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Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Indonesian military plane crashes

At least 64 people have died after an Indonesian military transport plane crashed in East Java, hospital officials have said.The crash, during what the military says was a routine training mission, occurred on Wednesday morning near the town of Madiun.The C-130 Hercules aircraft, carrying more than 100 passengers and crew, crashed into several houses on the ground before skidding into a rice paddy field.Footage shown on Indonesian television showed burning wreckage strewn over a rice field with only the plane's tail remaining intact.Indonesian media reports said about 15 injured people had been sent to local hospitals.The Hercules aircraft was flying from Halim airbase near Jakarta, the Indonesian capital, to a base near Madiun when it came down.

Astronauts Say Goodbye to Hubble for Good

After 19 eventful years, both for astronomy and for itself, NASA has finally said goodbye to the Hubble Space Telescope.Early Tuesday morning, space shuttle Atlantis astronauts undocked the telescope from the shuttle's cargo bay.Mission Specialist Megan McArthur held on with the robotic arm as the orbiting observatory gently drifted away.When it reached an optimal distance at 8:57 a.m. EDT, as both shuttle and telescope hovered over North Africa, she let go and the telescope went off on its own, never again to be touched by human hands."Hubble has been released," reported commander Scott Altman. "It's safely back on its journey of exploration as we begin steps to conclude ours. Looking back on this mission, it's been an incredible journey for us as well."

‘Idol’ finalists: Focus on the singing

‘American Idol’ finalists Kris Allen and Adam Lambert

American Idol’ finalists Kris Allen and Adam Lambert don’t want to get personal.The singers told a throng of media gathered Monday outside the Nokia Theatre, where the duo will face off during the show’s two-night finale on Tuesday and Wednesday, that they hope viewers will base their votes for the next ‘Idol’ on performance alone.‘For me, I hope that having the Christian vote doesn’t help with anything,’ said Allen, a 23-year-old college student who has worked as a worship leader at the New Life Church in his hometown of Conway, Arkansas. ‘I hope it has to do with your talent and the performance that you give and the package that you have. It’s not about religion and all that kind of stuff.’Lambert, a 27-year-old theater actor from San Diego who once worked in the Los Angeles cast of ‘Wicked,’ heartily agreed. He said he does not think the contest ‘has anything to do with your religious background, what color you are, your gender. It doesn’t have anything to do with that. It’s about music. That’s really important to keep in mind.’The pair are scheduled to be joined on Wednesday’s finale by Lionel Richie, Carlos Santana, Cyndi Lauper, Queen Latifah, Black Eyed Peas, Keith Urban, Jason Mraz and previous ‘Idol’ winner David Cook. Allen teased that they may duet with some of those artists on Wednesday _ but neither finalist would reveal any details about their finale performances.

First Chinese-made Airbus takes off

The first Airbus passenger jet built at a new factory in China has made its maiden flight in a step the company hopes will help boost its share of aircraft sales in the expanding Chinese market.The A320 aircraft is the first Airbus to be assembled by the EADS European consortium at a plant outside Europe.In a test flight on Monday the aircraft took off from Tianjin airport in northeastern China and flew for four hours before returning to the same airport."This A320 assembled in China unquestionably demonstrated the same quality and performance as those assembled and delivered in Hamburg or Toulouse," Fernando Alonso, senior vice president at Airbus, said in a statement.Airbus began assembling A320 jets at its new Tianjin plant in September using parts shipped from Europe.It plans to begin its first deliveries of aircraft to Chinese airlines in June.The factory is jointly owned by Airbus, which has a 51 per cent stake, and a consortium that includes China Aviation Industry Corp., China's biggest aircraft maker which has ambitions to carve out its own name in the international aviation market.

India 'has 153 tainted new MPs'

At least 153 of the newly-elected MPs in India have criminal cases pending against them, according to a study by civil society groups.Groups working on electoral reforms say the opposition BJP has the highest number of tainted MPs at 43 while the Congress party is number two with 41.The group has written letters to senior Congress party leaders with an appeal to keep these MPs out of the cabinet.Corruption and criminalisation of politics are major issues in India.India is in the process of forming a new government.Elections were held in April and May and a Congress party-led coalition is due to take power in the next few days."There are now 153 MPs with criminal charges and 74 of them with serious criminal charges," Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and National Election Watch, a civil society alliance working for clean politics and accountable governance, said in a press release.

