of the
football club against the actions undertaken by paul duffen while in office at
hull city
adam pearson whom duffen had replaced in june took over again as hull
chairman after duffen quit in october
duffen stood down after pressure mounted on him and manager phil brown following
the club poor start to their second season in the top flight
the club accounts were then found to be in the red with accountants deloitte
predicting they would have to raise million pounds million dollars to
balance their books should they be relegated and million if they survive
hull are currently in the premier league relegation zone with only bolton and
basement club portsmouth beneath them
football africa cup of nations result gabon zambia
benguela angola jan afp
full result of an africa cup of nations group match here on thursday
gabon do marcolino zambia kalaba chamanga
teams
gabon
ebang ovono georges ambourouet bruno ecuele moise brou rodrigue
moundounga alain djissikadie do marcolino zita mbanangoye ulrich
kessany eric mouloungui daniel cousin capt roguy meye aubameyang
coach alain giresse
zambia
kennedy mweene emmanuel mbola stoppila sunzu joseph musonda chintu
kampamba thomas nyirenda felix katongo himoonde chris katongo capt
rainford kalaba njobvu jacob mulenga james chamanga
coach herve renard
referee mohamed benouza alg
yellow cards
gabon cousin kessany moundounga
zambia kampamba kalaba felix katonga musonda
crisis meeting in berlin on airbus germany
berlin jan afp
representatives from seven cash strapped nato powers were set to reconvene in
berlin on friday for second day of talks aimed at finding way forward for
the troubled military transport plane
the seven countries have ordered of the aircraft for billion euros
billion dollars from european plane maker airbus but the project is three years
behind schedule and reported billion euros over budget
airbus boeing arch rival owned by aerospace giant eads has threatened to
pull the plug unless the seven countries germany france spain britain
belgium luxembourg and turkey stump up more cash
france has indicated that it is ready to pay more as long as others follow
suit but germany is seen as more reluctant berlin has ordered of the
aircraft and france and are the two biggest customers
we want the but not at any price german defence minister karl theodor
zu guttenberg said in an interview with the bayernkurier paper to appear on
saturday our willingness to compromise has its limits
the meeting will take place at the german defence ministry and include state
secretaries from the seven countries plus unnamed industry figures
talks on the on thursday broke off with apparently no deal in sight and
ministry spokesman said they would restart on friday morning
the heads of airbus and eads earlier turned up the heat on the seven nations to
pledge more money to the project by the end of january warning that the fate of
the european aerospace giant depended on it
airbus has employees around europe with about working on the
state of the art new aircraft that can carry troops armoured vehicles
and helicopters which would replace europe ageing fleet of transport planes
us envoy in israel in bid to relaunch peace process
jerusalem jan afp
us envoy george mitchell met israeli officials on thursday in his latest bid to
restart talks with palestinians as the two sides sparred over future border
arrangements
president shimon peres said before meeting mitchell that time was of the
essence warning that negative forces could intervene if no progress is made
in peace efforts
the leaders have to keep the agenda of peace open and serious not to let
others come and again frustrate what was already achieved or what is in the air
hanging for further efforts he told reporters
mitchell said he shared the president assessment about the seriousness of the
situation and vowed to pursue us president barack obama objective of
comprehensive peace in the region
recognising the complexities and difficulties outstanding we will pursue until
we achieve that objective that my purpose here today mitchell said
the us envoy also met defence minister ehud barak and foreign minister avigdor
lieberman he was scheduled to hold talks with prime minister benjamin netanyahu
later before meeting palestinian president mahmud abbas on friday
already slow moving negotiations between israel and the palestinians came to
complete standstill more than year ago during israel massive offensive on
the islamist hamas ruled gaza strip
abbas has repeatedly said he would not return to the negotiating table until
israel imposes complete halt to settlement construction in the occupied
territories but recently appeared open to freeze for fixed period of time
ahead of talks with palestinian prime minister salam fayad in madrid spanish
foreign minister miguel angel moratinos whose country holds the rotating
presidency of the european union pledged to make every effort to bring about
resumption of talks
our aim as the rotating eu presidency in these important times is to make
efforts so that the negotiations and return to the table can come about as
soon as possible moratinos said
it important that the parties meet but it is up to the two sides to decide
when and how he told joint news conference with fayad
on wednesday netanyahu had thrown spanner into efforts to relaunch the talks
by insisting that israel would keep presence in the jordan valley on the
eastern border of the palestinians promised state under any deal
in his first public comment on the issue of borders since assuming office last
year netanyahu said such presence between the west bank and jordan was
crucial to prevent the smuggling of rockets and other weapons
the palestinians categorically rejected the suggestion
we will not accept anything less than completely sovereign palestinian state
on all the territories with its own borders resources and air space and we
