Jordan queen gets YouTube award for fighting stereotypes

AMMAN
---Jordan's Queen Rania will accept an award from Internet video-sharing website YouTube for her efforts to help prevent Muslims and Arabs from being stereotyped, her office said on Thursday.

"It is a pleasure to accept the first YouTube Visionary Award in this spirit," the queen was quoted as saying in a statement.

"YouTube encourages us to be active participants in a global conversation, making our voices heard, giving us the power to broadcast ourselves, increasing knowledge of each other, breaking down the barriers between us clip by clip."

In April, Rania, the wife of King Abdullah II, launched her own Internet channel on YouTube in a bid to encourage young people to help address the issue of stereotyping.

"To date, the channel has generated nearly three million video views and received more than 43,000 messages from users around the world," the queen's office said.;-The statement quoted YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley as saying that Rania "sets the standard for breaking down stereotypes and her YouTube videos are nothing short of inspirational."---She will "accept this honour in recognition of her efforts to rid the world of the stereotypes and misconceptions associated with Arab and Muslim communities", her office said.

Manila to probe abuse of deportees in Malaysia

MANILA
--The Philippine Commission on Human Rights is to investigate allegations that Filipinos deported from Sabah are being abused by Malaysian authorities, the chairman of the agency said Thursday.
Commission head Leila de Lima said a team would visit Sabah to probe allegations that Filipinos have been beaten and maltreated while in detention centres there.

"As an independent constitutional office mandated to protect, promote and fulfill the human rights of every Filipino, whether residing here or abroad. we are duty-bound to look after their welfare," she said in a statement.-She also cited appeals by congressmen in the southern Philippines on behalf of newly-arrived Filipinos who had been sent home as part of Malaysia's crackdown on illegal aliens. De Lima did not say when the team would be leaving but remarked that their mission would be coordinated with Malaysia's commission on human rights.-Last month, a fact-finding body charged that illegal Filipino workers, expelled from Malaysia's Sabah state, had been severely beaten by police. It also said thousands of others, including women and children, remained in Malaysian detention centres "suffering from inhumane conditions".
@@@@@@@@@@

Taiwan court upholds seven-year term on ex-leader's kin

TAIPEI
Taiwan's High Court yesterday upheld a seven-year jail term and fine imposed on former president Chen Shui-bian's son-in-law for insider trading, a court spokesman said.
The ruling came a day after Chen was locked up in a corruption probe and is the latest blow to the island's former first family, who have been implicated in a string of scandals.;-As well as the jail term, Chen's son-in-law Chao Chien-ming was also fined 30 million Taiwan dollars (US$91,500) for making illegal profits of more than 100 million Taiwan dollars through insider trading.

He was originally sentenced in December 2006 to six years in prison by a district court, but the High Court later increased that to seven years.
Chao appealed to the Supreme Court, which ordered a new hearing that began in September.

He can still appeal the latest verdict. Chao was sacked from the prestigious National Taiwan University Hospital following his arrest in May 2006 on the charges, and now works for a hospital in southern Taiwan.---Chao said he would appeal the ruling. "I was hoping that justice would prove my innocence.I am still looking forward to a fair trial," Chao told reporters. For his part Chen, the first former Taiwan leader ever to be arrested, is yet to be formally charged.

He is accused of embezzling around 15 million Taiwan dollars while in office, as well as money laundering, taking bribes and forging documents. He retired in May after eight years in office marred by allegations of scandal and sleaze.
@@@@@@@@@@@

Britain would not have bid for Olympics in downturn

LONDON
Olympics minister Tessa Jowell has admitted Britain would not have chosen to host the 2012 Games in London if it had know about the economic downturn, according to a newspaper report Thursday.
"Had we known what we know now, would we have bid for the Olympics? Almost certainly not," Jowell told leisure industry bosses at a dinner Monday, the Daily Telegraph reported.
The Bank of England warned Wednesday that the British economy was probably already in recession as a global financial crisis takes its toll, although economists will have to wait until early next year for confirmation.
The slowdown is squeezing private contractors involved in the Games and the government has already cut some costs to ensure the project comes in on budget. But ministers insist Olympic spending will help the economy.

Jowell played down her comments in a statement, saying: "I have often observed that we bid for 2012 in one economic climate and are now in another.---Had the scale of the downturn been anticipated, I am sure there would have been a view from some that this would not be the time to commit significant public expenditure to a project like the Olympics."
"But as I made clear in my speech, the reality is very different. This is precisely the time for this investment to be made. It has the potential to be economic gold at a time of economic need," she added.
@@@@@@@@@@@

Thousands protest sweeping Italian education cuts

Students demonstrate in front of Duoma Square in Milan on October 29, during a protest against the government's education reforms.


ROME ----

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Rome Thursday in protest at Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's multi-billion education cuts.
Demonstrators started gathering in the capital at around 0830 GMT to unveil a banner which read: "Everyone united together for schools."

They were joined by Walter Vetroni, the leader of the left-wing Democratic Party, and former anti-corruption magistrate Antonio di Pietro, the head of the smaller Italy of Values party.---Berlusconi put forward a new state budget in August that aimed to save more than nine billion euros (11.6 billion dollars) in education spending and cut 130,000 jobs in primary schools.

His proposals were approved Wednesday following a vote in the Senate, Italy's upper house of parliament.

Domenico Pantaleo, an official from the Italian General Confederation of Labour (CGIL) union, said the changes would "destroy" Italy's public education system.
"These are not reforms, these are just budgetary cuts. The government is destroying public schools and replacing them with a private system. We're not going to discuss it and we will go ahead with the protests," he said.
Unions called for Thursday's general strike to be observed in all Italian schools. Separate protests are expected to take place in other major cities across the country.

@@@@@@@@@@@

Shanghai police net cricket fighting king

SHANGHAI ----

Shanghai police have smashed a professional cricket fighting ring in a raid that snared the city's most notorious handler of the insects, state media reported Thursday.

Police arrested 66 people and seized 520,000 yuan (72,000 dollars) at an illegal cricket fight on Monday night, a police spokeswoman said, confirming state media reports. The blood sport, which dates back to the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD), is flourishing in China's financial hub particularly among middle-aged unemployed men who bet tens of thousands of yuan on bouts, the Shanghai Daily cited investigating officers as saying.--In a cricket fight, handlers prod two insects with sticks until they are angry and then set them loose on each other in a box for a fight to the death. Gambling on these bouts is illegal in China.
Winning crickets can become famous and funerals have been known to be held for them when they are defeated. The prize fighters are fed special diets and are plied with female crickets to keep them in top form.
Among those arrested on Monday was 51-year-old man named Lin, who police described as a legend in the world of cricket fighting for his skill at provoking the insects.

"Lin was famous among cricket fanciers," Tang Jun, one of the officers who led the raid, was quoted as saying in the Shanghai Daily.
@@@@@@@@@@@

Soderling wins in Lyon

Sweden's Robin Soderling celebrates with his trophy after beating his French opponent Julien Benneteau in their Lyon ATP final tennis match, on October 26 in Lyon




LYON, France=====



Swedish seventh seed Robin Soderling saw off unseeded Frenchman Julien Benneteau 6-3, 6-7 (5/7), 6-1 to win the 713,000 euros Lyon ATP final on Sunday
Soderling, ranked 27 in the world, won here in 2004 and took his overall career haul to three tournaments.

A break in the sixth game was enough for him to get his nose in front after 27 minutes but world number 56 Benneteau fought back to land the second on the tiebreak.
Benneteau dropped serve in the seventh game but as Soderling increasingly encroached on the net the Frenchman began to find his range, breaking back at the third time of asking.

In the ensuing tiebreak the home hope kept his nerve to level the encounter but ultimately his recovery flattered to deceive as Soderling promptly ratcheted up his own game to race through the decider on the back of two quickfire breaks.

Rice honoured by Australia

Stephanie Rice :Australia's Swimmer of the Year



SYDNEY ====

Triple Olympic gold medallist Stephanie Rice was named Australia's Swimmer of the Year at a function here on Monday.
Rice, 20, was Australia's outstanding swimmer at the Beijing Olympics last August, winning the 200-400m medley double and the 4x200m freestyle relay, all in world record time.

She became the sixth female winner of the Australian award and joined Hayley Lewis, Susie O'Neill, Jodie Henry, Leisel Jones and Libby Trickett in being recognised as the country's premier swimmer.----Rice edged out 2006 winner Jones and 2007 winner Trickett to take the award.

"It's been quite an amazing year for me and to win those two individual gold medals and then share that incredible moment with the girls in the relay was beyond my wildest dreams," Rice said.
Her coach, Michael Bohl, was named the Coach of the Year.
@@@@@@@@@@@

Portsmouth and Fulham draw 1-1

PORTSMOUTH, England====
Portsmouth's first match since manager Harry Redknapp's shock departure for Tottenham ended in a draw after Clint Dempsey's late equaliser earned Fulham a 1-1 draw here Sunday.
Pompey took the lead in the 61st minute when Peter Crouch struck after being played in by fellow England striker Jermain Defoe. But three minutes from time a defensive lapse saw the unmarked Dempsey score at the near post. The draw left managerless Portsmouth, currently in the caretaker charge of Redknapp's former assistants Tony Adams and Joe Jordan, in seventh place in the Premier League table. Fulham, who had Australian goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer to thank for keeping them in the match, battled hard after arriving on the south coast with a run of four defeats in five games.

But despite their efforts this result still saw them end the weekend just a point above the relegation zone.

Jimmy Bullard gave Pompey a scare in the opening minute when his 25-yard free-kick went just wide with England goalkeeper David James at full stretch.

But Portsmouth were unlucky not to take an eighth minute lead when Younes Kaboul's header from a Lassana Diarra corner was cleared off the line. Nadir Belhadj, who later hit a post, shot straight at Schwarzer before Fulham's Andy Johnson had an effort correctly ruled out for offside.

After a goalless first-half, Defoe twice went close to breaking the deadlock, shooting just wide and then seeing Schwarzer make a good save.

Arsenal keep pace after beating West Ham 2-0

LONDON =====

An unfort unate own goal by West Ham defender Julien Faubert and a late clincher from Emmanuel Adebayor handed Arsenal a 2-0 win at Upton Park here Sunday.
The Frenchman turned an Adebayor shot past his own goalkeeper after his side had looked set for a deserved point, with the substitute netting a second in stoppage time, which also saw Carlton Cole sent off for the home side.

Arsenal remained fourth in the Premier League but are now one point behind second-placed Chelsea, after their London rivals' 1-0 loss to Liverpool earlier in the day.----With perhaps an eye on this coming Wednesday's derby with Tottenham, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger made three changes from the side that had beaten Fenerbahce 5-2 in the Champions League on Tuesday.
----William Gallas, the captain, returned at the back with Robin van Persie and Nicklas Bendtner restored as an attacking partnership.

That meant Adebayor and Abou Diaby, who had both scored in Istanbul, dropping to the bench and Denilson missing out altogether.
West Ham manager Gianfranco Zola made four changes after his side had lost 1-0 away to Hull the previous weekend.

James Collins played for the first time following injury, Lee Bowyer made his first Premier League appearance of the campaign and Hayden Mullins started for the first time in the league as Zola also opted to bring back fellow Italian David di Michele up front.

Theo Walcott tested home goalkeeper Robert Green with an angled drive after just 40 seconds but an error by Mikael Silvestre almost allowed Bowyer to go clear at the other end.-;The France defender missed his kick completely but Bowyer was unable to control the ball, allowing Silvestre to make amends and clear.

Another error, this time by van Persie, allowed Bowyer to tee up di Michele, whose rising shot from outside the box was spectacularly tipped over by Arsenal goalkeeper Manuel Almunia.

Bendtner fired across goal and wide after Arsenal regained their composure and Walcott came close to opening the scoring in the 20th minute after using his pace to leave challengers trailing.
Although his shot from the right of the box had the power to beat Green it hit the top of the bar not the net.

It was soon Almunia's turn at the other end however as Bellamy out-paced Gael Clichy chasing Scott Parker's through ball.

The Wales international must have thought he would score until Almunia stuck out a leg to deflect his shot over.
Arsenal's reply was a shot from Bendtner that Green had to tip round his far post before Scott Parker was booked shortly before the break.
@@@@@@@@@@@

Beckman wins playoff to take second PGA title

SCOTTSDALE, Arizona ====


Cameron Beckman made a par putt on the second playoff hole to defeat fellow American Kevin Sutherland here Sunday to win the five million-dollar Frys.com Open for his second career PGA title.
Beckman fired a final-round seven-under par 63 to finish 72 holes level with Sutherland on 18-under 262. Each parred the 18th, the first playoff hole, but Beckman claimed the 900,000-dollar top prize by parring the 17th hole.
"I had the go-for-it attitude going," Beckman said. "What difference does it make? I had nothing to lose. I mean, that's kind of just what I carried with me all day was just let's try to win the tournament. Fortunately I did."

Beckman's other PGA title came in 2001 at Madison, Mississippi. He denied Sutherland his first title in 181 starts since his victory at the 2002 World Golf Championships Match-Play Championship.----Sutherland missed a 13-foot birdie putt on the 18th in the playoff for the win. On the next hole, Sutherland needed four shots to reach the green. Beckman hit his approach to 6 1/2 feet and two-puuted to win.
"I'm a little surprised," Beckman said. "I had back problems. I had to skip eight weeks, and it has just been a tough year. "I honestly was thinking about quitting the game. That's how bad I felt.

"I can't explain to you how good I feel right now. I don't know what it was and why I did it but I just felt good all day and it happened."----Australian Mathew Goggin was third on 263 after his second 63 in three rounds on Sunday. Canada's Mike Weir, the 2007 Frys winner, shared fourth on 266 with Americans Arron Oberholser and JJ Henry.

Aussies Steve Allan and Michael Sim were on 167 along with Americans Pat Perez and Paul Goydos.

