Translate

Search This Blog

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

G20 protesters besiege London banks

About 4,000 have held a series of protests in Britain's capital, one day before the city hosts a meeting of leaders of the G20 countries to discuss the global financial crisis.While anti-capitalist protesters and those angry over the economic crisis converged on London's financial district on Wednesday, climate-change and anti-war activists gathered in other parts of the city.While most of the protesters were peaceful, some smashed the windows of the offices of the Royal Bank of Scotland, whose dire financial situation prompted a government takeover, and wrote "thieves" on the side of the walls of the bank.Other demonstrators threw fruit and eggs at police officers during the protests.Riot police confined most of the activists to Threadneedle Street, next to the Bank of England, who responded with "shame on you" chants.Police said a number of their officers had been injured in the protests.In a statement police added there had been "a number of missiles thrown at officers and a number of surges at the police cordons, and increasing levels of violence towards police".At least two dozen were arrested during the demonstrations, with police mounting one of Britain's biggest security operations.

Suspected US drone hits Taliban training camp

A suspected US drone hit a Taliban training camp in northwest Pakistan killing 12 people, security officials said. The strike comes a day after Pakistan Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud claimed the deadly Lahore police academy attack on Monday.A pilotless U.S. drone aircraft fired a missile in northwest Pakistan on Wednesday, killing 12 people, a security official and residents said.The strike was the first drone attack in the Orakzai ethnic Pashtun tribal region, which is near but not on the Afghan border, southwest of the city of Peshawar.The raid came a day after the leader of Pakistan Taliban, Baitullah Mehsud, said his group had carried out an assault on a police training centre in the eastern city of Lahore in retaliation for U.S. drone attacks.Residents of Khadizai village said the missile hit a Taliban headquarters and 12 people were killed. A security official, who declined to be identified, confirmed the death toll and added that 13 people had been wounded.A Pakistani Taliban official said the missile had hit a "camp for guests"."We have sent our people down there but we don't know about the casualties," the Taliban official, who declined to be identified, said by telephone.Orakzai had been one of the most peaceful Pashtun regions in northwest Pakistan.The United States, frustrated by an intensifying insurgency in Afghanistan getting support from the Pakistani side of the border, began launching more drone attacks last year.Pakistan objects to the strikes saying they are counterproductive because the civilian casualties they often inflict drive villagers into the arms of the militants.U.S. officials say success in Afghanistan is impossible without tackling militant enclaves in northwest Pakistan, where Taliban insurgents battling Western forces rest, regroup and train recruits and al Qaeda plots violence.Since last year, more than 30 U.S. strikes have killed about 300 people, including mid-level al Qaeda members, according to reports from Pakistani officials, residents and militants.

Troops move on Red Cross kidnappers

Philippine troops have advanced towards a stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf group that has threatened to behead one of three aid workers it is holding hostage.Government forces were redeployed near a camp belonging to the armed group in the Indanan township on southern Jolo island on Wednesday, officials said.Al Jazeera's Marga Ortigas, reporting from Manila, said the governor of Sulu province, citing intelligence reports, said on national television that all three hostages were still alive.There has been no word from the Abu Sayyaf since the deadline passed at 06:00 GMT on Tuesday and there were indications the hostages were being moved deeper into the jungle, suggesting the group was preparing for battle, our correspondent said.The troop movement comes as the Philippine Red Cross asked the Abu Sayyaf for proof that the aid workers were alive.The three Red Cross workers - Mary Jean Lacaba, a Filipino national, Andreas Notter, from Switzerland and Eugenio Vagni, from Italy - were seized on January 15.

Obama seeks unity on stimulus plan (Obama in UK)

Barack Obama, the US president, is in London to meet G20 leaders in an attempt to find unity on how to tackle the global financial crisis.The series of bilateral meetings in the British capital on Wednesday will come on the eve of a G20 summit likely to focus on how best to solve the worst global recession in 80 years.Obama is meeting Gordon Brown, the British prime minister, and will later hold talks with the presidents of China and Russia in the run up to the G20 conference.Thousands of police officers are on standby in London to monitor what are expected to be large-scale popular protests calling for world leaders to do more for the poor and the environment.