Pakistan grapples with Swat exodus

About 1.5 million refugees have fled the Pakistani military's offensive against Taliban forces in the northwest of the country, officials say.The fighting has resulted in an exodus with a speed and size that could rival the displacement caused by Rwanda's genocide, the UN said.The humanitarian challenge comes as the military said its troops are fighting street battles against fighters in important towns in the Swat valley.Lieutenant-General Nadeem Ahmed, who leads a group dealing with the uprooted Pakistanis, said that the government had enough food for the displaced, but said it needed donations of fans and high energy biscuits.Mike Hanna, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Islamabad, said: "The staggering figure, in details released by the UN, shows that only about 2,000 people are actually in the refugee camps."Around 20 per cent of the Pakistani displaced are in about 24 camps at the moment, John Holmes, the UN humanitarian chief, said.Hanna said: "The rest are staying with family and with friends."This is obviously placing an immense amount of strain on the resources of the society as a whole increasing the magnitude of what is the biggest movement of people since the formation of Pakistan in 1947."

Drone attacks to continue in Pakistan: CIA chief

Drone attacks

CIA director Leon Panetta defended the use of unmanned aircraft to target Al-Qaeda militants on Monday and said President Barack Obama’s policies had severely disrupted the network’s leadership.In his first speech since taking over as head of the Central Intelligence Agency in February, Panetta told a luncheon in Los Angeles that counter-terrorism and defeating Al-Qaeda remained the agency’s top priority.‘Al-Qaeda remains the most serious security threat that we face ... to US interests and our allies overseas,’ Panetta told the gathering organized by the Pacific Council on International Policy in Los Angeles.Panetta said Obama’s stated aim to ‘disrupt, dismantle and defeat’ Al-Qaeda had already resulted in ‘serious pressure’ being brought to bear on Al-Qaeda’s leaders, believed to be hiding in Pakistan’s border regions.‘There is ample evidence that the strategy set by the president and his national security team is in fact working,’ Panetta said.‘We do not expect to let up on that strategy. I am convinced that our efforts in that part of the world are seriously disrupting every operation that Al-Qaeda is trying to conduct and is interfering with their ability to establish plans to come at this country and we will continue that effort.’ Responding to a question, Panetta said unmanned drone strikes — whose use has caused tension with Pakistan — had been ‘very effective’ in targeting Al-Qaeda’s leadership.‘I think it does suffice to say that these operations have been very effective,’ Panetta said.

Body of Tamil Tigers leader 'found'

Sri Lankan state television has broadcast video footage of what the army says is the body of Velupillai Prabhakaran, the leader of the Tamil Tigers.The military said the body was found in a lagoon on Tuesday morning, contradicting claims by senior Tamil officials that Prabhakaran was alive in a safe location.The images also showed what appeared to be Prabhakaran's LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) identity card.Hours before the images were released, the LTTE dismissed the claims that Prabhakaran was dead and vowed that the Tamil struggle for a homeland would continue.

US to offer $100 million in aid to displaced civilians

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is to announce the release of $100 million dollars in aid to more than two million civilians forced to flee the northwest of Pakistan in the face of a government military offensive against the Taliban.US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday unveiled more than 100 million dollars in emergency aid for civilians fleeing a US-backed military offensive against Taliban militants in Pakistan."We're doing this because the future of Pakistan is extremely important to the United States," Clinton told a press conference at the White House. "The advance of extremism is a threat to our security."But the top US diplomat said she sensed a "national mood change" against the Taliban in Pakistan, and heaped praise on the military offensive against the extremists."There is a real national mood change on the part of the Pakistani people that we are watching and obviously are encouraged by," Clinton said."This is a potential direct threat to their way of life in Pakistan."A total of 110 million dollars in aid from the State Department and Pentagon will be sent to Pakistan to help ease the plight of two million people who have fled the fighting in northwest Pakistan, a White House statement said.The funds will be used to deliver tents, halal meats, water trucks, generators and other supplies, Clinton said, adding some of the money would be used to buy Pakistani wheat to boost the local economy."Pakistan is facing a major humanitarian crisis," she said. "Approximately two million people have fled their homes."Pakistan can succeed in coping with the crisis but only if the international community and the United States do its share, the chief US diplomat said.

Israel 'deaf' to two-state solution

US calls for a two-state solution "fell on deaf ears", the Palestinians' chief negotiator with Israel has said.the day after the first official meeting between Barack Obama, the US president, and Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, Saeb Erekat indicated that Palestinians had low expectations of the outcome.In their talks in Washington, Obama told Netanyahu to stop expanding Jewish settlements and grasp the "historic opportunity" to make peace with the Palestinians."We appreciate very much what Mr Obama said ... [But] I'm sure this fell on deaf ears. Mr Netanyahu will continue to be in a state of denial," Erekat told."He will not accept the two-state solution, he will not accept agreements signed. He will continue with settlement activities and he thinks he can beat about the bush by more vagueness and linguistics and public relations campaigns."In four hours of talks with Obama, Netanyahu refused to publicly commit to an independent Palestinian state.