Sutherland, who began the day with a one-stroke lead, birdied three holes in a row starting at the sixth and added more at 12 and to stay atop the field.
But Sutherland's first bogey in 53 holes came at the par-3 16th, dropping him into a tie for the lead with Beckman, and Sutherland's 12-foot birdie putt at the 17th and 13-footer for birdie at 18 each missed just right of the cup."The bogey on 16 hurt but Cameron played really well," Sutherland said. "I had a couple putts to win that - the one in regulation, I hit it on-line, I just didn't hit it hard enough and then I pulled the one in the playoff."

Beckman fired a 63 highlighted by two runs of three birdies in a row, the first starting at the ninth and the other from the 14th through 16th holes, putting himself in position to capitalise on Sutherland's bogey at 16.
Goggin went two-under on the front nine and made a late run as well with birdies at 11, 14, 15, 17 and 18 but could not catch the leaders.

Allan made back-to-back birdies at the second and third and another at the sixth but a bogey at seven set him back.---The Aussie charged into the hunt with birdies at 14 and 15 but a bogey at the 17th and finding the water with his second shot at 18 ended his hopes and damaged his chances of keeping his US PGA playing rights for 2009.

Real Madrid go third after Bilbao battle

Real's Uruguayan forward Higuain celebrates his goal against Athletic Oct 26





MADRID======

Real Madrid moved a point behind leaders Valencia with a hard-fought 3-2 home win over 10-man Athletic Bilbao at the Santiago Bernabeu on Sunday.
Argentine striker Gonzalo Higuain scored twice (28 min, 58) to down Bilbao who had come back to level at 2-2 through a Jose Exteberria strike and an Andoni Iraola penalty after Wesley Sneijder had put Real in front on 12 minutes.

Bilbao had Fernando Amorebieta sent off for a crude foul 14 minutes from time while Real's Brazilian defender Marcelo was fortunate to escape a straight red for a brutal tackle at the end of the first half.

Fernando Llorente hit the post for Bilbao late on but Real, beaten 2-1 by Juventus in their midweek Champions League match, snatched the points.

Real move above Villarreal into third but are below Barcelona on goal difference while Valencia lead the standings after a 1-1 draw with Recreativo Huelva maintaining their unbeaten start.-----Villarreal and 10-man Atletico Madrid served up the best game of the season with a thrilling 4-4 draw at El Madrigal on Sunday.

Atletico went two goals up after 22 minutes through Simao and Villarreal old boy Diego Forlan but the dismissal of Argentine Ever Banega after 37 minutes for a second yellow card turned the game on its head.-;Villarreal scored three times in the first nine minutes of the second half with a Leo Franco howler allowing Marcos Senna's tame shot to creep in three minutes after the interval, before Jose Llorente equalised on 51 minutes.

Centre-back Gonzalo Rodriguez then put the hosts ahead on 57 minutes and Giuseppe Rossi (68 min) added a fourth as Atletico collapsed.
But there was yet another twist as Simao pulled one back for Atletico with his second goal on 83 minutes and Raul Garcia equalised in the 85th minute to make it 4-4.
"You can never let your guard down and that is a lesson for my team," fumed Villarreal coach Manuel Pellegrini. "We played well for 80 minutes but we relaxed thinking the game was wrapped up.

"It does not usually happen but that is why football is the most popular sport."

Villarreal stay unbeaten and lie two points behind leaders Valencia but will rue their late collapse.---Atletico languish in tenth after the draw which brought an end to a run of three successive defeats.

"Football can be like that. You are down and out with the other team strolling and then you get something out of the game," said Atletico coach Javier Aguirre. "At the end of the game Forlan could even have given us the ultimate prize."

Table-toppers Valencia have made their best ever league start after a 1-1 draw against Recreativo Huelva on Sunday.
Valencia have collected 20 points with six wins and two draws better than in 2001/02, when they won the title under Rafael Benitez.
David Villa's hot streak continued with his ninth goal of the season cancelling out Javier Camunas's opener.

Barcelona had nudged Valencia, now a point ahead of the Catalan giants, from the top with a resounding 5-0 win over Almeria on Saturday with Samuel Eto'o scoring a hat-trick in the first 23 minutes.

Sevilla tasted their first defeat of the season with a surprise 1-0 home loss at the hands of promoted Malaga and they fall three points behind Valencia in fourth.

"We didn't deserve to win but we certainly didn't deserve to lose," complained Sevilla coach Manolo Jimenez. "We certainly can't afford to get any more injuries at the moment."

Adrian Lopez scored after a quarter of an hour and Sevilla's chances of a comeback all but ended on 66 minutes when Adriano was sent off.

Malaga climb to sixth with their fourth straight win and it was a good day all round for the promoted teams with Sporting Gijon and Numancia winning.
@@@@@@@@@@@

Vietnam airport closes domestic terminal after fire

HANOI ===

A fire at Vietnam's biggest airport closed its domestic terminal Monday, the airport authority said.
The blaze at Tan Son Nhat Airport in Ho Chi Minh City broke out early Monday morning inside the terminal building.----A statement released by the Southern Airport Authority said firefighters battled for two hours to bring the fire under control.

Pictures broadcast on the state-run Vietnamese Television network showed a blackened terminal building with several broken windows, but the full extent of the damage was not immediately clear.
-.No one was injured in the fire, but operations at the airport were disrupted.

"The domestic terminal has been temporarily closed as from 5am local time Monday (2200 GMT)," said the statement.

"Services will continue as normal... with domestic flights operating out of the international terminal."
The statement added that officials were working to asses the extent of the damage.

The official announcement did not give a reason for the fire, but an AFP source at the airport said a wiring fault was thought to be the cause.
@@@@@@@@@@@

N Korean kid wins legal battle for defector status

SEOUL======

A five-year-old boy born in China to a North Korean woman has been granted defector status in South Korea after a two-year legal battle, officials said Monday.
The boy, identified only as Hwang, came alone to South Korea in 2006 with the help of relatives and human rights activists here.

Through the activists he filed a lawsuit with the Seoul Administrative Court after the unification ministry refused to provide him with financial help, saying he should not be recognised as a defector.

Hwang's mother left her husband when she fled North Korea in 1998 and went to China. She gave birth to him in 2003 while living with an ethnic Korean Chinese citizen.

But she was caught and sent back to the North along with her son. She escaped again with him to Mongolia in the hope of getting to South Korea but was repatriated to her homeland.----Hwang was not sent back because a relative of his father agreed to be his guarantor and claimed he was Chinese.
The ministry has insisted the boy has Chinese nationality but the court ruled on Saturday that he should be recognised as a North Korean defector even though he was born in China.

"We will make a decision later on whether to appeal," a unification min-istry official in charge of defectors told AFP.

More than 14,000 North Koreans have escaped and resettled in the South since the end of the 1950-1953 war, with the number growing rapidly in recent years.-.Virtually all cross the border to China but face repatriation if discovered there. Many travel on to Southeast Asia in the hope of eventually reaching Seoul.

Google releases Google Earth for iPhone

WASHINGTON ====

Google on Monday brought the popular Google Earth application to Apple's iPhone, allowing users to fly around the globe with just a touch of the screen.
Google Earth for the iPhone and iPod Touch is available for free in 18 languages and 22 countries through the iTunes App Store, Google said in a posting on the official blog of the Mountain View, California-based company.

"With just a swipe of your finger you can fly from Peoria to Paris to Papua New Guinea, or anywhere in between," the posting said.
"It may be small, but it brings all the power of Google Earth to the palm of your hand, including all of the same global imagery and 3D terrain," it added.---
Just by touching the screen, a user can move from point to point around the world, zooming in or out by pinching the screen and tilting the device to get a 3D view of mountainous terrain.

The "My Location" feature instantly shows a user's real world location while Google Local Search helps locate nearby places, businesses and landmarks.---More than eight million photos pictures of landmarks and scenery are integrated into the phone allowing users to take a "virtual tour" of the world.

The Google Earth application also includes links to Wikipedia articles.
@@@@@@@@@@@

8 yrs of Bush turmoil ends Jan 20

WASHINGTON ===

On January 20, US President George W Bush hands over the keys to the White House and turns out the lights on an eight-year span of war and, as one ally put it, "mind-boggling and hair-raising" episodes.
The Bush presidency, forged in the September 11, 2001 terrorist strikes, now melts away with the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s and fears of recession and widespread unemployment.

In between, he began the still-unfinished wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, two fronts in a "war on terrorism" whose tactics have at times worried allies and drawn widespread condemnation at home and overseas.----He drove mammoth tax cuts through the US Congress, which he credits for spurring the US economy despite soaring deficits, and oversaw an unprecedented expansion of aid to Africa to battle disease and poverty.

After scaling historic heights of popularity, Bush leaves office with abysmally low standing with a US public that still recalls the nightmare images from the botched government response to killer Hurricane Katrina.---.But he survived political storms whipped up by foes of an administration seen by its critics as one of the most partisan and secretive in US history.
Bush, who never stopped talking about the need to protect the United States, faced charges of betraying core US values with a network of secret prisons, or by putting detainees in the legal limbo of Guantanamo Bay, or green-lighting interrogation practices long seen as torture, or spying on Americans.

McCain shrugs off plunging polls in White House race

DENVER, Colorado====
Democrat Barack Obama, before a record 100,000-plus crowd Sunday, rebuked his Republican rival John McCain for saying he shared the same "philosophy" as unpopular President George W Bush.
Just nine days before the presidential election, Obama again attempted to shackle McCain to Bush's unpopular Republican economic legacy and tried to rebut attacks on his own tax policy.

Denver police estimated his crowd at well over 100,000, as people stretched as far as the eye could see, breaking Obama's previous domestic record crowd, also of 100,000, in St Louis, Missouri earlier this month.

"Just this morning, Senator McCain said that actually he and President Bush 'share a common philosophy,'" Obama said.--"That's right, Colorado. I guess that was John McCain finally giving us a little straight talk, owning up to the fact that he and George Bush actually have a whole lot in common," Obama said.
Obama then listed what he saw as deficiencies of the McCain-Bush philosophy, which encapsulated his main campaign themes heading into the election on November 4 as America battles its deepest economic crisis since the 1930s.
He said "the Bush-McCain philosophy" gave tax breaks to the wealthy and corporations and justified spending 10 billion dollars a month in Iraq "while the Iraqi government sits on a huge surplus and our economy is in crisis."

"We can't have another four years that look like the last eight. It is time for change in Washington," Obama said.

Obama spoke on the second day of a swing through vital western battleground states Colorado, New Mexico and Nevada, after a short break from the campaign trail to visit his ailing grandmother in Hawaii who turned 86 on Sunday.

If he can win all the states that Democrat John Kerry captured in his unsuccessful 2004 presidential bid and peel the three western states away from the Republicans, Obama will be assured of the White House.

In an appearance Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press,", McCain argued that he had long had major differences with Bush on issues like climate change and government spending.
"Do we share a common philosophy of the Republican Party? Of course," McCain said.

"But I stood up against my party, not just President Bush but others as well and I have the scars to prove it."---McCain also brushed off opinion polls indicating he is set to lose against Obama, insisting that his bid for the White House is still afloat.
@@@@@@@@@@@

Al-Qaeda propagandist to go on trial at Guantanamo

WASHINGTON ====
Al-Qaeda propagandist Ali Hamza Ahmad al-Bahlul goes on trial in front of a US military tribunal at the Guantanamo prison Monday, with the Pentagon saying it expects he will appear despite his vows earlier this year to boycott the proceedings.
Only the second person to face trial in Guantanamo since the facility opened in 2002 for hundreds of war-on-terror detainees, Bahlul, 39, will face terrorism and murder charges under the special military tribunal system set up for Guantanamo detainees.--In the first test of the "war crimes" tribunals - the first time they have been used since World War II - military jurors in August found Osama bin Laden's former driver Salim Hamdan guilty of providing material support to terrorism but rejected stronger terrorist conspiracy charges the government lodged.

Although Hamdan was sentenced to a net of five more months in jail, after considering the years he already spent in US hands, defense lawyers and rights activists strongly criticised the special tribunals system as sacrificing fundamental principles of justice to deny defendants their basic rights.
They said the trial was marked by allegations of abusive interrogations, the acceptance of hearsay evidence and secret testimony, and restrictions on media coverage, none of which are allowed in normal courts martial or civilian trials.

But while Hamdan's lawyers insisted he was a small, poorly-educated pawn who did not believe in the al-Qaeda mission, Bahlul defiantly declared his continuing allegiance to bin Laden in preliminary hearings earlier this year.--The US government is charging Bahlul, one of the first US war-on-terror detainees to be sent to Guantanamo in early 2002, with multiple counts of conspiracy to commit terrorism, murder and providing material support for terrorism.

He faces a possible sentence of life in prison. According to the Pentagon, the trial could take three weeks.
The US military says Bahlul took military training in an al-Qaeda camp in Afghanistan, swore allegiance to the group's head, and helped produce numerous propaganda videos issued by the group.

One of them is directly linked to Bahlul - a video entitled "The destruction of the American destroyer USS Cole," depicting the October 12, 2000 bombing attack on the US naval ship in Yemen, which killed 17 American sailors.

According to the charges, the video aimed "to solicit material support for al-Qaeda, to recruit and indoctrinate personnel to the organisation and objectives of al-Qaeda and to solicit, incite and advise persons to commit terrorism."
Bahlul is also accused of preparing the video of the last "martyr wills" of Mohammed Atta, the leader of the 19-man team which hijacked four passenger jets to crash them into US buildings on September 11, 2001.--The US says he answered directly to al-Qaeda's leadership and maintained for them important equipment; it also says he carried a suicide belt and grenades with him to be used to protect the leaders.
@@@@@@@@@@@

Czechs to travel to US without visas from Nov

PRAGUE ==

Czechs will be able to travel to the United States without visas from November 17, a symbolic day that marks the collapse of communism in the former Czechoslovakia, a senior US official said yesterday.
Announcing the date at a press conference in Prague, US Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff called the step a sign of Czech Republic's progress after the end of the Cold War.