Pyongyang threatens US spy planes monitoring rocket

North Korea’s war of words ratcheted up on Wednesday when a statement broadcast on the country's state radio threatened to shoot down US spy planes monitoring a rocket that is scheduled to take off between April 4-8.North Korea threatened Wednesday to shoot down any US spy planes if they violate its airspace to monitor an imminent rocket launch, in a statement carried by state radio.The warning followed accusations Tuesday that US planes had stepped up flights over a northeastern region where the North is preparing to launch the rocket.The North has said it would launch a communications satellite some time between April 4-8. The United States, South Korea and Japan say this is a cover for a long-range ballistic missile test.On Wednesday the North's Korean Central Broadcasting Station denounced US spy planes for monitoring launch preparations."Should the US imperialist racketeers dare to intrude espionage planes into our territorial sky, interfering with our preparations for a satellite launch for peaceful purposes, our revolutionary forces will shoot them down unsparingly," it said.The North has regularly published its count of spy flights by South Korea and the United States.

Breaking NeWs ('US drone' in deadly Pakistan raid)

At least 10 people have been killed in an air raid by a suspected US drone
 on a village in northwest Pakistan, local officials say. 

Taliban Leader's Washington Threat Is Credible, Analysts Say

The United States has put a $5 million bounty on his head, and he says militants under his control are planning a terrorist attack in Washington that "will amaze everyone in the world."And he isn't Usama bin Laden.Baitullah Mehsud, commander of the Taliban in Pakistan, told The Associated Press in an interview Tuesday that his group was responsible for Monday's attack on a police academy in his country that killed seven police officers and injured more than 90 others.He also said, chillingly:"Soon we will launch an attack in Washington that will amaze everyone in the world."In an interview with local Dewa Radio, which was obtained by The Associated Press, Mehsud identified the White House as one of the targets.Terrorism experts call Mehsud a "rising young star" who is linked both to the December 2007 assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and the bombing last September that killed 54 people in the Marriott hotel in Islamabad. They say his threat to carry out an attack in Washington is credible."It should be taken seriously because [Mehsud] has ordered the deaths of many Pakistanis and Afghans and has a close alliance with Al Qaeda," said James Phillips, a terrorism expert and senior research fellow for Middle Eastern Affairs at the Heritage Foundation."It's not too much of a stretch to think he might be involved in an attack on the U.S. if he's able to get his followers inside the United States. He's a militant extremist whose threats cannot be ignored."Mehsud, 35, is the senior leader of Tehrik-e-Taliban, or the Taliban Movement of Pakistan, and is a key Al Qaeda facilitator in the tribal areas of South Waziristan in Pakistan, according to the U.S. State Department. A $5 million reward for information leading to his arrest and conviction was announced just last week."He has conducted cross-border attacks against U.S. forces in Afghanistan, and poses a clear threat to American persons and interests in the region," the State Department wrote in a March 25 release.Phillips said Mehsud is less of a direct threat to the U.S. than bin Laden in an ideological sense, but his influence in Pakistan could allow him to tap into existing networks within Al Qaeda or among Afghan Taliban militants to achieve his goals."The U.S. government and other allied governments cannot afford to ignore this threat because [Mehsud] has acted on targets in the past," Phillips said. "Because he has a relatively secure base of operations in South Waziristan, he has been able to extend his influence throughout the border region and even into Pakistani cities."Steve Emerson, executive director of The Investigative Project on Terrorism, said that of the many terrorists who have issued "blustery threats" in recent years, Meshud is considered a "rising young star" among militants."He's a dangerous guy," Emerson told FOXNews.com. "It just reaffirms the fact that Washington is a major target."He seems to be a pretty bloody, bold guy who is not afraid to have a marker on himself and knows how to exact publicity ... The real issue is what U.S. intelligence knows."Malou Innocent, a foreign policy analyst at the Cato Institute, said Mehsud's attacks have "significantly altered" the political dynamics in Pakistan and provide a major test for President Asif Ali Zardari. But any direct threat Mehsud poses to the United States will be through his link with Al Qaeda, she said."If he did have the reach, it would be because of Al Qaeda," she said. "This is more posturing on his behalf."Mehsud, who denies involvement in Bhutto's assassination and the Marriott Hotel bombing, is a diabetic who was reportedly called a "good Taliban" in 2007, when the Pakistani army struck a peace agreement with him that was later aborted.Mehsud has said he's not concerned with the bounty on his head, telling The Associated Press, "I wish to die and embrace martyrdom.""That shows that he is adamantly committed to his extremist goals and is unlikely to be brought to justice by law enforcement actions," Phillips said. 'It will take a war to defeat him in South Waziristan, and I think that shows that the term War on Terrorism remains applicable there."A State Department spokeswoman, Megan Mattson, declined to comment on Mehsud's threat.