November 17 marks the 19th anniversary of a student march that led to the peaceful fall of communism in then Czechoslovakia, known as the Velvet Revolution.-Czechs have been long frustrated by the US visa requirements, seen as costly and cumbersome. Their annoyance reached new highs when the visa requirement stayed in place even after their country entered the European Union in 2004.
The US visa policy created an inequality within the enlarged European Union as most old EU members and ex-communist Slovenia did not need visas to travel to the United States.
Washington is currently also adding six more countries to the so-called visa waiver programme .. Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and South Korea.
@@@@@@@@@@@

Israel set to hold early elections

Israel set to hold early elections

JERUSALEM ==

Israel is set to hold snap elections early next year after the leader of the biggest party failed to form a coalition, with political rivals already setting the tone for a campaign likely to focus on peace talks with the Palestinians.
Even before an election date has been set, the governing Kadima party, its Labour ally and the right-wing Likud already were mapping out the outlines of their political agendas.

The centrist Kadima was expected on Monday to present a formal request for the dissolution of the Knesset . Israel's parliament . followed by elections within 90 days.
"It is important to hold elections within the shortest period allowable by law in order to reduce uncertainties, given the serious political, economic and security challenges Israel faces," said Kadima spokesman Shmulik Dahan.

President Shimon Peres was expected to formally announce the election at a ceremony marking the start of parliament's winter session.

Kadima leader and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said on Sunday that she opted for early elections because she would not cave in to the conditions set by the religious Shas party for joining a new coalition.-="I was ready to pay a certain price... but I wasn't ready to mortgage the future of Israel," Livni said after Shas set budgetary conditions and insisted the fate of Jerusalem could not be included in peace talks with the Palestinians.

Livni had been holding coalition negotiations since she was elected Kadima leader last month, replacing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert who is battling allegations of corruption.
Olmert stepped down as prime minister, but will remain interim premier until a new government is in place.

Livni made it clear she would generally maintain Olmert's policies favouring the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel but with the Jewish state to retain its major settlements in the West Bank.

Both Olmert and Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas had pledged to try to reach a deal before US President George W Bush leaves office in January, but despite months of negotiations, the talks have made little visible progress.

With Israel going to early elections, the peace efforts are now likely to hang in limbo for several months.

The question of Jerusalem is one of the major stumbling points in the peace negotiations.-Israel considers the whole city its eternal and undivided capital, but the Palestinians demand east Jerusalem as the capital of a future state. Israel captured mostly Arab east Jerusalem in the 1967 war and annexed it shortly afterwards, in a move not recognised by the international community.

Likud, which is headed by hardline former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, claims that Kadima and Livni were willing to divide Jerusalem and to withdraw from the occupied West Bank, which Israel calls Judea and Samaria.
@@@@@@@@@@@

Happy to be home, but future bleak for Zoe's Ark children

ADRE, Chad
=
One year after an alleged kidnapping by a group of French aid workers, Hamza Oubali is back home and enjoying playing football like any other nine-year-old boy.

Hamza was one of 103 Chadian children who were "snatched" by the French charity Zoe's Ark. Chad's government accused the organisation of kidnapping, while its members argued they were helping orphans from the war-ravaged Darfur region in neighbouring Sudan. It later emerged the children were not Sudanese and most still had living relatives.

"We're happy. We have our parents, family, friends and neighbours," Hamza said.
The Oubali family's house looks rundown from the outside. It's home to Hamza's mother and his five siblings-;His father left some months ago for the capital N'Djamena, where he is trying to receive some compensation that the Chadian government has promised to pay out to the families of victims, between one and three million CFA francs (1,500-4,500 euros, 1,960-5,900 dollars).

"He sent some money back twice, about 25,000 CFA. For the rest, I do odd jobs here and there. Its working out," Hamza's mother Makia said.
Faced with abject poverty and little prospect of a decent education, the Oubalis decided in October 2007 to "give" their three youngest boys to Zoe's Ark.

She explains a local man visited her offering "to feed my children and take care of their education".

"We spoke about it with my husband and we thought it was a good idea, so that they could have a future," she said.
The Adre region where they live offers little hope for young people growing up there. Bordering Darfur, an area of Sudan gripped by civil war, the area is overrun with bandits and thieves.

Hamza, and his brothers Ali, 7, and Ahamat, 4, aren't going to school, as there are no teachers due to the poor security situation and the low pay.

Eighty-three of the 103 Zoe's Ark children came from Adre.
Six French nationals were arrested in October last year over the scandal. They were originally sentenced to eight years of hard labour in Chad, which was later translated into prison terms on their return to France earlier this year.
@@@@@@@@@@@

Suicide bomber attacks Iraqi minister's convoy

BAGHDAD =
A suicide bomber slammed his explosives-filled car into the convoy of Iraq's labour minister in Baghdad on Thursday, killing at least 11 people, security officials told AFP.

The bomber attacked Shiite minister Mahmud Jawad al-Radi's convoy in central Baghdad's Tahreer Square but the minister escaped unhurt, ministry spokesman Abdullah al-Lami told AFP.

At least 22 people were wounded, the security officials said, adding that four nearby cars were destroyed in the blast. A ministry statement said three of Radi's bodyguards were killed, including his nephew.

"The car bomber tried to break through the convoy and assassinate the minister. The attack killed three of his guards. The minister was unhurt and soon after the attack he went to office," the statement said."This is a crime committed by terrorists who want to hinder the progress and reconstruction of Iraq."
=-Radi is the second minister from Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's 40-member cabinet to have been attacked in less than four months.
On July 15, Electricity Minister Karim Wahid escaped a roadside bombing in eastern Baghdad which left three of his bodyguards wounded.
@@@@@@@@@@@

Singaporean jailed in Taiwan diplomatic scandal

TAIPEI==

A Singaporean man was sentenced to two years and four months in jail in Taiwan on Thursday in connection with the alleged embezzlement of 30 million US dollars in diplomatic funds.

Wu Shih-tsai was convicted of forging bank records to cover his tracks and making false accusations that gunmen had threatened his life when he was first accused of embezzlement, said a spokesman for the Taipei district court.

Wu, a naturalised Singaporean citizen originally from Taiwan, has been in custody since the claims came to light in May.

Wu and his business partner Ching Chi-ju were entrusted with the money by Taiwan's foreign ministry to help forge ties with Papua New Guinea in 2006 as both claimed to have good connections with officials in the southwestern Pacific nation.-;The Taiwanese authorities suspect both of stealing the cash after it was wired to their joint account by the government.
Wu, who has the right of appeal, has denied the accusation and was jailed, according to the court, after forging bank statements to support his claims that the fund was still in the joint account when in fact it had vanished.
Authorities have issued an arrest warrant for Ching, who has Taiwan and US dual nationality and reportedly fled to the states.
@@@@@@@@@@@

Iraq takes over 12th province from US

HILLA,=
Iraq took control of the central Shiite province of Babil from US forces on Thursday, in what local officials said was further sign of security gains across the war-torn nation.

But shortly before the handover, a suicide bomber rammed his explosives-filled car into the convoy of a Shiite cabinet minister in Baghdad, killing 11 people although the minister emerged unscathed.
Babil, known for its ancient archaelogical treasures but also a string of bloody attacks on Shiite pilgrims in the aftermath of the US-led invasion of 2003, is the 12th of the country's 18 provinces to be transferred by US forces to Baghdad's command.
Local officials hailed the role of former Sunni rebels who joined US forces in fighting al-Qaeda for improving security in the province, whose northern part earned the ominous nickname the Triangle of Death because of the relentless bloodshed.

"Just a year ago this province used to see well over 20 attacks per week and today attacks are down by 80 per cent. This is truly remarkable," Lieutenant General Lloyd Austin, the number two commander of US forces in Iraq, said at the handover ceremony in the provincial capital Hilla.

He warned that the enemies of Iraq were still "not defeated" and offered US support to local forces in maintaining stability."I am confident that the central government and the provincial government, Sunni and Shiite will work together to ovecome any challenge we may face."-;Iraq's national security advisor Mowaffaq al-Rubaie said domestic security forces would also soon take over the nearby province of Wasit from the US military.

"I want to declare from Babil that Iraq will take over Wasit in the next few days and we hope to complete the transfer of the remaining provinces in the near future," Rubaie said.
"Today the security forces of Babil are self-reliant and we are proud to take over Babil from US forces."

The transfer came just two days after a bloody firefight in the province between insurgents and Sunni tribesmen that left 15 people dead and scores more wounded.

Babil governor Salem al-Saleh Meslmawe nevertheless said the province was now stable.

"The Awakening forces played a big role for the stability and to kick out al-Qaeda," he said, referring to the former Sunni insurgents also known as the Sons of Iraq who turned against the jihadists.

With the transfer of the province, American forces will retreat to their bases and become involved in security operations only at the request of the provincial governor.

Baghdad, Diyala, Salaheddin, Nineveh, Kirkuk and Wasit remain under US control. Babil is home to 1.3 million Iraqis and rich archaeological treasures and was the site of the legendary Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the ancient Seven Wonders of the World.
But it was ripped apart by violence after the US-led invasion with frequent sectarian attacks on Shiite pilgrims by Sunni insurgents and al-Qaeda jihadists.

In the bloodiest attack in March 2007, a suicide bombing in Hilla killed at least 117 pilgrims and wounded nearly 200. After the invasion, the US military established a sprawling base in the remains of the ancient city of Babylon, just north of Hilla, which had been extensively renovated under Saddam Hussein's regime.
According to UNESCO, their presence resulted in serious damage to Babylon's priceless antiquities.
The transfer came two days after a ferocious firefight in the town of Jurf al-Sakhr on the border between Babil and the neighbouring mainly Sunni province of Anbar.
@@@@@@@@@@@

Sex, drugs education for UK kids

LONDON ==
Millions of children in England aged from five to 16 in state-funded schools will receive compulsory lessons about subjects including sex and drug use, a minister said Thursday.

Acknowledging, however, that the announcement raises "complicated issues", the government in England has appointed a head teacher to carry out a review into how the new proposals can be best implemented, given local circumstances and parents' values-;The new policy will apply to 6.5 million schoolchildren in 22,500 schools in England.

"This is a bold move and a necessary one," said England's Schools Minister Jim Knight.
"Modern life is increasingly complex and we have a duty to equip our young people with the knowledge and skills to deal with it."

In a statement, the Department for Children, Schools and Families said that Downing Street "sees education as key to supporting young people to avoid teenage pregnancy, STI (sexually-transmitted infections), drug and alcohol misuse".

The statement said that ministers recognise that parents had to take the lead, but noted that schools could help by providing information and emotional and social skills for pupils.

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

Cambodian military inspect site of skirmish with Thai troops

PREAH VIHEAR, -----
Senior Cambodian military police toured a tense disputed border area Saturday where a skirmish with Thai troops left three soldiers injured, ahead of talks between the two sides.
One Cambodian soldier and two Thai troops were wounded when units exchanged gunfire during a brief clash Friday near an ancient temple in the area.

Tensions flared in July after the Khmer temple of Preah Vihear was awarded world heritage status by the UN cultural body UNESCO, angering nationalists in Thailand who still claim ownership of the site----
Those tensions turned into a military standoff, in which up to 1,000 Cambodian and Thai troops faced off for six weeks.
Both sides agreed to pull back in mid-August, leaving just a few dozen soldiers stationed near the temple.

Cambodian and Thai officials have fired accusations at each other over Friday's skirmish, which comes amid attempts to make progress in talks to resolve the decades-long border dispute.

Cambodian deputy commander General Chea Dara said Thai troops had intruded more than a kilometre (0.6 miles) into Cambodia.

"Our troops are patient, but they must protect themselves too," Dara told reporters.

Thai troops appeared to be keeping their distance from their Cambodian counterparts on Saturday, but a Cambodian officer said the Thais had dug a fresh trench on disputed land.
"Digging a trench breaches an earlier agreement between Cambodia and Thailand," said Major Meas Yoeurn.

Cambodian and Thai military officials are scheduled to meet at the border on Saturday evening for talks, the Cambodian delegation said.
The Cambodian foreign ministry on Saturday sent a letter of protest to the Thai embassy in Phnom Penh.

The letter said Cambodian troops had only returned fire in self-defence and warned that "armed provocation by Thai soldiers could lead to very grave consequences, including full-scale armed hostility."

Thailand's foreign ministry earlier blamed its neighbour and said the three-minute exchange of gunfire came after Cambodian troops had crossed into Thai territory.>>>>>

Algerian protesters demand aid as toll rises

GHARDAIA, Algeria----
Around 5,000 people demonstrated in the flood-riven southern Algerian town of Ghardaia on Friday to demand urgent aid after flash floods killed 33 residents, witnesses said.
Police broke up the rally before the crowd could reach the municipal headquarters, witnesses told AFP. The protesters demanded basic food supplies and equipment to help search for survivors or bodies buried in the rubble.

The death toll in Ghardaia climbed to three Friday as aid workers battled to help hundreds of homeless and the army was deployed to prevent looting, state radio said.

The floods had left 50 people injured and made about a thousand homeless around the historic town, an UN World Heritage site at the entrance to the Algerian desert in the M'Zab Valley, state radio said.

The Algerian government on Friday unblocked aid for victims, said the minister for national soli-darity, Djamel Ould Abbas, as cited by APS agency.

Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia gave "strict orders for victims of the natural catastrophe to be taken care of by releasing" unrestricted credit, the minister said.

Hundreds of volunteers, Red Crescent workers and scouts were helping the homeless.

The radio said the water level was eight metres (26 feet) high in some parts of the town, some 600 kilometres (370 miles) south of the capital Algiers.
In and around Ghardaia, those who had escaped the worst of the flooding helped their less fortunate neighbours, offering shelter and hot meals to those left homeless by the flash floods.

Tunisian President Zine El Abindine Ben Ali on Tuesday sent his "sincere condolences" and "strong feelings of sympathy and compassion" to Algerian counterpart Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

Interior Minister Noureddine Yazid Zerhouni said the floods are the worst for a century, while locals on Friday reported sweeping damage.

"Hundreds of houses have been destroyed but thousands have been damaged and are uninhabitable in the area," said a resident of El-Gaba, a village near Ghardaia, speaking in front of his ravaged home.
"It's unimaginable, a real catastrophe," added another, confirming that four people had died in the vicinity and three others were missing.

Another shocked resident said all the homes damaged by the waters would effectively have to be rebuilt.

Gas and electricity supplies have been partially revived, but there was an acute shortage of basic goods and medicines -- most of which had been damaged due to the flooding---The interior ministry sent tents, generators, and 400 tonnes of food aid to the region.
The authorities also requisitioned two sports halls, where they installed 890 tents and 1,500 camp beds for those made homeless by the rains.
Several parts of Algeria were lashed by heavy rain including Djelfa -- midway between Ghardaia and Algiers -- where two people died.

Flooding in the Algiers region in 2001 killed more than 800 people and caused considerable damage>>>>>>

Search continues at Fossett's crash site

Search continues at Fossett's crash site


SAN FRANCISCO ---
About 70 searchers combed the area around the crash site of adventurer Steve Fossett's plane Friday as scientists were due to test a small piece of bone found near the plane.
The small bone, said by police to be about five centimetres by three centimetres was the only sign of possible human remains at the remote site. But it was far from clear that it was even human.---"When you find a bone fragment, there's no way to know until you give it to a forensic lab, whether it's human or animal," said Erica Stuart, a spokeswoman for the Madera County Sheriff's Department, which is handling the recovery. "We won't know until it's analysed."----The searchers are in a race against an early winter storm, which could limit access to the area and possibly bury it in snow. Search teams on Thursday matched the wreckage with the plane that Fossett took off in before disappearing over the Sierra Nevada mountains last September.---Investigators said that the pattern of the wreckage made it almost certain that the crash was fatal. Debris from the wreckage was scattered across the mountainside, prompting National Transportation Safety Board acting chairman Mark Rosenker to call it "indicative of a high-impact crash, which appears to be consistent with a non-survivable accident.">>>>

Rice in India amid hitches with nuke pact

NEW DELHI ----
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in India Saturday to showcase a landmark civilian nuclear cooperation deal, although the triumph of her trip was tempered by last-minute hitches.
Rice, who had lobbied Congress to pass a deal despite fears it could undercut international efforts to curb the spread of nuclear weapons, raised doubts over whether she and the Indians would sign the deal this weekend.--A delay would be another bump in a three-year rollercoaster for an agreement aimed at lifting a ban on US-Indian civilian nuclear trade imposed after India's first nuclear test in 1974.--Rice, due to meet Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee, said the problem was bureaucratic rather than substantive.

"There are a lot of administrative details that have to be worked out," Rice told reporters on her flight to New Delhi. "I'll let you know (if the signing is on) but the whole purpose of this trip is to move forward, not to look at where we are," she added.

Both houses of the US Congress voted in favour of the nuclear deal this week, but President George W. Bush has yet to sign it into law.

While Rice did not elaborate on the administrative snags, she insisted she did not have to wait for Bush's signature to initial the pact herself.

According to Indian foreign ministry sources, however, New Delhi wants the presidential seal before moving forward.--The US embassy had distributed a press booklet for the trip showing a signing ceremony planned for 2:00pm (0830 GMT), but embassy officials said the event was no longer planned.

The deal offers India access to sophisticated US technology and cheap atomic energy in return for New Delhi allowing UN inspections of some of its civilian nuclear facilities>>>>>

EU's Mandelson returns to British government

LONDON --
Peter Mandelson's return to the British Cabinet sparked surprise and words of warning for Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Saturday after he turned to an old enemy to tackle the financial crisis.
Britain's newspapers gave front-page reactions to the resurrection in government of the European Union's trade commissioner, with some hailing a brilliant gamble by Brown and others outraged at the return of "Lord Sleaze".

Mandelson, who has twice been forced to resign from British ministerial posts, acknowledged that his new job "was certainly not what I was expecting" but said he was proud to become a minister for the third time- The 54-year-old's appointment to the post of business secretary was the biggest surprise in Brown's cabinet reshuffle on Friday, which was aimed at helping the government deal with the global credit crunch.

Mandelson was dubbed the "Prince of Darkness" for his spin doctor skills and Machiavellian ways in reshaping the Labour Party into the electable force that has been in power since 1997- But a poll out Saturday showed a huge task still lies ahead if he is to help the governing, centre-left party win the next general election, due by May 2010.

The survey by pollsters ICM in The Guardian newspaper showed the main opposition Conservatives still far ahead of Labour following the annual party conference season, which concluded Wednesday- The poll put the centre-right Conservatives on 42 per cent (up one per cent on last week), Labour on 30 per cent (down two per cent), and the centre-left Liberal Democrats on 17 per cent (down one per cent).

However, when asked which of the two main parties was better able to run the economy, 37 per cent said the Conservatives (down three per cent on March), while 35 percent said Labour (up three per cent). Twenty-eight per cent said they did not know.--"Voters give Brown credit for fighting the crisis but also want a Tory government," The Guardian concluded.

ICM interviewed 1,008 random adults by telephone on Wednesday and Thursday. Without a House of Commons seat, Mandelson will be given a lordship and enter parliament's upper chamber in order to rejoin the Cabinet. "His feud with Gordon Brown was so bitter that for years they barely spoke. So it shows the PM's desperation," said The Sun, Britain's biggest-selling daily.

The Daily Mail said on its front page: "Arise Lord Sleaze", while inside, columnist Richard Littlejohn called Mandelson an "odious, discredited creep... the most malignant tumor on Britain's body politic".

The quality press concluded that it was a high-risk gamble with Brown staking his premiership on a dangerous figure>>>>>>

Everest skydivers freefall from the roof of the world

SHYANGBOCHE, ---

Skydivers in Nepal plunged through the shadow of Mount Everest on Saturday in preparation for a planned free fall over the world's highest peak.
Launching themselves from 6,666 metres (22,000 feet) on Saturday morning, the skydivers had around one minute in free fall before a parachute descent that offered a stunning Himalayan panorama.-"It was like floating on a cloud while looking at the highest mountains in the world. The views of Everest were amazing, you could even see base camp," said Steve Hennessy, an Australian skydive instructor who made one of the first descents Friday.-The unprecedented jumps are being offered as a commercial enterprise by the British adventure travel company "High and Wild".

The first 32 clients each paid 24,000 dollars to be part of an exercise that the company itself classified as "touching madness."

Around 20 people jumped Saturday morning and Ian Bishop, one of the organisers, said that weather permitting - they would start diving from above the height of Mount Everest -8,848 metres, 29,028 feet- on Sunday.
Jumping out of a plane at such altitudes poses a raft of challenges.

The air is extremely thin, forcing the skydivers to use specially-made parachutes with canopies three times the regular size.

They also wear neoprene suits and thermal gear to keep out the freezing cold on the descent and have bottled oxygen strapped to their waist>>>>>

9 wounded in Philippine grenade attack

MANILA----
Nine people have been wounded in a grenade attack in the southern Philippines, the military said Saturday.
An unidentified person lobbed the grenade into a public area in the town of Claver late Friday, said regional army spokesman Major Armand Rico.

The explosion caused panic and wounded nine people, he said, adding that the suspect has not been caught and the motive for the attack is unknown.The explosion came amid tightened security in the southern Philippines, where the military has been locked in intense gunbattles with Muslim separatist rebels since August.

Dozens have been killed in the fighting with the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
More than half a million people have also been forced to flee the battles, which began just days after the Supreme Court halted a deal that would have given the MILF control over a Muslim autonomous area.

Americas print media analyses future

Americas print media analyses future


MADRID ---- North and Latin American print media executives opened a five-day meeting here Friday to analyse the evolution of their readership, the rise of free newspapers and other challenges facing the industry.
Press freedoms, which are sometimes threatened in Latin America, will also be examined at the 64th Inter-American Press Association general assembly."The press as a whole is going through a period of radical transformation," said the president of Spanish media giant Prisa, Ignacio Polanco, during the opening session of the meeting.

Prisa, the owner of Spain's top selling newspaper El Pais as well as extensive media interests in Latin America, is one of the co-organisers of the event.

The gathering comes as media outlets around the world are facing sharp declines in advertising due to the global economic slowdown and lower circulation.US newspapers have shed hundreds of jobs since the beginning of the year.

In August Gannett, which owns 85 daily papers and 900 non-daily papers in the United States and Britain, as well as 23 television stations, said it planned to cut 1,000 jobs, or about three per cent of its workforce>>>>

Exhibition on Renoir's 'La Loge' opens in London

A man stands in front of two paintings, both called 'La Loge' and both painted in 1874 by French artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir, displayed as part of 'Renoir at the Theatre: Looking at La Loge' at Courtauld Institute of Art in London..


LONDON
A London museum that owns "La Loge", impressionist painter Pierre-August Renoir's masterpiece, will open an exhibition Thursday centred around the painting.
The Courtauld Gallery, based in central London's Somerset House, will play host to "Renoir at the Theatre: Looking at 'La Loge'" until May 25, combining several works by Renoir himself based on the same theme along with other paintings and prints by his contemporaries.
"La Loge" was one of Renoir's main contributions to the world of impressionist art when it was first exhibited in 1874, drawing considerable attention at the time.

It served to boost his reputation, and is now considered to be one the most important works of impressionist art by any artist;-Previously, theatre boxes had been the subject of ridicule, used in particular by "Le Charivari", a daily French publication which printed a new caricature each day.
Since Renoir's work, however, painters have increasingly used the theatre box to illustrate the evolution of fashion in Parisian society. Boosted by his success with "La Loge", Renoir painted a smaller version of the masterpiece in the same year as he produced the original, and the two will sit side-by-side at the exhibition in London.The Courtauld will also show other works by Renoir along the same theme, including "La Petite Loge", "Au Theatre" and "Au Concert".
===

McCain denies affair with female lobbyist

Vicki Iseman





John Mc Cain


WASHINGTON
Republican White House contender John McCain denied Thursday ever having an extramarital affair with a Washington lobbyist following a New York Times report which he described as disappointing.
"Obviously I'm very disappointed in the article. It's not true," he said at a hastily arranged press conference in Toledo, Ohio with wife Cindy beside him, rebutting the suggestion of an affair eight years ago.

Asked directly if he had had a relationship with the lobbyist, Vicki Iseman, the Arizona senator said "no", and said they had been just "friends" who had last met "several months ago".

"Something like this is always distracting and very disappointing and I hope we can, by doing what we're doing here, put to rest the whole situation," McCain said.

"But hopefully we can get this thing resolved and behind us and move forward with the campaign. I'm confident that we will move forward... and I'm confident we will get the nomination.";-McCain also denied that he had ever extended improper favours to companies represented by Iseman as chairman of the Senate commerce committee, after the Times ran a lengthy article about ethics over the course of his career.
The newspaper said Iseman had also denied a romantic entanglement, but that McCain's aides tried to block her access to the politician, fearing that his image as an ethics crusader might be sullied during his 2000 presidential bid.
===

HK star apologises for 'all the suffering'

Hong Kong actor-singer Edison Chen faces the media at a hastily convened press conference in Hong Kong on Feb 21. At least seven stars have been sucked into the twists and turns of a sex scandal over explicit photos..

HONG KONG The Canadian-born actor at the centre of a sex photos scandal Thursday apologised "for all the suffering that has been caused" and announced he was retiring from the Hong Kong entertainment scene.
Explicit photographs of Edison Chen with a string of Hong Kong starlets and pop stars have been plastered across the Internet over the past few weeks, causing a storm in this celebrity-obsessed city.

Chen, 27, said he had come back to Hong Kong to account for himself. "I would like now to apologise to all the people for all the suffering that has been caused and the problems that have arisen from this," Chen said, reading out a statement in English to a packed press conference.
"I would like to apologise to all the ladies and to all their families for any harm or hurt that they have been feeling. I am sorry," he said. Media reports say the photos which allegedly show him in compromising positions with various celebrities, including Canto-pop star Gillian Chung, actress Cecilia Cheung and former actress Bobo Chan were copied from Chen's computer when he sent it in for repairs.

Chen admitted taking the photos but said they had been stolen from him;-"I admit that most of the photos being circulated on the Internet were taken by me but these photos were very private and have not been shown to people and were never intended to be shown to anyone," said the star of "Grudge II."
"These photos were stolen from me illegally and distributed without my consent. There's no doubt whoever obtained these photos had been uploading them on the Internet with malicious and deliberate intent," he said;-Chen said he was assisting the police with their investigation.

"I have been assisting the police since the first day the photos were published and I will continue to assist them," he said, thanking the police "for their hard work on this case."
===

Body snatching defendant appears in New York court

NEW YORK
A former dentist charged with stealing body parts from more than 1,000 corpses appeared in court in New York Wednesday, in a ghoulish case compared by prosecutors to "a cheap horror movie."
Michael Mastromarino stands charged with harvesting organs, body parts and tissue taken from the bodies of people who never consented to be donors, including that of veteran BBC broadcaster Alistair Cooke;-Mastromarino, 44, who was led handcuffed into court, was said by his lawyer to be ready to plead guilty under the terms of a deal with prosecutors that would see him facing 18 to 54 years in jail instead of a life term.

"My client is ready, willing and able to take a plea that was offered by the district attorney's office three weeks ago," Mastromarino's lawyer Mario Gallucci told reporters. "He is still willing to do that and wants to do that."
Prosecutor Josh Hanshaft said that while the deal was still on the table, "if it doesn't work out, we are going to have to go to trial.";-Judge Albert Tomei ordered the case to be adjourned until February 27, after Gallucci said that prosecutors had asked for more time to consider the feelings of the families of the victims in the case.

Mastromarino, who was charged in 2006 along with three other defendants, allegedly made millions of dollars selling the unscreened body tissue.
===

US shoots down defunct spy satellite

HONOLULU, Hawaii
- A US Naval vessel hit a rogue spy satellite with a lone missile strike into space that appeared to have succeeded in destroying its tank of highly toxic fuel, defence officials said Wednesday.