Google to venture into start-ups

Google is searching for "the next big thing" in technology as it announces its latest effort, Google Ventures.Its new venture capitalist arm pledged to help find and develop "exceptional start-ups", offering early stage investments to a range of new firms.Areas it will look at include consumer internet, software, clean tech, bio tech and healthcare.But it will also include "areas we haven't thought of yet," the partners of the new venture said.

IMF approves $847M loan to Islamabad

The International Monetary Fund has approved an $847.1 million loan to Pakistan as part of an emergency loan to help bolster the impoverished nation’s economic stabilization program.The International Monetary Fund on Monday said it would lend roughly 847 million dollars to Pakistan as part of an emergency loan to help support the country's economic stabilization program.The IMF said its board approved the payment after a first review of Pakistan's economic performance under a program supported by a 7.6-billion-dollar line of credit agreed late last year.The 23-month Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) announced on November 24 was approved under the IMF's fast-track Emergency Financing Mechanism procedures."Pakistan's economy is gradually recovering from the macroeconomic and external imbalances of 2007-2008," Murilo Portugal, IMF deputy managing director, said in a statement."Policy steps taken by the authorities under the SBA-supported stabilization program, which aims at restoring financial stability while protecting the poor, have been instrumental in this regard," he said.The IMF said the sharply deteriorating global economy had forced it to revise downward Pakistan's near-term growth outlook.Adnan Mazarei, IMF's mission chief for Pakistan, said in a conference call that for the 2008-2009 fiscal year that begins in June, the growth forecast was slashed to 2.5 percent from a prior estimate of 3.5 percent.The growth forecast for 2009-2010 was lowered to 4.0 percent from 5.0 percent."But the risks are considerable," he warned, and growth "likely may be lower." 
Pakistan immediately received 3.1 billion dollars in the first tranche of the standby loan, with subsequent payments dependent on Islamabad fulfilling targets set by the IMF.

Japan plans third stimulus package

Japan's prime minister has asked the government to draw up a third economic stimulus package, with financial data indicating that the country is plunging into its worst recession in more than 50 years.The plan was announced on Tuesday as Taro Aso prepared to travel to a G20 summit in London, which is aimed at tackling the global economic downturn."Japan is still facing the economic crisis," Aso said."I instructed the government and ruling parties to compile steps to cope with the current economic situation, which will include submission of the extra budget."Aso did not specify the amount of spending that would be included in the new package, but said it would be unveiled in mid-April.Japanese media predicted that the latest stimulus would aim to create $612bn worth of demand and two million jobs.

Beginning Of The End For UK Troops In Basra

Britain has formally handed over Basra to US troops, marking the start of the withdrawal from the UK's most contentious war for half a century. UK Maj Gen Andy Salmon has now relinquished command to American Maj Gen Michael Oates, who heads up the new Multi National Division South.The ceremonial lowering of the divisional flag signalled the end to British control of their Basra base, six years after the invasion.Gen Salmon and his headquarters staff will start packing to leave Iraq in the next 48 hours.Over the coming four months, almost all of Britain’s remaining contingent will follow.Where UK forces took the lead in battling insurgents, the few left will concentrate on training and mentoring Iraqi units.Streets that once saw some of the fiercest rebellion, with British soldiers and armoured vehicles under regular attack, are left in the control of the Iraqi government.Security is provided by local troops and police.

America Builds World's Most Powerful Laser

The world's most powerful laser, which can simulate the energy force of a hydrogen bomb and the sun, has been built in the US.Built in California and measuring the size of a football pitch, the National Ignition Facility (NIF) is the culmination of more than 10 years of work, at a cost of nearly £2.5bn.Researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory are hoping a series of experiments will allow it eventually to mimic the heat and pressure found at the heart of the sun.NIF consists of 192 separate laser beams, each of which is programmed to travel 1,000ft in one-thousandth of a second to converge simultaneously on a target the size of a pencil eraser.The laser's power will be gradually turned up in a series of experiments over the next year, culminating at a power level in 2010 to achieve what scientists call "fusion ignition".