A network of radars and satellites designed for the US missile defense system confirmed that the successful interception occurred some 247 kilometers (133 nautical miles) over the Pacific Ocean.

A senior Pentagon official said the missile appeared to have struck the targetted fuel tank containing hydrazine, which could have leaked potentially lethal toxic gas over a wide area if it had survived re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere.

"All indications are that the mission was a complete success. The missile appears to have destroyed the fuel tank. We will need some time to confirm the extent of destruction, but it looks good," the official said.

The operation raised concerns that the United States was trying to test an anti-satellite weapon, amid rising global tensions about the militarisation of space.

China responded swiftly, calling on Washington to provide more information and warning of potential international consequences.
"China is continuing to closely follow the possible harm caused by the US action to outer space security and relevant countries," foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said.

China caused an international outcry when it shot down one of its own weather satellites on January 11, 2007 in what was widely seen as an anti-satellite test.
US Defense Secretary Robert Gates gave the go-ahead for the missile strike as he flew from Washington to Honolulu, a base for the three Aegis warships involved in the intercept attempt.

The USS Lake Erie, a guided missile cruiser, fired a single modified tactical SM-3 missile that hit the schoolbus-sized satellite which was travelling at more than 7,000 miles= 11,265 kilometer per hour, the Pentagon said.
The objective was to hit a tank containing 1,000 pounds of hydrazine fuel.

Satellite debris will re-enter the Earth's atmosphere immediately because of the relatively low altitude at which the satellite was intercepted, and most will burn up on re-entry within two days, the Pentagon said. But it could take up to 40 days for all the debris to re-enter.
===

Philippine military will not repeat past uprisings

MANILA
The Philippine military has learned its lesson from past uprisings and will not be joining any effort to unseat President Gloria Arroyo, the chief of staff said Thursday.
General Hermogenes Esperon's announcement came amid a growing clamour by various groups for Arroyo's ouster following allegations that her husband and a key ally were implicated in a bribes scandal.

"The military must remain apolitical and must not be the one trying to solve the political problems of the country," he said;-Opposition groups have been calling for an effort similar to the 1986 popular revolt that toppled dictator Ferdinand Marcos and the 2001 uprising that unseated scandal-ridden Joseph Estrada.
The past week has seen two major rallies protesting over the controversial national broadband deal with Chinese company ZTE Corp in which massive bribes were alleged to have been offered.The contract has since been cancelled by Arroyo.

The next rally is scheduled for February 25, the anniversary of the start of the 1986 People-Power revolt that toppled Marcos.

Esperon said the present situation could not be compared to 1986 or 2001 when the military played a pivotal role in unseating the presidents;-Esperon said the accusations against Arroyo were being investigated by the legislature and executive bodies and that the matter could even be taken to court without involving the army.

He said the military would not intervene in planned street protests against Arroyo as long as they remained within the bounds of the law but if they turned violent, the armed forces would respond to any request by the police for help.

Arroyo has weathered at least two attempted mutinies by military factions and three impeachments since coming to power seven years ago.
===

Jailed HK journalist contemplated suicide

Ching Cheong shows a thank you card after a press conference at the Foreign Correspondents Club in Hong Kong on Feb 21



SINGAPORE
Hong Kong journalist Ching Cheong, who was freed from a Chinese prison this month, contemplated suicide during the darkest days of his detention, he told the Singapore newspaper he works for Thursday.
He survived through reading classic Chinese philosophical texts and self-help books that his family had brought him, the Straits Times reported;-Ching, 58, said his most difficult moments in jail came in the early months after his arrest in April 2005 when he had no contact with his family or his employers. Ching was held on suspicion of spying for Taiwan and was sentenced to five years in jail last year during a one-day trial.

"My body clock was turned upside down and the investigators applied mental stress so you voluntarily succumbed to them," he said in his first interview since his unexpected release from prison on February 5.
"I began to lose confidence, lose hope, and had low self-esteem. When you are in such a situation, the downward spiral begins to kick in and the end result is to commit suicide," said Ching, the chief China correspondent for the Straits Times.
Asked if he came close to suicide, Ching replied: "Yes, when you have to dismiss everything you've long held precious to you."

He said he pulled through by reading Chinese philosophical texts, which impressed on him that the things he did were "good for the people and good for the country".
Ching also said his family kept the death of his 82-year-old father in 2006 a secret from him;-On learning of his father's death after his release he said: "I just couldn't accept this story. I cried, I kneeled down and it was really a hard time for me."
===

UN humanitarian official under fire from Israel

JERUSALEMBlogspot-media---
Israel hit out at the top UN humanitarian affairs official, John Holmes, suggesting he failed to clearly blame Palestinian "terrorists" for attacks on the Jewish state.
On Monday, the foreign ministry singled out a statement about a "circle of violence" between Israel and the Palestinians, which Holmes made during a visit on Sunday to Sderot.

The Israeli town has come under near-daily rocket and mortar fire from militants in the Gaza Strip.
"The use of such expressions creates parallels between the terrorists and those protecting themselves from the terrorists," ministry director general Aharon Abramovich said after meeting Holmes on Monday;-In a statement issued after his visit to Sderot, where many residents are pushing for Israeli military action in Gaza, Holmes said: "There are no military targets in this city. These victims here are innocent civilians.
"There is no time to lose in putting an end to this vicious circle of violence. More violence will not bring peace to the people of Sderot," he added.

Earlier in the statement, which is posted on the UN website, Holmes spoke up for the victims of the rocket attacks. "The people of Sderot and the surrounding area have had to live with these unacceptable and indiscriminate rocket attacks for seven years now," he said.
===

Bhutto's widower says will try for opposition coalition

ISLAMABAD

Blogspot-media---
The widower of slain former premier Benazir Bhutto said Tuesday his Pakistan People's Party would try to form a coalition with opposition groups after the ruling party conceded defeat in elections.
"We will form a government of national consensus which will take along every democratic force," Asif Ali Zardari told a news conference in Islamabad a day after parliamentary elections.

Asked if he would include members of the defeated Pakistan Muslim League-Q, which backs President Pervez Musharraf, he replied: "We are not interested in any of those people who are part and parcel of the previous government.;-The PPP's first act if it forms the government will be to seek a United Nations investigation into the assassination of Bhutto, who died in a suicide attack at an election rally in December, he said.
"Whoever we make the government with, we will take a decision with them to go to the UN for the probe," he said. The current government has rejected any investigation by the world body.
Zardari made no direct reference to two-time prime minister Nawaz Sharif, whose party is narrowly behind the PPP according to unofficial preliminary results from the polls.

Sharif said earlier that he was due to meet Zardari in the capital on Thursday to discuss a possible coalition "to rid Pakistan of dictatorship forever".
===

Veteran HK actress 'Fei Fei' passes away

HONG KONG
Blogspot-media----
Veteran Hong Kong entertainer Lydia Shum died Tuesday aged 60 after a battle with liver cancer, her employer and local media said.

Shum, known for her bouffant hairstyle and wing-tip frame glasses, was one of Hong Kong's most popular actresses and comediennes with a career spanning more than four decades.
Affectionately nicknamed by her fans "Fei Fei" which means "fat" in Cantonese because of her plump physique, Shum won over audiences not only in Hong Kong but in mainland China and Chinese communities around the world.

Shum had been undergoing medical treatment since being diagnosed with the disease more than a year ago;-But in recent weeks, her health had worsened and she was moved into intensive care at Queen Mary Hospital where she passed away, Hong Kong media reported.

Her 21-year-old daughter Joyce Cheng arrived in the hospital but would not speak to the media.

"We can confirm she has died," said Winnie Ho, a spokeswoman for her employer, local television station TVB.
Leading figures in Hong Kong, including the city's chief executive Donald Tsang, paid tribute to the respected entertainer.
"I feel very sad about her death. Fei Fei is Hong Kong's 'happy fruit'. Hong Kong people have grown up with her laughter and she had brought a lot of happiness to us," Tsang said.

"On behalf of the government and Hong Kong citizens, I would like to pay condolences to her family.";-Born in Shanghai in 1947, Shum took up acting as a child in the early 60s and quickly became popular thanks to her high spirit and sense of humour.
She went on to star in more than 70 movies, according to Internet Movie Database, and later hosted numerous variety shows produced by TVB, most notably the popular "Enjoy Yourself Tonight".
===

Five killed as rockets hit Baghdad airport

BAGHDAD

Blogspot-media-
A barrage of rockets slammed into Baghdad's international airport and an adjoining US military base Monday, killing five civilians and wounding 16, including two US soldiers, officials and witnesses said.

The deaths and injuries of the civilians occurred when Katyusha rockets crashed into a workers' housing complex within the perimeter of the airport, residents said.They said women and children were among the dead and injured. Many houses were damaged.

"Eight Iraqis, including six children, were taken to a coalition force medical clinic for treatment," the US military said in a statement.

It said rockets also struck areas of Camp Victory US military base adjoining the airport.Six suspects were arrested in the immediate aftermath of the attack, the military said.

"Coalition and Iraq security force quick reaction teams swept the area and captured several insurgents at the scene of the rocket launch," the statement said."Six suspects were taken into custody for questioning and one unexploded rocket was recovered."
Mortar and rocket attacks are usually blamed by the US military on Iranian-backed Shiite militias it terms "special groups".

US military spokesman Real Admiral Gregory Smith told reporters on Sunday that "special groups" were increasingly using stocks from hidden caches to target US and Iraqi forces;-"What we're seeing is an increase in the use of weapons by Iranian-backed special groups," he said.
The military uses the term special groups to describe what it says are "rogue elements" in the Mahdi Army militia of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr who are ignoring his ceasefire order given almost six months ago and which expires at the end of February.
===

Musharraf's allies concede defeat in key elections

ISLAMABAD

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf's allies conceded defeat Tuesday after elections, leaving the party of slain former premier Benazir Bhutto and other opponents headed for a crushing win.

The political survival of Musharraf, a key US ally in the US-led "war on terror", was placed in serious doubt as unofficial results on state television showed a rout of the Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q), the ruling party.

Celebratory gunfire erupted in several cities after the parliamentary elections, seen as completing the country's transition to democracy after eight years of military rule by Musharraf.

"We accept the verdict of the nation," said Tariq Azeem, a spokesman for the PML-Q, which backed Musharraf throughout the last parliament. "We officially concede defeat."

Two-time prime minister Nawaz Sharif said he wanted to work with other opposition parties in parliament to "rid Pakistan of dictatorship forever."

Sharif, whom Musharraf ousted in a coup in 1999, told reporters in the eastern city of Lahore that he had already spoken to Bhutto's widower, Asif Ali Zardari, and would meet with him later in the week for further talks.

With counting in from 257 constituencies, the PML-Q and its allies had taken a total of 57 seats. The party's chief and several key members lost their seats in Pakistan's national assembly;-Even if the PML-Q won all the remaining seats not yet counted, they would not be able to attain a majority in the parliament, which has 272 elected and 70 unelected seats.
"This is the basic spirit of democracy," Azeem told AFP. "We believe the elections were free and fair and everybody must accept the decision for the betterment of Pakistan."

State television said Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) had 85 seats, Sharif's faction of the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) had 65 seats, with the PML-Q, smaller parties and independents taking the rest, according to preliminary unofficial results.
Opposition supporters took to the streets chanting the names of Sharif and Bhutto in the small hours of Tuesday when early counting showed their parties sweeping the board.

The death of Bhutto in a December 27 gun and suicide attack -- along with other suicide bombings -- overshadowed the campaign and forced the election's delay until Monday;-Analysts hailed the vote as the final step on the nuclear-armed nation's path to civilian democracy.
"It means the forces of democracy and the rule of law have won," Talat Masood, a former general who is now a political and defence analyst, told AFP.
He said the election results also show that the previous government's support of the West and its "war on terror" have "been totally rejected by the people".

The opposition feared polls would be rigged but private Washington-based analysts Strategic Forecasting said "the elections seem to have been decently free and fair.";-Azeem earlier told AFP: "If the results are confirmed we will play the part of the opposition as effectively as we can."

High-profile victims who lost their seats included party president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and almost all of Musharraf's former cabinet, including close presidential ally Sheikh Rashid.
===

Hizbollah commander killed in Syria

Hizbollah commander killed in Syria

BEIRUT A Hizbollah official said on Wednesday that one of the Shiite militant group's top commanders, Imad Mughnieh, had been killed in Syria and blamed Israel for the attack.
The official said Mughnieh, in his late 40s, was killed in a car bombing in the Syrian capital late on Tuesday.

"He has been a target of the Zionists for 20 years," a Hizbollah statement said.

In Jerusalem, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office refused to comment on the claims by Hizbollah.

"We are not making any comment," Olmert spokesman Mark Regev told AFP.

Mughnieh, who was head of Hizbollah's special operations unit, was wanted for his suspected role in a number of attacks, including the 1992 bombing of the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires which killed 29 people.

He was also suspected of being involved in the abduction of Western hostages in Lebanon during the country's 1975-1990 civil war.

He was suspected by Western intelligence services of working directly for Iranian intelligence and was on the US State Department's list of most wanted terrorism suspects.

Hizbollah's Al-Manar television interrupted its normal programming on Thursday to broadcast music to mark his death.

Residents of his home village of Tair Debba, some five kilometres (three miles) east of the Lebanese coastal town of Tyre, gathered in the street to listen to radio and television reports about his death.

"We heard that he was killed in a car bombing in Syria," village mayor Hussein Saad told AFP.

Saad added that Mughnieh's brothers, Jihad and Fuad, has also been killed in car bombings, in their cases in Lebanon in 1984 and 1995.

Hizbollah announced that Mughnieh's funeral service would be held on Thursday.

Syrian state television confirmed that one person had been killed in a car bombing late on Tuesday but did not identify the victim.

Witnesses in Damascus told AFP that the vehicle was blown up in a car park in the newly completed residential neighbourhood of Kfar Suseh at around 11 pm (2100 GMT).

The rear of the Mitsubishi Pajero was entirely blown out by the force of the blast, an AFP photographer reported.

After the explosion, police prevented journalists from getting near enough to the scene to see if there had been any casualties.

The windows of nearby buildings were blown in and four cars parked close by were damaged.

Mughnieh's death comes as Lebanon is mired in its worst political crisis since the end of the civil war.

The country has been without a president since November, when pro-Syrian head of state Emile Lahoud stepped down with no successor in place amid deadlock between the Western-backed government and the Hizbollah-led opposition.

Lebanon has also been on tenterhooks in the run-up to a mass rally which the government has called for Thursday to commemorate the third anniversary of the assassination of former premier Rafiq Hariri.

There have been repeated clashes between government and opposition supporters in recent days raising fears of esclating street violence.
======

McCartney divorce deal hangs in balance

LONDON
Hopes for a last-ditch accord between Paul McCartney and his estranged wife Heather Mills hang in the balance as they prepare for the final day of behind-closed-doors hearings Friday.

The former Beatle and the 40-year-old former model have remained tight-lipped all week since the hearings began Monday at the High Court in central London;-Press reports on Tuesday said they were close to clinching a deal after both McCartney, 65, and Mills were seen smiling and looking relaxed as they emerged from the top-secret talks;-But since then hopes have faded again, and there is little indication whether an agreement can be struck before the scheduled end of the five-day legal wrangle on Friday.

If they fail to agree to a private accord this week, the case will be heard in public.

"It is possible that if the matter is not settled by agreement, (the judge) will make an order and if Miss Mills is not happy with the terms she can apply to take her case to the Court of Appeal," said lawyer David Ruck.
"If she is given permission, she can go to the Court of Appeal and then the whole matter will be in public," added Ruck, of law firm Gordon Dadds.

McCartney and Mills were last in court in October but failed to agree on a financial settlement in what is claimed could be one of the costliest divorces in British legal history.
=====

Bird flu kills second Vietnamese man this week

HANOI
Bird flu killed a second Vietnamese man this week after he handled infected poultry, raising the country's human death toll from the virus to 50 in total, health officials said Friday.
Hoang Van Doan, 27, from northern Ninh Binh province, "died of H5N1 yesterday (Thursday) evening", said Nguyen Gia Binh, a senior official at Hanoi's Bach Mai Hospital, where the man had been treated.

People close to Doan were now being tested for the virus, said Nguyen Huy Nga, director of preventive medicine at the Health Ministry.

The latest victim was admitted to a provincial military hospital and was moved to the Hanoi hospital on February 12, where he later tested positive for the H5N1 strain and died of multiple organ failure on Thursday at about 8pm.

He had slaughtered two chickens on January 31 and fell ill two days later, said Hoang Van Nam, deputy director of the Animal Health Department.

Doan became Vietnam's third bird flu victim this year after a 40-year-old man died of pneumonia and kidney failure Wednesday at a Hanoi hospital, and a 32-year-old man died of similar symptoms on January 18;-Northern Vietnam has been in the grip of a month-long cold snap that experts say aids the spread of flu and other respiratory diseases because immune systems are weakened and people tend to spend more time indoors together.
The days around last week's traditional Tet lunar New Year are considered a high-risk bird flu period because the movement of poultry products, and of people, rises sharply during Vietnam's biggest festival.

===

10 hurt in Lebanon as quake shakes

TYRE, Lebanon
An earthquake measuring 5.0 on the open-ended Richter scale rocked Lebanon on Friday, injuring 10 people and sending panicked residents out into the streets in the south of the country.
The quake, which was also felt across the border in Israel and in the Gaza Strip, caused damage in a number of villages in southern Lebanon while buildings shook in the capital Beirut.

In the southern coastal city of Tyre, residents ran toward the seashore and began reciting verses of the Koran after the tremor struck, an AFP correspondent said.

Lebanon's National Centre for Scientific Research said the quake had an intensity of 5.0 on the Richter scale, with its epicentre located 17 kilometres (10 miles) northeast of Tyre, adding that 10 people were slightly injured.

"We expect another quake of similar magnitude or stronger in the next 24 hours," said centre director Mouin Hamzeh.

The tremor -- the second in the region this week -- hit at around 1030 GMT.

"Several abandoned homes collapsed and some buildings suffered cracked walls and balconies," Hamzeh told AFP.

Local television said some villages in the south experienced power cuts. The chimney on one building in Tyre came tumbling down, crushing several vehicles.

Israeli media reports said the quake was also felt in the central part of the country and in the Gaza Strip, without any initial reports of injuries or property damage.

Seismology experts in Israel warn of a major earthquake within years because of a major faultline in the region.

Another tremor measuring about 4.0 on the open-ended Richter scale struck Lebanon on February 12 and was also felt in Israel. Its epicentre was six kilometres four miles east of Tyre.

The last earthquake of such magnitude to shake the country took place in 2001 with its epicentre in the Bekaa region of eastern Lebanon.
======

Thousands rally for Arroyo's ouster

Thousands rally for Arroyo's ouster

MANILAThousands of protesters massed in the Philippine capital Friday with some hurling tomatoes at images of President Gloria Arroyo and her husband, demanding their ouster for alleged corruption.
Authorities enforced high security, with at least two light tanks, six armoured cars and numerous troops arriving to reinforce soldiers already based in Manila ahead of the event, military officials said;-More than 3,000 marchers including 79-year-old former vice-president Teofisto Guingona, lawyers, nuns, priests and students marched in the city's financial district of Makati.
Some carried placards saying "guilty, guilty" while a banner displayed a caricature showing Arroyo lying on bags of cash.
An image of Arroyo and her husband with the slogan "couple in crime" emblazoned on it, was pelted with tomatoes while protesters chanted "Enough is enough, Overthrow Gloria".

Another Arroyo-adorned poster proclaimed: "Moderate Your Greed."
Some workers in buildings overlooking the rally showered the protesters with confetti in a show of support.

Observers said the protest was noticeably smaller than previous rallies held in Makati, a stronghold of the anti-Arroyo opposition forces.

Many offices in Makati allowed their employees to go home early to avoid getting caught in traffic jams caused by the protest.

Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay, a leader of the opposition, charged that government forces were preventing protesters from entering the city to join the rally.

The rally was called to demand Arroyo's ouster over fresh claims that her husband and a political ally tried to gain millions of dollars in kickbacks from a telecoms deal with a Chinese firm.

The president has cancelled the US$329 million national broadband network deal with China's state-run ZTE Corp as a result of the graft allegations.

In an address to businessmen in Makati earlier in the day, Arroyo said she ordered a "thorough and transparent" probe into the corruption claims.

"We do not want to tolerate corruption. There is no room in the development of our country for wasting money on corruption when so much remains to be done to invest in the nation," she said.

=====

Israel bracing for strikes

Israel bracing for strikes

JERUSALEM Israel is bracing for threatened retaliation by Hezbollah over charges it assassinated one of the Lebanese militia's top commanders, with fears running high of a high-profile attack abroad.
Hizbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah declared "open war" on Israel in a fiery speech at the funeral in Beirut on Thursday of Imad Mughnieh, a shadowy figure on America's most wanted list who was killed in a Damascus car bombing;-Israel has denied any involvement in the assassination, but Nasrallah said that by killing Mughnieh, it had taken its battle with Hizbollah beyond Lebanon's borders and should therefore expect attacks anywhere.

"The big question arising from the killing in Damascus is not whether Hezbollah will respond, but how and when," Israeli columnist Yossi Melman wrote in the Haaretz newspaper.
Mughnieh, who was killed on Tuesday, was wanted for his suspected involvement in a string of anti-Jewish attacks including the 1992 bombing of the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires, which killed 29 people, and the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community centre there that killed 85.

Israel has since stepped up security at home and abroad, fearing reprisals from Hizbollah -- the Shiite Muslim group it battled in a devastating war across the border in Lebanon in 2006.
"Israel is a strong state, the Jewish people are strong and our answer to terror is clear," Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said in Washington. "Statements by this or that terrorist won't change this and we are not panicking."
===========

More than 200 couples lined up on..

BANGKOK,
More than 200 couples lined up on Thursday to tie the knot on Valentine's Day in Bangkok's Bang Rak district, whose name translates as "the village of love."

Groom Preecha Kamnoetsing, 36, and his new wife Atchaporn Ponsiri, 28, were among lovebirds who chose the festival as their wedding date.
"We want to register today because it is a very special day," Preecha told AFP at a hotel where district officials set up shop to handle the huge number couples seeking marriage certificates.
Somsak Boonsughth, a district official, said local authorities started using a hotel because their offices cannot accommodate the large crowd of lovers wanting to get married on Valentine's Day;-"The number of couples seeking marriage licenses on Valentine's Day keeps rising," Somsak said, adding more than 600 couples were expected to marry in the lover's district Thursday.

While none of the couples wore white wedding dresses or tuxedos, the mood was celebratory.
"I am so excited," beamed 34-year-old Pranee Saentichak, standing next to her 44-year-old Norwegian groom, Jim Rune.
"Today is going to be a long-lasting memory for us," said Pranee, who was wearing a sparkling pink party dress.

Valentine's Day is also a special day for Thai police, who deploy special teams each year to Bangkok's night spots in a bid to prevent teenagers from having sex.

Rival memorials held in Lebanon

BEIRUT - Tens of thousands of pro-government supporters converged on central Beirut on Thursday for the third anniversary of ex-premier Rafiq Hariri's assassination, just miles from where Lebanon's opposition group Hizbollah prepared to bury a top commander slain by a car bomb.
Amid fears of clashes between the rival pro- and anti-Syrian factions, army troops and security forces were deployed heavily in the capital. The factions have faced off repeatedly in recent weeks.

A sea of people gathered under pouring rain in Martyrs' Square in central Beirut, where Hariri is buried, waving Lebanese flags and photos of the slain leader, as well as other politicians and figures killed in the past three years.
The Western-backed government's supporters blame the attacks on Syria, which along with Iran is a major backer of Hizbollah.
Damascus has denied any involvement in the killings.

As the rally got underway, members of Hariri's family and the ruling coalition inaugurated a square at the site of his killing on the Beirut seafront;-They also unveiled a bronze statue, a sculpture in the form of a flame and an obelisk bearing his accomplishments and sayings.

Martyrs' Square was packed with demonstrators and cars continued to flood highways and streets leading to the city where organisers handed out Lebanese flags, umbrellas and plastic bags to the demonstrators.Organisers said hundreds of thousands of people had turned out for the anniversary.

"Open our parliament, free our government, elect a president now," read one banner, referring to the power struggle between the pro- and anti-Syrian factions that has left Lebanon without a head of state since November.

Ramia Gharib, a seamstress in her 40s, said she was attending the rally to show her support for the ruling majority."We want a presidential election, we want the international tribunal," she said referring to a UN probe into Hariri's murder.

Lebanon has been mired in a deep political crisis since Hariri's murder, which sparked international outrage and forced the pullout of Syrian troops after a 29-year presence.

It has been without a president since November, when pro-Syrian Emile Lahoud stepped down at the end of his mandate with no elected successor. All attempts to elect a new president have since failed.

In the city's southern Shiite suburbs, Hizbollah prepared to bury Imad Mughnieh, one of its top commanders killed in a car bombing on Tuesday which the movement blamed on Israel.

The Jewish state denied responsibility although senior politicians welcomed his death and a US State Department spokesman said the world would be "a better place" without him.Mughnieh, 45, was on America's Most Wanted list for his role in a string of attacks in the 1980s and 90s against American and Israeli targets, including the bombing of the US Marine barracks in Beirut in 1983 and the hijacking of a TWA flight in 1985.
"The elimination of Mughnieh is a painful blow, and the toughest blow, against Hizbollah," said al-Akhbar daily, which is close to the Syria- and Iran-backed opposition.

"This master stroke by Israel seems very professional," it said.

"Imad Mughnieh: author of heroic operations, martyred," wrote the daily as-Safir, which is also close to the opposition. "It is a huge and heavy blow for Hizbollah," it said.
========

AC Milan Ronaldo's season over: Report

ROME -
Ronaldo ruptured a tendon in his right knee during AC Milan's 1-1 draw at home to Livorno on Wednesday and faces nine months on the sidelines, according to Gazetta dello Sport.

AC Milan confirmed the extent of Ronaldo's injury on their website, which he suffered just minutes after entering the fray as a second-half substitute and was taken to hospital.

Gazetta claimed the former three-time world player of the year's career could be over as well.

"It's an injury that could end the career of 'Il Fenomeno'," it said on its website.

"The recovery time is dramatic: from nine months to a year."
Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti refused to call time on Ronaldo's career, though.

"We're all very sorry and worried about what happened to Ronaldo, I don't want to say it's the end of his career because only time can decide whether it is or not," he said.

"From our part all we can do is stand by him and let him recover. Our players all left the stadium in a hurry to go to the hospital to check on his condition, I think that's the right way to stand by a player who's suffering."

Ronaldo was taken to hospital from where Milan's Brazilian scout Leonardo, said the striker had all but confirmed those worst fears.

"Ronaldo said it was exactly the same thing as last time," said Leonardo, referring to the time when Ronaldo ruptured the tendon in his right knee in November 1999.

Ronaldo underwent an X-ray at hospital and Milan's club doctor Jean-Pierre Messerman later confirmed he had indeed suffered the same injury that inflicted his right knee eight years ago.
Another doctor, Walter Pascale, however, did have some good news for Ronaldo.

"Surgical tenchniques to repair this kind of injury have improved a lot over the last eight years," he said.

"If things go as they should he should get back to his best. However it's difficult at this time to say for how long he will be out."

Ronaldo will go under the knife in Paris on Thursday where he also underwent surgery in 1999;-He fell awkwardly just three minutes after replacing Alberto Gilardino in the second half on Wednesday.

He was challenging for a ball in the air with Jose Vidigal, although the move resulted in a penalty to Milan which Andrea Pirlo converted to level the scores.
"I heard a horrible sound, like a bang, it was a strange sound," said Livorno goalkeeper Marco Amelia, who was close by when Ronaldo fell to the ground.
The last time Ronaldo suffered the same injury he managed to make his comeback in April 2000 but lasted only seven minutes before reinjuring his knee.