Sharif's brother back in office

Pakistan's Supreme Court has restored Nawaz Sharif's brother, Shahbaz, as chief minister of the powerful Punjab province, easing a political row.The move is part of a court review of a ruling last month that banned the brothers from holding elected office because of old convictions.The suspension of the ban means Shahbaz Sharif can resume office immediately while the court review continues.It is the latest in a series of political victories for the Sharifs.On Monday, President Asif Ali Zardari lifted central rule in Punjab, the heartland of support for the Sharifs' PML-N party, after placing it in the control of one of his allies following the ban last month.Ten days ago, Mr Zardari also reinstated the sacked chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, to stave off a nationwide protest led by Nawaz Sharif - a former prime minister and now the main opposition leader.The Sharifs said the court ban on their holding office was unconstitutional, as it was not under the direction of Mr Chaudhry, who had been removed from office by former President Pervez Musharraf.

Emergency declared in Philippines

A state of emergency has been imposed on a southern Philippine island where militants holding three aid workers have threatened to kill one of them.The declaration puts all security forces on alert on Jolo island and curtails the movement of people.The Abu Sayyaf rebels had threatened to behead one of the three Red Cross hostages by 1400 (0600 GMT) if security troops did not pull back.But there has so far been no word on the fate of the hostages.Swiss national Andreas Notter, Italian Eugenio Vagni and Filipina Mary Jean Lacaba were seized on 15 January, and have since been held in the jungles of Jolo.The three aid workers were abducted after a visit to a local prison, where the International Committee of the Red Cross is funding a water project.

Hundreds feared drowned off Libya

More than 200 African migrants are feared dead after their boat sank off the coast of Libya, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) says.The boat carrying around 250 people is reported to have capsized 50km (30 miles) north of the Libyan coast in stormy seas and high winds.Libyan officials say 21 people are confirmed dead and 23 rescued.A second boat with around 350 migrants was rescued, an official from the IOM told the Associated Press news agency.The IOM's Laurence Hart said the rescued boat and all of its passengers were now safely back in the Libyan capital, Tripoli."Rescue was quick because they were near an oil platform that notified the Libyan coastal guards who quickly rescued the migrants," he said.The missing boat is believed to be in the same area. Coastguards are believed to be looking for two other boats, which reportedly left for Italy in recent days."This is the typical route for migrants from Libya to Italy," Mr Hart said.

Obama sets off on European trip

US President Barack Obama has set off from Washington DC for Europe on his first major foreign trip since taking office in January.Mr Obama's first stop is London where he is due to attend the G20 summit.He will also join leaders at a Nato summit on the French-German border and visit the Czech Republic and Turkey.Mr Obama's mission during his tour will be to restore the US's place at the head of the diplomatic table, says BBC North America editor Justin Webb.He will do so by asserting that the US has changed - that America is willing to listen and engage, but he will also insist that America still has the capacity to pull the world in the right direction, our correspondent says.A White House spokesman stressed the president would "listen in London as well as lead".

5 more persons involved in Manawan attack arrested

LAHORE Five more persons, involved in the terror attack here in Manawan, were arrested from various areas of Lahore.Sources said that these arrests were made on pointing out by a terrorist Hijratullah, who was arrested from Manawan.These persons were arrested from the areas of Bhati, Harbanspura, Data Darbar and Nishter Colony.Arms and ammunition, fake NICs and hand grenades were d recovered in huge quantity from these persons.According to the sources, Hijratullah himself was residing in a rented house in Walton, an area of Lahore while he had told his landlord that he was going to China for purchasing children’s toys and sell in Lahore.

Israel coalition set to be sworn in

Israel's parliament is set to vote in a broad coalition government under Binyamin Netanyahu, the Likud leader.The Knesset met on Tuesday for the formal vote, which, if successful, will be followed by the swearing-in of the new cabinet.It will be the second stint as prime minister for Netanyahu who previously held the role 10 years ago. The right-leaning 69-member coalition in the 120-seat Knesset includes Likud, the ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beitenu, ultra-Orthodox Shas, and a small religious party as well as the Labor party.Israel's 32nd cabinet is set to be one of its largest ever, with a new table having been ordered to accommodate the 30 cabinet ministers and up to seven deputy ministers.