It was 20 months before he made a proper comeback for the 2002 World Cup, during which he finished as top scorer as he guided Brazil to a record fifth triumph.
However Ronaldo is now 31 and his contract at Milan runs out at the end of the season.
He has also been battling an expanding waistline and fitness problems for years and it is doubtful whether or not, having won everything there is to win in football - except the Champions League he will have the motivation to make a comeback after his 32nd birthday.

Jailed for match-fixing

SINGAPORE
A player from former Singapore football league side Liaoning Guangyuan was sentenced to seven months in jail Thursday for match-fixing.
Zhao Zhipeng, 26, from China, was the first of seven players from the team to appear in court.

Court documents said Zhao accepted 2,000 Singapore dollars from the club's manager, Wang Xin, as a reward for helping the club lose by at least three goals during an S-League match on November 1, 2007.

Zhao, a centre forward, "did not play to the best of his ability" during the match, the prosecution said.

Judge Toh Yung Cheong said Zhao's conduct could damage the country's reputation. The player on Wednesday pleaded guilty.

The prosecution alleged that Wang had placed bets on S-League matches through a friend in China.

Zhao's lawyer Mahmood Gaznavi told the court that his client was "a mere pawn" under the influence of a domineering and powerful Wang, who has since disappeared and is reportedly in China.

Mahmood told reporters he would appeal the sentence.
Zhao could have faced a fine of up to 100,000 dollars, or five years in prison, or both. Trials for other players are scheduled for next Monday.
Liaoning have been thrown out of the S-League and will be replaced for the 2008 season by China's most successful club side Dalian Shide.

Last year, a former Malaysian national team coach, Chow Kwai Lam, was convicted and fined 50,000 dollars in a Singapore court for match-fixing.

Freeze hits Vietnam; dead, hundreds sick

HANOI - Two children have died and hundreds of elderly people are seriously ill, while crops and livestock have been devastated by a month-long cold snap in Vietnam's northern mountains, officials said Thursday.

The worst cold spell in years, linked to icy winter weather in neighbouring China, has seen hospitals overflow with cases of pneumonia and other respiratory diseases, health officials and media reports said.The unusual cold spell has killed more than 8,000 cattle and buffalos, wiped out over 50,000 hectares (120,000 acres) of rice fields and devastated peanut and soybean crops, the agriculture ministry said;-Northern farms have been hard hit as temperatures dropped below freezing and ice covered mountains in northern Lang Son province and around the former French hill station of Sapa in Lao Cai province near the Lao border.
At least two children's deaths have been linked to the harsh weather, when they froze to death during a family motorcycle trip in Phu Tho province north of Hanoi this week, the state-run Vietnam News daily reported.

"This cold spell has lasted for 33 days," said Bui Minh Tang, director of the National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting. "This is the coldest and longest cold spell in more than a decade.
"It has caused human and economic losses, cattle have died, rice crops have died, some people have died, and many have fallen sick."

Another official at the meteorological centre added: "We predict that this long cold spell will end by Sunday."
The number of children admitted to hospital has tripled in some areas, and many elderly have been treated for pneumonia, with hundreds of people in hospital across northern Vietnam, local media reported.

"The number of children coming to our clinic increased because of the cold weather," said Nguyen Tien Dung, head of paediatrics at Bach Mai Hospital in Hanoi. He said admissions had at least tripled to 30 to 40 children a day.
=====================

Hospital official held over 'mentally ill' suicide bombers

BAGHDAD-
An official at a psychiatric hospital in the Iraqi capital has been detained on suspicion of supplying information about mentally ill patients to al-Qaeda, the US military said on Wednesday.
The acting administrator of al-Rashad hospital was arrested in his office on Sunday, US military spokesman Rear Admiral Gregory Smith told a news conference in Baghdad.
The detention, he added, is linked to investigations into separate attacks on pet markets in Baghdad on February 1 that killed 98 people and which were carried out by two women who Iraqi officials said were mentally impaired.
One was reportedly carrying a rucksack packed with explosives and the other wearing a suicide vest.

Smith said US troops had carried out a "thorough" search of al-Rashad hospital, in eastern Baghdad near the Sadr City slum, bastion of the Mahdi Army militia of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr;-"Coalition forces detained a hospital administrator in connection with the possible exploitation of mentally impaired women to al-Qaeda," he said.

"The administrator remains in coalition force detention and is being questioned to determine what role if any (he played) in supplying al-Qaeda with information regarding patients at the al-Rashad psychiatric hospital or from other medical facilities in Baghdad."US and Iraqi officials blamed al-Qaeda for the market attacks, saying it was a reflection of its "twisted" ideology.
Smith did not identify the official and gave no further details but the Iraqi health ministry confirmed the arrest and named the official detained as Sahi Abub al-Maliki.
The ministry said Maliki had only recently been appointed acting administrator after his predecessor, Ibrahim Mohammed al-Ukail, was killed in a drive-by shooting on December 10.
===========================

Britney Spears released from hospital

LOS ANGELES Britney Spears was released from a hospital psychiatric ward six days after being admitted amid concerns for her mental health, US media reported. The troubled singer made a low-key departure from the UCLA Medical Center Wednesday accompanied by private security guards, according to the Los Angeles Times, before returning to her Beverly Hills home.
However, later Wednesday, local television networks carried live footage of Spears and unidentified companions leaving her home in her black Mercedes, trailed by a convoy of paparazzi.
Spears, 26, had been the subject of a mental health evaluation order after being whisked from her home by paramedics and police last Thursday on the recommendation of her psychiatrist. Her release came after a routine hearing in which a court representative interviews patient and doctor to see if there is cause for continued detention.

In Spears' case the court representative found no just cause, People Magazine reported, and she was released against the wishes of the doctor overseeing her case at UCLA Medical Center =and her parents.

"As parents of an adult child in the throes of a mental health crisis, we were extremely disappointed this morning to learn that over the recommendation of her treating psychiatrist, Britney was released from the hospital that could best care for her and keep her safe," her parents said in a statement.
"We are deeply concerned about her safety and vulnerability and we believe her life is presently at risk. We ask only that the court's orders be enforced so that a tragedy may be averted." Reports last weekend said Spears had her stay at the medical center extended by two weeks but the singer could legally demand to be released or go home if a doctor judged her suitable for outpatient treatment.

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

Money, power behind fall of de Venecia

Former Philippines House of Representatives speaker Jose de Venecia gestures during a forum with the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines in Manila yesterday. The former political ally of Philippine President Gloria Arroyo said he is prepared to expose widespread corruption within the administration and said that Arroyo's husband, two sons and a brother-in-law bribed legislators using public funds to oust him from the post he held for 13 years

MANILA - The ouster of the leader of the Philippine congress has once again highlighted how a small group of political elites here use their power to sway colleagues and enrich their loved ones, analysts say.

Jose de Venecia ;who accused President Gloria Arroyo, her government and her family of corruption - was voted out of his seat after a marathon session that started on Monday, and replaced with close Arroyo ally Prospero Nograles.

Experts said the move showed how lawmakers, whose monthly salary is a mere 35,000 pesos (US$850), are easily swayed by more powerful members with lots of cash and influence in the worlds of politics and business.

"It is not like other democracies where you have a solid party system," political analyst Antonio Abaya, of the Foundation for Transparency and Public Accountability, told AFP.
"Here it is all about money and power. We call it the politics of patronage."

Edmund Tayao, a political scientist with the University of Santo Tomas, agreed, saying: "Politics in this country is dominated by a small group of rich and very powerful families."

One of the most sought-after jobs in the country is Speaker of the House, a position that wields enormous power - especially when it comes to dividing up the yearly congressional budget for local spending.
This year the financial allotment totals around 16.7 billion pesos (US$481 million) for just 239 lawmakers to be used in their constituencies for projects such as roads and schools.

For some lawmakers, "pork-barrel" allocations for their congressional districts can be upwards of 70 million pesos - which, along with all the other perks of holding public office, are not audited.

"With all that largesse at his fingertips, the Speaker of the House has one of the most influential positions in the Philippines," said Clarita Carlos, a political scientist with the University of the Philippines.
"This is the taxpayer's money and we have no idea how it is spent or where it is spent. Why should these clowns be allowed to have all that money without any accountability?"

De Venecia ;who served as speaker for 12 years - was the fall guy in a classic dispute between two powerful political families over money, Tayao explained.

The 72-year-old veteran had been an ardent supporter of Arroyo for years, guiding her through the fallout following the disputed 2004 presidential election and deflecting repeated congressional attempts to impeach her.

He rewarded those lawmakers who fell in line with generous financial support for their constituencies.

But on Monday, he turned on her, delivering a stinging speech against her on the House floor, accusing her of corruption and cheating to win re-election;-According to Tayao, De Venecia lost faith in Arroyo when his son Joey lost a controversial broadband contract last year to a Chinese company - a deal Joey says was tainted by massive corruption at the highest levels.
Joey de Venecia also accused the president's husband, lawyer Jose Miguel Arroyo, of trying to silence him over the deal.During a Senate investigation, it was alleged the US$330 million project was overpriced by US$200 million;-"That was the straw that broke the camel's back,"Tayao said.
Arroyo' two lawmaker sons, Juan Miguel and Diosdado, eventually led the campaign to remove the speaker.Amando Doronila, a columnist for the Philippine Daily Enquirer, described De Venecia' ouster as "vendetta between the Arroyos and the De Venecias over the spoils of office an issue basically concerned with corruption".
=============================

China shrugs off cold to usher Year of the Rat

BEIJING -China welcomed in the Year of the Rat Thursday with a bonanza of fireworks and festivals, but the celebrations for many were subdued due to ferocious cold weather that kept them from their families.
Explosions of colour could be seen in the skies of Beijing and across China in a centuries-old fireworks tradition that is meant to scare off evil spirits but this year also sought to raise national morale after the horror cold snap;-While the fireworks brought much delight, they also led to at least one fatality, dozens of injuries and a spate of fires in Beijing alone, according to the official Xinhua news agency.
The start of the new lunar year, the most important national holiday for China's more than 1.3 billion people, followed three weeks of ice and snowstorms that crippled transport and power supplies in many cities.
With millions of migrant workers in China's southern and eastern economic hubs stranded by the weather crisis and unable to reunite with their families for the holiday, their plight was in the thoughts of those more fortunate.

"We are all a big family. Come on, let's fight this," a group of celebrities said in a rallying cry as part of the annual New Year's Eve extravaganza televised on national broadcaster CCTV.
State-controlled media highlighted the continued travels this week of President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao to areas that had suffered the most from the cold weather.

Xinhua also ran a long article focusing on the more than 14 million migrant workers in southern Guangdong province and Shanghai on the east coast who could not get home to welcome the New Year with their families.
"I miss my little daughter very much. She is only one-and-a-half years old," said Wang Xiaoli, a toy factory worker in Guangdong who had been desperate to return to her family over 2,000 kilometres to the north.

"When I arrived at the railway station a few days ago, I was astounded to see so many people waiting for trains and I couldn't get through the crowd."
With the worst of the weather over, Xinhua reported on Wednesday that power had been restored to 162 of the 170 worst-hit counties, but that many people were still suffering.

"The world's most populous nation began its week-long Lunar New Year holiday on Wednesday, but hundreds of thousands perhaps millions of people will probably spend the biggest festival of the year in the cold and dark," it said.
In Chenzhou, a city of about four million in central China's Hunan province that had suffered blackouts for 12 days, many residents remained without power.

Despite the problems, the Chinese New Year has once again seen one of the biggest mass movements of people anywhere in the world;-There are more than 200 million workers in China who have moved around the country for their jobs, and many had negotiated their way through the transport chaos to get home for the festivities.
Elsewhere in Asia, more than 40 million South Koreans were expected to be on the move for reunions with relatives during the three-day Lunar New Year holiday.
==========================

Number of heroin smugglers arrested rises

Number of heroin smugglers arrested rises

SINGAPORE--The number of heroin smugglers from other southeast Asian countries arrested in Singapore shot up eight times in the past year, figures from the Central Narcotics Bureau showed yesterday.
Thailand and Myanmar are seeing bumper harvests of opium poppy, from which heroin is derived, the bureau said.

The number jumped to 23 traffickers from neighbouring countries last year from three in 2006, the statistics said."External syndicates," flush with supplies from the region's poppy crop, have been trying to break into the Singapore market "in the hope of attracting susceptible buyers", The Straits Times quoted a Central Narcotics Bureau CNB- spokesman as saying;-The CNB seized nearly 17.2kg of heroin in 2007, nearly three times the amount seized the year before.
The bureau seized 10kg of heroin worth S$1.5 million on Monday, its largest haul in five years.
Seven alleged members of a heroin-trafficking syndicate were charged. If convicted, the five men and two women face death by hanging. The CNB is seeking to cripple overseas syndicates by working with their regional counterparts.
===================

Jailed KRouge leader fights detention

PHNOM PENH
Khmer Rouge leader Nuon Chea appealed yesterday against his detention by Cambodia's genocide tribunal, with his lawyers arguing that his arrest had been "an illegal act".

Lawyer Sun Arun claimed that the court's investigating judges violated legal procedures during their first interviews with Nuon Chea, appealing for him to be released pending full trial.
Nuon Chea was without a lawyer for his first three appearances before the judges but never properly waived his right to an attorney, Sun Arun said.
"What the co-investigating judges have done is not in accordance with the criminal procedure of Cambodia. I firmly reject this illegal act," he added;-The judges "put physical and emotional pressure on my client", he said, claiming the tribunal had "violated the human rights of an old man".

Nuon Chea was "fearful, and did not understand the procedures of the court", he added.
Yesterday's hearing was Nuon Chea's first public appearance before the United Nations UN backed tribunal and only the second time the tribunal has conducted a public sitting since it convened 18 months ago.
He appeared generally healthy with close-cropped white hair and wearing a newly pressed long-sleeved shirt, but courtroom guards had to help the 81-year-old stand when he rose to speak.
Nuon Chea, the most senior of the five Khmer Rouge cadres facing trial, told the court that he posed no threat to the public and that he would not try to flee Cambodia.

Chinese world over celebrate Lunar New Year

JAKARTA--Chinese living in many parts of the world celebrated the Chinese New Year yesterday.
In Indonesia, the government had declared the first day of Chinese New Year as a public holiday.

In Medan, North Sumatra, where ethnic Chinese constituted the largest minority group in the population, flocked to Buddhist temples, especially the Setia Budi Temple, the biggest in the city, to pray;-They prayed for their health, success and good fortunes for the future, and later distributed money to the poor people who were waiting outside the temples.

In Bandarlampung, south Sumatra, Chinese went to the Thay Hin Bio Temple, the oldest temple in Bandarlampung, and other temples such as Banten and Amurwa Bhumi Graha.
On Bali Island, the Lunar New Year 2559 was observed by many ethnic Chinese, both local residents as well as tourists, by congregating at the Dharmayana Temple in Kuta.Imlek was also celebrated by Chinese in Jakarta, Palembang (South Sumatra), Kotabaru (South Kalimantan), Ambon (Maluku), Singkawang (West Kalimantan), Surabaya (East Java), Manado (North Sulawesi), Banten and Batam-Taiwanese welcomed in the Lunar New Year with fireworks, feasts and prayers for peace and prosperity in the Year of the Rat.
Tens of thousands of Taiwanese flocked to temples Thursday, the first day of the Chinese New Year, to burn incense and pray for health, wealth and peace for Taiwan.
President Chen Shui-bian went to his hometown in Tainan County, south Taiwan, to distribute red envelops a traditional gift at Chinese festivals symbolising good luck.

Chen gave out 20,000 red envelops to tourists, some of who had been standing in line for days to get a red envelope from Chen.
Likewise, the Chinese community in Philippines, Thailand and India too celebrated the Year of the Rat
The Chinese New Year holidays, the most important festival for Chinese all over the world, last a week.

Japan urges China not to jump to conclusions over dumpling scandal

TOKYO -Japan on Thursday warned against jumping to the conclusion that Chinese dumplings behind a health scare here were intentionally poisoned, following allegations of politically motivated sabotage.
A senior Chinese official on Wednesday said the frozen dumplings, which sickened at least 10 victims in Japan, may have been poisoned by people opposed to friendly ties between the two countries.
But Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura said the Chinese side was "yet to reach a firm conclusion."
"It would be better not to specify the cause when we have not completed a full investigation," Machimura, the top government spokesman, told a news conference on Thursday;-Japan and China have been working since 2006 to repair political relations which had hit rock bottom amid a row over Tokyo's past imperialism and a territorial dispute.

Chinese President Hu Jintao is due to pay a rare visit to Tokyo early this year.
The suggestion of a political motive behind the health scare was made by Wei Chuanzhong, vice minister of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, to a Japanese government mission on Wednesday.

"We cannot deny the possibility that a small group of discontented elements who do not wish for the development of China-Japan friendship may have taken extreme measures," he said, in footage aired on Japanese television.

He did not say whether the culprits were Chinese or Japanese.

Despite the Japanese government's cautious stance, outspoken Health Minister Yoichi Masuzoe on Tuesday had also suggested the poisoning may have been deliberate.As speculation remained rife on the cause of the poisoning, Japanese media have been full of stories on food safety, ranging from Chinese foodstuffs hidden in popular menus to how dumplings are made at Japanese factories.

Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda on Thursday admitted the health ministry had been late in having an overall picture of what happened as local offices had received complaints about poisoning separately.
==============================

statcounter: A free yet reliable invisible web tracker

What is STATCOUNTER?
A free yet reliable invisible web tracker, highly configurable hit counter and real-time detailed web stats. Insert a simple piece of our code on your web page or blog and you will be able to analyse and monitor all the visitors to your website in real-time!


Free, Fast, Responsive, Quick loading and Reliable Service. (Why is it free?)

Invisible Tracking - no ads on your website.

Accurate real-time website statistics with detailed visitor tracking and analysis.



Register Now - It's Free (We promise!)

View Live Demo


Some of the stats and features we offer

Invisible Counter Option, Configurable Counter, Configurable Summary Stats, Magnify User, Drill Down, Popular Pages, Entry Pages, Exit Pages, Came From, Keyword Analysis, Recent Keyword Activity, Search Engine Wars, Visitor Paths, Visit Length, Returning Visits, Recent Pageload Activity, Recent Visitor Activity, Country/State/City Stats, Recent Visitor Google Map, ISP Stats, Browser Stats, O.S. Stats, Resolution Stats, JavaScript Stats, Email Reports, Multiple Site Management, User Access Management, Public Stats, Blocking Cookie

How does it work?

Inside every FREE StatCounter Account you can set up a StatCounter Project..



..and with every project you get Project Code + Log Space!



You put your code into your webpage and every time someone visits a webpage..



..the StatCounter Project code sends valuable information about the visitor back to your log.



StatCounter organises all this information into charts & lists to make your analysis easier..



..and if you have more than one site, you simply set up another StatCounter Project in the same account!


Our Paid Services

StatCounter offers what we believe is the best free web counter service in the world - it is StatCounter's foundation, and we constantly strive to improve it. In fact, our free service offers more than most pay-only services! However, some of our members have demanded even more, and so we have introduced a number of optional upgrades to enhance the service available for such users.

Our free service is aimed at websites with 250,000 pageloads per month or less and offers lifetime summary stats and a detailed analysis of your last 500 pageloads.

What is your log-size?

StatCounter offers lifetime summary stats covering all your pageloads for free. However in addition we also offer the most detailed analysis available anywhere for a smaller number of your latest pageloads. Your log-size determines how many pageloads are covered by this vastly more detailed analysis. The free service offers a log-size of 500 pageloads, however upgraded services offer more.

If you find your site growing beyond 250,000 pageloads a month, or requiring detailed analysis of more pageloads, you can optionally upgrade at any time from your free account. A number of options are available:

Log-Size
Pageloads/Month
Price/Month

500
250,000
FREE

1,500
1,500,000
$9

10,000
7,500,000
$19

25,000
15,000,000
$29

Remember all plans including free come with lifetime summary stats and are jam-packed with special features and services.


Get Started!
It's easy and free - just 4 simple steps:

Register an account

Create a Project

Insert the code on your website

Analyze your stats!

KEY FEATURES
Invisible or Visible Counter - your choice!
Custom Summary Stats based on all your visitors
Highly detailed Analysis of your last 500 pageloads
Manage multiple sites from one account
Discover:
what keywords visitors use to find your site
your most popular pages
links used to reach your site
what countries your visitors come from
how visitors navigate through your site
..and much more
Email reports
And MUCH more!


WHAT OUR MEMBERS SAY:

"I LOVE this service, LOVE IT! I'm so impressed with you guys, you have no idea. I'm a small business and StatCounter.Com is helping me make everyday decisions in real time! I am able to figure out what is working for my new websites and my new business immediately after I implement a change. I can't thank you enough"
- Colin McGrath, DSL-Experts.com

I run websites for a number of voluntary organisations. Primary criteria for anything I use is that it must be minimum cost - preferably free. When I stumbled across StatCounter I was cautious. I spoke with some professional colleagues who all asked the same question – what’s the catch… we still can’t find one.
- Tony Bell, Suffolk Basketball

Am I dreaming. Is this for real?
After 2 weeks of searching for a service that would give me the statistics I needed from my sites visitors, I stumbled across your site. There it was in front of me, everything I needed and more and FREE! As I type this I am uploading my pages with the code. I've viewed the demo pages and have no doubt that this is exactly the tool I need to track how my affiliates are going. I can not thank you enough for offering a much needed service at the right price to small website owners with NO budget. Seems I was wrong. Not everyone is out to make a quick buck off those trying to get somewhere.
- Ann, Queensland, Australia

Manila calls for calm amid graft scandal

MANILA--
The Philippine government on Tuesday called for calm amid growing street protests calling for President Gloria Arroyo to resign over a corruption scandal which has implicated her husband and a close aide.
The Senate is investigating allegations of illegal kickbacks in a controversial 329 million-dollar contract for a national broadband Internet network that has since been cancelled by Arroyo.

"There is no cause for the president to resign," said Lorelie Fajardo, a spokeswoman for Arroyo, stressing that the public should "exercise sobriety and fairness" over the revelations.

A mid-level government official said to be privy to the negotiations has testified before a Senate inquiry that Arroyo's husband, Jose Miguel, and former elections chief Benjamin Abalos tried to get kickbacks from the telecoms deal with Chinese firm ZTE;-Arroyo has suspended the deal, but recent revelations in the Senate inquiry have led to daily street protests since last week.

On Tuesday, activists held scattered and largely peaceful street protests around Manila carrying "Gloria resign" slogans.
Fajardo said that while Arroyo's husband has been named in the investigation, it has not "directly linked the president in any way."
"Innuendos and the habit (of political opponents) to link the president is no cause for the president to resign," she said.
Powerful Roman Catholic bishops as well as several business leaders have praised the key witness, Rodolfo Noel Lozada, and urged the public to rally behind him. The military meanwhile said it remained solidly behind Arroyo and warned troops against taking sides.

Sergio Ortiz Luiz of the Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc on Tuesday warned that the daily protests were "beginning to take a toll on investments" and urged the Senate to speed up its probe.

"I think they should file the case so that there will be a conclusion to this," Luiz said.

The Makati Business Club, which counts some of the country's most powerful business leaders among its members, meanwhile urged people to voice their opposition to the Arroyo government.
"We want to tell the public to start standing up," said club director Alberto Lim.

Lim said members had stopped short of calling for Arroyo's resignation.

Arroyo's six-year term expires in 2010, but she has been hounded by allegations of corruption since her first day in office. She has survived three impeachment attempts in Congress as well as two coup attempts.
========================

Afghan journalists fined for using wrong language

KABUL-
Three Afghan journalists working for government-owned media have been fined five days salary for using words from the wrong language in reports, the culture ministry said.
The three were punished for "not observing cultural and Islamic principles", said a letter issued by the ministry, a copy of which was obtained by AFP.

The letter did not provide details and the ministry could not explain how the reporters had contravened Islam;-One of the journalists, Abdul Basir Babai, told AFP he had been reprimanded for using three words from Persian, as used in Iran, instead of their local equivalent derived from Pashtun the language of the Afghan majority.

These were the words for "university", "students" and "certificate", which he used in a report last week about the graduation of university students, Babai told AFP from the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif.

Babai, a reporter for a small television station called Balkh TV, said he had also been banned from his part-time work for the national broadcaster, Radio Television Afghanistan.Afghanistan's official languages are Pashtu and Dari, rooted in Persian.
Afghan media groups have warned of increasing intimidation of local journalists.
=============================

Troops patrol East Timor;president recuperates

DILI
-Troops and police enforced a state of emergency across East Timor on Tuesday as President Jose Ramos-Horta recuperated from an assassination bid that doctors said he was lucky to survive.
Residents in the sleepy seaside capital Dili went to work and school as usual, seemingly oblivious to the emergency imposed after audacious attacks by renegade soldiers on the president, who was hit in the chest and back, and Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao, who escaped unscathed.
Gusmao told a meeting of communities from Portuguese-speaking nations at a hotel here that the situation in the fledgling nation was "normal, and all is stable."
The assaults heralded a renewed crisis for violence-weary East Timor, where Australian-led peacekeeping troops and UN police were deployed in 2006 to quell unrest between military and police factions that left at least 37 dead.
Australian soldiers and police left for East Timor to bolster those already on patrol at Gusmao's request, officials in Canberra said.

An Australian frigate with a company of 150 steamed into Dili Harbour to support the troops' mission, with a further nearly 200 troops and police arriving by plane later.

Acting president Vicente Guterres issued a decree at Gusmao's request saying the state of emergency had come into force from 10pm (1300 gmt) Monday evening and would last for an initial 48 hours;-Under the decree, a curfew will be in place from 8pm to 6am while all gatherings and rallies were banned.

Ramos-Horta was in a serious but stable condition after emergency overnight surgery for bullet wounds, according to his doctors in the Australian city of Darwin where he was airlifted Monday.
"I believe he is extremely lucky to be alive," Royal Darwin Hospital general manager Len Notaras said.
Ramos-Horta, 58, underwent two-and-a-half hours of surgery late Monday and was in intensive care after his second operation in 24 hours, the doctor told AFP.

He said the doctors were treating three bullet wounds and Ramos-Horta would need a further operation within 36 hours.
The president was sedated and on a ventilator but not on life support, and would remain unconscious until at least Thursday, Notaras said, adding that he expected him to make a full recovery barring any unforeseen complications.
===========================

No new Bill Clinton scandals: Hillary

WASHINGTON-Hillary Clinton on Monday assured American voters there would be no new scandals surrounding her husband ex-president Bill Clinton, as she hit out at rival Barack Obama's soaring rhetorical style.
As she battled to get her stalling White House quest back on track, Clinton was asked whether there were any hidden business or personal scandals about her husband which Republicans could use to derail her administration.

"That is not going to happen. You know, none of us can predict the future, no matter who we are and what we're running for, but I'm very confident that that will not happen," she told ABC television's local affiliate here;-The question, sent by a voter to the Politico website co-sponsoring Clinton's appearance, was one of the few occasions when the turmoil that wracked the Clinton White House has been directly raised in the 2008 campaign.

Her opponent Barack Obama has made broad calls to sweep away the fractured Washington politics of the past few decades, with his new message of hope and change an implicit partial reference to the Clintons.The former first lady also used her appearance on ABC on the eve of primary elections in Washington DC, Virginia and Maryland, all of which Obama is tipped to win, to take aim at her rival's hopeful rhetoric.

"You never hear the specifics," she said. "It's all this kind of abstract, general talk about how we all need to get along."
"I want to get along, and I have gotten along in the Senate. I will work with Republicans to find common cause whenever I can, but I will also stand my ground, because there are fights worth having," she added.